Deepening Prayers for Haiti

From Nutella's mother, in Haiti


Nutella is the pseudonym of a longtime non-blogging participant at RevGalBlogPals, and I learned today that her parents are in Haiti. She writes:



Hello Songbird,

I'll email you the email we received from my parents just yesterday. IT's quite remarkable and might be useful. Feel free to post to any preachers who can use it. I'd ask you mention they are in Leogane (pronounced LAY oh Gone) not Port-au-Prince, only because they are actually closer to the epicenter and no aid has arrived in their town. We're trying to get the word out that aid hasn't left Port-au-Prince. Hundreds are injured and no medical supplies at all. doctors working without gloves, antibiotics or anaesthesia. Parents are fine but sleeping outside like everyone else, without anything at all, and trying to stay until aid arrives to help direct it. Please pray for them and all who have not received word of their loved ones well-being. The situation is rapidly getting desperate over there as people are running out of food and water and others are dying of infection. That said, my mom's email paints a wonderful picture of God at work in the midst of tragedy. I'll forward it to you.

Please let the RevGals know how dear they are to me and how thankful I have been for their preaching support and their prayers now. I'm so busy I'm not sure I'll get to the site, but I hold you all dearly in my heart as you prepare for worship tomorrow. And thank you thank you thank you for your prayers and support! It means so much to me.

Very sincerely,

Nutella

Many thanks to Nutella and her family, who will surely be in my prayers. And now here is her mother's first-person account:

Friendds,
I
Using som,eone’s computer without using a bright screen, so
I cannot tell aoba
Ut my mistakes. I

will send one msg to all, so some information will not mean anything to you.
Hopital Ste. Croix is standing. John and I are fine. The administration collapsed under the
guesthouse, and our apartment collapsed under the story above. We have nothing we brought with us to Haiti, but
since we have done a lot of cleaning in the gusthouse and hospital, we can find
what we really need. Someone who was
here gave me some shoes, and I foiund another pair or reading glasses that will
work, so I have what I need. John was
caught under the wreckage for about 4 hours, but shortlthe roof above was
supported y the lintel of the slinding glass door, which held up te second
floor, so he was uninjured except for a small cut on the top of his head.

Everyone connected with the hospital is alive except that we
have not heard from Mario.. Several people lost members of extended
family. Alber’s daught was injured but
is fe, will recover fully. He saddest
news is tat Marie Yves has died. In the earthquake. Motr and Chrislet are fine. The Ste. Croix church is cracked, I don’t
know how badly. Eye clinic looks fine. Pere Kerouin’s house looks OK, Pere FanFan’s
house looks OK with some damage, Pere Pierre’s house is damaged, but stll
standing. Doctor’s quarter’s and
penthouse are fine. If we can get it
open, John and I may try to move in there for a while. At


At night we sleep in the yard behind the hospital where the
bandstand was. It has fallen, as has theEpiscopal
school. Thee are 2-300 people who sleep
in that field at night. Thy sing ymns
until almost midnight, andn we wake up to a church service, with hymns, a
morning prayer, and the apostle’s creed.

The evening sky is glorious. In
the field there is a real sense of community.

Of course, we are the only blancs there.

A group from FondWa arrived in Leogane today and will sleep there
tonight. Janine the head cook brought John
and me spaghetti from her home in Darbonne 8 miles away. We shared with the group from FondWa. They have some money so they went out and
bought rice, etc, and we will eat tonight.

People have shared with us and we are getting a chance to feel how the

Haitians really live.

The injuries we have seen at the hospital are enormouse,
skulls exposed, one woman died in the yard. Another women’s leg was cut vertically to the
bone, with muscles showing. Doctors
worked and saw over 300 people with cuts, fractures, etc. Today they are not, but worked hard every
day since the quake.

Of course, we have seen looting. The end wall of the guesthouse by the shared
drugs fell and it was open to the outside. My friends can imagine how I shouted down
about 20 looters in the guesthouse. Righteous
indignation works wonders, as does a tiny bit of pushing people to get out.

John and I do not know our plans. We need to talk with the board, but have no
phone. We have Joey’s phone, with
battery that needs charging. Our idea is
to stay as long as we can b helpful, then get out of the way.

I have never understgood joy in the midst of suffering, but
now I do. The caring I have seen, the
help we have received from the Haitians, the evening songs and prayers. Are wonderful.

The people will survive, though
many will die. Please pray for us. And pray that we and the hospital can be of
help to the people here.

Suzi

Reuters

Amen.

Haiti: Please Pray

Good friend and active ELCA voice (and heart and hands-on in ministy) for missions in Haiti for many years, Joe Scholpp, received these photos from misssionary friends on the island today. Please pray.

Psalm 46

1God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;

3though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.

5God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.

6The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.

7The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

8Come, behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations he has brought on the earth.

9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.

10“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.”

11The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.  Amen.

Pray for Enduring Wisdom in the New Year

Though an army besiege me,

My heart will not fear;

Though war break out against me,

even then I will be confident.

Psalm 27:3

"Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it."

Lou Holtz

Coach Holtz will be 73 this week.

He is the only coach in the NCAA to lead 6 different football programs to bowl games.

The most ancient and enduring wisdom finds its way into every life that is called in adversity. Come in faith to prayer this week. Bring your battling, bring your fear, and bring whatever war is raging within you. Pray with a confident heart to the One whose safe dwelling has kept your life thus far. Pray confident of finding shelter there in that holy place within. Pray confident that from that Place, you will know how once again how to face your adversity and respond. Amen

Indwelling

Psalm 90

1Lord, you have been our dwelling place

in all generations.

2Before the mountains were brought forth,

or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3You turn us back to dust,

and say, "Turn back, you mortals."

4 For a thousand years in your sight

are like yesterday when it is past,

or like a watch in the night.

…….

12 So teach us to count our days

that we may gain a wise heart.

……..

Come in stillness and in solitude, in these hectic days;

come to the dwelling place of God.

Return your heart of prayer

to its most ancient home.

Seek there the hope of all creation;

the strength of eternity;

and peace which endures.

Know in your heart’s returning home;

safe shelter in the frailty of its truth

held within antiquity’s gentle arms.

Pray there that your heart of prayer becomes,

the dwelling place of the Lord.

Amen.

Pray: Be the Light in the Darkness

Hanukkah begins

Friday, December 11

at Sundown.

“As long as Hanukkah is studied and remembered, Jews will not surrender to the night. The proper response, as Hanukkah teaches, is not to curse the darkness but to light a candle.”

Irving Greenberg, Modern Orthodox Rabbi, Jewish-American

In this second week of December, as the light of our days grows ever shorter and nights stretch longer before us, may we bring our hearts in prayer to the Source of all light. May we seek with them the miracle of the Light in our own darkness. May we find in that Light the strength and courage to live as a candle in the deep darknesses of the world. Amen.

Learn more about the Maccabean Revolt and the story of Hanukkah here.

To learn the Hanukkah Candlelighting Blessing try this link.

Creator of all Life:
One-by-one every family we know breathes whispers in clandestine tones….

It happened to us…
     to our parents,
     grandparents,
     aunts and uncles,
     to a sister and her husband,
     brother and sister-in-law,
     to our best friends….


Four times in a row
     before the baby came
          once, before
     We even knew…

Three times
     over six years
          and then children
     healthy and perfect.


To our relief,
     the dare-not-breathed
          horrors
          of
          never 
          at all 
               hang 
                    palpably
                         between the words
                                                                of but a scant few.

We just keep breathing
      in and out
     in the darkness
          of the deep void
     that has consumed us.

Breath is the life you give.
     You’ve been there all along…

Breathing for us…
     when we could not remember to do it for ourselves,
          holding us from the beginning,
          as we are holding each other, now, in invisible bonds.

We won’t feel this way
     always.

Everything that is,
     you created
          out of the deep darkness
               of the void.

You do no less for we who you created good:

Call us out of our shapeless places of endless darkness…

Help us find new form and shape for our living
     in this void
     that has stolen the shape
     from our lives.

Bring light to our darkness, O Creator of all.

Call us out of the water of our tears, bring us to dry land.

Carry us from this shapeless time, into new fruitfulness for our living.

Assure in our darkest nights…
     that dawn and its daylight will always follow.

When the water of our tears
     do overcome,
          console
          that they team
     with the potential for new life.

Bring forth from us new life for the living of our days.

Lift us gently,
     compassionate Creator.
    
 Take us softly
     in your arms
          and
          breathe
          tenderly
     into each of us
          your
          breath of life.
               Amen.

The prayer above was written to conclude the 2009 Annual Candlelight Memorial Service in memory of children dead to miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, being born still or who died within a few days of their birth. I was privileged this year to be the organizer and to once again light candles and speak publicly the names of my own Dear Little Ones, Alice, Claire and Elizabeth. They continue, by God’s good grace, to bless me in so many amazing ways.



Some may recognize the inspiration I found in Rachel Barenblat's poem "Community" published in, THROUGH (miscarriage poems), the creation story in the first chapter of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, and Pierre Wolff's, May I Hate God. (Links are provided, just run your cursor over.)

Giving Beauty

“Originality depends only on the character of the drawing and the vision peculiar to each artist.”  
George Seurat (b. December 2, 1859)

Let us seek, this week in prayer, that which is most unique within us; may we find there the character and creativity which are ours alone so that our vision of our lives may lead us to living the deep and particular work of beauty which is ours alone to give the world. Amen.

The image above is, of course, of Seurat's famous "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grand Jette," which resides at the incredible Art Institute of Chicago. I remember studying this painting as a child in school and then taking a trip to the museum to see it. It’s size, the colors which seem alive, the layers of experience and meaning, the feelings of awe…. I still get chills.

Joyeux anniversaire ! George. Merci!