Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Blessings after Hurricane Irene

As part of Cardin’s Leadership Training Seminar, the students divided into groups and brainstormed ideas on how to connect our liturgy to their experience of Hurricane Irene. Hurricane Irene helped Miles Greenspoon read and say our traditional blessings in a new way.

Miles writes:
As everyone knows, we on the East Coast have just experienced what is a very traumatic natural disaster: Hurricane Irene. Lives have been lost; buildings and homes have been destroyed; towns have been flooded. It was a huge struggle for me to write this prayer because it is hard for me to find solace in knowing that an ever-merciful God can also wreak such havoc on our nation. However, I have created a prayer that I think is pertinent not only to the destruction we have encountered recently, but pertinent to our everyday lives as well:

Praised are You, Lord our God, who is the true judge and the master of creation. Only You have the power to bestow and revoke life, leaving us humble as You fill our world with Your mysteries and blessings. May we find ourselves in awe of your might, as we pray for Your mercy and compassion.