The earth is the Lord’s

A litany for worship to celebrate Earth Day

by Ken Sehested

At the conclusion of creation, God saw everything that was made, and behold, it was very good. Surely the earth is satisfied with the fruit of God’s work.

God said: I will make for you a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air; and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land.

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the fields exult and all the trees sing for joy.

The mountains beheld the Beloved, and writhed; the deep bellowed and pummeled the air with its waves. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation.

Ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you.

Praise the Almighty, sun and moon, praise God, all you shining stars! Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling God’s command!

Ever since the creation of the world, God’s presence has been understood and seen in the things that have been made.

Jesus said, “If these my disciples were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin.

Creation itself waits with eager longing and will be set free from its bondage to decay. And on the banks of the river there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their fruit will be for food, their leaves for the healing of the nations.

Selected to celebrate Earth Day. Inspired by Gen 1:31; Ps 104:13; Hos 2:18; Ps 96:11–12; Hab 3:10–11; Job 12:7–8, 10; Ps 148:3, 7–8; Rom 1:20; Matt 6:28; Rom 8:19, 21; Ezek 47:12; Rev 22:1–2.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org

Reprinted from In the Land of the Willing: Litanies, Prayers, Poems, and Benedictions