16th June 2026

Over the next three days, French President Emmanuel Macron will host a meeting of G7 (U.S., UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan) leaders this week with the Middle East and the war in Ukraine on the agenda today. Leaders from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Egypt will also attend the talks, with discussion including the safe reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will join the first session of the day and is expected to have separate talks with US President Donald Trump.  The key agenda items are the wars in Ukraine and Iran, global economic imbalances that threaten financial stability, and the growing use of AI. 

Loving God, we ask you guidance for the conversations that will take place at the G7 meeting this week.  May the leaders of theis nations conduct themselves with intrgity, honesty, humilitay and with humanity.  Guide them to find way to bring peace to Ukraine and across the Middle East. May they have the needs of the ecnomically poor and socially marginalised as high priorities and work to ensure no one need be homeless, hungey or live without access to clean water, medical care, education or justice. Consequently, help them to be reolute in addressing global economic imbalances and inequalities, particuarly in the light of the potential threats to jobs throug hte expanding use of AI. In Jesus' name we pray.  Amen.  

Sean Bath is a Canadian fisherman who used to fish for the spiny sea urchin.  Now he fishes for old car tires that come loose from the bows of ships and the sides of wharfs.  In 2018 Sean founded the Clean Harbors Initiative, which fundraises to sponsor diving expeditions to the bottom of harbours in order to clean them up. So called, “ghost gear,” a term for lost or abandoned fishing equipment, contributes significantly to the total amount of plastic entering the ocean every year and is responsible for the deaths of millions of sea creatures who get snagged, hooked, or strung up among the abandoned nets, lines, and traps. Sean struggle to get the necessary finance, until he allowed a documentary crew to follow him around for a year to produce the film Hell or Clean Water, released in 2021. Personal donations dramatically increased, and the dive operations were expanded. Now the operation has expanded into beach cleaning. Each day three boatloads full of plastics are collected from the beaches, and of course there is no marine fuel requirement for these beach clean ups. 

Loving God you are the source of all life

 and giver of all grace.

We thank you for the gift of life:

for the breath that sustains life,

and for the food of the earth that nourishes.

We praise you for the love of family, friends,

work mates and strangers,

with whom we share this life.

We thank you for the mystery of your creation:

for its beauty that the eye can see,

for the joy of the unknown

that we cannot imagine

 filling the universe with wonder.

We thank you for each new day,

with its opportunities and challenges;

each day, another day

to marvel at your creation,

to experience your presence,

and to see your hand at work in the world.

We thank you for Jesus Christ, your Son,

our Lord and Saviour,

who came to live among us and die upon a cross

that our sin might be forgiven.

We praise you that he conquered death

and open then gates of heaven

that all who believe in him may have eternal life.

For these, and all your blessings,

we give you thanks, eternal, loving God,

through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.