Friday Daily Prayer
May 1, 2020
Dr. Kendra Creasy Dean (Professor of Youth, Church and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary) recently described this time of pandemic and social distancing like “being stuck in a long Holy Saturday. Stuck between grief and hope.” I don’t know about you, but that is exactly how I feel. And so today, I offer this prayer by Jan Richardson, written for Holy Saturday.
The Art of Enduring
This blessing
can wait as long
as you can.
Longer.
This blessing
Began eons ago
and knows the art
of enduring.
This blessing
began eons ago
and knows the art
of enduring.
This blessing
has passed
through ages
and generations,
witnessed the turning
of centuries,
weathered the spiraling
of history.
This blessing
is in no rush.
This blessing
will plant itself
by your door.
This blessing
Will keep vigil
and chant prayers.
This blessing
will bring a friend
for company.
This blessing
will pack a lunch
and a thermos
of coffee.
This blessing
will bide
its sweet time.
until it hears
the beginning
of breath,
the stirring
of limbs,
the stretching,
reaching,
rising
of what had lain
dead within you
and is ready
to return.
Submitted By:
Kristen Koger, Pastor for Children and Families, First Baptist Church of Decatur