A prayer of confession in the face of ecological catastrophe: for use by settler churches

God of Jesus Christ

we come to you because there is no-where else to turn.

There is a famine in our land, 
a famine with regard to living and telling the truth.

We confess that we invaded this land and enslaved its peoples,

the people who have cared for this country and its waterways 
for thousands upon thousands of years.

We confess that we have wilfully ignored the wisdom of the First Peoples,

wisdom about how to live in this country in a way that honours and preserves all life,

that we have trampled their knowledge underfoot and treated it with contempt.

We confess that we have treated the land itself with contempt,

      and its seas and waterways also.

We have not cared for it as we ought to have done.

Instead we have exploited and raped it to feed our selfish appetites.

Now the land is sick.

It weeps and cries out in pain.

Its plants and animals, the rich tapestry of its eco-systems,

      are burning up for lack of nourishment and care.

And it is our fault.

Teach us, O God, to amend both our lives

      and the political and economic systems in which they are embedded.

Teach us to treasure the First Nations of this land

      and their wisdom about how to live here with respect and sensitivity.

Teach us to treasure the country and waterways on which we depend,

      its cycles and seasons, its plants and animals, its fragile and beautiful ecosystems.

Teach us to call our political leaders to account.

Teach us, O God, to live and tell the truth.

God of Jesus Christ,

We come to you because there is no-where else to turn.

Have mercy on us and free us from our sins.

Amen.

Offered to the settler churches

by Garry Deverell

a trawloolway man and Anglican priest

from trouwerner (Tasmania, Australia)