Piloting Faith: I spent last week in London working with one of our partners while watching the devastation...

A Word for the Day...

I spent last week in London working with one of our partners while watching the devastation of the California wildfires play on the television screen. The count of those missing keeps rising; it's heartbreaking. It's also heartbreaking to watch our leaders refuse once again to acknowledge the role of climate change in creating these conditions.

James Speth, environmental lawyer and activist, once said, "I used to think that if we threw enough good science at the environmental problems, we could solve them. I was wrong. The main threats to the environment are not biodiversity loss, pollution, and climate change, as I once thought. They are selfishness and greed and pride. And for that, we need a spiritual and cultural transformation."

Let's pray that while people struggle to rebuild their lives, we will all join together to rebuild our planet. I can't think of a more pressing issue for our time.

- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight

Prayer for the Week

God of all that is good,

We confess today our tendency to wander, to fall back on the same old patterns even when they bring the same old harm.

May we find comfort in remembering that you were also tempted. You know what it's like to have temptation parade before you all the glittering alternatives that lead to gloom in the end. You were faithful. Help us be faithful, too.

Throughout this day, draw us into your mind and heart. May we thrive in the simple joy of your presence - listening for your leading, remembering your goodness, turning away again and again from exits to nowhere.

Thank you for your promise to show us the real way out - and help us to take it. When we are powerless, raise us up. Carry us to safety.

Amen.

(adapted from The Prayer Wheel by Patton Dodd, Jana Riess and David Van Biema)