Prayer
Prayer for Pakistan
O Lord
How your heart must break as you take up the cries
of children, women and men
whose lives, homes, crops, animals and tools of livelihood
have been swept away
in torrents of water and mud.Crack open our own hearts to our sisters and brothers
who grieve, and suffer,
and must start all over again.Forgive us
that we have not lived and worked
with the grain of creation
but have worked against it;
that we have not strengthened the arm of the poor
in the places of earthquake, wind and flood
but have left them alone and vulnerable.Move us beyond prayer to action
both personal and political.
Increase and speed our efforts
to bring relief for the present
and justice for the future;
to work with one another
and to the patterns of your will
in creation.In Jesus' name