Prayers after the Christchurch Earthquake

(St David's Presbyterian Church Blue Lagoon, NEV, Dunedin 27 Feb 2011)

Thanks

• Thank you Lord when tragedy brings out the best in people
• Sense of community, willingness to do whatever it takes, willingness to reach out, to give blood, time, love, care, prayer, attention to what is really needed
• Thanks for acts of courage and sacrifice, hours of patience, blessings of preparation of civil defence,
• Thanks for the wisdom of leadership, those with the gifts of the right words at the right time, those able to divert the well-meaning into the actually useful, those able to look to the needs of the moment and prepare for the needs of tomorrow.
• While we weep with those who weep, we also rejoice with those grateful for narrow escapes, remarkable rescues, and stories of survival in extraordinary circumstances.
• We give thanks for help from around the country and around the world.
• Thanks for the aid of technology, for telephone, text and tweet, messages on facebook.

Lord there is much to pray about

• We pray for those who have lost loved ones and friends
• Those who know people and families affected personally
• Those traumatised by what has happened to people, pets, property
• Those who feel confused
• Those who feel bad about not feeling bad because the pain is too much to even think about.
• We pray for those making decisions for themselves and for others, decisions about priorities, about jobs and business, what to do about food and water and sewerage, those struggling to stay awake, those who cannot sleep.
• We pray for those making decisions about the future of their own lives and the life of their community.

Lord as time goes on other questions come to the surface

• Those dealing with the reality that is sinking in, of loss, of pain, of the time-scale of rehabilitation for themselves and for others; those for whom things will never be the same again.
• Those for whom this is a test of faith.
• Those for whom this makes it hard to believe that you are a good God and a loving Father. When we cannot blame people or even evil we wonder why you allow some things to happen, why you answer some prayers and not others, why some are saved and others are lost; we know that being spared and not spared in this life does not tell us about our relationship with you, yet still we are confused and sad.

Lord help us to be able to do things which point to the future and not feel guilty about enjoying the ordinary and the special things of life when others are suffering

• Show us how to acknowledge the needs of others and do all that you ask of us.
• Show us how to take time out from mourning what we cannot change and find the space to work for the future where our decisions still make a difference. Help us to still to laugh and pray, to love and enjoy, to paint and plant and plan, and trust you for a future that is not just the product of our desire to pull together, but a sign of your Spirit at work in the lives of ordinary people together.
• Lord help us to take rest. We remember that Jesus took time out when he could have been healing more people. We know that even those capable of doing search and rescue and cope with medical emergencies, work in shifts and give each other breaks. Help us know when to give others a break. Help us know when to take a break ourselves.

Lord we pray for churches, Christian leaders, and ordinary Christians seeking to know what it means to follow Jesus at a time like this.

• We thank you for sanctuaries and places to pray
• We pray for church communities whose churches are no longer places to pray and for those whose churches have been places where people have now died.
• We pray for those who need to make decisions about rebuilding, about working together with others, about accepting that the time has come to let go of buildings that have been precious in the past but are not needed for your work at this time.
• Lord in our letting go even of holy things, may we hold closer to each other and to you.

• We pray for the right word to say, and the right prayer to share. Lord it is easy to get it wrong, to say what people want us to say, or the brutal truth which is in our minds, when neither is actually your word for the occasion. Cover us when we get it wrong. Help us be forgiving when other's presence of mind fails them, and what is said is unhelpful.

Lord we bring to you our numbness and our hope, our desire for wisdom for the things we need to do, and wisdom for the things it would be better not to do. Help us know what to do with our desperate need to be useful. Turn our willingness into energy that you can do something with. Grant us the peace that we are doing what we can and what we should and that we are available for the times when our willingness will be called on.