Elder Care

“Pray for employees working in senior citizen homes caring for our elders. Pray for their health and give thanks for their servant hearts.” April 28, Dominique Gilliard

“Gray hair is a crown of glory” Proverbs 16

Yesterday senators launched legislation to demand support for Essential Workers. Today we are thinking with prayerful intent about the people who provide care in assisted living and residential facilities for people who are aging. We think of hospice facilities and special needs facilities which are sometimes connected to senior care homes.

The staff in these places are essential workers. At times, I do not know that they are considered so, at least, they are not as widely appreciated as they ought to be. So I am thankful for this prayer prompt from Dominique.

According to the CDC, a person who tests positive for the Coronavirus is allowed to care for elderly people who have also tested positive. I believe this is dangerous. It allows employers to threaten job loss for asymptomatic workers who are on the cusp of being to ill to perform their duties. We know from many testimonies that even in asymptomatic patients, coronavirus can turn to COVID-19 and become deadly. People who face this challenge are forced to put themselves at risk to earn a livelihood they might not live to enjoy.

Workers wonder if their work matters, they wonder if the work they do makes them worthy of protection. It ought to, because they are worthy. We are all worthy of protection no matter our vocations. It is heartbreaking that anyone would not be treated with dignity in the face of such sickness. It is heartbreaking that elderly people must rely on people who are not well to provide their care. This is what we have come to. Putting workers at risk because their line of work is not as important as it should be.

Both the elderly and their care providers deserve better. While our elders are knitting the fabrics that will become their legacy, the people who care for them are insuring the creation of our cultural inheritance. Every breath, every story, every moment of laughter, wonder, fear and sadness is attended by the divine Presence that passes the spirit of our elderly beloved on to us, to our children, to their children, to all God’s children. Where would I be without the people who helped to keep Harriet Tubman alive? What would we lack were it not for the willing workers who transcribed for Frederick Douglass, for Toni Morrison, for Coretta Scott King?

Grey hairs are a crown, a bald head is a halo. Each hair gone wiry or lost is a story. Age is the marker of of acquaintance with both vitality and vulnerability. Wrinkled faces and laugh line creases are beautiful to the Lord, they are accents of lives lived and adventures to be shared. Our elders are our living ancestors, we must protect them fiercely. We must love them lavishly. They are worthy of more consideration than culture often allows. We forget them to our loss, we neglect them to our failure. The people who remember our elders in favor and grace are people worthy of the same dignity. This is why I lift them up today. This is why we fight; for the people who are fighting the good fight, and for the people who hold them up as the battle wages on.

Lord, hear the prayers of your people

Oh Lord, we are thankful this morning: Thankful for people who are risking their lives to make sure that elderly beloved receive care. These are people standing in for loved ones who cannot attend their elders.

And Lord, we are worried today, for the health of our aging loved ones and those who look after them. These are essential workers risking their lives to care for the people that some state governments have thrown away.

God of Fortitude, hear our determination and answer our prayer from your abundance.

We are not willing to sacrifice the lives of our elderly beloved simply because they have lived for so long. We are not willing to subject them to care from sick people just because they are sick. We are in need of a new strategy today. We are in need of deliverance.

We pray for healing from sickness and an increase of recovery testimonies.

We pray for peace in the hearts of care providers.

We pray for transformation among assisted living administrators who are forcing sick people to care for sick elders.

We pray for provision for our elders, for people who are truly concerned for their well-being.

We need your power today, we need your strength to hold us up.

For the children and loved ones of senior citizens, these facts are difficult to carry. They are not permitted to visit their own relatives and friends. Will you enter in as an advocate in the places where they cannot go? Will you stand strong for the many staff and volunteers who feel so weak? Will you be a hedge of protection for the vulnerable and bring strength to the weary?

Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief… I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land. From Psalm 143

The rulers of this land would have us sacrifice our elders to this rampant disease. Unjust and frivolous governors, overworked and biased physicians are deeming the elderly unimportant. We rebuke self-centeredness and the spirit of supremacy that drives this political neglect. Will you change our fates, O God? Will you come quickly and wipe away death forever?

Answer me quickly, Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit. Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. Rescue me from my enemies, Lord, for I hide myself in you. From Psalm 143

Blessed are the essential workers who are treated as unimportant. Show them their worth, insure them of their dignity, empower them to demand respect and provision.

Blessed are the essential workers who labor through the last days of the people in their care.

Blessed are the essential workers who serve though they are sick, who suffer beyond their last bit of strength for the sake caring - under systems that do not care for them.

O Lord, lengthen the days of our loved ones, strengthen the people who love them while we are restricted from physical presence.

We ask you today, Lord - don’t you care that we are dying? We believe you do, O God of Life, but we would have an answer from you. We plead your mercy and yearn for your righteous response. We need rescue, Lord, we need renewal.