Socially Isolated but Spiritually Connected
Prayers Near and Far

Dear Mayfield,

The lakefront where I would normally be walking once or twice a day has been closed since late March. And so I have taken to a number of different one-way residential streets where I can easily walk in the street against traffic, at a safe distance from walkers, runners, dogs and humans, adults and strollers, delivery people, and cyclists. With the weather warming, I tend to walk as soon as it gets light in the morning when the least number of people are out. Even on routes that I often take, I am amazed at how many different new things there are to see each time. Between two daily walks, the boarded up front of Kings Barber Studio at 3264 North Clark was carefully and dramatically painted with an invitation to prayer. The seventh or eighth time I saw it I began to think about all the cities and towns around the globe that we might hold in prayer right now.  As the pandemic continues to cut a pathway across the globe, the world seems to shrink, revealing with greater clarity how interdependent we already are. Our wellbeing is the wellbeing of everyone else, on every other continent. There is no us and them. In that spirit and prompted by the barber studio paint job, I offer this alphabetical listing of communities around the globe for your prayerful attention. You may have others to add or sub in. Prayer reminds us that in our social isolation, our spiritual connections can thrive.

This is an invitation to pray for:
Abiquiu, Albany, Athens, and Auckland
Barcelona, Beijing, Boise, and Boston
Cairo, Canterbury, Cape Town, and Chicago
Dakar, Dallas, Da Nang, and Detroit
Edmonton, El Paso, Empire, and Essen
Fargo, Flint, Florence, and Frankfurt
Gander, Gdansk, Granada, and Guatemala City
Halifax, Hanoi, Hebron, and Honolulu
Indianapolis, Innsbruck, International Falls, and Ipswich
Jakarta, Jericho, Jersey City, and Juarez
Kabul, Kalamazoo, Kankakee, and Kiev
Lancaster, La Paz, Le Havre, and Lincoln
Madrid, Magdeburg, Managua, and Milwaukee, 
Nagasaki, Nairobi, Nashville, and Nassau
Oakland, Ogunquit, Oslo, and Ottawa
Paris, Padua, Pawtucket, and Poughkeepsie
Quakertown, Quebec City, Quechee, and Quito
Raleigh, Rapid City, Reykjavik, and Rocamadour
Salem, Salzburg, Sydney, and Syracuse
Tacoma, Taipei, Tarsus, and Tehran
Ulm, Ulster, Utica, and Uxbridge
Valparaiso, Vancouver, Venice, and Vicksburg
Wellington, Wichita, Winnipeg, and Wuhan
Xai-Xai, Xalapa, Xenia, and Xiamen
Yalta, Yellow Springs, Yorkville, and Yuma
Zagreb, Zanesville, Zeeland, and Zurich

Peace, Martha