A Virus Fierce as Roaring Lions--April 1, 2022

[From March 27, 2020 archive, 

but still sadly relevant today]

 

Jesus, I ask your gift of healing. 

Many dangers encircle me, 

fierce as roaring lions. 

 

Yet compared to countless others,

my prospects are favorable. 

I hear of crowded prisons,

of refugees in war zones

treated with contempt;

of hospitals overflowing,

of compromised immunity,

understaffed homes for elders, 

starving children, the homeless — 

so many susceptible to great sufferings.

 

For these today — and for care givers

who risk their lives to treat them — 

Lord Jesus, I pray for healing.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 22; 148; 105; 130

Exod. 2:1-22

1 Cor. 12:27-13:3

Mark 9:2-13

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 22:12-13

Many bulls encircle me,
          strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
          like a ravening and roaring lion.

 

Exod. 2:22

[Zipporah] bore a son, and [Moses] named him Gershom; for he said, “I have been an alien residing in a foreign land.”

 

1 Cor. 12:30

Do all possess gifts of healing?  Do all speak in tongues?  Do all interpret? 

 

Mark 9:12

[Jesus] said to [his disciples], “Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things.  How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt?  …”