Just Stop Oil

Send us Fan MailWords and Voice: Jon SwalesPiano: Alice BrencherJust Stop Oil: A Prayer for the Climate and Ecological Emergency (Draft)Father of Creation, God of Compassion,You created a world of wonder, Of possibility and potential. You declared it to be good. For this we give thanks.To you be praise, honour and glory. Father of Creation, God of Compassion, This world is no longer as you intended it to be.Humanity has betrayed its calling To tend and keep. Creation groans. On our watch, We reap what we have sown, On our watch, Sea Levels rise. On our watch, Forests destroyed, On our watch, Extreme weather events increaseAnd so now with tears in our eyes we look to you, With regret, With repentance, Knowing the difficult decades that we face.Father of Creation,God of Justice,Do the angels long for justice?Do the cherubim and seraphim groan for peace?Do the saints who have gone before us cry for justice?If so, what do they cry?Perhaps they cry,For the end of fossil fuels,Perhaps they cry for economic structures and systems,To put people before profit,Perhaps they cry, ‘Just Stop Oil’Father of Creation,God of Justice,Does your church work for justice?Do church investments work for peace?Does church leadership speak truth to power?If so, why the silence?Perhaps the angels will be answered,Perhaps the church will wake upAnd perform, participate,and protest in a way that aligns with justice,Perhaps justice will cry out loud, ‘Just Stop Oil’Father of Creation, God of Compassion, You created a world of wonder, Of possibility and potential. You declared it to be good. For this we give thanks. To you be praise, honour and glory. Father of Creation, God of Compassion, This world is no longer as you intended it to be.Humanity has betrayed its calling To tend and keep.Creation groans. AmenSwales- 2022