Father in Heaven –

These are the days, in Your divine providence, in which You have seen fit for us to live. They are days of anxiety, trouble, uncertainty, anger. And yet they are also days, in Christ, of peace, security, joy, and hope. Our hearts are divided between these things, day by day and even moment by moment. It’s true for all of us, and yet we know that for some among us, these feelings are particularly acute right now.

So we pray, Lord, for our teachers.

Here is yet another demographic of people who find themselves unexpectedly at the center of the controversy and on the front lines of this pandemic. This is not a position they asked to be in; no, these are the men and women who have for some time done the good, hard, faithful, but often unnoticed work of education. These are the people in whom we have subconsciously put our trust; the ones on whom we have consistently relied; and the ones who have shouldered that burden on behalf of our families so strongly. But now they are in the public eye, and so we lift them up to you.

Lord, would You also please protect these men and women. We pray that as they will interact with more people on a daily basis than will most anyone else in our society that you would, by Your grace, keep them safe from disease. We pray that our schools would be free from this virus.

We pray, Lord, for courage. And we ask for that courage not just in the fact that they are stepping to the forefront of a disease; we ask for courage because they will be dealing with a near constant barrage of questions, criticism, and second-guessing. Help them, Lord, to do the very best they can with the resources they have and to stand under the weight of that pressure.

We ask you too, Lord, for patience. No doubt their routine of preparation has been disrupted. Their regular yearly cycle has been changed. Their practices have been adapted. And this will not be the last time. Surely in the next few weeks, or even days, another policy will be changed, another rule will be enacted, another procedure approved, and they will yet again have to rework the method of their teaching. Added to this, Lord, are the calls, emails, and other messages they will receive from frustrated parents. Parents frustrated from all different sides of this pandemic, all with their own beliefs about what should or should not be done, all expressing these opinions to teachers who in reality have little control over the overarching direction of the school in which they serve. Help them, Lord, to be patient, to bear with one another, and to have gentle answers that turn away wrath.

As these teachers care for and educate our children, we pray that they would also be able to be a voice of comfort and stability for them. We ask You, during these days in particular, that the influence of our teachers would be a calming and steady one; that You would help them to be ambassadors of peace even in the midst of such a turbulent time. Help them, by faith, through both their words and deeds, to be a constant reminder to the children and teenagers of a Greater Teacher.

And this, Lord – would You give them faith. Help them to walk forward not putting their faith and hope in an institution, or in parents, or even in their own abilities. We pray that this would be a season of great faith for our teachers; that they would trust in You ever more to give them the strength, the wisdom, and the perseverance to be salt and light on a daily basis.

We entrust them to You, Lord, and may it be so that this is not the last time we pray for them.

In Jesus Name –

Amen