Day 119: A Week of Prayer for Our Nation in Crisis - A Prayer for Our Country

DAY 119

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Seventeen – Saturday 11 July 2020

A WEEK OF PRAYER FOR OUR NATION IN CRISIS

A Prayer for our Country

Almighty God, who has given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly ask you that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of your favor and glad to do your will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought here out of many ethnicities and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in your Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to your law, we may show forth your praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, do not allow our trust in you to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. - The Book of Common Prayer: Prayers for the National Life

Praying for a country is never easy: I find my prayers lapsing into partisan petitions believing them to be right. Are they? A clue for me is that when I do pray partisan prayers, I find myself literally getting viscerally upset, angry and feeling helpless and hopeless when it comes to the future of this county I love. I need to find a deeper place of intercession that abandons temporal partisan prayers and pray instead “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” To want His will to be done on earth is to want His will in this nation and in my heart. During times of difficult prayer, we confess ‘we don’t know how to pray as we should, so we ask the Holy Spirit to intercede through us because He knows what we don’t know: God’s will.’ Romans 8:26-27.

Reflective question: What is your number one prayer for our nation? Hang on to it and pray it every day.

Reflective Scripture: 2 Chronicles 7:14 – “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Reflective hymn:

“If My People’s Hearts are Humbled” – Clair Cloninger (1942-2019)

If my people’s hearts are humbled, if they pray and seek my face;

If they turn away from evil I will not withhold my grace.

I will hear their prayers from heaven; I will pardon every sin.

If my people’s hearts are humbled, I will surely heal their land.

Day 118: A Week of Prayer for Our Nation in Crisis - For Prisons and Correctional Institutions

DAY 118

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Seventeen – Friday 10 July 2020

A WEEK OF PRAYER FOR OUR NATION IN CRISIS

For Prisons and Correctional Institutions

“Lord Jesus, for our sake you were condemned as a criminal: Visit our jails and prisons with your pity and judgment. Remember all prisoners, and bring the guilty to repentance and amendment of life according to your will, and give them hope for their future. When any are held unjustly, bring them release; forgive us, and teach us to improve our justice. Remember those who work in these institutions; keep them humane and compassionate; and save them from becoming brutal or callous. And since what we do for those in prison, O Lord, we do for you, constrain us to improve their lot. All this we ask for your mercy’s sake. Amen. - The Book of Common Prayer: Prayers for the Social Order

Two concerns currently face us as a nation when it comes to our prison system:

First, the COVID-19 pandemic is ravaging our prisons. A recent newspaper article titled, “The Coronavirus Crisis Inside Prisons” recounts that “Currently, the nation’s top five Covid-19 hot spots are all correctional facilities ... . The situation inside the nations jails and prisons amid the COVID-19 pandemic has become the stuff of nightmares …”  No matter the crime or the time, all are subjected now to a potential death sentence. Our only recourse is to write appropriate elected officials requesting release of those convicted of non-violent crimes with short terms.  

Second, the poor and people of color continue to be disproportionately sent to prison, with some innocent but lacking the means to appeal. See the resources below for more information.

Resources

Prison Fellowship founded by the late Chuck Colson: prisonfellowship.org

Innocence Project focuses on freeing innocent prisoners: innocenceproject.org

“Just Mercy” – 2019 true movie paralleling work of Innocence Project. Multiple online sources.   

Reflective question: Will you pray about what the Lord might have you do regarding the above?

Reflective Scripture: Matthew 25:36 – “‘… I was in prison and you came to visit me.’” Jesus

Reflective hymn:

“Till All the Jails are Empty” – Carl Daw (1944-    )

Till all the jails are empty and all the bellies filled;

Till no one hurts or steals or lies, and no more blood is spilled;

Till age and race and gender no longer separate;

Till pulpit, press, and politics are free of greed and hate: God has work for us to do.

Day 117: A Week of Prayer for Our Nation in Crisis - For the Oppressed

DAY 117

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Seventeen – Thursday 9 July 2020

A WEEK OF PRAYER FOR OUR NATION IN CRISIS

For the Oppressed

Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. - The Book of Common Prayer: Prayers for the Social Order

I missed her for several Sundays so I gave her a call. “Evalina, I’ve been missing you in church. How are you?” I asked. There was silence. “Tell me what’s going on.” I knew why she had stopped coming, but I wanted her to tell me. Finally, she said it: “I don’t want white folks to come to the church and not come back because they see a black person there.” “Evalina,” I said, “any white person who comes here and, seeing you in the congregation doesn’t come back is someone I don’t want in this church anyway.” She cried and was back in her pew the next Sunday.    

This was in a city where the KKK held a march downtown our first summer there, where the blacks live in a poor part of town that is a food desert, where the elite country clubs still do not admit blacks, and where some churches train their greeters to direct blacks to another church should they arrive at the door. Current protests for racial equality have their basis in reality.

And what about native Americans, oppressed and dispossessed from day one, and millions of Hispanics in our midst? We live in a broken world populated by broken people. And lest we miss the point, Jesus didn’t come for nice people who just needed a bit of freshening up: it took God on a cross to address our sinful nature which exhibits its worst when it turns on other human beings because of who they are and treats them as less. John 3:16 is a blanket that covers us all. May God have mercy on us as a nation at this time of social unrest and bring lasting change.

Reflective question: WWJD? Perhaps with all that is going on it is time to ask the question again.

Reflective Scripture: Romans 12:21 - “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Reflective hymn:

“Goodness is Stronger than Evil” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1931-    )

Goodness is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate;

Light is stronger than darkness; life is stronger than death.

Victory is ours; victory is ours through God who loves us.

Day 116: A Week of Prayer for Our Nation in Crisis - For Cities

DAY 116

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Seventeen – Wednesday 8 July 2020

A WEEK OF PRAYER FOR OUR NATION IN CRISIS

For Cities

Heavenly Father, in your Word you have given us a vision of that holy city to which the nations of the world bring their glory: Behold and visit, we pray, the cities of the earth. Renew the ties of mutual regard which form our civic life. Send us honest and able leaders. Enable us to eliminate poverty, prejudice, and oppression, that peace may prevail with righteousness, and justice with order, and that men and women from different cultures and with differing talents may find with one another the fulfillment of their humanity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. - The Book of Common Prayer: Prayers for the Social Order

“Our Cities Cry to You”

Our cities cry to you, O God, from out their pain and strife;

You made us for yourself alone, but we choose alien life.

Our goals are pleasure, gold and power, injustice stalks our earth;

In vain we seek for rest, for joy, for sense of human worth.

Yet still you walk our streets, O Christ, we know your presence here,                                            

Where humble Christians love and serve in godly grace and fear.                                                            O Word made flesh, be seen in us! May all we say and do,                                                                    

Affirm you God Incarnate still and turn sad hearts to you.

Your people are your hands and feet to serve your world today,

Our lives the book our cities read to help them find their way.

O pour your sovereign Spirit out on heart and will and brain;

Inspire your Church with love and power to ease our cities’ pain!                                                              

O healing Savior, Prince of Peace, salvation’s Source and Sum,                                                              

For you our broken cities cry – O come, Lord Jesus come!                                                           

With truth your royal diadem, with righteousness your rod,                                                               

O come, Lord Jesus, bring to earth, the City of our God!                                                                                           

- Margaret Clarkson (1915-2008) © 1987 Hope Publishing Company 

As riots and protests mark and mar our cities once again, may the prayer above and the text of this hymn, also a prayer, guide our praying for the cities of this great nation of ours, that healing and hope, civility and conversation, respect and relationships and change may emerge from it all.

Reflective question: Will you ask God to put one city in your heart and then pray for it daily?

Reflective Scripture: Luke 19:41 – “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it.”

Day 115: A Week of Prayer for Our Nation in Crisis - For Those in the Armed Forces of Our Country

DAY 115

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Seventeen – Tuesday 7 July 2020

A WEEK OF PRAYER FOR OUR NATION IN CRISIS

For Those in the Armed Forces of Our Country

Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at home and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. - The Book of Common Prayer: Prayers for National Life

“In many ways, the religious affairs team attempts to encounter this new level of anxiety in which basic and previously held assumptions are challenged due to the sudden shift in conditions. The new normal shows that resilience and perseverance have become sacrosanct.” - A military chaplain on the pandemic from a Department of Defense web site

Out of sight and out of mind – our nation’s military are still staying the course in the midst of the triple sources of stress that affect us all: the pandemic, the economic downturn, and political and social chaos. It would be unrealistic to think they are not also being affected by it all, and the mental health issues rising in the general population are also rising within the military. “A new level of anxiety” according to the military chaplain quoted above, requires commitment to “resilience and perseverance,” qualities we pray for, for them and for ourselves.

Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address on March 4^th 1865, in addition to addressing veterans, their widows and orphans, is a clarion call to us today in our deeply divided nation: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”       

Reflective question: Do you know someone in active duty military? Let them know you are praying for them.

Reflective Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:4 – “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”

Reflective hymn:

“Eternal Father, Strong to Save” – William Whiting (1825-1878)

O Trinity of love and power, our brethren shield from danger’s hour;

From rock and tempest, fire and foe, protect them whereso’er they go,

Thus evermore shall rise to Thee glad praise from air and land and sea.

Day 114: A Week of Prayer for Our Nation in Crisis - A Prayer for Social Justice

DAY 114

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Seventeen – Monday 6 July 2020

A WEEK OF PRAYER FOR OUR NATION IN CRISIS

A Prayer for Social Justice

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, and especially the hearts of the people of this land, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions be healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. - The Book of Common Prayer: Prayers for the Social Order

“Commissioners and advisory delegates to the 224^th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA meeting in Baltimore, Maryland the last week of June 2020, say it’s time for the church to step up and act during these times of racial injustice and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Assembly devoted nearly five hours of one day debating the church’s response during these national and international crises … . We believe the work of attending to the pain, suffering, and long-standing oppression of our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) siblings in Christ is central to our work of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” - From a news release from the Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA

    

In the 2008 movie “Changeling,” John Malkovich plays the Rev. Gustave Briegleb, the pastor of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. The other primary role in this movie produced by Clint Eastwood is played by Angelina Jolie. Set in Los Angeles in 1928, it tells the true story of ruthless corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department and a horrendous crime they tried to cover up. It was this courageous Presbyterian pastor who single-handedly led the exposure of both corruption and crime. I left the theater thinking that this was a demonstration of one of our strengths in the Presbyterian Church USA. Whether it was Rev. Briegleb in 1928 or our own General Assembly this month, zeal for social righteousness “is central to our work of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Pray again the prayer above: what does it say to you personally?  

Reflective question: Will you watch the movie “Changeling” and ask the Lord what He wants you to learn from it in terms of your relationship with things that are wrong in our community?

Reflective Scripture: Proverbs 18:5 – “It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the innocent of justice.”

Reflective hymn:

“God of Grace and God of Glory” – Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969)

Set our feet on lofty places; gird our lives that they may be

Armored with all Christ-like graces in the fight to set men free.

Grant us wisdom; grant us courage; that we fail not man nor thee.

Day 113: A Week of Prayer for Our Nation in Crisis - A Litany for Sound Government

DAY 113

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Seventeen – Sunday 5 July 2020

A WEEK OF PRAYER FOR OUR NATION IN CRISIS

A LITANY FOR SOUND GOVERNMENT

O Lord, our Governor, bless the leaders of our land, that we may be a people

at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations of the earth.

Lord, keep this nation under your care.

To the President and members of the Cabinet to Governors of states, Mayors of cities, and

to all in administrative authority, grant wisdom and grace in the exercise of their duties.

Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

To Senators and Representatives, and those who make our laws in States, Cities, and Towns,

give courage, wisdom, and foresight to provide for the needs of all our people,

and to fulfill our obligations in the community of nations.

Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

To the Judges and officers of our Courts give understanding and integrity,

that human rights may be safeguarded and justice served.

Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

And finally, teach our people to rely on your strength and to accept their

responsibilities to their fellow citizens,

that they may elect trustworthy leaders

and make wise decisions for the well-being of our society;

that we may serve you faithfully in our generation and honor your holy Name.

For yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Amen.

- The Book of Common Prayer: Prayers for National Life

God’s Word calls us to specific and explicit prayer - that is not a suggestion - and has a reason attached to it: “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayer, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” 1 Timothy 2:1-2.  We have done this today, above, and we will continue to engage in focused prayer for our nation all this week following the 4^th of July.

Reflective question: Will you obey God’s Word and pray every day this week for elected leaders?

Reflective Scripture: Matthew 20:30 – “’Lord, have mercy on us …’”

Reflective hymn:

“Kyrie Eleison – Lord, Have Mercy” -   Since the 6^th century sung as a prayer.

Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy on us.

DAY 112: A WEEK OF PRAYER FOR OUR NATION IN CRISIS

DAY 112

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Sixteen – Saturday 4 July 2020

INDEPENDENCE DAY

A WEEK OF PRAYER FOR OUR NATION IN CRISIS

A Litany of Thanksgiving, Confession and Petition for the Nation

Almighty God, giver of all good things:

We thank you for the natural majesty and beauty of this land.

They restore us, though we often destroy them.

Heal us.

We thank you for the great resources of this nation.

They make us rich, though we often exploit them.

Forgive us.

We thank you for the men and women who have made this country strong.

They are models for us, though we often fall short of them.

Inspire us.

We thank you for the torch of liberty which has been lit in this land.

It has drawn people from every nation, though we have often hidden from its light.

Enlighten us.

We thank you for the faith we have inherited in all its rich variety.

It sustains our life, though we have been faithless again and again.

Renew us.

Help us, O Lord, to finish the good work here begun. Strengthen our efforts to blot out ignorance and prejudice, and to abolish poverty and crime. And hasten the day when all our people, with many voices in one united chorus, will glorify your holy Name. Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer: Thanksgivings for National Life.

Today we begin a week of prayer for our nation. In whatever country we live, it is right that we pray for it. May the Holy Spirit focus our prayers and turn us into intercessors for this country.

Reflective question: For what do you most want to pray for our nation? Pray it today.

Reflective Scripture: Proverbs 14:34 – “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”

Reflective hymn:

“My Country ‘Tis of Thee” – Samuel Smith (1808-1895)

Our fathers’ God to Thee, Author of liberty to Thee we sing.

Long may our land be bright, with freedom’s holy light;

Protect us with Thy might, Great God, our King!

DAY 111: A Sovereign Intersection

DAY 111

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Sixteen – Friday 3 July 2020

A Sovereign Intersection

“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;

I was found by those who did not seek me.” Isaiah 65:1

It was exactly 61 years ago today, Friday 3 July 1959, when I found myself at a sovereign intersection of the Creator’s doing. Let me back up and tell you how I arrived there.

It was in ninth grade confirmation class at St. James Presbyterian Church in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Tarzana, that our pastor, teaching from the catechism about the resurrection of Jesus, said, “It doesn’t really matter whether Jesus rose from the dead or not – it’s what he taught that’s important.” Something in the core of my being silently cried out, “This can’t be so!”

This triggered in me an intense spiritual search. While remaining active in our Presbyterian church, I explored and studied the cults – LDS, RLDS, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Science, and eastern-based groups and occult groups numerous in number. In addition, an elderly aunt cultivated in me an interest in the occult. I was full of confusing and conflicting beliefs.

The summer I turned 17 my Grandmother, a strong Christian, invited me to her church. I sat and listened nightly – they called it a ‘camp meeting,’ until that Friday night 3 July 1959 when, after hearing a simple yet powerful salvation message, we stood and sang the invitation hymn, “Whiter Than Snow.”  I went forward and knelt, weeping, a huge load deep within lifted. That night four things happened that have marked my life and who I am to this day, 61 years later:

1. Jesus Christ came into my life and has never left, bringing eternal life with Him;
2. Every trace of all cult and occult beliefs were removed from deep within – it was an  instantaneous and permanent deprogramming performed by the Holy Spirit; 
3. I received a clear call to preach and pastor that remains intact to this day;
4. The Bible instantly became and remains a book with life in it every time I read it.

I didn’t know who I was seeking or asking for, but He revealed Himself to me that night.

Reflective question: Is there a sovereign intersection somewhere in your journey?  

Reflective Scripture: John 6:44 – “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, …”

Reflective hymn:

“Whiter Than Snow” – James Nicholson (1825-1876)

Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole;

I want You forever to live in my soul.

Break down every idol; cast out every foe –

now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow;

now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

DAY 110: “Has the Coronavirus Stolen Your Hugs? The Power of Human Touch”

DAY 110

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Sixteen – Thursday 2 July 2020

“Has the Coronavirus Stolen Your Hugs? The Power of Human Touch”

“A Canadian woman was so desperate to hug her mother during quarantine that she created a ‘hug glove’ using a clear tarp with sleeves so the women could hug through the plastic. A video of two young cousins in Kentucky, 8 and 10, hugging and weeping after weeks apart in quarantine was shared thousands of times … . They were so overjoyed they didn’t know how to express themselves, except to cry. This hug shows how powerful the human touch really is.”  A recent newspaper article by the same title.

I knocked and the door opened to reveal a skeleton of a man, his face gaunt, HIV-AIDS taking its relentless daily toll. He had fixed lunch, and I prayed a blessing over it, knowing this was his test of my acceptance of who he was. I wasn’t there because of who he had been or how he had lived, I was there at the request of a church member who knew him because, alienated from the church, he was dying and wondered if there was a pastor anywhere who would befriend him. After we visited, I prayed and rose to leave. At the door as I gave him a hug, I sensed I had crossed his threshold of safety and acceptance. The Lord gave me access to his life up to the hour he died. I conducted his funeral. I believe it all began with that hug. The power of human touch.

The article continues: “Not only do we miss hugs, we need them. Physical affection reduces stress by calming our sympathetic nervous system which during times of stress releases damaging stress hormones … . Affectionate touch is how our biological systems communicate to one another that we are safe, that we are loved, and that we are not alone.”  This casts the Incarnation in a whole new light – the God of the universe taking on a human body that touched and was touched.

Laying on of hands is central to our faith at baptism, confirmation, ordination, and praying for the sick, all reminding us that the God of the universe took on human flesh so he might literally touch others with who He was and with what He came to bring. The power of human touch.

Reflective question: Whose touch do you need just now? Who needs your touch just now?

Reflective Scripture: Matthew 8:3 – “Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man…”

Reflective hymn:

“God, We Sense Your Peace and Power” – Carolyn Gillette © 2017

(Sung to the tune of “Come Thou Fount of every Blessing”)

God, your gift of touch can heal us through a hug or kind embrace.

When we share the peace you give us, it can change us, by your grace.

When we offer prayers for healing, laying hands on those in need,

By your loving, gentle caring, those who hurt are blessed and freed.

DAY 109: “How is COVID-19 Affecting Our Mental Health?”

DAY 109

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Sixteen – Wednesday 1 July 2020

“How is COVID-19 Affecting Our Mental Health?”

“By now, the world is familiar with the physical threat of COVID-19. But the psychological impacts of the pandemic are only just beginning to come into focus. In April, more than one in four U.S. adults met the criteria that psychologists use to diagnose serious mental illness. That represents a roughly 700% increase from data collected in 2018. Meanwhile, roughly 70% of Americans experienced moderate to severe mental distress – triple the rate seen in 2018. … This is a perfect storm for mental health issues. We’re dealing with social isolation, anxiety around health, and economic problems.”  From a current news magazine article by the same name.   

In a previous church, my wife and I ‘team-preached’ a sermon on the relationship between mental health and Christian faith, she for many years a state-licensed professional counselor, LPC, in private practice, and I as someone who had listened for decades to people sharing the private pain of mental health issues attempting to integrate into their Christian faith what wouldn’t go away. I also shared my personal struggles with trying to reconcile and balance my own experiences with depression, medication and my Christian faith. At the end of the service as she and I greeted people at the door a young man in his late 20’s shook my hand, silently put his arms around me in a gentle hug, lowered his head onto my shoulder and just sobbed. He lived with a significant manic-depressive schizophrenic condition, on medication and disability. I felt the weight of his existence on my shoulder, as he without a word indicated what it meant to him to hear someone talk from the pulpit about his own particularly painful journey.          

Yes, we believe that Jesus still heals today, but for whatever mysterious reason Christians who travel with emotional and mental health issues usually find them a permanent part of the definition of who they are. The Presbyterian Church USA has resources for mental health ministries: presbyterianmission.org and God’s Word remains our number one resource.  

    

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration:

1.800.662.4357

365 days 24/7

Reflective question: Are you, or is someone you know, struggling with mental health issues due

to or exacerbated by the current multiple crises? Call the federal government agency above.

Reflective Scripture: Isaiah 40:1 – ‘Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”

Reflective hymn:

“I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” – African American Spiritual

I want Jesus, to walk with me; I want Jesus, to walk with me;

All along my pilgrim journey, Lord, I want Jesus, to walk with me.

DAY 108: “In the Pandemic, as Ever, ‘I Will Give You Rest’”

DAY 108

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Sixteen – Tuesday 30 June 2020

“In the Pandemic, as Ever, ‘I Will Give You Rest’”

“Beyond the glass lay a man, unconscious in the electric blue light, shrouded in tubes … the Rev. Ryan Connors stood at the door watching, his Roman collar barely visible beneath his face shield. Since the coronavirus pandemic began, he has gone to the bedsides of Covid-19 patients across the Boston area to perform one of the oldest religious rituals for the dying: the Roman Catholic practice commonly called last rites.”  From a recent newspaper article by the same title.

From the beginning of my pastoral ministry 48 years ago, I have practiced a set protocol when visiting a dying person: I anoint their forehead with oil with the sign of the cross, and then make the sign of the cross over their whole body, touching each point as I do: I want them to ‘feel’ the cross of Jesus who preceded them in death and rose again to be with them at this moment as they trust in Him for their eternal salvation and a seamless transition into His eternal presence.

It’s actually right out of our Presbyterian Book of Common Worship: “The presider dips a thumb in the oil and makes the sign of the cross on the person’s forehead, adding these words: ‘I anoint you with oil in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’”   

We Protestants mark the beginning of life and of marriages with rituals that go back hundreds of years, but we have nothing to mark the most traumatic experience of all: death. And the three elements of this last rite in the Roman Catholic Church? All grounded in Scripture:

CONFESSION: “… confess your sins to each other and pray for each other …”  James 5:16.

ANNOINTING WITH OIL: “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.”  James 5:14.

COMMUNION: “… he took bread … he took the cup … do this in remembrance of me.”  Luke 22:19.

While we gained some things in the Reformation, we also lost some things. We might want to take a second look at the concept of ‘last rites.’ “The whole point of the sacrament is a reminder that we are not alone,” says Father Brian Conley, a Jesuit hospital chaplain. “The church is present with this person, and God is present with this person.”  Sounds to me like a good way to die.

Reflective question: What expression of your faith would you like to have as part of your dying?

Reflective Scripture: Psalm 116:15 – “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants.”  

Reflective hymn:

“Precious Lord, Take My Hand” – Tommy Dorsey (1899-1965)

When my way grows drear, precious Lord, linger near; when my life is almost gone,

hear my cry, hear my call, hold my hand, lest I fall; take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home. 

DAY 107: Empathy and Sympathy

DAY 107

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Sixteen – Monday 29 June 2020

Empathy and Sympathy

“Currently our lives have been upended by a truly historic global pandemic. I am profoundly aware that graduating during this time is extremely difficult. However, please hang in there. We need you to be smart, strong, and resilient. With discipline and empathy, we will all get through this together.” - Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, in a recent Zoom address to the graduating classes of all Jesuit secondary schools around the country, he himself a graduate of one of them.

Empathy and sympathy are two words communicating desperately needed modeling for us by the leadership of our country at this time of tragic and continuing loss through the coronavirus pandemic. Both convey an innate personality characteristic which cannot be fabricated.

What do they mean? Both words come from the Greek and have as their root ‘pathos,’ feeling or passion as in suffering. The prefixes indicate the subtle difference: ‘sym’ meaning ‘with’ and ‘em’ meaning ‘in.’ Thus sympathy is the characteristic of being able to feel with others what they are experiencing  and empathy is the characteristic of being able to actually feel being ‘in’ the suffering of the other.

Empathy is expressed in three ways: the intellectual, being able to mentally understand the other person’s situation; the emotional, being able to feel what the other person is experiencing, and the compassionate, responding to the other person’s situation in some intentional way. The good Samaritan in the Bible was empathetic, exhibiting all three qualities.      

The prophet Isaiah prophetically pictured the coming Messiah as the epitome of sympathy and empathy: “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, … he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4-5.   

               

Reflective question: Who needs your empathy today: will you let the Lord show you?

                                                                                                                         

Reflective Scripture: Romans 12:15 – “… weep with those who weep …”            

Reflective hymn:  

“Compassion Hymn” – Kristyn Getty ©2009

And with compassion for the hurting you reached out your hand

As the lame ran to meet you and the dead breathed again;

You saw behind the eyes of sorrow and shared in our tears

Heard the sigh of the weary, let the children draw near.

DAY 106: Built Upon the Foundation

DAY 106

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Sixteen – Sunday 28 June 2020

Built Upon the Foundation

Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us to be so joined together in the unity of the Spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer, Prayer for the Sunday closest to June 29.

She was a member of the church I was serving in New Hampshire, but had a second home in Mississippi a few blocks from the Gulf of Mexico where she spent her winters. When Hurricane Katrina hit she was still in New Hampshire as she didn’t want to be on the Gulf coast when it made landfall. Her home had survived other hurricanes, and she felt confident it would make it intact through this one as well. When she finally went to assess the situation all that was left was a cement slab. Not a trace of the building, and all her furniture, art on the walls, personal items in dresser drawers, nice china in the cupboard, clothing in the closet, everything – vanished.

The prayer for last Sunday spoke of God keeping his church, his household, through his lovingkindness, ‘hesed.’ The prayer for this Sunday draws as well on the imagery of a household and focuses on its foundation. “… you are no longer foreigners and strangers,” says God’s Word, “… but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” Ephesians 2:19-22.

The foundation of the writings of the prophets and apostles and their faithfulness to God is what we have beneath us, a secure place, where, as we expose ourselves to it, we are being built up by the Holy Spirit into a dwelling place for God that cannot be destroyed by any storm of life. “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” Isaiah 40:0.

Reflective question: What is the condition of the foundation of your life? Pray about what you can do to strengthen it as well as to build on it things pleasing to God during this pandemic.

Reflective Scripture: Psalm 119:105 – “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”

Reflective hymn:

“God Has Spoken by His Prophets” – George Briggs (1875-1959)

God has spoken by His prophets, spoken His unchanging Word,  

Each from age to age proclaiming God, the one, the righteous Lord.

In the world’s despair and turmoil one firm anchor holds us fast,

God is King, His throne eternal, God the first and God the last.

A Letter from the 2020 Dragon Quest Teams Coordinator

As you are aware, we had to cancel our 2020 Solomons Island Dragon Boat Festival due to the COVID-19 pandemic and all of the uncertainty surrounding it.  However, we are pleased to announce that we are offering a new opportunity for you to support SMCR and have fun with your friends and family.

SMCR Dragon Quest 2020 is set for August 15.

SMCR Dragon Quest 2020 is a scavenger hunt for puzzle pieces at locations around Calvert and St. Mary’s Counties.  Teams will be asked to decipher clues to determine where to find their next puzzle piece.  Teams will be asked to complete some type of “challenge” at each stop to gain their puzzle piece.  This is a quest and not a race so the event will not be timed.    

A team will be comprised of one motor vehicle which will be referred to as a chariot.  Each team will be encouraged to decorate their chariot to correspond with their team identity and to support SMCR and SMCR Dragon Quest 2020 (as usual there will be prizes based on your level of creativity).

Each chariot rider (age 16 and older) will be asked to pay a $25 registration fee to participate and encouraged to raise at least an additional $100.  Additional prizes will be given based on amount of funds raised.

Chariot start times as well as clue orders will be staggered to continue to encourage social distancing (as we are still unsure what the state of things will be in August). 

Please visit the SMCR website, https://somdcr.org/quest for more information or https://somdcr.org/register to register your chariot.  You may also contact Bonnie Elward at BonnieElward@gmail.com or me at solomonsdragonboatteams@gmail.com.

SMCR continues to provide much needed social, recreational and educational programs for individuals with special needs, even during this pandemic, and sponsors like you are critical to its success.  We encourage you to participate in the 2020 SMCR Dragon Quest and challenge your friends to do the same.  In addition to fielding a team for the quest, there are a number of sponsorship opportunities available.  We will be happy to provide a prospectus upon request.  

We also welcome you to join SMCR and DD the Dragon as she returns to boat racing at the 2021 Solomons Island Dragon Boat Festival 21 August 2021.

With Warmest Regards,

Kathryn Rivers, Teams Coordinator

Day 105: “No matter what happens, God always has a plan.”

DAY 105

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK FIFTEEN: SATURDAY 27 JUNE 2020

“No matter what happens, God always has a plan.”

“Thirty years ago, Julio Guzman, a refugee from El Salvador, founded a Hispanic evangelical church in New Jersey that grew to some 200 members. His wife served as co-pastor….Then in April Pastor Guzman died of Covid-19…He was 64. Like so many families whose members have been hospitalized during the pandemic, the Guzmans were forbidden to visit. But Pastor Guzman was able to text a final message to his eldest son, William: ‘I love you. No matter what happens, God always has a plan.’” - From a newspaper series “Those We’ve Lost” 

It’s easy to say ’God always has a plan’ when a circumstance is something to celebrate. “God is good – all the time; all the time – God is good” goes the popular call and response between Christians. To say it while watching a loved one die a slow painful death from cancer, when your dream job has been eliminated and you are without definition of your person and you’ve lost your source of income, to watch in emotional numbness as your marriage is being dissolved by divorce, or to lose a child at age 5 as Pastor Guzman did  – does this work then, this “No matter what happens, God always has a plan”?

The problem with needing to have a plan is that when we don’t have a plan or can’t see one, we feel untethered, lost, out of control. For Christians, faith by definition is a commitment to, a trust in, that which we can neither see nor prove. There is only one alternate belief system when it comes to Pastor Guzman’s last words: God doesn’t always have a plan and sometimes we are left on our own, left to fend for ourselves, left to decipher life on our own, a frightening scenario.

One of the core tenets of Reformed theology is the sovereignty of God, a belief that ultimately God rules over everything, that nothing is outside the scope of His gaze and care, and that what Pastor Guzman articulated in his dying words to his son is trustworthy and true: “No matter what happens, God always has a plan.”  Believing this can be a source of hope and peace and even joy.

Reflective question: Where do you have the hardest time seeing God in your personal history? Talk to Him about it and ask him to show you His plan embedded in that chapter of your life.

Reflective Scripture:  Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord …”

Reflective hymn:

“Trust and Obey” – John Sammis (1846-1919)

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share, but our toil He doth richly repay;

Not a grief nor a loss, not a frown nor a cross, but is blest if we trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way,

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Day 104: “They seek the holy, quiet square by quiet square.”

DAY 104

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK FIFTEEN: FRIDAY 26 JUNE 2020

“They seek the holy, quiet square by quiet square.”

“People have worshiped in the Brooklyn Quaker Meetinghouse on Schermerhorn Street since 1857. The room’s walls are bare and white, and when you look up to check the time, there is no clock. When the meeting could no longer continue because of the pandemic, some felt unmoored. Then the Quaker ministry and council came up with a plan: the meetings would resume over zoom. ‘In order to foster stillness and quiet, you’ve been automatically muted upon joining this meeting,’ the worship host now announces.” - From a recent newspaper article by the same title

We began with one minute, then each month increased the time by a minute until five months after we began we were sitting still, quiet, silent for five minutes each Sunday in the middle of the worship service. When we first began the experiment some of us felt like one minute was an eternity. By the time we got to the five minute mark we were beginning to feel comfortable with, even appreciate, the break from noise, from talking, from singing, from movement. Then one Sunday at the end of the silence a person rose and quietly shared an amazing experience they just had during our time of ‘doing nothing.’ Then several others rose to share similar inner  experiences, ‘awakenings,’ insights that came to them through the inner working of the Holy Spirit during the silence. Such times became the norm, moving and memorable.

This is the Quaker tradition, except that for them it isn’t a matter of five minutes but of the entire ‘service’ with the only voices those of individuals sharing what has come to them from ‘the Spirit’ during the silence. Opposite the Quaker tradition are software programs that allow churches to schedule down to the minute every single thing that happens in a sixty-minute worship service. God help us – our belief that church should last no more than an hour and be filled from start to finish with our singing ad praying and speaking and…when does God get His time slot? Silence is one of the primary ways He uses to speak to us – perhaps that is why we avoid it, as we don’t know how to handle such encounters. Absent a time of silence in worship, we never will.   

Reflective question: Are you willing to sit in silence and see what God wants to say to you? If not, you’ll never know.

Reflective Scripture: Psalm 46:10 – “Be still and know that I am God.”

Reflective hymn:

“Be Still, for the Presence of the Lord” – David Evans © 1968

Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One is here;

Come bow before him now with reverence and fear.

In him no sin is found, we stand on holy ground.

Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the holy One, is here.

Day 103: The Resource of Relationship

DAY 103

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK FIFTEEN: THURSDAY 25 JUNE 2020

The Resource of Relationship

“We typically use the term ‘natural resources’ to refer to things like water, forests, and land deposits containing minerals and fossil fuels. We could make a compelling argument, however, for an even more precious natural resource: human relationships … . Curiously, it’s often a crisis … that strengthens our relational wealth by drawing us closer together. In the aftermath of 9/11 people didn’t want to be alone or apart from loved ones…What makes the coronavirus pandemic such a different situation sociologically is that we’re actually being asked to push away from one another. Social distancing requirements physically separate people, just as quarantine measures isolate them. Both deliver stress to the very social connections we depend on.” - Editorial in the current issue of a Christian magazine

“Curiously, it’s often a crisis that strengthens our relational wealth.” The phone rang late at night on the east coast as a friend of many years called from the west coast to tell me that three of their four adult children had been in an accident, two were gone, and the third was hanging on by a thread. My wife and I discussed it briefly, and I was on a plane the next morning. It never crossed my mind not to go. I lived with this pastor and his family a semester and a summer on an Indian reservation while in college and had ongoing personal contact throughout the years. This was a relationship resource of immense value to me and has continued to be so to this day.

Relationships as a relational resource: in the midst of the worldwide pandemic, take an inventory of your ‘natural resource of relationships’:

• Immediate family -
• Extended family tree -  
• Circle of friends -
• *Church family -
• Workplace -
• Neighborhood -
• Other -

     *‘Body of Christ’ – church relationships are unique, for they will last into eternity.

Reflective question: What relationships in your church are of great value to you? Elsewhere on your lists above? Give them a call and let them know it.

Reflective Scripture: John 13:35 – “’By this will all men know that you are my disciples if you love one another.’”

Reflective hymn:

“Bind Us Together” – Bob Gillman (1946-    )

Bind us together, Lord; bind us together with cords that cannot be broken.

Bind us together, Lord; bind us together, Lord; bind us together with love.