Dear Wartburg Colleagues, Residents, Families, and Friends,
If you find yourself adrift in this time of corona isolation and unable to meet in community to pray this weekend, I offer you a number of resources for your Sabbath time.
The first is a reflection I wrote during this week of great challenge here at Wartburg, a time in which we all would like things to be different.
The second is a Sunday Bulletin that will be used in United Lutheran’s “Phone Church” this Sunday, March 22nd at 11:00 a.m. when we will call in to be church together. We like the conference call, because we can hear each other’s voices in the time of welcome and gathering. You may join us, if you want to gather with others in faith. Just dial the phone number, and then put in the code followed by a # sign:
Dial-in: 866-866-2244
Participant Code: 81505485 (#)
The third and fourth items are contained within the Sunday bulletin, but they may serve you well as individual items for your own home devotions.
The third is a copy of a prayer from the 1989 Anglican Prayer Book of South Africa which came into form when prisoners were denied sacraments during the time of apartheid and needed a way to remain connected to the Lord’s Supper. For those presently without the Holy Eucharist, perhaps you can pray this prayer, in faith, during this time of extraordinary measures, as a way to honor Jesus’ command to love one another and to remember him in the breaking of the bread.
The fourth is a copy of intercessory prayers for the world provided by the Lutheran World Federation in this time of pandemic. It may give words to help you pray for our world that is in extreme distress.
May the Peace of God give you ground upon which to stand.
Sincerely,
Pastor Kimberli Lile