PRAYER FOCUS

JAPAN

Although the earthquake happened in April 2011 the people in Japan are still dealing with the consequences.

Below is the message that was sent by Eileen King at the time.

Dear Sisters,

On behalf of Annette Poitier, the WDPIC Executive Committee, especially Sheree Wong and Zenaida Maturan, your Asian partners in WDP, and your WDP Sisters all over the world, I send you assurances of our prayers and I extend our condolences for those who are grieving. WDP Committees are looking for ways to send support for the hundreds of thousands in Japan who need help to recover the devastating earthquake and its aftershock and the tsunami that washed away whole communities. We are concerned that people are trying to cope while they are suffering from the trauma of losing loved ones, homes and their livelihoods.

Knowing that the WDP Committee of Japan is part of the National Council of Churches of Japan, we also want to support you in your efforts to provide wisdom, understanding, comfort, solace and guidance as people struggle with an overwhelming sense of powerlessness. We are with you. Together we are all challenged to show God’s love to those who experience so much loss.

At the same time there is the overshadowing anxiety about the radiation arising from the damaged atomic reactors in Fukushima. What happens there impacts the Asia/Pacific region and it has the potential to spread even farther. Let us see how this fresh awareness of our close interdependence can become a Kairos moment in which we provide even greater expressions of love and compassion. One week to the day after the message of WDP 2011, “How Many Loaves Have You?”, we see another application of being asked to share whatever we have.

With respect to the nuclear reactors, it might be helpful to recall the WDP prayer for 1992, Living Wisely with Creation and its call to examine our lifestyles and to make choices so that our lives are in closer harmony with creation and one another. We read then and let us read now the story of Babel and its caution to live wisely, humbly and lovingly. To build a tower just because we can is not sufficient reason to do so. The Gospel chosen that year was Matthew 20: 29-34, when two blind men are shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” When Jesus asked what they wanted, they responded, “Let our eyes be opened.” With them we ask that our eyes be opened to what is truly the best way to provide sustainable energy and the responsible steps we need to take.

We close this letter mindful of our sisters in Haiti, in Chile, in Pakistan, in Aotearoa/New Zealand, in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia, to name only a few places that have their own first hand experiences of catastrophic natural destruction and political and social violence. In a special way they lead us in our prayers and concern for you.

Sincerely,

Eileen King

Executive Director