Children from your vast creation,
gather here for guidance, Lord;
we of every tongue and nation
yearn to see your earth restored.
You have shown that your intention
wills a world kept free from strife;
open us to love’s dimensions
filled with true abundant life.

We have grasped for more possessions,
wanting things we do not need;
help us, Lord, lest our obsessions
soon consume us in our greed.
Cure our tendency to plunder—
scarring forests, wasting ore;
come, and turn our schemes asunder;
take away our lust for more.

We are learning how much damage
spreads throughout the world from greed;
though you made us in your image,
we are less than you decreed:
wanting ease and pleasure strongly,
craving things your love deplores,
asking not, or asking wrongly,
we resort to waging wars.

Lord, we come as sisters, brothers,
seeking your redemptive touch;
let unselfish love for others
triumph, lest we want too much.
Come to us amid life’s scrimmage;
help your people live as one:
recreate us in your image;
speed the day your will is done!