Welcome to “A Prayer For…,” a prayer ministry of the Campus Ministry Office of Augsburg University. We believe prayer is efficacious, a holy conversation with God that enables us to share our struggles and joys, lamentations and celebrations, blessings and hopes for ourselves, our neighbors, the world, and the whole of God’s creation. We plead, we prod, we protest, we praise – with lift all our prayers onto God trusting that they are received in divine mercy and love. It is in prayer we are freed to speak the truth of our hearts onto God so that we may abound in hope together through the power of the Holy Spirit—the very breath of God, the breath that makes all things new.
In these days of the COVID-19 pandemic fraught with anxiety, isolation, suffering, and discombobulation, the Campus Ministry team is offering daily prayers for our Augsburg community and beyond. We recognize that there is so much to pray for in this unprecedented time. “A Prayer For…” is one way we can collectively share in the holy conversation with our God as each day we lift up one specific concern or people or need or situation or hope in prayer. The prayers will run the gamut in tone and topic varying each day as together as a community we hold before God “A Prayer for…” Over the course of the days and weeks ahead, we will contribute to an on-going catalog of prayers we can use at any time throughout this challenging journey we share together.
The authors of these prayers – Rev. Babette Chatman, Pastoral Intern Sarah Swindall, and Rev. Justin Lind-Ayres – welcome you to share your prayer topics with us. You can send them onto us by emailing Campus Ministry team member, Janice Dames (dames@augsburg.edu). We will seek to incorporate your ideas into our communal prayers. As we enter into prayer together from afar through this simple yet profound ministry, may God in Christ Jesus strengthen us and keep us united together in peace and love.
“A PRAYER FOR…COLLEGE STUDENTS”
So much has radically changed in such a short time. College students at Augsburg University, at our sibling Evangelical Lutheran Church in America colleges and universities, and at all other institutions of higher learning in the US are bearing the stressors of COVID-19 while also striving to move on-line in course work and continue the educational process. We offer this scripture text and prayer for all COLLEGE STUDENTS navigating new realities.
Proverbs 8:1: “Does not Wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?”
Let us pray:
God of all wisdom and understanding, we thank you for Augsburg University and other centers of learning seeking to educate leaders for work and witness in your world. In these days of upheaval, uphold college students adapting to the real consequences of the coronavirus. Living arrangements have shifted, coursework is taking on new forms, jobs and internships have retracted, study abroad programs cancelled or postponed, and the scramble to adapt to the ever-changing situation is maddening. And all the while, health risks loom. Into this chaos, holy One, reveal your steady presence and empower all students engaged in higher education: calm anxious hearts and minds; ease the burdens of isolation; bolster community through social media; give focus to the coursework that needs tending; and give your peace, the peace that passes all understanding made known through your Spirit of Wisdom and her ways. Amen.
Rev. Justin Lind-Ayres
Prayer for March 23, 2020