Celebration and Sorrow

Prayer for the Sixth Sunday of Lent

This is a day of conflicting emotions, 
God of passion and life.
We have come to a bend in the river,
a turning point in the narrative,
a juxtaposition of celebration
and impending sorrow. 

We too feel the strangeness
of life sometimes weighed 
down with the stresses of 
pandemic life, yet dotted
with joy and hope.
We pray for moments 
of relief, for times of
pleasure in life even 
in the face of challenge. 

Like a river in spring,
that sometimes overflows
her banks, flooding the
surrounding lowlands,
may love and joy overflow
into the low places 
in our lives. May we
delight in your never
ceasing goodness, 
bubbling and dancing
like water flowing
over rocks and obstacles. 

Pull us deeper into your 
current of life,
a river that is wide
with mercy and justice,
a river that carries
the full range of emotion,
a river that ebbs and flows
but never ceases.
Amen.
​
​- Wendy Janzen