COP31 Update 7: "The Earth Is the Lord's," a Sunday Reflection from Antalya

On Sunday, at the end of the first week of COP31, the conference spilled into Antalya’s old quarter. Under the ancient city walls, residents gathered for a public talk called “If the Mediterranean Changes,” part of the COP Town program bringing the conference into the city.

A few streets away, GBCS joined an Ecumenical Prayer Service for climate justice hosted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the World Council of Churches. It was held at the Church of Saint Alypios, the only Orthodox church in Antalya still used for worship. Metropolitan Job of Pisidia presided. Clergy from churches across the ecumenical delegation shared in the readings.

The service was Vespers for the Preservation of Creation, written on Mount Athos in the 20th century. It begins with Psalm 103, which moves through all of creation: springs in the valleys, birds singing in the branches, the sea “great and wide,” full of creatures beyond counting. It ends in wonder: how manifold are your works; in wisdom you have made them all.

The readings then turned to responsibility. Leviticus links faithfulness to rain in its season and land that bears fruit. Through Jeremiah, God remembers leading the people into a fruitful land, and they defiled it. The hymns brought the same concern into the present. They asked God to free the air from “death-dealing emissions and every poisonous pollution.”

On Monday, negotiators return to texts on emissions, adaptation and finance. The hymn’s petition and those texts concern the same air, the same rain, the same sea.

As COP31 enters its second week, the GBCS delegation carries the prayer of that evening into the negotiations: Lord, who made all things in wisdom, teach us to keep what you have given.