molly.com
Friday 2 September 2005
Prayer for New Orleans
MY BROTHER MORRIS is a man deeply connected to the world and to spirituality. I’ve long admired him for this, because he’s a very unconventional person (you’re shocked, I’m sure) and yet has found a way to express himself to very diverse groups in an inspirational way.
Today he sent out this prayer, and I feel like sharing it with readers here because it expresses so much of what I, too, feel about what’s going on in New Orleans. So from my brother Morris, to all my fellow humans at this disturbing time, I offer you a Prayer for New Orleans.
As a man of deep faith I find myself compelled to pray. Won’t you
please join me? If you are not a person of faith please take this time
to consider tragedy and intend and act for healing and support of
victims in whatever way is most nurturing for you.
Let us pray for all of those who have suffered in the path of natural
disaster and human cruelty.
Let us pray for those who have strayed from the path towards sanctity by
speaking evil of others.
Let us pray for those who have pointed fingers of judgement at the
entire citizenry of vast communities.
Let us pray for those who have attempted to speak for the almighty;
those who dare to speak of others they do not know as sinners and those
who assert natural disaster is punishment from above.
Let us pray for those who attempt to rise up by using religious language
while denegrating their fellow human beings instead of seeking to
improve themselves.
Let us pray for those who have forgotten the golden rule and treat
others poorly or offer only condemnation in the face of loss and suffering.
Let us pray for those whom instead of rising to help a neighbor in
distress seek to use tragedy to forward their own narrowminded idea of
what is right.
Let us pray for those who think they know it all.
Let us pray that we can join together and work for good.
Filed under: faith(less)
Posted by: Molly | 12:05 | Comments (14)
Would it not be more productive to go out and donate money and help people rather than pray? I’m not bashing prayer, but…wouldn’t it?
Let us pray that one day that list will be much shorter.
Dante – one does not exclude the other.
Thanks for posting that, Molly.
Also, I echo Keith’s last sentiment.
Molly & Morris,
That is a very heartfelt gesture that I am sure a lot of peope can understand.
I’m picking up political as well as spiritual overtones in this message but I understand the message just the same. I share sympathy with the people of New Orleans and I send them my best wishes AND my hopes for the future of America.
Regards,
Poncho
I think your brother summed it up well for us all.
Thank you…
Amen.
The power of prayer (for me) is that it clears my mind of garbage and leaves me with these questions:
What actions can I take to help right now?
How can we learn from this tragedy so that it never happens again? (okay, so we may not be able to control the weather in the future…but you know what I mean).
Thanks for sharing.
At least you prayed… many do nothing!
Dante, praying, giving, both? What matters is the shape the heart is in… giving comes in many different colors… would you asked the vitims themselfs to stop praying and go help someone else?
Thanks
Think the mess in LA, MISS, ALA is terrible. Bad storm made worse by the high % of locals who are criminals in New Orleans. I’ve never seen a city anything like it. And worse again by the inept and inexact authorities.
But I do think that prayer is a mistake, nonetheless. As logged above, it clears the mind of the person praying. This is good if one wants to avoid the problem. Prayer is a defense mechanism.
Instead of prayer, take action! I think praying REDUCES the amount of action taken.
Instead of “God Bless America,” I would love to see buttons and banners, etc. proclaiming, “WE Bless America.”
Thinking, “god wouldn’t send over a killer storm on us,” is wrong headed… it is part of the reason why the pre-storm preparation was not taken correctly. Faith.
God didn’t send the storm, the forces of physical chemistry did. I, for one, am glad this it so…these forces can be largely understood, predicted, and prepaired for.