VIRTUAL PRAYERS
Good Friday procession goes online in time of COVID-19
POTTSTOWN » For the last 26 years, Christian leaders in Pottstown have used the occasion of Good Friday to hold a “prayer walk” around the center of town, stopping at the places of authority and assistance to offer prayers.
In each of those 26 years, the walk has been held in person with a crowd of people joining in the prayer and often with a volunteer carrying a large wooden cross.
Now, in its 27th year, a year like no other, the Good Friday processional will be one like no other.
Recorded on video, the leaders have made their stops already and posted them on participating church websites, so that those who choose to, may offer their own prayers, in their own time, and even walk the same route to do so.
You can view it on YouTube at https://youtu.be/2Xcqf7rqt_g
For the health of all, the church leaders decided against holding a large gathering so as to reduce the possible spread of the COVID-19 virus, and instead offered their prayers, like so many other things in the last 12 months, on a screen.
The nine-stop route began and ended where it always does, on the green between Emmanuel Lutheran and Zion’s United Church of Christ on North Hanover Street.
There, said the Rev. Kerry Pidcock-Lester, co-pastor of First Presbyterian Church, it is intended that “our prayers can express the compassion of Christ for our community and for all people.”
At the Pottstown School District Administration building, the Rev. Austin Chinault, pastor of Zion’s United Church of Christ, offered prayers for “our administrators, our students and our teachers.”
He also prayed for fair school funding, making reference to the series of online presentations on how Pennsylvania’s school funding system is racially biased and unfair to low-income communities.
The presentations are sponsored by area religious organizations and accessible at — www.fbcpottstown.org/ — the First Baptist Church website.
“We are now very much aware of inequity in school funding in Pennsylvania,” Chinault said. “It is an important issue that the education fair funding formula be administered throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania so all students have an opportunity to be lifted up and educated equally.”
At the tree park at the corner of Beech and North Charlotte streets, the Rev. Vernon Ross Jr., pastor of Bethel Community Church of Pottstown, asked God “for freedom from drugs and violence and give your people freedom.”
The Rev. Marcia Bailey, pastor of First Baptist Church, prayed on the greensward between her church and YWCA TriCounty Area on King Street, places where several community groups meet regularly to make life in Pottstown better.
“Some walls are good,” those that protect us from the cold and the elements,” she said. “But her prayer was offered to “get rid of the walls that divide us.”
At the Outreach Center run by the Cluster of Religious Communities, the Rev. Joshua Caler, pastor of Christ Episcopal Church, offered prayers “for those who have too little” and asked God “to forgive us for neglecting the poverty we see around us.”
The Rev. Carter W. Lester Jr., co-pastor at First Presbyterian, offered timely prayers for downtown business, the economy and those who have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic and the shutdowns it imposed on us all.
“We offer prayers of thanks to our essential workers,” he said and offered prayers for restaurants “to help them to reopen and people to be able to safely gather.”
Lester also offered a very specific prayer for the media, “who share the good news of this community, but also hold those with power accountable.”
At Smith Family Plaza, in front of Pottstown Borough Hall, the Rev. Garrison Lockley, pastor of Bethel African MethodistEpiscopal Church, prayed for Pottstown’s elected officials.
“We thank you for their service and we pray Lord you give them the wisdom, give them guidance in making the important decisions to lead us through this pandemic.”
Major Jeny Shurtleff, stood on the front steps of The Salvation Army Building on King Street, and offered a prayer “for the sick and troubled and those battling addiction. They’re in a tough place and right now God, I ask you to reach out and touch them.”
And back at the green between Zion’s UCC and Emmanuel Lutheran, the Rev. Nichole Jackson, pastor of Trinity Reformed Church, offered the final prayer — a prayer for peace.
“We know it takes a village for peace, and we know it takes all of us to work together.”