Join the Climate Intercessors
Last fall, as I began filling out paperwork for my trip to the climate conference in Dubai, I took some time to pray at my favorite spot near a creek. As I stared at the water flowing past I wondered what I could possibly do in this area of creation care. I tried to pray for the conference I was preparing to travel to in a couple of months and I found myself wishing I had more information. I wanted to know who the key people were to pray for. Who are the most influential negotiators? Who leads powerful special interest groups? Who are the youth activists that thousands are listening to?
A Climate Prayer Website?
I thought, surely other Christians would like this information too. And for a global environmental crisis, beseeching God seems like one of the most critical activities to do. I wondered, maybe I could start a prayer website for creation-related issues. Maybe I could call it something like Climate Prayer.
Within a few days I found out that--surprise, surprise--somebody had already come up with that idea. In fact, the person who started the prayer website was also the person who co-founded the group I had joined to go to Dubai.
So instead of creating a whole new ministry, I could just jump on board the website that already exists. I recommend it to you as well. It’s called climateintercessors.org. When you go there, you can click to sign up for their newsletters and they will email you a Zoom link each month. They pray on the second Tuesday. They repeat the prayer meeting four times on that day so people across the globe can participate at a convenient time. For me in Colorado I can pick between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.
Our Meeting Yesterday
Yesterday, we held our February prayer meeting. We had people on the call from Colombia, Scotland, England, the USA and Canada. We prayed for the people in Chile who have lost homes or loved ones in forest fires. The lady from Colombia said forest fires are also a problem in her country and in other parts of South America. We also prayed for a list of upcoming events this year that will have significant implications for creation. One of those events is the election in Indonesia, which is happening today. As one man prayed for some of these events he admitted they seem far from him and he feels small in the face of what will take place.
But that’s what feels so good about joining with others to pray. It’s not that prayer absolves us of the responsibility to act, but it is great to remember that we can act in concert with the creator of the universe.
I had a pretty exciting experience with the Climate Intercessors prayer group when I went to Dubai. The monthly prayer day happened near the end of the conference. When I joined the call I was sitting at a table in the area where climate negotiators were working. This was one of the crucial last days when the final agreement was being hammered out. I had felt a burden to pray several times while I was there in Dubai, and on this day I felt that way too. It felt like an incredible privilege to be able to show the people on the call where I was sitting and to give them an update on some of the ways they could pray.
I recently read this well-known Psalm, and it took on new meaning for me as I’ve been thinking of the damage happening to our planet. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea....” (Psalm 46:1-2).
God is an ever-present help. When I pray with others I reassure myself of that fact again.