Tsunami Disaster
A pastoral letter from the President of the Uniting Church in Australia

December 2004

Dear Friends

As we learn of the appalling scale of last Sunday’s disaster we cannot stop ourselves praying for our suffering neighbours in the global village. We grieve with the millions of people who have suffered from this unexpected and almost unthinkable devastation of their lives through the earthquake and tsunamis. For them this is a living nightmare that will not soon end.

When everything in us screams out why - to whom do we turn with our grief, our sadness and our questions? We turn to the cross, and our Lord’s agonizing cry from Psalm 22 ‘Why have you forsaken me?’ And then, there in the night of hope we hear the word of the gospel, ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.’ In the midst of the greatest tragedies we live with a resurrected Lord and the seed of new beginnings.

As these vast continent-building processes continue, we ask for the wisdom of God to help us live within the risks, and work to lessen the conditions which leave the poor and most vulnerable of the world bearing the brunt of such destruction in the future.

We pray for the families of fellow Australians now numb with grief, or still waiting to hear some news.

We have received reports from our partner churches in South India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand of terrible loss of life, especially of children. We have sent some initial resources. They will need much more of our help. More information will be forwarded in the next few weeks. Please refer to the Assembly Website for up to date information.

From throughout Australia have come resources for our worship - a hymn of lament, prayers, and reflections. These too can be downloaded.

I invite the people of the Uniting Church and each one of us to give generously through aid agencies so that resources may be able to reach those who need it the most as quickly as possible. There will be opportunities in church services this Sunday to give through the Uniting Church Overseas Aid: Tsunami Appeal.

Grace & Peace

Rev. Dean Drayton
President of the Uniting Church in Australia

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