A New Morning: Prayers in the Pandemic

In the months immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, I was spending every Saturday morning volunteering at the local hospital as a spiritual care volunteer. I checked in on patients and, if they so desired, prayed with them. Praying with others, praying for others, was one of the most spiritually fulfilling things I had ever done. It was both humbling and uplifting and it felt like I was finally responding to the call God had placed in my heart. And then the pandemic hit, and the hospital asked the volunteers to stay at home. And yet, I still felt called to pray. So I started writing prayers every morning, early when it was still dark. I wrote the prayers for me, initially. I wrote the words that I needed to hear that day. And then I posted them online, figuring that others might need to hear those same words. I did this for fifty days in a row. This book is a compilation of those prayers. I've entitled the book A New Morning: Prayers in the Pandemic, but they are not specific to this one moment in history. Think of pandemic as a metaphor. Think of pandemic as the seasons of doubt and fear that plague all of us at one time or another in our lives. These are prayers for those moments, when we most need God, when we need to be reminded that we are loved in ways we cannot even begin to imagine. These are prayers of hope. They are prayers of promise. Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Let this be a new morning for all of us.