A Prayer for Emergency Workers

The Book of Common Prayer has excellent prayers for judges, government officials, teachers, etc, but it lacked one for emergency workers, so here's my attempt at a prayer for them:

God of compassion,

Who suffered to rescue a world that didn’t care,

Whose Son was known best for healing the sick and the suffering:

Protect and sustain all those whose calling is to rush toward danger rather than away from it.

When they grow tired of patching up fools, give them five more minutes’ worth of patience.

When their friends and comrades are injured, protect them from despair.
When they do their best but cannot stop death, keep hope alive in their hearts. When they must deliver awful news, and must say the hardest words, give them a measure of your tenderness.

Give them eyes to see the face of your Son in the face of every stranger in need.

Bring them and us, at last, into your new creation, where there will be no more tears, or mourning, or death.

We ask these things for the sake of Jesus, the Rescuer,

Amen.

 

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