A Prayer for Notre Dame

Rev Dr John L McPake, the Church of Scotland's ecumenical officer, gives us this prayer for all those affected by the fire.

Living God,
You are the creator of all good things.
You have made us in your image
And we strive to fashion our world according to your will.

That which our hands have made
We entrust into your care.
And where it is hallowed,
We experience your presence made known through Jesus Christ.

In the loss of that which was entrusted,
We experience a sorrow beyond words.
Hope and its promise seem consumed
And faith emptied of assurance.

Yet even in the midst of that consumed,
Hope is renewed again.
In fashioning once more a place that shall be hallowed by your presence,
We ask that faith will be reborn.

In remembering our sisters and brothers
For whom the loss of Notre Dame
Is the loss of a symbol of faith at the heart of their nation,
We stand with them and the bonds that unite us in your image are renewed.

Amen.