PHOTO PROVIDED BY EPISCOPAL NEWS SERVICE
Rector Ron Abrams inspects the damage at St. James Parish in Wilmington, North Carolina, where this tree fell on the church property.
Episcopal Relief & Development is ready to do God’s work and help those who were in the path of Hurricane Florence.
At one time a Category 4 hurricane, Florence has deluged the Carolinas with record rainfall and become the wettest hurricane to ever hit North Carolina and South Carolina. The storm made landfall just south of Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, on Friday, Sept. 14, and has been slowly moving northwest after a brief toggle to the south.
Episcopal Relief and Development has been hard at work prior to the storm’s landfall and made several announcements over the weekend. Eugene Johnston, who is the Province IV Network Diocesan Coordinator for ERD, said donations to the Hurricane Relief Fund can be made through Episcopal Relief and Development at: https://support.episcopalrelief.org/hurricane-relief/?ID=180800DP0HR0000&utm_medium=Undefined&utm_campaign=fy18hurricanerelief&utm_source=180800DP0HR0000 on the internet.
Persons can donate $25, $50, $100, $500 or a designated amount on the donation page. “Donations to this hurricane relief fund will help Episcopal Relief & Development respond to this crisis,” Johnston relayed in an email to the Diocese of Central Florida.
Johnson also said prayers are welcome in this time of disaster:
Prayer for Preparedness and Response
O God, our times are in your hand. In the midst of uncertainty lead us by your never-failing grace as we seek to be agents of healing and hope. Walk with us through difficult times; watch over us in danger; and give to us a spirit of love and compassion for those who suffer and mourn. And finally remind us that you have promised never to leave us so that even in the valley of the shadow of death your love may be felt, through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.
Evening Prayer II
Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love’s sake. Amen.
On the Occasion of a Disaster
Compassionate God … Draw near to us in this time of sorrow and anguish, comfort those who mourn, strengthen those who are weary, encourage those in despair, and lead us all to fullness of life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen