Lament & Hope

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Spoken word: Jon Swales
Music: Scott Buckley - This Too Shall Pass" is under a Creative Commons (CC-BY 3.0) license
Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: https://bit.ly/bkc-pass

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Father of Creation,

God of Hope,

The prophets speak ,

And dream and hope

For a different world,

The age to come.

Maranatha

Father of Creation,

God of Hope.

We dwell in great darkness,

The joy  in our hearts has ceased.

Our garments are rolled in the blood of ecological violence.

Lord have mercy,

Maranatha

Father of Creation, 

God of Justice,

The yoke of unrestrained capitalism,

Is placed upon the necks of the global south.

Consumerism delights and shares the spoils.

Lord have mercy,

Maranatha.

And yet we wait knowing that once you

Heard,

Saw

And responded to the cries of your people.

In that day a child was born.

Wonderful Counsellor, 

           To him be all praise and glory.

           Mighty God, 

To him be all praise and glory.

           Everlasting Father, 

           To him beall  praise and glory.

Prince of Peace. 

To him be all praise and glory.

He dreamed a dream of a different kingdom

And showed us what this looks. 

In a world of darkness,

He is the world true light

In a world of spiritual hunger,

He is the bread of life.

In a world of violence,

He is the blessed pacemaker

To be him be all praise and glory.

And so now we wait,

In the storm of climate breakdown,

Hungry, Sacred, in Darkness

And we pray for the advent, 

the arrival,

Of Bread, the Light and the Blessed Peacemaker

Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus

Father of Creation,

God of Hope

Whilst we wait,

And sea levels rise,

Grant us strength to face the day.

Father of Creation,

God of Justice,

Whilst we wait,

And temperatures rise,

Grant us wisdom to discern how we should live,

Father of Creation,

God of Hope

Whilst we wait,

Grant us the courage to pledge allegiance to the worlds true light.

Grant us the courage to resist the beasts that destroy the world.

Grant us courage to articulate, imagine and embody the Kingdom of Your Son,

Let the present moment of our existential threat,

Point to the presence and person your Son Jesus.

Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus

Father of Creation,

God of Hope,

The church proclaims ,

And dreams and hopes

For a different world,

The age to come.

Maranatha

Come Lord Jesus. 

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Voice and Prayer by Rev'd Jon Swales
Music by enrique27naveda from Pixabay
Prayer with Visual see  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtODNrsN58Y&list=PLmqiQVXn_oPxt7IaNF-vNz3W0Gx9SfIQu&index=7&t=8s

 24: The Prophetic Community

Praise be to you,
Father of Creation,
God of Justice,
Who, in various and diverse ways, Raised up prophets

Who gave voice to a new reality,
Who spoke truth in a culture of denial, Who enacted hope in a culture of despair.

Praise be to you,
Father of Creation,
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You have spoken definitely and decisively,
In the God-Man Jesus Christ.
He walked this earth proclaiming and demonstrating the kingdom of God, In his death, he dealt the death-blow to death itself.
In his resurrection,
He reigns and rules victorious,
And offers hope for
The individual,
The church,
The nations
And the world.

Father of Creation,
God of Justice,
Our world is in peril,
The boat of humanity is cast adrift upon the storms of exploitation and extinction. Many are in denial,

Many are in despair, Lord have mercy.

Humanity faces an existential threat. What have we done? Lord, have Mercy.

Humanity has pillaged and plundered your good creation. What have we done? Lord, have mercy.

Humanity faces difficult decades as a consequence of our ecological violence. What have we done? Lord, have mercy.

And so,
With sad hearts and tears in our eyes,
We look to you,
Father of Creation,
Recognising that you have spoken,
And revealed yourself most clearly in your son.

Father of Creation,
God of Justice,
Touch our lips,
Cleanse our hearts,
That your church may, once again, be a prophetic community. That, in our darkest hour we, like your son,

Would be a servant community,
Which moves and acts with self-giving sacrificial love.
That, in our darkest hour we, like your son,
Would be a light to the nations and work for the reconciliation of all things.

May we, like the prophets of old, Speak Truth to a Culture of Denial. May we, like the prophets of old, Enact hope in a culture of despair.

Help us to tell stories,

Sing songs,
Love and be loved,
Tend and keep,
Guard and protect,
Stand up and speak out,
And live in such a way
That we would provide fresh imagination and hope,
Which can overcome the myths and ideologies
That have brought us to what seems like the point of no return.

Father of Creation,
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Invigorate us afresh by your Spirit,
with the hope of the God-Man Jesus.
Let us be conformed to his image and likeness,
That we might proclaim and demonstrate the Kingdom of God.

In his death, the death blow has been dealt to death itself,
So let us be filled with self-giving sacrificial love
That reaches out with resurrection hope to a dying and exiled world. Inspire hope in us, our churches and the world,
Until that day when all tears are wiped from our eyes.

Praise be to you
God of creation,
God of justice,
And praise be to your Son who rules and reigns with self-giving sacrificial love. To you be all praise, honour and glory.

Amen

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Father of Creation,

God of Hope.

The prophets of old looked forward,

With expectation,

And anticipation,

For the arrival of the coming King.

To him be all praise and glory.

Stirring Imaginations,

And articulating action,

They dreamed a dream,

And hoped a hope,

For the arrival of the coming King.

To him be all praise and glory.

In the advent of your Son,

The darkest night receives the dawn.

There is no darkness so dark his light cannot shine.

To him be all praise and glory.

In the advent of your Son,

A wounded world receives healing balm,

There is not a hurt that he will not heal.

To him be all praise and glory.

Father of Creation,

God of Hope,

The prophetic church looks out,

With sadness at the suffering,

With tears at the trauma.

In a world of climate breakdown.

For the arrival of the coming Kingdom.

As temperatures rise,

Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus.

As sea levels rise,

Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus.

For our children,

Lord have mercy,

For our Grandchildren,

Christ have mercy,

For the worlds most vulnerable,

Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus.

As we wait,

Let us pray.

As we wait,

Let us act.

As we wait,

Let us love.

Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus.

With the coming of your Son,

A violent world will be transformed,

In the presence of love there is always change.

To him be all praise and glory.

With the coming of your Son,

Our aching hearts will know close embrace.

There is not a tear he will not wipe away.

To him be all praise and glory.

Father of Creation,

God of Hope.

The your covenant community looks forward,

With expectation,

And Anticipation,

For the arrival of the coming King.

To him be all praise and Glory.

Amen.

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Words and Voice: Rev'd Jon Swales, Leeds
Piano: Alice Brencher
For more prayers see https://atyourservice.arocha.org/en/26-prayers-for-the-climate-and-ecological-emergency/

For prayer video including visuals see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDGNiAYfJQ4&list=PLmqiQVXn_oPxt7IaNF-vNz3W0Gx9SfIQu&index=11&t=96s

Father of Creation,
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, You created a world of wonder,
You declared it to be good.

The world was formless and void,
And you spoke and breathed life into being.

On the third day, you made trees. You declared them to be good.

And we declare them to be good.
For our lives are inexplicably linked with theirs.

For deciduous and evergreens, We give thanks,
A stunning array of designs That sustain life.

Fruit trees & Fig trees,
Ash and Aspen,
Willow and Walnut,
Cyprus and Cedar,
We declare them to be good.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. The Giant Redwood,
The Monkey Puzzle,
The Peppermint tree,

Praise your name,
Through root, trunk, branch and leaves.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

20: Trees

The Sweetbay Magnolia,
The Coconut Palm,
The flowering Dogwood,
Praise your name,
Through root, trunk, branch and leaves.

In this time of climate breakdown, The trees are our allies,
The Lungs of the Earth,
Forming Habitats of Hope.

The Forest is our friend,
The Woods our co-workers, The Jungles work for justice.

Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
We have moved East of Eden, We are Homesick Exiles, Creation groans,
The Tree of Life is no more.

We have opened the door to the sin of ecological violence, And it has overwhelmed us.
Through the greed of exploitation,
Slash and Burn,

Over Consumption
Unrestrained Capitalism has unleashed hell against Forests, Woods and Jungles.

Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
We have sinned and done evil in your sight.
As unrestrained capitalism, fed by consumerism and profiteering, Plunders and Pillages,

Ransacks and Rapes
The Woods, Forests and Jungles.

What have we done? Have mercy on us. What have we done? Have mercy on us.

Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
We remember your son who was nailed to a tree, Whose blood was poured out on the wood of the cross, To remind us, in bloody technicolour, of
the evil of empire & violence,
and the butchery and barbarity of man.
It was our sin that held him there.

Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
We remember your son nailed to a tree,
Whose blood poured out on the wood of the cross, To remind us of self-giving sacrificial love.
In his glorious resurrection, we are offered hope, And called to a new way of being,
A Priestly calling to tend and keep.

Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
You have not abandoned us,
But are working through us and in us to bring your kingdom. A kingdom of Justice and Peace,
A kingdom in which is to be found,
A tree for the healing of the nations.

We pray for the trees,
The Woods, Forest and Jungles.

Call us afresh to tend and keep,
Guard and protect,
Until that day when
We shall go out with joy and be led forth in peace, The mountains and hills shall burst into song, And the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

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Words byJon Swales see https://atyourservice.arocha.org/en/2...
Voice by Sarah Swales 
Video from Pexels. Legal and free to use without specific attribution
Audio: 'Looking Forward' from Pixabay ' free for commercial or personal use.
Video with Visuals available here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0D75cguZA8&t=8s

Father of Creation,
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, You created a world of wonder,
You declared it to be good.

Your Spirit hovered over the waters of the Deep, You Spoke and breathed life into being.

On the third day, you made the oceans,
On the fifth day, you filled the sea with every kind of living thing. You declared it to be good.

And we declare them to be good,
For our lives are inexplicably linked with the life of the oceans.

For the Atlantic, Arctic, Pacific and Indian, We give thanks.
For currents, waves and tides,
Oceans that were full and filled

With bountiful and beautiful biodiversity, Teeming with a vast array of life.

The earth is the Lord’s,
Let the seas roar, and all those who dwell in it.

Sharks and Rays,
Shellfish and Crustaceans, Sea Turtles and Reptiles, Whales and Dolphins
Sea Birds and Fish.
We declare them to be good.

The earth is the Lord’s,

Let the seas roar, and all those who dwell in it.

The Short-Snouted Seahorse,
Picasso Trigger Fish,
Atlantic Bluefin Tuna,
Participate in the Symphony of Praise.

Indian Humpback Dolphins,
Peekytoe Crabs,
Caribbean Reef Sharks,
Participate in the Symphony of Praise,

In this time of climate breakdown, The oceans are our allies,
A Habitat of Hope,
Producing Oxygen,

Absorbing Carbon,
Regulating our weather patterns.

Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
We have moved East of Eden, We are Homesick Exiles Creation Groans,
The Seas are Dying.

We have opened the door to the sin of ecological violence, And it has overwhelmed us.
Through the greed of exploitation.

Ocean Destruction through drilling and mining,

Lord have mercy.
Ocean Acidification through carbon emissions, Christ have mercy.

Overfishing leading to Extinction,
Lord have mercy.
Plastic pollution bringing Sickness and Death, Christ have mercy.
Deoxygenation through use of fertilisers, Lord have mercy.

Unrestrained capitalism has unleashed hell Against the Seas and Oceans,
And all those who dwell in it.

Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
We have sinned and done evil in your sight,
As unrestrained capitalism, fed by consumerism and profiteering, Plunders and Pillages,
Ransacks and Rapes
The Seas and the Oceans.

What have we done? Lord have mercy. What have we done? Lord have mercy.

Father of Creation,
God of Justice,
We remember the story of old,
How the world turned wicked and violent, And you responded with a flood.

Father of Creation,
God of Justice,
So, we will reap what we have sown,
For ecological violence results in rising seas.

In your justice, remember mercy.

In your righteous anger, remember mercy.

Father of Creation,
Healer of all hurts,
Your kingdom includes the reconciliation of all things, And this includes the oceans and seas.

In your mercy, call us afresh, To be agents of reconciliation, So that we would
Tend and keep,

Guard and protect
The oceans and seas,
Until that day when death will be no more, And your Son will calm the raging sea,

Amen.

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Voice and Prayer from Rev'd Jon Swales

For a video of this prayer with visual see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRy_llPdqsQ&t=22s

Further Prayers available at https://atyourservice.arocha.org/en/26-prayers-for-the-climate-and-ecological-emergency/

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.

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.

For this, we weep,

Lord, have mercy.

For this, we mourn,

Christ, have mercy.

On our watch,

We reap what we have sown,

On our watch,

Sea levels rise,

For this, we weep,

Lord, have mercy.

26: Community Lament

For this, we mourn,

Christ, have mercy.

On our watch,

Forests destroyed,

On our watch,

Locusts Swarm.

For this, we weep,

Lord, have mercy,

For this, we mourn,

Christ, have mercy.

And so now with tears in our eyes we look to you, With regret,
With repentance,
Knowing the difficult decades that we face,

As temperatures rise,
Extinctions increase,
As we come to terms with our existential plight.

For our children,

Lord, have mercy.

For our grandchildren,

Christ, have mercy.

For the world's most vulnerable,

Christ, have mercy.

Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
Wake us from our slumber,

Equip us afresh to be the justice-shaped people of God.

Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
Wake us from our slumber,
Equip us afresh to our priestly and prophetic calling.

That we would speak truth in a culture of denial,
That we would enact hope in a culture of despair,
That we would face what will be with love-filled action,

That, in humanity’s darkest hour, you would enliven us, so
We would bandage the wounds of those caught beneath the wheels of climate injustice, That, in humanity’s darkest hour, we would have the courage,
To drive a spoke into the wheel of climate injustice itself.

Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
You created a world of wonder, Of possibility and potential. You declared it to be good.

In our grief,
In our mourning,
We give thanks.
To you be praise, honour and glory.

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Voice and Prayers by Rev'd Jon Swales https://atyourservice.arocha.org/en/26-prayers-for-the-climate-and-ecological-emergency/

A YouTube video with visuals can be found here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QuI0FwdsdQ&t=5s

Music freely available with no copyright restrictions. 

Father of Creation,
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, You made a world of wonder,
A world that takes our breath away.
You declared it be good.

We take our place within the choir of Creation, Within the dance of biodiversity,
The rich tapestry of life.
The Lord's name is to be praised.

Praise the Lord,
All his creatures!
From the rising of the sun to the setting of the same, The Lord’s name is to be praised.

Praise the Lord,
All the earth!
From Coral Reefs to Grasslands,
From Temperate Forests to Savannas, From Mountains High to Oceans Deep, The Lord's name is to be praised.

Asian Hornbills & Hammerhead Sharks honour you, Vervet Monkeys & Viperfish venerate you,
Gazelles, Gibbons and Giraffes glorify you, Peacocks and Pelicans praise you,

Eagles and Elephants exalt you. The Lord’s name is to be praised.

And yet, O God,

17: Symphony of Praise

We are killing the choir,
Making silent the symphony of praise.
Our parasitical use of power leads to Endlings and Extinctions.

Forgive our foolish ways.

Humanity has sinned and done what is wicked in your sight, Christ, have mercy.

We have moved East of Eden, Christ, have mercy.

We have built Babel and made ourselves as gods, Christ, have mercy.

Our exploitive economic system has encroached into holy habitats,

Forgive our foolish ways.

We lift up to you our oceans, Christ have mercy.

We lift up to you our rainforests, Christ have mercy.

We lift up to you non-human worshippers facing extinction, Forgive our foolish ways.

God of Creation,
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Empower your Church to execute justice and speak truth to power.
Equip your Church to work for the healing of the nations and the flourishing of all. Enable your church to recognise its priestly calling to tend and keep.

Father of Creation,
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

You made a world of wonder,
A world that takes our breath away. You declared it to be good.
The Lord’s name is to be praised. Amen

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Voice and Piano: Alice Brencher
Taken from https://atyourservice.arocha.org/en/26-prayers-for-the-climate-and-ecological-emergency/

Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
The earth as a cosmic temple presents itself as a symphony of praise; A rich diversity of song and dance,
From a whole range of characters who Inhabit,
Perform
And point to you
As the giver of gifts.

Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
From mountain heights to ocean depths,
Across the seasons,
Non-human worshippers worship
With a stunning array of unique characteristics and colours.

The willow tree bows in referent praise,
Whilst birds in flight perform a waltz of wonder. Since creation’s dawn,
You, O Lord, have opened their lips;
A hiss, a screech, a bark, a purr,
A tweet, a song, a howl, a caw,
A neigh, bleat, a cuckoo, a buzz, a roar.
You have filled their beaks,
Their wings,
Their lips
Their mouths with praise.

And we join them with them in saying What you have made is good.

To you, we give praise, honour and glory.

Father of Creation,
God of Compassion
The cosmic temple has begun to sing a different song; A lament for what has changed,
A requiem for what has been lost,
A lament for what will be.

Father of Creation,
God of Justice,
From mountain heights to ocean depths,
The impact of humanity has been made known. Instead of worshipping,
Tending
And keeping.
We have forsaken,
Betrayed
And plundered.

Have mercy on us according to your steadfast love. Have mercy on us according to your steadfast love.

Father of Creation,
God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
We live within both the beauty and the brokenness.
We ask that you would give us a melody of praise to join with creation's cosmic song and dance.

We ask that you would give us a lament that grieves for what we have lost and what will be.

May the melody of our humble existence take up afresh our priestly calling
To tend and keep your cosmic temple until the redemption and restoration of all things.

Father of Creation,

To him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, Be praise, glory and honour.

Amen