Prayer for West Virginia and Her People

This  prayer is in response to a coal industry lobbyist’s call for a day of prayer for our challenged economy in West Virginia on January 31. West Virginia Interfaith Power and Light steering committee members fully support the idea that prayers and supplications are indeed a very good idea for this purpose.

Prayer for West Virginia and Her People

Creator of us all, we know you took a little more time with this place. We can see it in the balance of brooks, streams and rivers flowing, rushing, converging down our ancient mountains—waters rolling down like the justice promised from ancient prophets.

We can hear your creative presence in the cries of birds, in the rustle of wildlife in the leaves—a still small voice or a roar as loud as that of a black bear. Our prayers are that the humans who live in this place would recognize the beauty and potential of the natural world, the critical importance of preserving our remaining clean water supplies, and the humble place of humans as caretakers in this vast and diverse ecosystem.

We pray that people—especially those who are most in need—would be placed as a higher priority than profit. We pray for creative alternatives to the status quo. We pray for innovative and diverse economic solutions that honor both the integrity of this place, and the heritage of all who have generational roots here, rather than exploiting both for profit and leaving ruins in the wake of bankrupt corporations.

We pray for less corporate executive profit, and more common gain—more funding for our schools, our health care systems, and our publicly held lands—our common green and wild places, upon which all of us depend for solace, rest and recreation. We pray that you would hear the prayers of those who are feeling anxious, angry and impatient; bring a Spirit of cooperation and reconciliation into our midst. These things we pray, today and always.

This is prayerfully submitted by Rev. Robin Blakeman and Reverends Mel Hoover and Rose Edington, all  of whom are on the Steering Committee of West Virginia Interfaith Power & Light. Jeannie Kirkhope, Appalachian Catholic Worker, joins in our submission of prayer.  

Read the Catholic Committee of Appalachia’s People’s Pastoral, The Telling Take Us Home, here.