Praying the News
offers a way of lifting up people and situations to God and inviting others to
do the same. We listen as well as speak in prayer, sometimes gaining wisdom or
insight in difficult
situations.
Almighty God, in
giving us dominion over things on earth you made us fellow workers in your
creation: Give us wisdom and reverence so to use the resources of nature, that
no one may suffer from our abuse of them, and that generations yet to come may
continue to praise you for your bounty; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Collect For the
Conservation of Natural Resources (The
Book of Common Prayer, p. 827)
Please pray for:
Coastal cities planning for the
2020’s and beyond. A report
commissioned by the state of New York’s energy research agency was released
this week. (See this Associated Press story.) The report, written by fifty scientists, describes expected changes in
climate and their expected effects on New York state so that New York can be
prepared to minimize negative impacts and maximize positive impacts. With sea
level rising up to ten inches by the mid-2020’s around Long Island and Manhattan,
storm surges could flood airports, subway tunnels, and the financial district.
New York and other coastal cities need wisdom and courage to look ahead and
plan for rising sea levels
Fort Chipewyan in Alberta and all
communities around the world that suffer health and social stresses from
mining. Last Thursday’s post
Seeing and Serving Christ mentioned how the health and culture of the people of Fort Chipewyan have been
affected by pollution from tar sands mining. That post referenced this soberingphoto essay from This magazine. People in
communities near large-scale mining operations suffering ill-effects from
pollution is not unique to this situation, of course. Appalachian communities in
areas where mountaintop removal is practiced, for example, are subject to negative impacts to their health and safety .
The rapidly warming Arctic region.
While the IPCC predicts that Arctic Sea ice will completely melt in summers
sometime in the 2030’s, a study by Prof. Peter Wadhams of Cambridge University says that the ice could be gone as soon as 2015 – four years from now. Whichever
estimate is correct, the ice is melting rapidly, with huge consequences for the
Arctic ecosystem with such drastic changes in habitat. This includes
consequences for people living in the Arctic region.
Participants in the COP-17 climate
summit in Durban. A call has gone out for Anglicans to pray for the 17th Congress of the Parties (COP-17)
to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as they meet in
Durban, South Africa, beginning next week. Episcopal News Service reports:
Despite 17 years of negotiations to cut warming emissions, current global pledges to cut emissions leave Earth on track for between 2.5 and 4 degrees of warming, widely agreed to be catastrophic," the Rev. Canon Rachel Mash, environmental coordinator of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa and member of the Anglican Communion Environmental Network, said in an Anglican Communion News Service release.
As we pray for others, we might also pray for our own hearts
to be open so we can see the needs in the world around us and gladly respond to
those needs:
O heavenly Father,
who has filled the world with beauty; Open our eyes to behold your gracious
hand in all your works; that, rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to
serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made,
your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer for Joy in
God’s Creation (The Book of Common
Prayer, p. 814)
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