The Effects of Human Sin on the Environment

Hear the word of the LORD,
O people of Israel;
for the LORD has an indictment
against the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or
loyalty,
and no knowledge of God in
the land.
Swearing, lying, and murder,
and stealing and adultery
break out;
bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Therefore the land mourns,
and all who live in it languish;
together with the wild animals
and the birds of the air,
even the fish of the sea are perishing.

Hosea 4.1-3 (NRSV; italics and bold added)

The Temptation of Adam

Lyrics | Josh Ritter lyrics - The Temptation Of Adam lyrics

A Wesley Prayer

Thou art never weary, O Lord, of doing us good. Let us never be weary of doing thee service. But, as thou hast pleasure in the prosperity of thy servants, so let us take pleasure in the service of our Lord, and abound in thy work, and in thy love and praise evermore. O fill up all that is wanting, reform whatever is amiss in us, perfect the thing that concerneth us. Let the witness of thy pardoning love ever abide in all our hearts.

- John Wesley

Maybe I'm Just Tired

#2

Lyrics | Coldplay lyrics - Violet Hill lyrics

#1

Lyrics | Foreigner lyrics - I Want To Know What Love Is lyrics

The Big Question

I am in the process of "answering" an important question. It is a question that I have only recently realized that my life has been begging. I will not go into detail at this point, but rather, I will be posting a series of songs/music videos that I believe attempt to answer this question in some manner; or at the very least deal with possible responses to such a question.

Prayer of Good Courage

O God you have called us to ventures of which we cannot see the end, by paths never yet taken, through perils unknown. Give us good courage, not knowing where we go, to know that your hand is leading us, wherever we may go. Amen.

Kent Gustafson, Mountain Vespers

IF

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

- RUDYARD KIPLING


http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_if.htm

Native American Prayer

Great Spirit,
Give us hearts to understand
Never to take from creation's beauty more than we give,
Never to destroy want only for the furtherance of greed,
Never to deny to give our hands for the building of earth's beauty,
Never to take from her what we cannot use.
Give us hearts to understand
That to destroy earth's music is to create confusion,
That to wreck her appearance is to blind us to beauty,
That to callously pollute her fragrance is to make a house of stench,
That as we care for her she will care for us.
Give us hearts to understand
We have forgotten who we are.
We have sought only our own security.
We have exploited simply for our own ends.
We have distorted our knowledge. We have abused our power.
Great Spirit,
Whose dry lands thirst,
Help us to find the way to refresh your lands.
Great Spirit,
Whose waters are choked with debris and pollution,
Help us to find the way to cleanse your waters.
Great Spirit,
Whose beautiful earth grows ugly with misuse,
Help us to find the way to restore beauty to your handiwork.
Great Spirit,
Whose creatures are being destroyed,
Help us to find a way to replenish them
Great Spirit,
whose gifts to us are being lost in selfishness and corruption,
Help us to find the way to restore our humanity.

Author Unknown

http://www.eagleswingsministry.com/articles/poemsprayersponderings/prayer.pdf

"How Social Justice Got to Me and Why It Never Left"

"My friends: Let us listen to the voices and see the faces of the wronged. They are everywhere, about us and among us. And let us not harden our hearts."
- excerpted from the following article by Nicholas Wolterstorff:

http://jaar.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/76/3/664

"How Social Justice Got to Me and Why It Never Left." Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2008, Vol. 76, No. 3, pp.664-679.

Yesterdays

Lyrics | Switchfoot lyrics - Yesterdays lyrics

"A friend told me that he had given copies of Lament to all of his children. "Why did you do that?" I asked. "Because it is a love-song," he said. That took me aback. But Yes, it is a love-song. Every lament is a love-song."

- Nicholas Wolterstorff
Lament for a Son, pg. 6

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him in the next. Amen


Reinhold Niebuhr

Praying With My Legs

Here is a clip from a forthcoming documentary about Abraham Joshua Heschel: Praying With My Legs.

See also:

http://www.prayingwithmylegs.com./home.htm

and

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week1120/feature.html

Abraham Joshua Heschel

Refusing to Lead - Peter Rollins