Prayer for Grace in the Pandemic

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ at Pax Pres, and to all people,

The coronavirus pandemic continues to have a huge impact on our daily lives, even while there are promising things happening and on the horizon. As individuals and organizations all discern what “re-opening” and the new normal look like, recently I’ve been personally reminded of the need for grace and patience all around. Let’s pray together toward that end.

Humbly in Christ,
Pastor Matt


Almighty God, we need grace, forbearance, and patience with each other. As fallen people, we have always needed these qualities. But we confess to you the ways the coronavirus pandemic has revealed even more clearly the habits and nature of our hearts.

God, we are encouraged by promising signs like the development of vaccines. We of course give you thanks for all the good you are bringing into these devastating times — every good gift comes from you, God (James 1:17). But we confess that, even in the midst of promising signs, we still find ways to treat each other poorly. God, you watch from heaven and you see us navigating so many questions and unknowns about when and where it is safe to venture out again. You watch from heaven, and you see schools, non-profits, businesses, churches and ministries, and other organizations all discerning how to “re-open” or establish a new normal. Some of us, God, are still a long ways off from this. Some of us are in the thick of such hard and daily decisions right now. 

God, in light of all the decisions to make, we especially confess to you how prone we are to judge the decisions of others. We confess that we want grace shown to us while we show judgment to others. We see someone wearing a mask or not wearing a mask, and depending on our pre-set inclinations, we think hidden negative thoughts about them. We read a news story of “this person doing such-and-such…” or “this organization making such-and-such plans,” and we quietly criticize or even condemn them in our hearts. “How can they handle the pandemic that way?” Lord, you search us and you know our thoughts — none of these judgments and criticisms that we lodge against others are hidden from your sight. 

Even now that vaccines exist for Covid-19, Lord, we still desperately need a vaccine for the habits of our hearts. You alone, Jesus, provide that vaccine. Help us turn to you for healing. Flood our minds and hearts with your Holy Spirit and grow your fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, and self-control (Gal. 5). Every day, we concern ourselves with what we are wearing, how we appear to others … I’m the first to confess being more concerned with “optics” and people’s impressions than with genuine concern for sacrificial love of neighbor, regardless of how it “appears” to others. Holy God, you command us not to be concerned with what we wear outwardly, but with how we are clothed inwardly:

“Clothe yourselves,” you say to us God, “as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, with compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Col. 3:12-15) Father, so many of us are trying so hard to be virtuous, gracious, forbearing, and so forth. But we all hit our limits… we tell ourselves how we “should” be, and yet only you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, can make those changes in us in lasting ways. Show us how to navigate these re-opening, establishing-new-normal times with your perfect balance of smart choices and grace toward one another. We repent of trying to do all that on our own, and we come to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for forgiveness and renewal. Amen.