EARTH DAY

A Meditation For Prayer

Song  (Click Here For Music)

For the beauty of the earth,

for the glory of the skies,

for the love which from our birth

over and around us lies.

Refrain:

Creating God, to you we raise

this, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the wonder of each hour

of the day and of the night,

hill and vale and tree and flower,

sun and moon and stars of light, [Refrain ]

For the joy of human love,

brother, sister, parent, child,

friends on earth, and friends above,

for all gentle thoughts and mild, [Refrain]

For yourself, best gift divine,

to the world so freely given,

agent of God's grand design:

peace on earth and joy in heaven. [Refrain]

Isaiah 65

For I, God the Creator, am about to create new heavens and a new earth!

The things of the past will not be remembered or come to mind! 

Be glad and rejoice forever and ever in what I create,

because I now create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight! 

I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people;

no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it or the cry of distress. 

No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days,

or old people who do not live out their days.

They die as mere youths who reach but a hundred years,

and those who fall short of a hundred will be thought accursed. 

At last, they will live in the houses they build,

and eat the fruit of the vineyard they plant. 

They will not build for another to inhabit;

they will not plant for another to eat.

For the days of my people will be like the days of a tree,

and my chosen ones will enjoy the fruit of their labors. 

They will not labor in vain or bear children doomed to die;

for they and their descendants are a people blessed by God.

Even before they call upon me, I will answer;

and while they speak, I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb will feed side by side;

the lion will eat straw like an ox.

Serpents will be content to crawl on the ground;

They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain,

says the God of all Creation.

Collect For the Day

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 grant that we, remembering

the account that we must one day give, may be faithful stewards

of your good gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with

you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, forever

and ever. Amen.

 

Psalm 8

 

O God, our Sovereign,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouths of babes and infants

you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,

to silence the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars that you have established;

what are human beings that you are mindful of them,

mortals, that you care for them?

Yet you have made them a little lower than your Divine-Self,

and crowned them with glory and honor.

You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under their feet,

all sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field,

the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O God, our Sovereign,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Prayer of Intercession

For those who are suffering from environmental injustice...

Creating God, hear our prayer. 

For those who do not have access to clean water… 

Creating God, hear our prayer. 

For those who suffer health impacts from air pollution… 

Creating God, hear our prayer. 

For the environmental racism that endangers and harms BIPOC people... 

Creating God, hear our prayer. 

For our oceans that are overwhelmed by plastic pollution… 

Creating God, hear our prayer. 

For young people and future generations facing the fear of climate catastrophe… 

Creating God, hear our prayer.

Colossians 1:15-20

Christ is the image of the unseen God and the firstborn of all creation, 

for in Christ were created all things in heaven and on earth:

everything visible and invisible,

Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers—

all things were created through Christ and for Christ. 

Before anything was created, Christ existed, and all things hold together in Christ. The church is the body; Christ is its head. 

Christ is the Beginning, the firstborn from the dead, and so Christ is first in every way. 

God wanted all perfection to be found in Christ, 

and all things to be reconciled to God through Christ—

everything in heaven and everything on earth—

when Christ made peace by dying on the cross.

Prayer For the Day

Creator God, have mercy on our wayward world, tottering on the brink of self-destruction. Have mercy on the rulers and statesmen who bear the ultimate burden of government. Have mercy on our nation as we face our share of responsibility. We recognize that we have allowed the values of consumerism to override the permanence of your Creation, and cause us to act in ways that damage your Creation and wrap your children in the cycle of poverty. Have mercy on us all and grant us your forgiveness. Amen.

Revelation 21:1-4

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

“See, the home of God is among mortals.

God will dwell with them;

they will be God's peoples,

and God will be with them;

God will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more;

mourning and crying and pain will be no more,

for the first things have passed away.”

Song  (Click Here For Music)

I see trees so green, red roses too

I see them bloom for me and you.

And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

I see skies so blue and clouds so white.

The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night.

And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces of people going by.

I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do.

They're really saying I love you.

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow.

They'll learn much more than I'll ever know.

And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world

Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world.

Genesis 1:27-31

God created humankind, in God's own image, God created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.