We are all hearing the news reports of the virus and deaths in India. For those who have family and friends in India the fear and pain is very real. Let us pray for our brothers and sisters in India.

This prayer is from the Presbyterian Outlook written by James Taneti,  director of the Syngman Rhee Global Mission Center for Christian Education at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.

Sovereign God, your breath that we share, whether in India or the United States of America, unites us. The suffering inflicted on us by COVID-19 also brings us together. We pray for our siblings in India who are overcome by waves of grief, uncertainty and fear. We pray that they may again breathe in your life, peace and presence in this unnerving season.

Merciful God, we lament with your people in India left without time and space to bury their dead and grieve their losses. We join them in hope and confidence that they – in this, their valley of the shadow of death – will find your presence closer and clearer.

Divine Healer, heal our numbness and bring us together that we your people on different continents receive and mediate your grace through our words, deeds and largess.

Spirit of God, you join us in seasons of joy, dancing life and in the seasons of grief, challenging death. You join us in moments when our wounds, emotional and physical, are too deep for words, groaning with us. We join you and our siblings in India that we together with them recognize and proclaim the new life, abundance and peace you have willed for us all.  Amen.