More than any previous year I have noticed this time around a rush to the holidays. Get your turkey early, they say. Shop now while there are still gifts, they say. Supply chain crisis, they say. Christmas music in November. Is your tree up yet? It isn’t even Thanksgiving.
The truth behind this lies in our collective exhaustion with pandemic life. We are tired of fear, we are tired of being angry with one another, we are tired of loss and grief, we are tired of being so completely and utterly tired.
And so, we distract ourselves with a sense of giddy celebration, the possibility of miracles and joyful celebration. And we get angry with anything or anyone that gets in our way.
Reality, though, is your friend.
Let us pray prayers that ground us in reality, in what actually is possible, in what is good and holy. Prayers of action.
Let’s pray that we count our blessings, every day, honestly acknowledging the true immensity of the gifts we have received, as well as the hardships and grief.
Let’s pray that we are generous. We know there is a world of struggle and need. Let’s give of our substance and not of our extras. Let’s see people as neighbors and not as needs or problems.
Let us pray for compassion. We cannot know the reason behind the decisions people make, how they have become who they are, why we can’t understand their choices. So let’s offer everyone an equal gift of compassion, regardless of who they are, their perceived bad choices, or whether we think they are likable. Everyone deserves our compassion. Everyone.
Let’s pray for a sense of abundance. We have a choice in how we see the world, our lives, our needs and wants. Let’s choose to see abundance.
Let us pray for peace, in our hearts, in our lives, in our worshiping communities, in our neighborhoods and in our world. The implication of this is that we are working toward the peace we long for.
Let us pray to cultivate joy. To make this a daily spiritual practice. Not to be unrealistic, not to be happy, but to find the joy we are offered in our daily lives.
Let us pray for those whose lives are so hard that any of this seems impossible.
Let’s pray for the courage and constancy to work for these things every minute of every day to the honor and glory of our Creator.
Amen