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National Day of Prayer for the Gulf |
July 18, 2010
The BP Oil Spill is a slow onset disaster. As oil continues to spew into the Gulf, the ocean currents spread poisons over a larger and larger area. Oil has invaded the marshes destroying entire ecosystems of living organisms. Even attempts to clean up the mess have created new problems. Those hired for the cleanup are being subjected to health hazards. The dispersants used to break up the oil are themselves toxisc and may be causing long-term damage to the ocean life - fish, shrimp, oysters, and crabs - on which coastal residents depend for food and livelihood.
As Christians, we are compelled to respond to those hurting from the disaster, and our first response is prayer. The NAE asks its churches to observe July 18, 2010 as the National Day of Prayer for the Gulf by setting aside time in their weekend services to pray for the people of the Gulf, the Lord's intervention and deliverance, and the impacts of the oil spill on God's creation.
Below are a few suggestions for worship on the National Day of Prayer for the Gulf. They may be used in their entirety or modified for individual use.
Prayer
Today, we join with Christ’s Church across America to pray for the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico and its impacts on the people, the water, the land, and all creation. With one voice and with one heart we join the people living near the American Gulf Coast seeking the power, the wisdom and the compassion of the God who makes all things possible. For if God is with us, who can be against us.
Corporate Prayer
Father God, creator of all things,
You make all things new, renew us.
We turn to you seeking your direction for a crisis in our nation.
Our brothers and sisters around the Gulf of Mexico struggle in fear, grief and despair.
Life dreams and vocations have been destroyed for generations to come.
Natural marshes and beautiful lands necessary for life have been affected for decades.
Wildlife, both birds of the air, and creatures of the sea continue to face suffering and death.
Almighty God, renew our lives to be the good stewards as you created us.
And as we turn humbling ourselves, and placing our lives into your care, we pray:
- For the oil flow to stop, give us the wisdom to end this tragedy.
- For the people in despair that you would provide peace and hope.
- We seek restoration for the sea, the land, and all who live and inhibit them.
We turn to you, O God, for you are our hope, our peace, our joy, and our salvation.
Litany
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
When we consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what are human beings that you are mindful of us, mere mortals that you should care for us?
Yet you made us ruler over the works of your hands. As stewards, you created us in your image to tend all creation, including the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
But today when we look at the birds of the Gulf and all the creatures that swim its paths, we know that we have not reflected how you would care for your creation. Your creation groans, waiting for us to become what you created us to be.
Forgive us, Lord, for this stain on our stewardship.
O Lord, our Lord, the spill in the Gulf is also making a tremendous impact upon the people who live there, leading some to great depths of despair. Like the Israelites who wept in captivity by the waters of Babylon when remembering Zion and could not sing your song in a foreign land, we grieve for the Gulf. The spill has made it feel like the waters of Babylon.
And so we cry out with those in despair, out of the depths of this spill we cry to you, O Lord.
O Lord, hear our voice. Let your ears be attentive to our cries for mercy. If you O Lord, keep a record of sins, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness. And so we wait for you, Lord, our souls wait, and in your word we put our hope. More than the watchman waits for the morning does our soul wait for you. As with Israel of old, we put our hope in your unfailing love. Like the psalmist, we will lift up our eyes to the hills and ask, from where will our help come? Our help comes from you, who made heaven and earth. So we give thanks to you, O Lord, for you are good.
Your steadfast love endures forever.
The spill will not endure, but your steadfast love endures forever. And we pray, O Lord our Lord, whose name is majestic throughout your creation, that your help will come to us in the form of comfort, in the form of wisdom to know how we can do better, and in the power of your love to help us chart a new path forward.
It is in your most precious and holy name we pray, amen.
Scripture
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him, we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. (2 Corinthians 1:10-11)
Songs
"Heal our Land" by Michael Card
"O God, Our Help, In Ages Past" by Isaac Watts
"Who Am I Lyrics" by Casting Crowns
"This Is My Father’s World"
"America the Beautiful"
"God of Wonders" by Third Day
"How Great Thou Art"
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