The past few days I (Caitlin) began to realize that I was grieving over all that was lost for this semester. In this pandemic with so much fear and suffering my loss of getting to spend half a semester felt a little trivial. It’s easy to see people who are being affected in bigger or more painful ways.
My attempt to process this mourning has been to write a prayer of lament. Psalms are full of laments, both communal and personal. Psalms of lament bring concerns before God in times of uncertainty or trials. With Covid-19, we too are in a time of pain, uncertainty, and confusion. What a better place to take our mourning than to our Gracious God in prayer?
If you are a college student, young adult, or love someone who fits that category pray along with us in this prayer of lament.
A Prayer of lament for a college student
Hear Me O God,
Great is your name among the heavens.
You are our strength and our song.
Our lives are upended.
We have retreated indoors,
away from our communities and neighbors and friends.
O Lord,
We left our community mid-break only to not return.
March brought visions of Spring Break and warmer weather.
We looked joyfully to the second half of the spring semester.
Visions of sunshine and celebrations as the semester would come to a close.
O God,
Why did all this have to disappear?
We had no chance to say goodbye and little chance to gather our stuff.
O Lord,
We have canceled retreats, closed buildings, paused our chosen community.
This year we can no longer gather for meals or laughter or late-night chats.
O God,
Why must this be?
You have proven faithful to us time and time again.
We now live in fear for the health of ourselves and our loved ones.
This virus is spreading through our community like wildfire.
O Lord,
Be present in our social distancing.
Be present in our grief, in our loss of semester.
Be our comfort in this time of isolation.
We have experienced that your love never fails.
We have known you to meet us in our times of prayer.
O Gracious God,
You have given us life and laughter and hope.
Do not abandon us in our time of need.
May we be a people who return to you in this time of staying home.
May we be a people reinvigorated by your love.