Post by Adrian Shaw, Climate Change Officer, Church of Scotland

This weekend there will be climate change activities around the world. There will be marches in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, New York and many other cities.

I will be burning a lot of carbon to join an interfaith climate change conference at Union Seminary in New York City; a conference linked to the United Nations Summit on climate change next week.  This is also an opportunity to join the climate change march in Manhattan and wave the Saltire on behalf of Eco-Congregation Scotland, the Kirk and Stop Climate Chaos Scotland.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has written a prayer for the occasion.

Creator God,
You have called us to be keepers of your Earth;
Through greed, we have established an economy that destroys the web of life.
We have changed our climate and drown in despair.
Let oceans of justice flow,
May we learn to sustain and renew the Life of our Mother, Earth
We pray for our leaders, custodians of Mother Earth; as they gather in New York City at the climate talks
May they negotiate with wisdom and fairness,
May they act with compassion and courage, and lead us in the path of justice for the sake of our children and our children’s children.

Faith communities worldwide are encouraged to offer this prayer on Sunday 21 September so please join with us at your morning worship on Sunday. You can also add your voice to the global, multi-faith community through signing OurVoices.