Bing tracking

A Prayer for…Postal and Delivery Workers

As our nation changes with each new day, we become more and more aware of who provides essential jobs and work that keeps our nation functioning and our people provided for. Today, we express our gratitude for the Postal Workers and all package delivery workers who risk exposure to Covid-19 as they carry out their work and interact with so many people.

Psalm 138:7-8

Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;
you stretch out your hand,
and your right hand delivers me.
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Mighty Deliverer, your steadfast love and abundant hope strengthen our spirits in difficult times. We give you thanks for all those whose jobs are essential, whose work keeps your people fed, provide necessary items for living, and who keep our lines of communication open. We especially give thanks for all the Postal workers and package delivery personnel who often must walk in the midst of trouble to carry out their work. God we give thanks for their sacrifice, their dedication, and their strength.

We ask you, O Lord, to protect them from exposure to Covid-19, keep them healthy and safe from all harm. Strengthen their spirits and their bodies. We pray that all those in power are granted the wisdom and the resources to protect these vital and precious members of our community. We put our trust in you, O God and know that your love endures forever and you will never forsake the work of your hands. All this we pray in your name. Amen.

Sarah Swindall

March 28, 2020

Providing Care & Fostering Community amid Covid-19

RE: Providing Care & Fostering Community amid Covid-19, Augsburg University & Luther Seminary

 

In an effort to provide care and foster community on our campuses amid the COVID-19 health crisis, Augsburg University Campus Ministry and the Luther Seminary Pastor’s Office are partnering to offer opportunities to strengthen the body of Christ in these days. When anxiety is high in our culture, we recognize how critical it is for us to worship, to hear God’s word of promise in Christ Jesus, to articulate our fears and doubts in a supportive community of truth and grace, and to be inspired to live as God’s beloved for the sake of the other.

As the situation with COVID-19 continues to unfold and social distancing become a normative practice to prevent the spread of virus, we in Campus Ministry at Augsburg University and Luther Seminary are working to use technology and social media platforms to offer communal experiences of worship, prayer practices and moments for faith formation, and online gatherings centered on scripture, support, and the strengthening of the body of Christ. We will seek to do this in the following ways or some variation thereof:

  1. When public worship happens, we will record or live-stream the services and make them available on that same day.
  2. When public worship is cancelled, we will provide elements of worship through social media platforms on a regular basis. Such elements include sermons, prayers, and perhaps some musical content.
  3. When classes are cancelled or moved strictly to on-line content, we will offer daily email or blogpost devotions for sharing blessings, prayers, and reflections as an ongoing way to foster prayer practices.
  4. When classes are cancelled or moved strictly to on-line content, we will seek to provide opportunities for communal gatherings through Zoom or other methods. These gatherings can take the form of bible study, small group discussion, or group check-in and prayer.
  5. When classes are cancelled or moved strictly to on-line content, pastoral care conversations can be done over the phone or through Google Hangout for individuals with the pastoral staff at Augsburg and Luther.
  6. We will continue to receive prayer requests from among our communities and lift these prayers up individually, in staff meetings, and, with permission, in communal/on-line settings.

We will remain open to new ideas and possibilities on how we can be the community of Christ together. We welcome your ideas!

Campus Ministry Staff, Augsburg University & Luther Seminary

O God, where hearts are fearful and constricted, grant courage and hope. Where anxiety is infectious and widening, grant peace and reassurance. Where impossibilities close every door and window, grant imagination and resistance. Where distrust twists our thinking, grant healing and illumination. Where spirits are daunted and weakened, grant soaring wings and strengthened dreams. All these things we ask in the name of Jesus, our healer and our salvation. Amen.                                                              (adapted, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, pg. 76)

Prayers for Today

Screen Shot 2015-11-12 at 8.21.34 AM

We gather here today, very aware of your presence amongst us. Hear us as we pray.

Help us learn to be still. Still enough to hear you breath. In the stillness of our hearts, may we know that you are God, and that, in your presence lies the treasures our hearts yearn for. Tonight, we pray for stillness.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer

Lord, when we are being ourselves out in the world, we often forget you. We hurt others, ourselves and even You. You are quick to forgive, help us be as well. Even when it stings, even when it continually hurts, please remind us of the cross. Tonight, we pray for forgiveness, for us and for others.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer

Lord, your word calls us to weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice. I ask for strength for tough times, rough schedules, constant disappointments, doubts and worries as well as all the issues we may not know or even begin to understand. Bring comfort when we need it. You are the only one who can actually see things as big as we see them, and feel what we feel. Please give us hope, and remind us of the promise to take and rest us from our burdens. Tonight, we pray for rest.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer

Lord, we know your ear is not deaf to hear us, and your hand is not too short to save. So our final prayer together this evening, is that you may grant us faith to believe that a mighty and all-powerful God, who is willing and able to heal us at our points of weakness, hears us. We lay our doubts down at your feet.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen

– Vision Bagonza ’17