World Council of Churches (WCC) progamme director for Public Witness and Diakonia Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata spoke at the European Christian Environmental Network Assembly, currently convening in Roskilde, Denmark.
O Lord, open our lips, and our mouth shall proclaim your praise...
This week in the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, we pray with the people and churches of Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
Prayers were prepared in cooperation with the Lutheran World Federation.
It is midnight and the sun just about hides for a little while beneath the horizon. The calm sea is scattered with icebergs in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Some are like five-story buildings, with vertical sharp-edged walls rising high above the surface. Others are more like snow-capped hilltops, slowly ploughing through the blank water.
In Greenland, travel by either air or boat is the conventional – and only – way of getting from place to place. The distances between populated areas scattered along the rugged coastline of the world’s largest island are long and there are no roads connecting cities and settlements. Neither railways nor inland waterways exist and some rural areas can only be reached by helicopter. In winter, dog-sled is an alternative, particularly in the north and east.
While Bishop Sofie Petersen can talk convincingly about the science behind climate change, she'd rather talk about what's happening to the people in her home region of Greenland.
