Do you remember the day the world changed? I took my daughter Cori to a doctor’s appointment in the Twin Cities on Friday, March 13, 2020. Target in Roseville was crazy and had no toilet paper or hand sanitizer. By Sunday morning at 10:00 Governor Walz had declared a state of emergency and schools were closed.
Here we are almost a year from that time. We wear masks to worship and nearly everywhere else. Not one of us has been left untouched by COVID. We have experienced quarantines, isolation, shut downs, distance education, tele-health, and zoom meetings. Some have known sickness. We have neighbors who had died. This is only the beginning of the list. You know what you have gone through this year better than anyone.
When we moved to online worship last spring, I began to use the an Evening Prayer from Evangelical Lutheran Worship at the conclusion of every worship service. We pray: O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
How could we have known a year ago what our world would look like today? I think back to that time and could not conceive that we would still be concerned about COVID. Could you? We have definitely been on a venture of which we cannot see the ending. This is a path that has been and continues to be largely untrod.
We ask in the prayer that God would bless us with good courage. Joshua 1:9 says—Be strong and courageous, do not be frightened or dismayed. The Lord your God is with you wherever you go. It is with courage and the conviction that God has us that we have been able to move through this last year. We trust that God in Christ Jesus has not abandoned us or forsaken us. We are called to faith that God is leading us and in love supporting us as we continue what will surely be a difficult spring.
No matter where we are or what we face, God’s gracious peace and mercy are ours. We hope for a better future. We pray for relief from COVID-19. We are thankful for all those who have sacrificed and continue to do so out of love and care for this community and the world. Even when we cannot see the end, faith calls us to trust that God will be with us always.
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