Praying for Haiti in the Aftermath of the Earthquake
In grateful memory of Lisa Mbele-Mbong, Port-au-Prince, January 12, 2010
Reading Mark 4: 35-41
On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them: “Let us go across to the other side.”…. They took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. Jesus said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Litany
(after each section of the litany the leader says the response in Creole or English and then the people repeat it)
For the faith of the people of Haiti, singing their hymns even as their hearts are breaking:
Beni swa l’Eternel / Blessed be the Eternal One (repeated by all present)
For their selfless efforts to rescue loved ones and neighbors from the rubble:
Response
For the assurance that the many who have died are not lost for ever but rest in the Lord:
Response
For the God-given capacity to share the sufferings of others and to respond to their needs:
Response
For the nations of the world putting aside their differences to unite in offering assistance:
Response
For doctors and nurses, soldiers and relief workers, bringing help and hope to the needy:
Response
For Episcopal and other relief agencies, gathering contributions and putting them to work:
Response
For the healing and hope offered to all by Jesus Christ the Light of the World:
Response
For “the love of God from which neither life, nor death, nor things present, nor things to come, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us”:
Response
Free Prayer (either spoken or silent)
Concluding Prayer:
Jesus, Savior in times of storm,
when the waters of the deep are broken up
and all the landmarks crumble before our eyes,
come to our aid and hold us up.
Support the people of Haiti at this time
lest they sink in hopelessness and despair.
Empower those who are responding to their need;
uphold the bereaved in their grief;
and let your light shine in the present darkness
to lead us all to the city securely built on your love;
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
“Our Father…”
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.
Bishop Jeffery Rowthorn
January 15, 2010
NOTE from Bp Rowthorn: These are prayers for Haiti that I wrote this morning [January 15, 2010] at the request of the Board of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation. They are dedicated to the daughter of Helena Mbele- Mbong of Emmanuel Church in Geneva, Switzerland (until recently Chair of our Standing Commission on World Mission). She and her husband Samuel are close friends of ours.
Lisa was a human rights worker with the UN and was in the UN building when it collapsed with no way of escaping. Mercifully, Lisa's ten-year-old son Nady survived and is safe (though still in Port-au-Prince).
