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Chaplain Virgil Fry on stories that make us who we are
A Prayer of Bittersweet Moments
Our Lord God,
How conflicted life can be—
Full of blessings and curses,
Reasons to celebrate, reasons to lament.
In bittersweet moments,
we resonate with this phrase:
“A time for everything under the sun.”
Walk with us, companion Lord,
As we relish the naming of our blessings,
As we rehearse the unspeakable joys that come
with each good and pleasant thing.
Walk with us, companion Lord,
As we reluctantly name failures and losses,
As we rehearse the suppressed pains that come
with each unwelcome and hidden thing.
For it is in remembering and listing
the pleasant and the unpleasant,
The things we brag about
and the things we bury,
That we find You
still being faithful in your love for us.
It surprises us, Lord, that Scripture
commands us to remember, to re-tell
Stories of redemption and utter defeat
of celebration and lament
of unity and division
of divinity and evil
of births and deaths.
Lead us, Immortal One,
Pillar of Cloud and Fire,
As you led the Israelite children out of bondage.
Open our eyes to your holy, healing hands
in all of the stories,
Stories that make us who we are,
and who we are becoming
In your ever-unfolding kingdom of love.
And if the oppressed one cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate. Exodus 22:27
Virgil Fry has served 21 years as a denominational chaplain representing Churches of Christ for U.T. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He is Executive Director for Lifeline Chaplaincy, a non-profit organization providing pastoral and benevolent support for patients in Houston and Dallas. An Associate of APC, he is also adjunct professor for Pepperdine University in Malibu and Abilene Christian University in Texas.
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