It'S HELL in the Niger Delta

Today was Shell's AGM.  Amnesty International have been targeting the company on its appalling environmental record in the Niger Delta.
For the folk who live there everything tastes like oil. The air hangs heavy with the smell of it.
In the life-sustaining act of breathing, lungs are filled with it. 
Creation and creature being twisted and destroyed in a dance of death-for-profit.
 Fire and flame...

Amnesty International target Shell quite specifically for the illegal practice of gas flaring.
In the cycle of the church year, we are moving towards Pentecost, the feast that celebrates the birth of the Church and the gift of the Holy Spirit, seen as tongues of fire.  An interesting juxtaposition: death-giving fire and life-giving flame.  And so, a prayer for creation at Pentecost: 

God of creation, the earth is yours

with all its beauty and goodness,

its rich and overflowing provision.

But we have claimed it for our own,

plundered its beauty for profit,

grabbed its resources for ourselves.

God of creation, forgive us.

May we no longer abuse your trust,

but care gently and with justice for your earth.

Amen.

                                                    Jan Berry, in Bread of Tomorrow