November 25, 2020 | by Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner,
NCNW National Chaplain and President of Skinner Leadership Institute
Almighty Creator of boundless love, endless mercy, and infinite generosity, we enter your presence this Thanksgiving season filled with anguish for a year of unbelievable pain mixed with gratitude for your never-ending compassion and grace. As citizens in the world’s most powerful nation, we have witnessed unspeakable devastation over a humanitarian crisis of biblical proportion. We cry out for nearly 13 million fellow Americans afflicted, the nearly 260,000 dead: and millions now unemployed, hungry, facing eviction, and losing businesses at staggering rates. We are pained for Black and Brown people getting sicker and dying quicker because of systemic racialized health disparities. Still worse, we came within six million votes, and countless frivolous lawsuits attacking legally cast Black votes, aimed at reversing the election in favor of a longstanding champion of white supremacy; supported by a majority of white evangelicals.
Lord, in this “be still and know that I am God” moment, we pause to praise you for being the One who promises never to leave or forsakes us. We cease our striving to thank you for life, breath, and for a reasonable portion of good health during a pandemic when good health really matters. We thank you for those families connecting only virtually across the miles and not across the dinner table. Thank you for medical first responders forced to disconnect from their own families to take care of the virus-stricken. They are often the last face seen or hand touched by those who pass away. We thank you, Lord, for every food pantry being the face of God’s love for those facing hard times. And…we thank you, in advance, for the long-awaited vaccine to reverse the scourge of COVID-19 as with other life-threatening diseases in times past, like polio, HIV-AIDS, and Ebola. Even in the darkest of times, we can praise God for his love, his sovereignty, and his promise to be near us when we call (Psalm 145:18). Thank you for your peace that transcends understanding and your love that endures forever. In your precious name, we pray, Lord God. Amen!