It’s Halloween and nobody knows how to keep vigil better than Linus Van Pelt:
And so I find myself keeping vigil at Roswell Park today for my wife who is having surgery for atypical cell removal from her breast today. The good news is that atypical cells are benign…the bad news is that they’re not normal. So we’re hoping that they don’t find anything else today–or really over the next few weeks. People have been so wonderful here as well as many who have been praying for us this morning.
Halloween is a pretty interesting time to keep vigil as this is the day that the ancient celts thought there was a thin line between the living and the dead. And I can feel all those who have gone before me today, uniting with me in prayer for Marion and all those in harm’s way.
Keeping vigil is no easy task. The disciples couldn’t do it well at all and Jesus scolded them for not being able to stay awake, even for one hour. Feelings of loss, overwhelming fears and doubt may indeed push our attempt to stay in rhythm with the divine. The good news is that God never gives up on us and keeps trying to reconnect with us.
There are many that I keep in prayer today in my old hometown of NYC and for family and friends who keep vigil to get their power turned on. It’s getting cold and many have no heat or electricity. This new first century experience now places them in harm’s way. One friend has been through it before and said that his son caught pneumonia last time and is hoping that it won’t happen again. Someone else showed me a report of homeless people in New York City being pulled from the subway where they sought shelter during the storm only to drown in the waters that flooded the tubes.
Still, I’m even more mindful of people who have nobody to pray for them. I can only imagine how hopeless that must make them feel.
Taize prayer usually helps me at these junctures so I ask that you keep vigil with me, not for the great pumpkin, but for an opportunity to just be in closer union with God today for whatever you may need prayers for.
Or you can pray again today with Haze the Dog who is lonely as he keeps vigil for mom and all those in harm’s way at home.
Let us pray that we are all able to stay awake–not just today, but each day when we forget how fragile life is and how much God loves us.
Are We Friends?