A PRAYER FOR PAKISTAN

Friday, January 27, A.D. 2006

Disciples continue to respond generously with designated gifts to Week of Compassion on behalf of the thousands of earthquake survivors in Pakistan and India who are now facing a brutal and bitter winter. Church World Service/Pakistan expresses deep gratitude for those gifts and also asks that we continue to remember the survivors and the CWS staff in our prayers. Below is an anonymous prayer offered in response to the quake that we share now with you:


When the world has become weary of disasters,
yet another earthquake seems too much to bear.
There are not many to weep for the thousands lost,
young and old buried in the rubble of their homes,
under the walls of schools that carried promises
of the future,
but have now snuffed out a whole generation of
children.

Millions are left homeless, wounded, and disillusioned,
living in fear of freezing to death as the gruesome
winter ensues;
thousands are yet to be reached in the mountains and
valleys.

O God incarnate who wept with Martha and Mary,
who weeps with those in Pakistan, Kashmir and
elsewhere,
for the innocent thousands lost to nature's fury,
make your presence known to the grieving and the
hopeless,
that they may find comfort and hope for new
beginnings
in your love that reaches out in myriad ways.

Awaken in us the spirit of your endless compassion
and care
that the generosity of your love manifested in your
Child in the manger
may continue to manifest in us and all who serve
your cause,
and the languishing may experience the new life in you.
Amen.


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For congregations using the new WOC interactive map/poster, disaster and project responses made this week are listed below. We are still working on redesigning the website, so our map/poster page is not quite ready. Congregations may also want to use the 2005 Response Fund report that is posted on our current website for a complete picture of responses in '05. To receive a complimentary copy of the map/poster for your congregation, please contact Elaine at ecleveland@woc.disciples.org, or call 317.713.2442.


DISASTER RESPONSES:

Florida, hurricane assistance
Louisiana, hurricane assistance
Mississippi, hurricane assistance


PROJECT RESPONSES:

Dominican Republic, health care
Egypt, health care for refugees
Bolivia, food security
Bosnia, women's income generation



Previous responses in '06:

Disaster Responses:

Pakistan, earthquake relief
Mississippi, additional hurricane assistance
California, additional flood relief
Oklahoma, wildfires
California, floods
Mississippi, hurricane assistance
Texas, hurricane assistance
India, tsunami recovery
Malawi, floods
Uganda, refugee assistance


Project Responses:

Central Africa Republic, food security project
Palestine, trauma counseling project
Armenia, food security project
Cambodia, food security project

Bosnia, food security project