Our hearts ache and prayers go out to all of those who have been impacted by the recent tornadoes that ripped a wide swath of destruction through the Midwest and Tennessee Valley on Friday and Saturday, killing at least 70 in Kentucky alone. Andrew Beshear, the governor of Kentucky, described the tornadoes as the most devastating in his state’s history.  Mayor Kathy Stewart O’Nan of Mayfield, Kentucky, told an NBC reporter, “Our hearts are broken” and our “town is gone.” Governors and mayors across six states made similar statements.
 
We listened with horror to those who were trapped in the candle factory in Mayfield as they pleaded for help.  Our hearts were wrenched in two as we witnessed persons coming to the realization that their loved ones would not be found alive.  This devastation is particularly difficult during this season when so many were preparing their homes for the gathering of friends and family and preparing their hearts for the coming of Immanuel.
 
Listening to reports of the destruction, I also heard Mayor O’Nan tell a CNN reporter that she knew there were stories of miracles out there, and she knew she would have one the next time she talked with the reporter.  I don’t know if Mayor O’Nan is a woman of faith, but she certainly sounded like one to me.
 
Her statement challenged me to want to make myself available as an instrument of God’s miracle- working power for the people devastated by the tornadoes. I challenge all of us to make ourselves available to God to be instruments of God’s miracles. 
 
We can do this work by urgently asking God to bless those who now mourn the loss of loved ones.  We can entreat God to heal those who were injured in mind, body, or spirit by the tornadoes.  We can give financially to the relief efforts through UMCOR.  When the time is right, we can go to the areas of devastation and help people to rebuild.  And we can remind ourselves and others that God is with us at all times and in all seasons.
 
We usually interpret the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi as a prayer for societal and interpersonal conflict.  But, I believe it can also apply to times of despair and turmoil resulting from natural disasters.  If you don’t have the words to pray, use these ancient words:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

—St. Francis of Assisi