"Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them." Psalm 32:6
My morning ritual is to mix up some oatmeal and watch some of the morning headlines. I do it almost mindlessly, with an ear towards the talking heads on "Morning Joe" or the "Today Show." I am not awake, really. Just going through the motions in the morning. However, today I was jolted awake by the news of an 8.9 earthquake in Japan and the devastating tsunami that followed. A reporter was covering the story from the dark California coast. The sun had not yet risen there. He reported that Hawaii was preparing for a tsunami as a result of this quake - and, in fact, the whole US western seaboard was expecting a tsunami of some proportion. This was no day to go surfing, he warned. I guess not!
After breakfast, I began my morning devotions. Today I decided to read and reflect on the Psalm for this Sunday. I felt another "jolt" when I read verse 6 of Psalm 32, "the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them." I thought of the tsunami - that "series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water."
My prayers immediately turned to people and events where there have been tsunamis of other sorts - that sense of displacement followed by the onslaught of emotional or physical waves that threaten to drown us. That wipe us out. That have us just shaking our heads in utter disbelief.
And so I pray this day for the tsunamis experienced by:the teachers in Wisconsin
my colleague whose mother was just hospitalized suddenly for pneumonia
a friend who is living along the rising floods of the Delaware River
Muslims and those of us who stand with them through the xenophobic hearings
my church
the people of Japan and others affected by the earthquake and tsunami
those who go hungry every day
people who are living in poverty while the rich get richer
(add your prayers here)
Save us from our tsunamis, O God of mercy. Do not let the rush of might waters reach us. Rescue those who already floundering in the floods. Bring them to safer harbors.
my colleague whose mother was just hospitalized suddenly for pneumonia
a friend who is living along the rising floods of the Delaware River
Muslims and those of us who stand with them through the xenophobic hearings
my church
the people of Japan and others affected by the earthquake and tsunami
those who go hungry every day
people who are living in poverty while the rich get richer
(add your prayers here)
Save us from our tsunamis, O God of mercy. Do not let the rush of might waters reach us. Rescue those who already floundering in the floods. Bring them to safer harbors.
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