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Is it theologically sound to ask God to divert a hurricane? The question was understandably on the mind of syndicated religion columnist Terry Mattingly in West Palm Beach as he packed up in preparation for Hurricane Frances ("I saved stacks of class outlines and left textbooks. … I saved my guitar and an oil painting of the great lion Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia," he writes). After you pack, "you are supposed to pray," Mattingly says. But for what? "Should believers pull a Pat Robertson and try to steer the storm toward some other target more worthy of God's wrath? Is it realistic to pray that every storm will veer into the open Atlantic? Many simply pray for God's will to be done—period."

After vacating the area, Mattingly e-mailed some religious leaders with these questions. "I don't think you can hold that God never sends the storm—the witness of scripture seems to forbid that," replied Father Joseph Wilson from Whitestone, New York. "In classical Christian theology it is not necessarily the active will of God, which sends the storm, although it may be. But the permissive will of God is involved, since He is permitting it."

Mattingly surveys various pre-storm religious rituals. One of Roman Catholicism's "Masses for Various Needs" is a "Procession for Averting Tempest," including a prayer that begins, "Almighty and ever living God, spare us in our anxiety and take pity on us in our abasement, so that after the lightning in the skies and the force of the storm have calmed, even the very threat of tempest may be an occasion for us to offer You praise."

Protestant pre-storm rituals are rarer; one Evangelical Lutheran Church in America liturgy includes a litany that intones, "In the face of mighty winds, thunderous sounds, strong rains, and surging waves, let us pray. … In the face of complete uncertainty, as well as concern for our loved ones, here or elsewhere, let us pray. … In the face of our own vulnerable mortality, let us pray to the Lord."

One priest and author of meditations on the Psalms, whose son's family was in Frances' path, advises to "pray simply for deliverance, for yourself and for others," adding that "during storms … I am particularly drawn toward Psalms 18 and 29, because both of them describe the experience of a storm, with all the wind, thunder (the 'Voice of the Lord'), lightning and so forth." The prayers of the Psalmist "range from stark fear to exuberant praise," Mattingly says. "In them, storms are common—a normal challenge of life in biblical lands."

Related:
Post-hurricane needs suspend pre-hurricane sense of self-reliance, from ByFaithOnline.com
Predicting the path of hurricanes,* from the New York Times

From the New York Times :

NGOGO, South Africa* — The corn on Casparus Joubert's farm is as high as an elephant's eye, or would be, were any elephants around. There aren't—yet. But it is not out of the realm of possibility. … Mr. Joubert and his brother Thys control more than 12,000 acres in KwaZulu/Natal Province, acquired over the last decade, some of the finest farmland in South Africa. These days, however, the richest harvest here is not corn but foreigners who thirst for the African wildlife experience and do not mind paying to get it. So the Jouberts plan to give up on farming altogether, and stake their savings to transform their stand into an upscale game reserve. … The Jouberts are part of what seems an unstoppable trend, spurred by South Africa's emergence from apartheid into an acceptable, even desirable stop for wealthy tourists

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