Gracious and Compassionate God
When disaster strikes our fragile world
Our sense of time can be interrupted.
Days stretch into weeks,
Months and years pass by,
We return to our daily tasks,
And it is so easy to forget those
for whom life has changed beyond measure.
Two years on from the tragic events in Haiti
We pause to remember.
Thank you for all that has been achieved
For the courage of our partners
Who put their own suffering aside to respond to the needs of others.
Thank you for the practical help that was offered
The medical care, hot meals and hygiene kits.
Thank you that our partners were able to provide emergency shelters
And enable families to buy food and send their children to school.
But there is still much to be done
And it is for these things that we pray now.
For temporary shelters to be replaced by permanent homes
For livelihoods to be secured as crops are replanted and livestock raised
For that which has been destroyed to be built back
in a way that will withstand any future shocks
We ask that you will prosper those who rebuild houses
And that you will strengthen those who rebuild lives.
Where tears of pain and suffering remain
Remind us that we are not alone, you are in the midst.
Gracious and Compassionate God
Eternal and unchanging
As we look back and remember those
For whom so much has changed.
Surround them we pray with your love
Remind them of your faithfulness
And enable them to face the future
with hope and without fear.
Incarnate God
That became one of us
Clothed in flesh and blood
Feeling as we feel
Sharing in our suffering
We come to you now.
We bring before you sisters and brothers in Haiti
Those who survived the devastation of their land
When the earth gave way or floods engulfed them.
We remember before you the fear they experienced
The desperate panic as they searched for loved ones
The unutterable grief when those that they loved were lost.
Incarnate God
That on the cross endured
the pain and mental anguish
Of loss and separation
We come to you now.
We remember before you those who suffer still
Those who cannot escape the memories of that time
Who close their eyes and see again the events of that day.
We bring before you those whose scars only you can see
Those who relive the trauma of what happened as they sleep
or as they go about their daily life.
Incarnate God
Who knows what it is to be a refugee
Far from home
And longing to be reunited
with those that you love
We come to you now.
We remember those who lost homes and livelihoods
Those that lost families and loved ones
Those for whom the wounds, the scars, the dreams,
the trauma and the pain of loss
Are part of an ongoing reality.
We ask your healing touch
Your light and your life
Will restore and renew those who suffer still.
Incarnate God
Who shared in our suffering
We come to you now.
