What a difference a week makes! Last Sunday when we gathered here, Hilton Head Island looked like a war zone. It still is evident that something enormous happened to us, but as a community, and especially by the efforts of many hundreds of people from inside and outside our shores, we have made great strides in overcoming the damage done by Hurricane Matthew. We bow before the One who exists above, outside, within, and beneath the storm, and to God we join together in heartfelt praise and thanksgiving.
Pastoral Prayer
Loving God, in the past two weeks we have been struck by the power of nature, the resilience of the human spirit in the face of a major disaster, and the persistence of Thy spirit within us, lifting us up after we have been brought low. Many have been inspired to help one another when that might not be their natural inclination. Because all good comes ultimately from Thee, we thank Thee for the incalculable effort which has been expended by so many to overcome the devastation of the hurricane, and for their intention to restore us as quickly as possible to the life we knew before Matthew descended on us. Our hearts are warmed by the many acts of kindness we have seen extended to us and to others around us, and we praise Thee for inspiring those acts.
But as we have seen humanity at its best, we also see examples of humanity at its worst. We read of thieves taking the opportunity to break into temporarily uninhabited homes, of merchants overpricing customers, of complaints registered against people who may have been doing their best in hurricane recovery, and yet for many it was not enough. In the largest of issues we observe some of the smallest of thoughts, and in the most tense of moments we see tension further exacerbated by over- or under-reactions. Forgive us for any ill-will we may have felt during these stressful days, and enable all of us to emerge from this huge collective experience as better and more sensitive people.
We pray for everyone for whom the hurricane may have added permanent burdens to their lives: the seriously ill, who were carried to safety but whose health may have been more eroded because of it; those who are always jeopardized in mental stability, and who have plunged into even greater depression because of what has happened to them; community servants who are nearly worn to exhaustion by expending so much energy on behalf of others; low-income people who may never recover from the losses they have suffered. Help all of us to hear Thy sustaining word to us, by whatever means it is delivered to us. These things we pray in the name of Jesus, whom we believe calmed many kinds of storms for those among whom he lived. Now we pray as he taught his followers, saying, Our Father….