Beloved,
Sorry for my delay in sending this! The high winds caused some power lines to fall on the ridge and our power has been out since Thursday (until roughly 3:30 this morning!). Christ has been ministering to us through this power-outage, and one of the tools He has used to do so is Douglas McKelvey’s Every Moment Holy, a book of liturgies for all the little moments of life. One of those is titled, “A Liturgy for the Loss of Electricity.” Here it is:
O Christ who first spoke light into darkness, and who, in later days, came to dwell among us as the light of the world, be to us now that true light. Be to us that true light even as we pause here in this sudden and unexpected darkness.
Shape our hearts, O Spirit of God, as we pause in this brief absence of blessings so often taken for granted–blessings of illumination, of lamps and lights, of refrigeration, of appliances and digital devices, of climate control and hot water. We thank you for these many comforts and conveniences we enjoy.
For you, O Lord, imagined and designed the very physics by which electrons flow and by which their currents might be harnessed and channeled toward these useful ends. You are the King of all creation.
You created the chemistry and the physics for all power sources, that they might be useful tools when humanely plied, making labor more fruitful, abating the toil and misery of many, establishing greater margins for rest and relationship, and making possible the flourishing of peoples and cultures.
Glory to you, Lord Christ. We praise you for these hidden mercies. We praise you even as we pray you would cultivate in us a vigilant thankfulness, that these comforts we enjoy would never numb us to our deep need for you. In love, deliver us from all delusions of self-sufficiency, O Lord.
Use even little deprivations, like this loss of power, to reorient our hearts to the all-sufficient Christ, reminding us that we are not dependent upon comforts and conveniences for anything that truly matters. You are our everything, Lord Jesus.
You are with us in times of plenty and in times of want. You are with us in seasons of comfort and in seasons of discomfort. You are with us in ease and in hardship as well. You are as present with us in darkness as you are in light. You are near to us when the electricity is on and when it is off.
So make of us a pilgrim people whose hearts are freed to face, with joy intact, any deprivation along this journey, confident that even in losing all comforts we still have you, confident that in losing all things we have lost nothing of eternal value, for all our treasures are hid and guarded in you.
We thank you for this moment without electricity–a moment in which to remember that all blessings are. gifts, that all good things are expressions of grace, and that you, no matter our circumstances, are with us always, and will never leave us or forsake us.
Even now, O Lord, shine into our darkness. Even now, O Spirit, lead us into that light. Even now, O Father, let your love illuminate our lives. Let it be our bright and guiding beacon. Let it be the lamp of our eternal joy.
Amen.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Nick
