On August 13, a group from the Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance organization gave a presentation at our church. They talked about the terrible environmental damage done by leaking and broken tar sands pipelines and the substantial health issues faced by (inevitably poor) people who live near the pipelines and processing plants. (For a very brief overview, see this video from the Sierra Club.)
They also told us that this Saturday, August 24, is a National Day of Action Against the Tar Sands. This observance is in solidarity with First Nations groups who are planning a blockade on Alberta highway 63 to protest oil company infringement on sacred native lands.
I will not be participating in any public protests on Saturday, but do plan to spend some time in prayer for our precious Earth. I invite you to do the same.
Here are some suggestions for prayer:
- Take a prayer walk in a beautiful natural setting–pray your thanks for that place and pray for the healing of other places on the planet that are being destroyed and polluted.
- Prayer a prayer of confession for the ways that our North American lifestyle uses and abuses natural resources. Prayerfully consider one or more ways you could reduce your ecological footprint.
- Pray particularly for the work of the Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance, the Indigenous Action Alliance, and other groups working to oppose the building of tar sands pipelines through Canada and the U.S.
- Read Genesis 1 and offer a prayer for the restoration of God’s good creation.
- Pray a psalm about creation. (Try Psalm 8, 9, 33, 104 or 139.)
- Write a prayer and share it with others.
*And just a personal update: My mom has moved into the new house with us and we are still waiting to get our internet hooked up. I realize my poor blog is a bit neglected these days. Now that I’ve found the camera I’ll try to get some pictures of the new place posted soon.
Spacious Faith 
I like this. A lot of people think Christians don’t care about the environment but that just isn’t true. Thanks for sharing.
Sorry for the delayed response. I know that creation care is an important spiritual issue for many Christians. We’re in good company!
‘ will not be participating in any public protests on Saturday’
If not you, then whom?
“Though one may say they have faith, what profit is it, my brethren, if they have not works? Can faith save them?
If a brother be naked and lacking daily food,
And one of you says to them, Depart in peace, be warmed and be filled; yet you do not give to them those things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
Even so faith with without works is dead.” James 2: 14-17
Sadly, solidarity within this realm is not recognized beyond the addressee of prayers without some sort of action by those of faith. We have to accept responsibility as stewards of the planet, reliance on divine intervention alone, and in absence of our participation, amounts to nothing more than an abdication of that same responsibility.
First, sorry for the delay in approving posts. It’s taking me awhile to get back into the blog after moving. Second, I agree that prayer needs to be combined with action. The fact is that we all make choices about how we spend our time. I try to be faithful in my choices. And I’m sure that sometimes I fail.