CCA Cymru have offered the following prayers of lament for use in vigils and private prayer to mark the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement. Representatives from nations across the world pledged to achieve so much in that agreement to mitigate the damage being done to our climate and our ecosystems, and yet have done so little.

Lament prayers

When we look back on the promises made in that agreement five years ago

Promises shattered, broken. Time wasted, time lost.

Such precious time. Never to be regained

O giver of all life, we lament

We promised to the earth to keep temperature rises to below 2 degrees

To work hard to keep even to 1.5 degrees.

Because of our inaction this hope recedes.

We promised the poor and forgotten of the earth

To make reparation for our greed and thoughtlessness.

Yet our knee of oppression remains on their neck as they cry to us for help.

O giver of all life, we lament

We mine deep into the earth for the resources to feed our wasteful way of life

Soon they will be depleted

We destroy wild places, ignoring the cries of people who live there, ignoring the cries of the animals and plants that live there.

Leading to the extinction of species and loss of precious ecosystems.

O giver of all life, we lament

We think of the people of the Pacific Islands who pleaded specially in Paris

As ice melts and sea levels rise they risk the total flooding of their homelands.

We think of all those people who have suffered extreme weather events. Hurricanes in central America, the Caribbean and the Philippines have caused destruction of homes, crops vital infrastructure and loss of life and livelihoods.

We think of the people in our own country whose homes have been flooded recently.

 O giver of all life, we lament

Let us cry out loud to the Beloved one and let our tears flow like a torrent.

Let us pour out our heart like water to God and stretch out our hands to her for the lives of our children.

O giver of all life, we lament

Beloved we call to you from a deep pit. Do not close your ear to our appeal.

We know you come near when we call and we hear “Do not be afraid”

O giver of all life, we lament

Help us to examine our pathway, to ponder and to return to your way of love.

Help us to stretch out our hearts and hands to you and to each other, Beloved.

You are the source of life.

We are the ones who have strayed

O giver of all life, we lament and ask for your mercy.