Blessing for Frontline Workers

Rev. Jenny Rankin

Blessed are you, Breath of Life
Thou in whom we live and move and have our being
Be with us now as we pause—as we honor—as we give thanks
For all those who are working so hard on our behalf.
 
Often putting their own bodies on the line,
We know they worry about the health of their own families;
We know they are weary and getting more so.
 
Some deal with death on a daily basis
Others encounter pain, anxiety and fear in those they meet
They try to bring comfort and calm; they try to bring healing,
Even as they go home to families that need them.
 
Blessed are the frontline workers
Who clean cook, carry
Sort, stock, deliver
Respond, drive, take, help
Blessed are those who work in nursing homes, hospitals, clinics, intensive care units.
 
Blessed are those who listen, look, diagnose, treat,
Who suit up in gear to attend at the bedside
And then do it again, and again, and again
 
Blessed are those who connect
Who accompany
So that person, there in the bed, anonymous to many but dear to one of us
So that person, knows they are not alone,  knows there is someone just there, on the other side of the glass, another human heart that beats, that cares, that walks with.
 
Blessed are those who abide with us through all the watches of the night
Waiting for pain to lift,
Fear to dissipate,
First light of morning to come.
 
Blessed are you, Breath of Life
Be with those dear to us
And with those we do not know.
 
Give them the strength they need to make it through another day
The endurance that will carry them
And the sure strong knowledge that Love walks with them
Our love and Your Love
 
Blessed are you Breath of Life
Thou in whom we live and move and have our being.
Amen.