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The
environment, waste and pollution.
An outline for
Collective Worship
Opening hymn:
Laudato Sii,
o mi signore (Hymns Old &
New 294) or O Lord all the world belongs to you (Hymns Old & New 403)
Reading
(adapted from Genesis 1)
Reader 1:
In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
Reader 2:
God said, “Let there be light” and
there was light.
Reader 3:
The earth produced vegetation: seed bearing plants and fruit trees.
Reader 1:
In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
Reader 2:
God made the sun and the moon.
Reader 3:
God said, “Let the waters be full of living creatures, and let birds wing their
way across the sky.”
Reader 1:
In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
Reader 2:
God made all kinds of domestic and wild animals.
Reader 3:
God created human beings in his image, both women and men.
Reader 1:
In the beginning God created heaven and earth, and God saw that it was good.
Leader: God created the
earth for everyone to share but…
File-o-fact:
(jumps on stage) Did you know that one in five people in the world has less than
£1 a day to live on?
Leader: God created the
earth for everyone to share but…
File-o-fact:
Did you know that 1.5 billion people do not have access to clean water?
Leader:
OK OK File-o-fact, show us how you see the world today.
Drama
‘Green Dream Team’ (GDs)
and ‘Throw-it-away and Waste-Its’ (TWs) on stage together. They always rap the
chorus as a group.
Chorus:
GDs:
We’re cool, we’re green, we’re the dream team
TWs:
We throw-it-away and waste-it, but so?
GDs:
We dig, we plant, we grow
TWs:
We throw-it-away and waste-it, but so?
File-o-fact:
Did you know… that in the UK we produce 23 million tonnes of rubbish every year?
TWs:
We throw-it-away and waste-it, but so?
File-o-fact:
Did you know… that nine-tenths of energy is used in the rich countries like
Britain, and only one-tenth is used by the Third World?
TWs:
We throw-it-away and waste-it, but so?
File-o-fact:
Did you know… that three out of five people in the Third World can’t get clean
water?
TWs:
Water? We throw-it-away and waste-it, but so?
File-o-fact:
Did you know… that each person in Britain throws away about ten times their own
weight in rubbish every year?
Reading
My name is Bernard and I
come from Ghana in West Africa. A few years ago I visited England. I went to a
rubbish tip. You really live in a throwaway society, don’t you? You make rubbish
and pollute the environment.
On the rubbish tip I saw
all kinds of things which I could have fixed and used. Some of the things
weren’t even broken; they were just out of fashion. You have created adverts to
make you buy things you don’t really need.
You talk about the
environment. You talk about the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect. But just
remember – you are the ones who eat chocolate without ever having seen a cocoa
tree. Here in the Third World we have seen plenty of cocoa trees but we have
never eaten chocolate. You worry about the environment, but I tell you there is
only one way to solve the threat to the environment.
Poverty must be done away
with. You must have less and we must have more. You must not give out of what
you have left over. You must sacrifice to give. You must not give out of pity or
guilt. You must give out of love. We need your help but we want to be treated as
your brothers and sisters, fellow children of God.
Prayers
Response:
Teach us to share what we have with others
Reader:
We thank God for all the good things of the earth, for clean water and fresh
air, for our food and shelter, for the animals and plants.
Response
Reader:
We are sorry for the times we have not cared enough about your creation, the
earth. We have wasted what you have given us. Sometimes we have been greedy and
taken more than we really needed.
Response
Reader:
We pray for the work of CAFOD, and on this Fast Day we pray especially for the
work of the people of Ethiopia. We pray that the day will come when everyone has
clean water and enough food.
Response
Reader:
We pray for all who are involved in work to protect the environment. We pray
that those who have grown up throwing away and wasting may learn how to care for
God’s creation.
Response
Final Hymn: Sent by
the Lord am I (Celebrating One World, CAFOD) or O the Word of my Lord
(Hymns Old & New 431)
Assembly ©Linda Jones |
