Pray for Us (05/30/2025)

This morning, in a text with a cherished friend, she wrote, “We are all safe. A pipe bomb was not found to my knowledge.” Well, that totally changed the trajectory of my morning! She and I went back and forth as I tried to find out what she meant, and I dealt with fear and uncertainty for my friend and her safety. And then I did the only thing I know how to do in moments like this, I said a prayer.

I prayed to the LORD for us because this morning’s conversation via text was just one more sign that we’ve lost our way. Within our societies, it seems, there are those who actually desire to do others harm, even if it is only a hoax but one meant to instill fear and uncertainty.  The bonds that should unite us seem broken. And so, I turned to the LORD, for help.

“LORD, help us. We have lost our way. Send your Spirit to guide us, to strengthen us, to help us right our relationships with one another, to live as the daughters and sons You created us to be. Help us to see more clearly the love of your beloved Son who gave his life so that we might have life and who asks us to love one another as He has loved us. Give us the courage and fortitude to fight the fight for righteousness, for right-relationship with You as our LORD and with one another as sisters and brothers.”

And then I sat and wondered. What signs were there that an individual was struggling so that he or she would do such a thing for attention or for the sense of power over others? And I thought of all the changes to our world in the last 10 years with the isolation of COVID, the breakdown in social structures and healthy interactions and the rise of social media that has detrimentally skewed the way we relate to one another and almost entirely erased personal responsibility for one’s actions.

These threats are real even when they turn out to be a hoax because they are signs of a deeper wound to humanity and individuals in our midst. We must turn to the LORD in prayer, for we cannot right this ship alone. But we can’t just turn to the LORD and then dismiss our own calling to be instruments of the LORD. I recall the old saying that I love, “Pray to God and keep rowing to shore.” The LORD will help us, but we have a role in this correction as well. What will we do? What can we do?

I have some ideas, but I’m not the Answer Gal of the Month. I think part of our path to return to life in the LORD blessed by peace is to reconnect, to be present to others, to put our phones down and to pick up in their stead authentic concern for one another. I think a second step is to swear off divisive and polarizing rhetoric and pick up in its stead unifying conversations that underscore what unites us rather than divides us. And lastly, I’d suggest that we all realize it’s not someone else’s problem; our broken world belongs to us all. Will we allow the LORD’s loving guidance to glue us back together?

This day, may I ask all who read this blog to say a prayer for us. May I ask that all seek the help of the LORD and seek the LORD’s guidance for how each of us is called to be an instrument in the LORD’s divine design and desire that we have peace.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.