As the news has unfolded today about the flooding in Texas, the scale of this tragedy has become evident. At this point, it is unknown how many people have lost homes or livelihoods. However, the number of people whose lives were lost in this tragedy is heartbreaking. At the time I’m writing this there are still 20 girls missing from Camp Mystic along the Guadalupe river. The families of children at other summer camps, and church camps in the region are eagerly awaiting reunion with their children. And, on a personal note, I learned that someone who played a role in my childhood at summer camp died.
This evening, the sunset over the mountains here in North Carolina is absolutely awe inspiring. When we are being comforted by the beauty and the bounty of God‘s creation, it is easy to lose sight of the potential fury that is bound up in nature. I wish I had words of wisdom that could make sense of a beautiful mountain sunset and a raging muddy river coexisting in the same world. Like you, I am often baffled by the contradictions that we are presented with in life.
It is in moments like these when the comfort of the knowledge of the love of God is more precious than any treasure in this world. And the way we, as the body of Christ in the world, can share that love is by stopping what we are doing and offering a word of prayer. We pray not to change the will of God nor to overcome the truth of the past. We pray because we are not alone and to let our neighbors know that they are not alone. We pray because we know what it is to live in this contradictory and broken world where sometimes we are too overwhelmed to find the words on our own, so we have to rely on one another.
With hope, the only balm for sorrow, in our hearts, let us pause and pray.
God of creation, you brought the world out of the chaos of the deep.
Sometimes we forget that the very power you brought to heel still resides in the fabric of the world. Last night we saw that power unleashed, and today we struggle to regain our footing in this world.
We come to you, O God, not to plead for mercy nor to beg that you will undo what has already been done. We come to you because we know that, even in our moments of deepest despair when the world feels as relentless as a raging river, you are with us.
You are with us in the light and in the darkness, in the calm and in the chaos, in joy and in sorrow. And just as you are with us in every moment, give us now the wisdom to know how to be present in this moment for those who have lost livelihood and loved ones.
Make us bearers of hope.
We pray these things anticipating that day in your kingdom when raging waters are stilled and chaos is no more.
Until that day comes, and as we live in the midst of the contradictions of this world, hold us always in your hope so we may remember now and forever that your love is our true north. Amen.