In the book Every Moment Holy, volume I, by Douglas McKelvey, there is a liturgy (or prayer) "For Those Who Sleep in Tents" in the section titled "Creation and Recreation." I used that prayer when I was camping recently and it reminded me that sleeping in tents has a long biblical history.
That being said, I chose to sleep in a tent as a kind of vacation. We need a different kind of prayer for those who didn't have a choice about this place to lay their heads.
Lord, in North America camping is something fun and voluntary when camp is temporary in a National Park or a self-selected wild place, but today I pray for those who sleep in tents to survive. They are all human beings created in your image. I pray for~
~those just outside of war zones
~those in makeshift hospitals and shelters after an earthquake
~those who have nowhere else to call home
~those who can barely keep warm when the temperature plummets at night
I pray for peace~
~where there is trauma of many forms
~where there is fear.
Please bring a better day for such inhabitants. May they indeed find peace and rest in these unlikely dwellings. Stir the hearts of your people to seek better shelters and to work for the flourishing of all people.
Amen
If you're interested in other prayers/liturgies: for a "project", for a Zoom meeting, or for something lost, see an earlier post entitled "Three Liturgies."
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