On March 20, 2020, the Regional Executive Ministers Council and National Executive Council issued a call to prayer:
Call to Prayer
During this time of concern and uncertainty, the members of the National Executive Council and the members of the Regional Executive Ministers Council are calling American Baptists to a time of prayer for 21 days beginning on March 21, 2020 and ending on April 11, 2020. During this time we are asking for American Baptists to pray for the recovery and healing of persons effected by COVID-19.
We also invite you to share resources, prayers, litanies, poems, etc. (no more than 300 words), by sending them to ABCUSA Director of Communications, Bridget Lipin at Bridget.Lipin@abc-usa.org.
Contributions will be posted at www.abc-usa.org/21daysofprayer.
Our goal is to harness the power of prayer during this global pandemic as well as deepen our individual and common spiritual lives as American Baptists. Our collected prayers and witness will remind our communities and neighbors that our faith will sustain us and give us hope.
As we always ask, please be respectful of one another as you share information.
Grace and Peace,
Members of the National Executive Council and the Regional Executive Ministers Council
For Worship Resources, see below.
For Prayer requests that churches and individuals lift up, click here.
For additional Coronavirus Resources and updates from across the denomination, click here.
Worship Resources
Go and Wake Jesus – submitted by Rev. Dr. James E. McJunkin Jr., Regional Executive Pastor of the Philadelphia Baptist Association
Restore Us, O God – A Prayer, submitted by General Secretary Emeritus Rev. Dr. A Roy Medley
Stir up your might,
And come to save us,
Restore us, O God;
Let your face shine,
That we might be saved.
-Psalm 80: 2b-3
O Lord, our God,
With the Psalmist we pray,
“Stir up thy might,
And come to save us.
Restore us, O God;
Let thy face shine,
That we might be saved.”
From the rising of the sun to the setting of the same,
We cry out,
“Stir up thy might,
And come to save us.
Restore us, O God;
Let thy face shine,
That we might be saved.”
From great cities and hidden villages,
We cry out,
“Stir up thy might,
And come to save us.
Restore us, O God;
Let thy face shine,
That we might be saved.”
From East, West, North and South,
Thy children cry out,
“Stir up thy might,
And come to save us.
Restore us, O God;
Let thy face shine,
That we might be saved.”
O Lord, the weight of this pandemic is too heavy to bear.
The sight of the suffering fills our hearts with sorrow.
The cries of the bereaved linger on our ears.
The despair of those bereft of sustenance and shelter
Covers us like darkness.
To thee, O Christ who art love,
To thee, O God who art our Father,
To thee, O Holy Spirit, who art our consolation
To thee, most holy, most merciful, Three in One,
“Stir up thy might,
And come to save us.
Restore us, O God;
Let thy face shine,
That we might be saved.”
Amen.
Opening Prayer submitted by Marie Onwubuariri, Executive Minister of ABC of Wisconsin
(for virtual worship/sermon or bible study, inspired by Ephesians 4 and COVID-19 social distancing)
Oh God, who knows my thoughts and my intent,
Stir me to an awareness of your presence
in this space
where it is only me and mine
Open my ears, my heart, my will
to your Word
to your words of refocusing. re-minding
words of mending
By your Spirit turn me upward-outward
connecting me and mine beyond this space
to an awareness of You
of her, him, them
….of US…
Ah – your Spirit is not contained
Yes, your Spirit is NOT contained
nor am I
because of ekklesia
ec-cle-si-a
Ache – less – see – you
Ah – your Spirit is mending,
minding our awareness toward one another
holding us together, even if ever so delicately
You have our attention, God.
Shape our thoughts and our intent.
This is our prayer.
In the name of your Son, who has suffered and won.
Amen.
Prayer submitted by Min. Harriett Pratt, First Calvary Baptist Church, Durham N.C.
Heavenly Father,
You are God, our Protector and our Healer.
I pray for all the nations and people during this global pandemic, struggling to recover from sickness, jobless, and all that’s going on right now. Help those not to feel hopelessness, but to put theirs trust in Your son, Jesus the Christ and to look to Your Word for guidance. Lord, You are with us in the midst of suffering and hopelessness and brokenness. Your love will never be shaken and Your covenant of peace will remain.
Lord, I pray that Your love and peace will come to them and that they will come to know that You are the one true God and Savior.
Jesus is our Savoir, Protector and Healer. Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Amen.
Prayer submitted by: Rev. Judy Fackenthal, Pastor, Garfield Park Baptist Church, Indianapolis, and ABC President, 2016-2017
Psalm 23-Redo
The Lord is my Leader,
Whom I’ll follow as faithfully as possible.
My leader guides me where I can rest in peace despite fear and terror that seeks to creep in.
My leader quenches my thirsty soul that longs for a sip of hope and courage during this Coronavirus pandemic.
Yes, I walk through the valley of social isolation, health scares and financial loss…
AND…I don’t need to fear.
Why, you ask?
Because the Lord, my Leader is with me!
The Lord defends and protects me in ways I never imagined.
Yes, these are trying times. Yes, my life and yours have changed-possibly forever.
AND…God has prepared a table of generous and abundant blessings for us-right smack in the face of this pandemic.
Our lives really do overflow with good, like: hope, love, friendships, family, a caring congregation, and the grace of Christ our Lord.
So, we dwell in the Realm of our Leader forever and ever. Amen.
Prayer Co-submitted by: Rev. Lauren Ng, Director of Leadership Empowerment, ABHMS and Rev. Dr. Don Ng, Retired Senior Pastor, First Chinese Baptist Church, San Francisco and ABC President, 2014-2015
Creator God, the one who brought all the swirling planets together to sustain life on earth, you also made a magnificent variety of people to reflect your incredible and unlimited imagination. Before we were able to encounter this diversity, we developed a sinful image of ourselves that we alone are superior. Forgive us for our pride that denigrate others who are not like us.
We are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that most people around the world have not witnessed in their lifetimes. O God, calm our fears of contracting the virus and embolden our commitment to care for others, especially those who are most at risk economically, politically, and physically. We pray for our leaders to provide the necessary safety net for all to persevere during this time of national and global crisis.
O God, when we are frightened by this invisible virus threat, we can be tempted to look for causes and explanations to try and settle our nerves or create an artificial sense of being in control. Teach us that with the COVID-19 virus, it is sinful to scapegoat and stigmatize Asians and Asian Americans. Protect our children from being bullied at school and in our neighborhoods. Give us a voice to speak up against xenophobia that targets any group of people, for you have lovingly made us all in your own image.
Lord, we believe that this pandemic—while disruptive and disconcerting—will surely pass. We pray that as American Baptists who have been blessed immeasurably in our diversity, we will stand together as your beloved community to bear witness to your amazing creativity on earth and in heaven.
In the name of Christ Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Solidarity Prayer for a Pandemic – shared by interfaith community in Rhode Island
May we who are merely inconvenienced
remember those whose lives are at stake.
May we who have no risk factors
remember those most vulnerable.
May we who have the luxury of working from home
remember those who must choose between preserving their health or making their rent.
May we who have the flexibility to care for our children when their schools close
remember those who have no options.
May we who have to cancel our trips
remember those that have no place to go.
May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market
remember those who have no margin at all.
May we who settle in for a quarantine at home
remember those who have no home.
During this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other,
let us yet find ways to be the loving embrace of God to our neighbors.
Amen.
Prayer written by Rev. Dr. Cheryl F. Dudley, Regional Executive Minister of the American Baptist Churches of Metropolitan New York:
Crown of Life,
We praise You, O God as the source of all life, and the sustainer of our lives. You are the One who subdues our anxieties that threaten to take center stage, when we allow You to be the Holy life-giving center we need and desire. We desire to not be motivated by our fears, but by our love for You. Your servant in the 23rd psalm said, “Yea though I walk through the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” As it was true then for the psalmist, let it also be true for us now, to know that when death stalks us, because You are with us, our fears will not overpower us.
Help us, Crown of Life, to live our lives in faith, that amidst partially true declarations or limited and changing “facts,” knowing that through You, we will overcome the world. Holy Crown, cast away this current corona of death. Send it into the abyss that absorbs all that is unholy and unhealthy to our bodies and our souls!
May we not be afraid to think of and act on behalf of neighbors who also need protection, some of whom may knowingly or unknowingly been infected, yet need affection, care and sisterly and brotherly compassion. Show us, O Shepherd, how to serve one another, and to do it gladly. Give us the courage to do what is “meet and right.” May our will subside to Your will, O Lover of our Soul.
Help us to cast aside our drive to simply survive, so we might imagine ourselves instead fully thriving in the company of the faithful, and all of creation. May Your Grace make it so! Save us from the selfishness of desperately hoarding goods, gathered only for the benefit of ourselves and the ones we love the most, yet puts the needs of many others in jeopardy. In this abundant land, there is more than enough! Help us to know that truth in the depth of our beings.
Keep us mindful at all times of the precious connected nature of our lives with the lives of every other – human and other living beings in this world that You have created for us all to dwell.
Bless us with irrational hope, undaunting faith, inscrutable stewardship, unwavering compassion for community, persistence in peace, prudence in the way we live and move in the world, justice intertwined with mercy, and the wisdom and knowledge of knowing that our lives are much more than dust.
In the name of Jesus, whom we adore and as we now serve in the company of kindred disciples, prophets, teachers and celebrants of faith, we pray, Amen.
Prayer attributed to Andrew Timothy Gray and offered by Rev. Dr. Pamela Morse, Sugarloaf Christian Ministries, Carrabassett Valley, Maine:
May we who are merely inconvenienced
Remember those whose lives are at stake.
May we who have no risk factors
Remember those most vulnerable.
May we who have the luxury of working from home
Remember those who must choose between preserving their health or making their rent.
May we who have the flexibility to care for our children when their schools close
Remember those who have no options.
May we who have to cancel our trips
Remember those that have no place to go.
May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market
Remember those who have no margin at all.
May we who settle in for a quarantine at home
Rememberers those who have no home.
During this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other,
Let us find ways to be the loving embrace of God to our neighbors.
A litany for a time of unknown surrounding coronavirus
Written by the Rev. Florence Li, national coordinator for Asian Ministries, Intercultural Ministries, American Baptist Home Mission Societies
Leader: O living God, we are disturbed by the spread of coronavirus and the many lives that have been lost and disrupted by it. We are in sorrow and disbelief regarding the lives that are being threatened due to its spread.
People: O living God, we pray for the loved ones of those who have lost their lives. We pray for those who are in recovery. We pray for the medical staffs who tend to them.
Leader: O living God, we acknowledge our lack of understanding of this disease, and the fear of frailty in human life. We lament blaming others for the cause of this disease.
People: O living God, help us to understand the majestic power of your creation. Forgive us if we have wrongly accused others of bringing forth this disease.
Leader: O living God, open our eyes that we may see your glory through the suffering, the healing, the recovery and the renewing.
People: O living God, hold us in truth as we practice loving our neighbors as we love ourselves, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.
Unison: O living God, instill in us clean hearts. Guide us as we live through this period of fear, so that we are spreading “faith” instead of spreading this “virus.”
Consider the following prayer to be used with the litany or as an alternative:
O Merciful God, in a time of unknowingness, fear and lack of knowledge regarding the origins of coronavirus, we come to you with open arms, welcoming people from all other places, acknowledging our human frailty and our need for your healing power.
O God, we pray for the loss of life, for those who care for the sick and ask for recovery to those in need of healing.
We pray for the cure of this disease and restoration of health.
We praise you, O God, in time of trouble and confusion; you have reminded us that you are our loving God and Savior.
Help us to spread Christian faith as we seek your truth and love each day. We pray in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.