Dear Creator God, on this Earth Day and all days, let us always be in awe of Your wonderful works of creation. We don’t want to take the details of the world You created for me for granted. Everything around us is wonderfully complex and splendid. You, Lord, are both an Engineer and an Artist that built a world to perfectly sustain life. But you didn’t stop there. You also made immense details that please all of our senses as well. There are beautiful things to see, sounds to hear, textures to feel, yummy food to taste, and even delightful aromas to bring us enjoyment. Thank you for the details of life.
Grant us, a vision of your world as your love would have it:
a world where the weak are protected, and none go hungry or poor;
a world where the riches of creation are shared, and everyone can enjoy them;
a world where different races and cultures live in harmony and mutual respect;
a world where peace is built with justice, and justice is guided by love.
Give us the inspiration and courage to build it.
We pray for all essential workers in New York City and around the country who continue to work and put their own wellbeing on the line to help us face this crisis. We pray for doctors, nurses, first responders, researchers, law enforcement, caregivers, and all working to combat COVID-19. Be with those who work in service and restaurant professions, those keeping stores stocked and making at home deliveries, for teachers both at home and online working tirelessly to give our children an education in the midst of crisis. We pray for those who transport goods to the places that need them, provide them with what they need along the journey. Keep them safe, keep them healthy, and help us to find ways to provide them with the supplies that they need to do their jobs well. We ask that you continue to be with employers and employees who are struggling to figure out how to keep things going during this time.
We pray for parents, that you might give them the wisdom and determination to support and sustain them especially in this difficult time.
We pray for those isolated physically or emotionally through incarceration, addiction, mental illness, chronic suffering, grief, and all in need especially Peter, Laura, Kathy, Susan, Tom S., Maeve, Anita, Tracy, Justin, Judah, Catalina Ann, Jacqueline, Bob, Joe I., Tony, Joe W., Cliff, Jan, Kara, Diane, Jennifer, Ingke, the family and friends of Barney, Edwin, Diane, Rosetta, Franco, the family and friends of Marie, Charley, Dorothy, Zenaida, the DeNoyior family, and anyone we name silently in our hearts, aloud in our homes, or in the comments below.
With bold confidence in your love, almighty God, we place all for whom we pray into your eternal care; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
A Poem for Earth Day
Touch the earth lightly,
use the earth gently,
nourish the life of the world in our care: gift of great wonder, ours to surrender, trust for the children tomorrow will bear.
We who endanger, who create hunger, agents of death for all creatures that live, we who would foster clouds of disaster–
God of our planet, forestall and forgive!
Let there be greening,
birth from the burning,
water that blesses and air that is sweet, health in God’s garden, hope in God’s children, regeneration that peace will complete.
God of all living, God of all loving,
God of the seedling, the snow and the sun, teach us, deflect us, Christ reconnect us, using us gently, and making us one.”—Shirley Murray
Words © 1992, 2005 Hope Publishing Company, 380 S Main Pl, Carol Stream, IL 60188
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bellerose 