Prayer: Casting Off Our Indifference

Almighty One,

you have crafted and tended the galaxies in their glory
and the wren in her spry industry:
we praise your wondrous works--
the tapestry of life, visible and unseen,
that supports us throughout the day.

Inspire us, O God,
to defend the weary and the oppressed,
the poor and the refugee,
in obedience to your law of love and righteousness.

As we confess the things we have left undone,
let us consider our own indifference to suffering,
our justification for inflicting pain on others
for our own comfort
or to assuage our own fears,
and let us turn from the darkness of cruelty and greed
to the light of love and empathy.

For by your grace we live and move and have our being,
O Creator and Lover of Our Souls:
may we seek to do your will
in the name of healing and restoration,
for the sake of this world You have made
and charged us to tend and preserve in peace.

Pour out your reconciling power, O Holy One,
on all who cry out to You,
and place your hand of protection
over all those for whom we pray.

Amen.

Prayer for Unity in Pandemic

God of the Sparrow, God of the Wren,

God of the Honeybee toiling with purpose
among the blossoming fields,
pitch your tent among us today,
and lead us into holiness, empathy, and truth.

Abiding One,
may we make your wisdom our nourishment;
may we be led by compassion against fear,
and live into unity with each other.
May we bear each other's burden with generous hearts,
and, strengthened by your love and constancy,
resist the death-normalizing ways of fear and faithlessness.

May we care for each other with one accord,
and testify to the power of your hope, O God.

Comfort the weary and strengthen the healers,
O Merciful One,
and grant the blessing of your Spirit
to all who turn to You in supplication,
especially those we now name.

Amen.

A Litany in Time of Plague

ADIEU, farewell, earth's bliss;
This world uncertain is;
Fond are life's lustful joys;
Death proves them all but toys;
I am sick, I must die.
     Lord, have mercy on us!

Rich men, trust not wealth,
Gold cannot buy you health;
Physic himself must fade.
All things to end are made,
The plague full swift goes by;
I am sick I must die
     Lord have mercy on us! 

Beauty is but a flower 
Which wrinkels will devour; 
Brightness falls from the air; 
Queens have died young and fair; 
Dust hath closed Helen's eye. 
I am sick, I must die. 
     Lord, have mercy on us.

Strength stoops unto the grave,
Worms feed on Hector brave;
Swords may not fight with fate, 
Earth still holds ope her gate. 
"Come, come!" the bells do cry. 
I am sick, I must die. 
     Lord, have mercy on us.

Haste, therefore, each degree,
To welcome destiny;
Heaven is our heritage,
Earth but a player's stage;
Mount we unto the sky.
I am sick, I must die. 
     Lord, have mercy on us. 

--Thomas Nashe (1567-1601), English poet, playwright, and satirist

Sonnet XCVIII: From you have I been absent in the spring

From you have I been absent in the spring,

When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim,

Hath put a spirit of youth in everything,

That heavy Saturn laughed and leaped with him.

Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell

Of different flowers in odour and in hue,

Could make me any summer’s story tell,

Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew:

Nor did I wonder at the lily’s white,

Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;

They were but sweet, but figures of delight

Drawn after you, – you pattern of all those.

    Yet seem’d it winter still, and, you away,

    As with your shadow I with these did play.

--William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Pre-eminent English playwright, poet, and actor

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