Download Prayer for Social Justice

JAEI
NOVEMBER 2014 ENVIRONEMTNAL PRAYER DIARY
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
1
Lord, I pray that you would give me the strength to help restore the
world to what it should be.
And grant that you would provide me with all the necessary tools,
ideas and enlightenment that I need to do your work
As just as I am - I come
2
Father of creation, we thank you for all that you have made;
For the joy and glimpses of you we find in nature’s beauty,
For the variety of all you have provided through its resources.
Help us to tread lightly and use wisely,
Valuing the needs of others, and of creation, above our own desires.
Challenge us where we need to change our lifestyles,
Convict us when we need to speak out on behalf of a voiceless people,
or world
And soften us where we have stood in judgement of others.
Father in your mercy, change us and use us
For the restoration of your world, and the protection of all your children.
Amen.
3
Oh Lord, I am sorry for not being considerate and contributing to the
ruining of our beautiful world. I am sorry for not sharing widely enough
about the wonders of our environment and its care
1|Page
Tuesday
4
Holy God,
earth and air and water are your creation, and every living thing
belongs to you:
have mercy on us as climate change confronts us.
Give us the will and the courage to simplify the way we live,
to reduce the energy we use, to share the resources you provide,
and to bear the cost of change.
Forgive our past mistakes
and send us your Spirit, with wisdom in present controversies
and vision for the future to which you call us
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Wednesday 5
Thank you, Lord, for the wonderful gift of Creation and our lives.
Thank you for entrusting us with these wonderful gifts.
I am sorry, Lord, for being so negligent with what you have entrusted
to me and for being so selfish and greedy.
I am sorry, Lord, for the times when my focus is not fully on you, the
Provider and Creator of all
Please stir more and more the desire to love and nurture your Creation
in all its beauty
Thursday
Generous, loving God we ask you to give us today our daily bread.
Creator of the world we share - give us today our daily bread.
As we reap the harvest and store the crops
and fill the barns, stack the shelves, pile high the tins and wander the
aisles of supermarket choice
show us how to see the world through the eyes of the hungry
teach us how to share will all our daily bread.
Amen.
6
Be still and feel the presence of God
1. Be still and feel the presence of God,
The presence pulsing, pulsing through Earth,
Be still and feel the pulse of God.
Friday
7
2. Be still and hear the Spirit of God,
The Spirit breathing, breathing through Earth,
Be still and hear the breath of God.
3. Be still, behold the glory of God,
The glory, filing, filling this Earth
Be still, behold the face of God.
Words: Norman Habel 2004
Melody: Be Still and Know that I am God
2|Page
Saturday
Sunday
8
Prayer for Social Justice
By: Pope Pius XII
Almighty and eternal God,
may your grace enkindle in all persons a love of the many unfortunate
people
whom poverty and
misery reduce to a
condition of life unworthy
of human beings.
Arouse in the hearts of
those who call you God
a hunger and thirst for
social justice and for
fraternal charity in deeds
and in truth.
Grant, O Lord, peace in
our days,
peace to souls, peace to our community
and peace among nations.
Amen.
9
The problem of climate change is huge and already devastating the
lives of millions of people. It can sometimes be hard to know how best
to respond. But as Christians we're part of a global movement that can
bring about real change as we pray and act.
Pray for:
more ambition from leaders so the door to keeping global
warming below the danger-thresh old remains open.
agreement soon on ways to deliver finance to help poor countries –
who are hit hardest

Monday
10
Thank you, Lord for the opportunity to see the beauty of your great gift
of nature
Thank you for granting me the responsibility to look after such a
special gift
Thank you, Lord God, for life and love that you provide in such
abundance
Please Lord, forgive me for all the faults and hurts I have caused you
when you love me so
3|Page
Tuesday
11
Love for the World
Gracious God,
Share with us your heart for creation,
That we may cherish all life,
Working together to heal the damage we have done
Knowing that in all our struggles
You are beside us, to inspire
Strengthen and transform us
Through Christ, our Lord and Saviour
Amen
Wednesday 12
Today, pray for those marginalized by environmental degradation in
your Community
Thursday
Almighty God - creator, shaper and sustainer of all life,
And loving Father.
Thank you for the forgiveness won for us by your Son – the redeemer
of all creation.
We receive your grace to us, and your love for us as we are.
Change us now into what you would have us be –
Move us to love and care for your world
And make us ready to work for the good of all creation
Through the love and power of your son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Friday
Saturday
13
14
15
“The fruit of Silence is Prayer,
The fruit of Prayer is Faith,
The fruit of Faith is Love,
The fruit of Love is Service,
The fruit of Service is Peace.”
Mother Theresa
We pray for scientists and engineers:
Creator God – creator of our world, of science, and of creativity itself,
You hold all knowledge.
We praise you and thank you for the insights you have given people
into engineering, science and systems in the past.
In your mercy, grant revelation to scientists and engineers that they
might discover solutions and systems to aid adaptation.
Not that we might continue to take the earth and its resources for
granted, or grow arrogant, but that your precious children might be
spared.
Lord, in your mercy, lead our scientists and engineers to truth, and
transformation.
4|Page
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
16
As we breathe the very air which sustains us,
We remember your love, God, which gives us life.
Fill us with your compassion for Creation.
Empty us of apathy, selfishness and fear, of all pessimism and
hesitation.
Breathe into us solidarity with all who suffer now and the future
generations who will suffer because of our environmental
irresponsibility.
Move us into action to save our earth and to build your sustainable
Kingdom.
Amen.
17
Lord Jesus, you have called us to be your witnesses on earth. Help us
to proclaim, by word and deed, the message of your love to all
humankind, and to declare your lordship over creation and our
responsibility as your stewards
18
Loving Father, please teach us how to live more simply, to be more
sensitive to your creation and to care for all living creatures. Help us to
turn from our arrogant ways. Redeem us, redeem your world, heal its
wounds and dry its tears, for the sake of your dear Son, who died for
us all

Wednesday 19


Thursday
20
The problem of climate change is huge and already devastating the
lives of millions of people. It can sometimes be hard to know how best
to respond. But as Christians we're part of a global movement that can
bring about real change as we pray and act.
Pray for creation and our global
neighbours who depend on it:
For protection, strength and
perseverance for poor
communities who are being
pushed further into poverty by the
changing climate.
For the global church to be
bold as it speaks out for
governments to respond.
For governments across the world to take the urgent and
ambitious action needed.
For God to slow down climate change and prevent catastrophe
God our creator,
you have made us one with this earth,
to tend it and to bring forth fruit:
may we so respect and cherish all that has life from you,
that we may share in the labour of all creation
to give birth to your hidden glory,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord
5|Page
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
21
Dear Lord and Father, you alone are the source of all truth and
understanding. Guide by your Holy Spirit all those engaged in scientific
research, that as they uncover more of the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge, they may further the deep purposes of your love. Amen.
22
Creator God – maker and shaper of all that is, seen and unseen;
You are in the expanse and depth of Creation, and in the processes
that make life possible.
Yet we are distracted by the gods we make ourselves and our lives
become fractured and fragmented.
In our brokenness we disturb the Earth’s capacity to hold us.
Instead we find climate uncertainty and global injustice.
Call us back from the brink.
Help us to choose love not fear, to change ourselves and not the
planet;
to act justly for the sake of the vulnerable; and to make a difference
today
for life tomorrow.
In your name – Father, Son and Spirit.
Amen
23
Prayer for Climate Change
Your creative love, O God, brought forth our world,
Once a garden where humans could taste and see the goodness of
the earth.
But our eyes have been blinded to the beauty of Creation,
to the knowledge that it is Gift,none given so that all humans may live
and flourish.
Our indifference changes the world;
Even mighty glaciers weep now.
Our disregard for our sisters and
brothers threatens the very skies
above us.
Our passivity begins to choke us, and
the excess of our lifestyles blot out the
sun.
Call us to renewal, to stewardship;
Call us to solidarity to the earth and all its creatures.
Give us new vision to see the fragile beauty that remains to us;
Give us new spiritual energy to become active
In loving the world through our daily life;
Give us new voices to speak out for environmental solidarity.
Bless us again with the gift
Of being a joyful community;
Bless us with a love of your Creation
And we will glimpse your Eden once again
6|Page
Monday
24
We pray for development agencies and local communities striving to
adapt to and campaign on climate change:
Compassionate defender, we
thank you for all those you have
inspired and equipped to help
communities suffering the
effects of climate change now.
Spirit of God, fill their
minds with wisdom, their spirits
with energy and their hands with
skill.
Precious counsellor, we thank you for all who are speaking out on
behalf of the voiceless.
Spirit of God, open the ears of the powerful to hear them.
Limitless comforter, we thank you for all who are serving and giving so
that those in need can adapt to a changing climate.
Spirit of God, fill their hands with more resources to give to
those in need.
Spirit of truth, speak to our hearts and tell us what you would have us
do.
Spirit of God, we surrender to you.
We pray for people living with the affects of climate change now:
Tuesday
25
Wednesday 26
For the sake of those facing rising temperatures, drought and water
shortages,
Creator God, in your mercy, renew this damaged world.
For the sake of those facing unpredictable weather, disrupted seasons
and failed crops,
Creator God, in your mercy, renew this damaged world.
For the sake of those facing flooding, land loss and salination of vital
water supplies,
Creator God, in your mercy, renew this damaged world.
For the sake of all those who fear the changing climate,
Creator God, in your mercy, renew this damaged world.
For the sake of the poor, the vulnerable, and the refugee
Creator God, in your mercy, renew this damaged world.
For the sake of us all,
Creator God, in your mercy, recreate our hearts that we might partner
with you to renew this damaged world.
Too long have I worried about so many things and yet, my Lord, so few
are needed.
May I today live more simply that others may simply live. Amen.
7|Page
Thursday
Friday
27
28
Father, we pray for you to raise up a generation of leaders with the
courage to take responsibility for our changing climate, and the part we
have played in it.
Father, we intercede for our politicians and leaders – cause them to
act in the best interests of all nations today, and all peoples’ in the
future, in order to avoid catastrophic
changes.
Father, we ask for a generation of
leaders who will be willing to act justly
so that those who have contributed so
little to the problems we are facing,
and have fewer resources with which
to face it, are not left to shoulder our
burden.
Father, we ask for you to fill the hearts
of all who lead rich nations – give them your mercy and compassion on
poor countries already suffering the effects of a changing climate.
Just as they have been moved to cancel debt in the past, encourage
them also to release funds so that poor communities can adapt to the
effects of climate change, and develop cleanly.
All: Lord, in your mercy, lead our leaders to truth, and transformation
Christ our Lord,
Many of us have taken action, campaigned,
and called on our leaders to negotiate a fair deal for the world’s poor
at the COP20 meeting in Peru
We have petitioned and prayed that you would grant wisdom and
courage to the world’s leaders.
The news coming out of the summit is disappointing to those of us
who long to see justice.
It is hard not to feel that they, and we, have failed to deliver for the
world’s poor.
Be with us in our disappointment, and help us not to become
despondent or to give up fighting for what is right.
Instead help us to focus on what lies ahead, and to seek your
wisdom
as we look for new ways of speaking out about global inequality.
Remind us that our calling to care for the world and its people
Reflects your own heart for the poor
And that you are with us as we seek to serve them In your name.
Motivate us afresh to take action, Remind us of the hope that is to
be found in you
Inspire us to keep on following your example And working with you
to restore a broken world
Amen
8|Page
Saturday
29
While awareness of climate change is growing, governments
everywhere tend to prioritise other pressing concerns such as
education, health, housing and providing enough food for their
peoples. Until people realise that global warming is intimately linked
with all these concerns, and will vastly exacerbate the challenges if not
tackled now, this is unlikely to change.
Development groups believe that
adaptation to climate change is about
strengthening communities from the
bottom up, building on their own coping
strategies to live with climate change
and helping them to participate in
climate change policies. Giving a voice
to people can help to develop their
confidence, to use their local knowledge
and to engage with science-based
solutions.
Pray for positive outcomes for the COP 20 meeting in Lima Peru from
1 -12 December 2014
To you, O Lord, we lift up our souls;
In you we trust, O God.
Faithful, merciful, trusting God,
You have let us loose on your world with enough fossilised carbon to
destroy it,
and with enough intelligence to know that we do so.
Forgive us, Lord, for we know what we do.
Sunday
30
We pray for the COP20 UN climate change negotiations happening in
Lima, Peru from the 1 to 12 Dec.
Let short term business interests bow to science.
Let politics give way to justice.
Let economics step back and allow righteousness to prevail.
Speak to the hearts of every negotiator
that they may feel your love for your earth,
and your desire for every child of God to do their part
in liberating creation from its bondage to decay.
Show us your ways, O Lord,
teach us your paths;
guide us in your truth and teach us,
for you are God our Saviour,
and our hope is in you all day long.
Amen
9|Page
www.jaei.org.za
10 | P a g e