Enviro Prayer Diary

November 2018 Environmental Prayer Diary

(You’ll find the December 2018 Diary below)

(The purpose of this Prayer Diary is to provide subjects for your reflection and prayer as the Spirit moves you)

 

Thursday

  

1

 The Anglicans Ablaze Conference was held from 3-6 October.  One of the themes of the conference was Care for Creation.

Bishop Ellinah Wamukoya (Bishop of Swaziland) inspired us to consider the environmental message of the Eucharist – it is food, it is fellowship. We are inspired to confess our sins of greed that have damaged the earth and to recognise the sacredness of the Earth

Archbishop Thabo gave thanks that in the Province the environment is no longer seen a ‘tree hugger” issue, but as an issue of social justice.  He inspired us all to take practical actions to make a difference – saving water, energy and reducing our impact

Various talks and workshops were held looking at the issues of air pollution, water pollution and land pollution.  The outcomes of the discussion considered what actions the church should take:

  • Educating people about the challenges
  • Churches to run clean up campaigns
  • Churches to provide recycling and education about waste
  • Save electricity and water
  • Share transport
  • Faith based advocacy – messages based on the Bible
  • Use our land for planting vegetables and indigenous plants
  • Collaborate with other sectors such as government and other churches
  • Put pressure on the mining industries to reduce water use and pollution
  • ……. But there are many more! ………

Finally, people made pledges about how they can personally be #livingthechange

Now is the time to consider YOUR own personal pledge for being #livingthechange …….
 

Friday

  

2

 “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.
Do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
Do not fret – it only leads to evil.
For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.”Psalm 37. 7-9
 

Saturday

  

3

 The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.

Wendell Berry
 

Sunday

  

4

 Father, we thank you for creating this wonderful world and for giving us the task of caring for it. Have mercy on us and our planet. Fill us daily with your grace, that we may always remember that we are here as your stewards, who will one day be asked for our account

www.greenchristian.org.uk/
 

Monday

  

5

 When love is the way, we will let justice roll down like a mighty stream and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook.
When love is the way, the Earth will be a sanctuary.”Bishop Michael Curry
 

Tuesday

  

6
International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in Armed Conflict and War’

Though mankind has always counted its war casualties in terms of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, destroyed cities and livelihoods, the environment has often remained the unpublicized victim of war. Water wells have been polluted, crops torched, forests cut down, soils poisoned, and animals killed to gain military advantage.

Furthermore, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has found that over the last 60 years, at least 40 percent of all internal conflicts have been linked to the exploitation of natural resources, whether high-value resources such as timber, diamonds, gold and oil, or scarce resources such as fertile land and water. Conflicts involving natural resources have also been found to be twice as likely to relapse.

The United Nations attaches great importance to ensuring that action on the environment is part of conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding strategies – because there can be no durable peace if the natural resources that sustain livelihoods and ecosystems are destroyed.

Pray that peaceful resolutions be found to conflicts
 

Wednesday

  

7
Creation Gives God Glory

Let the earth bless the Lord, praise and exalt God above all forever!
Mountains and hills, bless the Lord,
Everything growing from the earth, bless the Lord,
You springs, bless the Lord,
Seas and rivers, bless the Lord,
You dolphins and all water creatures, bless the Lord,
All you birds of the air, bless the Lord,
All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord, praise and exalt God above all forever.
Daniel 3:74-81

Apparently Daniel is saying that dolphins, springs, and mountains are doing God’s will and giving God glory quite well, they are “blessing” God, and have been for millions and billions of years before we even showed up and long before we wrote the Bible.  Was God not glorified until humans came along? Was God not in love until we arrived? If so, God had nothing to do for at least 14 billion years. Love always needs an object, and God has been in love for quite a long time.

Acknowledging the intrinsic value and beauty of creation, elements, plants, and animals, is a major paradigm shift for most Western and cultural Christians. In fact, we have often dismissed it as animism or paganism. We limited God’s love and salvation to our own human species, and even then we did not have enough love left to cover all of humanity! God ended up looking quite miserly and inept, to be honest.

Listen instead to the Book of Wisdom (a canonical book in the Catholic Bible):

How dull are all people who, from the things-that-are, have not been able to discover God-Who-Is, or by studying the good works have failed to recognize the Artist…. Through the grandeur and beauty of the creatures, we may by analogy, contemplate their Author.
Wisdom 13:1, 5

In other words, matter is the outer lovely form, but Spirit is the inner source, coherence, and energy for everything that we know and see. Today quantum physics, astronomers, and molecular biologists seem to be discovering and celebrating this same thing. How lucky we are to be able to fully join in this celebration today – as humans both educated in the sciences and transformed by grace! We have the best of both worlds.

Gateway to Silence:
Let all the earth bless the Lord.

From Richard Rohr’s daily meditations
www.cac.org
 

Thursday

  

8
 

Friday

  

9

 God, I thank you for the healing rain that washes the curving hills bright green. I thank you for the beams of sunlight that falls softly on my face. I thank you for butterflies and flowers, birds and fish, stars and trees, all of these beautiful things you created for us. I pray that all of your children see and wonder at these, and that the joy of these follows them through their lives now and forever. In your name we pray, Amen.

by Thea (Aged 9)
 

Saturday

  

10
World Science Day for Peace and Development

World Science Day for Peace and Development highlights the important role of science in society and the need to engage the wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues. It also underlines the importance and relevance of science in our daily lives.

By linking science more closely with society, World Science Day for Peace and Development aims to ensure that citizens are kept informed of developments in science. It also underscores the role scientists play in broadening our understanding of the remarkable, fragile planet we call home and in making our societies more sustainable.

The theme for 2018 is “Science, a Human Right” reminding us that everyone has a right to participate in and benefit from science, it will serve to spark a global discussion on ways to improve access to science and to the benefits of science for sustainable development.

Pray for all engaged in all forms of science – that science may bring benefits to all
 

Sunday

  

11

 Lord God, we pray that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move the hearts of the men and women who govern the nations that the barriers of fear, suspicion and hatred which separate us may crumble, and the body of humankind may be healed of its divisions and be united in addressing the serious problems of resource depletion, overpopulation and climate change. This we ask in the name of your dear Son, Jesus Christ.

 www.greenchristian.org.uk/
 

Monday

  

12

 The earth has only a finite amount of freshwater. NASA scientists now warn that water shortages are likely to be the key environmental challenge of this century. They identify 19 hotspots where water depletion has been dramatic, especially northern and eastern India, the Middle East, California and Australia. In Iraq and Syria, widespread over-reliance on groundwater has resulted from the construction by Turkey of 22 dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In northern India, groundwater extraction for irrigation of crops such as wheat and rice have caused a rapid decline in available water.  Jonathan Farr of WaterAid commented: “We need to ensure that investment in water keeps pace with industrialisation and farming. Governments need to get to grips with this. However, we have been solving the problem of access to water resources since civilisation began. We know how to do it. We just need to manage it, and that has to be done at a local level.”

www.greenchristian.org.uk/

In South Africa we know that our water situation is precarious to say the least

Speaking at the ‘Care of Creation’  Conference in July 2018,  Archbishop Thabo Magoba said that “in today’s world, where water is scarce or taken for granted as something that flows from the tap and is sold as a commodity, “900 million people do not have access to the lifesaving 20 litres of water a day because the needs of the poorest of the poor are not taken into consideration,  Water is mentioned 722 times in the Bible – the issue of water justice and climate care is real. We don’t have time to be quibbling about the science. We don’t need to be quibbling about the details. We need praxis.”

A Prayer for Water

Loving God,
whose son Jesus Christ called all who were thirsty to come to him, believe and drink,
Look in mercy on your people living in dry lands, and struggling to survive without access to  safe drinking water.
Forgive our selfishness in life and our misuse of our natural resources.
We commit ourselves to value and care for your gifts to us.
May rivers of living water and practical compassion for all who suffer flow out from our hearts.
Refreshed by your Spirit, and following in the way of Jesus Christ,
We will continue to serve you in the people and creation entrusted to our care.
Amen

Adapted from a prayer by Rev Canon Paul Robertson 2004

(Picture by courtesy PlayPumps South Africa –
www.playpumps.co.za)
 

Tuesday

  

13

 “The Lord answered Job out of the storm and said: ‘Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? . . . Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations? Tell me if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line along it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone – while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

 

Job 38.1-7
 

Wednesday

  

14
 

Thursday

  

 15

 If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy,
If a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you,
If the simple things of nature have a message that you understand,
Rejoice, for your soul is alive.Eleonora Duse
 

Friday

  

16

 Reflection:

Pope Francis – Laudato Si

169. As far as the protection of biodiversity and issues related to desertification are concerned, progress has been far less significant. With regard to climate change, the advances have been regrettably few. Reducing greenhouse gases requires honesty, courage and responsibility, above all on the part of those countries which are more powerful and pollute the most. The Conference of the United Nations on Sustainable Development, “Rio+20” (Rio de Janeiro 2012), issued a wide-ranging but ineffectual outcome document. International negotiations cannot make significant progress due to positions taken by countries which place their national interests above the global common good. Those who will have to suffer the consequences of what we are trying to hide will not forget this failure of conscience and responsibility. Even as this Encyclical was being prepared, the debate was intensifying. We believers cannot fail to ask God for a positive outcome to the present discussions, so that future generations will not have to suffer the effects of our ill-advised delays.”

Prayerfully reflect on this
 

Saturday

  

17
 Song of the Sky

 Lord of suns and star exploding
Galaxies and swirling skies,
Where you chose to show your glory
Took the heavens by surprise.
Lord of solar winds and wisdom,
Super stars that blow our mind,
Choosing such a fragile planet
Hardly seems a grand design.

On this piece of stardust swirling,
On this spinning spot in space,
Life itself was born like music,
When you showed your hidden face.
What an honour to be chosen,
Silent planet blue and green,
Filled with glory, grace and gardens,
Where the breath of God is seen.

What is even more amazing
We have poisoned Earth like fools.
Help us change our way of living,
Love the Earth and love her rules.
Help us stem the tide of traders
Leaving Earth an empty store;
Join us now Creator Spirit,
Come renew your Earth once more.

Words: © Norman Habel 1999

Melody: Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken
 

Sunday

  

18

 Dear Father, you have given us matchless gifts in the realm of science and technology. Help us to understand that you alone are the source of all truth and understanding. Let us never be blinded by the lure of the market-place or tempted to put at risk the lives and health of our fellow-humans. Watch over our motives, loving Father, that we may always give prime place to the furtherance of your Kingdom. This we ask in the name of your Son, who died that we might live.

www.greenchristian.org.uk/
 

Monday

  

19
 

Tuesday

  

20

 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.

Psalm 33:6-9
 

Wednesday

  

21
World Fisheries Day

 World Fisheries Day was established to draw attention to overfishing, habitat destruction and other serious threats to the sustainability of our marine and freshwater resources.  Observance can also help bring awareness of the importance of aquatic environments in sustaining life both in and out of water.

Why Care about Fisheries?

  • Fisheries and aquaculture employ more than 43 million individuals worldwide.
  • More than 25% of the world’s dietary protein is provided by fish.
  • The human population consumes over 100 million metric tons of fish annually
  • A recent United Nations study reported that more than two-thirds of the world’s fisheries have collapsed or are currently being overfished. Much of the remaining one third is in a state of decline because habitat degradation from pollution and climate change.
  • Escalating amounts of point and non-point pollution continue to threaten water quality and fish habitat
  • All natural fish stocks today contain at least trace amounts of mercury.
  • Due to the ever-increasing plastic pollution affecting the oceans, plastic microparticles and associated toxic compounds are getting into the flesh of fish eaten by humans.
 

Thursday

  

22

 The Paris Agreement sparked hope that governments were serious about working together to combat climate change. Unfortunately, there is still a yawning gap between the targets agreed in Paris and what governments have actually pledged. However, all countries must submit new action pledges every 5 years and these pledges must be declared in December at the UN climate talks (COP 24) in Katowice, Poland.  Preparatory discussions have allowed negotiators and citizen groups across the globe to input research to support an increased ambition in countries’ pledges – the so-called Talanoa Dialogue.  Read more at https://talanoadialogue.com/

 Cover this process with prayer
 

Friday

  

23
Buy Nothing Day – 24 November

 “Buy Nothing Day” is your special day to unshop, unspend and unwind. Relax and do nothing for the economy and for yourself – at least for a single day.  Adbusters, the founders of Buy Nothing Day, are a global network of artists, activists, writers, students, educators and entrepreneurs. Their aim is to question existing power structures and encourage consumer lifestyle changes in the 21st century. Buy Nothing Day, celebrated on the last Saturday in November, challenges us to avoid participating in the economy. We should bear in mind that it is not only when we take cash from our wallets to pay for goods, that we are spending money, but also when we make a cell phone call, use electricity or water in our homes, or drive our cars. Many people are beginning to realise that the population explosion, coupled with our consumerist lifestyles are putting unnecessary pressure on our planets dwindling resources, only to produce an enormous amount of waste that is difficult and costly to dispose of. This situation is not sustainable. If we are to make lifestyle changes that reduce our environmental footprint, we need to think and reflect on how we, as consumers, are adding to the problem, and come up with creative ways in which we can live on this planet in a more sustainable manner

Prayerfully assess what impact your transactions may have on the environment.

Prayer

Lord help me to live simply,
To give my life and all I am into your hands.
Help me to unclutter my belongings –
For I have too much stuff that takes me away from your presence.
Help me unclutter my calendar –
For I am often too busy to focus my attention on you
Help me clutter my mind –
For if have too many unguided thoughts that distract me from your instructions
 

Saturday

  

24
Big Birding Day

Print

Birds belong to the class Aves and, of the higher vertebrates, they are the most studied, the most easily seen and accessible, the most melodious and many think – the most beautiful animals on Earth. Fish are the only other vertebrates that have a higher number of species than birds. South Africa is richly endowed with a diversity of over 890 different bird species. Birding Big Day is a competition open to everyone with the aim of seeing how many birds can be spotted on that day, within a radius of 50km.

The annual BirdLife SA Birding Big Day is a fun, yet competitive day for South Africa’s birdwatchers, both beginners and competitive twitchers, while at the same time raising much needed funds for the organisation’s important bird conservation and bird species monitoring work.

  • Give thanks for the diversity of birdlife in our country
  • Enter a team in the “Big Birding Day”

Visit – www.birdlife.org.za/events/birding-big-day for more information
 

Sunday

  

25
Walk Lightly

Each leaf, each petal,
each grain, each person,
sings your praises,
Creator God.
Each creature on the earth,
all the mountains and great seas show your glory,
Spirit of Love.
And yet the hand of greed has patented
and plundered your splendour,
has taken and not shared your gift,
has lived as owner of the earth, not guest.
And so the ice is cracked
the rivers dry,
the valleys flooded
and the snow-caps melt.
God our Father,
show us how to step gently,
how to live simply,
how to walk lightly
with respect and love
for all that you have made.
Amen.

Adapted from a prayer written by Linda Jones/CAFOD.
* Sketch by Courtney Harland (8 Years)
 

Monday

  

26
SDG Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Targets:
  • Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries
  • Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning
  • Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning
  • Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible
 

Tuesday

  

27

 “The most important prayer in the world is just two words long: ‘Thank you’.”

Meister Eckhart
 

Wednesday

  

28
Prayer of Stewardship

God of all Creation,

At the beginning of time
You placed a single mandate on humankind
To be stewards of Creation
To replenish and nurture all generations
What you have made

We kneel today amid that same Creation-
A world that is, in many ways, more splendid than ever
But, in too many ways, scarred beyond recognition

Turn us from our unmindfulness
Help our tough be light
Help us renew the worlds that supports us
So we may once more know Creation
As it was in the beginning

Amen

Catholic Relief Services
 

Thursday

  

29
COP24 – The 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held between December 3rd to 14th in Katowice, Poland.

One of the main tasks of the 24th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC will be to adopt decisions ensuring the implementation of the Paris Agreement, in order to fight climate change

Paris Agreement
Key elements:
  • To keep global temperatures “well below” 2.0C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times and “endeavour to limit” them even more, to 1.5C
  • To limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally, beginning at some point between 2050 and 2100
  • To review each country’s contribution to cutting emissions every five years so they scale up to the challenge
  • For rich countries to help poorer nations by providing “climate finance” to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy.

Pray earnestly for all involved to come to this important meeting with a serious commitment and determination to efficiently attend to implementing this important agreement to the benefit of all inhabitants of “Our Common Home”.
 

Friday

  

30

  

 

December 2018 Environmental Prayer Diary

 

Saturday

  

1

 The strength of the rising sun,
the strength of the swelling sea,
the strength of the high mountains,
the strength of the fertile plains,
the strength of the everlasting river
flowing in us and through us this day,
the strength of the river of God
flowing in us and through us this day.

John Philip Newell (Sounds of the Eternal)
Photo – Karin Baard
 

Sunday

  

2
Advent Reflection

Awaiting Renewal: Let the Waters Flow
Isaiah 35:6-7:  “For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water.

The passage from the prophet Isaiah speaks of a day when God will redeem God’s people from exile and bring them home again to Mt. Zion. Notice that not only will the people rejoice and be glad but the land will rejoice as well!  Dry land and wilderness will show signs of gladness, singing and blossoming. Flowers will grow and refreshing waters will break forth in dry places, and there will be streams of water in places that were once severely dry and barren.

In July of 2015, I had the awesome opportunity to see a portion of the wilderness land of Alaska and to see the mighty glaciers of Tracy Arm a fjord near Juneau. As the cruise ship inched its way into the fjord, I looked up into the mountains and to my surprise I saw streams of flowing water gushing from the mountain!   Never did I expect to see water flowing so beautifully, peacefully, and freely in the Alaskan wilderness. During this season of Advent, let us seek to allow the life -giving water of God to flow freely in our lives and let us in turn care for earthly waters so that they too, may continue to flow freely

Prayer:

God of Ever Flowing Streams, Flow into our dry places and refresh us as we begin this season of advent. May we be reminded of your great love and care for all humankind and may we go and do likewise as we love and care for all the waters that cover the earth. Amen

Betty Tom
First Presbyterian, Church, Mt. Vernon, NY.
http://presbyearthcare.org
 

Monday

  

3

 Pray that a spirit of peace, harmony, co-operation, integrity, empathy and  justice will cover the COP24 Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland which begins in earnest today
 

Tuesday

  

4

 Perhaps Advent is a good time to review our priorities.

“What is it about Christmas that requires us to consume and waste with such abandon?” If it’s true that a stable is a suitable birthplace for our God, and that even princes only need three gifts, why do we eat, drink and spend as if we were celebrating the birth of the free-market economy?

So –
1.     Drop the idea that the cost of your presents has any relation to the value you place on your friendships: be generous to the planet and give thoughtful presents, with the receipt so that they can be returned.
2.     Video-Skype your distant relatives and plan to see them properly another time.
3.     Make a pact with your friends to keep all gifts below a strict affordable.  Better still make your gifts and wrapping paper out of recycled materials.
 

Wednesday

  

5
World Soil Day

2018 theme – “Be the Solution to Soil Pollution”
This, often over-looked, annual awareness day aims to raise awareness of the importance of soil quality for human well-being, food security and ecosystems.

Soil is the top layer of the earth, the layer which everyone is familiar with, but not everyone knows much about.

We all depend on soil, so the more that that is understood of it, the better the human race thrives, from beautiful gardens to crops that produce our food.

Today, spend some time looking at and feeling the soil in your garden.  See how healthy the soil in your garden and place of worship is and think of ways you can improve it –could you start a compost heap or create an earthworm farm?  And certainly, it is time to give thanks for this miracle substance! …..
 

Thursday

  

6

 Today hold COP24 up in your prayers.  As with all Conferences (and this one in particular…. ) tempers will flare and argument will be rife!

Prayer that our Creator’s presence will be tangibly present to bring calm and understanding into all discussions.
 

Friday

  

7
Creation is the Primary Cathedral

Creation itself – not ritual or spaces constructed by human hands – was Francis’ primary cathedral. It is no accident that the majority of Jesus’ stories and metaphors are based on human and natural observations, not classroom theology. It is not unimportant that both Jesus and Francis were peripatetic teachers – talking while walking – and on the road of the world. In our own time, major teachers like Thomas Berry and Teilhard de Chardin have rediscovered this natural and universal theology.

The Gospel transforms us by putting us in touch with that which is much more constant and satisfying, literally the “ground of our being,” and has much more “reality” to it than theological concepts or the mere ritualization of reality. Daily cosmic events in the sky and on the earth are the Reality above our heads and beneath our feet every minute of our lives: a continuous sacrament. I find that a preoccupation with religious rituals tends to increase the more we remain untouched by Reality Itself – to which the best rituals can only point.

Jesus himself commonly points to things like the red sky, a hen, lilies, the fig tree, a donkey caught in a pit, the birds of the air, the grass in the field, the temple animals that he released from their cages, and on and on. He was clearly looking at the seemingly “nonreligious” world, ordinary things all around him, and appeared to do most of his teaching out of doors. Francis said, “Wherever we are, wherever we go, we bring our cell and our soul with us. Our Brother Body is our cell and our soul is the hermit living in the cell. If our soul does not live in peace and solitude within this moving cell, of what avail is it to live in a man-made cell?”

Both Jesus and Francis knew that everything created was a message about the nature of God. Nature was not empty of divinity. Seeing nature as secular or merely functional created much of the loneliness and seeming meaninglessness in our contemporary worldview.

In the five-day Men’s Rites of Passage – that was a focus of my work for fifteen years – so many men felt that prayers and rituals inside of human-scale buildings were rather domesticated and controlled. They often perceived that the salvation offered inside these artificial constructs was also “small” and churchy. Almost without exception, the greatest breakthroughs for our men occurred during extended times of silence in nature, where the human and the merely verbal were not in control, or during rituals that were raw and earthy. Remember that good ritual, like art itself, merely imitates nature.

Gateway to Silence:
Praised be You, my Lord, through all your creatures. —Francis of Assisi

From Richard Rohr’s daily meditations
www.cac.org
 

Saturday

  

8
SDG Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
  • By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment.

 Pray that this goal will be achieved
 

Sunday

  

9

 The Bible teaches us that God created the world and us for His glory.  It only makes sense then that all of Creation should join together in singing God’s praise.  And there is certainly no better time to lift our voices with the rest of Creation than during this season when we pause to remember that “God so loved the world He gave His only Son.” (John 3:16)  We may not understand how, or even accept that it is true, but nature does, in fact, offer praise to its Maker.  If we are wise, we will do the same.  And if we truly realize what’s going on it will be a joyful song we sing.  So let’s not rest content with just heaven and nature singing, let’s all do our part as well!.

Let Heaven and Nature sing!
 

Monday

  

10

 “The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.”

Wendell Berry
 

Tuesday

  

11
International Mountain Day

2018 theme: “Mountains Matter”

Even though they are mentioned in the 2030 Agenda, mountains are still often forgotten. Considering the crucial role they play in providing key ecosystem goods and services to the planet and their vulnerability in the face of climate change, we need to step up and raise attention to mountains.

#MountainsMatter for Water as mountains are the world’s ‘water towers’, providing between 60 and 80 percent of all freshwater resources for our planet. However, all available records indicate that glaciers in mountain ranges around the world are retreating and disappearing due to climate change. At least 600 glaciers have disappeared completely over the past decades, affecting water supplies relied on by billions living downstream.

#MountainsMatter for Tourism as mountain destinations attract around 15-20 percent of global tourism and are areas of important cultural diversity, knowledge and heritage. Although mountain tourism has the potential to foster economic development in remote and isolated regions, many mountain communities are still not benefiting and live in poverty.

#MountainsMatter for Food as they are important centres of agricultural biodiversity and are home to many of the foods that come to our table, such as rice, potatoes, quinoa, tomatoes and barley. Yet, they are home to some of the hungriest peoples in the world with a high vulnerability to food shortages and malnutrition, and climate change is affecting mountain agriculture.

#MountainsMatter for Biodiversity as half of the world’s biodiversity hotspots are concentrated in mountains and mountains support approximately one-quarter of terrestrial biological diversity.

http://www.fao.org/international-mountain-day/2018-theme/en/

Prayer:

O Divine Spirit,
Spirit of wind and water,
of mountain and majesty,
of all creatures great and small:

Hear our prayer of thanksgiving
for the world that we take for granted,
for your gracious gifts that we do not earn,
for the daily blessings that we do not merit;

Hear our prayer of confession
as we acknowledge our self-absorption,
our short-sightedness;
our failure to care for all creation;

Hear our prayer of supplication
for the mountains, and those who love them;
for the mountains, and those who live in them;
for the mountains, and those who work to preserve and protect them;

Bring us to that day when
the rivers will clap their hands
and the mountains will sing together for joy.
Amen.

Mary Jane Hitt,
Pasto, Providence United Presbyterian Church
Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA,

 

Wednesday

  

12

 “We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence.  See how nature — trees, flowers, grass — grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence….
We need silence to be able to touch souls.”

Mother Teresa
 

Thursday

  

13
 

Friday

  

14

 The COP24 Conference ends today

  • Pray for the safety of all COP24 delegations as they return home.
  • Pray that agreements reached may be adhered to and honoured for the benefit of Our Common Home
 

Saturday

  

15
Reflection:

Pope Francis – Laudato Si
35. “In assessing the environmental impact of any project, concern is usually shown for its effects on soil, water and air, yet few careful studies are made of its impact on biodiversity, as if the loss of species or animals and plant groups were of little importance. Highways, new plantations, the fencing-off of certain areas, the damming of water sources, and similar developments, crowd out natural habitats and, at times, break them up in such a way that animal populations can no longer migrate or roam freely. As a result, some species face extinction. Alternatives exist which at least lessen the impact of these projects, like the creation of biological corridors, but few countries demonstrate such concern and foresight. Frequently, when certain species are exploited commercially, little attention is paid to studying their reproductive patterns in order to prevent their depletion and the consequent imbalance of the ecosystem.”

Prayerfully reflect on this
 

Sunday

  

16

 You are above me O God; You are beneath; You are in air; You are in earth; You are beside me; You are within.  O God of heaven, you have made your home on earth in the broken body of Creation.  Kindle within me a love for you in all things.
 

Monday

  

17

 “Education, if it means anything, should not take people away from the land, but instil in them even more respect for it, because educated people are in a position to understand what is being lost. The future of the planet concerns all of us, and all of us should do what we can to protect it. As I told the foresters, and the women, you don’t need a diploma to plant a tree.”

Wangari Maathai

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Environmentalist and author
 

Tuesday

  

18

 “Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights above.  Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts.  Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars.  Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.”

Psalm 148:1-4
 

Wednesday

  

19
 

Thursday

  

20

 “You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself.”

Nelson Mandela
 

Friday

  

21

 Lord, teach us to value our possessions rightly, so that we never think more of them than of the people around us. Make us ready to use them freely for the good of others and to share them generously without grudging. Thank you for the beautiful things that we enjoy possessing. May our enjoyment be wholesome and may we hold lightly to all we own, for the sake of Him who became poor that we might be eternally rich.
 

Saturday

  

22

 Lord of the silences –
speak to me:
in the blowing of the wind;
in the rustling of the grass;
in the sound of the sea;
in the beating of my heart;
in the stirring of my spirit –
speak, Lord.
I am listening.

Neil Paynter
Readings and Meditations from the Iona Community
“Gathered and Scattered”
 

Sunday

  

23

 Go, tell it on the mountain

Go, tell it on the mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, tell it on the mountain,
That Jesus Christ is born.

While shepherds kept their watching
O’er silent flocks by night,
Behold, throughout the heavens
There shone a holy light.

The shepherds feared and trembled,
When lo! above the earth
Rang out the angel chorus
That hailed the Savior’s birth.

Down in a lowly manger
The humble Christ was born,
And God sent us salvation
That blessed Christmas morn.
 

Monday

  

24

 Lord God, we turn from a world distraught by confusion and tumult to worship at the cradle of a little Child whose power can yet bring peace to the earth and goodwill to all people. May our worship renew our courage, strengthen our determination and guard our inward peace, that we may move among our fellow-humans as those whose values are firmly based on your love for mankind and on the sure foundation of your throne.
 

Tuesday

  

25
 

Wednesday

  

26

 Lambert the Sheepish Lion

Lambert was a lion cub that had lived with a flock of sheep from the time he was born. Because of that, he thought he was a sheep. One spring night Lambert and the flock were sleeping peacefully. Suddenly Lambert heard the scary howl of a wolf in the distance. Because Lambert thought he was a sheep, he began to tremble.

The howl grew louder, and the wolf came closer and began dragging one of the sheep away. Suddenly Lambert felt a strong feeling inside that he had never felt before. Like lightning, he ran toward the wolf to save the sheep!

Just then Lambert realized something. I am not a sheep. I am not the son of a sheep. I am the son of a lion! Lambert thought. When he chased off the wolf and protected the sheep, he knew his true nature.

You are a child of God, and He loves you. Before we were born on earth, each one of us was a beloved spirit son or daughter in our Heavenly Father’s family. But many of us don’t realize this. If we know who we are, we can be like the lion and fight off bad things so that we can protect others and not lose our way.

Be thankful for the wonderful gifts of the gospel and the plan of salvation. Be thankful that we know who we are so we can be strong – just like Lambert.

“I am a child of God, and He has sent me here”

“If we know who we are, … we can protect others and not lose our way. “
 

Thursday

  

27

 It is the children of today that will become the rescuers of tomorrow, lead by example and teach your children to value and respect our animal friends and see what wonderful adults they become.

‘Wildlife Warriors’
 

Friday

  

28

 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

 Isaiah 55:12
 

Saturday

  

29

 Those who are sensitive to the enormous ecological problem of our age and work hard to take away some of nature’s opaqueness fulfill a real ministry, because they allow not only people but also plants and animals [and rivers and rocks] to teach about the cycle of life, to heal the lonely, and to tell of the great love of God.

Henri Nouwen
 

Sunday

  

30

 Heavenly Father, as we look to a New Year, we pray for all in positions of leadership, for heads of state, ministers, judges, civil servants and local government officers, that they may act with integrity and wisdom.
In the justice they administer,
In the mercy they display,
In the wisdom of their policies,
In the integrity of their decisions.
This we pray in the Name of your Son, Jesus Christ.
 

Monday

  

31

2018 Enviro Prayer Diaries in PDF

2017 Enviro Prayer Diaries in PDF

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