Pastor Katerina Gea shared this prayer at a lament service for Pasadena Mennonite Church, which was held off-site, due to the wildfires. Many members of the church have been forced to evacuate their homes.
Katerina Gea is the pastor of Pasadena Mennonite Church and is a member of the Women in Leadership Steering Committee and the Pastoral Committee of Mennonite Action. She loves poetry, gardening and dancing salsa. She lives with her spouse in Pasadena, in the Hahamongna band of Tongva peoples’ unceded territory. Katerina was forced to evacuate her home, due to the Pasadena wild fire.
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Jesus, you are our living water. Water of life for the parched and weary. We pour out our prayers, and we trust that you are with us now.
We pray with gratitude, for those who rescue, provide refuge and give aid. For the helpers, first responders and firefighters, including incarcerated firefighters helping protect our communities. For volunteers, who have come from all directions to care for us and our wider community in our time of need. Thank you!
We pray for those whose homes are now smoke and ash, who have lost precious material memories and treasures, and all the comfort and familiarity that love builds up over time in a place.
We pray for the animals and the rest of creation harmed by these fires, who are now also without homes, struggling to breathe or singed by the flames. For the black bears and coyotes, finches and squirrels, the insects and soil microbes, for the web of life that is torn and damaged by climate catastrophe.
We pray for the elderly, the sick, those who were unhoused before the fires, and those struggling with mental health challenges, for whom this stress has pushed them beyond what they can bear.
We pray for our children and those in the wider community, children who are shaken by this devastation and may be confused and frightened, as all stability has fallen away. For the children who may have lost schools or homes, or both, and are living with so much unknown.
We lift our prayers to you. May you be our Living Water, a healing presence in the midst of grief and heartache.