Prayers for the storm

Not every sound of rushing wind
is holy spirit, nor
every Matthew a good news.

But every wind calls us to speak hope
in the languages needed –
Haitian Creole and Spanish,
Portuguese, English, Sign,
and the lexicon of kindness
understood by the old and the young,
the anxious and the lovers of pets,
who are afraid to leave home.

This is Pentecost –
speaking comfort to those
who grieve in Haiti,
rescue to those who fear in Florida,
and a not one-morning-newscast
but a long gospel of helping
in Cuba and the Bahamas
and the Carolinas
and wherever there is need
for cleaning and housing,
feeding and building,
restoring and reminding
the last words of Matthew
spoken in the midst of Matthew —

“Remember, I am with you always
to the end of the age.”