St. John’s Prayer Vigil 2020
From Maundy Thursday evening through Easter Sunday morning, members of our congregation are praying continuously in an extension of last year’s prayer vigil that took place in Grace Chapel.
This is a page to share reflections, petitions, Scripture, encouragement, and answers from that time of prayer.
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Psalm 141:2
Below, feel free to enter your reflections on something you experienced during your prayer time, using the “comment” or “reply” function. Although we pray while physically separate during this challenging time, we continue to be, more than ever, in communion with all the saints of St. John’s New Haven and of the world.
Life Together 
The way we’re all praying together in separate spaces, unable to see each other or connect in person but checking in with just the person nearest us, strikes me as a great image of how the church always works! We don’t see the full picture, or even part of it, or really even all the work someone else is doing. But we know God sees and knows and is involved with the whole thing, and in Christ we are united as one, not separated. We know in part and we prophecy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. I long for when we can see one another’s faces in person, but I long much more for the day we will see fully, and I hope that on that day we can see the ways God wove each of our brief and partial contributions into His one, glorious kingdom!
Beautiful and comforting word of encouragement, Betsy. Thank you!
Jesus experienced his torture and crucifixion alone. He was separated from the comfort of his friends and family during the hardest moment of his life. Not only could he not receive a supportive hug from someone who cared about him, but most of his closest friends had fled the scene. Right now, we are physically distanced from one another and others we love at a hard and confusing time when we need one another near. We may feel emotionally and spiritually the denial and lack of that physical comfort.
I picture Jesus carrying his cross, the crowd separated from him. His cross represents all the pain, suffering, and burdens on our shoulders, placed upon his. One of those burdens was the suffering of lack of comfort in times of need. I’m grateful he carried that for us and died on the cross so that he could send us the Holy Spirit, our Comforter. We are never alone in our darkest, weakest times. The Spirit of Jesus is with us to comfort us. Through Him we are also connected to one another in our hearts. We are supporting one other by covering each other in prayer. When we can all be together again in person, we’ll pass the peace at St. John’s with holy hugs all around 🙂
I am reminded that God is the still point of the turning world.
“At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is” (T. S. Eliot)