A Liturgy for Camp Mystic
A Note from the Author: No words can fill what was lost by the catastrophic flooding on July 4, 2025, in the Texas Hill Country. My hope is simply to provide a liturgy that Mystic girls can pray together as our community continues to heal.
"Father in Heaven Bless us we pray
strengthen and guide us all through the day
comfort and keep us, show us thy will
Thinking of Mystic be with us still"
Lord this place as we remember it,
'On earth as it is in heaven'
Belonged to you before it belonged to us
Help me surrender the land inside the green gates
and the girl who I was within them
Remind me my identity does not lie in those cabins
as much as they have made me who I am today,
My identity is found in you, Lord Jesus
Father God, we soberly look to you
We lift our eyes to the hill country
Where does our help come from?
Our help comes from you, Almighty God,
Maker of heaven and earth¹
How can such terrible devastation
fall upon such good-hearted people?
Father, when I do not understand your will,
Teach my heart to trust you anyway.
Life is fragile and priceless and fleeting,
Yet devastatingly beautiful,
Lord these precious daughters first belonged to you
before we received them into our lives, our hearts, our families
Yet we bear unspeakable grief at their absence
Blessed be the God of all comfort
Who comforts us in all our affliction,²
For as we share in Christ's sufferings so through Christ,
We share abundantly in comfort too
"O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console"³
God as our community continues to mourn
Lead me to care earnestly for those around me
Empower me to extend your kindness to its furthest reaches
Let friends near and far feel dearly loved
"Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above
When we asunder part it brings us inward pain
But we will still be joined in heart and hope to meet again"
¹ Psalm 121:1-2
² 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
³ Prayer of St. Francis