Prayers – The Green Tau

Prayers of desperation

24th October 2026

They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors of old, who refused to heed my words; they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant that I made with their ancestors. Jeremiah 11:10

You Lord, are the source of all good things:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A reading from 1 Kings 19:9b-10

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’

How long O Lord, how long?

Temperatures are rising, the climate is changing.

The scientists tell us why, and the meteorologist forecast danger –

But politicians close their ears and oil giants close their eyes.

None will turn and repent.

How long O Lord, how long?

Temperatures are rising, the climate is changing.

Harvests fail and farmers struggle –

rising costs of fertiliser whilst drought diminishes yield.

But politicians close their ears and supermarkets close their eyes.

None will turn and repent.

How long O Lord, how long?

Temperatures are rising, the climate is changing.

The Earth struggles and planetary boundaries are strained –

deforestation and biodiversity loss accelerate.

But politicians close their ears and we consumers close our eyes.

None will turn and repent.

How long O Lord, how long?

Temperatures are rising, the climate changing.

The poor struggle as bills rise and pay looses its value.

The vulnerable are overwhelmed and support dwindles.

But politicians close their ears and big tech companies close their eyes.

None will turn and repent.

How long O Lord, how long?

O Lord,

in a world where change for the better seems impossible,

where protest is silenced and justice is denied,

how do we find the courage and energy to continue?

O Lord,

in a world where change for the better seems impossible,

where our cries are blanked, our concerns ignored,

how do we find the opportunities to speak truth to power,

the means to provide healing and care?

Ever loving and merciful God,

enfold us in your love,

fill us with your Spirit,

and surround us with companions.

Help us to hear your words of wisdom,

to see your path of salvation,

and to know Jesus as our constant guide.

Amen.

Lament for lost biodiversity

17th October 2026

My eyes grow dim with weeping. Each day I beg your help; O Lord, I reach my pleading hands to you for mercy. Soon it will be too late! Psalm 89:9, 10a

You Lord, are the source of all good things:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A reading from Luke 18: 9-14 (The Message)

He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’ “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’” Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”

Response:-

Suffering God,

Full of grief, I pour out my sorrows;

Full of mourning, I bewail my loss:

Bluebells that cannot keep pace with climate change,

Ash, elm and chestnut trees felled by disease,

Frogspawn that succumbs to unseasonal cold,

Butterflies deceived by unseasonal warmth/ rain.*

Suffering God,

Full of grief, I pour out my sorrows;

Full of mourning, I bewail my loss:

Wetlands that are no longer wet,

Curlews that have nowhere to feed,

Streams overwhelmed by fertilisers,

Rivers polluted by sewage.

Suffering God,

Full of grief, I pour out my sorrows;

Full of mourning, I bewail my loss:

Glaciers receding up mountains,

Alpine plants pushed over the edge,

Mountain hares with nowhere to go,

Moorlands and tundra burnt to a cinder.

Suffering God,

Full of grief, I pour out my sorrows;

Full of mourning, I bewail my loss:

Oceans with no whales,

Savannahs with no elephants

Coral reefs with no coral,

Icecaps with no ice.

Merciful God,

Forgive us our greed and our complacency,

Our folly and selfishness.

Forgive us when we have failed to see our errors,

have chosen to overlook our faults.

Forgive us when we have not listened to the facts,

preferring to believe our own stories.

Forgive us when we have ignored the plight of others,

caring only for number one.

Restore in us a right mind and a right spirit.

Strengthen our hands and our hearts to care for your world.

Embolden our will to love our neighbours as ourselves.

Free up our grasp on wealth and resources

that all may benefit from your bounty.

Release us from our pride and self assurance

that we can truly worship you,

our creator, redeemer and sustainer.

Amen.

The Grace

Each year has different extremes of weather

Lamenting our shortcomings

11th October 2026

The LORD is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Psalm 9:9

You Lord, are the source of all good things:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A reading: Psalm 10:1-6, 12

Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor—
let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.

For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart,
those greedy for gain curse and renounce the Lord.
In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, ‘God will not seek it out’;
all their thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’

Their ways prosper at all times;
   your judgements are on high, out of their sight;
   as for their foes, they scoff at them.
They think in their heart, ‘We shall not be moved;
   throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity.’

Rise up, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
do not forget the oppressed.

Response based on Daniel 9:4-10

Great and awesome God,

keeper of promises

and steadfast in love,

we have sinned and done wrong:

our greed has made paupers of those we should love,

our desire for more has taken away even the little they had,

we have despised and oppressed our brothers and sisters.

Great and awesome God,

keeper of promises

and steadfast in love,

we have acted wickedly and rebelled:

we have carved out our paths

and ignore the ways of your creation

leaving behind us a trail of devastation.

Great and awesome God,

keeper of promises

and steadfast in love,

we have turned aside from your commandments:

we over-grazed the land, over fished the seas,

we have decimated the forests and polluted the waterways,

we have taken more than we can restore.

Great and awesome God,

keeper of promises

and steadfast in love,

we have not listened to your prophets, who speak in your name:

we have ignored the wail of the sea birds,

the gasps of the rhino

and the disappearing drone of the insects.

Great and awesome God,

keeper of promises

and steadfast in love,

shame falls on us:

we let islands drown and ice sheets melt,

we let the tundra burn and rivers dry up,

we let cities flood and fields whither.

Lord our God,

to you belong mercy and forgiveness,

reform and redeem us,

renew a right spirit within us,

that all your creation may be treated

with love and care.

Amen.

The Grace

We do not presume to walk on this earth

3rd October 2026

Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and not we are ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100:3

You Lord, are the source of all good things:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A reading: Deuteronomy 11: 11-17

But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end. So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you.

A plea:
We do not presume to walk on this earth,

O merciful Lord,
trusting not in our own righteousness,
but in your manifold and great mercies
We are not worthy so much
as to gather up the leftover grains

nor glean the fruits fallen from your trees –
But you are the same Lord,
whose property is always to have mercy:
Grant us therefore, gracious Lord,
so to live where you plant us,

that we may work in harmony with nature

and share your rich harvest with all.

Amen

Thank you God for trees and fruit, herbs and grasses

Forgive us when through greed and thoughtlessness,

we have cut down forests and burnt the scrub,

when we have prioritised monoculture and marginalised diversity,

when we have drained rivers and aquifers

favouring cash crops over native plants.

Remake our hearts and minds

and so restore our way of living.

Thank you God for birds of the air,

the creatures of the land and the fish of the sea.

Forgive us when through greed and thoughtlessness,

we have promoted our own livestock and made refugees of the native wildlife,

when we enlarged our own living space and made other creatures homeless.

Remake our hearts and minds

and so restore our way of living.

Thank you God for soil and water and the fresh air we breathe.

Forgive us when through greed and thoughtlessness

we take from the soil but do not give back,

when we pollute the waters with waste we do not want,

when we fill the air with an excess of greenhouse gases.

Remake our hearts and minds

and so restore our way of living.

Thank you God for our brothers and sisters, our kith and kin

Forgive us when through greed and thoughtlessness

we rob them of their livelihoods,

when we divert their wealth into our pockets,

when we ignore their pleas for help.

Remake our hearts and minds

and so restore our way of living.

Lord God, as you made us in your image,

so that we might live with you

and, as your Son took on our form that he might live among us,

so you have shown us how to live.

Remake our hearts and minds

and so restore our way of living.

Amen.

Wisdom learned from creation

26th September 2026 (in between the equinox and a full moon)

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of her hands. Psalm 19:1

You Lord, are the source of all good things:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A reading – Psalm 119: 4-6, 18-19,27

You, O Lord, have charged that we should diligently keep your commandments.

O that my ways were made so direct that I might keep your statutes.

Then should I not be put to shame, because I have regard for all your commandments.

Open my eyes, that I may see the wonders of your law.

I am a stranger upon earth; hide not your commandments from me.

Make me understand the way of your commandments, and so shall I meditate on your wondrous works.

If the idea of obeying commandments sounds too authoritarian, too black and white, think of God’s commandments as the instruction manual for the world, the user’s guide, best practices for living – or even as an expanded set of the rules of nature.

A further reading, Isaiah 55: 6-9:

As the rain and the snow come down from above, and return not again but water the earth,

‘Bringing forth life and giving growth, seed for sowing and bread to eat,

‘So is my word that goes forth from my mouth; it will not return to me fruitless,

‘But it will accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the task I gave it.’

A Response:-

For the sun and moon

that mete out the seasons,

and measure out the days and weeks:

We thank you, Lord our creator.

For chlorophyll and photosynthesis,

for leaves and phytoplankton,

that turn sunlight into energy:

We thank you, Lord our creator.

For H2O in all its forms,

for evaporation and precipitation that waters the earth

and quickens life.

We thank you, Lord our creator.

For the air we breathe,

a fluctuating mix of gases

whose balance must be conserved for life to bloom:

We thank you, Lord our creator.

For rocks and mountains,

erosion and sedimentation,

that lays out a rich blanket of soil:

We thank you, Lord our creator.

For DNA building blocks

that see life adapt and evolve,

reminders of our network of kinship:

We thank you, Lord our creator.

For flora and fauna that twist and twine,

building habitats and

grounding ecosystems:

We thank you, Lord our creator.

As ‘Johnny-come-lately’ to this world,

Lord grant us the humility to learn from what is already here,

to look with awe and wonder at what is happily established,

to treat with respect ecosystems built up over millennia,

to study and understand the laws of nature,

to observe and respond to the natural cycles that maintain life,

to cooperate with others

and with sensitivity to share this space where all can be at home.

Amen.

The Grace

Trees of Life

19th September 2026

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. Proverbs 11:30a

Sovereign God, you are the source of all good things:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace

A reading: As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease. Genesis 8:22

An acorn is a comical thing

with a little hat that could be a cup.

Its pointed tip – that could be its bottom –

is not going to drill its way into the earth.

It waits for the rook or the squirrel

to snaffle it and bury it deep in the soil,

where after hours of dark contemplation

it will emerge as a slip of a thing,

with rusty red leaves that unfold into green.

An oak’s life starts in a very small way.

Lord God, in small and even comical ways,

let our faith grow.

From small beginnings help us sow

seeds that will transform your world.

A reading: I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive; I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together, so that all may see and know, all may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it. Isaiah 41:19-20

Rooted together in community,

colonising land that might otherwise be void,

trees are not loners.

Companions, they support each other,

as neighbours they support others,

forming delicate ecosystems

where life is in the balance.

Lord God, let our faith

create neighbours and communities.

Rooted in togetherness,

may your kingdom come.

A Reading: He said, “Out of the eater came something to eat; Out of the strong came something sweet.” Three days later they had still not figured out what the riddle meant. Judges 14:14

Ancient oak,

wrinkled and gnarled,

gnawed at by time,

even in death you provide safe lodging

and sustenance for others.

With grace you return to the earth

the nourishment you harvested:

a life time of receiving and giving.

Lord God, let our faith

nourish generations to come

just as we gain from those who have gone before.

May the power of the resurrection

sustain us with eternal life.

Amen.

The Grace

Truth Telling

12th September 2026

These are the things you should do: Speak the truth to one another. In the courts give real justice–the kind that brings peace. Zechariah 8:16

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight. Proverbs 12:22

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbour, for we are all members of one body. Ephesians 4:25

You Lord, our the source of all wisdom:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A reading from Job 38: 2-14, 42:1-3

Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

“Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?

Brace yourself like a mortal;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.

Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?

On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—

while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?

“Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,

when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,

when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,

when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?

“Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,

that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?

The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.

Then Job replied to the Lord:

“I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.

Truth telling God

You are the source of all knowledge

and true wisdom.

You only reveal what is true.

May we grow in trust,

ever seeking your wisdom

and revealing only your wisdom in this world.

I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right Is 45:19

Truth revealing God

May we discern your truth and wisdom

in the words of scripture,

in the workings of nature

and in the example of Jesus.

May we grow in trust,

ever seeking your wisdom

and revealing only your wisdom in this world.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

Truth loving God,

May we rejoice in the wonder of your truth,

the beauty of your knowledge

and the perfection of your wisdom.

May we grow in trust,

ever seeking your wisdom

and revealing only your wisdom in this world.

Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Ps 51:6

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

Amen.

Rejoice in the living waters!

5th September 2026

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. Isaiah 12:3

You Lord, our the source of all wisdom:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A reading from Ezekiel 47: 1, 8-12

The man brought me back to the entrance to the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east).

He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”

Praise God and rejoice,

for the living water of creation

will make fresh our stagnant water,

And God’s Spirit will make fresh

our stagnant lives.

Praise God and rejoice,

for wherever the living water flows,

it will restore the life of our rivers,

bringing back fish and birds,

mammals and insects.

And God will renew our love for them.

Praise God and rejoice,

for wherever the living water flows,

it will restore the life of our lands,

bringing back birds and creatures,

plants and insects.

And God will renew our love for them.

Praise God and rejoice,

for wherever the living water flows,

it will restore the life of our towns and villages,

bringing back places for leisure and opportunities for work,

places for contemplation and opportunities for healing.

And God will renew our love for each other.

Amen.

The changing seasons

29th August 2026

Note: It seems as if Autumn is coming early this year. The extreme temperatures and lack of rain have desiccated many plants and are causing the early fall of leaves. There has also be a deeply sad sparsity of swallows and swifts. I first wrote these prayers 2 years ago when that seemed less acute. These prayers may therefore also represent something of the progress of climate change itself.

And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years – Genesis 1:14

A reading from Isaiah 55: 9-11

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Change Happens

A drop of water

falls.

Drip.

Another.

Drip.

Drip, drop – more fall.

The drip becomes a trickle;

Drip, drip, drop -.

the trickle a stream.

The stream becomes a river,

a down pour, a torrent –

surge, rush, roar.

A flood begins with just a drip.

Snow.

Sun on snow.

A little warmth,

a little melting.

A moment of easing,

loosening,

a shifting of weight.

gathering momentum –

And whoosh!

A million tonnes of speeding snow.

An avalanche begins with just one flake.

A swallow

perched on the telephone wire,

testers slightly.

Now or later?

One swallow, two.

Another, three. Sway.

Now or later?

Four, six;

Eight, ten. Now?

Gather, check, sense the air.

Now? Now!

Up, and away,

wings beat, compass set,

off –

fare well.

Where one or two are gathered,

change begins.

May God bless our endeavours.

Amen.

In times of drought

22nd August 2026

I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. Leviticus 26:19

You Lord, our the source of all wisdom:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A reading from Haggai 1:5-6, 9b-11

Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.’

‘Why?’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labour of your hands.’

Patient God,

have mercy on us for our foolishness.

We ignored the rising temperatures

and the extreme weather events,

thinking it would not affect us.

We did not heed the warning signs:

we lived as if there would always be more water,

as if we could have enough water to wash our cars and patios,

grow crops and fodder, feed cattle and cool data centres.

Patient God,

have mercy on us for our pride,

our desire for greater riches,

our confidence that economic growth was the only way.

We were sure we were in control:

that we could buy fast fashion and disregard its ecological footprint,

that we could eat meat and not consider where cattle food came from,

that we could enjoy lives of luxury without being mindful of the poor.

Patient God,

have mercy on us for our arrogance,

our certainty that we had all the answers,

that nature would always be at our beck and call.

The future was ours and we were kings:

we could extract more and more from the planet – and not give back,

we had the technology that would provide all the answers,

we had no need for restraint!

God of recreation,

renew your spirit within us.

May we learn from your wisdom ways of caring for the land,

ways to conserve precious water,

and ways to live joyfully within limits of the planet.

God of restoration,

renew your spirit within us.

May we find true happiness that comes from joy not financial gain,

that comes from discerning the true value of all we consume,

and that seeks fulfilment in the wellbeing of others.

God of reformation,

renew within us your spirit.

May we respect the gifts of nature,

learning to give a well as take,

and returning to a life lived within the natural environment.

Amen.

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground;

I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. Isaiah 44:3 3