Hurricane Prayers

We will soon know the path of Hurricane Florence.  We will hear from those grateful to have been spared; we will hear of the trauma of losing so much.

We're already hearing from some who want us to believe that it's a judgment from God when natural disasters come, that God is angry with us for some sort of behavior.  Two years ago, my pastor made an insightful observation in a Facebook post:  "God does not send cataclysms to get our attention or punish our sins or because you hate people who are different from you. If God punished our sins like you think God does or should then everyone (people like you) would be dodging tidal waves and meteors and volcanic eruptions instead of having time to post or tweet or even whisper such drivel."

So how shall we pray about natural disasters?

In Oct. 2106, I came across a way to pray about hurricanes. The rest of this post is from a Facebook post written by Mary Mappus Finklea, who has given permission to share:
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"Grant weather that nourishes all of creation."

This petition from Holden evening prayer has always been particularly moving for me. Especially after staying at the Lutheran Seafarers Hostel in NYC and meeting a sailor who said it drove him crazy when everyone just wanted the storms to go out to sea. He said there are people there too to care about. I've also liked this petition because it's not "me-centered" as in 'get the storm out of MY front yard and send it up north to be some other guy's problem'. And the petition keeps in mind the welfare of plants, animals, livestock, etc.

So my prayer this morning is "Grant weather that nourishes all of creation."

(a Facebook post from Mary Mappus Finklea)