A Prayer in Time of Disaster

God, we pray as uncertainty has captured our gaze, and anxiety drapes over minds with every headline. I know you to be gracious no matter what comes our way, and still remain certain that your love holds this world on its axis.

As I write this from the comfort of my own apartment in NYC, many are homeless today, with no roof over their head. My prayer feels insignificant now, like specks of dust orbiting the vast expanse of space and time. Yet I know you deal in tiny things like mustard seeds, as you are mindful of your children. You suffer with each child who cries your name.

I also know your grace to be true. How you inspire people to carry out your purposes and plans, through good neighboring to people in need. May we continue the act of neighboring with every resource at our disposal.

I also know you are close to those who have experienced insurmountable loss from Houston to the Caribbean, and in places in Asia even ignored right now.

Assist rescue workers in Mexico doing their best to rescue those lost beneath the rubble. God, if there are survivors out there, may no amount of debris be too much of an obstacle to find them in time. May your grace go forth to our neighbors in the south who have had their lives shaken in every way possible. May you comfort them through the grief of loss, and the sense of instability that has rocked them. May they continue to be resilient through these moments of rupture and trauma.

I pray that you would continue to bring wisdom to the coordination effort in Puerto Rico. God, I pray for familia on the island who are most vulnerable right now, for senior citizens, for those who are without basic necessities. Lord, that you would be with them in every way possible.

If they are thirsty and dehydrated may water come to quench. If they are suffering from the effects of the heat, Lord, provide them with cool spaces. Even cool breezes. I pray that the efforts on the ground would be well coordinated. I pray that people would be protected from contaminated spaces, from roads overwrought with debris and water.

Lord, I pray that your heart of justice would move elected officials, and that ports would be opened for supplies to reach Puerto Rico. That more airlines would practice generosity in providing transportation to those entering and exiting the island. God, I pray that supplies would not be left in storage places, but be distributed to those whose hands and stomachs are empty right now.

I pray that our people would know they are seen by the world around them and that they matter too.

Lord, that we might know you in the power of your resurrection and the fellowship of suffering. Amen.