COP27 and the way of love
Dear friends
It’s hard to believe that only a year ago students, staff and members of the chaplaincy travelled over to Glasgow in support of the Global Day of Action at COP26: the world of politics has changed beyond measure since then. Yet we continue to live in a time of climate breakdown and the UN Climate Summit (COP27) currently taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh must urgently address the pressing issues of global warming and climate justice.
The need for sustainable and spiritually rooted action to transform the causes of environmental destruction is ever with us, and I’d like to share with you a Prayer for the Planet written by Lindsey Fielder Cook, Quaker and an Interfaith Liaison Committee Member for COP27.
Interfaith Prayer for the Planet
We, our voices from faith communities across the world, join in prayer and meditation for meaningful decisions and intention for urgent co-action at the climate conference (COP27) in Egypt.
We pray for courage and compassion to transform those human activities destroying nature and altering the climate system on which our lives depend.
We pray our hearts reject fear and embrace love, hope and transformation for a more healthy, safe, clean and sustainable world. We pray for strength so that our lives are patterns and examples.
We pray for protection of climate activists and environmental defenders, who often risk their health, if not their lives, to break the silence.
We pray for protection of climate scientists to work without intimidation and with sufficient funding and support.
We pray for protection of the poor and most vulnerable communities, those least responsible yet most affected by our insufficient climate action.
We pray that our leaders listen to grasp the urgency expressed, in the latest science, and to guide our economic systems to reject dependence on extraction, exploitation and accumulation through dispossession.
We pray for wisdom, courage and compassion in our climate negotiators, to find shared solutions together that honour needs of the poorest, while reflecting meaningful action from the richest and highest emitters.
We pray the developed countries will lead in greenhouse gas emissions and climate finance, as they promised in the Paris Agreement.
We pray leaders in all countries will do all they can to rapidly reduce extraction and burning of fossil fuels, and promote sustainable economic, social and political systems to stabilize global temperature rise at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
We pray that developed countries meet their promise of 100 billion dollars a year to help developing countries implement climate action, money in the form of grants rather than loans.
We pray for sufficient finance for Loss and Damage, supporting those communities already profoundly affected by climate change no matter what we do.
We pray, from the Paris Agreement Rulebook, for ambitious, effective and fair compliance in common time frames and transparency in reporting.
We pray for human rights and Indigenous People’s Rights to be included and better protected, including protection of these rights in carbon trading schemes.
We pray for an inclusive conference, in which the voices of the least powerful are heard alongside the most powerful.
We pray that delegates attending the COP remain healthy and return home in peace
When I first read Lindsey’s prayer I was overwhelmed by its length, its range and detail, but now I’m more familiar with it, I find myself inspired to simply sit with just one section at a time. Perhaps the prayer will speak to you too in this way.
I let myself explore the scope of the lines, centring its intentions on the Quaker testimonies of peace, justice , truth, equality, sustainability and simplicity – anchors to live by.
On Sunday I went for a walk at the West Sands, hoping to catch the last of the afternoon’s sun. After a grey morning the skies had cleared and brightened, and there was indeed a beautiful radiant sunset. Then, as I was watching the light fade over the sea, I suddenly noticed the moon rising. Here it is.
I felt the moon so tender and vulnerable, but also a source of faithfulness and strength.
Lindsey’s words were with me – We pray our hearts reject fear and embrace love, hope and transformation. May each of us find our way with this, opening our hearts to love the Earth.
Faith and action nourish one another. Perhaps one of the spiritual gifts we can bring to the world’s deep need is to surrender ourselves to the way of love?
In friendship,
Barbara Davey
Hon. Quaker Chaplain