Prayers and Blessings for Healthcare Workers

An interfaith collection of prayers, blessings, and poems offering comfort and hope to the healthcare workers that give so much.

The COVID-19 pandemic has left few of us unaffected, but our healthcare workers have borne the brunt of its impact. Chaplains and clergy across all lines of faith have ministered to those caregivers through prayers and blessings.

This curated collection of interfaith prayers, blessings, and poems was written by those who minister to healthcare workers. It’s a beautiful resource that those who work on our medical front lines can carry with them or keep at their workstations for daily inspiration. It can also be used by chaplains and pastors who offer support to medical personnel.

Many of the prayers were written to meet specific needs during the pandemic, yet they speak to the shared grief and hope we all have carried as we continue to navigate this extraordinary time. Contributors include The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, Rev. Barbara Crafton, Catherine Meeks, Jennifer Grant, Rev. Ineda Pearl Adesanya, and Rev. Gayle Fisher-Stewart.

Introduction

A Note about Language and Editing

For Your Grounding

Front and Center / Nathan Brown

A Love Song to All the Helpers / Rev. Laura Martin

Prayer for a New Day / Rev. Dr. Sarah Griffith Lund

A Prayer Before Commencing a Shift / Rabbi Brian T. Nelson

Blessing for Donning and Doffing / Rev .Hadley Kifner

For Those Who Walk in the Footsteps / Rev .Paula A. Wells

For Parents Who Leave Their Children at Home to Care for Others and You Feel as Though You Are the Cobbler and Your Children Have No Shoes / Rev. Traci Smith

Prayer for Those Who Step into the Mess / Rev. Elizabeth Felicetti

Blessing in a Pandemic / Rev. Ruth McMeekin Skjerseth

For Those Who Keep the Ceiling From Falling In and Floors From Falling Out / Rev. Sonya Gravlee

A Blessing for Caregivers / Rev. Kathy Bozzuti-Jones

Prayer for Leaning / Rev. Mark Wingfield

A Prayer for All During Coronavirus / Dr.Virgil Fry

Reminders / Rev. Keith A. Menhinick

For Your Hands

A Prayer for the Young Man (Who Makes Not Much an Hour for Hazardous Duty) / Rev. Kevin M. Roberts

Blessing for Your Hands / Rev. Hadley Kifner

A Tuesday Afternoon in 2020 / Rev. Laura D. Johnson

Vespers / Rev. Molly Bolton

Bedside Prayers / Leslie Deslauriers

Blessing of Nursing and Caregiving Hands / Rev. Ally Vertigan and Rev. Mishca R. Russell-Smith

COVID Collects / Rev. David Finnegan-Hosey

Prayer for an EMT / The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry

Seen All Along: A Sestina for the Helpers / Jennifer Grant

For the One I Cannot Visit / Rev. Barbara Cawthorne Crafton

Remembrance Gathering: A Way to Honor and Release Patients Who Have Died / Rev. Katherine K. Henderson

A Meditation for Releasing Those Who Have Died / Rev. Ellen M. Swinford

Blessing for the End of This Year / Rev. Laura Martin

For Your Heart

A Prayer in Times of Grief / Rev. Chelsea Brooke Yarborough

Ora Pro Nobis / Catherine McNiel

A Prayer for Naming When It Hurts / Rev. Molly Brummett Wudel

Lament / Rev. Molly Bolton

Blessing for Anger / Rev. James Adams

Prayer for Grief’s Lessons / Rev. Dr. Sarah Griffith Lund

Wilderness (How Hagar Felt) / Rev. Dr. Danielle J. Buhuro

Intercessory Prayer for Pandemic Frontline Workers / Heather Bachelder

A Lament for Composting Hard Truths / Rev. Kelly Gregory

A COVID-19 Compline / Catherine McNiel

Embracing Humankind / Rabbi Deborah Jill Schloss

I Pray / Rev. Ineda Pearl Adesanya

Prayer for the Dead / Rev. Randy Lewis

A Litany for Those Who Have Cared for COVID-19 Patients and Their Families / Rev. Hadley Kifner

Written on Your Heart / Rev. Drew Phillips

Healers Needing Healing / Hayden Dawes

Metta Meditation: A Practice of Loving-Kindness / Rev. Ellen M. Swinford

Two Blessings for Troubled Times (and Troubled Hearts) / Rev. Katherine K. Henderson

For Your Breath

My Lord, What a Morning / Rev. Molly Bolton

Breath Prayer / Rev. David Finnegan-Hosey

They Say This Time Is Invaluable / Leenah Safi

It Is OK to Scream / Rev. Gayle Fisher-Stewart

A Blessing for the Weary / Catherine McNiel

Blessing for the Night / Rev. Dr. Sarah Griffith Lund

A Prayer for Pandemic Times / Rev. Paul Roberts Abernathy

Here / Rev. Kari Pellegrino

A Collect for Parents Working on the Front Lines / Rev. Traci Smith

For Those Who Wait / Rev. Sheila P. Spencer

If Words Could Heal / Jessica Covil

A Prayer for a Long Shift / Rev. Katherine Willis Pershey

InFINITE / Rabbi Deborah Jill Schloss

Companioning One / Rev. Arianne Braithwaite Lehn

God of It All / Rev. Hadley Kifner

A Prayer at the Conclusion of a Shift / Rabbi Brian T. Nelson

An Invitation to Breath & Mystery & Courage / Rev. Ellen M. Swinford

Slow Exhale / Rev. Martha Spong

For Your Becoming

Instructions for Anxious Days / Rev. Laura Martin

Litany for Incarnation / Claire Repsholdt

Sunrise / Jamie R. Rivera

Invocation of Opening the Curtains / Rev. Jessica Stokes

An Invitation / Dr. Catherine Meeks

Life Prevails / Rev. Randy Lewis

Prayer for the Covering / Rev. Dr. Sarah Griffith Lund

God Is Everywhere / Rev. Malcolm L. Marler

As You Love the Only World We Have / Rev. Keith A. Menhinick

Beloved, You Are / Rev. Ginny Wilder

Contributors