We’ve entered the season of wildfires and, this year, Canada is experiencing the worst season on record. It’s heartbreaking and scary to watch as so much is burning uncontrolled in our own province and across the country. Please lift up in prayer the devastating fires in Northwest Territories and the Okanagan, specifically for Adult & Teen Challenge Society of BC’s Okanagan Men’s Center in Lake Country, BC as they are under evacuation. Please remember these friends and consider becoming involved in relief by donating to their efforts. www.teenchallengebc.com/donate

___
“We are not strong enough, O Lord,
to withstand the weight of a creation
that groans on such an inhuman scale.

We are small and finite in the face of catastrophe.

But you, O Lord, are not dismayed by any disaster.
You created the cosmos as a canvas wherein your glories are displayed, an ordered temple where your people might delight in communion with you.
The wild forces of this sin-wrecked world
will not trespass those boundaries forever.
A day is coming when all creation will be calmed of its chaos,
never to harm or terrify again.

You will speak, O Christ,
and nature’s insurrections will cease.
You will speak, O Christ,
and Creation will be released at last
from its long bondage.
You will speak,
and all your children who were lost
to those disordered elements
will be returned, rejoicing in the rightness
of your remade world.

And if that is the end toward which all of
history is flowing, then would you speak that
same calm now, O Christ, over the wild forces
of pain and fear in our own heart, mind, and
imagination? Would you sing into our sorrow
that same eternal song of resurrected hope?

Now meet us amidst these present ruins
of our life and your creation, O Lord,
and whisper in these wounded places
true rumors of their coming restorations.
Gently woo our hearts again into your light,
where we might find my rest in a quiet yielding to your love.

We know a long rebuilding lies ahead.
Be our strength, O God, in days and years to come.
You are our mighty fortress, and our shield.

We wait for your deliverance.
We have no hope but you.

Amen.”
– Every Moment Holy (From A Liturgy for Grieving a Death Due to Natural Disaster)