Forgive our oily sins

6th September 2025

“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” John 11:25-26

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 Deuteronomy 30: 15-29

See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them,  I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.  I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live

 A response – 

When oil is pumped from the ground 

it leaves a sticky trail 

that reappears 

as polluted soil, polluted water and polluted air. 

It never becomes nothing. 

Living God, 

Forgive our sinful ways and restore life.

When seeds are sown in the ground, 

the energy of the sun is absorbed 

and reappears as waving heads of corn.

It never becomes nothing. 

Living God, 

Praise to you for the  generosity that gives life.

When oil becomes petrol it powers the car 

but then reappears 

as an exhaust that pollutes the air and pollutes our lungs.

It never becomes nothing. 

Living God, 

Forgive our sinful ways and restore life.

When the corn is cut the grain is milled

and the straw reappears as mulch, 

and the grain reappears as bread.

It never becomes nothing.

Living God, 

Praise to you for the  generosity that gives life.

When oil becomes plastic it can become anything –

but then reappears 

as pollution in the rivers and pollution in the seas,  

it reappears 

as micro particles in  the air we breath, the water we drink and the food we eat – 

it even reappears in our blood!

It never becomes nothing. 

Living God, 

Forgive our sinful ways and restore life.

When the bread is shared and the people fed, 

the energy reappears 

as hearts that love, 

as hands that heal and as minds that learn, 

as feet that walk alongside and as shoulders that share the load. 

It never becomes nothing. 

Living God, 

Praise to you for the  generosity that gives life.

The Grace.