Nesat,
typhoon whose winds and floods have wracked
Manila, Vietnam, and Hainan,
with more before slamming
India, Thailand, Pakistan and Japan,
and Nalgae and yet nameless others yet to come:
Be still!
Jesus, speak your word.
Tell these and every storm,
each new disaster,
to sit down and shut up
if they ever start to brag their power supersedes
your power of love.
Jesus, speak your word,
rouse your body
in every nation,
of every tribe,
of every hue and tongue,
no longer to allow storms to define our lives
by the deaths they cause,
but that our lives,
emboldened by your Life,
may rename each storm
by the love we share,
the prayers we pray
and the hope we offer
now and in years to come
to all whose lives they try to shatter.
Amen.