pandemic – Page 5 – katyandtheword

Virtual Communion Resources

All Resources may be used with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta

Virtual Communion Prayer/Meditation

We are forever practicing virtual communion.

Recalling you, re-membering you. Virtually recalibrating ourselves to be the body of Christ until it becomes a physical reality.

We celebrate with all those saints who have come before us, and all those who have yet to come as a part of your kingdom. It is a virtual party, a foretaste, a glimpse of what is to come.

We worry about the rules a lot: who is truly welcome at the table, does Jesus really mean every single person can be a part of the body of Christ?

We worry about what together means: does communion mean at the same time, does it mean being in the same place? Does it mean the same loaf? Does it mean it all has to be wine? Do chips & grape soda count? What is the food of the people?

In our anxiety to be together, sometimes we do the opposite and make a lot of walls to keep each other apart.

But I’m happy for the gift of virtual communion. To remember that not everyone who is supposed to be there is there, and yet somehow it’s still communion and they are still included.

I am grateful for the celebration of it–for the solemn moment when we realize that we are a part of God’s family, and that Jesus welcomed especially those who are forgotten or overlooked, I remember that Jesus often called those who had no other access by NAME to him.

Because this virtual communion is also a real communion. Somehow, miraculously it’s always both. We are both the unbaked bread beginning to rise, and the crusty bake, dipped in the cup, and no matter what stage we are at we can taste it on our tongue.

However we classify and codify this communion, Lord I pray you make us a part of it.

May we be blessed, broken and consumed, until Jesus comes again.

We pray. Amen.

Eucharist Prayer; As we touch the bread and cup, the body and the blood of Christ to our lips. Let us remember that Jesus came as embodied love. Fully human, he bore the scars of his death upon the cross. When we consume Christ, when we practice communion with his body, we re-member you, we start the healing of coming together. No matter how we are practicing communion, we are practicing with you and therefore with one another. Strengthen us as the body Christ, heal us as the body of Christ and empower us to be the body of Christ we pray. Amen.

Communion Prayer: Lord as we stand isolated in this space. Grant us communion with one another and you, we pray. Remind us that you stand in relationship with us, forever drawing us together whenever and however with gather in your name. Send your Holy Spirit onto the elements we have here, the common food of our kitchens and pantries, so that it is imbued with your essence and love. Teach us how to practice communion in our present state we pray. Amen.

Virtual Commuion Order of Worship

Virtual Communion Invitation: As we are gathered–like the stars scattered upon the sky, let us remember God’s covenantal promise to Abraham, that God will always and forever be our God and we will always and forever be the children of God. Knowing that God loves us, and that Jesus Christ took the most basic and essential food of the people and consecrated them, let us now celebrate communion together, in what may be a new way.

I invite you to respond with the bold at home, I will read both parts today….

The Lord be with you

And also with you

Lift up your hearts

We Lift Our Hearts to the Lord

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God

(Feel free to add any Lamb of God/Mystery of Faith elements that fit your congregation)

It is right to give our thanks and praise (Jesus Christ we give you thanks and praise that you are here, gathering us together, in ways the human experience had not not yet imagined. And we recall your promised that wherever–and however–two or three are gathered in your name, you will be there. Here we are gathered, and we praise you for your presence, for your eternal presence in the stars and in every grain of sand upon the beach and in every human child. We give thanks for your consistant and constant presence in our lives. We pray that we can feel your presence here today. Amen)

I invite you to gather whatever communion elements you have, and to hold them close as we pray today.

On the night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, when they were fellow shipping together, Jesus took the food of the people, he gave thanks, and he broke it. He said, this is my body broken for you do this in remembrance of me.

Then in the same way, he took the cup, he gave thanks over it, and he said this is my blood poured out for you. Every time you eat this food and your drink this cup, you celebrate my death until I come again.

Let us Prepare ourselves to celebrate communion (Prayer asking for the Holy Spirit either see above prayers or pray extemporaneously)

Come let us consume the Lord together.

Prayer after Communion: Lord we give thanks for this simple meal to practice communion with one another and with you, may it serve as a foretaste of the kingdom where all the saints will gather once and for all. We give you thanks and praise. Amen.

More Pandemic Prayers & Resouces

Body of Christ

Indeed the Body of Christ consists not of one member but of many members.

The doctors cannot say to the retail workers: You are not necessary. For one feeds the body and the other mends it.

Neither can the CEO’s say to the custodians and trash workers: I have no need of you. For one hand must wash the other.

And we are all the body of Christ.

We cannot say to one another: “it’s ok for this part of the body to become sick and die.”

We cannot chop off any part of our body, because every single part is important.

We cannot tell the teachers and childcare workers that we do not pay you well, because your work is not essential for they tend the seeds of life.

We cannot ignore the truck drivers & postal workers, for they are the circulatory system.

The government cannot say to the immigrants, you are not a part of us: for they stitch society together and gather the nourishment that we need and innovate life itself.

The protestors cannot say to the nurses, your work does not matter. And that your needs are less important than my needs.

The members that we pay the least and ignore the most, are the bones of the body.

Those who we honor and decorate the most, are the least use in a crises.

God has arranged the body, blessing it extravagantly. Inspiring us to work together. For if one part of the body suffers, we all suffer together with it.

If one member is healed and this free to live, then rest is healed: and then freed, with them.

We are of one body, my existence is wrapped up in yours. Let us continue to be the body of Christ, I pray.

Amen.

Pandemic Resources

Eastertide Resources

Good Friday: Denial and Grace in Crises

Before this night is over Peter, you will deny me three times,

In fact each and every one of you will deny me before the end.

Not me Lord, I would never deny you.

The absolute horror of what was going to happen could not be fathomed by the disciples. It was too a deep a hole for them to see. Death, betrayal, denial and damnation were unthinkable. After all they had faith, and they had Jesus. What else would they need?

Denial is very human. It’s how we handle some of the world, it’s one way to fend off PTSD.

What are you in denial about right now? Here, in the middle of a pandemic, what is too much for you to take in?

Remember that even the disciples had trouble processing it all. Remember that only Christ and God can hold the enormity of the tragedy that is taking place. And Jesus requested the presence of these fumbling disciples in Gethsemane to pray. And after they messed up not once, not twice, but three times, but Jesus did not send them away.

We will not be sent away, and our presence is necessary.

Give yourself the grace you need to pray, be in denial and present in whatever strange combination exists within your soul, and remember you do in good company.

More Pandemic Prayers and Resources

Holy Saturday

Why is it called Holy Saturday?

I know many people pass the time on Holy Saturday by holding a vigil and reading through scripture.

But the truth is, when the disciples where waiting on Saturday, they were doing nothing. Holed up in their house they were hiding from the Empire.

They were awaiting their own death. Probably wondering out loud why Jesus had to die, wondering why he had to die a heretic, laid upon a cross that meant your were destined for hell.

It was a room that smelled of fear and death. It was a place where the disciples took cold comfort with one another, no doubt trying to ignore Peter’s pleas that he didn’t meant to deny Jesus. No doubt wondering if they were supposed to steal the body.

Women were sent. They were thought to be harmless. Women prepared Jesus for the tomb with the wrappings and the spices to hide the bad smell. They moved him to the cavern in the garden, where the guards watched to make certain no mischief was done. They were the worthless, but essential workers of the day.

We are in a sort of Holy Saturday ourselves, waiting for the word for the all clear. Hearing stories of who has died, and the suffering they have undergone.

We are experiencing the interminable wait, the timeframe is unknown, the hope is thin, and the loneliness is impenetrable.

Families are worried and separated from one another. And the world is slowly falling apart. And the world is a dark and scary place.

We can see the cornerstones of our lives being deconstructed. The things we depend upon are changing: the routines are gone, the securities are unreliable: school, work, church are crumbling.

Holy Saturday is what happens under the waters of baptism, I wonder if that’s what happens when you say goodbye to a loved one who has died who you can no longer see on earth. I wonder if Holy Saturday is where we are as we wait for the second coming of Christ.

Holy Saturday is the gap in scripture, undefined by the stories, left wide open in the yawning space of time.

Holy Saturday is now. The time between sickness and the cure. It’s the time before the temple is rebuilt. It’s the time when the cracks in society are splitting apart. It’s the time when the gaps are made clear, for when the rebuilding needs to happen.

And we await the healing, sabbath, wholeness of Easter and the time we can be together.

Somehow, this dark waiting time can be Holy too.

More Pandemic Prayers

Everything Counts/Counting the stars

Count the stars God tells Abram and Sarai, or, if you prefer, count the grains of sand.

Lord sometimes I feel like my efforts are no more than grains of sand in an ocean of hurting, lonely and sick people.

And time is dripping through the egg timer, one solitary granular at the time.

Count the sand, how can I count the sand, when I am but one grain?

How can I calculate the stars when I am but one entity of stardust in a vast, vast universe?

God who knows the count of every hair on my head. Creator of all beings who walk or fly or swim or crawl; surely you know I cannot count that high.

How then can I count my efforts? In the moment of crises am I doing enough? Am I staying away enough (6ft and staying at home as much as possible)? Am I being in contact enough (phone calls and video conferences and snail mail)?

Am I opening up enough (how can I help), am I keeping my family safe enough (let’s not do that)?

Am I taking care of myself enough (walks and family and friends and reading)?

The box of food I’ve collected, is that enough to count? The one package of toilet paper I found, does that work? The one small family I was able to bus back home–they were only two people–is that enough?

Count the stars.

Count the sand.

God reassures Abram & Sarai that they are connected to the world, that they are part of a greater universe, that they are part of the whole of human family and because they are of one humanity

their grain of time

their glow of starlight

is enough.

Remind me of that too I pray.

Amen

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More Pandemic Prayers and Resources

Pandemic Beatitudes

Cursed are the greedy, the one who put corporations before others, for they will end up with only money

Cursed are the liars, the fakers and the scammers, for they will end up with nothing

Cursed are the penny pinchers, the ones who think they immune, the ones who take other’s lives into their hands, their is the guilt of hurting others

‪Blessed are those who stay home and wait for the resurrection not as a date on the calendar but the as the return to wholeness, health and peace in the community. For theirs is the faith of the church.

Blessed are those who are at work, seeing hundreds of people a day, honoring the essentials of staying alive. For the work of their hands reflects the shape of their hearts.

Blessed are those who are waiting, waiting for the isolation to end, waiting to see if their loved one comes home safe from work, waiting to hear the news of a test in their lives. For theirs is the fullness of times

Blessed are the truck drivers and the custodial staffs who apply and scrub for all of us, for theirs will be all the comfort in the world.

Blessed are the truth tellers, the scientists and the fact fact-finders, for theirs will be the relationships of hope.

Blessed are the stressed, the homeworkers, the homeschoolers, the teachers without students, the workers without offices theirs will be peace.

More Prayers & Resources for the Pandemic

Act of God

Is this an act of God, asked Abram & Sarai when they were barren

Hagar when she was abused by Abram & Sarai

Job when he watched everything he loved drip away

Joseph when he was cast into the pit

Puah & Shiprah when they were ordered to put the babies in the water

Moses when he understood his people were enslaved

The Prodigal wondered when he was lost, the widow thought when she lived on nothing, Mary & Martha questioned when Lazarus died, the disciples cried when they arrested Jesus for heresy.

Is this an act of God we ask when the hurricanes howl and the tornados terrorize and the earthquakes wreak havoc?

How about a world pandemic is this an act of God?

Where is our Force Majeure? We want a new contract. If it’s an act of God then there’s nothing under our control and we can just wait for God’s helicopter to save us.

But Abraham & Sarah became the parents of nations

Hagar kept her child safe & found her freedom

Joseph was raised from the pit the Pharaoh’s advisor

Puah & Shiprah hid the babies from the Pharaoh

Moses lead the slaves to freedom

The Prodigal came home, the Widow gave away her mites, Lazarus was healed and returned to Mary and Martha, and Jesus rose from the dead.

I don’t really know what an act of God is.

But I know who God is, God is the God of jubilee, the God healing, the God of redos, reconciliations and resurrections.

We can enact the will of God. We are Abraham & Sarah, Joseph, Puah & Shiprah, Moses. When we enact the will of God return home, we become healed, give to the poor and become resurrected with Christ.

Are we an act of God? God I pray that we are.

More Prayers & Resources for the Pandemic

Viral Prayers

Blessed are

the retail workers

the grocery store workers

the workers who stock

the truckers

the sanitation workers

the emergency response workers

the energy sector workers

the housekeepers and custodians

the doctors, the nurses and all their support staff

the emergency workers

the departments of health

the pharmacists

Prayers for

the sick

the medically vulnerable

the disabled

the people who live with mental illness

the uninsured

the underpaid

the gig workers

the small businesses

the artists & entertainers

the travel industry

the flight attendants, TSA and airport workers

the parents who have to work & be teachers

the educators

the displaced college students

the kids who will go hungry

the parents of those with special needs whose entire routine has been disrupted

the lonely

the people stuck in places of abuse

the imprisoned

the ones on the border

the institutionalized

the nursing homes

the homeless

Thank you for

Science

Social distancing

Cuban Viral Research

Chinese closing of emergency hospitals

Canadian Vaccine Research

Italian Singing

the Chinese Businessmen who donate masks & sanitizers

the Scottish shopowners who buy masks & sanitizers for the elderly

the Ballplayers who donate salaries to arena workers

The schools getting food to those in need

The homeschoolers & online academics sharing their resources

Those supporting small businesses

Those who show up to work

Those who make phone calls

Those who get things to those in need

The ones who step up and ask, how can we help

More Prayers & Resources for the Pandemic

Abundance of Caution Prayer

God, sometimes prayer is out of an abundance of caution. Nothing has hit close to home yet, but I feel shadows in the valley of death. I hear the cries of those around me. I can taste the panic in the air. How can I not pray? Out of an abundance of caution, I am lifting my eyes to the hills, from whom does my help come? My help comes from the Lord my God, they are my rock and my salvation. I pray for the miracles of this age: for people being connected to one another in this isolating time, for those who are struggling financially to experience generosity and hope while work is scarce and stability is scarcer. Lord out of an abundance, out of your abundance and our caution I pray that we all practice responsibility and community. Help us to hold onto peace, Encourage us with good courage, help us to grasp & hold onto all that which is good and remind us, especially in trying times, to render no one evil for evil. In your abundance and our caution, I pray. Amen.

More Pandemic Prayers