Where are you God?
Why must we endure another day of this?
Our bodies decline,
we move slower than we did,
and we feel that movement in ways that
we never did before.
Hear our cries for those in need of healing,
heed our yearnings for those struggling with addiction,
and who stray far from your loving realm.
Hear us in the silence of this once bustling sanctuary.
Hear our hope in your healing goodness,
your presence of peace and acceptance.
[TIME OF SILENCE]
Where are you Holy One?
Why must so many suffer?
What has happened to the world?
Where is the order that we remember from the past.
Why do you taunt us?
Why keep our memories intact,
and slow to retrieve,
if only to see all we worked for,
all in which we found comfort,
and meaning become a shadows?
Hear our confusion about,
hear our yearnings for,
as we trust that your eye is on the sparrow.
Hear us in the silence.
[TIME OF SILENCE]
Where are the leaders for today?
Those who would give us hope?
We recall the days of our youth.
The days of activity, of optimism, and hope.
We remember them in detail,
the many past leaders of the church,
of your church, God!
Why have you seen fit to leave us,
without those like Van, Ron, or Vic, or Holly? [insert names as appropriate]
Our bodies and hearts ache for
so many who have gone before,
so many who led us to greatness in your name.
[TIME OF SILENCE]
Where are the leaders for today?
Why must we endure this pessimism?
Why must Washington bicker?
Why don’t the young and even many of our cohort find meaning where we do?
Why don’t you give us hope for the future,
allowing us to enjoy our last years in peace?
It is as if you’ve hidden a road from us.
Why is that road closed?
What are you thinking, God?
[TIME OF SILENCE]
Still, we trust in you.
Though we don’t understand,
we know that you have a plan,
a plan for us filled with hope.
We know that,
though this place,
these people,
and this time appears to be in decline,
we know that you offer us opportunities,
to be your church,
to grow and change,
as individuals and as a community.
We trust in your wisdom that those things,
that we don’t understand,
those aches of heart and hearth,
will ultimately come together for your good.
And, so, trusting in your wisdom,
we turn to the prayer Jesus taught us.
We pray those ancient words
that give us comfort
and that challenge us to be
who you dream we can be,
[Close with the Lord’s Prayer.]
Tim is a runner, a hiker, a devoted husband, a father of two adult children, and their spouses, and a grandfather of four perfect children. A former early childhood educator, Tim is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He has served as pastor of both Disciples and United Church of Christ congregations. As we enter what we hope is the final phase of the pandemic, Tim is beginning a journey of rediscovering himself and discerning next steps. He writes from his home in Albany, Oregon and wherever the Spirit lures him.
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