Prayer Time Meditation
June 27th 1-2.p.m. Pastor Jacqueline Hines
Being in a pandemic has
been hard for most of us. There are definitely silver linings such as getting
some things done that we may not have been able to do before – like cleaning,
spending more time with family, and cooking healthier meals.
They say our
environment is cleaner with fewer planes in the air and cars on the road. One
lady in India said that the smog had gotten so bad in her little town that it
could actually be seen inside the house.
Such is life. There are
good days when everything is going along beautifully, and there are days when we
want to pull the covers over our heads and say, like that song by Avicii, Wake
Me up When It’s All Over.
With free will, there
are days when humans make bad things happen to good people and there are days
when we do things to bring about our own hardship and misery. Either way the
pain of it all can make us very angry.
We can channel our
anger to do great good. But, as we have seen in recent days, anger can be used
to hurt and destroy ourselves as well as others.
Former NFL player
Emmanuel Acho tells the story of the day he heard his mother yelling and screaming.
He went to his mother. His brother was with her and his brother said her sister
had just died and she was overwhelmed with grief and despair. Emmanuel saw his
mother knocking herself into a wall, hurting herself because she was in such
emotional pain.
A woman said once that
she was so filled with anger at her mother, that it boiled over and she slapped
her own face.
I was stopped at a red
light years ago. I looked over at the car beside me and saw a man who kept
yanking his hair in what appeared to be an act of rage. Then he began to bang
his head over and over again in the steering wheel. Fortunately, the light
turned green. It is alarming to see another human so upset and out of control.
Some of us are so fed
up, furious, and frustrated at being told to wear a mask. So, they won’t do it,
causing pain and suffering for all of us. It has been said that if everyone
would just be disciplined and wear a mask, the virus would be stopped in no
time at all, although Dr. Anthony Fauci says it is certainly understandable
that people want to go out; he is not trying to blame and condemn anyone. He
just wants us to stay well.
God wants us to stay
well, too. But most of all, God wants us. God wants us to rest in the arms of
love, so no matter what storms we go through, the storm is not in us. God wants
us to be secure even when all around us is sinking sand. God want us to be free
even when the world is on lock down. God wants us to be still and know that God
is the God who is greater than the worst that politics and viruses can bring us.
God wants us to have sweet dreams even while we are going through this
nightmare.
One of my favorite
scriptures is found in Psalm 4. Verse 8 says “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for
you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.”
No matter what a day may bring, may we never
forget that God longs for us to be at peace and rest in the arms of love, may
we keep before us the sweet dream of the day when talk of coronavirus is not
part of the daily news, but simply a page in the history books where stories of
victory are found. Amen.
Let us pray: Lord, we have come to feast in your presence and
gather in this sacred space that you have prepared for us. We have come because
you have invited us, because you love us and long for us to be at peace and to
make peace where there is chaos.
For this we give you thanks and we pray as you taught the disciples,
our father…
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