Heavenly Father, in this season of creation we lament of what we have done to your world, our home.
We lament that we have turned justice into wormwood by squeezing the life out of your world for profit and casting aside the wisdom of the ages of those who know this land best; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
We lament that there are those that hate the truth and obscured it for the sake of profit. We lament that we've done so little and often do not know what to do in the face of the undoing of your good world that you've given to all your creatures to enjoy.
Yet you called us to seek good and not evil and to establish justice. So even though we lament, yet we also rejoice for you are near. We are troubled, but we bring this world before you; its peoples, its more than human creatures, its waters, air, and soils - we bring them to you in prayer.
We pray for ourselves that even in the midst of the suffering of this world that you might keep our hearts and our minds guarded by your peace. Give us this peace, not as a drug to dull our senses but as a fire in our hearts to push us to work for justice.
Let us pursue what is true; the truth of what we have done to this world; the truth of our duty to love our neighbour as ourself; the truth that you are making all things new. Let us pursue justice: justice for our Indigenous neighbours; justice for our Islander neighbours; justice for our poor neighbours; justice for our future neighbours; justice for our non-human neighbours. Let us pursue excellence. Find whatever way we can with the gifts and skills and abilities that we have to work for climate justice.
For those that can pray, let them pray; for those who write or speak, use their words for justice; those that can knit, declare the truth about our changing climate. Whatever it is that we do, let it be worthy of praise as we work for justice and bring the peace of God to a world that sorely needs it.
In the name of Christ, Amen.
Written by Dr Mick Pope.