A Prayer for the Long Haul: In a Pandemic that Persists

Longsuffering God,
your people are no stranger to longsuffering.

40 days, 40 years, 400 years,
are all reminders
that suffering doesn’t just last one night.
New days don’t always bring new circumstances.

As we face the limitations of vaccines,
the virility of variants,
concerning spikes in case counts,
the sobering reality of the long haul,
meet us in our disappointment.

Grant us gentleness in our grief,
while we recognize that the world we knew
is never returning,
a world of uncertainty persists.

Be with us in our anger as we face the truth:
it didn’t have to be this way.

And steady your people for longsuffering,
teaching us to live anew (again),
So that we persist in loving our neighbor,
protecting the vulnerable,
caring for the collective
and cherishing each breath-
until the day
this virus fails to make a home.

Amen.