As the COP26 UN Climate Talks draw to a close, faith leaders from across the religious spectrum, join together with Rabbi Daniel Swartz, Executive Director of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, to offer this variation on Kiddush Levanah, a Jewish prayer for renewal traditionally recited in the light of the waxing moon.
We praise You, our God, Provider and Protector of all the world, who with Your words created the vastness of the heavens, and with Your breath all the life within it. You have given us times and seasons, rain, sun and soil. May we live so as to love and value these gifts, so that countless generations and myriad species may continue to wonder at them. Inspire the nations of the world, their leaders and their peoples, to not falter at our appointed task. May the promises made at this gathering be not only kept but surpassed, until the promise of a sustainable and healthy future reaches the farthest corners of the earth, our common home.
At this moment of opportunity and truth, may we fulfill Your desire for justice and speak truth to power, our Creator, Worker of truth whose work is truth.
Just as the light of the moon is renewed and grows brighter, so may we move past the darkness of division and despair into the light of hope, courage, generosity, solidarity and good will. Guide us to repair our imperfections speedily and soon, before the garden we have inherited becomes a desert we leave to our children. May it be Your will, our God and God of our past, present and future, that we end oppression and move forward united in a spirit of humility, mutual respect, and responsibility to each other and all of life. Blessed are You, Fashioner of life, who endlessly opens the path toward renewal.
Names of faith leaders offering this prayer are available on the National Religious Partnership for the Environment website.
LATEST NEWS FROM THE COP: Read the Joint Catholic Statement on the COP26 Draft Agreement.