Our hearts are in Haiti

It has been horrendous for all of us to be watching the images and information flowing out of Haiti this last week or so.  Here in the Diocese of Atlanta, many of us have beloved companions about whom we are anxious to get news and even more, about how we can help in the most effective ways.  I’ve created this blog as a sort of “gathering space” and “resource center” for those of us wanting to receive (and to share) the most accurate and up-to-date- information we can find.  I hope you will check back often and that you’ll share your own information and resources.

I’d like to begin by sharing a prayer written by our dear brother in Christ, Bishop Jeffery Rowthorn.  He offered it on the Thursday morning after the quake hit,  at the start of the Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation (EGR) board conference call, in honor of Lisa Mbele-Mbong, whose mother Helena, some of you will remember as my roommate at Everyone, Everywhere ’08 and/or as a deputy to General Convention.   EGR has now shared it more widely as a gift and resource for the church (see note at end re: source location).  Jeffery says it well for all of us, I think:

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 Jeffrey Rowthorn, Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation
January 15, 2010

(also available for download at http://www.e4gr.org/haiti.html)

More to follow, as I find resources (and learn to navigate my way around Word.Press!).  May God bless the people of Haiti and all those trying to assist them.

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