Good afternoon, friends. This is Pastor Don. Well, it’s been quite a week for disasters, hasn’t it? Last Friday, nearly 3000 people perished in Morocco because of an earthquake. Monday, we remembered the 2,996 people who died in the 9-11 attack in 2001. Then yesterday some 6000 people (and eventually maybe 10,000) died in Libya because of flooding.
Whatever do we make of such numbers? The pain and loss is almost too much to contemplate. To think on it too long and get depressed is not helpful. Neither is detachment and indifference. And, the sheer magnitude of it all means that anything I do seems like that trivial drop in a bucket.
Even praying is often characterized as a meaningless gesture. But I think prayer is a way of stepping into that space where God weeps and grieves. It is a tiny way to get in touch with the heart of God. It is a reminder of how much each person matters to God – including you when you feel swallowed up and insignificant in the world’s masses. It is a way of entering into the mystery of how God can possibly care for each and every one of the more than 8 billion of us on the earth today.
Prayer must have been the posture of the Psalmist while writing the 8th Psalm:
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are humans that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Let’s Pray: O God, that you care for every last human, especially those who suffer unthinkable loss, we are eternally grateful today. Amen.
