Eternal creator we first give thanks.
Thanks for the beauty, and complexity of the world, the oikos you have crafted.
We thankfully express our gratitude for the way that your world provides for our needs; Our need for shelter, for nourishment, for beauty, and for connection.
We are sorry for when we have taken these interconnected and intricate systems for granted. When we have greedily used more than what these systems can replenish.
We are conscious of the need for us as humans to reduce our consumption and prioritise our relational connection over our habit to merely transact. This tendency has become true of the way we relate with you, with our world, and with each other.
We ask for your forgiveness and for the guidance of your Spirit, to lead us into a better way. A way that honours you and your plan for creation. A way that humbly and soberly accepts our position as both creatures within your creation and ones created in your image: creative, intelligent, and powerful.
Help us to use these attributes to seek relationality and mutuality, knowing our place and our capacity. We seek community and communion with you, with this beautiful world, and with each other.
We eagerly anticipate the assistance of your Holy Spirit to minister in us and through us in the sacred work of reconciliation.
We can confidently ask for these things and seek your blessing through Jesus the firstborn of all creation, our resurrected redeemer.
Ngawa (yes : amen)
Written by Aboriginal Christian Leader Adam Gowen, for World Environment Day 2023