hurricane – katyandtheword

Prayers as the Storm Comes

Praying so hard for Jamaica and the Caribbean

Praying for the planet
Praying for those in the eye of the hurricane

Praying
Praying
Praying because disaster relief has to come faster
with less resources
Praying because Climate Change is Harsh
and Denial is Harsher

Praying because Paper Towels are not enough
Praying because my neighborhood is big enough
to hold anyone in need
but I do not have capacity to figure it all out

Praying
that we do more

Prayers for this storm
and the next one
Praying the storm
lets up and eases
however it can

But right now
I hope that we do the short
and long range things
needed
to help

Because
Love is what
makes us Human
in the end

Amen

Feel free to use/adapt/change with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta aka “KatyandtheWord”

Prayer in the Aftermath

God
it is devastating
we are all in shock
the roads
simply washed away
the houses
gone

We pray for the people
the communities
towns
all struck
by a hurricane
some the 3rd in a year
a year’s worth of rain
in a day or two

This kind of change causes us
to use words like
resilient
rebuild
tough

But meanwhile
our souls ache

Because nothing
makes sense
And it’s hard to
take in

Is that why
it is called
after-math
Because
nothing adds up
anymore?

God help us to
walk as slowly
as we need to

to remember
to be
community

with

one another
and to invest
in the long term

God help us
For we feel helpless
and alone
Help us to find
each other

To build
into
each
other

Help us to find
ways to attend
to building
safely
to being
energy efficient
and all the things

But most of all

Help us to be
A community
that
cares
for one another

So that
we do not have
to be
so exhausted
Or feel
alone
When
we do
these hard things
we pray.
Amen

Feel free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta “KatyandtheWord’

Prayer in the midst of Hurricane

God of the wind and the rain
God of the hurricane
Are you the God of natural disasters?

Surely not
And in the wake of Fiona
And the very midst of Ian
God we lift our prayers to you

God help those who are evacuating
and those who cannot.

Help those who are suffering,
in Puerto Rico, Canada, Cuba and Florida.
Those in American and those who we forget are Americans.

Those who are nearby, and those who we ignore or forget–
Remind us God, that you remember and care for all people
Black or Brown, White or American, enemy or ally–mainlander or territory dweller.
You are the God of all people, and tell us to treat the forgotten as our sibling.

Help us humans as we grapple with this thing we call climate–
This beautiful, unwieldy, uncontrollable phenom
that keeps us humble
(when we pay attention to it)

Help us to weather the storms
To rethink how we build and use resources and be community with one another
Be with those who need the help the most we pray,

Not just in the exciting moments of aftermath,
But throughout the long slog of care that is needed we pray.
Amen.