Lord God, we thank you for the wonders of creation – for night and day, sun and rain, the produce of the fields and the fruits of the trees. We thank you for the continuing cycles of nature and all the seasons, and for everything we experience in the natural world around us.
We ask your forgiveness for our selfishness in misusing and abusing the resources of the world. We pollute the air and the rivers, we destroy the ozone layer and we allow our fellow human beings to live in poverty.
Teach us, O Lord, to respect the world and to respect each other. Forgive us for the turmoil around us – the tensions between the countries and peoples of the world. Where there are divisions, grant a spirit of reconciliation. Where there is hatred, grant love. Where there is darkness, grant light.
Give us grace to love one another better, at a time when arms and missiles still threaten the peace of the world. We thank you that we can learn through experiences such as Covid-19 how we can love and serve our fellow human beings. Free us from pride and self-importance, and our persistent desire to rely on our own resources and think we can solve every problem without your guidance.
May the words of Jesus, ‘Peace be with you!’ be our guide, and may the Spirit which followed the proclamation of the peace be a living spirit in our hearts at all times. We know that only when that happens will we come to where we should be, and be truly your children in the world.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.