NASSAU, Bahamas — Nearly three weeks after Hurricane Dorian struck the northwestern Bahamas, hundreds gathered at Bahamas Faith Ministries last night to make sense of an unimaginable tragedy in typical Bahamian fashion: through prayer, praise and worship, The Tribune reported on September 19.
Pastors prayed for grieving families, for emotional healing and for protection. They prayed for first responders and aid workers, for children and for provisions. They also prayed for the Haitian community, for Abaco, Grand Bahama, for the prime minister and for the congregation.
Speakers gave stories of heroism during the storm and Bahamians were encouraged to triumph, not despair.
Singers and worship groups sang about trusting God. Attendees, with their hands raised, danced, cried and sang along with them.
The prayer service drew a crowd full of clergymen, government officials and grieving residents. Google marked the country’s National Day of Prayer with a black ribbon on its homepage, a reminder that few countries have so captured the attention of the world in recent weeks.
“The horror and tragedy of ‘one of the most powerful and destructive storms ever recorded in’ our region is a near unbearable wound, deep in the heart and the soul of our country,” Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said. “But these words cannot describe the suffering, the pain, and the grief of Abaconians, Grand Bahamians and indeed Bahamians throughout our Commonwealth and those abroad. This is likely to be the greatest single loss of life ever in our history. The fresh well of tears will not go dry, nor empty, for a very long time, or even a lifetime for some.”
Thirteen hundred people remain missing, at least 51 are dead and hundreds of displaced residents are worried about their future. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/sep/19/united-prayer-pm-says-hurricane-near-unbearable-wo/
