Worship Resources: Haiti Earthquake Response
Litany for Worship I
One: God witnesses the wounded in places of need around the world.
Many: God whispers, “kenbe fem,” my Haitian children. “Hold strong.”
One: God listens to thirsty children carrying buckets to the well.
Many: God sings with them, “kinywaji,” my Congolese children. “Drink it in.”
One: God understands the widow rocking her sleeping child.
Many: God holds them both and says, “ja sam s vama.” “I am with you,” in Bosnia and in the world.
One: We worship “God with us,” in whose love we serve.
ALL: Thanks be to God.
Litany for Worship II
One: God, you did not come to destroy life, but to save it.
Many: We trust in your everlasting love.
One: It is not the end of the world. But for your beloved people in Haiti, it is the end of the world they have known.
Many: Our quaking hearts are moved in a new direction, with a strength and urgency your faithful have known before.
One: You call us to merciful justice. You call us to courageous compassion. You call us to hope. We will answer your call.
ALL: Set our lives in this direction: to serve all that you created and called “good.” Amen.
Haiti Special Offering – Offertory Invitation
Disasters create a challenge and an opportunity for the Church. When earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis interrupt our normal lives, we wonder why God allows disasters to happen. Why didn’t God stop it? Compassionate people ask, “What can I do to help?”
Our faith compels us to keep asking questions even when we don’t have answers. In the Church we don’t find the complete answers, but we do find faith, hope and love that help us endure. We believe God created the world and called it Good. We believe God is with us. We believe God knows all our needs and hears all our cries.
The Church helps us to love our neighbors more, and to love them better. In preparing Hygiene and Baby Kits, special offerings, and continued prayer, Christians respond to bodies that are hurt and hearts that are broken. In our outreach for Haiti, we will “pay, pray, and stay” until the time is right, when we will “go, grow, and know.”
As a Church, we rise with courageous compassion to the challenge and opportunity disasters create.
Biblical Texts on Earthquakes
Isaiah 54:9-11,14
9This is like the days of Noah to me: Just as I swore that the waters of Noah would never again go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you and will not rebuke you. 10For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
11O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, I am about to set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. 14In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
Haggai 2:6-7 (c.f. Hebrews 12:26-28)
"For thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. 'I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD of hosts.
Psalm 46
1God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Selah
4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
5God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.
6The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
8Come, behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.
10“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.”
11The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Matthew 28:2, 4-6
2And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 4For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
Acts 16:26
26Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
