Here’s another new coronavirus prayer, to help support and encourage you during the continuing crisis.
Lord, despite everything,
all the upheaval and demands of recent months,
today we want to say thank you,
to express our gratitude for the good things we too easily overlook,
for though life hasn’t always been easy during this crisis,
and though there continues to be so much that challenges and disturbs,
there remains so much to celebrate.
Thank you for family and friends,
for their love and support,
their care and concern,
that makes life so special.
Thank you for our homes,
and, if we are fortunate enough to have them, our gardens –
places we can relax in,
and in which we can self-isolate and feel safe.
Thank you for those whose labours have kept us supplied with food,
and with other essentials,
during this testing time,
without whom life would have been chaotic indeed,
all but impossible to get through.
Thank you for those who staff our hospitals –
doctors and nurses,
surgeons, consultants,
support staff in a host of different roles,
their dedicated care,
often at significant risk to themselves,
having seen so many through this disease,
meaning the difference between life and death.
Thank you for volunteers –
those who are offering their time and energy to shop,
deliver drugs,
and provide essentials for those most in need.
Thank you for postal workers,
delivery drivers,
supermarket staff,
utility workers,
public transport personnel
and teachers –
all those classed as key workers who continue with their jobs,
despite the potential threat these pose to their health.
Thank you for measures taken by government to try to contain,
and finally defeat,
this pandemic –
not perhaps always as clear as we would like,
or as effective as we might hope,
but nonetheless saving countless lives.
Thank you for economic decisions taken,
attempting to ensure that the wages,
and livelihoods,
of as many as possible are protected,
and that people still have a future to look forward to
when all this is finally over.
Thank you for all those many people who are there for us,
just when we need them most;
that at a time of so much bad,
there is yet so much good,
to challenge,
and inspire,
and celebrate.
For it all, Lord,
from the bottom of our hearts,
thank you.
Amen.