Australia

World News in Prayer – Thursday, 28 November 2019

Father God, are we there yet?
We are between the last Sunday of the year and the first – are we nearly there yet?

“The days are coming” (book of Jeremiah) – are we nearly there yet?
We are between the new beginning and end of the last new beginning – are we nearly there yet?

For those who challenge us all to leave our comfort and engage, we give thanks.
We have made a start on changing our world view, making poverty history, fighting against “one answer fits all” – are we nearly there yet?

When the emergency service personnel brave floods and wonder if it will stop raining – are we nearly there yet? We pray with the people of Cote d’azur, France and Savonna, Italy

When the firefighters brave the flames and wonder if it will stop burning – are we nearly there yet?
We pray with the people of New South Wales, Australia and Santa Barbara, California.

When the rescuers brave the aftershocks and struggle to reach trapped people – are we nearly there yet?
We pray with the people of Albania.

When there is lack of equality and justice for all, intensify out desire to support those who are blocked from their established way – are we nearly there yet? We pray with the Uighar people; with those caught in the tension across the Uganda / Rwanda border.

Child-like we want the journey to be over, to get to the exciting bit at the end, asking are we nearly there yet? This time of Thanksgiving in the USA reminds us of all those, down the years who have made a journey and gave thanks when it was over. For those brave enough to set out on the search for new lands, new places, new cultures, we give thanks. For those who help, rescue and introduce them to the new, we give thanks. We pray with those whose travel plans for thanksgiving have been disrupted by winter storms.

Father, there are many things for which we give thanks, but most of all we give thanks for the privilege of talking to you in prayer and for your patience as we demand that world is set right immediately “are we nearly there, yet?”

Patient God, supporting brother, mothering spirit, these and many more are our prayers, all praise and thanks for hearing, receiving and answering. Amen

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 21 November 2019

Ever-present God,
as we come to the end of another liturgical year,
we remember and celebrate the present and coming kingship of Christ.

We anticipate the coming day
when the prophetic words of scripture are fulfilled
and we work, diligently,
to co-create a world where all people are loved and respected.

Yet, we are perplexed by the struggles,
the incongruity, the brokenness,
which is so virulent and rampant in the world.

It seems the stories of pain, violence, and despair
extend from the walls of our own homes
and into every corner of the world.

Our hearts break at the news of yet more shootings in the United States
in Santa Clarita, Fresno, Duncan, and other towns.

We are shocked to hear of 25 people discovered hidden on a ferry bound for the United Kingdom.

We are saddened to hear of the death of Boglaetch Gebre,
a renowned Ethiopian Women’s Rights Activist
who sought to end the practice of genital mutilation.

Our breath catches in our throats at the news
of the highest deforestation rate in a decade in the Amazon
with an increase of 29.5% over last year.

Uncertainty swirls in the aftermath
of protests-turned-violent in China at
Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Fear rises with the death toll in Bolivia
following a contested election in October.

And many more personal griefs and fears:
friends undergoing amputations and broken limbs,
neighbors facing financial and legal trouble,
colleagues who do not see a way to retire with grace.

The fear, grief, and pain can feel insurmountable.

Yet, if we have the eyes to see
and the ears to hear,
there is hope on the horizon.

Infants are welcomed into the world,
bringing hope and change.

US citizen Kevin King and Australian citizen Timothy Weeks
were released by the Taliban after being held for three years.

France returned the sword of Omar Saidou Tall,
a west African ruler who led an anti-colonial struggle against the French in the 1850s,
to Senegal’s President Macky Sall.

Open our eyes,
Ruler of All,
so that we might see and sense your presence,
in the midst of grief and pain,
AND in the middle of joy and celebration.

Empower us,
Holy One,
to work for the wholeness and healing you promise,
as we proclaim the reign
of your son and our savior,
Jesus Christ.

In whose name we pray,
Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 13 November, 2019

Great justice-seeker of the universe,

You know that we live in a great and awful time. You have opened our minds to the secrets of nature, but record flooding in Venice, Italy, and raging fires from the United States to Australia, give us reason to pause about having the power of sub-atomic particles placed into our human hands. Through the marvels of medicine our corporeal bodies have extended in longevity, yet, Ebola continues to have tragic effects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other countries in the western part of Africa. As generations before us pled for your mercy, so we today entreat your goodness. We pray to hold our wealth lightly and to tread modestly as we inhabit the earth’s surface.

Give to our leaders a wisdom and love of creation and a zeal for peace amongst the citizens of your planet:

with Jeanine Áñez as she takes office in Bolivia;
with the United States House of Representatives as they continue impeachment hearings on President Trump;
with those still engaged in political struggle and protests in Hong Kong;
with those fighting for their beliefs in a recent ramp-up of violence in Israel and Gaza.

Replace our greed with a gracious sharing of our abundance. We pray for healers and those who preserve life and seek peaceful ways forward instead of resorting to violence and fighting and destructive practices. May our longer lives prove to bring a greater sense of our saving love and may we be a blessing with the many years we have added that many of our great-great-great-ancestors did not. As in Jesus you came to show your love for the world, so through Jesus we pray that the world you love may be preserved and made better and safer and braver for future generations. May it be so. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., October 17, 2019

Be gentle with us, O Lover of Souls.
Be gentle with us, for surely in this fractured and fracturing world,
that above all is what we need:
To (re)learn to be gentle with ourselves.
To be gentle with each other.
To be gentle with our planet.

Be gentle with those – especially with those – who don’t seem to have a gentle bone in their bodies.
Be gentle with the United States, for abandoning their Kurdish allies; with the Turkish forces attacking the Kurds; with the country of Syria in the middle.
Be gentle with the owners of the Bangladesh clothing factory under investigation for abusing their workers.
Be gentle with the leaders of Venezuela, which just won a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, despite their country’s own horrendous human rights violations.

Be gentle with those whom we cannot forgive.
Be gentle with the South Korean mastermind of the massive “dark web” child pornography marketplace who was arrested this week, along with 337 users of the site from 11 countries.
Be gentle with all who bully and abuse and terrorize, in the schoolyards, in our homes, in our workplaces, in our world.

Gentle them, Beloved, as you would gentle a wild horse.
As you would coax love from the strong muscles and striking hooves of the fearful and ranging stallion.

Be gentle with all who hurt, or weep, or mourn, or fear.
Be gentle with the survivors of Typhoon Hagibis in Japan.
Be gentle with those searching for survivors in the collapsed apartment building in Brazil.
Be gentle with the tens of thousands of migrants applying for asylum in Mexico, now that it appears that the U.S. will no longer be a possible place of refuge for them.

Wrap them in the tenderest love, Beloved, as you would a flurry of newborn kittens.
As you would make a nest of the softest blankets, in which to grow and heal and thrive.

Be gentle with our fragile Earth.
Be gentle with the students in Gambia protesting climate change, because one day, “my city Banjul could end up under water.”
Be gentle with Lebanon, facing the worst wildfires in decades.
Be gentle with Australia, where a growing drought is stirred up a dust storm so thick that day seemed to turn to night.
Be gentle with the lives we have built, with the lives we do not know how to sustain.

Help us to walk gently in our lands, in our lives.
As gently as a drop of dew on a morning flower.

Be gentle with us, O Lover of Souls.
But, oh, we do not need to ask.
For you are our Gentleness and our Beloved.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019

Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away.
~ John L Bell and Graham Maule*

When nations are being riven by fear, lies, lack of trust in political, business
and so many seeming to seek leadership positions for their own aggrandisement rather than the common good:

Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away, so justice and truth prevails.

When all efforts have been made to cope with natural disasters:

Hurricane Dorian, devastating the Bahamas and threatening east coast states of the USA;
Severe ice cap melting in Greenland, the Antarctic and Arctic – threatening low lying communities and countries throughout the world;
Bird migrants arriving at their usual time in northern countries (e.g. the UK and Scandinavia) to find food sources already flowered and unavailable due to climate change

Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away.

When people are exhausted from the struggles against injustice and terror:

1.9 million people facing losing their citizenship in Assam, India;
Those detained, disappeared or tortured in Kashmir;
Starvation, violence, lack of medical care and hopelessness experienced by millions in Yemen, and in stateless camps throughout the Middle East, Libya, Sudan and so many other countries;
The fear of so many in Afghanistan where the US -Taliban deal does nothing to stop bombings and the use of children as suicide bombers;
Increased xenophobic riots in South Africa leading to deaths, injuries and boycotts;
Thousands of economically disadvantaged groups left without education or medical care after Christian and Muslim schools and health centers were seized by the government in Eritrea;
The desperate and often life-threatening experience of refugees in the US, Mexico, Sweden, the European Union, Canada, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Australia and so many other countries

Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away.

When people seek to care for their fellow human beings in need:

Over 1,000 people in the Central African Republic have become foster parents, like Henriette and Jean-Philippe Idjara. Despite having 4 children, and having lost 5 others through illness, they adopted 2 teenage boys who had seen their father executed by rebels. Alone and in fear of their lives, the boys had fled and walked 150 miles in a week, before being found exhausted and rescued by the Idjaras.
We give thanks for all who open their hearts and homes to brothers and sisters in need of any sort, without checking their balance sheet first. Help us to dare to trust in You, our shield and our defender.
We give thanks and remember all who act as carers (paid or unpaid), ambulance workers, medical staff, police, firefighters, military personnel, ministers and priests of all faiths, and those who keep our communities clean and safe with often little thanks. We pray for their protection and support, praying especially for their mental health dealing with the sights and situations we so often prefer not to see.. Throughout the world, the silent loss of way too many of those helpers of us all, their high rates of suicide and mental and physical illness from so much stress, is a scandal and source of shame..

Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away. Bless and strengthen them by your loving spirit and help us provide them with the care and support they need.

When families are changing, new life is being formed and others prepare to leave this earthly life:

Give us all a sense of thankfulness and proportion as to what is real or imaginary;
help us nurture truth rather than deceit;
humility rather than hubris;
tenderness, love and compassion rather than aggression, hatred and division.

Despite all we like to think, we are not in charge. You are.

O God, save us from ourselves, from double standards and divided hearts, and give us light and life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 8, 2019

‘Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him on those who hope in his steadfast love..’ ~ Ps 33:18

‘Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen….. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.’ ~ Hebrews 11:1 and 8

God beyond all definition, in our finite humanity we like to pin everything down, delude ourselves into thinking we are in control, we claim to be logical and strain to understand all that is and all we experience. We forget too often that all things come from you, and of your own do we give you. You are the creator of all life and all that makes our planet and universe.

God of wonder and power: give us the humility to be open to your presence in all its forms.

This world is a beautiful place, yet we humans too often make it fearful, threatening, damaged and damaging for each other and all the creatures and environments you have given us. We recall the devastation following fires, droughts and floods in the Arctic, Zimbabwe, USA, various parts of Europe, India, and Asia. We give thanks for the scientists coming together to warn world leaders, and all of us, of the calamitous environmental changes wrought by our stripping the planet of resources needed to combat climate change and absorb the carbon contributing to this. May we learn how to nurture and live in harmony with nature, taking only what is essential to life, not our greed.

Come fill us with your light, love and wisdom: so we may be channels for you to lighten the darkness where we are.

As warring madness and violence escalates, even by the young and towards the young, and all who are deemed to be vulnerable and ‘other’, help us to stand up to the bullying tactics in language, attitude and deeds in all walks of life and by leaders as well as people like ourselves. We remember all those killed and grieving through acts of violence, in El Paso, TX, and Dayton, Ohio, USA, in Kabul, Afghanistan, in Syria, in Cape Town, South Africa, and so many other countries around the globe.

God, draw near and comfort those who grieve, care for those wounded. Strengthen and encourage those trying to bring peace to our communities and neighborhoods. We give thanks for all those of good heart and love, and those of faith or none who nevertheless live a life of love and peace and reconciliation in all that they do and are.

Lord hear us, and answer our prayers.

We remember those political representatives throughout the world, their families and staff being threatened because of their role in serving their communities. We hear of threats against Members of Parliament in the UK, leaders in the US, in Russia, Australia, Latvia. Sadly the list is endless. Governments too often incite this through false propaganda on social media. May we learn to engage our brains before spreading rumors and gossip which poison minds and relationships.

Lord hear us, and answer our prayers..

We remember the parents in Russia being threatened with having their children removed from their care – just for participating in peaceful protests allowed under the 1993 Russian Constitution. We also remember the illegal change in the status of Kashmir by India and the continued fighting and tension between them and Pakistan.

Heavenly Father, you take the long-term approach, while so many in politics go for the short-term option, not thinking out the possible consequences of their words and actions.

Mothering God, you gave us life. Teach us to value it in all whom we meet and all that we seek to do. May this be incorporated into all our institutions and goals.

Lord hear us, and answer our prayers.

In the words of Martin Luther King, ‘all that it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing.’ May this truth enter our beings. Forgive us when we are judgmental and full of unrighteous belief that we are right and others have to change to be like us. Instead let each one of us change, to be like you and as revealed especially to us in the incarnate Christ.

Purify our hearts, and by your Holy Spirit, transform us into people of love as you are Love. Teach us to live and love all whom you have created, and all that you have created. May we touch each other and the earth lightly as sacred gifts from you. You God are our Rock, our Life and everlasting love. AMEN

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 25, 2019

Holy One,

Your Name is above all names, it is so high that we cannot attain it, yet still we seek it. And when we cannot find you, when we do not understand what is happening, when our hearts quake with fear and our spirits tremble with unknowing, when we stumble and search and seek after your face, a beloved face that seems so far from us, that is when YOU call us by name. As you did with Mary on Easter, you pierce through the mystery and call us, claim us, love us. As you did on Easter, you reveal that you are not removed from the world, but that you are here, with us, through death and life, in the tomb of decay and the garden of growth, you are with us here in the world.

Reveal yourself to us today.

Where we see violence and destruction in the bombings of churches throughout Sri Lanka, where we watch the aftermath of shootings, as in New Zealand, reveal the wings of your comfort, the shelter of your arms, the balm of your care.

Where we see vigilante militias along the United States border treat refugees and asylum-seekers as criminals, reveal the power of your justice, the commitments of your love, and the renewal of your protection.

Where we see the violence in Libya where hundreds are dying and over one thousand wounded in the battle for control of the capital, Tripoli, reveal your compassion and wisdom to bring these fighting factions to achieve peace for the country’s people.

Where we see the brutality of domestic abuse and the secrets of family pain, as with the family found in the cave in Spain, reveal to us how you grieve the loss of your children, how you rage at the ways we abuse each other or do not to see the abuse of each other, how you call us to commit again to caring for your vulnerable ones.

Where we see political protests in places around the word, like Sudan and Hong Kong, reveal how you lift up the lowly and bring down the mighty from their thrones. We know that not all shouting voices should be given the megaphone, yet we also know that what we think of as power and might, will pass away as grass in your sight.

Where we see the erosion of environment and the increasing anxiety over resources, with loss of rainforests in Brazil and months of drought in Australia, reveal how you have poured your care into every aspect of Creation, and how you demand that we more faithfully steward this world entrusted to us.

Where we see tragedy and death this week from the natural elements in the Philippines from earthquakes, landslides in Columbia and floods and mudslides in South Africa, reveal your consoling arms to surround these victims and their bereaved loved ones in love and strength to endure their loss.

Where we need to see your face, Lord, we pray that you will show up before us and remind us again that nothing, not even death, will separate us from you.

You have called to us before. Call to us now.

Amen sildenafil generique.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 14, 2019

[God] brought [Abram] outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” ~ Genesis 15:5

God of abundance, we know that you are able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, and yet our prayers are limited by the boundaries of our human imagination. We pray for small mercies when you offer overflowing grace. We ask for minor alleviation of suffering when you offer true justice. We meekly request a reduction in violence when you offer universal and eternal peace. Help us to put our trust in you so that the shaping of our world might be guided by your wisdom and your love rather than our own limited human perspective. Make us bold to pray that your will be done in all ways and in all places in all of your creation:

Workers race to rescue school children trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Lagos, Nigeria, and the community of Suzano in Brazil mourns the loss and grief caused by a shooting in a local school. All 157 passengers and crew sadly lost their lives after a Boeing crashed just after take-off in Ethiopia and the death toll rises in heavy rains and flooding in Malawi. In the face of such tragedy, we pray for small signs of hope and individual miracles, forgetting that you are able to transform our world so that suffering and fear and hate of all kinds might cease. May your will be done so that grace and love might abound in our world.

The governor of California, USA, has placed a temporary halt on death penalty executions, and Cardinal George Pell has been sentenced to jail for sexual abuse crimes in Australia, but we fail to see a path toward true righteousness in our social systems and in our institutions. May your will be done so that your justice might guide us in our community relationships.

Investigators have found evidence of extreme ethnic violence in DR Congo, the world watches as North Korea once again represents a threat through their construction of rocket-launching facilities, and we watch and despair as persistent clashes continue to kill soldiers and innocents in Yemen and Afghanistan. Our prayers so often are limited to asking for an end to violence, but your vision for the world is one of peace beyond anything we can imagine. May your will be done so that your shalom of safety, peace, and unity might prevail.
A white supremacist attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 49. Live videos of the horrendous gun slaughter were aired around the world on social media. We wonder how many vicariously enjoyed the violence, how many want to imitate, how many deepened their commitment to prevent it. Even as our hearts break with those who have lost their loved ones, even as we pray, we wonder how a good God could fail, over and over, to stop this horror. May your will be done, so we can join you in bringing peace out of darkness, new life out of death, compassion out of bigotry.

Like Abram, O God, we question your promises, wondering if the coming of your kingdom is even possible. Give us the faith to follow you and trust in your covenant with us. Despite all obstacles, fill us with your vision of how the world ought to be so that we might be bearers of hope and small glimpses of that which is to come. As Abram prayed for a son but learned that your promises would exceed his imagination, so too may we learn to pray beyond our wildest dreams so that we can participate in the depth and truth of your plans for all of us and for all of creation. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 7, 2019

“Safe in the shadow of the Lord

beneath His hand and power,

I trust in Him,

my fortress and my tower.”

– paraphrase of Ps 91 by Timothy Dudley-Smith

Heavenly Father, Your word and being is of compassion, merciful care and everlasting love to all, regardless of merit. The response to this has to be our choice. But, if we come choosing to trust You in your nature and openly admit with contrition where we have fallen short or turned away from You, Your everlasting mercy erases our failures and unites us with Your heart. We long for this acceptance and healing.

Lord, I trust in You and give thanks and praise.

“My hope is set on God alone though Satan sets his snare,”…

The temptation to be obsessed by becoming “successful” and gaining material wealth and power too often based on exploiting others and the world You have created is seen as being mainstream and so seductive. We think of our cheap, instant fashion created by people in sweat shops; our flowers often out of season grown in developing countries using chemicals not allowed in our own home states; cheap palm oil at the expense of deforestation and loss of habitat for wildlife and endangering the ecosystem of the entire planet. Our rubbish, whether technical, plastic, or ships and vehicles, dumped overseas where they are stripped by people in desperate need of work, often in very dangerous conditions, and contaminating their environment.

Lord, open our eyes to the convenience of our lives so dearly paid for by others we don’t see or rarely think of. But, these too are our brothers and sisters, created and loved by You.

I choose to trust in You, God, to keep each one of us in Your care and make us more aware of how we are co-dependent one on each other, regardless of where we live on this small, beautiful, but fragile planet.

“From fears and phantoms of the night, from foes about my way”…

The widespread use of violence in word, attitude, and action wounds, marginalizes, and even kills people. Anything that is “other” than what we are is portrayed as being negative and even not worthy of being allowed to exist. We remember people of faith being persecuted for being Christian in Pakistan, Syria, Somalia, Northern Nigeria, Iraq and even in Europe and the UK if people of other faiths chose to become Christian; for those Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Jehovah Witnesses and others who are routinely targeted by hatred and thoughtless violence in word and action and even torture in Russia, the US, Canada, Australia, the UK and many countries in Africa, South America and Asia. Our fear of difference and love of the same as ourselves distorts so often into ugliness and hatred of others.

We give thanks for projects, such as that led by Dr. Paula Green in Massachusetts, USA, bringing people together from across whichever divide exists in our communities for conflict resolution. Helping to put faces to the depersonalized hate or feared group of people, and to really listen to each other are major starting points.

I choose to trust in You, God, by darkness and by day. Forgive us our smallness of mind, heart and understanding and open us by the in-pouring of Your Holy Spirit.

“His holy angels keep my feet secure from every stone;”…

Fake news abounds throughout the media and the world, built on fears and trying to cause division and confusion. In Venezuela, Israel, the Middle East, Europe the UK and Northern Ireland over Brexit; countries, politicians, multinational companies trying to manipulate others through media disinformation and lies, breaking down trust, increasing the sense of helplessness and hopelessness in so many: we recall the Chinese telecoms corporation, Huawei, Facebook, Twitter, most major newspaper groups in the UK, and so many of our own governments who are involved in this to varying degrees. We give thanks for the individuals and groups daring to challenge, often at great personal cost, even of their lives, and hold to account those perpetrating such destructive practices. You are the God of truth, justice and what we rarely speak about now, “righteousness”.

I choose to trust in You, God, and with Your help, unafraid go on. Keep hope alive for all those who look and trust in You so others too may come to know You and Your love.

“Strong in the everlasting name, and in my Father’s care”…

The widespread epidemic of violence of gun and knife crime, and using sex as a weapon of violence is destroying lives and communities throughout the world but with especial focus on India, Canada, the UK, the USA, South Africa, and the Middle East.

We give thanks for many initiatives both at national and local levels to combat this globally including Boston, USA as far back as 1995, inspiring others in Scotland and now England.

I choose to trust in You, God, who hears and answers prayer.

Daily, let our prayer be that in all we seek to be and do as individuals and communities, we choose to be safe in the shadow of You, our Lord, our God and Redeemer. Possessed by Your divine love, help us to trust in You and meet Your unfathomable love with our puny and sometimes swithering love and, so, be participants in transforming and transfiguring all of Your Creation of which we are part. Power in Your terms is Love. May we become people of such power. AMEN.

World News in Prayer – Thursday, 14th February 2019

Creator God,

It doesn’t seem enough to say we thank you for the beauty of your creation. When we think of all that happened from the growth of our planet, its place in the solar system and the most we can say is “thanks”. You know the gratitude of our hearts, the deep meaning we want to place on these words, you accept and understand. Thank you, our God.

This week Lord, the doomsayers have been out in force: the increasing loss of the icecaps and glaciers; the effect of insecticides, even those long banned, on all insects; the threat to wildlife from dogs and domestic cats turned feral. Then a sliver of good news: NASA satellite data shows an increase in leaf area on plants and trees across the amazon; India and China are planting major areas with trees.

This week, a teenager in Ohio, USA has used technology to research vaccinations and has now received them. Teenagers in Bristol, England have researched the bus boycott of 1963 and discovered their missing history. For the power of the internet for good we give thanks.

This week, emergency supplies pile up and rot in Hudayah, Yemen and on the Columbia / Venezuela border, we pray that warring politicians will see the harm they do in power struggles and the power of the internet will become good for their countries.

This week as more warnings about dams holding toxic sludge emerge and other industrial mining problems become widely known we pray for the people of Brazil and the open cast mining areas of Appalachia, USA.

This week, Lord, help us to understand what we have done to our planet and how we need to make changes in our lives. Wild fires have burned across Tasmania, Australia and New Zealand; the effects of last autumn’s fires still devastate lives across California, USA; floods across Chile and Northern Australia; from Cincinnati to California, USA we recognise the multiple environmental crisis across the world.

We give thanks for the many small steps being taken by individuals and groups across the world to highlight and tackle this. Machynlleth, Wales has become the first town in Wales to declare a “climate emergency”, following the example of others globally. It is focussing on measures to dramatically reduce its carbon footprint. Villagers in Jenjarom, Malaysia are fighting to have the government close illegal factories dealing with Western rubbish poisoning their land, water and air.

The heavens declare your glory, God. Help us rediscover the sacred in our world and environment which you have made so we “touch the earth lightly”*.

Thank you for hearing our prayer and for your answers.

Amen

*”Touch the Earth lightly” – (New Zealand), Lyrics: Shirley Erena Murray Music: Tenderness – Colin Gibson