Family Foxhole

Our family is taking time daily to pray about the current global health crisis. Our prayers will likely reference the Christian tradition, but we’ve written with an ecumenical and agnostic audience in mind.

If you’d like us to pray for you, let us know. If you’d like us to write a prayer for you or for a concern you have and share it here, just ask. You don’t have to share your name if you don’t want to, and we won’t share it or any other identifying details about you here or elsewhere.

Today, we are focusing our prayer on older people around the world.

Today we remember those all those who are older, around the globe. We remember those who are only beginning to enjoy the pleasures of old age as well as those who are preparing for the end of their lives.

We pray for those we don’t know, and we pray for those we do know, including [the older people we know, including ourselves]. We pray for all those who love and support them, including family members, friends, neighbors, and workers in healthcare, eldercare, and other fields.

We pray for those whose aging bodies sometimes surprise them with changes, unexpected or not. We pray for those who are transitioning to new roles as retirees, especially those for whom economic downturn or health concerns have forced into unplanned retirement. We pray for those who suddenly serving as caregivers for children in their family as well as those who are grandparents-as-parents who now have children in their home during the school day. We pray for those who worry about their health, their safety, and the future of the world.

Our hope for older people is that they experience wholeness and coherence in their lives, that they accept themselves and others and find acceptance in the love and support of others. We pray for them safety in a world that too often capitalizes on their fears. We hope for them hope about their future and the future beyond them. We hope for them a release from all fear.

We are grateful for older people, for their contributions in the past, now, and in the future. We are thankful for their presence in our lives and in our world.

Above, John Prine sings “Hello in There.”

Our family is taking time daily to pray about the current global health crisis. Our prayers will likely reference the Christian tradition, but we’ve written with an ecumenical and agnostic audience in mind.

If you’d like us to pray for you, let us know. If you’d like us to write a prayer for you or for a concern you have and share it here, just ask. You don’t have to share your name if you don’t want to, and we won’t share it or any other identifying details about you here or elsewhere.

Today, we are focusing our prayer on people who fulfill essential duties in our society and who we have asked not to leave their work, even at risk to themselves.

Today we remember those whose employment we deem essential and who we’ve asked to risk their own health to continue to work. We pray for those who provide our food, water, sanitation, and healthcare, including those who manufacture, inspect, transport, and make available the goods and services we need to survive.

We pray for those we don’t know, and we pray for those we do know, including [all those who work in agriculture and food distribution, those who work in healthcare, those who work in public safety, those who work in sanitation, and those who work in needed manufacturing, including ourselves]. We pray for all those their families, friends, and neighbors who support them. We pray that the dignity and necessity of their work will always be recognized and honored. We pray for a collective recognition of the value of labor and respect for those whose work keeps us fed, safe, sheltered, and healthy.

We pray for those whose work tires them, for those whose bodies collapse at the end of the day and for those for whom even rest is exhausting. We pray for those who are both necessary and undervalued. Our hope for them is dignity, self-worth, and justice. Our prayer for all of us is solidarity.

We are grateful for every one who labors for the common good and for all hearts that remember them.

Painting of Factory Workers by Toni Anton Wolter, from the public domain. This painting reminds me of one of my favorite memories of childhood: the day each year when Buck Iron, the foundry where my father worked swing shift for much of my childhood, opened its doors. The blackness of the interior–everything metal, everything dark–underscored the seriousness of the work. I was delighted to touch the controls of the crane that lifted scrap metal, but it was also clear that this day was special: the one day of the year when the doors were open and the outside light came in. Other days, men died, and I knew my own father had scars–on his forearm, on his inner thing–from work. Though he showered at work, his clothes were often so dirty that us kids were assigned the task of beating them, away from the backdoor so we didn’t track the dirt back inside, before they could be put in the washing machine. In this painting, I see men working together, proud of their effort, but risking their lives.

Our family is taking time daily to pray about the current global health crisis. Our prayers will likely reference the Christian tradition, but we’ve written with an ecumenical and agnostic audience in mind.

If you’d like us to pray for you, let us know. If you’d like us to write a prayer for you or for a concern you have and share it here, just ask. You don’t have to share your name if you don’t want to, and we won’t share it or any other identifying details about you here or elsewhere.

Today, we are focusing our prayer on people who are pregnant, those who have recently lost pregnancies, those who struggle with infertility, those with young children, and all the people who love and care for them.

Today we think of people who are pregnant, those who have recently lost pregnancies, those who struggle with infertility, those with young children, and all the people who love and care for them.We think of mothers and fathers soon-to-be, who recently are, and who yearn to be. We remember the people who love them–their children, their parents, their partners, and their friends. We think of the doctors, midwives, doulas, and many others who care for them. We especially lift up those who do not have the social or medical support they need as they face scary times without the strong care of a community or  healthcare, as well as those experiencing high risk or complicated pregnancies. We pray for them strength. 

We pray for those we don’t know. We pray for those we do, including [names of people who are pregnant, have recently lost pregnancies, who wish they were pregnant or had children, or are new parents, and those who care for them, including ourselves]. We hope for them calm minds, clear thinking, healthy bodies, and peace of heart.

We hope for assurance for all people with pregnancy and babies and young children on their hearts and minds that the fears they have are normal, and that, if their fears, depression, anxiety, or anger are too much for them to carry, they are not too much for others to carry for them. Our prayer is that they allow others to share their burdens, physical, mental, and emotional.

We receive a gift when others ask us for comfort and assurance. We are thankful for the gift of vulnerability that others share with us when they invite us into their lives and ask for our care. We seek to be worthy of that gift always.

Above, Hope II (1907) by Gustav Klimt. A pregnant woman bows her head, Three women at her feet also bows their head in prayer. Are they are in a posture of prayer? Of grief? Both? A small skull near her abdomen reminds us of the dangers of pregnancy, childbirth, and infancy, but the rich colors and patterns on her robe remind us of the beauty of the world. Klimt called the painting Vision but because it continues themes from another painting of a pregnant woman titled Hope, it is known as Hope II. Even this reminds us that the whole world is pregnant with possibility.

Our family is taking time daily to pray about the current global health crisis. Our prayers will likely reference the Christian tradition, but we’ve written with an ecumenical and agnostic audience in mind.

If you’d like us to pray for you, let us know. If you’d like us to write a prayer for you or for a concern you have and share it here, just ask. You don’t have to share your name if you don’t want to, and we won’t share it or any other identifying details about you here or elsewhere.

Today, we are focusing our prayer on people who struggle with addiction, substance abuse or misuse, and controlling behaviors. People speak differently about their own experiences with unwanted behaviors, such as misusing or abusing alcohol or drugs, struggles around food, struggles with gaming, gambling, and shopping, and self-harm, as well as restrictions on behavior, such as eating, that they do not wish to engage in. We honor the language they use to speak about themselves and aspire to use language that recognizes their dignity, their individual experiences, and their right to describe their lives in language of their choosing.

Today we think of those who struggle with behaviors they do not want to engage in. We think of those who struggle against alcohol or drug abuse and misuse; those who struggle with eating disorders; those who struggle with gambling, gaming, shopping, or other socially acceptable hobbies that present a problem for them; those who live with obsessive compulsive disorder; those who struggle with harmful restrictions and other self-destructive behaviors; and those who, in the words of the apostle Paul, may feel that they “do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” We lift up people at every stage in the journey of recognition and recovery.

We pray for those we don’t know. We pray for those we do, including [names of people we know struggle against unwanted behaviors, including ourselves]. We pray for all those who love and care for them, too, including their friends, family members, roommates, physicians, therapists, and support partners. We pray for the people who love them to be strong, encouraging, and patient.

We pray for everyone who is currently without access to the care and support they need. Our hope is that they find it. We pray for them to find wells of unknown inner strength, to be able to practice thoughts and beliefs that affirm their dignity and the dignity of others, and to practice compassion for themselves. We pray for them peace of heart; calm, wise minds; emotional regulation; physical ease; and pleasure and joy that reinforce choices that support their health. We pray for people who stumble to “bounce forward,” to be gracious to themselves as they continue their hard work. Our hope for them is that they always find the arms of others to lift them up, hold them, and carrying them, even when others cannot be physically near.

We are thankful for people who model resilience and courage for us.

Above, Monet’s Poppy Field, Giverny (1890/1891). This is one of four canvases he painted of the poppies near his home. Sometimes you can see the individual flowers, and sometimes they blend together. I think there is something comforting about this painting–the mix of distinct and indistinct flowers and trees, the sense that the poppies return each year and this moment is one season of a longer story.

Many national organizations devoted to recovery hold online meetings. While they are not for everyone, if you find them helpful, consider participating in one. Other organizations offer hotlines for you to get help even in the moment of a crisis.

AA online: https://www.onlinegroupaa.org/

NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness) is currently offering support by text for people struggling with mental illness, including emotional dysregulation or self-harm: Text NAMI to 741741.

Our family is taking time daily to pray about the current global health crisis. Our prayers will likely reference the Christian tradition, but we’ve written with an ecumenical and agnostic audience in mind.

If you’d like us to pray for you, let us know. If you’d like us to write a prayer for you or for a concern you have and share it here, just ask. You don’t have to share your name if you don’t want to, and we won’t share it or any other identifying details about you here or elsewhere.

Today, we are focusing our prayer on people who immigrants.

Today we think of people who are immigrants, those who are far from their home and miss it, those who struggle in a new place and those who embrace it, and those who are far from familiar places and scared. We think especially of immigrants oppressed by systems of injustice, including those imprisoned in US detention centers and those children who have been lost in the US immigration system.

We pray for those we don’t know. We pray for those we do, including [names of immigrants we know, for ourselves if we are immigrants, and for immigrants in specific detention centers]. We pray they have peace. We hope for them safety, security, healing, and confidence that they are loved and remembered. We pray for those who care for them and about them.

We pray, too, for those who oppress them, that they would immediately and unconditionally change their hearts and their ways toward justice, regardless of the cost. And when we have violated the dignity of immigrants and been complicit in their abuse or benefited from it, we seek to accept responsibility for making our wrongdoings right. We seek a just world, one in which the vulnerabilities of immigrants are embraced and not exploited.

We are thankful for immigrants and grateful for all who support them.

Above, Lance Canales and the Flood perform Woody Gutherie’s Deportees, written about a 1948 plane crash of braceros–Mexican workers legally in the US to meet the demand for labor–being forced back to Mexico. When the plane crash, the New York Times reported the names of the pilot, guard, and flight attendant but did not list the laborers killed. Canales lists and names the dead. If you are unsure of who to pray for, pray for them, their children and grandchildren, their friends, and every American who ate the food they planted, grew, and picked.