ATTACHMENT 3-4A

Reading

Adrienne Rich:  All I Cannot Save

Excerpt from Natural Resources in The Dream of a Common Language, (Norton, 1978), p. 67.

My heart is moved by all I cannot save

So much has been destroyed

I have to cast my lot with those, who, age after age,

Perversely, with no extraordinary

Power, reconstitute the world.

ATTACHMENT 3-4B

Responsive Reading

A Prayer of Sorrow

From the U.N. Environmental Sabbath Program.

LEADER:

We have forgotten who we are.  We have alienated ourselves from the unfolding of the cosmos.

ALL:

We have become estranged from the movements of the earth.  We have turned our backs on the cycles of life.

LEADER:

We have sought only our own security; we have exploited simply for our own ends; we have distorted our knowledge; we have abused our power.

ALL:

Now the land is barren, and the waters are poisoned, and the air is polluted.

LEADER:

Now the forests are dying, and the creatures are disappearing, and the humans are despairing.

ALL:

We ask forgiveness.

We ask for the gift of remembering.

We ask for the strength to change.