Responses to Oklahoma Tornado and Weather-Related Tragedies

I heard about this tragedy from my friend Rev. Matt Titus while sitting next to him at the North/West Lower Michigan Synod Assembly.* He suggested that we pause our Assembly to pray for Oklahoma victims, and because I was the worship song leader I ended up leading that prayer before our Mountain Vespers worship on Monday evening. As an unexpectedly public voice in response to this situation, I feel some particular connection to what happened, as though my public prayers put me on the spot to respond in some more tangible way.

What am I talking about, you ask? Well, conveniently my friend and colleague Rev. Tim Brown has already written an excellent piece explaining the relationship of prayer and giving in response to tragedies.*** The crux of Tim's article is that "prayer must always lead to action," and he takes on both religious people who think prayer is sufficient in itself and atheists who think prayer is an entirely irrelevant response.****