Season
of Creation

An Ecumenical Celebration

Liturgical resources for celebrating the season from September 1st, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, to October 4th, St. Francis of Assisi Day.

May be authorized for use in Episcopal dioceses
by their canonical authorities for the year 2024.

Contents

Introduction p. 8
The Lectionary for Year B (2024) p. 15

The Holy Eucharist: Communion with Creation p. 31

The Daily Office: Prayer with Creation p. 49
Resources: Prayers, Readings, and Music p. 61

About this Resource

During the Season of Creation, we join with Christians around the world to celebrate in prayer and action our Gospel calling to protect the Earth that God entrusted to our care. We are pleased to support this special collection of prayers, readings, and hymns dedicated to honoring the sacredness of God’s Creation.

Thoughtfully assembled by the Rev. John Elliott Lein (priest in Maine) and the Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas (Creation activist and priest in Massachusetts) from prayers, readings, and liturgies created all over the global Anglican Communion and beyond, this anthology not only provides special liturgies for the season, but also suggests ways to expand our familiar Sunday liturgies and prayers so that they more accurately reflect the whole Gospel for the whole world. We commend it to you for both congregational worship and personal prayer. Simply reading this resource will be an education in eco-justice, but praying it will move mountains!

We, the following Diocesan Bishops of the Episcopal Church, authorize this material for use in public worship in the dioceses listed below during the Season of Creation 2024. May these prayers and readings deepen our response to the living God and strengthen our resolve to follow Jesus in this critical time for all of Creation.

Authorized for use September 1-October 4, 2024

The Rt. Rev. Glenda S. Curry,
Diocese of Alabama

The Rt. Rev. Jennifer Reddall,
Diocese of Arizona

The Rt. Rev. Kevin D. Nichols,
Diocese of Bethlehem

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Marc Handley Andrus,
and the Rt. Rev. Austin K. Rios (Bishop Coadjutor),
Diocese of California

The Rt. Rev. Russell Kendrick,
Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast

The Rt. Rev. Kymberly Lucas,
Episcopal Church in Colorado

The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey W. Mello,
Episcopal Church in Connecticut

The Rt. Rev. Robert Skirving,
Diocese of East Carolina

The Rt. Rev. Gladstone "Skip" Adams (Assisting Bishop),
Dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan

The Rt. Rev. Patrick W. Bell,
Diocese of Eastern Oregon

The Rt. Rev. Santosh K. Marray,
Diocese of Easton

The Rt. Rev. Lucinda Beth Ashby,
Diocese of El Camino Real

The Rt. Rev. Mark D. W. Edington,
Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe

The Rt. Rev. Joseph Tharakan,
Diocese of Idaho

The Rt. Rev. Betsey Monnot,
Diocese of Iowa

The Rt. Rev. Cathleen Chittenden Bascom,
Diocese of Kansas

The Rt. Rev. Lawrence C. Provenzano,
Diocese of Long Island

The Rt. Rev. Thomas J. Brown,
Diocese of Maine

The Rt. Rev. Carrie Schofield-Broadbent,
Diocese of Maryland

The Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates,
Diocese of Massachusetts

The Rt. Rev. Brian R. Seage,
Diocese of Mississippi

The Rt. Rev. Deon K. Johnson,
Diocese of Missouri

The Rt. Rev. Marty Stebbins,
Diocese of Montana

The Rt. Rev. J. Scott Barker,
Diocese of Nebraska

The Rt. Rev. Elizabeth Bonforte Gardner,
Diocese of Nevada

The Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld,
Diocese of New Hampshire

The Rt. Rev. Sally French,
Diocese of New Jersey

The Rt. Rev. Matthew F. Heyd,
Diocese of New York

The Rt. Rev. Samuel S. Rodman,
Diocese of North Carolina

The Rt. Rev. Megan M. Traquair,
Diocese of Northern California

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Douglas E. Sparks,
Diocese of Northern Indiana

The Rt. Rev. Rayford J. Ray,
Diocese of Northern Michigan

The Most Rev. Melissa Skelton (Bishop Provisional),
Diocese of Olympia

The Rt. Rev. Stephen T. Lane (Bishop Provisional),
and the Very Rev. Kara Wagner Sherer (Bishop Elect),
Diocese of Rochester

The Rt. Rev. David Rice,
Diocese of San Joaquin

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Jonathan H. Folts,
Diocese of South Dakota

The Rt. Rev. Kristin Uffelman White,
Diocese of Southern Ohio

The Rt. Rev. Susan B. Haynes,
Diocese of Southern Virginia

The Rt. Rev. Gretchen Rehberg,
Diocese of Spokane

The Rt. Rev. Phyllis A. Spiegel,
Diocese of Utah

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Shannon MacVean-Brown,
Diocese of Vermont

The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde,
Diocese of Washington

The Rt. Rev. Phoebe A. Roaf,
Diocese of West Tennesee

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Douglas John Fisher,
Diocese of Western Massachusetts

The Rt. Rev. José A. McLoughlin,
Diocese of Western North Carolina

The Rt. Rev. Diana D. Akiyama,
Episcopal Church in Western Oregon

If your diocese is not listed above, you may check with your bishop’s office to see if they have or will authorize the use of the materials in your parish. Please let us know at season@newcreationliturgies.org if other dioceses endorse the liturgies after this edition is published in June 2024.

Introduction

The Season of Creation

The celebration of this Season began in 1989 when Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I established September 1 as a Day of Prayer for Creation for the Orthodox Church. The World Council of Churches extended the celebration to October 4th, the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi.

The yearly themes, logos, and other resources are provided by the ecumenical organization to which we belong as members of the Anglican Communion. The Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, Bishop of California, represents the Episcopal Church on the steering committee. More information and resources for various activities and events outside of the primary Sunday morning worship service may be found on the website: SeasonOfCreation.org

The theme for 2024 is To Hope and Act with Creation

In the letter of Paul the apostle to the Romans, the biblical image pictures the Earth as a Mother, groaning as in childbirth (Rom 8:22). Francis of Assisi understood this when he referred to the Earth as our sister and our mother in his Canticle of Creatures. The times we live in show that we are not relating to the Earth as a gift from our Creator, but rather as a resource to be used.

And yet, there is hope and the expectation for a better future. To hope in a biblical context does not mean to stand still and quiet, but rather groaning, crying, and actively striving for new life amidst the struggles. Just as in childbirth, we go through a period of intense pain, but new life springs forth.1

For Creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God, groaning as it suffers together the pains of labor, and not only Creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. selection from Romans 8:19-25

A Word from the General Convention in 2022

The 80th General Convention of the Episcopal Church recognized climate change as “an all-encompassing social crisis and moral emergency that impacts and interconnects every aspect of pastoral concern including health, poverty, employment, racism, social justice, and family life and that can only be addressed by a Great Work involving every sector of society, including the Church.”2

A Creation Care Theology Primer3

Why is it important to mark the Season of Creation?

• Because of our Gospel call to grow in faith as we affirm that God in Christ loves, redeems, and sustains the whole of Creation, not only human beings.
• Because of the urgency of climate and ecological crisis and the need for a bold, prophetic response.

What is our Gospel call to grow in faith? What does Christianity have to do with ecology?

• God the Creator pronounced the world “very good” (Gen. 1:31), and gave humans the task to “till and keep” the Earth (Gen. 2:15) as stewards and caregivers rather than owners (Ps. 24:1).
• Christian saints, including the prophets, Jesus, and many of our mystics, including the Desert Fathers and Saint Francis, lived in close relationship with Creation. As Saint Paul wrote (Rom. 1:20), humanity encounters and dwells with God through the natural world.
• Destruction of nature is a sign of estrangement from God: “There is no knowledge of God in the land. Therefore the land mourns, and all who live in it languish; together with the wild animals and the birds of the air, even the fish of the sea are perishing,” Hos. 4:1b, 3; “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees,” Rev. 7:3.
• The Paschal mystery includes all of Creation: everything has been redeemed in the work of Jesus Christ, the Word through whom all things were made (Jhn. 1:3). In him, “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:19-20; c.f. Eph. 1:10, 2 Cor. 5:19). Creation is thus made new (Rev. 21:5).
• Jesus said that loving our neighbors is like unto loving God. Our neighbors include people of the Third World who now face the worst effects of the crisis built by the First World; climate refugees; low-wealth and minority communities, which are hurt first and hardest by the changing climate as social justice is inextricably linked to ecological justice; and future generations, who depend on us to leave them a habitable world. God’s “everlasting covenant” is with “every living creature” (Gen. 9:8-17)—they, too, are the neighbors we are summoned to love.
• We proclaim a Gospel of salvation that includes all of Creation, not only human beings. Jesus commissioned his disciples, saying, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). As disciples of Jesus, our mission is to bring good news in word and deed to the whole Creation.
• Our discipleship bears witness to a love that transcends death. In baptism, we die to ourselves and live in Christ, and are delivered from undue fear of death (c.f. Rom. 8:38-39, 2 Tim. 1:7, Heb. 2:14-15). This experience empowered the early Christians to resist the unjust powers-that-be: they “turned the world upside down” (Act. 17:6) and “acted contrary to the decrees of the emperor” (Act. 17:7), obeying God rather than any human authority (Act. 5:29) in resisting the forces of death and destruction to the point of suffering and martyrdom.
• Christian hope is in the renewal (Mat. 19:28) and restoration (Act. 3:21) of all things. Our participation with God in creating a more just and habitable world and living more gently on Earth is how we share in what Archbishop Desmond Tutu calls the “supreme work”4 of Jesus Christ, who reconciles us to God, one another, and God’s whole Creation. The good news of God in Christ is for all creatures and the whole Earth.

What is the urgency of climate and ecological crisis?

“We’ve changed the planet, changed it in large and fundamental ways. Our old familiar globe is suddenly melting, drying, acidifying, flooding, and burning in ways that no human has ever seen.” — Bill McKibben5

Because of the relentless burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, the world’s climate has become disrupted and unstable. The web of life is unraveling before our eyes. Human society is at risk of collapse within decades along with mass extinctions of species and forced migrations.

• Over the last fifty years, 60% of the planet’s mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and fish have been wiped out by human land development and habitat destruction.
• More than 1 million species are on the way to extinction.
• Oceans are acidifying and warming, and living fish are being displaced with dead plastic. Sea levels are rising, coral reefs dying, and ecosystems collapsing.
• Record-breaking and intensifying weather patterns are increasing deadly droughts, floods, storms, and heat.
• Food supply disruption due to weather events, water shortages, and unpredictable seasons will increase, leading to mass starvation events.

What must be done?

The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns we have only a short amount of time to limit the worst of the effects of the crisis by reversing deforestation, stopping the burning of fossil fuels through switching to renewable energy sources and lowering demand, developing and using better agricultural practices, and adapting to a changed world by redirecting resources to the Third World and climate refugees.

As religious communities, we also must support this work by deepening and extending our teaching, preaching, praying, confession, and celebration of the whole gospel for all creation. We must also commit to practice, within and around our faith communities, hospitality and refuge for all our neighbors, human and other.

Learn more

To learn more and take action, please visit the Creation Care ministries of the Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Church, and your specific Province and Diocese. Global and national resources can be found at:

• The Anglican Communion Environmental Network
  acen.anglicancommunion.org
• The Episcopal Church Ministry of Creation Care
  www.episcopalchurch.org/ministries/creation-care

Share and Celebrate

Spread the word: this 2024 guide may be found and shared online at newcreationliturgies.org/seasonofcreation.

The Lectionary

Concerning the Lectionary

The Season of Creation covers five Sundays and six holy days. The first Sunday of the Season is assigned either Proper 17 or 18 depending on the year. Creation-focused interpretations for readings and preaching for each Sunday celebration are provided here.

The Season of Creation

The World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 17) p. 20

Labor Day

The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 18) p. 22

The Feast of Holy Cross Day

The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 19) p. 24

The Feast of St Matthew, Evangelist

The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 20) p. 26

The Feast of St Michael and All Angels

The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 21) p. 28

The Feast of St Francis of Assisi, Patron Saint of Ecology

Alternate Readings

The Bishops have authorized a set of readings which may be substituted for the RCL’s epistle during this Season. Suggested alternatives from Scripture are listed for each Sunday in the Lectionary. Readings from other sources are listed in the Resources section beginning on page 61.

The suggested Collects for each Sunday in the Lectionary are based on the structure of those found in the Book of Common Prayer with a theme taken from the assigned Gospel and with Creation in mind.6

Five-Fold Creation Care Pattern

The Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas has oriented her creation care ministry around a four-fold pattern of Pray, Learn, Act, and Advocate approaches for resources and inspiration. To this, we suggest adding Bless as a fifth approach so that these may be considered as guiding themes for each of five Sundays in the Season.

On Preaching with Creation7

For preachers who want to engage with scripture and with climate crisis, here are some tools for approaching biblical texts from Salal+Cedar of the Anglican Church of Canada:

Consider the Ecological Triangle of
God, Non-Human Creation, and Humanity

Hilary Marlow proposes this alternative method of ecological engagement which allows the texts to speak for themselves. She asks:

• What understanding does the text present of non-human creation (local or cosmic)?
• What are the assumptions of the author about God’s relationship to the created world?
• What effects do human actions have upon non-human creation and vice versa?

Focus on Climate Justice

Credited to various activists from the global south, climate justice is a term that asserts that the impacts of global climate change and the work of responding to it are not borne equally. Racialized, impoverished, Indigenous, coastal and island peoples experience the greatest impacts while bearing the least responsibility and are at the forefront of movements for land defense, mutual aid, and corporate and governmental accountability (Gabbatis and Tandon, 2022). Bringing a climate justice approach to scripture means focusing not simply on “creation” or “the environment” but addressing the interrelationships between human and ecological exploitation, extraction, displacement, and inequity.

Apply Eco-Justice Principles

Norman Habel and the Earth Bible Project have identified six principles in scripture:

1. The Principle of Intrinsic Worth: The universe, Earth, and all its components have intrinsic worth/value
2. The Principle of Interconnectedness: Earth is a community of inter-connected living things that are mutually dependent on each other for life and survival.
3. The Principle of Voice: Earth is a living entity capable of raising its voice in celebration and against injustice.
4. The Principle of Purpose: The universe, Earth and all its components are a part of a dynamic cosmic design within which each piece has a place in the overall structure.
5. The Principle of Mutual Custodianship: Earth is a balanced and diverse domain where responsible custodians can function as partners with, rather than rulers over, Earth to sustain its balance and a diverse Earth community.
6. The Principle of Resistance: Earth and its components not only suffer from human injustices but actively resist them in the struggle for justice.

Use an Eco-Feminist Lens

The Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade, “the eco-preacher,” has developed four additional principles:

1. Focus on Earth-orientation rather than focusing strictly on humans, and particularly male humans. Read Scripture through a “green lens” to ascertain how texts may be oppressive or liberating to women, children, those most vulnerable, and the Earth community.
2. Proclaim the good news for both the human and other-than-human community of Earth. Analyze the impact and power that certain texts will have when preached in a community of faith within its ecological context.
3. Practice a hermeneutic of remembrance. Recover biblical traditions so that we can view the biblical story from an ecofeminist perspective, moving away from the inherent human-centeredness and male-centeredness of texts that assume subordination of Earth and women.
4. Engage creative actualization. Tell stories from Earth’s and women’s perspectives. Reformulate narratives lifting up the discipleship of equals among human communities and with our Earth kin.

Preaching Resources

General resources for preaching on the theme of Creation:

• Sermon Suggestions at PreachingForGodsWorld.org
• Ecopreacher 1-2-3 from InterfaithSustain.com
• RevivingCreation.org from the Rev. M. Bullitt-Jonas
• Wild Lectionary from Salal+Cedar
• Books and Curriculums in our Resources on p. 169

The Fifteenth Sunday
after Pentecost

September 1, 2024

The first Sunday of the Season falls on the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. Consider a special focus on Prayer for this service, possibly opening with a Litany or Penitential Order. Labor Day’s celebration of honorable work and advocacy of rest may also be seen as applicable to the mission of the Church in Creation, especially as it is connected to the necessity of Sabbath for all beings.

Creation Proper 17, Year B: “Pray”

The Creation Collect for the Day

Lord of all love and glory, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Creation; increase in all true unity; nourish the world with all goodness; and bring forth the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ the Wisdom of Creation, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

A Creation Focus in Lessons from Track 1

Song of Solomon 2:8-13 (Love [of God] received through nature)
Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10 (Beauty of creation as God’s anointing)

A Creation Focus in Lessons from Track 2

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9 (God’s rules are for living on the land)
Psalm 15 (The righteous as those who dwell on a holy mountain)

Suggested Creation Readings for the Second Lesson

James 1:17-27 (Creation is God’s good gift; look after it)
St. Gregory the Great, p. 106 (The wonders of God’s Creation)
St. Isaac, p. 107 (Burning heart compassionately prays for creatures)
Pope Francis, p. 112 (Introduces teaching on environment)
Howard Thurman, p. 110 (Seek awareness of God in all things)
Arthur Cole Riley, p. 124 (Listen to trees and see their beauty)
Fyodor Dostoevsky, p. 125 (Love all God's Creation)

The Gospel

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 (Sustenance is God’s good gift for all)

Preaching Suggestions

• Lift up the beauty of Creation and how God invites us to celebrate beauty as divine anointing (Ss 2, Ps 45).
• God’s intent is for us to live in harmonious, beneficial, grateful relationship with all Creation (De 4, Jm 1).
• Creation gives us pure beneficial sustenance; do not abuse this gift through the oppression, violence, and degradation of production and distribution (Mk 7).
• Nature is clean and good; it is our hearts which need to be rebirthed as first fruits of creation (Jm 1, Mk 7).

Planning Suggestions

• Focus on the Creation Care approach of “Pray.”
• Consider gathering a discussion group around aspects of the climate crisis or the Christian response.

The Sixteenth Sunday
after Pentecost

September 8, 2024

Themes for either Labor Day or Holy Cross Day, particularly the latter’s assigned Epistle reading from the 6th chapter of the Letter to the Church in Galatia, may be referenced on this Sunday. Consider a focus on Learning by reviewing the Christian theology of Creation and Climate Justice or recent theological calls to action such as Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ (2015) and his Laudate Deum (2023).

Creation Proper 18, Year B: “Learn”

The Creation Collect for the Day

Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the powerful who oppress and dominate Creation, so you never forsake your creatures who live in harmony with nature’s order; through Jesus Christ the Wisdom of Creation, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

A Creation Focus in Lessons from Track 1

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 (Created order is built for justice)
Psalm 125 (Rulers bend to the unjust; God is unshakable mountain)

A Creation Focus in Lessons from Track 2

Isaiah 35:4-7a (Renewal and healing of all creation is coming!)
Psalm 146 (No trust in rulers; trust in God’s way of restoration)

Suggested Creation Readings for the Second Lesson

James 2:1-17 (The rich are oppressors; ensure all have enough)
Galatians 6:14-18 (Boast only of the cross; New Creation is all)
Pope Francis, p. 112 (Introduces teaching on environment)
Elizabeth Johnson, p. 115 (God with suffering Creation at cross)

Steven Charleston, p. 118 (Do not doubt what you see)
Dong Hyeon Jeong, p. 122 (Plants teach to die, live with Christ)

The Gospel

Mark 7:24-37 (All have right to enough equally; open our ears)

Preaching Suggestions

• Wealth, power, position as evidence of wise leadership is suspect; God’s way is true. Open ears and ensure all have enough without preference (Ps, Jm, Mk).
• Isaiah paints beautiful picture of creation renewed; let us catch that vision and go forth to implement (Is 35).
• Crucified to the old, devoted to new creation (Ga 6).
• It is natural to care most for our own people, but God’s children are called to justice without borders (Mk 7).

Planning Suggestions

• Focus on the Creation Care approach of “Learn.”
• Consider gathering a discussion group to learn about aspects of the climate crisis or the Christian response, exploring how we can join Jesus in healing the world.

The Seventeenth Sunday
after Pentecost

September 15, 2024

Following Holy Cross Day, if not previously referenced, we might urge our parishioners to consider what it could mean to “take up one’s cross and follow Jesus” regarding creation. This may fit well with the focus on “Acting” in our Climate Care ministry’s four-fold pattern. Or a theme from the Feast of Saint Matthew may be applied.

Creation Proper 19, Year B: “Act”

The Creation Collect for the Day

O God, because in our ignorance and selfishness we so often fail to care rightly for your Creation, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may soften and unite our hearts with all living beings who suffer; through Jesus Christ the Wisdom of Creation, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

A Creation Focus in Lessons from Track 1

Proverbs 1:20-33 (Wisdom: “Repent”, before doom as hurricane)
Psalm 19 (The sun and stars, night and day, speak directly of God)

A Creation Focus in Lessons from Track 2

Isaiah 50:4-9a (Prophets are attacked yet rely on God in obedience)
Psalm 116:1-8 (Keep faith in deliverance, do not lose hope)

Suggested Creation Readings for the Second Lesson

James 3:1-12 (Tongues cursing others pollute God’s earth)
Babylonian Talmud, p. 105 (Planting for the next generation)
Luther Smith, p. 119 (This is our season, this is our time)
Bayo Akomolafe, p. 120 (Slow down, linger to find)
Jay O'Hara, p. 121 (Jesus taught us to lose our life to have it)
Terry Tempest Williams, p. 126 (Wild mercy in our hands)

The Gospel
Mark 8:27-38 (Lose your life[style] to gain God’s salvation for all)

Preaching Suggestions

• Creation as divine revelation (Ps 19).
• God calls humanity to repentance for sake of Creation; repent and share this message (Pr 1, Is 50).
• The climate crisis requires that a minority of humans lose some lifestyle comfort so that all creation might be saved; take up your cross and follow (Mk 8).
• If referencing Holy Cross, see reading suggestions from Proper 18.

Planning Suggestions

• Focus on the Creation Care approach of “Act,” with the three major areas of needed personal change in mind: energy, food, and transportation.
• A formation group could discuss ways to take action for Creation.

The Eighteenth Sunday
after Pentecost

September 22, 2024

This Sunday follows the Feast of Saint Matthew and precedes the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels, which provide alternate readings. The Collect of the Day for Proper 20 in the 1979 BCP is particularly inappropriate for this season with its dismissal of the earth (in contrast, reference the final two chapters of Revelation).

Creation Proper 20, Year B: “Advocate”

The Creation Collect for the Day

Grant us, Lord, your vision of a renewed earth in which heaven comes to rest; and even now, while we too often despair of healing and wholeness, to hold fast to your promise and commit again to hope; through Jesus Christ the Wisdom of Creation, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

A Creation Focus in Lessons from Track 1

Proverbs 31:10-31 (Celebrate women in labor and leadership)
Psalm 1 (Wisdom grows out of dedication; be rooted in Creation)

A Creation Focus in Lessons from Track 2

Wisdom 1:16-2:1, 12-22 (Wisdom cares beyond a single lifespan)
or Jeremiah 11:18-20 (Prophetic work will last despite tree-felling)
Psalm 54 (The violent receive violence; pray to replace with peace)

Suggested Creation Readings for the Second Lesson

James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a (Envy and greed for pleasure at heart of evil)

Revelation 21:1-6, 22:1-5 (New Creation for life and healing)

Walter Rauschenbusch, p. 108 (Fellow with creatures & future)

Victoria Marie, p. 116 (Pray and protest toward reconciliation)

Smith/Thurman, p. 120 (Interdependence requires the collective)

Leah Lakshmi, p. 127 (The disabled lead the way)

The Gospel
Mark 9:30-37 (Seek to be a servant of Creation, not to be great)

Preaching Suggestions

• Celebrate the witness of women in Creation justice, including St. Brigid, St. Hildegard von Bingen, Rachel Carson, Sallie McFague, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Elizabeth Johnson, Annie Dillard, Wangari Maathai, Katharine Hayhoe, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Greta Thunberg (Pv 31, Ps 1).
• Violent destruction of Creation tragically short-sighted; eliminate this perspective, look far (Ws 1, Je 11, Ps 54).
• The desire for greatness (Mk 9) and greed for pleasure (Jm 3) are opposed to God’s way and destroy Creation.

Planning Suggestions

• Consider incorporating themes or readings from the surrounding Feast Days.
• Focus on the Creation Care approach of “Advocate.”

The Nineteenth Sunday
after Pentecost

September 29, 2024

This is the traditional Sunday for celebrating St. Francis of Assisi (feast day: October 4) and holding a Blessing of the Animals, a very appropriate celebration in this Season. There are excerpts from St. Francis and options to sing his words in our Resources. It may be an appropriate day to introduce Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ to the parish.

Creation Proper 21, Year B: “Bless”

The Creation Collect for the Day

O God, you show your glory throughout your Creation, calling it very good: Grant us the fullness of your blessing, that we, stewarding your garden, may become partakers in your joy; through Jesus Christ the Wisdom of Creation, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

A Creation Focus in Lessons from Track 1

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 (Plotting death backfires on schemer)
Psalm 124 (Raging waters destroy; follow God’s way to calm them)

A Creation Focus in Lessons from Track 2

Numbers 11:4-6,10-16,24-29 (Greed destroys; find contentment)
Psalm 19:7-14 (Find joy in following God’s good path in Creation)

Suggested Creation Readings for the Second Lesson

James 5:13-20 (Pray for Creation’s healing, save each other)

Genesis 1:1-2:4a (Creation translation, p. 128)

Meister Eckhart, p. 108 (God in all things, time with caterpillar)

Kallistos of Diokleia, p. 112 (Creation in covenant)
Tim Gordon, p. 122 (Jesus weeps and calls to redemption)
Keith Nelson, p. 123 (Each creature a syllable of love)

The Gospel
Mark 9:38-50 (Ally with any who heal Creation; support youth)

or Luke 12:22-32 (Consider the lilies, from St. Francis’ Feast)

Preaching Suggestions

• Plotting selfish benefit at expense of others will be judged and end in destruction (Es 7, Ps 124).
• Greed for pleasure beyond necessity can be destructive; walk with God in Creation for joy (Nu 11, Ps 19).
• Celebrate and work with those in common cause for Creation across affiliation; lift up the young (Mk 9).
• Learn to see the world as generous, beautiful, and supportive along with Jesus and Francis (Lk 12).

Planning Suggestions

• Consider including elements of the “Litany for All Creation and Blessing of Animals for St. Francis Day” from the Book of Occasional Services 2022 in worship.
• Consider using the Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon (p. 92) as the Song of Praise.

The Holy Eucharist

Communion with Creation

The Word of God

Litany or Penitential Order

When appropriate, a Litany or Penitential Order may be added as instructed in the Prayer Book (p. 148, 319, or 351). The following options are included in the Resources, beginning on p. 78

A Penitential Order for Creation
Litany for Creation and All Creatures
Litany of Lament and Repentance
The Great Litany of Creation
A Litany for the Planet

Opening Acclamation

One of the following acclamations may be used

Presider Blessed be the One who creates all things.

People The Holy One’s love is new every morning.

or this

Presider This is the day the Creator has made.

People Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Song of Praise

The rubrics of the Prayer Book (p. 356) provide that “some other song of praise” may be used in place of the hymn Gloria in excelsis. The following are among the appropriate alternatives during this Season

BCP Canticle 12 (A Song of Creation)
EOW Canticle D (A Song of the Wilderness)
EOW Canticle J (A Song of Judith)
EOW Canticle O (A Song of the Heavenly City)
EOW Canticle P (A Song of the Spirit)
Any of the Canticles beginning on p. 92.
Any of the hymns from Music for Creation beginning on p. 163.

Salutation

Presider The Creator be with you.

People And also with you.

Presider Let us pray.

Collect of the Day

The Lectionary section contains suggested Collects for each Sunday of the Season based on the Gospel lessons. Any of the Collects found beginning on p. 62 may also be used for the Season.

The Lessons and Gospel

The second Lesson may be substituted according to the Lectionary beginning on p. 15. After the Readings, the Reader may say

Hear what the Spirit is saying to all God’s Creation.

The Sermon

See the Lectionary beginning on p. 15 for resources on preaching.

The Baptismal Covenant

If a service of Holy Baptism is offered, add the 6th baptismal promise below as proposed at General Convention 2015

Question Will you cherish the wondrous works of God, and protect the beauty and integrity of all creation?

Answer I will, with God’s help.

The Creed

On weekdays and non-major feasts, or if your bishop explicitly allows, one of the Affirmations of Faith beginning p. 94 may be used in place of the Nicene Creed during this Season.

The Prayers of the People

Prayer is offered with intercession for:

All communities of faith, their members, and our common mission of healing Creation in this era of climate crisis

The nations and all with responsibility, particularly those involved in climate negotiations and decisions

The welfare of all Creation

The concerns of the local community and environment, naming our land and ecological features

Those of any species who suffer and those in any trouble

The departed (with commemoration of a saint when appropriate), including species extinction

Forms I-VI in the BCP may be adapted as instructed on p. 147.
Alternative forms beginning on p. 152 may also be used or adapted.

Confession of Sin

The Deacon or Presider may say

Let us confess our sins against God and God’s creation.

One of the following confessions8 may be substituted for this Season:

Holy and merciful God,

we confess that we have failed to honor you

by rightly claiming our kinship with all your creatures.

We have walked heavily on your earth,

overused and wasted its resources,

taken for granted its beauty and abundance,

and treated its inhabitants unjustly,

holding future generations hostage to our greed.

Have mercy on us and forgive us our sin.

Renew in us the resolve to keep and conserve your earth as you desire and intend,

with grateful and compassionate hearts,

through your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

or this

Merciful and sustaining God,

we have sinned against you.

We confess our lack of gratitude
for the beauty and bounty of your creation:
teach us to see that your earth sustains us
and all that lives.

We confess that we have misused your earth:
grant us amendment of life.

We confess that we have been intemperate in our appetites:
strengthen us in self-control.

We confess that we have taken the abundance of your world for granted: make us urgent now for its protection.

Forgive and renew us now through our Savior Jesus Christ,
by the power of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

or this

God of compassion, have mercy upon us. Heal our relationship with all creation. Forgive us for our mistreatment and neglect of the creatures who share the earth with us. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent for what we have done to harm them, and for what we have not done to help them.

Fill us with your Spirit, that we may care for one another and for all creatures, according to your will and in the fullness of your love; through Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen.

A traditional absolution from the BCP may be used.

The Peace

All stand. The Presider says one of the following

Presider The God of heaven has made a home on earth.

All Christ dwells among us and is one with us.

Presider The peace of Christ be always with you.

People And also with you.9

or this

Presider In Christ we are becoming a new creation.

People We see God around us.
We see God within us.
We give thanks to our Creator.

Presider Let us show the love God has instilled within us by greeting each other as a sign of God’s justice of peace, love, forgiveness and grace. The peace of our Creator be with you in all things.

People And also with you.

Presider You are invited to care and share peace with your neighbor, and speak a word of peace to the land in which you gather, and the creatures who share this common home.10

or this

Presider Peace with yourself.

Peace with Creation.

Peace with one another.

The peace of Christ be always with you.

People And also with you.

The Holy Communion

The Eucharistic Prayer

The Sursum Corda

Presider The Creator be with you.

People And also with you.

Presider Lift up your hearts.

People We lift them to the Creator.

Presider Let us give thanks to our loving God.

People It is right to give God thanks and praise.

For those Prayers incorporating a Proper Preface, consider using the following

A Proper Preface for Rogation Days

Because in the mystery of Christ’s incarnation you have gathered into one things earthly and heavenly, calling your people to be ministers of reconciliation and to proclaim the Good News to all creation.11

Selecting and Adapting Eucharistic Prayers

Our nine authorized prayers have varying levels of engagement with Creation Care. Consider the following as you select the prayers

Rite I Eucharistic Prayers

In Prayer 1, Archbishop Cranmer affirmed the divine presence of Christ within the created earthly elements of “creatures of bread and wine”, yet the prayer overall is focused on human salvation alone.

Prayer II begins with God’s creating act and the image-bearing of humanity. In Rite I, it may be the better choice of the two for this Season.

Rite II Eucharistic Prayers

Prayer A begins with an appeal to God as Creator, but the story of salvation is entirely human-centric. Therefore, it may be considered the weakest prayer for this Season.

Prayer B includes mention of Creation in the form of a gift to us, but does not draw Creation into salvation history. Consider inserting “the whole of Creation” in the attribution space for saints (see BCP p. 369).

Prayer C has the most explicit reference to elements of Creation among the 1979 BCP prayers. Consider adding: “...You made us the rulers and stewards of creation...”

Prayer D, similar to Prayer B, includes the Creator’s commandment of ruling and serving all creatures, but leaves Creation behind for the remainder of the prayer. Consider inserting prayers for God’s Creation in the [Remember...] section on page 375.

Eucharistic Prayers from Enriching Our Worship

Prayer 1 includes Creation throughout the initial blessing and salvation history, incorporates abuse of Creation into our fall, and cites Creation as source of the elements.

Prayer 2 extensively draws on Genesis’ Creation language, includes “the whole earth” in the blessing of the epiclesis, and commits the Body for God’s world. This may be considered the most Creation-oriented Eucharistic Prayer authorized by General Convention.

Prayer 3 incorporates Jesus as Word and Wisdom by which God created, uses the title “Creator” for God, and recognizes the earth as a source of the elements.

Additional Eucharistic Prayers for Creation

If your bishop allows, you may consider using an alternative Creation-oriented Eucharistic Prayer, in Resources beginning on p. 98.

The Lord’s Prayer

The Presider may invite the People into the Prayer as follows

As the Wisdom before Creation teaches us, we pray.

The People may use one of the following for the Season.

Holy One, our only Home,
hallowed be your name.
May your day dawn,
your will be done,
here as in heaven.
Feed us today,
and forgive us as we forgive each other.
Do not forsake us at the test,
but deliver us from evil.
For the glory, the power,
and the mercy are yours,
now and for ever. Amen.12

or this, responsively

Leader Our Father [and/or: Mother] in heaven

People You are also at home in the air, soil, forests and oceans

Leader Hallowed be your name

People By the care we take of your Creation

Leader Your kingdom come

People All that you see is good

Leader Your will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven

People Your will to till and care

Leader Give us this day our daily bread

People That all may have enough to live life in fullness

Leader Forgive us our trespasses

People Our greed, our exploitation, our lack of concern
for other species and for future generations

Leader As we forgive those who trespass against us

People By reconciliation with justice and peace.

Leader Lead us not into temptation

People The temptation to equate dominion with exploitation

Leader And deliver us from evil

People The evil of destroying your gift of creation

Leader For yours is the kingdom

People Yours, Lord, not ours

Leader The power and the glory

People In the cross and resurrection

Leader For ever and ever

People You are the beginning and you are the end. Amen. (So be it)13

Fraction Anthems

One of the following may be said

Presider This is Living Bread, given for all Creation.

People All who eat this bread share in Christ’s Body.14

or this

Presider Creator God, you fed us from the beginning.

People Happy are all, called to the Supper of Creation.15

Postcommunion Prayer

One of the following may be prayed together

Loving God,

we give you thanks

for restoring us in your image

and nourishing us with spiritual food

in the Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood.

Now send us forth

a people, forgiven, healed, renewed;

that we may proclaim your love to the world

and continue in the risen life of Christ our Savior. Amen.16

or this

Faithful God
in the wonder of your wisdom and love
you fed your people in the wilderness with the bread of angels, and you sent Jesus to be the bread of life.
We thank you for feeding us with this bread.
May it strengthen us
that by the power of the Holy Spirit
we may embody your desire
and be renewed for your service
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.17

or this

Holy One,
you feed us with bread from heaven
and the gifts of mother earth.
In this communion, you have drawn us into your embrace
and you call us to friendship with one another.
You have given us the gift of reconciliation.
May we who have tasted that gift from you,
offer ourselves in peace and humility to one another.
And may you always walk among us as friend. Amen.18

or this

Create in us a new heart and a new vision, O God,
that the gifts of your Spirit may work
in us and renew the face of the earth.
May we be one with you
so that our work is yours
and your work is ours.
Lead us to transform our lives
to reflect your glory in Creation;
through Jesus Christ our Savior
who is alive with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever. Amen.19

Closing Prayers and Blessings

One of the following may be said

May God who established the dance of creation,
Who marveled at the lilies of the field,
Who transforms chaos to order,
Lead us to transform our lives and the Church
To listen to the voice of all creatures
That reflect God’s glory in creation.20

Deep peace, pure white of the moon to you. Deep peace, pure green of the grass to you. Deep peace, pure brown of the earth to you. Deep peace, pure gray of the dew to you. Deep peace, pure blue of the sky to you. Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you.21

May God light in us a holy fire: Light a fire that is worthy of our ancestors. Light a fire that is worthy of our children. Light a fire that is worthy of our fathers. Light a fire that is worthy of our mothers. Light a fire that is worthy of God. Now let us go in peace, lighting a holy fire wherever we go.22

Let us join with the Earth and each other—to bring new life to the land, to restore the waters, to refresh the air, to protect the animals, to treasure the trees, to gaze at the stars, to cherish the human community, to heal the Earth, to remember the children. Let us go forth to put our words into action.23

God of the galaxies, God of the starburst and sunlit morning, God of the forest and shining seas, God of the blooming desert and rolling grasslands – shine on us today and bless us with your presence.24

Go forth now to care for God’s world.
Use resources wisely. Share your knowledge.
Sacrifice where necessary.
Live in harmony with all creation.
Go out into all the world as prophets of a new way of living and preach the good news to all.
And the blessing of the Creator God, the Risen Son,
and the Promised Holy Spirit bless you
that you might be a blessing to others
today and always. Amen.25

Dismissals

One of the following may be used

Deacon Let us go forth into all Creation,
rejoicing in the power of the Spirit.

People Thanks be to God.

or this

Deacon Go in peace to love and serve God’s Creation.

People Thanks be to God the Creator.

or this

Deacon Let us bless our God and all Creation.

People Thanks be to God.26

or this

Deacon Tend the earth,
care for God’s good Creation;
as you have received freely,
so give freely.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

People Thanks be to God.27

The following lengthy dismissal invites the gathered to commit themselves into service for Creation. The Deacon or Presider begins

As we conclude our service, I invite you to join me in dedicating ourselves to care of the Earth.

Deacon We join with the Earth and with each other

People To bring new life to the land
To restore the waters
To refresh the air.

Deacon We join with the Earth and with each other

People To renew the forests
To care for the plants
To protect the creatures.

Deacon We join with the Earth and with each other

People To celebrate the seas
To rejoice in the sunlight
To sing the song of the stars.

Deacon We join with the Earth and with each other

People To recreate the human community
To promote justice and peace
To remember our children.

Deacon We join with the Earth and with each other

All We join together as many and diverse expressions of one loving mystery:
for the healing of the Earth
and the renewal of all life. Amen.28

The Daily Office

Prayer with Creation

Morning and
Evening Prayer

Opening Sentences

The Officiant may open the service with one of the following

The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Psalm 19:1

The pastures of the wilderness overflow; the hills gird themselves with joy; the meadows clothe themselves with flocks; the valleys deck themselves with grain; they shout and sing together for joy. Psalm 65:12-13

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar and all that fills it; let the field exult and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Psalm 96:11-12

Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may spring up, and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also. Isaiah 45:8

Confession of Sin

The Deacon or Officiant may say

Let us confess our sins against God and all Creation.

One of the following confessions29 may be substituted for this Season.

Holy and merciful God,
we confess that we have failed to honor you
by rightly claiming our kinship with all your creatures

We have walked heavily on your earth,
overused and wasted its resources,
taken for granted its beauty and abundance,
and treated its inhabitants unjustly,
holding future generations hostage to our greed.

Have mercy on us and forgive us our sin.

Renew in us the resolve to keep and conserve your earth
as you desire and intend,
with grateful and compassionate hearts,
through your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

or this

Merciful and sustaining God,
we have sinned against you.

We confess our lack of gratitude
for the beauty and bounty of your creation:
teach us to see that your earth sustains us
and all that lives.

We confess that we have misused your earth:
grant us amendment of life.

We confess that we have been intemperate in our appetites:
strengthen us in self-control.

We confess that we have taken the abundance of your world for granted: make us urgent now for its protection.

Forgive and renew us now through our Savior Jesus Christ,
by the power of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

or this

God of compassion, have mercy upon us.

Heal our relationship with all creation.

Forgive us for our mistreatment and neglect
of the creatures who share the earth with us.

We are truly sorry and we humbly repent
for what we have done to harm them,
and for what we have not done to help them.

Fill us with your Spirit,
that we may care for one another and for all creatures,
according to your will and in the fullness of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen.

A traditional absolution from the BCP or EOW may be used

The Invitatory and Psalter

Officiant This is the day the Creator has made.

People Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Officiant and People

Glory to the Source, Wisdom, and Breath of Creation *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.
Amen.

Antiphons for Creation

One of the following Antiphons may be sung or said with the Invitatory Psalm

From Psalm 19

Creation is speaking: Come let us listen.

From Psalm 33

The loving-kindness of the Lord fills the whole Creation: Come let us adore the Creator.

From Psalm 65

The Hope of the earth astonishes us: Come let us draw near.

From Psalm 89

Your faithfulness, O Holy One, is rooted in Creation:
Come let us sing your love for ever. Amen.

From Psalm 96

The heavens and earth rejoice: Come let us sing a new song.

Invitatory Psalms for Creation

In place of a traditional Invitatory Psalm, one of the following Psalms may be sung or said

Psalm 8 (Awe and responsibility in Creation)
Psalm 19:1-6 (God’s glory in Creation and the Law)
Psalm 33 (The greatness and goodness of God)
Psalm 65 (Thanksgiving for Creation’s bounty)
Psalm 74:12-23 (Plea to God our Creator)
Psalm 89:1-2, 5-18, 52 (Steadfast love of the Creator)
Psalm 96 (Let all Creation rejoice)
Psalm 147:1,3-11 (God provides for all creatures)
Psalm 148 (Praise God all Creation)

The Lessons

After each Lesson the Reader may say

Hear what the Spirit is saying to all God’s Creation.

Canticles

The following are particularly appropriate responses to each Reading for this Season

BCP Canticle 12 (A Song of Creation)
EOW Canticle D (A Song of the Wilderness)
EOW Canticle J (A Song of Judith)
EOW Canticle O (A Song of the Heavenly City)
EOW Canticle P (A Song of the Spirit)
Any of the Canticles from Resources (p. 92)
Any of the hymns from Music for Creation (p. 163)

The Creed

On weekdays and non-major feasts, or if your bishop explicitly allows, one of the Affirmations of Faith beginning p. 94 may be used in place of the Nicene Creed during this Season

The Prayers

The officiant may introduce the prayer with one of the following

Officiant May God be with all Creation.

People And restore us to harmony.

Officiant Let us pray.

Officiant In God all Creation lives, moves, and has being.

People Indeed we all are God’s offspring.

Officiant Therefore let us pray.

The Lord’s Prayer

The People may use one of the following for the Season

Holy One, our only Home,
hallowed be your name.
May your day dawn,
your will be done,
here as in heaven.
Feed us today,
and forgive us as we forgive each other.
Do not forsake us at the test,
but deliver us from evil.
For the glory, the power,
and the mercy are yours,
now and for ever. Amen.30

or this, responsively

Leader Our Father [and/or: Mother] in heaven

People You are also at home in the air, soil, forests and oceans

Leader Hallowed be your name

People By the care we take of your Creation

Leader Your kingdom come

People All that you see is good

Leader Your will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven

People Your will to till and care

Leader Give us this day our daily bread

People That all may have enough to live life in fullness

Leader Forgive us our trespasses

People Our greed, our exploitation, our lack of concern
for other species and for future generations

Leader As we forgive those who trespass against us

People By reconciliation with justice and peace.

Leader Lead us not into temptation

People The temptation to equate dominion with exploitation

Leader And deliver us from evil

People The evil of destroying your gift of creation

Leader For yours is the kingdom

People Yours, Lord, not ours

Leader The power and the glory

People In the cross and resurrection

Leader For ever and ever

People You are the beginning and you are the end. Amen. (So be it)31

Suffrages

One of the following sets of Suffrages with Creation may used

A

V. Show your creatures mercy, O Creator;
R. And grant all Creation your restoration.

V. Clothe your beloved ones with all goodness;
R. Let your creatures sing with joy.

V. Give peace, O Creator, in all the world;
R. For only in you can we live in harmony.

V. Keep every tribe and community under your wing;

R. And guide us in the way of universal communion.

V. Let your way of love be known upon earth;
R. Your uniting wholeness among all divisions.

V. Let not those in need, O God, be lost;
R. Nor the hope of the endangered be taken away.

V. Put in us new soft hearts of flesh, O God;
R. And inspire us with your Holy Breath who sustains us.

B

V. Heal your Creation, O God, and bless your offspring;
R. Guide and sustain your creatures, now and always.

V. Day by day your Creation blesses you;
R. We join our voices to praise your Name for ever.

V. O God, unite us with all Creation in harmony;
R. Have compassion on our failings, O God.

V. O God, show us your love and sustaining power;

R. For your creatures live and move only in you.

V. In you, O God, is our hope;
R. And your Creation shall never hope in vain.

Enriching Our Worship

V. Come to our aid, O Creator and Healer;
R. Restore us and forgive our trespasses against Creation.

V. Look upon your whole Creation;
R. Give to your creatures the blessing of peace.

V. Declare your glory among all tribes;
R. And your wonders among all species.

V. Do not let the endangered be lost;

R. Never forget the lives of your creatures.

V. Continue your loving-kindness to all creatures;
R. And your favor to those who work for justice.

V. Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning;
R. So shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.

Collects

The Lectionary beginning on p. 15 contains suggested Collects for each Sunday of the Season based on the Gospel lessons. Any of the Collects found beginning on p. 62 may also be used for the Season.

Hymn

Here may be sung a hymn or anthem; a list of Creation-themed songs may be found beginning on p. 163.

Intercessions and Thanksgivings

If intercessions are offered in this service, the Prayers of the People Forms I-VI in the BCP may be adapted as instructed on p. 135. Alternative forms beginning on p. 140 may be used or adapted instead.

Prayers of thanksgiving may be found beginning on p. 70.

Concluding Sentence

The Officiant may conclude with one of the following

All things came into being through the Word, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. Amen. John 1:3-4

With all wisdom and insight God has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Amen. Ephesians 1:8-10

Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. Amen. Colossians 1:15-16

In Christ all things hold together. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. Amen. Colossians 1:17b, 19

Resources

Containing the following

Collects, Prayers, & Intercessions p. 62

Litanies & Penitential Orders p. 78

Songs of Praise & Canticles p. 92

Affirmations of Faith p. 95

Eucharistic Prayers p. 98
Readings for Creation p. 105

Quotes on Creation p. 134

Prayers of the People p. 147
Music for Creation p. 163

Books and Curriculums p. 169

Collects, Prayers,
& Intercessions

Collects

Collect for the Stewardship of Creation

O merciful Creator, your hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature: Make us always thankful for your loving providence; and remembering the account that we must give one day, grant that we may be faithful stewards of your good gifts; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.32

Collect for the Healing of Creation

Gracious God, the air sings with songs of glory, water flashes silver with creation, and the forests bloom with leaves for healing nations. May your light and love fill our hearts and souls and minds, that we may share your abundant grace with the world. Amen.33

Called to be God’s Partners in the Care of the Planet

Bountiful God, you call us to labor with you in tending the earth: Where we lack love, open our hearts to the world; where we waste, give us discipline to conserve; where we neglect, awaken our minds and wills to insight and care. May we with all your creatures honor and serve you in all things for you live and reign with Christ, Redeemer of all, and with your Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.34

Collect for the Beauty of Creation

Loving God, Creator of all,
we thank you for the beauty of Creation;
show us, we pray, how to respect
the fragile balance of life.

Guide by your wisdom those who have power
to care for or to destroy the environment,
that by the decisions we make, life may be cherished
and a good and fruitful earth be preserved for future generations; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.35

Collect for the Cosmos

Creating God, your name is written on every leaf, every bird, every river, every stone, every living being. We praise and worship you for the magnificence of your creation. Make us attentive to the wounds of the earth and willing to work for the healing of the whole creation, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.36

Collect from Gregory of Nazianzus

Holy God, you alone are unutterable,
from the time you created all things that can be spoken of.
You alone are unknowable,
from the time you created all things that can be known.
All things cry out about you:
those that speak, and those that cannot speak.
All things honor you:
those that think, and those that cannot think.
For there is one longing, one groaning,
which all things have for you.
All things that comprehend your plan
pray to you and offer you a silent hymn.
In you, the One, all things abide,
and all things endlessly run to you who are the end of all. Amen.37

Collect from Ojibwe Evening Prayer

[Gichi Manidoo,] Great Spirit God,
we give you thanks for another day on this earth.
We give you thanks for this day
to enjoy the compassionate goodness of you, our Creator. We acknowledge with one mind
our respect and gratefulness to all the sacred cycle of life. Bind us together in the circle of compassion
to embrace all living creatures and one another. Amen.38

Collect from Honoring God in Creation, Form 1

Gracious God:
Grant that your people may have in them
the same mind that was in Christ Jesus,
and guide us into harmony of relationship
through loving-kindness and the wise use
of all that you have given;
for you are drawing all things into communion with you and with each other by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Collect from Honoring God in Creation, Form 3

Blessed God, fountain of life: Grant that we may see all water as holy, and so protect and preserve the waters of the earth and the life they sustain. In the name of Christ, the living water, we pray. Amen.

Collect from A Litany for the Earth, Form A

Creator God, you call us into being. Inspire us with your extravagant generosity, and sustain us with hope in resurrection life. All this we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. Amen.

Three Collects for Creation and Redemption39

God of peace,
let us your people know,
that at the heart of turbulence
there is an inner calm that comes
from faith in you.
Keep us from being content with things as they are,
that from this central peace
there may come a creative compassion,
a thirst for justice,
and a willingness to give of ourselves
in the spirit of Christ.
Amen.

God, you shape our dreams.
As we put our trust in you
may your hopes and desires be ours,
and we your expectant people.
Amen.

Blessed are you,
God of growth and discovery;
yours is the inspiration
that has altered and changed our lives;
yours is the power that has brought us
to new dangers and opportunities.
Set us, your new creation,
to walk through this new world,
watching and learning,
loving and trusting,
until your kingdom comes.
Amen.

Four Collects from
Prayers for an Inclusive Church40

Collect for Harvest A (Luke 12:16-30)

Demanding God,
you call us to account
for the use of your gifts:
pull down the storehouses
of accumulated greed
which impoverish people
and despoil the earth;
put our hands to work
sowing the seeds
and reaping the growth
of justice, thanksgiving and praise;
through Jesus Christ, the Lord of the harvest.
Amen.

Collect for Harvest A (alternative: Luke 17:11-19)

Gracious One,
reaching our need
overcoming our alienation:
give us a spirit of gratitude
for the abundance of the earth,
the wildness of its creatures,
the global threads
that bind friend and foreigner;
may our thanks be the soil
in which a dream of justice grows;
through Jesus Christ, the Lord of the harvest.
Amen.

Collect for Harvest B (Matthew 6:25-33)

God of evolving diversity,
made known in seed and soil,
and the wonder of animal worlds:
free our hearts
from the anxiety
which knows only domination;
open our being
to learn from the life
with which we share this earth;
through Jesus Christ, the Lord of the harvest.
Amen.

Collect for Harvest C (John 6:25-35)

God, whose word is ingrained
in all we eat and drink;
free us from the consumption
that destroys the roots of life;
teach us to eat the living bread
in whom all hungers are satisfied
by the life that gives of itself
and is never consumed;
through Jesus Christ, the Lord of the harvest.
Amen.

Six Collects from the Propers in
Honoring God in Creation41

God, the source and destiny of the cosmos

Author of creation:
In wisdom you brought forth all that is,
to participate in your divine being,
and to change, adapt, and grow in freedom.
You make holy the matter and energy of the universe that it may delight you and give you praise.
We thank you for gathering all creation into your heart by the energy of your Spirit
and bringing it through death to resurrection glory; through the One in whom all things have their being,
Jesus Christ, your Wisdom and your Word. Amen.

God of order and dynamic change

Mysterious God, whose imagination and desire embrace all:
We seek to discern you in the interplay of forces,
in the order and the chaos of the universe,
and in the complexities of every living system.
Give us grace to honor your goodness
in what we know and in what we do not know,
in the world’s harmonies and turbulence,
and in its promise and change.
For you are in, through, and beyond all that is:
one God, made known to us in Jesus Christ,
through the Holy Spirit, our inspiration and guide. Amen.

The justice of God and the dignity of all creatures

Holy God, your mercy is over all your works, and in the web of life each creature has its role and place.
We praise you for ocelot and owl, cactus and kelp, lichen and whale; we honor you for whirlwind and lava, tide and topsoil, cliff and marsh.
Give us hearts and minds eager to care for your planet,
humility to recognize all creatures as your beloved ones,
justice to share the resources of the earth with all its inhabitants, and love not limited by our ignorance.
This we pray in the name of Jesus,
who unifies what is far off and what is near,
and in whom, by grace and the working of your Holy Spirit,
all things hold together. Amen.

The kinship and unity of all creation in Christ

God, maker of marvels, you weave the planet and all its creatures together in kinship; your unifying love is revealed in the interdependence of relationships in the complex world that you have made.
Save us from the illusion that humankind is separate and alone, and join us in communion with all inhabitants of the universe; through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer,
who topples the dividing walls by the power of your Holy Spirit, and who lives and reigns with you, for ever and ever. Amen.

Reading God’s goodness in the diversity of life

Gracious God, you reveal your goodness
in the beauty and diversity of creation;
in the circle dance of earth and air and water;
in a universe rich in processes that support growth and coherence, distinctiveness and community;
and above all in the gift of Jesus Christ,
who emptied himself to serve your world.
And so we offer thanks and praise to you,
one God in three persons:
the Author and Source of all,
Christ the Incarnate Word,
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Called to be God’s partners in the care of the planet

Bountiful God,
you call us to labor with you in tending the earth:
Where we lack love, open our hearts to the world;
where we waste, give us discipline to conserve;
where we neglect, awaken our minds and wills
to insight and care.
May we with all your creatures honor and serve you in all things, for you live and reign with Christ, Redeemer of all,
and with your Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever
Amen.

Prayers

Hildegard of Bingen, 13th century

Praise be to the Holy Trinity! God is sound and life, Creator of the Universe, Source of all life, whom the angels sing; wondrous Light of all mysteries known or unknown to humankind, and life that lives in all. Amen.

Thanksgiving For the Beauty of the Earth bcp 840

We give you thanks, most gracious God, for the beauty of earth and sky and sea; for the richness of mountains, plains, and rivers; for the songs of birds and the loveliness of flowers. We praise you for these good gifts, and pray that we may safeguard them for our posterity. Grant that we may continue to grow in our grateful enjoyment of your abundant creation, to the honor and glory of your Name, now and for ever. Amen.

For This World

Enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things,
our brothers and sisters the animals to whom you gave this earth as their home in common with us.

We remember with shame that in the past
we have exercised the high dominion of humans
with ruthless cruelty,
so that the voice of the Earth,
which should have gone up to you in song,
has been a groan of travail.

May we realize that they live, not for us alone,
but for themselves and for you,
and that they love the sweetness of life even as we, and serve you in their place better than we in ours.
We pray through our Savior Jesus Christ,
who lifts up and redeems us all. Amen.42

A Prayer for Our Time and for the Earth

Dear God, Creator of the earth, this sacred home we share:

Give us new eyes to see the beauty all around and to protect the wonders of creation.

Give us new arms to embrace the strangers among us and to know them as family.

Give us new ears to hear and understand those who live off the land and sea, and to hear and understand those who extract its resources.

Give us new hearts to recognize the brokenness in our communities and to heal the wounds we have inflicted.

Give us new hands to serve the earth and its people and to shape beloved community.

For you are the One who seeks the lost, binds our wounds and sets us free,

And it is in the name of Jesus the Christ we pray. Amen.43

Prayer for the Harvest

Bountiful God,
we thank you for sending the rain,
for making the land fertile,
for filling the streams with water,
for providing the earth with crops,
for nurturing the young plants,
for tending the cattle and sheep.
With your Spirit inspire us to share your harvest
with all the hungry world,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.44

Four Directions Prayer

This indigenous prayer comes to us from an Anglican priest of the Cree and Dene people on the western coast of Canada. Consider liturgical use carefully with respect and adapt the naming of geography for your area.

Jesus Christ is the light of the world

A light no darkness can extinguish

We thank you Creator

For the Medicine you send from the Four Sacred Directions

The Medicine you send in your son Jesus Christ

The Medicine you send in the Sacred Drum

The Drum that brings us one heartbeat

One heartbeat into unity with all of Creation

We thank you for the reminder

That we are one with Mother Earth and with all of Creation

We thank you for the Medicine you send

In the Four Sacred Directions of the Wind

Wind that brings us changes of season

Changes in our lives

It allows us to mature, adapt,

Become more compassionate and loving to each other

We thank you creator for the Medicine
that you send in the Water

The Water in our bodies and the Water of our Mother Earth

We thank you for the strengthening that you give us

From these Four Sacred Medicines

We ask you to remind us

Always to be humble

To walk gently on the back of Mother Earth

To remember that we are pitiful

Like an infant without its mother

We are pitiful without you

And we need you in every way, in every day

We pray today for the strengthening, the health
and the wellbeing

Of the two leggeds, the four leggeds

Those that creep, those that swim, those that fly

The male and female of all creation

Water People, Rock People, Star People

We ask especially for our awareness and our actions

For the Cedar Trees in our area

Here on the west coast

Remembering that they need a rainforest that is healthy
All My Relations45

Call to prayer

Leader Eternal God, maker of the skies above,
lowly Christ, Lover of the earth and its people,
unfettered Spirit, Giver of gracious gifts,

All you are present among us.

Leader O hidden mystery,
sun behind all suns,
soul within all souls,
in all we touch, in all we meet,

All you are present among us.

Leader As bearers of your image,
we come to be reshaped;

All dependent on your mercy,
we ask to be made new.46

Thanksgiving for the Earth

Leader Remember the fruits of the earth,
for sowing and for harvest.

Remember the dew of the air.

Remember the downcoming of the rains
and the waters and the rivers.

Remember the plants and the blooms of every year.

Remember the safety of humans and of animals
and of me, your sinful servant.

For the rain, the wind of the sky, seed, plants,
the fruit of the trees and also the vineyards,
and for every tree in the entire world,

People We are grateful.

Leader For the Holy Trinity who brings us to perfection in safety and peace, forgives us our sins, brings us up according to their measure that we may grow and prosper through your grace, who makes the face of the earth to rejoice, waters her furrows, lets her grain be abundantly multiplied and makes ready her seed-time and harvest,

People We give You thanks.47

Intercessions

Intercessory Prayers for Creation48

Loving God, even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she places her young near Your altar. You are attentive to all you have made.

God, who listens to every living thing,
Help us listen as you do.

Loving God, help us provide refuge to every animal and plant with whom we live. Help us be attentive to all you have made.

God, in whom all creation subsists,
Help us listen as you do.

Loving God, when Jesus cried out and gave up his Spirit, the earth shook and the rocks split. You are known by the whole of Creation that listens to you.

God, to whom all creation responds,
Help us respond to you.

Loving God, help us hear and know you just as the earth and rocks do. Help us to learn from the way in which we see Creation recognize your glorious beauty.

God, to whom all creation responds,
Help us respond to you.

Loving God, you are present in your Creation and seek to heal her wounds. You can be found walking in the garden. Open our eyes to see you, the gardener.

God, who is present with your Creation,
Help us be present too.

Loving God, we often abandon your creation and cause its wounds. Help us to follow in your footsteps and learn to walk in the garden like you.

God, who is present with your creation,
Help us be present too.

Loving God, who hears every voice, knows each cry of injustice, and is attentive to the suffering of the earth: teach us to listen. Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may listen to the world you have created and not close ourselves off from it. Reveal to us the ways in which we have failed to hear your voice in how we treat the earth.

God, who listens to every living thing,

Help us listen as you do. Amen.

Litanies
& Penitential Orders

A Penitential Order for Creation

Presider Because we view our lives in Christ through the forgiveness we receive from God, I invite us to begin with the Penitential Order.

Deacon Let us confess our sins against God, our neighbors, and all Creation.

Silence may be kept.

Deacon We have forgotten who we are.

People We have alienated ourselves from the unfolding of the cosmos.

We have become estranged from the movements of the earth.

We have turned our backs on the cycles of life.

Deacon We have forgotten who we are.

People 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.

Deacon We have forgotten who we are.

People Now the land is barren.

And the waters are poisoned.

And the air is polluted.

Deacon We have forgotten who we are.

People Now the forests are dying.

And the creatures are disappearing.

And humans are despairing.

All We have forgotten who we are.

We ask forgiveness.

We ask for the gift of remembering.

We ask for the strength to change.

Help us to remember who we are.

Presider Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life. Amen.49

Litanies for Creation

One of the following may be said according to the instructions for the Great Litany in the Book of Common Prayer on pp. 148-155, and may be concluded with one of the Collects in the Resources (p. 62).

Litany for Creation and All Creatures

Let us name with thanksgiving those creatures for whom we care: ____________ .

Let us name with thanksgiving those creatures who have been our companions over the years and are no longer with us: ____________ .

And let us remember the unnamed, unknown creatures whose lives have benefited our own.

Silence

Holy God, Creator of heaven and earth,

Have mercy on us.

Holy and Mighty, Redeemer of the world,

Have mercy on us.

Holy Immortal One, Sanctifier of the faithful,

Have mercy on us.

Holy, blessed and glorious Trinity, One God,

Have mercy on us.

For all of the following, “We beseech you to hear us, good Lord” may be substituted for the suggested response.

Grant that all your creatures may thank and serve you;

Shower your blessing on earth, O God.

Grant favorable weather, temperate rain, and fruitful seasons, providing food and drink for all your creatures;

Shower your blessing on earth, O God.

Open our eyes to the joy and beauty of creation, that we may see your presence in all your works;

Shower your blessing on earth, O God.

Look with favor upon all who care for the earth, the water, and the air, that the riches of creation may abound for all your creatures;

Shower your blessing on earth, O God.

Make us faithful stewards of creation, wisely caring for the earth, the air, the seas, and all the life they bear;

Shower your blessing on earth, O God.

Awaken us to our responsibility for the care of creation;

Shower your blessing on earth, O God.

Forgive us our waste and pollution of creation and strengthen us to heal wounds we have inflicted;

Shower your blessing on earth, O God.

Remember all in captivity and those who are hunted, trapped, deserted, or abused, that they may find safety in homes of loving care;

Shower your blessing on earth, O God.

Do not forget those creatures who have died yet remain dear to us, that they may rejoice in your new creation;

Shower your blessing on earth, O God.

Holy God: No sparrow falls without your attention; nothing dies that is lost to you; nothing comes into being without your love. Give us just and compassionate hearts, that we may serve the earth and all its creatures, holding fast to the vision of your peaceable reign in which all will live with you eternally; through the Risen One, Christ our Savior. Amen.50

Litany of Lament and Repentance

God of our vibrant world,
You have given humans the responsibility to care for each other. Indigenous people have historical, spiritual, and personal ties to these lands on which we inhabit. But many of us have failed to recognize the presence of God in these traditions, and their voices have been silenced. We are thankful to Indigenous Nations for their continuing care and presence on the Earth. We all value the resilience and strength shown through the generations and today.

We turn to the Spirit who dismantles borders and celebrates life giving community.

Help us make a place where everyone is welcome and we acknowledge your grace at work in the ways of one another. Together, may we learn the spiritual richness of our relationships in the web of life.

Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer

O God of the whole of creation,
You have created land and trees, animals and all living creatures on the earth. We are destroying the forests through poisons and logging; the voices of the birds, insects and forest dwellers are silenced.

You created the wonders of the ocean, the fish, shells, reefs, whales, waves, corals. The oceans are warming, and as they drown in plastic, their voices are being stilled.

We turn to you in sorrow and repentance.

Please help us to care for the oceans, the land and the forest, and open our eyes to their blessing. All Creation is speaking to us, but their voices have been silenced by the roar of our greed.

Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer

Mothering Earth, our Sister, you sustain and govern us. We have silenced the voices of your people, especially the voices of women-protectors of the Earth who have been killed by land grabbers, mining companies and oil companies. Many are the voices of our sisters who have been silenced by flooding, hurricanes and drought as the earth’s warming brings destruction. May we listen to the voices of our mothers and sisters and learn to treasure and protect the web of life.

Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer

We turn to you in sorrow and repentance.

Please, Creator God, forgive us for the human activities which have overpowered the weather and caused destruction of our environment.

Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer51

The Great Litany of Creation

God the Creator of all,

Have mercy upon us.

God the Incarnate Word, present in Creation from the beginning,

Have mercy upon us.

God the Spirit of truth and forgiveness,

Have mercy upon us.

Holy Trinity, divine community,

Have mercy upon us.

We come before you in this time of deepening social and climate crisis to confess our complicity and inaction, to pray for those most severely affected, and to ask for the courage and perseverance to be diligent in prayer, in seeking truth, in allowing ourselves to be transformed, and in acting with Spirit-led wisdom for the good of our human and non-human siblings.

Hear us, gracious God.

We confess that we have not valued your air, which sustains every breath, and have instead polluted it with toxic chemicals and waste products, especially concentrated where Black and brown bodies live. We have filled the air with extra carbon, which is causing catastrophic climate changes and global heating.

Have mercy on us, merciful God.

We confess that we have wasted and polluted water, the drink of life and main substance in our bodies. We have discharged heavy metals into the seas and rivers, choked them with fertilizer and manure run-off, clogged the oceans with plastic, and poisoned our most vulnerable children with industrial chemicals and lead-filled water from old pipes.

Have mercy on us, merciful God.

We confess that we have abused the soil, the Earth mother who teems with life and provides food for all land creatures. We have squandered her, allowing her to blow away, killing her vitality with chemical pesticides and fertilizers, depleting her by overuse and greed. We have abandoned and buried toxic and radioactive waste in her; we have stolen her from indigenous people who loved and tended her with care.

Have mercy on us, merciful God.

We confess that we have scorned and devalued the simplest organisms—bacteria, algae, and fungi—without which we could not live, and the myriads of insects, worms, and spiders that pollinate our food, aerate our soil, and recycle dead organisms into rich soil. Instead, we have responded with loathing, drugs and chemicals to kill them off.

Have mercy on us, merciful God.

We confess that we have turned your diverse, interconnected Eden into sterile monocrops of bioengineered food items and grass lawns. We have ravaged the forests for cheap paper and wood, and leveled rainforests to grow meat cattle.

Have mercy on us, merciful God.

We confess that we have slaughtered large animals for economic gain, out of fear, and for sport or hatred of those who depend on them—wolves, whales, bison, bears—and have slaughtered or poisoned small mammals and rodents when they seem bothersome or inconvenient—skunks, mice, rats, squirrels, moles.

Have mercy on us, merciful God.

We confess that we have caused the deaths of many millions of birds, reptiles, amphibians and water creatures and wiped out countless species, due to loss of habitat and food, overfishing, and pollution.

Have mercy on us, merciful God.

We confess that instead of cherishing and learning from the indigenous peoples who have lived in harmony with Creation, we have systematically worked to destroy them, their cultures and knowledge and to claim the land they lived from as our own. We continue to allow this destruction of lands, waters, and sovereignty on native lands.

Have mercy on us, merciful God.

We confess that we have dominated, enslaved and exploited the bodies, land, and resources of our human siblings in this country and around the world for economic gain, especially those of Black and brown bodies, despoiling their lives and leaving behind poverty and environmental disaster for our cheap crops and goods. We continue to allow this even in our local communities.

Have mercy on us, merciful God.

We confess that we have not loved our own God-given bodies, believing ourselves to be separate from the created order, looking for ease and comfort instead of rigorous use, looking to satisfy our hungers with possessions instead of relationship to your perfect world and with busyness instead of attunement to the rhythms of Creation.

Have mercy on us, merciful God.

Free us from the gods of greed, wealth, and private property and the heresy of believing that what we own is ours to use or abuse and not yours, to respect, share and give away for the benefit and blessing of all.

Gracious God, deliver us.

Free us from the idols of comfort and ease, of speed and productivity that lead us to violate relationships and ignore the needs and well-being of our own and other’s bodies.

Gracious God, deliver us.

Free us from our inability to face the truth and give us the grace to grieve together for what we have lost and despoiled.

Gracious God, deliver us.

Free us from despair and paralyzing fear, and the privilege of caring only about our own well-being while others suffer.

Gracious God, deliver us.

Free us from the lie that we are separate from our human and non-human siblings; lead us into deep and reciprocal relationships so that we know viscerally that we are one with all life.

Gracious God, deliver us.

For those most directly affected by rising temperatures, rising seas, adverse weather events, drought and climate migration, we pray, especially those you now name...

Hear us, O God of life.

For species at risk of extinction, including our own, especially those you now name...

Hear us, O God of life.

For frontline communities most heavily impacted by environmental injustice and climate crises, and for the many organizers, leaders and people standing up for justice, health and equity, we pray, especially those you now name...

Hear us, O God of life.

That we may have a renewed and restored relationship to all of Creation, we pray,

Hear us, O God of life.

That we may persevere in prayer, in spiritual discipline and grounding; that we may cling to the hope of resurrection in the face of evil and death and hold up one another in that hope, we pray,

Hear us, O God of life.

That we may be filled with the courage to change and the commitment to act, being willing to use whatever skills, resources, and energy we have to do this life-giving work, we pray,

Hear us, O God of life.

That we may have the strength to build community and the humility to learn to rely on one another, especially listening to the young, the poor, and those who have historically been silenced, we pray,

Hear us, O God of life.

That we may become mighty leaders in our own local communities, and mighty advocates for generations yet unborn, we pray,

Hear us, O God of life.

Child of God, we ask you to hear us.

Child of God, we ask you to hear us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,

Have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,

Have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

Grant us peace.52

A Litany for the Planet

With all our heart and with all our mind, let us pray to the Creator, saying, “Creator, have mercy.”

The following may be selected or adapted as appropriate for the worshipping community, to be responded to with “Creator, have mercy.”

On your earth, the garden of life...

On soil, that it may be fruitful in all seasons...

On rocks and minerals that form the foundations for life..

On volcanoes and lava flows that reveal the power of earth’s core...

On hills and great mountains; on cliffs, caves, and valleys...

On deserts and their hardy creatures...

On your waters, which sustain a diverse community of life...

On coral reefs, and on the animals, plants, and fish that inhabit them...

On ocean deeps, teeming with life; on the open seas and all that travel upon them...

On rivers, bringing water to thirsty places...

On lakes and streams, home to a diversity of life...

On ponds and marshes, cradles of life...

On wetlands and estuaries; on rocky coasts and beaches...

On islands and atolls, oases and all harsh outposts of life...

On glaciers and ice fields, holding the delicate balance of waters...

On storms, floods, and tempests, and all fearsome forces of weather...

On rains that water the earth, causing plants to sprout and grow...

On snow and hail, sleet and winter cold, and on the dormant things that wait for spring...

On mists and fog silently watering the ground...

On the atmosphere of your planet earth, that it may sustain all that breathes...

On winds that carry seeds and spores; on breezes that warm and cool the earth...

On lightnings and fires that cleanse and destroy, and on all that lies in their path...

On all the ecosystems of your earth and their intricate communities...

On forests of many kinds; on trees and shrubs and vines...

On grasslands, tundras, and plains, and on their varied plants...

On ferns and fungi; on spore-bearing and seed-bearing plants...

On micro-organisms of endless variety, the complex and the simple...

On reptiles and amphibians; on ____________ ...

On four-legged creatures; on ____________ ...

On two-legged and winged creatures; on ____________ ...

On many-legged creatures and insects; on ____________ ...

On mysterious creatures and places unknown to humankind...

On the human family across the globe, of many colors and communities, in kinship with all creation...

On all who live and work and play in this city and this neighborhood...

On those who work around us, whose labor builds up our community and our world; on ____________ ...

On the businesses and industries of this city, that they may profit the whole community; on ____________ ...

On the parks and green spaces of this city; on those who maintain them and those who enjoy them...

On the plants and animals of our ecosystem; on ____________ ...

On those who produce food and energy for this city’s people and pets...

On schools and all places of learning; on all who care for and teach children and adults...

On the poor and homeless residents of this city, that there may be shelter and sustenance for them...

On visitors and immigrants; on all who offer welcome and shelter here...

On all places of reverence and prayer; on all who honor you and on those who do not yet know you...

On our ancestors, and on those who will come after us...53

Songs of Praise
& Canticles

The Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon
St. Francis of Assisi

Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord, all praise is Yours, all glory, all honor and all blessings. To you alone, Most High, do they belong, and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.

Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures, especially Sir Brother Sun, who is the day through whom You give us light. And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor, of You Most High, he bears the likeness.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars, in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air, and fair and stormy, all weather’s moods, by which You cherish all that You have made.

Praised be You my Lord through Sister Water, so useful, humble, precious and pure.

Praised be You my Lord through Brother Fire, through whom You light the night and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.

Praised be You my Lord through our Sister, Mother Earth who sustains and governs us, producing varied fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

Praise be You my Lord through those who grant pardon for love of You and bear sickness and trial. Blessed are those who endure in peace, by You Most High, they will be crowned.

Praised be You, my Lord through Sister Death, from whom no one living can escape. Blessed are they She finds doing Your Will. No second death can do them harm. Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks, and serve Him with great humility.

A Greeting for Creation

Greetings in the name of our God who is good:
whose love endures forever.

Greetings to you, sun and moon, you stars of the northern sky: give to our God your thanks and praise.

Sunrise and sunset, night and day:
give to our God your thanks and praise.

Greetings to you, hills and valleys, rivers and ponds, sea and rain: give to our God your thanks and praise.

Greetings to you, oak and pine, hemlock and birch, tamarack and maple: give to our God your thanks and praise.

Greetings to you, hawks and sparrows, cardinals and robins, bats and blue jays, ravens and crows: give to our God your thanks and praise.

Greetings to you, bears and deer, chipmunks and squirrels, and beaver and bobcats: give to our God your thanks and praise.

Greetings to you, people of all genders, elders and children, indigenous and colonists, diverse cultures of this rainbow land:

Nurses and teachers, scientists and artists, cleaners and clerks, students and job-seekers,

All who care, who love, and who pray,

Who laugh and learn, who rest and who play: give to our God your thanks and praise. Amen.54

A Canticle for God’s Grandeur
Gerard Manley Hopkins

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah!
bright wings.

Affirmations of Faith

With your bishop's explicit permission, or at services other than the primary Sunday celebration, one of these may replace the Nicene or Apostles' Creed for the Season

Profession of Faith (South Indian)

We believe in God, who creates all things,
who embraces all things, who celebrates all things,
who is present in every part of the fabric of creation.

We believe in God as the source of all life,
who baptizes this planet with living water.

We believe in Jesus Christ, the suffering one, the poor one,
the malnourished one, the climate refugee,
who loves and cares for this world
and who suffers with it.

And we believe in Jesus Christ, the seed of life,
who came to reconcile and renew this world
and everything in it.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the breath of God,
who moves with God
and who moves among and with us today.

We believe in everlasting life in God.

And we believe in the hope that one day
God will put an end to death and all destructive forces.55

Affirmation of Faith (Colossians 1:15-20)

Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.

For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created:
things visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers;
all things have been created through him and for him.

He himself is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.

And he is the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead,
so that he might come to have first place in everything.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him God was pleased
to reconcile to himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven,
by making peace through the blood of his cross.56

A Confession of St. Patrick

This creed is attributed to the 5th century missionary and bishop Patrick, known as the Apostle of Ireland, in the story of “Patrick and the royal daughters” from the biographical Collectanea by the 7th century Irish Bishop Tírechán. It is included in the 10th century The Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick which is traditionally preached during the three-day Feast of St. Patrick in Ireland.

Our God, God of all people,
God of heaven and earth, sea and rivers,
God of sun and moon, of all stars,
God of highest mountain, of deepest valleys,
God over heaven and in heaven and under heaven.

He has his dwelling
in heaven and earth and sea
and all that is in them.

He inspires all,
he gives life to all,
he surpasses all,
he upholds all.

He ignites the light of the sun.
He surrounds the stars and tells them to shine.
He makes fountains in dry lands,
and dry islands in the sea,
and stars to serve the greater lights.

He has a Son,
coeternal with him and like him.
The Son is not younger than the Father,
neither is the Father older than the Son.

And the Holy Spirit breathes in them.
Not separate are the Father and Son and Holy Spirit.57

Eucharistic Prayers

Eucharistic Prayer with Creation I58

Praise and thanks are yours, our Creating God. From the dust of the earth you shaped human beings in your own image, and you filled the earth and seas and skies with a myriad of wonders. Yet we consistently turn your generosity into our scarcity, your elegance into our meanness, and your simplicity into our corruption. Though we poison and destroy your good Creation, you continue to offer us your abundance. In your mercy, you have redeemed us through your Son, Jesus, transforming death into life.

Through the Spirit you continue to call us into covenant with you—for the restoration of Creation and the reconciliation of all people.

And so we give you thanks, rejoicing with all of Creation, as we join the saints and angels in their unending hymn:

The people join together in the Sanctus, and then the presider continues

In the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread, and gave thanks to God. He broke the bread, gave it to his friends and said: “Take and eat, for this is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

He took the wine, and gave thanks to God, Creator. He gave it to his friends saying: “This is my blood of the new covenant, shed for you and for all creation for the forgiveness of sins. Every time you drink of the wine, do this in remembrance of me.”

So we proclaim the mystery of faith:
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.

Merciful God, we come to this table seeking reconciliation: with you, with one another, and with all creation. Through these mysteries reconcile us to our world and empower us to restore your Creation and fulfill your will. Send your life-giving Spirit upon us, and upon this bread and wine. Stir in us the creative and redeem the destructive.

Heal your stricken world, that the soil, the skies, and the seas may be filled with your life anew.

Fill every heart with the sure and certain hope that we shall enter into the fullness of your joy, when your whole Creation is justified by faith and sanctified by love, and you are all in all. Through Christ and with Christ and in Christ, in the unity of the Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, everlasting God, now and forever. AMEN.

Eucharistic Prayer with Creation II59

It is right in all times and in all places to thank and praise you Creator of all. We praise you here where [describe your context in words like “where the Fraser River meets the Salish Sea, where city and farm, wilderness and industry are side by side”]. We praise you at a time when the body of earth is broken again and again.

We give thanks for our place in the story of salvation. Our ancestors journeyed with you in creation and migration. They depended on the land, were displaced from the land and displaced others from their lands. They knew you in tents and cities, on mountains and by wells, in families and in dreams, and through wilderness prophets who spoke of cedars and listened to ravens.

Together with angels and ancestors, [name locally-appropriate pairs of flora and fauna such as “orca and salmon, bear and raven, salal and cedar”], we join our voices with all creation in this ancient honor song:

The people join together in the Sanctus, and then the presider continues

We give thanks to you for Jesus, whose first bed was a feed trough. He was baptized in the Jordan, tested in the wilderness, he traveled in fishing boats and told parables of famers and seeds, labor and wages, yeast and bread.

On the night before he died, Jesus took bread, food of the poor, the work of field and hearth, he gave thanks, broke it and gave it to his friends saying: Take and eat, this is my body, given for you, do this to remember me.

Again after supper he took the cup of wine, fruit of the land, gave thanks and gave it to his friends saying: This is my blood, which is shed for you. When you do this, do it in memory of me.

Remembering Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and awaiting his coming kingdom, we offer you this bread and this cup.

Creator, send your Spirit on these gifts so that we know Jesus in them and are gathered together with everyone who shares this sacred meal of justice and community.

Fill us with the courage and love of Jesus, that we may strive for justice and peace, respect the dignity of every human being, and safeguard the integrity of creation.

Bring us with (_____________ name patron saint of your community or saints you celebrate today) and all your saints to your commonwealth of sparrow and lily, child and beggar which is both now and yet to come.

All honor and glory are yours, Creator, Christ, and Spirit, now and forever. AMEN.

Eucharistic Prayer with Creation III60

Presider God is with us.

People God is present here.

Presider Rejoice! Lift up your hearts.

People We lift our hearts to the Most High.

Presider Let us give thanks to the Holy One.

People It is right to offer thanks and praise.

We do praise you, our intimate God, the one who is with us, and with all of creation, the source of this magical, mystical, sensual, beautiful, earth. From microbes to whales you have created all of us. We are privileged to be a strand in all of your creation, including this strange and wonderful home, our earth, the open sky above, the dazzling array of stars and planets, and the unfathomable galaxies beyond us. You have blessed us with a world of infinite variety and beauty, a land of mountains and meadows, canyons and valleys, deserts and jungles. Over and through this land you have provided oceans teeming with life, streams and rivers, crystal clear lakes, and cascading waterfalls. We share this land with all of your creatures, from mosquito to mountain lion, from seal to scorpion. You have formed all of this, this land of such intense wildness and beauty. Therefore, we praise you, O Sacred One, joining our voices with the cry of your animals, the rocks, the stars, the Moon, the Sun, and all the universe as we shout with joy:

The people join together in the Sanctus, and then the presider continues

We bless you and thank you Gracious God for all of these gifts, and for weaving us, the web of humanity, into this world. But instead of caring deeply for this most perfect of creations, the universe beyond our comprehension and this earth in which we live, we have rebelled against it, against ourselves, against You. We disregarded the interconnected web of life in which we live. Instead of loving it as a mother loves her child, we put ourselves above it, as if it was something we could own. It became something to control rather than a part of us and a part of you. Each time you have called us back, called us to understand that we are not masters of the earth, but instead a part of the earth. You continually remind us that caring for you means caring for your earth and for each other.

The People and Presider say together

Then, All-Holy God, you sent Jesus Christ to be among us. Through His incarnation, You taught us that You are always with us and all of the world. He showed us the way to grace and freedom, and how to show compassion to each other and the world. He gathered a people as your own and filled us with longing for justice and peace for all of creation. Keep us ever vigilant to follow his example so that we may bring about Your reign that He opened for us, through his life, his death, and his resurrection. It is a reign where all your creation will be one.

The Presider continues

On the night before he died, Jesus came to table with those he loved. Recalling his own actions of feeding the poor and eating with the outcast, he took bread, gave thanks to You, broke it, and gave it to them, and said: “Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.” When supper was ended, he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to You, and passed the cup among his friends and said: “Take this all of you and drink from it, this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant, do this in memory of me.”

The Deacon or Presider bids prayer

Therefore, let us pray:

All join in prayer

Gracious God among us, help us to feel your presence, and give us the strength to serve your creation and your people this day and every day.

The Presider continues

Now gathered at your table, God of Creation, and remembering what Jesus Christ taught us, we offer to you this bread and this wine, a gift of your creation and work of human hands. Pour out your Spirit upon these gifts, O Sacred One. May they become for us the Body and Blood of Christ, just as we, your people, are that same Body. Breathe your Spirit upon us also and upon the entire earth. Make us one with your earth, so that all of Creation may become one with your Body.

The People and Presider say together

People and Celebrant: Bring all of us, from every clan, tribe, and nation together, to feast upon your abundant banquet, prepared from the fruits of your earth and made possible by the redemption of your Christ.

The Presider continues

Through Jesus Christ, in the unity of the entire Universe, all glory and honor to God and Creator, for ever and ever. AMEN.

Readings

Also see section “Quotes on Creation,” p. 134, for short Readings.

Spiritual Writers

A Reading from the Babylonian Talmud, Taanit 23a

The Talmud is the textual record of generations of rabbinic debate about law, philosophy, and biblical interpretation, compiled between the 3rd and 8th centuries and structured as commentary on the Mishnah with stories interwoven. Honi HaMe'agel (“Honi the circle-drawer”) was a tanna or Jewish scholar of the 1st century BCE, the scholars from whose teachings the Mishnah was derived.

While the sage, Honi, was walking along a road, he saw a man planting a carob tree.

Honi asked him, “How long will it take for this tree to bear fruit?”

“Seventy years,” replied the man.

Honi then asked, “Are you so healthy a man that you expect to live that length of time and eat its fruit?”

The man answered, “I found a fruitful world because my ancestors planted it for me. Likewise I am planting for my children.”

A Reading from Morals on the Book of Job, St. Gregory the Great (540-604)

Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604) is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome to convert the then largely pagan Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. Gregory is also well known for his writings, which were more prolific than those of any of his predecessors as pope. The epithet Saint Gregory the Dialogist has been attached to him in Eastern Christianity because of his Dialogues.

Who may see to the bottom of the marvelous works of Almighty God, how God made all things of nothing, how the very framework of the world is arranged with a marvelous mightiness of power, and the heaven hung above the atmosphere, and the earth balanced above the abyss, how this whole universe consists of things visible and invisible, how God created humanity, so to say, gathering together in a small compass another world, yet a world of reason; how constituting this world of soul and flesh, God mixed the breath and the clay by an unsearchable disposal of God’s Might? A part, then, of these things we know, and a part we even are. Yet we omit to admire them, because those things which are full of marvels for an investigation deeper than we can reach, have become cheap from custom in the eyes of people.

Hence it comes to pass that, if a dead man is raised to life, all people spring up in astonishment. Yet every day one that had no being is born, and no one wonders, though it is plain to all, without doubt, that it is a greater thing for that to be created, which was without being, than for that which had being, to be restored. Because the dry rod of Aaron budded, all were in astonishment; every day a tree is produced from the dry earth, and the virtue residing in dust is turned into wood, and no one wonders. Because five thousand men were filled with five loaves, all were in astonishment that the food should have multiplied in their teeth; every day the grains of seed that are sown are multiplied in a fullness of ears, and no one wonders. All wondered to see water once turned into wine. Every day the earth’s moisture being drawn into the root of the vine, is turned by the grape into wine, and no one wonders. Full of wonder then are all the things which we never think to wonder at, because they are by habit become dull to the consideration of them.

A Reading from the Mystic Treatises, St. Isaac the Syrian

Isaac the Syrian (613-700), also remembered as Saint Isaac the Syrian, Isaac of Nineveh, Abba Isaac, Isaac Syrus and Isaac of Qatar, was a 7th-century Syriac Christian bishop and theologian best remembered for his written works on Christian asceticism.

What is a charitable heart? It is a heart burning with love for the whole of creation, for humans, for the birds, for the beasts, for the demons—for all creatures. One who has such a heart cannot see or call to mind a creature without having eyes being filled with tears by reason of the immense compassion which seizes the heart; a heart which is softened and can no longer bear to see or learn from others of any suffering, even the smallest pain, being inflicted on any creature. That is why such a person never ceases to pray also for the animals, that they may be preserved and purified. This person will even pray for the reptiles, moved by the infinite pity which reigns in the hearts of those who are becoming united with God.61

A Reading attributed to Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)

Johannes Eckhart (c. 1260 – c. 1328) was a German Catholic theologian, philosopher and mystic well known for his work with pious lay groups such as the Friends of God. He has acquired a status as a great mystic within contemporary popular spirituality, as well as considerable interest from scholars situating him within the medieval scholastic and philosophical tradition.

Apprehend God in all things,
for God is in all things.
Every single creature is full of God,
and is a book about God.
Every creature is a word of God.
If I spent enough time with the tiniest creature—
even a caterpillar—
I would never have to prepare a sermon,
so full of God
is every creature.

A Reading from Prayers of the Social Awakening, Walter Rauschenbusch

The Rev. Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) was an American theologian and Baptist pastor who taught at the Rochester Theological Seminary. Rauschenbusch was a key figure in the Social Gospel and single tax movements that flourished in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

O God, we thank thee for this universe, our great home; for its vastness and its riches, and for the manifoldness of the life which teems upon it and of which we are part. We praise thee for the arching sky and the blessed winds, for the driving clouds and the constellations on high. We praise thee for the salt sea and the running water, for the everlasting hills, for the trees and for the grass under our feet. We thank thee for our senses by which we can see the splendor of the morning, and hear the jubilant songs of love, and smell the breath of the springtime. Grant us, we pray thee, a heart wide open to all this joy and beauty, and save our souls from being so steeped in care or so darkened by passion that we pass heedless and unseeing when even the thorn-bush by the wayside is aflame with the glory of God.

Enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all the living things, our little brothers, to whom thou hast given this earth as their home in common with us. We remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion of man with ruthless cruelty, so that the voice of the Earth, which should have gone up to thee in song, has been a groan of travail. May we realize that they live not for us alone, but for themselves and for thee, and that they love the sweetness of life even as we, and serve thee in their place better than we in ours.

When our use of this world is over and we make room for others, may we not leave anything ravished by our greed or spoiled by our ignorance, but may we hand on our common heritage fairer and sweeter through our use of it, undiminished in fertility and joy, that so our bodies may return in peace to the great mother who nourished them and our spirits may round the circle of a perfect life in thee.62

A Reading from Meditations of the Heart,
Howard Thurman

The Rev. Howard Washington Thurman (1899-1981) was an American author, philosopher, theologian, Christian mystic, educator, and civil rights leader. As a prominent religious figure, he played a leading role in many social justice movements and organizations of the twentieth century.

I seek new levels of awareness
of the meaning of the commonplace.

It is easy for me to take things for granted and to deal with them without sensitiveness. When have you noticed the color in the sky? When have you looked at the shape and place of a tree? What about the light in the eyes of your friend when he smiles? The gracious manner that your child has in meeting people at the door? The moving insight and the power of the words of a hymn, the music of which you enjoy? The renewal of mind and body after a night of restful sleep? The way the cut in your finger healed, leaving scarcely a trace of the opening? The spontaneous response which overcomes you when you are face to face with some poignant human need? The times when deep within your heart you whisper a thank-you to Life, to God, or, as you may say, to the Fates!

I seek new levels of awareness
of the meaning of the commonplace.63

A Reading from Disciplines of the Spirit,
Howard Thurman

To Jesus, God breathed through all that is: the sparrow overcome by sudden death in its flight; the lily blossoming on the rocky hillside; the grass of the field and the clouds, light and burdenless or weighted down with unshed waters; the madman in chains or wandering among the barren rocks in the wastelands; the little baby in his mother’s arms; the strutting insolence of the Roman Legion, the brazen queries of the tax collector; the children at play or old men quibbling in the market place; the august Sanhedrin fighting for its life amidst the arrogances of empire; the whisper of those who had forgotten Jerusalem, the great voiced utterance of the prophets who remembered­—to Jesus, God breathed through all that is.64

A Reading from To Live Is to Love, Ernesto Cardenal

The Rev. Ernesto Cardenal Martínez (1925-2020) was a Nicaraguan Catholic priest, poet, and politician. He was a liberation theologian and the founder of the primitivist art community in the Solentiname Islands, where he lived for more than ten years.

All animals who lift their voices at dawn sing to God. The volcanoes and the clouds and the trees cry to us about God. The whole creation cries to us penetratingly with a great joy about the existence and the beauty and the love of God. The music roars it into our ears, the landscape calls it into our eyes. In all of nature we find God’s initials, and all God’s creatures are God’s love letters to us.

All of nature burns with love created through love to light love in us. Nature is like a shadow of God, a reflection of God’s beauty. The still, blue lake is a reflection of God. In every atom lives an image of the trinity, a figure of the trinitarian God. And also my own body is created to love God. Each of my cells is a hymn about the Creator and an ongoing declaration of love.65

A Reading from Orthodoxy and Animals,
the Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia

Kallistos Ware (1934-2022) was an English bishop and theologian of the Eastern Orthodox Church. He was one of the best-known modern Eastern Orthodox hierarchs and theologians. From 1966 to 2001, he was Spalding Lecturer of Eastern Orthodox Studies at the University of Oxford.

We humans are bound to God and to one another in a cosmic covenant that also includes all the other living creatures on the face of the earth: ‘I will make for you a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground.’ We humans are not saved from the world but with the world; and that means, with the animals. Moreover, this cosmic covenant is not something that we humans have devised, but it has its source in the divine realm. It is conferred upon us as a gift by God.66

An Environmental Reading from Laudato Si’, Pope Francis

Pope Francis (b. 1936) is a Jesuit from Argentina. Laudato si' (Praise Be to You) is his first original encyclical with the subtitle"on care for our common home". In it, the pope critiques consumerism and irresponsible development, laments environmental degradation and global warming, and calls all people of the world to take "swift and unified global action."

When we speak of the “environment,” what we really mean is a relationship existing between nature and the society which lives in it. Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it. Recognizing the reasons why a given area is polluted requires a study of the workings of society, its economy, its behavior patterns, and the ways it grasps reality. Given the scale of change, it is no longer possible to find a specific, discrete answer for each part of the problem. It is essential to seek comprehensive solutions which consider the interactions within natural systems themselves and with social systems. We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.67

A Trinitarian Reading from Laudato Si’, Pope Francis

For Christians, believing in one God who is trinitarian communion suggests that the Trinity has left its mark on all creation. Saint Bonaventure went so far as to say that human beings, before sin, were able to see how each creature “testifies that God is three.” The reflection of the Trinity was there to be recognized in nature “when that book was open to man and our eyes had not yet become darkened.” The Franciscan saint teaches us that each creature bears in itself a specifically Trinitarian structure, so real that it could be readily contemplated if only the human gaze were not so partial, dark and fragile. In this way, he points out to us the challenge of trying to read reality in a Trinitarian key.

The divine Persons are subsistent relations, and the world, created according to the divine model, is a web of relationships. Creatures tend towards God, and in turn it is proper to every living being to tend towards other things, so that throughout the universe we can find any number of constant and secretly interwoven relationships. This leads us not only to marvel at the manifold connections existing among creatures, but also to discover a key to our own fulfillment. The human person grows more, matures more and is sanctified more to the extent that he or she enters into relationships, going out from themselves to live in communion with God, with others and with all creatures. In this way, they make their own that trinitarian dynamism which God imprinted in them when they were created. Everything is interconnected, and this invites us to develop a spirituality of that global solidarity which flows from the mystery of the Trinity.68

A Reading from Environment as the Responsibility of All, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

Bartholomew (b. 1940) is the 270th Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch, regarded as first among equals in the Eastern Orthodox Church. His efforts to promote religious freedom and human rights, his initiatives to advance religious tolerance among the world's religions, as well as his efforts to promote ecology and the protection of the environment, have earned him the title "The Green Patriarch".

Unfortunately, humanity has lost the liturgical relationship between the Creator God and the creation; instead of priests and stewards, human beings have been reduced to tyrants and abusers of nature.

It is crucial, then, that we recognize and respond to the interconnection and interdependence between caring for the poor and caring for the earth. They are two sides of one and the same coin. Indeed, the way that we treat those who are suffering is reflected in the way that we approach the ecological crisis. And both of these in turn mirror the way that we perceive the divine mystery in all people and things, the way that we kneel in prayer before the living God.69

A Reading from Everything that Breathes Praises God, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

Responding to the environmental crisis is a matter of truthfulness to God, humanity, and the created order. It is not too far-fetched to speak of environmental damage as being a contemporary heresy or natural terrorism. We have repeatedly condemned this behavior as nothing less than sinful. For beings to cause species to become extinct and to destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation; for humans to degrade the integrity of the earth by causing changes in its climate; by stripping the Earth of its natural forests, or by destroying its wetlands; for humans to injure other humans with disease by contaminating the earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life with poisonous substances—all these are sins before God, humanity, and the world. We have tended to restrict the notion of sin to the individual sense of guilt or the social sense of wrongdoing. Yet sin also contains a cosmic dimension, and repentance from environmental sin demands a radical transformation of the way we perceive the natural world and a tangible change in the way we choose to live.70

A Reading from Creation and the Cross,
Elizabeth Johnson

Elizabeth A. Johnson (b. 1941) is a Roman Catholic feminist theologian. She is a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Theology at Fordham University, a Jesuit institution in New York City and a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood. The National Catholic Reporter has called Johnson"one of the country's most prominent and respected theologians."

Calvary graphically shows that the God of suffering love abides in solidarity with all creatures, bearing the cost of new life through endless millennia of evolution, from the extinction of whole species to, yes, every sparrow that falls to the ground. The Creator of all flesh is silently present with creatures in their pain and dying. The cross signals that God is present in the midst of anguish, bearing every creature and all creation forward with an unimaginable promise.71

A Reading from “Reconciliation: Lament and Hope”, Victoria Marie

The Rev. Dr. Victoria Marie (b. 1945) is a Brooklyn-born Canadian scholar working at the intersection of social science and spirituality. She is a retired community researcher and current local activist, pastor of the inclusive and affirming Our Lady of Guadalupe Tonantzin Community, and co-founder of the Vancouver Catholic Worker.

We seek reconciliation with all life. When we say we believe in the sanctity of all life, that includes non-human life: the creatures of the sea and the birds of the air. It also included human livelihood. Overriding it all is the desire to follow Jesus’ command to love. That is why at the gates of the fossil fuel mega-project we prayed for justice for our indigenous brothers and sisters and for industry workers; we prayed for the eagle pair evicted from their home. We prayed for the earth and her waters. That day, we joined the growing number of people arrested for living into reconciliation. Undeterred, and fighting against apathy and despair, our peaceful protests will continue. We believe, like Martin Luther King Jr., that ‘the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice’. So, motivated by gospel faith and love, we continue to work to make reconciliation a generally accepted reality.72

A Reading of "Nothing is Lost" from Ladder to the Light,
Steven Charleston

The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston (b. 1949) is a Native American elder, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, an author, and a retired bishop in the Episcopal Church. He is widely recognized as a leading proponent for justice issues and for spiritual renewal in the church in both the United States and Canada. Among other roles, he has served as the national staff officer for Native American ministries, the Bishop of Alaska, and the Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School.

In the days of conquest, when darkness covered the land, the hoop of many nations was broken, the story of many people lost—and lost forever. The number who perished will never be counted, but their graves are still here. Their testimony is written into the earth. The wisdom of the ancestors is a mist over the valley, a cloud passing before the moon. The teachings of the elders can be heard in the rain, the message of the poets seen in the first stars that put the sun to bed. Nothing is finally lost. The ancient visions are within us. The old dreams are part of us. The steady rhythm of hope was never silenced. It beats today for all who would hear it. It beats within me. It beats within you. Life is still growing beneath the concrete. The sound of the earth is breathing beneath the glass and steel.73

A Reading of "Do not doubt what you see" from Ladder to the Light, Steven Charleston

Last night they came again, the spirits of earth and sky, of wind and rain, of deep seas and tall mountains. In all shapes and sizes they came, from every tribe and nation: the deer and the elk, the bear and the wolf, broad-winged eagles and crows as black as night. They all came and stood in a solemn circle beneath the one-eyed moon and spoke with a single voice this message from the sacred: “Do not doubt what you see: the world is warming, the waters are rising, and the winds are coming stronger than before. Do not turn away, do not pretend not to see, but speak the truth and set the spirits free to heal the world, before the ice has gone, before the last tiger falls, before only the desert remembers the ones who once walked this land.74

A Reading of "Seeds of life and hope" from Ladder to the Light, Steven Charleston

I have a small vision to share, one that came to me through the night walks we call dreams. In my dream, I saw a shadowy figure standing high on a darkened hill, throwing seeds into the wind. Once the seeds left the figure’s hand, they turned to tiny points of light and were carried away into the sky. That’s all I remember, but it is enough. You and I stand on a windswept moment in history. All around is us is a gathering darkness. But we are not afraid because we have seeds of life and hope in our pockets. Our task is to cast them as far and wide as we can. The breath of the Spirit will do the rest.75

A Reading from Hope is Here! Spiritual Practices for Pursuing Justice and Beloved Community, Luther Smith Jr.

The Rev. Dr. Luther E. Smith Jr. is Professor Emeritus of Church and Community, Candler School of Theology, Emory University. He is the author and editor of influential books on Howard Thurman, Christian community, and spiritual practices.

I hear people’s anxiety about the present and future state of the world… All this has led many to feel and say, “The times have never been this bad!” Although I understand how people come to this conclusion, I also know that every generation has faced crises that threatened to rip apart their personal, social, and political foundations… We insult our ancestors by exclaiming that we are overwhelmed and incapacitated because we live in the worst of times.

This is our season! This is our time! We cannot use the increased complexity of our times and lives as an excuse to withdraw from our distinctive challenges. Every generation has dealt with confusing new realities that led to bewildering circumstances. Every generation has had the challenges and opportunities to embrace the work of hope. This is our time! This is our season! Hope is here to enliven us to life and the practices of justice and beloved community… Each one of us can be a sign of hope for this and future seasons.76

A Reading from The Mystic as Prophet, Luther Smith Jr. and Howard Thurman

Love makes community. Even nature is involved in this concept of community, for the love-ethic extends to plants, animals, and the rest of creation. Howard Thurman’s analysis of the cause for some cases of mental illness is an excellent example of this conviction of inter-dependence:

“Our atmosphere is polluted, our streams are poisoned, our hills are denuded, wildlife is increasingly exterminated, while more and more humanity becomes an alien on the earth and a fouler of its own nest. The price that is being extracted for this is a deep sense of isolation, of being rootless and a vagabond. Often I have surmised that this condition is more responsible for what seems to be the phenomenal increase in mental and emotional disturbances in modern life than the pressures­—economic, social, and political—that abound on every hand. The collective psyche shrieks that it feels as a part of the death cry of a pillaged nature.”77

A Reading from “A Slower Urgency”, Báyò Akómoláfé

Dr. Báyò Akómoláfé (1983) was born into a Christian home and to Yoruba parents in western Nigeria. As founder and Elder of The Emergence Network and host of the course/festival series, We Will Dance with Mountains, Báyò curates an earth-wide project for the re-calibration of our ability to respond to civilizational crisis inspired by Yoruba indigenous cosmologies.

Everywhere I was invited to speak, I offered an invitation to ‘slow down’, which seems like the wrong thing to do when there’s fire on the mountain. But here’s the point: in ‘hurrying up’ all the time, we often lose sight of the abundance of resources that might help us meet today’s most challenging crises. We rush through into the same patterns we are used to. Of course, there isn’t a single way to respond to crisis; there is no universally correct way. However the call to slow down works to bring us face to face with the invisible, the hidden, the unremarked, the yet-to-be-resolved. Sometimes, what is the appropriate thing to do is not the effective thing to do.

Slowing down is thus about lingering in the places we are not used to. Seeking out new questions. Becoming accountable to more than what rests on the surface. Seeking roots. Slowing down is taking care of ghosts, hugging monsters, sharing silence, embracing the weird.78

A Reading from “The End of Hope and the Beginning of Miracle”, Jay O’Hara

Jay is a Quaker climate activist who in 2013 used a small lobster boat to blockade a 40,000-ton shipment of coal to the Brayton power plant in Somerset, MA.

Jesus manifested the paradoxical power of vulnerability. The paradox is that vulnerability is our strength. As Jesus taught, in order to have our life, we must lose it. In order to be a leader, we must be a servant. When we turn the other cheek, we upend a power structure that is based on domination and fear. And we discover that death on the cross is not defeat.

This power flows not from following abstract values found in the dead letter, even those in Scripture, imploring us to be good stewards of Creation, but from a lived reality of the Living Christ, the Holy Spirit that we experience within and that moves through us into the world. This holy vulnerability is what opens the possibility for miracles.79

A Reading from “Grief in a Silent Sea”, Tim Gordon

Tim Gordon is a marine biologist at the University of Exeter and at the Australian Institute of Marine Science; his research focuses on the impacts of climate change on tropical coral reefs.

Jesus never scuba-dived on a dying Great Barrier Reef. He never saw the colors fade, the architecture collapse and the symphony silenced. But I think his words and actions at Lazarus’ tomb show us how he might respond to today’s environmental crises. If, while on earth, Jesus had seen the riches of creation reduced to a rubble field, he surely would have wept with us for its loss. He surely would have pointed us to its future redemption. And he surely would have used this as motivation to protect all that still remains of the planet’s wonders.

“I am the resurrection and the life,” said Jesus, as his cheeks shone with tears. One day, the sea will sing again.80

A Reading from “Resurrection is Vegetal”,
Dong Hyeon Jeong

The Rev. Dr. Dong Hyeon Jeong is a pastor and professor of New Testament Interpretation at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, where he utilizes such critical interpretive lenses such as postcolonialism, gender and sexuality, socio-economic, race and ethnicity, ableism, and posthumanism/eco-justice. The son of Korean missionaries in the Philippines, Jeong is an ordained elder in the Philippine Central Conference, Manila Episcopal Area, Southwest Philippines Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.

I love gardening. Touching the soil, seeing and smelling the plants, and eating the fruits of their love teach me every time to be receptive to the presence of the vegetal life. Moreover, recently I have also learned about the importance of accepting decay or death. As a human being, I am fearful of my own death because, as a Christian, I have one life to live with a clear expiration in sight. And yet, plants teach me that decay/death is not the end. They grow their leaves during spring, blossom their flowers during summer, lay down their leaves during the fall, and accept the slumber during winter. Then they rise again as the spring season awakens…

Losing one’s life for the gospel is not a call for meaningless sacrifice or abuse. Rather, it is a reminder to “come and see” (John 1:39) from God’s creation that resurrection is vegetal. We live and die in Christ because, like the plants, we believe in Christ’s promise of renewed life. This renewed life recognizes the joys and pains of the olden days, the deaths that we have had in the past, while believing that we will see the rays of divine light and the joys of the blessed rain in our lives. In all of these, we are invited once again to let go of all of ourselves so we can be buried and be resurrected in Christ.81

A Reading from “Our Relationship with Creation”,
Br. Keith Nelson, SSJE

Br. Keith Nelson was raised Baptist, studied at Kenyon College and Harvard Divinity School, and practiced Buddhist meditation before life professing as an Episcopal monastic with the Society of St. John the Evangelist in 2019.

When we violate, abuse, exploit, or even simply ignore non-human creatures, we are rejecting a core dimension of our humanity and of God’s calling for us. We are crucifying the earth. We are interrupting, speaking over, or bickering with God’s gentle language of love, in which each creature is like a syllable of the living Word. Each creature is an instance of Divine Gift, God’s gift to Godself, the love language of the Trinity. We believe God became a Creature in Jesus Christ and redeemed Creation from the inside out so that we creatures can participate directly in this infinite pattern of God’s giving-and-receiving.82

A Reading from This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories that Make Us, Cole Arthur Riley

Cole Arthur Riley is the creator of Black Liturgies, a space where Black words of dignity, lament, rage, and rest, are curated and integrated with a liberating spirituality. An excellent collection of prayers, poems, and meditations was published under this title in 2024. She serves as the content and spiritual formation manager for Chesterton House: A Center for Christian Studies at Cornell University.

Have you ever stood in the presence of a tree and listened to the wind pass through its leaves? The roots and body stand defiant and unmoved. But listen. The branches stretch out their tongues and whisper shhhhh.

Trees make symphonies without their trunks ever moving, almost as if the stillness of their centers amplifies their sound. The tree may appear still, but if you look closer, you’ll see that each leaf flails with breath. The tree may seem alone, but plow deep and you’ll unearth its secret gnarled roots—the grotesque and the beautiful—creeping in the soil, reaching toward the ancestors.

Thomas Merton said, “No writing on the solitary, meditative dimensions of life can say anything that has not already been said better by the wind in the pine trees.” I hold this close.83

Literary and Activist Readings

A Reading from The Brothers Karamazov,
Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. His literary works explore the human condition in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century Russia, and engage with a variety of philosophical and religious themes.

Love all God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.84

A Reading from The Art of the Commonplace, Wendell Berry

Wendell Erdman Berry (b. 1934) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer. Over the years, he has called himself an agrarian, a pacifist, and a Christian—albeit of an eccentric kind. He has written against all forms of violence and destruction—of land, communities, and human beings—and argued that the modern American way of life is a skein of violence.

What is good for the world will be good for us. That requires that we make the effort to know the world and to learn what is good for it. We must learn to cooperate in its processes, and to yield to its limits. But even more important, we must learn to acknowledge that the creation is full of mystery; we will never entirely understand it. We must abandon arrogance and stand in awe. We must recover the sense of the majesty of creation, and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For I do not doubt that it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it.85

A Reading from Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert, Terry Tempest Williams

Terry Tempest Williams (b. 1955) is an American writer, educator, conservationist, and activist. Williams' writing is rooted in the American West and her work focuses on social and environmental justice ranging from issues of ecology and the protection of public lands and wildness to exploring humanity's relationship to culture and nature. She is working with the Planetary Health Alliance and the Center for the Study of World Religions in establishing The Constellation Project, where the sciences and spirituality are conjoined.

The eyes of the future are looking back at us and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time. They are kneeling with hands clasped that we might act with restraint, that we might leave room for the life that is destined to come. To protect what is wild is to protect what is gentle. Perhaps the wilderness we fear is the pause between our own heartbeats, the silent space that says we live only by grace. Wilderness lives by this same grace. Wild mercy is in our hands.86

A Reading from Carework: Dreaming Disability Justice, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (b. 1975) is a Canadian-American poet, writer, educator and social activist. Their writing and performance art focuses on documenting the stories of queer and trans people of color, abuse survivors, mixed-race people and diasporic South Asians and Sri Lankans.

For years awaiting this apocalypse, I have worried that as sick and disabled people, we will be the ones abandoned when our cities flood. But I am dreaming the biggest disabled dream of my life—dreaming not just of a revolutionary movement in which we are not abandoned but of a movement in which we lead the way. With all of our crazy, adaptive-deviced, loving kinship and commitment to each other, we will leave no one behind as we roll, limp, stim, sign, and move in a million ways towards cocreating the decolonial living future. I am dreaming like my life depends on it. Because it does.87

Scriptural Readings for Creation

Readings from the New Testament

Romans 8:19-23 (The whole creation groans in labor)
Romans 12:9-21 (Be zealous for God’s reign of peace and healing)
Romans 13:8-14 (Love all Creation as ourselves, doing no wrong)
Romans 14:1-12 (Affirm all in God’s work, beginner to mature)

Galatians 6:14-18 (Boast only of the cross; New Creation is all)

Philippians 1:21-30 (Live worthy of the gospel of New Creation)
Philippians 2:1-13 (Let us join and serve creation as Christ for us)

Readings from the Hebrew Bible

Genesis 28:10-17 (Jacob promised descendants & presence of God)

Psalm 8 (Awe and responsibility in Creation)
Psalm 19:1-6 (God’s glory in Creation and the Law)
Psalm 33 (The greatness and goodness of God)
Psalm 65 (Thanksgiving for Creation’s bounty)
Psalm 74:12-23 (Plea to God our Creator)
Psalm 89:1-2, 5-18, 52 (Steadfast love of the Creator)
Psalm 96 (Let all Creation rejoice)
Psalm 147:1,3-11 (God provides for all creatures)
Psalm 148 (Praise God all Creation)

Proverbs 3:1-6 (Follow teachings for long life & abundant welfare)

A Song of Creation (Genesis 1:1-2:4a)88

This translation from the Biblical Hebrew seeks to bring out the strangeness and beauty of the original, as well as to reveal meanings often easy to miss in English such as the feminine pronoun of the Spirit (v. 2) and describing all creatures as "souls" (v. 20, 24). The Hebrew title "God" is transliterated as Eloheme to assist in pronunciation and to play on the English "gene" and "meme".

i

Within beginning Eloheme molded
waters above and ground below.

And the earth was helter-skelter;
darkness over the face of Abyss.

And the Breath of Eloheme she
nestled tremulous over wavelets.

Eloheme called out, “Light—be!”
and brilliance bloomed into being.

Eloheme beheld the light created,
and knew that light as goodness.

Eloheme traced the divide across,
between the light and the darkness.

Eloheme called to light: “Be Day!”
and to darkness called: “Be Night!”

Of this evening and of this morning
there now was for the first: Day.

ii

And Eloheme spoke; a Firmness firmed
and came between waters and waters.

Eloheme arched the Firmness
and separated the waters;

The Waters below the Firmness
from the Waters that were Above.

And it was so;
so Eloheme called it: “Heavens!”

Of this evening and of this morning there now was: Second Day.

iii

And Eloheme spoke: “Assemble! Gather you,
Waters under Heavens, together as one.

And Dry Land! Appear.”
and it was so.

Eloheme called Dry Land: “Earth!”
and the Under Waters: “Seas!”

So Eloheme saw Goodness.

Eloheme spoke: “Earth: Green with Grassy-growth
and bear Forest children and fruiting fruit;

Fruiting of fruit over the Earth,
each in their own image.”

And went forth Greeny-grass on the Earth,
bearing fruitfully offspring of itself;

And went forth Forest on the Earth
bearing fruitfully offspring of itself.

So Eloheme saw Goodness.

Of this evening and of this morning there now was:
Third Day.

iv

And Eloheme spoke: “Lights come into;
come into Heavens’ Firmness;

For marking between Day and Night,
for signifying seasons and days and years.

And become lights in Heavens’ Firmness
for lighting over the Earth,” and it was so.

Eloheme crafted the two Great Lights:
the Greater Light reigning over the Day;

And the Lesser Light reigning over
the Night and all the Stars.

Eloheme gave them to Heavens’ Firmness
to be light over the Earth,

And to reign over Day and Night,
and to separate Light from Darkness.

So Eloheme saw Goodness.

Of this evening and of this morning
there now was: Fourth Day.

v

And Eloheme spoke: “Waters! Be teeming;
swarm a swarming of living souls.

And flying fly; fly birds above the Earth,
across the face of Heavens’ Firmness!”

So Eloheme created the great sea monsters
and all living souls teeming

Who swarm in the waters,
all according to their myriad kind.

And all winged-wings of their kinds;
and Eloheme saw Goodness.

And Eloheme gave them Blessing
and toward them Eloheme said:

“Bear fruit! multiply! fill Sea’s waters!
and birds; multiply multitudes in Earth!”

Of this evening and of this morning
there now was: Fifth Day.

vi

And Eloheme spoke: “Bring out Earth!
bring out living souls of myriad kind;

Beasts and creatures and wildness,”
and it was so.

So made Eloheme wildlife of the Earth;
all the beasts of the Earth;

All the crawling creatures of the soil;
each after their myriad kind.

So Eloheme saw Goodness.

Eloheme spoke: “Make We humanity
in our Figure and with our Shape,

For shepherding Sea’s fish,
and all Heavens’ birds,

For Earth’s standing beasts,
and all who crawl upon Her!”

So by Eloheme’s form was humanity molded;
by Eloheme’s figure were shaped male and female.

And Eloheme gave them Blessing,
and toward them Eloheme said:

“Fruit! Multiply! Fill the Earth!
Reign over Sea’s fish and Heavens’ birds;

Reign over Earth’s beasts
and all crawling creatures.”

And Eloheme spoke: “Behold!
I give to you all Earth’s greening,

And of all fruiting forests
will be eating for you,

And of all Earth’s beasts,
and all Heavens’ birds,

And of all which crawls
and which has living souls,

And all greening-grass for nourishment,”
and it was so.

Eloheme saw all creation and, behold!
it was of exceeding goodness!

Of this evening and of this morning
there now was: Sixth Day.

vii

So completed were Heavens and Earth,
and all the myriad heavenly bodies.

Eloheme completed on the seventh day
the craftsmanship which was crafted.

And Eloheme rested that seventh day
from all the working which was worked.

And Eloheme gave Blessing to that day
and consecrated this the Seventh Day,

For on that day was cessation from all the working
that by work Eloheme had worked.

So these are the birthings of Heavens and Earth;
these are their creating.

Quotes on Creation

Also see section “Readings,” p. 94, for longer excerpts.

Theologians

Ireneaus of Lyons (120-202), Against Heresies

The initial step for a soul to come to knowledge of God is contemplation of nature.

By choosing to create, fill and sustain all things, our God is a God who is intimately connected to God’s creatures.

Tertullian (160-230), De Testimonio Animae

Nature is school-mistress, the soul the pupil; and whatever one has taught or the other has learned has come from God—the Teacher of the teacher.

St. Athanasius (296-373), On the Incarnation

For no part of creation is left void of God:
God has filled all things everywhere.

St. Basil the Great (329-379), Hexaemeron, Homily V, “The Germination of the Earth”

I want creation to penetrate you with so much admiration that wherever you go, the least plant may bring you the clear remembrance of the Creator...One blade of grass or one speck of dust is enough to occupy your entire mind in beholding the art with which it has been made.

St. Ambrose of Milan (340-397), De Nabuthe 3

The world has been created for everyone’s use, but you few rich are trying to keep it for yourselves. For not merely the possession of the earth, but the very sky, the air, and the sea are claimed for the use of the rich few...The earth belongs to all, not just to the rich.

St. Gregory of Nyssa (335-395), On Love for the Poor

Use; do not misuse; so, too, Paul teaches you. Find your rest in temperate relaxation. Do not indulge in a frenzy of pleasures. Don’t make yourself a destroyer of absolutely all living things, whether they be four-footed and large or four-footed and small, birds, fish, exotic or common a good bargain or expensive. The sweat of the hunter ought not to fill your stomach like a bottomless well that many men digging cannot fill.89

St. Augustine (354-430), De Civit. Dei, Book XVI

Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?

Rashi (1040-1105), Commentary on the Torah

“And they shall have v’yirdu...” The expression may imply dominion as well as descending—if worthy, humanity dominates over the beasts and cattle; if not, humanity will sink lower than them and the beast will rule.

Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra (1092-1167)

Wherever I turn my eyes, around on Earth or to the heavens
I see You in the field of stars
I see You in the yield of the land
In every breath and sound, a blade of grass, a simple flower,
An echo of Your holy Name.

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

We shall awaken from our dullness and rise vigorously toward justice. If we fall in love with creation deeper and deeper, we will respond to its endangerment with passion.

Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars. Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings. Now, think. What delight God gives to humankind with all these things. All nature is at the disposal of humankind. We are to work with it. For without it we cannot survive.

All living creatures are sparks from the radiation of God’s brilliance, emerging from God like the rays of the sun.

St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)

If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.

St. Birgitta (1303-1373), Revelation to Birgitta

Let a man fear, above all, me, his God, and so much the gentler will he become toward my creatures and animals, on whom, on account of me, their Creator, he ought to have compassion.

Julian of Norwich (1342-1423), Revelations of Divine Love

I saw three properties in the world: the first is that God made it. The second is that God loveth it. The third is, that God keepeth it. But what beheld I therein? Verily the Maker, the Keeper, the Lover.

Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), The Dialogue

I did not intend my creatures to make themselves servants and slaves to the world’s pleasures. They owe their first love to me. Everything else they should love and possess, as I told you, not as if they owned it, but as something lent them.

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), The Imitation of Christ

If thy heart were right, then every creature would be a mirror of life and a book of holy doctrine. There is no creature so small and abject, but it reflects the goodness of God.

St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

If we learn to love the earth, we will find labyrinths, gardens, fountains and precious jewels! A whole new world will open itself to us. We will discover what it means to be truly alive.

St. John of the Cross (1542-1591)

All the creatures—not the higher creatures alone, but also the lower, according to that which each of them has received in itself from God—each one raises its voice in testimony to that which God is...each one after its manner exalts God, since it has God in itself.

Joseph Hall (1574-1656), Anglican Bishop

How endless is that volume that God hath written of the world! Every creature is a letter, every day a new page.

Jacob Boehme (1575-1624), The Way to Christ

Open your eyes, and behold, the whole world is full of God.

George Herbert (1593-1633), Anglican Priest and Poet, Providence

Thou art in small things great, not small in any:

Thy even praise can neither rise, nor fall.

Thou art in all things one, in each thing many:

For thou art infinite in one and all.

John Wesley (1701-1791), Anglican Priest

I believe in my heart that faith in Jesus Christ can and will lead us beyond an exclusive concern for the well-being of other human beings to the broader concern for the well-being of the birds in our backyards, the fish in our rivers, and every living creature on the face of the earth.

St. Nikephoros of Chios (1750-1821), A Lack of Trees Brings Poverty

Men will become poor because they will not have a love for trees. If you don’t love trees, you don’t love God.

Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (1772-1810)

Master of the Universe,
Grant me the ability to be alone;
May it be my custom to go outdoors each day
among the trees and grass—among all growing things—and there may I be alone, and enter into prayer,
to talk with the one to whom I belong.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

All that I have ever seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all that I have not seen.

Simone Weil (1909-1943), Waiting for God

The beauty of the world is Christ’s tender smile for us coming through matter.

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), Proverbs from Plymouth Pupil

Flowers may beckon toward us, but they speak toward heaven and God.

St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)

With enraptured gaze we beheld the white moon rising quietly behind the tall trees, the silvery rays it was casting upon sleeping nature, the bright stars twinkling in the deep skies, the light breath of the evening breeze making the snowy clouds float easily along; all this raised our souls to heaven.

Evelyn Underwood (1875-1941), Anglican Mystic

In the created world around us we see the Eternal Artist, Eternal Love at work.

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), Reverence for Life

The harvested fields bathed in the autumn mists speak of God and his goodness far more vividly than any human lips.

T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), The Idea of a Christian Society

A wrong attitude towards nature implies somewhere a wrong attitude towards God, and the consequence is an inevitable doom. For a long enough time, we have believed in nothing but the values arising in a mechanised, commercialised, urbanised way of life: it would be as well for us to face the permanent conditions upon which God allows us to live upon this earth.90

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), The Irony of American History

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.91

Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957), Why Work?

A society in which consumption has to be artificially stimulated in order to keep production going is a society founded on trash and waste, and such a society is a house built upon sand.

An Orthodox monastic story told by Elder Joseph the Hesychast (1897-1959)92

An elder is distracted in his morning prayer by the dawn chorus of frogs from a nearby marsh and sends his disciple to tell them to be quiet until the monks have finished the Midnight Office. When the disciple duly transmits the message, the frogs reply, “We have already said the Midnight Office and are in the middle of Matins; can’t you wait till we’ve finished?”

Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch (1920-2012), A Theology of Creation

The maternal sea is polluted, the heavens are rent, the forests are being destroyed and the desert areas are increasing. We must protect creation. Better yet, we must embellish it, render it spiritual, transfigure it. But nothing will be done unless there is a general conversion of men’s minds and hearts.

Pope John Paul II (1920-2005), Peace with God, Peace with Creation

When man turns his back on the Creator’s plan, he provokes a disorder which has inevitable repercussions on the rest of the created order. If man is not at peace with God, then earth itself cannot be at peace.

The seriousness of ecological degradation lays bare the depth of man’s moral crisis. Simplicity, moderation and discipline, as well as the spirit of sacrifice, must become a part of everyday life.

Jürgen Moltmann (b. 1926), God in Creation

The whole creation is a fabric woven and shot through by the efficacies of the Spirit.

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022), Love Letter to the Earth

At this very moment, the Earth is above you, the Earth is below you, all around you, and even inside you. The Earth is everywhere. The water in our flesh, the rock in our bones, we all are part of the Earth. We are part of the Earth and we carry her within us. (adapted from page 8)

Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1931-2022), God Has A Dream

The first law of our being is that we are set in a delicate network of interdependence with our fellow human beings and with the rest of God’s creation.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934), The Gift of Good Land

To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of Creation. When we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration. In such desecration we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness, and others to want.93

Literary and Activist Quotes

William Wordsworth (1770-1850), “The World Is Too Much with Us” (excerpt)

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;

The winds that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not.94

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), Walden

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.95

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), Uncle Vanya

Humanity has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that they can add to what they’ve been given. But up to now they haven’t been a creator, only a destroyer. Forests keep disappearing, rivers dry up, wild life’s become extinct, the climate’s ruined and the land grows poorer and uglier every day.96

Helen Keller (1880-1964), The Story of My Life

Everything in nature has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.97

E.B. White (1899-1985), Essays of E. B. White

I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.

Jake Tekaronianeken Swamp (1940-2010), Greetings to the Natural World

We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our mother, we send greetings and thanks.

Now we turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for all the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings and thanks to the Creator.98

David Orr (b. 1944), Dangerous Years

Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up as something we do in daily practice, not just something that we wish for or talk about. It is a discipline requiring skill, competence, steadiness, and courage. It is practical. It bonds us to each other, and to real places, animals, trees, waters, and landscapes. The hopeful are patient, not passive. They are creators of the gyres of positive change that could, in time, redeem the human prospect. They are people who will know how to connect us to better possibilities waiting to be born.99

Robin Wall Kimmerer (b. 1953), Braiding Sweetgrass

Restoration is imperative for healing the earth, but reciprocity is imperative for long-lasting, successful restoration. Like other mindful practices, ecological restoration can be viewed as an act of reciprocity in which humans exercise their caregiving responsibility for the ecosystems that sustain them. We restore the land, and the land restores us. As writer Freeman House cautions, “We will continue to need the insights and methodologies of science, but if we allow the practice of restoration to become the exclusive domain of science, we will have lost its greatest promie, which is nothing less than a redefinition of human culture.”100

Sandra Steingraber (b. 1959), biologist, author, and environmental activist

We are all musicians in a great human orchestra, and it is now time to play the Save the World Symphony. You are not required to play a solo, but you are required to know what instrument you hold, and play it as well as you can. You are required to find your place in the score. What we love we must protect. That is what love means. From the right to know and the duty to inquire flows the obligation to act.

Rebecca Solnit (b. 1961), Hope in the Dark

Hope is not like a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. Hope is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth’s treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal. Hope just means another world might be possible, not promised, not guaranteed. Hope calls for action; action is impossible without hope. To hope is to give yourself to the future, and that commitment to the future makes the present inhabitable.101

Prayers of the People

Adapting the BCP’s Forms

The Presider may introduce the Prayers, as given in the rubrics in the BCP page 383, with a collect or invitation such as

This Season we pray with and for God’s whole Creation. We pray that humanity might learn to love and honor the rest of the natural world, to grieve and turn away from our selfish and destructive acts, and to work together to transform human hearts and human civilization so that all living beings might flourish.

Collects for concluding the Prayers may be found in the Resources under Collects, Prayers, Propers, & Intercessions, p. 62.

General Considerations for the Prayers

The Prayers of the People are to be adapted to the local needs of a worshiping community. Each of the six biddings may be altered with Creation and the climate crisis in mind using the following suggestions.

The Universal Church, its members, and its mission

• Include prayers for all communities of faith, as our Creation theology emphasizes our interconnectedness and need to join into restorative mission together.
• Noting that ecclesia means “assembly,” consider asking for prayers for “all Holy Assemblies” in addition to or instead of “the Church.”

The Nation and all in authority

• Because Creation and the climate are not divided by borders, we could pray for all nations.
• For this Nation, prayers could be offered for a strong and united move toward action on the climate crisis.
• Consider praying for specific leaders and officials in the area of environment and climate by name.
• Pray for “those with responsibility” rather than “authority” in light of Christ’s teaching that leaders are to be servants rather than rulers.

The welfare of the world

• Consider using “all creatures,” “all Creation,” “eco-systems,” and other phrases that remind us that our world is more than just the human sphere.

The concerns of the local community

• Consider including our creatures (companions and wild), plants, eco-systems, and other aspects of our local community in these prayers.

Those who suffer and those in any trouble

• Consider including all species, eco-systems, and the global climate in these prayers.

The departed (with commemoration of a saint)

• Consider including all Creation in addition to humanity in our prayers for the deceased.
• Species extinction is a feature of the industrial age and is accelerating today. Consider ways to pray for all forms of life which will never be again.
• Consider including among the saints those who have been special theologians or workers in Creation.

Concluding the Prayers

• Collects for concluding the Prayers may be found in the Resources under Collects, Prayers, & Intercessions beginning on p. 62.

Adapting Forms I-VI in the BCP

The following suggestions may be considered in adapting the Forms from the Book of Common Prayer for use in the Season of Creation.

Form I (p. 383)

• Consider a bidding such as “let us pray to the Creator.”
• Consider a response such as “Creator, renew us.”
• For this city: add “for this land, water, and sky of [the Berkshires/Blackstone Valley/etc.]”
• Use the optional prayer for weather and harvest.
• For the good earth: add “...which God has given to all God’s creatures, and...”
• For all who have died: add “...departed, and for all species extinction, let us pray...”
• For deliverance: add “...degradation of our planet/world/environment, let us pray...”
• In the communion of: add “...Creation/all creatures...”

Form II (p. 385)

• For God’s people: “...and all people of faith/all spiritual beings...for our Bishops and all spiritual shepherds;...
  Pray for all Holy Assemblies.”
• For peace: “...the well-being of all creatures/Creation...”
• For those in need/trouble: “...and all creatures mistreated, misused, and oppressed.”
• For those seeking God: “...that all might turn to Creation to find God’s revelation.”
• For the departed: “...and for vanishing wildlife populations and all species that have gone extinct..”
• For Christ-honorers: “...especially [saints, activists] and all who honor Christ in their work to heal Creation.”

Form III (p. 387)

• “Creator, we pray for all Creation and the Holy Assemblies of all faithful people.”
• “Grant that every creature and all Creation may truly and humbly serve you and one another...That your Glory may be known by all creatures.”
• “We pray for all bishops, priests, deacons, and all spiritual leaders...That they may be faithful ministers of your Word and Sacraments in all Creation.”
• “We pray for all who lead and hold responsibility in the nations and organizations of the human world.”
• “Give us grace to do your joyful desire in all that we do and refrain from doing.”
• “Have compassion on all your creatures who suffer from any grief or trouble.”
• “Give to all departed creatures eternal rest.”
• “Let us pray for our own needs and those of all Creation.”

Form IV (p. 388)

• “Let us pray for the Church and for all Creation.”
• “Grant, Creator God, that all your creatures may be...”
• “Give us all a reverence for the earth and all creatures as your own Creation, that we may use its gifts rightly in the service of others and to your honor and glory.”
• “Bless all living beings and ecosystems whose lives are closely linked with ours...”
• “Comfort and heal all those of your Creation who suffer...”

Form V (p. 389)

• “For the holy Church and Creation of God...”
• “For...all bishops, ministers, and spiritual leaders, and for all the holy people and creatures of God...”
• “For all whom you have created and sustained...and that all Creation may be one...”
• “For the mission of the Church...it may hear, preach, and perform the Gospel throughout all Creation.”
• “For the peace of the world and reconciliation of all living beings, that a spirit of reverence and communion may grow among nations, people, and all Creation...”
• “For those in positions of public trust...promote the dignity and interdwelling of all Creation...”
• “For the poor...and all who are in danger; for myriad species facing extinction, ecosystems in collapse, and all our fellow living beings in distress;...”
• “For this congregation of all creatures...”
• “For all...for our families, friends, neighbors, creaturely companions, and all living beings...”

Form VI (p. 392)

• “For all people and creatures in their daily life and work; For our families, friends, neighbors, companions, and all living beings...”
• “For our waters, lands, and air; for this community, the nation, and the world...”
• “For the just and proper dwelling in your Creation; For the victims of hunger, fear, injustice, oppression, extinction, and climate change.”
• “For all your creatures who are in danger...; For all living beings who minister to...”
• “For the peace and unity of the Creation of God; For all people and all of nature who proclaim the Gospel...”
• “For...all bishops, other ministers, and all spiritual leaders; For all who serve God in Creation.”
• “We thank you, Lord, for all the blessings of this life and the gifts of your Creation.”
• “We will exalt you, O God our Creator...”
• “We pray for all living beings who have died...”
• “Lord, let your loving-kindness be upon all; Whom you have created and sustained.”

Forms for the Prayers of the People

The following forms may be used or adapted as desired.

Prayers from Honoring God in Creation102

Honoring God in Creation Form 1

Blessed God, whose love calls the whole creation into covenant with you, and who puts in our hands responsibility for the care of the earth and its creatures: we pray for all to whom you have given life and being, saying, “Merciful God, keep your planet and people in peace.”

For the well-being of the earth; for its resources of water, air, light, and soil, that they may be tended for the good of all creatures, we pray:

Merciful God, keep your planet and people in peace.

For the waters of the earth; for their careful use and conservation, that we may have the will and the ability to keep them clean and pure, we pray:

Merciful God, keep your planet and people in peace.

For the mineral and energy resources of the planet, that we may learn sustainable consumption and sound care of the environment from which they come, we pray:

Merciful God, keep your planet and people in peace.

For the animals of the earth, wild and domestic, large and very small, that they may know the harmony of relationship that sustains all life, we pray:

Merciful God, keep your planet and people in peace.

For the creatures of the earth who do us harm and those whose place in your creation we do not understand or welcome, that we may see them as beloved creatures of God, we pray:

Merciful God, keep your planet and people in peace.

For all who shape public policies affecting the planet and its creatures [especially _____ ], that they may consider wisely the well-being of all who come after us, we pray:

Merciful God, keep your planet and people in peace.

For all those engaged in conservation, in agriculture and ranching, in aquaculture and fishing, in mining and industry, and in forestry and timber-harvesting, that the health, fruitfulness, and beauty of the natural world may be sustained alongside human activity, we pray:

Merciful God, keep your planet and people in peace.

For the creatures and the human beings of your world who are ill, or in danger, pain, or special need [especially _____ ], and for all who suffer from the unjust, violent, or wasteful use of the earth’s resources or their devastation by war, that all may one day live in communities of justice and peace, we pray:

Merciful God, keep your planet and people in peace.

For the gifts of science and technology and for those who practice these skills, that they may be wise, visionary, and compassionate in their work, we pray:

Merciful God, keep your planet and people in peace.

For the creatures and the people of the earth whose lives and deaths have contributed to the fruitful abundance of this planet [giving thanks especially for _____ ], we pray:

Merciful God, keep your planet and people in peace.

The Presider concludes the Prayers with a suitable collect (p. 62)

Honoring God in Creation Form 2

During the silence after each bidding, the people may offer their own prayers, either silently or aloud.

Let us pray for the revealing of the reign of God in the world, now and always.

In the beginning,

God was.

Here and now,

God is.

In the future,

God will be.

Creator of earth, sea, and sky, kindle the fire of your Spirit within us that we may be bold to heal and defend the earth, and pour your blessing upon all who work for the good of the planet.

Silence

God, Giver of life,

Hear our prayer.

Breath of life, receive our thanks for the beauty of our local habitat and all who dwell in it, and grant us the wisdom and will to conserve it.

Silence

God, Giver of life,

Hear our prayer.

Source of life, heal and redeem the wounds of your creation, and visit the places and people who suffer from our indifference, neglect, and greed.

Silence

God, Giver of life,

Hear our prayer.

Lover of all you have made, we thank you for the wondrous diversity of your creatures, and we pray for their well-being.

Silence

God, Giver of life,

Hear our prayer.

Author of the book of nature, receive our gratitude for places of restoration and healing, and continue to bless those places that feed our lives and spirits.

Silence

God, Giver of life,

Hear our prayer.

Wise Creator, whose works are full of mystery, give us wonder and appreciation for your creatures with whom we find ourselves in conflict.

Silence

God, Giver of life,

Hear our prayer.

Giver of all good gifts, awaken us daily to our dependence upon your bounty, and make us always thankful for the abundance of your blessings.

Silence

God, Giver of life,

Hear our prayer.

Divine Physician, heal our communities, especially those where neglect, greed, or violence inflict suffering upon people and other creatures.

Silence

God, Giver of life,

Hear our prayer.

Comforter of all the earth, sustain the people of this congregation who desire or need your presence and help [especially ____________ ].

Silence

God, Giver of life,

Hear our prayer.

Rock and refuge of all your creatures, receive into everlasting mercy all those who have died [especially ____________ ].

Silence

God, Giver of life,

Hear our prayer.

The Presider concludes the Prayers with a suitable collect (p. 62)

Honoring God in Creation Form 3
(on the theme of water)

The silence after each bidding may be followed by an appropriate response, such as “Lord, in your mercy, / Hear our prayer.”

In the beginning, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. The water that God called into being is at the heart of all that lives. Mindful of the many ways water affects our lives, let us pray for our waters and for the life of the world around us.

Silence

I ask your prayers for all people of faith, and for the transformations in their lives that are marked by the sacredness of water: at the Red Sea, in the Jordan River, in ritual baths, in the washing of feet, and in Holy Baptism.

Silence

I ask your prayers for the leaders of nations, corporations, and communities around the world, that they may exercise wise stewardship over the waters of their lands, so that all people may have clean water to drink and may live free from waterborne diseases.

Silence

I ask your prayers for the wisdom to shape creative solutions to conflicts over water in the dry places of our planet, and for justice and peace in desert lands.

Silence

I ask your prayers for all the waters of the earth: for oceans and seas, for rivers and streams, for lakes and ponds, for watersheds, marshes, and swamps, for the waters beneath the ground; and for all creatures that live in the waters of the earth.

Silence

I ask your prayers for all who travel or work at sea or on inland waterways.

Silence

I ask your prayers for all afflicted with too much water in flood or tsunami, storm or ice; and for those people and creatures who suffer as glaciers and ice floes melt and shrink.

Silence

I ask your prayers for all who have died and for all who mourn, that their tears of grief may be turned to wellsprings of joy.

Silence

The Presider concludes the Prayers with a suitable collect (p. 62)

Other Forms for the Prayers of the People

A Litany for the Earth Form A103

Let us offer our prayers to God who gives life and breath to all creatures, saying, “God of glory, hear us.”

I ask your prayers for the mission of the church throughout the world, for sharing the promise of abundant life and working toward it for all.

God of glory, hear us.

I ask your prayers for the leaders of the nations, and for all who make or influence decisions for the health of our planet and the well-being of its peoples.

God of glory, hear us.

I ask your prayers for peace with justice around the world, especially for an end to violent competition for limited resources.

God of glory, hear us.

I ask your prayers for those who suffer illness, want, or exile because of environmental degradation.

God of glory, hear us.

I ask your prayers for the environmental concerns that you may lift up now, either silently or aloud.

Silence, during which the people may offer their concerns.

We offer our fears,

God of glory, hear us.

I ask your prayers for those who in their daily work are stewards and protectors of God’s creation in ways large and small; for gardeners, farmers, and ranchers; for rangers and park managers; for fishers and foresters; for climate scientists, ecologists, and activists, and for all who work to restore and heal our wounded Earth.

God of glory, hear us.

I ask your prayers for the dead, especially for those holy women and men who taught us to marvel in all God’s works.

God of glory, hear us.

The Presider concludes the Prayers with a suitable collect (p. 62)

Creationtide Form104

The people respond with “hear our prayer”

Eternal God:
We thank you for the beauty of the World:
for the teeming life of the seas,
the flight of birds,
and the diversity of animal life.

Grant us grace to treat Creation with respect and care;
to protect endangered species,
to preserve the variety of habitats,
and to honor the delicate balance of nature.

God of life:
hear our prayer.

We thank you for the wealth
of blessings from land and sea;
for the power of wind, and the warmth of sun.
We pray for the nations of the earth,
give us the will to cherish this planet
and to use its resources sustainably for the welfare of all.

God of justice:
hear our prayer.

We pray for the faithful witness of the Church,
called to reconcile and heal:
For this parish and [our clergy ____________ ].

God of grace:
hear our prayer.

We pray for the human family.
We exult in our diversity and giftedness,
we repent of our sins, divisions and violence.
By the power of your Spirit, restore your image within us.

As every human being is known and loved by you,
may we care for one another with love and respect.
We pray for those you have commended to our care: [ those on our prayer list ____________ ]:

God of compassion:
hear our prayer.

We pray for those who have died [especially ___________ ],
whom we entrust to your eternal love;
may we support and comfort those who mourn.

God of peace:
hear our prayer.

The Presider concludes the Prayers with a suitable collect (p. 62)

Music for Creation

Hymnals of The Episcopal Church

The Hymnal 1982

400 All Creatures of Our God and King
(new lyrics: #835 Evangelical Lutheran Worship 2006)

405 All Things Bright and Beautiful

290 Come Ye Thankful People Come

412 Earth and All Stars

573 Father Eternal, Ruler of Creation

383 Fairest Lord Jesus

416 For the Beauty of the Earth

424 For the Fruit of All Creation

380 From All That Dwell Below the Skies

423 Immortal, Invisible God Only Wise

599 Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee

593 Lord Make Us Servants of Your Peace

385 Many and Great, O Lord are Thy Works

8 Morning Has Broken

455 O Love of God How Strong and True

211 The Whole Bright World Rejoices Now

433 We Gather Together to Ask the Lord’s Blessing

427 When Morning Gilds the Skies

Wonder, Love, and Praise

748 From the Dawning of Creation

746 God the Sculptor of the Mountains

812 Here I am Lord

779 The Church of Christ in Every Age

722 The Desert Shall Rejoice

Other Singing Resources

Sing a New Creation (Church Publishing)

The new hymnal from the Anglican Church of Canada offers many appropriate pieces, including:

18 Creator, God
19 Joyous Light of Heavenly Glory
25 From the Waters of Creation
26 Deep the Snows on God’s High Mountain
58 Mothering God
73 Nyanyikanlah/Hallelujah! Sing Praise
78 O God of Matchless Glory
79 Out of the Depths of Fear
89 Praise to God
92 In Sacred Manner May We Walk
93 Lord, Your Hands Have Formed This World
94 From the Highest of Heights
95 We’re Bound On a Journey
96 All Creation Danced in Answer
97 God is Calling Through the Whisper
114 O Blessed Spring
115 Long Before the Night
126 Like a Rock
157 As the Wind Song Through the Trees

Chants of Taizé 2019

13 Veni Creator
22 Veni Creator Spiritus
109 See, I am near (I make all things new)
124 L’ajuda em vindrà (who made heaven and earth)
127 I am sure I shall see (goodness in land of the living)

Carolyn Winfrey Gillette

The Rev. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette is a PCUSA minister and hymn-writer. Her lyrics can be sung to a variety of tunes familiar to our congregations. Collections Gifts of Love and Songs of Grace are available to purchase, and all lyrics following are available at carolynshymns.com under the topic of Creation/Creation Care

All of Life is Filled With Wonder
An Eagle Is Soaring
At the Dawn of Your Creation
Creator God, You Made the Earth
Creator Of the Water
Creator, We Thank You For All You Have Made
Don’t Fear, You Good Earth
God, Creation Sings Your Praises
God, How Many Are A Thousand?
God Made the Heavens and the Earth
God, Send Your Prophets Here
God, The Mountains Tell Your Glory
God, Who Made Each Great Wide Ocean
O God, Creator of All Things
O God, the Great Wide Seas are Yours
O God of Life, Your Waters Flow
O God, Our Sovereign
O God, We Thank You for This Land
O God, When Your Land
O God, You Made the Trees
O God, Your Creatures Fill the Earth
On the Beach, the Waves of Waters
Shades of Purple, Shades of Blue
Spirit of God
The Climate is Changing
The Earth is the Lord’s
We Have a Common Calling
We Were Born Out of the Waters
You Turn Mourning into Dancing

Jann Aldredge-Clanton

The Rev. Dr. Jann Aldredge-Clanton is a Baptist minister serving in ecumenical and interfaith contexts who writes hymns focused on inclusive language from a feminist theology background. Music settings are included in her three hymnbooks. Creation-specific songs include the following

Earth Transformed with Music

8 Follow Her Peaceful Ways
11 Praise the Source of All Creation
23 Praise the Source of Every Blessing
24 O Earth, We Hear Your Cries of Pain
25 Ruah, the Spirit, Dwells
26 Sophia Wisdom Shows the Way
27 Come, Join with the Children
33 Praise Sophia, Holy Wisdom
37 Holy, Wondrous Mystery, Birthing All Creation
49 Celebrate Our Maker’s Glory
50 We Come in Celebration

Inclusive Hymns for Liberation, Peace, and Justice

2 Sister-Brother, Peaceful Spirit
4 Ruah, the Spirit-Source of All
5 Behold Shekinah Leading
8 When Will Justice Flow Like Waters?
13 The Music is Ringing
14 Creation Calls to Us for Help
15 Our Mother-Father, Friend and Source
16 All the World with Beauty Shines
18 Sacred Darkness Dwelling
22 We Come to Tell Our Stories
26 Midwife Divine is Bringing Life to Birth
40 We Praise the Works of Wisdom
43 Ruah, Creator, Gave Birth to Us All
44 Holy Wisdom Comes to Earth
50 Star of Wonder, Star of Wisdom
51 Ancient Wisdom, Mother Earth
52 O Holy Darkness, Source of Life
55 Ruah, Spirit, Come Today

Inclusive Hymns for Resistance & Social Action

14 El Shaddai Will Hold Us Fast
22 Julian of Norwich Reveals Wisdom’s Way
28 Our Hearts Cry Out in Longing
44 Sister Hildegard Shows the Way
62 We Will All Resist
67 Wisdom Shows Us Peaceful Pathways

SING! Prayer and Praise

A 2009 publication of The Pilgrim Press (Local Church Ministries, United Church of Christ).

71 God of Inspiration
91 O Great Spirit
92 Empty Jar
119 River
147 Light of the World
167 Holy, Holy, Holy

Other Hymns

835 All creatures, worship God most high!
Evangelical Lutheran Worship 2006

8 Praise to the Living God
New Century Hymnal

137 Touch the Earth Lightly
Community of Christ Sings

“Holy Earth, Ancient Home,” the finale of A Passion for the Planet, a climate oratorio by Geoffrey Hudson, makes for a wonderful hymn to be sung in a church setting. Contact Hybrid Vigor Music to inquire about score availablity.

Books and Curriculums

Worship and Prayers

Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human, Cole Arthur Riley (Convergent Books, 2024)

A Celtic Liturgy for Every Season, Elizabeth Lovett Grover (Infinity Publishing, 2013)

A Contemporary Celtic Prayer Book, William John Fitzgerald (ACTA Publications, 1998)

Earth and All the Stars: Reconnecting with Nature through Hymns, Stories, Poems, and Prayers from the World’s Great Religions and Cultures, ed. Anne Rowthorne (New World Library, 2000)

Feast of the Universe: An Interfaith Sourcebook of Ecological Spirituality from the World’s Great Cultures and Religions, comp/ed. Anne Rowthorne (LeaderResources, 2009)

God’s Good Earth in Crisis: Liturgies of Lament, comp/ed. Anne and Jeffrey Rowthorn (Cascade Books, 2023)

God’s Good Earth: Praise and Prayers for Creation, Anne & Jeffery Rowthorn (Liturgical Press, 2018).

Iona Abbey Worship Book, The Iona Community (Wild Goose Publications, 2016-2017)

An Iona Prayer Book, Peter Millar (Canterbury Press, 1998)

Living Prayer: A Book of Hours for Renewing Creation, Alison M. Benders, Lisa Fullam, and Gina Hens-Piazza (Liturgical Press, 2024)

Praying with the Earth: A Prayerbook for Peace, John Philip Newell (William B. Eerdmans, 2011)

Season of Creation Celebration Guide: To Hope and Act with Creation, Season of Creation Ecumenical Steering Committee (SeasonOfCreation.com, 2024)

Sounds of the Eternal: A Celtic Psalter — Morning and Night Prayer, John Philip Newell (New Beginnings, 2012)

Preaching

Creation-Crisis Preaching: Ecology, Theology, and the Pulpit, Leah Schade (Chalice Press, 2015)

“Preaching When Life Depends on It: Climate Crisis and Gospel Hope”, Margaret Bullitt-Jonas (Anglican Theological Review, Vol. 103/2)

“Stop preaching about ‘being good stewards of the Earth’”, Fletcher Harper (Sojourners, 9/16/2021)

“Let’s Talk Faith and Climate: Communication Guidance for Faith Leaders”, (EcoAmerica and Blessed Tomorrow)

Learning

Climate Church Climate World: How People of Faith Must Work for Change, Jim Antal (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018)

Loving Creation: Christian Spirituality, Earth-Centered and Just, Kathleen Fischer (Paulist Press, 2015)

Monastic Ecological Wisdom: A Living Tradition, Samuel Torvend (Liturgical Press, 2023)

Nature Praising God: Towards a Theology of the Natural World, Dermot A. Lane (Liturgical Press, 2023)

A New Climate for Theology: God, the World, and Global Warming, Sally McFague (Fortress Press, 2008)

Renewing the Life of the Earth: An Eco-theology Resource, Theological Education Advisors, Anglican Communion Office (The Anglican Consultive Council, 2023)

Rooted and Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis, ed. Leah Schade, Margaret Bullitt-Jonas (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019)

Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible, Ellen Davis (Cambridge University Press, 2008)