January 15, 2010
The Stillspeaking Daily Devotional offers these prayers for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.
Author's note: In Seattle, where I live, a February 28, 2001 earthquake measured 6.8 on the Richter scale. In Seattle there was property damage, but no loss of life. The January 11, 2010 earthquake in Haiti measured 7.0 on the same scale.
Holy One, we your theologians have our categories. We name some things -- earthquakes, twisters, hurricanes -- as "natural evil." Beyond our control. Other things -- rape, murder, genocide, we name, "human evil." We would like to things to stay in their boxes, to fit our categories. As we look into the bruised and broken faces of our Haitian brothers and sisters, we know they don't, not really. Two earthquakes of almost the same magnitude have had such different effects. In Seattle, we were shook up and our earthquake-proofed buildings were set swaying. In Haiti everything in sight has fallen down and tens of thousands of human beings have been crushed. Lord, it's not just beyond-our-control, "natural evil" that's happened this week. The brick-hard truth is that the Haitian earthquake has been so devastating because it has been piled on top of years of poverty and corruption, exploitation and indifference. Grant that we may hear, in the cries of the grieving, the lamentations of your prophets. Grant that in their suffering, we might discern your summons to repentance, your call for a more just human order. Strengthen the rescuers, uphold the grieving, sustain the weary, and cause the money and aid now given to speedily reach those in deepest need, in Christ's name. Amen.
-- Anthony B. Robinson
Today I offer a special prayer for the children. In Haiti, remind them that they are loved, even when they are separated from their parents, families and friends. Bless the orphans, tend to the sick who are too small to tend to themselves, be the mothering God of love to the motherless, and a Father of hope to those whose small hearts are broken. And for those of us far from Haiti, bless us with Godly wisdom as we speak to the children in our lives. Give us the words to guide them through the wrenching images they see of a country shaken to its core. Calm their fears that such a disaster would strike them, but do not calm them so much that they lose that natural compassion that children from all over the world feel for one another. No child is old enough to bear this without you, God. Amen.
-- Lillian Daniel
As we shift through own rubble today, O God, break through the largeness of the Haiti earthquake with your still small voice. Empower us to do what we can with what we have. Remind us that "acts of God" often take our attention away from muddy messes, like immigration reform or failed revolutions or drug lords or corrupt governments or deforestation. Let this great shaking of the earth reset our spiritual computers so that we remember how much you care for all your people and how much we also care for each other. Give us power to wade through the muddied and the mangled, so that a tragedy in one of the poorest countries of the earth can be like your manger, something small that changes what seems large. In the name of Your son who turns history around. Amen.
--Donna Schaper
Almighty God, you know the horror of tragedy. While abhorring anything that destroys your creation and violates your love, you never give up. You are in the middle of Haiti as you are in the middle of our lives. You offer us shelter in the midst of storms that we may offer shelter to others. May we not be so overwhelmed by anger at this disaster and mourning for all who suffer that we forget you, give up on prayer, and question what we can possibly do to help. Headlined right before our eyes are the names of people and organizations we can support. You draw near to those who are hurting -- and those who are helping. You sustain all when other support is never enough. We know your compassion. Now may we see it in Haiti and feel it in our own bones. May your mercy be known again -- and the salvation that, against all odds, you make possible. Amen.
--William Green
Gracious God, At times like these, our faith seems backed into a corner, nearly overcome, pursued as doubt and despair breathe down our necks, pretending they have real power to overcome us. And we are afraid . . . until we remember that they do not have the power to overcome us. Until we remember You and how Your son, our brother Jesus suffered and was resurrected; until we remember how our ancestors suffered but overcame great trial; until we remember our own silent suffering . . . and your salvation made real in our lives. By the grace of Almighty God, we are here, guided through hell, reigning with resurrection victory . . . in this life. Thanks be to You, O God!
And now, O God, bring us once again as we work and pray with and for the people of Haiti. You know and see what we cannot see. Help our unbelief. Strengthen our weary feet and trembling hands as we stand in the gap lifting up this great people to You and from destruction. May the prayers of our hearts ascend to You, O God, even as the prayers of our hands, feet, and purses descend with real solutions. For all the things we cannot do, we turn them over to You -- with hope and expectation that You will create and inspire solutions we cannot yet begin to imagine, beginning with our hearts. Descend upon us and upon the people of Haiti we pray, for we know that with You, O God, absolutely nothing is impossible.
May we not forget Haiti when we sit down at tables with plenty to eat, walk through the door of our comfortable homes and apartments, bow or kneel to pray in relative comfort, gather to worship, or advocate to our government on other issues, until restoration and redemption has come for all the sons and daughters of Haiti. Bind the people of Haiti to our hearts. May the peace of God surpassing human understanding sustain this suffering people, their faith, and our own that we may receive fresh insight from the Stillspeaking God that moves Haiti beyond suffering and survival to paradise and possibility where love, mercy, and justice for all people embrace and kiss each other and the earth . . . in Haiti. Amen.
--Ron Buford
May I be a small instrument in the turning of history toward justice and wholeness. Amen.
--Mistinguette Smith
|
I
