My inbox is flooded with people searching for hope: those that are physically ill, the bereft and mourning, some lonely with distancing getting harder and harder. My usual remedies of hospital visits and communal gatherings can’t be provided. And so this rabbi tries to muster the only offering one can gift at this moment: heartfelt prayer and genuine supplication.
What is the power of prayer? The Psalmist shares that God is close to the broken-hearted. Master of the Universe, do you hear the cries of humanity? The Psalmist ventures that God delivers the righteous from their troubles. Holy One, haven’t the righteous suffered enough? Dear God, reveal the purpose behind our tears, the meaning behind the sharing of woes.
I’m not a believer that one prayer changes the course of medicine. Meaning, my one prayer will not convince God to alter the fate of another human being. I’m not that powerful.
But I do believe that one prayer may give another the strength to keep fighting, the will to see the sunset and rise to witness morning. One prayer is a reminder that you’re not facing a road of unpredictability alone or forgotten. One prayer is God using us as an agent to lift the spirits of someone who may not have known they needed spiritual care. One prayer teaches someone else they matter.
One prayer. And then another. Just one more. A few others. Words of prayer transcends the heavens and weaves a blanket of comfort, vigor, fortitude and love.
We may not be able to offer an embrace or show our deepest emotions through physical presence. But prayer finds a way.
Dear God, may my prayer find the broken-hearted and reach the suffering. Armed with faith, surrounded by prayer, together, we will greet a new year lifted by the spirit of another. May our prayers find each other, holding us close, breathing in a better tomorrow.
Amen. Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Nicole Guzik is a rabbi at Sinai Temple. She can be reached at her Facebook page at Rabbi Nicole Guzik.
