Sundays after Easter
Prayer
Pastoral Prayers For All Seasons
Object:
The violence of nature, our Creator, mystifies and terrorizes us. We don't understand the reason for earthquakes, tornados, and floods, or why our world needs to be literally turned upside down by nature's fury. We see no good purpose in the destruction of our homes and villages. We only see death, injury, and millions and millions of dollars in damage.
We speculate among ourselves that perhaps you might be trying to "tell us something." Immediately we think we are being punished for something we did or didn't do. Have we consciously mistreated our brothers and sisters of this world? Or is it that we have chosen to care for ourselves, while ignoring the needs of others? Have we turned away from you?
We speculate that these horrendous natural disasters just may happen by chance -- that there is no rhyme or reason for such calamities. A hurricane may appear this week, but a similar event may not occur in the same place for 25 to fifty years. Can it be that our planet is on some kind of time table that we know nothing about? That it moves this way and that way, and produces this and destroys that by some hidden master plan? On one hand there seems to be no plan; on the other there is a plan, but it is unknown.
Either way nature's course seems senseless and cruel. But then we often think that when things don't go our way.
If we look for a positive outcome to our musing, we are driven back to faith. This holocaust of nature isn't going to be made sensible by our thought or our logic. It's purpose, if there is one, eludes us. We simply know that you are God and that you are at the helm not only of our planet, but of our universe and all other universes. We trust you regardless what happens. We offer our confusion and fear to you lest they devastate us. We look to you and speak of our faith in who you are and in what you do. We stand in a long line of your children: Abraham, Job, the disciples, Martin Luther, the Wesleys, and Mother Teresa who faced the awfulness of the unexplained and yet persisted in keeping the faith. You are our God and we are your people -- so you have declared and so we believe.
We pray for all people who have lost loved ones to nature's raging. We recall the young couple standing beside a pile of rubble that once was their home, lamenting the end of their dreams. Help us to pray with assurance that their dreams will be resurrected.
Thank you, God, for being with us -- even in situations we little understand and greatly fear. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
We speculate among ourselves that perhaps you might be trying to "tell us something." Immediately we think we are being punished for something we did or didn't do. Have we consciously mistreated our brothers and sisters of this world? Or is it that we have chosen to care for ourselves, while ignoring the needs of others? Have we turned away from you?
We speculate that these horrendous natural disasters just may happen by chance -- that there is no rhyme or reason for such calamities. A hurricane may appear this week, but a similar event may not occur in the same place for 25 to fifty years. Can it be that our planet is on some kind of time table that we know nothing about? That it moves this way and that way, and produces this and destroys that by some hidden master plan? On one hand there seems to be no plan; on the other there is a plan, but it is unknown.
Either way nature's course seems senseless and cruel. But then we often think that when things don't go our way.
If we look for a positive outcome to our musing, we are driven back to faith. This holocaust of nature isn't going to be made sensible by our thought or our logic. It's purpose, if there is one, eludes us. We simply know that you are God and that you are at the helm not only of our planet, but of our universe and all other universes. We trust you regardless what happens. We offer our confusion and fear to you lest they devastate us. We look to you and speak of our faith in who you are and in what you do. We stand in a long line of your children: Abraham, Job, the disciples, Martin Luther, the Wesleys, and Mother Teresa who faced the awfulness of the unexplained and yet persisted in keeping the faith. You are our God and we are your people -- so you have declared and so we believe.
We pray for all people who have lost loved ones to nature's raging. We recall the young couple standing beside a pile of rubble that once was their home, lamenting the end of their dreams. Help us to pray with assurance that their dreams will be resurrected.
Thank you, God, for being with us -- even in situations we little understand and greatly fear. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
