“And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruninghooks:
nation shall not lift up a sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.”
O God, creator of the wind and the sun,
O God, creator of oil and of coal,
You have given us these, your gifts,
to create a more healthy, beautiful life.
While we appreciate the benefits that fossil fuels brought to for centuries,
We lament our inability to see the harm it was doing to our climate.
We lament our indifference to the health of our neighbors around the world.
We lament that for so long, the transition to a renewable energy future has left behind those who made our present possible.
We hold in paradox this gratitude and this lament.
We pray for prophetic vision that centers holy paradox,
for a new economy built on your gifts of wind and sun,
one in which those who have suffered the most from fossil fuels, coal miners included,
might be given new life and health.