March 17, 2021
Have People Forgotten How to Drive? A Prayer
O Lord, have people forgotten how to drive or what?
Not that people in Atlanta
have ever known
how to drive,
but still,
it seems worse than ever,
scarier than ever,
crazier than ever,
playing NASCAR on the interstates,
a regular Formula One race run on local roads,
Indy 500 time in the fourth lane
on I-285,
and so I wonder
if people
have forgotten how to drive,
many people the past year
hardly driving at all,
hardly any traffic at all,
hardly any place to go at all,
not work,
not dinner,
not vacation,
short trips to Publix, Costco, Home Depot,
and so,
maybe out of practice,
need a refresher course,
safe driving lessons,
because
mind wandering, attention wandering, oops, car
wandering,
at least that’s
the way I feel
behind the wheel.
And wondering about driving, Lord, got me wondering
about other things too,
like:
Have we forgotten how to
relate to others?
No one
an island,
it is said,
but for a year
people have lived as if they are
islands,
private islands,
separated from others,
distanced from others,
cut off from others,
no hugging others,
only controlled, cold, contact,
and so I wonder.
Even more,
I worry,
worry that many may not want to leave their islands,
so safe and comfortable
they can be,
preferring
controlled, cold, contact to
messy,
real,
relationships;
islands
sometimes so nice,
much more peaceful.
Maybe
a lot of us
out of practice,
could use a refresher course,
need to brush up on relating.
And Lord,
to be honest,
I got to wandering as well:
Have we forgotten how to be a church?
Not worshiping for months,
worshipping now but not the same,
many worshipping at home,
watching worship at home,
and yes,
so very thankful
for the videos we do, and
for the live-streaming we will soon do,
yet still I wonder
if we have forgotten (or will soon forget)
that to be a church is to be
part of a body, the body of Christ,
part of one another,
part of a purpose
beyond our purposes,
communing with, serving with, learning with
one another.
Even more,
I worry,
worry if we will be again the congregation we once were,
if pajamas and coffee on Sunday morning
are getting a little too comfy,
if the future will be what the
present is now, many
presently present to others
only from afar,
islands texting islands,
islands become I-lands,
more apart.
than a part.
Maybe just out of practice,
could use a refresher course,
need to brush up on church.
O Lord, I’m not sure what we can do about
crazy Atlanta drivers,
so crazy they are,
but for sure
we can do something about
returning to relationship,
being the church.
We can pray,
pray that if we
have become like islands,
have come to prefer being distanced from others,
have come to think that
congregations not congregating
can be congregations,
the Spirit
would lead us to see
that you created us for relationship and
that we need one another
more than we realize
or care to admit;
and pray for
the courage
to leave our islands,
be present to others,
be the church to others,
especially to those
who are depressed and despair
because they are isolated and alone and trapped
on islands
not of their choosing.
And Lord, as we mark the one year anniversary
of the beginning of the pandemic,
we pray for
the millions mourning the 500,000 who have died,
the thousands upon thousands who are
battling the coronavirus,
the health care workers who are exhausted,
those looking for work or
trying to rebuild a business or
don’t have enough food.
Comfort, heal, refresh, strengthen, lift them in hope
and move us to be the church to them
in whatever way we can.
O Lord, it’s crazy out there for sure,
but what’s really crazy
is people thinking that they
are not part of one another,
don’t need one another,
can be the church without one another.
Grace us with
the sanity
that remembers that
the truth is otherwise
and chooses
to live that truth
day after day,
and not leave anyone
wondering.
Amen.