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:
People coping with
the effects of Superstorm Sandy. Superstorm
Sandy caused more damage in New York State alone than Katrina did in the entire
Gulf Coast region. (See Cuomo: Sandy cost N.Y. $32B in damage and loss.) Episcopal Relief and Development reports on some of the relief efforts.
Seasonable weather. The
U.S. Drought Monitor for the past week shows
most of Nebraska in the “exceptional” category – the most severe drought
category. Unseasonably warmer or dryer weather in the winter makes daily life easier, but we pray for seasonable weather because our ability to grow food depends on it.
Climate conference Another
UN climate change conference – COP 18 -- has convened, this one in Doha, Qatar. There
are low (“modest”) expectations for this conference, and even if it
accomplishes all it sets out to do, it may be too little too late. A Washington Post story on the beginning of the conference quotes Christina Figueres, the UNFCC executive secretary, saying: “The door is
closing fast on us because the pace and the scale of action is simply not yet
where it must be.”
The will to look at
what is happening to our biosphere, hearts to have compassion for all living
things, and the wisdom and courage to do what we must to sustain life. A
dedicated issue of New Scientist discusses seven areas in which climate
change “is even worse than we thought”: Arctic warming, extreme weather, food
production, sea level, planetary feedbacks, human emissions, and heat stress.
The World Bank just issued a report called Turn down the heat: Why a 4° C warmer world must be avoided. The report says that
even if the emissions pledges made at the climate conferences in Copenhagen and
Cancun are fully met, there is still about a 20% chance of warming more than 4°
C by 2100; if the pledges are not met, then we could reach this level of
warming by 2070.
Avoiding disastrous levels of warming is not an easy task, and
the powers opposed to limiting greenhouse gas emissions in the name of
short-term profit and convenience are many and have a wide reach. The Do the Math tour from Bill McKibben and 350.org will be in
Omaha this Saturday to talk about ways we can work for sustainability despite
the powers working against it.
Compassion is something we cultivate through prayer and
through gratitude. The more we connect with the natural world around us and
with one another, the more we appreciate all living things, the deeper will be
our compassion and our commitment to preservation of our biosphere.
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)
