Daily Prayers Tuesday, 22 November 2022
This morning we structure our prayers around the call of the World Council of Churches to act for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation.
We pray for justice
In the UK there are now 171 billionaires yet two in five people have struggled with their food and energy bills, and it will only get worse over the coming months [4, 5]
Statistics show that there remains significant inequalities linked to ethnicity in the UK, so that, for example, 45% of children from BAME groups are living in poverty, compared with 26% of children in white British families. [7]
In less than a week the average American emits more carbon dioxide than the average Malian emits in a year, yet it is the poor countries of the world that suffer the earliest and greatest effects of climate change. [6]
We live in a world of injustice.
Lord Jesus,
you were angry and indignant
when you saw people hurt by injustice.
We share your anger
with those systems of injustice
and hatred in the world.
Thank you that you offer us
a new way of acting
that overcomes injustice – a way of love.
Help each of us to live out
the determination we share,
so that, with your Holy Spirit,
we might be able
to transform the world around us.
Amen [1]
We pray for peace
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
Isaiah 2:2-4
We are daily reminded of the horrors of the war in Ukraine, and that is only one of many across the world, and not even the most deadly. We long for the coming time of God’s promise that war will cease and swords will be beaten into ploughshares.
Peace is the mutual laying down of weapons.
Peace is the worldwide cessation of armament production.
Peace is the reconciliation between adversaries.
Peace is the change of hearts and minds of people who wage war.
Peace is the smile of the refugee housed following exile from home.
Peace is the satisfaction in the face of a hungry child just fed.
Peace is the return to boyhood of a child soldier.
Peace is the respect for women and their equal rights as human beings.
Peace is the just, merciful and compassionate use of power by the powerful.
Peace is the empowerment of disadvantaged and marginalised people.
Peace is the healing arrived at through truth and reconciliation commissions.
Peace is the mutual respect of people of all faiths and none.
Help us, Lord, to continue to strive for peace in all of its forms
Amen. [2]
We pray for the integrity of creation
COP27 is over but there is little evidence that it will result in the changes needed to prevent catastrophic climate change.
God of Creation,
God of Compassion
You created a world of wonder,
Of possibility and potential.
You declared it to be good.
For this we give thanks.
To you be praise, honour and glory.
God of Creation,
God of Compassion,
This world is no longer as you intended it to be,
Humanity has betrayed its calling,
To tend and keep,
For this we weep,
For this we mourn,
On our watch,
We reap what we have sown,
Sea levels rise,
Forests destroyed,
Locusts Swarm.
And so now with tears in our eyes we look to you,
With regret,
With repentance,
Knowing the difficult decades that we face,
As temperatures rise,
Extinctions increase,
As we come to terms with our existential plight.
Lord have mercy
For our children,
For our Grandchildren,
For the worlds most vulnerable,
Christ have mercy.
God of Creation,
God of Compassion,
Wake us from our slumber,
Equip us afresh to be the justice-shaped people of God.
Equip us afresh to our priestly and prophetic calling.
That we would speak truth in a culture of denial,
That we would enact hope in a culture of despair,
That we would face what will be with love filled action,
That in humanity’s darkest hour you would would enliven us so
We would bandage the wounds of those caught beneath the wheels of climate injustice,
That in humanity’s darkest hour we would have the courage,
to drive a spoke into the wheel of climate injustice itself.
In our grief,
In our mourning,
We give thanks.
To you be praise, honour and glory.
Amen [3]
David Chapman
on behalf of the Social Justice Committee
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1 CAFOD: A prayer for justice
2 Trevor Stockton/CAFOD from https://cafod.org.uk/Pray/Prayers-for-peace
3 Based on A Lament for the Climate and Ecological Emergency https://greenchristian.org.uk/lamentation-prayers/
4 https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/may/21/number-of-billionaires-in-uk-reached-new-record-during-covid-pandemic
5 https://yougov.co.uk/topics/consumer/articles-reports/2022/08/25/cost-living-crisis-one-four-have-had-cut-essential
6 https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/carbon-footprint-by-country
7 https://cpag.org.uk/child-poverty/child-poverty-facts-and-figures#footnote4_kqu5zna
