Evening Prayer Thursday, 8 July 2021
A reading from Psalm 24
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
2 for he founded it on the seas
and established it on the waters.
3 Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4 The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not trust in an idol
or swear by a false god.
5 They will receive blessing from the Lord
and vindication from God their Saviour.
Psalm 24: 1–5 NIV®
Dear Lord, we recognise that the whole of creation – the earth, all who live on it and every other earthly thing,
also the sun and moon, the stars and indeed the whole universe – is yours.
You have entrusted to us the well-being of the earth and all living creatures on it, and yet we have failed in this guardianship.
We are dependent on water for our very life, and the ability to grow crops and livestock to feed ourselves,
and yet we have polluted the waters of our rivers, seas and oceans.
We have practised unsustainable agricultural practices,
demolishing vast swathes of primal forest that have protected us from the rise in greenhouse gasses
and have turned large areas of arable land into dustbowls.
Our unsustainable industrial processes continue to contribute to global warning.
We are sorry.
Teach us, we pray, that we must all change our way of daily living,
and help us realise that the choices we make when we do our shopping and plan our holidays
must take account of the impact these choices have on the environment.
We pray that our governments and the giant multinational corporations will recognise
how their policies and decision-making must change.
We pray that we may have clean hands and pure hearts;
that we stand up for truth and justice in all our dealings, and put our whole trust in you.
Guide us as we strive to follow you more closely day by day.
We thank you for all the blessings that we have received from you,
even though we are not always mindful of where these blessings come from.
Help us to recognise the work of your hands in our lives and help us, too, to work for others to further the work of your kingdom.
We ask all these prayers in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen
