Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Prayer, day 2642: for Earth Day


Loving Creator, Blessed Savior, Holy Spirit: 
we praise You 
and bless You for all your marvelous gifts, 
and sing your praises in joyful thanksgiving. 

We thank You for the wind that stirs
the prairie grasses and treetops, 
the breath of the Earth as she carries us through space. 

We thank You for the whispered prayer of pines 
and the trilled alleluias of forest-birds. 

We thank You for the grandeur of canyons, 
and the patient power of water and wind to carve them. 

We thank You for the warm, hallowed earth 
that bears us in its embrace, 
pregnant and precious with new life and growth. 

We thank You for the mantle of sky 
that brings us breath, light and rain, 
a starry testament to the depth of your infinite love. 

We thank You for giving us today our daily bread, 
generously bestowed from your abundance,
drawn in our nets 
from the profligate beauty of earth and sea and sky. 

Most Merciful God, forgive us our vain strivings 
that have wounded, disquieted, and trammeled your creation.
Forgive us for our failure to love creation as You do.

Give us the eyes of children 
that we may see the wonders of your handiwork anew, 
O Holy One. 

Give us wisdom
to use our hands 
not vainly to mold and subdue your creation 
but heal it and tend it. 

Give us hearts 
to treasure and revere it 
as a sacred gift and trust. 

May we always remember that You formed us
in your likeness, 
made from the dust of stars 
and the richness of humus, 
the brine of the sea in our veins: 
of one being with all that is created.

May we remember that we are created
to be rooted in the land 
but long for your heavenly kingdom,
placed gently in the care of this Earth by You, O Creator.


Amen.

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