A Prayer for Jasper and Other Devastated Communities

A Prayer for Jasper

and other communities devastated by wildfire and other natural environmental events 

Holy One, Great Spirit God, we groan along with your Creation.
We lament with tears and hearts made heavy 
by the losses experienced by people in Jasper:
loss of homes, 
loss of work, 
loss of businesses,
loss of community. 
We respond with sighs too deep for words.

O Loving God, 
we also know that the resilience, energy, and creativity of people is strong,
we know that something new will rise out of the ashes of this mountain town,
we know that the beauty that brings people to this part of the world remains,
we know that a landscape etched by fire is also something beautiful in its own way,
even as we grieve how the fire razed so much of people's lives. 

We pray that wise decisions will be made in the newness that will come, 
that all sorts of people
and all sorts of needs 
will be honoured and respected in the homes and workplaces that arise.

We pray for the leaders who've held the whole community
in their hearts and in their thoughts, 
in their decision-making,
even when they too have suffered loss.
 
We pray these prayers for the whole community
and for the faith communities that have also suffered loss—
loss of space to worship,
loss of space where the community was served with food and thrift items,
and loss of short-term rental space for people, many of them young,
who came to this beautiful place to work and delight in God's Creation.
 
We pray that church leaders and their congregations will be strengthened
with wisdom, with compassion, with creativity
as they navigate a faithful transition
from what they had to what they can be.

O Holy One, we pray for understanding for the role that fire plays
in shaping and reshaping your Creation.
We pray for hearts and minds that can accept 
that there is a cost to Creation because of the way we live our lives
and that, because of our actions, not only people, but Creation suffers.

Great Spirit, Creator God, receive our prayers, and in your love, answer. Amen.
 
Peter Chynoweth, Cochrane, Alta.