Posted on: 10th August 2021

Rev Jon Swales Mission Priest at Lighthouse Church, Leeds has written a book of twent six prayers, which are available for free to download.

Here are several people who commend this book to us:

“We need Jon Swales at this time – pastor, servant, prophet, provocateur. Jon has the kind of gifts that can stir us out of complacency and paralysis on this defining issue of early 21st century discipleship – climate change. Class after class of our students have found Jon’s Old Testament teaching nothing short of inspirational, and his insistence on reclaiming the language of lament to be an epiphany. In these contemporary Psalms, Jon enables us to connect our deep fears and anxieties about the environment with the loving and listening presence of God. They are born out of a deep conviction that the Living God can hear and will act, but they also call us to a lifestyle of ongoing repentance which we are only just beginning to scope out. It’s important that these prayers are now getting an increasingly wider hearing.”
-Rev Canon Dr Mark Powley, Principal, St Hild College

“I have been impressed with Jon Swales’ leadership and prophetic voice in our city of Leeds as we both lament the ecological crisis our world is in and call for urgent action. In this anthology of poems, which Jon has written, you will find a range of resources which are able to prompt us all into adoration, confession, thanksgiving and urgent supplication.  I commend it to you.”- The Right Reverend Paul Slater
Bishop of Kirkstall
(Area Bishop for the City of Leeds)

“We live in a very beautiful but broken world. Rampant consumerism is devastating God’s world. It is vital to rediscover the biblical teaching that humans are called to care for this amazing creation project. The coming of the Lord Jesus offers us not only individual salvation but the restoration and healing of this groaning world. One day the whole earth will be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9). Jon Swales’ poignant anthology of poems will both inspire and challenge you.”
- Mark Roques, Director of RealityBites

The prayer book is currently available online at   https://atyourservice.arocha.org/en/26-prayers-for-the-climate-and-ecological-emergency/    Also do see the Facebook group Prayers for the Climate and Ecological Emergency