Prayer for Disaster Recovery

(OK tornadoes & Synod-wide storms)

Written by Libby Janes

Over the past week around our Synod, we have experienced some severe weather events. In Oklahoma, there were seven confirmed tornadoes in Oklahoma on Thursday, March 5th, and nine tornadoes on Friday March 6th, including an EF-3 tornado in Beggs, Oklahoma. (For more National Weather Service data on the Oklahoma tornadoes: https://www.weather.gov/oun/tornadodata-ok-2026)

There have also been high wildfire risk warnings in the western region of the Synod of the Sun, and there have been severe hailstorms, floods, and high winds in the southeastern region of the Synod.

If your church or community has been affected by weather-related damage, please reach out to Libby Janes, director of the Synod of the Sun Partnership for Disaster Recovery, and to your presbytery leader or presbytery disaster team. We are here to listen to your experiences, to hold you in prayer, and to connect you with disaster relief resources to walk alongside you and your community towards recovery.

Please pray for the Synod of the Sun:

God of Mercy,

We pray for the communities around the Synod of the Sun

that have been impacted by tornadoes, and hailstorms, and floods, and high winds.

Please be with us as we take shelter during these storms,

and we hope every person may find access to safe spaces.

We pray for the preparations that took place before and during these storms.

We pray for the people who have needed to stay vigilant for hours,

and who responded to tornado or flood warnings by taking shelter, however they could.

We lift up their fear, anxiety, and anguish,

and we pray that you hold them in your peace during these frightening moments.

We pray for the families and communities of those who have lost their lives in this disaster.

We mourn the loss of life, and the weight of these losses on our hearts.

We pray for those who have lost their homes or their businesses in this disaster,

and the loss of places that feel familiar, and that hold meaning in their communities.

Lord, we ask that you comfort these families and communities,

wrap them with your love, and hold them close in this time of grief.

We pray for the first responders – working hard right now to bring rescue and relief.

Lord, be with them – give them your peace as they follow their training

and undertake their difficult work.

Give them rest when they go home, and restore their strength with each new day.

W

e pray for the local churches and humanitarian aid programs,

who will partner through the immediate moments of crisis

and the long-term work of disaster recovery.

Draw out strengths that we didn’t know you already blessed us with, Lord.

May the best expressions of our love be given generously,

and let the joy of sharing fill our hearts with gratitude.

Merciful God, we pray you give all of us courage,

and remind those in disasters, and those who respond to disasters,

that we are not alone - for you are always with us, God.

May the Holy Spirit enjoin us together – as the Synod of the Sun –

into faithful solidarity with one another.

Lord, be with us all, through it all, and may your love be known. Amen.