Prayers for Japan

Japan - Earthquake and Tsunami 2011

A major earthquake and a tsunami hit Japan yesterday, and for those of us watching the news pictures beamed into our homes over these past 24 hours, horrific and terrifying though they are, we cannot really begin to fully comprehend what the people are going through, unless we’ve been there ourselves, like the people of New Zealand (Feb 2011), the people of Haiti (2010), the peoples of Indonesia/Sri Lanka/India (2004).   There is the unexpected and tragic loss of life, the devastation, the fear, the grief, the worry of what will happen next, both in the short and long term.   But even if we have never experienced the loss of everyone and everything we hold dear because of an earthquake or a tsunami, nevertheless, it breaks our hearts to see and to hear what is going on in that country, because we are reminded that they are people just like us, and just like us they have experienced the loss of loved ones, and there our common humanity connects us.

When tragedy like this happens it sort of stops you in your tracks and makes you more aware of what you have, especially the people in our lives whom we love and who are still with us.  It is perhaps also a timely reminder too that we should be telling them, more often than we do, just how much we love them and how special they are to us, because tragedy can strike at any time, and can take many forms.

So what can we do when something like this happens almost half way round the world?

The immediate response of many is to pray.   That was certainly my first thought, and that’s what I did yesterday.  But prayers were also shared today, because in the midst of a local funeral service I was conducting this morning, we took time to include in our prayers for others, the people of Japan.

 “We bring before you, Loving God, the people of Japan.

And as we wrestle now with our own grief …

we are reminded of all who have lost loved ones,

whose lives have been touched by this tragedy,

and who are overwhelmed by sorrow at this time.

We pray for them in their shock … hurt … and bewilderment.

We lift before you their feelings of numbness

and their aching hearts.

Reach out and encircle them in your loving arms.

Grant them the comfort you have promised to all who mourn,

your peace that passes understanding,

your light that reaches into the darkest places of life

and beyond … into the darkness of death.”

I hope the people of Japan are aware that at this moment in time they are being upheld in prayers all over the world.  And I hope you will add your prayers to mine, as together we add our prayers to the countless thousands that have been offered up over the past 24 hours.

Lord, hear our prayer.

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