Faith in the Face of Disaster: UU Response to Hurricane Katrina

Prayer and Hope In a Time of Flash Floods

A prayer by the Rev. Olivia Holmes
Director, UUA International Relations Office
Delivered at a special worship service in the Chapel of the Unitarian Universalist Association
Sept. 6, 2005

To everything there is a season
The ancient prayer of comfort says.

In the Unitarian villages of Transylvania
And in the villages, towns and cities of our own Gulf states
This is a time of weeping,
A time of mourning,
A time of dying
It is a time of loss, of grieving, of despair.

A wall of water – sweet life-giving water –
More than the earth can bear or hold
Rises beyond endurance
Sweeps through the valley
Rages through the city
And leaves no home unhurt.
It is a time of loss, of grieving, of despair.

Some beloved ones are gone with the water
For mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters
It is a time of loss, of grieving, of despair.

And yet, and yet, it is also a time of reaching out, of stretching,
Of reaching through our silo lives
Of needing to live the prayer of comfort.

Over the past 7 days we have learned of so much reaching out:

• UU ministers and congregations all over the US are opening the doors of their churches and of their homes to any in need from the Gulf states for however long they have need. So many are planning a special appeal to respond to these two disasters on Sunday, September 11th.
• European Unitarians and Universalists have taken up the call to help in Transylvania, because, they said, “The UUs in the United States will be stretched with the needs of the thousands of refugees from Katrina; we need to take up Bill Sinkford's call to help the Transylvanians.”
• The UUs of the Philippines, an indigenous community of poor farmers, has sent us a pledge of $150 for the Gulf Coast Relief fund.
• The British Unitarians wrote that they would seek approval from their Board to invite their people to respond to Rev. Sinkford's appeal for the Gulf Coast Fund.
• Yesterday I learned that President Bush had accepted Kofi Annan's offer of assistance.
• This morning I learned, as we all did, that we have received over 2,700 donations to the two devastated areas; and that's just on line giving at the UUA, not checks mailed, not donations sent to the UUSC, not receipts from lemonade stands and car washes organized by our children on a daily basis.

And I knew this was just the beginning. And I wept.

Great Spirit of Life, O Living, Loving God
Bless us all who are left behind
With a will to live, to build, to rekindle
The flame that has died for so many.
Bless us with a spirit of embracing,

Bless us with the power to sow
New crops, new lives, new hope.

For everything there is a season,
The ancient prayer of comfort says.
This is a season of loss, of grieving, of despair
This is a season for love that can heal
For love that can rekindle the flame.

Faith in the Face of Disaster: UU Response to Hurricane Katrina

• In the Eye of the Storm: Resources and Commentary following Hurricane Katrina

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