The scenes of devastation created by Katrina, have gripped all of us. The stories of loss, separation, dislocation and death have touched our hearts. For your compassion, which has overflowed in response to the tremendous needs that we have all seen, I have the deepest sense of gratitude.

I ask your earnest and continuing prayers for all who have been affected by this disaster. For some, a tragedy of this magnitude leads them to focus on the relative unimportance of things and opens them to exploration of a foundational rock for their lives, a rock which the rains cannot wash away and the winds cannot overturn. For others, the same sense of tragedy causes them to question the very goodness of God and embitters their hearts and souls. Let us pray for those who seek for or struggle with God in these moments.

The scale of the loss is staggering. Many have lost everything: home, neighborhood, employment, family members, health, and some even hope. The sight of evacuees being rescued with no idea of where they will be sent and for how long, or how they will sustain themselves and their families into the future, is heart-rending. As Christ’s body we are already reaching out to meet these physical, social and economic needs. But the needs will last longer than weeks or even months. We need to encourage and support both short-term and long-term help for our brothers and sisters.

We need to pray for the healing that many need spiritually and emotionally and in terms of the healing of lives that are now broken and disrupted.

Through this disaster we have graphically seen the impact of the increasing disparity between the “haves” and “have nots” in our society and the fact that poverty is disproportionately borne by people of color and the elderly in our country. When those who do not have the means to escape are left helpless to face such a life-threatening situation, we ought to be deeply troubled. In the best of the prophetic tradition, we need to be a voice calling for renewed commitment for economic and racial justice.

Thank you again for the outpouring of love and support for our neighbors in need. What a sign of hope to them. Let our united witness speak powerfully of God’s loving compassion for each and every one of them.