Missionary Renegade: "Prayer of Confession for Earth Day" Church Programs - Society of Saint Andrews of Big Island, Virginia, United States for Thursday, 21 April 2016

Friday, April 22, 2016

"Prayer of Confession for Earth Day" Church Programs - Society of Saint Andrews of Big Island, Virginia, United States for Thursday, 21 April 2016

Today is Earth Day, and on this Earth Day we are increasingly mindful of our call to be caretakers for God’s whole created order.
This Prayer of Confession for Earth Day comes from Creation Justice Ministries’ Earth Day Worship Resources for 2015, “Have You Anything Here to Eat: Sustainable Food in a Changing Climate.” You may download the entire resource as a PDF here or at creationjustice.org.
Gracious God, We have taken the fruits of your creation and your merciful abundance for granted. We have uttered prayers of thanksgiving without true gratitude.
Meanwhile, we have failed to recognize the suffering of the earth and of the people who have produced our food. Ignoring our connection to the rest of your creation as we reap nourishment, we move further away from your vision of your beloved community.
Forgive us, O God, and transform us. Open us to the richness and beauty in connecting our food—at the Lord’s Table and at our individual tables—to all the natural and human resources who have brought it to those tables.
Help us give thanks not just for our food but for all those who have brought it before us and to work that they might also flourish.
Encourage us to work for justice for all, so that all may give you thanks and be fed. In Christ Jesus we pray, Amen.
Your commitment to reduce food waste and end hunger touches so many lives. Thank you for gleaning and for giving, for praying and advocating and sharing: for all the ways you reach out to make our earth—God’s creation—a better place.
With you in faithful service,
Lynette Johnson
Director of Church Relations
The Society of St. Andrew is a national nonprofit hunger-relief ministry that rescues 25-30 million pounds of fresh, nutritious, excess produce each year that would otherwise go to waste for various marketing reasons. This food is then distributed to critical feeding agencies across the country at no cost to the agencies or the hungry people they serve. More information about the Society of St. Andrew and its hunger-relief programs - Gleaning Network, Potato & Produce Project, and Harvest of Hope is available online at EndHunger.org.