Confessing our Footprint  (a prayer for Lent)

by Rob Des Cotes

Surely O Lord, You have created a world
Where there are more than enough resources
For all of us to live well.
There is enough food, enough water
And more than enough good land on which we can all live,
If only we would share

You have given us brilliant minds
Able to heal and relieve the suffering of others
You have shown us how to harness heat, light and growth
So that many can benefit from the knowledge of few.

You have given us ingenuity in transport whereby
Those who are far away, who have too little
Can be supplied by those who have too much,
If only we would share

But we confess our unwillingness to do so.

We are captive to a system that blinds
And deceives us into believing that,
Because we are not alone in this,
It is somehow acceptable
To have more than one needs
While others suffer because they haven’t enough

You freely give us life
And yet we charge and overcharge one another
So that only a few have the best
While the rest scramble for what is left

Our unwillingness to share
Dishonours Your goodness to us.

Free us O Lord from our captive selves
Do this, we ask, since we are not willing
To make these changes for ourselves.

Help us O Lord to be more like You.
For Your mercy we humbly pray.

Amen