[Faith-Talk] A Prayer to God in Anxious Times

[Tom Vos]

A Prayer to God in Anxious Times

Gracious God, Champion of the Universe, we so often fluff ourselves
up. Aren’t we the only creatures who compose masterpieces of music and
art? Don’t we
govern ourselves, enrich ourselves, promote ourselves? Can’t we dunk
basketballs, bat baseballs, spike volleyballs? Aren’t some of us
masters of comic
irony? Other creatures don’t practice rocket science. We do.

And yet. Here we are, frightened by a thing so small it can’t be seen
under most microscopes. It’s not even an animal or a plant. It’s a
virus, a mere
parasite, dependent on our own living cells to replicate. And yet it
has shuttered our schools, cancelled our flights, and emptied our
churches. It has
consumed the attention of our leading scientists, wrenched our
politics out of shape, dominated our conversations, and scared the
daylights out of us.

We don’t want to get sick. And we don’t want to die.

We are afraid, O God. Afraid of a microorganism. Afraid of each other.

Great and quiet source of peace, quiet our fears. We are wary,
uncertain, strung tight. Quiet our fears. We have no idea what the
future will bring, but
we do know you will be in our future to hold us there. We cannot quiet
ourselves, O God. We cannot comfort ourselves, cannot heal ourselves,
cannot help
ourselves. All we can do is wash our hands and keep our distance. Our
rocket science is no good to us for this threat.

O God, great and quiet source of peace, quiet us, your anxious ones,
and let us cling for comfort to your suffering Son, Jesus Christ.
Gather us under
his wings. Remind us that he suffers with us, but he’s also the great
physician. In him, let us not be afraid. Please, let us not be afraid.
Amen.

(Cornelius Plantinga)