First shared at Scarred Tree Indigenous Ministries Pray for Climate Justice event on June 2, 2021.
Lyrical God, who composed a song of reckoning and commanded Moses to sing it over us, we need you now.
Holy teacher, who sees us being led into temptation and wants wisdom to fall on us like gentle rain on new grass, we are desperate for a reckoning.
God of mercy, we have ridden the heights of this new land, the land of milk and honey
and yet, we are not satisfied.
We find ourselves in a desolate place.
Our spiritual bellies are full.
We have overeaten on the patriarchy.
We have feasted on racism.
We have gorged on injustice, just like you predicted.
This battle has become flesh and blood, as we fight to protect certainty at all costs.
We are desperate for you to rescue us from fearing the unknown.
We are desperate for you to shine the brightest light on what we have chosen to feast on because it is making us very sick.
Creator of all things perfect please light up our imperfectness. Shine a light on our shame. Expose our pain. We trust you to bring us through to the other side.
For too long, we have buried ourselves in the warmness of the sand.
Covering up our prejudices, so we could be viewed as “one of the good followers”.
But, as our Indigenous brothers and sisters are dying in jail cells and our Pacific neighbours are drowning due to the idol of profit, we pray for you to lead us to a place of real reckoning. The kind that comes with death and resurrection. Bring us all Lord.
Leave none of us behind.
Let victory look like our reckoning.
Let love look like our need to be rescued.
Amen
Image: Tuvalu - Funafuti - Beach #2. © Stefan Lins. Used with permission. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
