For the Earth

When The Virus came to disrupt everyone’s life, I went rummaging through storage totes in search of a shiny glass ornament I knew had stashed away somewhere. It occurred to me that the world and all her inhabitants needed intercessions, and so I displayed the small globe in a place I would see it often and be provoked to pray. It has been a meaningful practice. Today, though, it strikes me that making requests and supplications on behalf of the world is not exactly the same thing as petitioning on behalf of the Earth. On this 50 ^th Anniversary of the first Earth Day, I shift my focus. As I look upon the planetary orb, I direct my thoughts to the spectacle of Creation and give God my wonder, gratitude, and respect for such a magnificent place to call home.

It has not escaped my attention that, while most of humanity has been quarantining indoors, outdoors the air is clean and the waterways are clear. This is worthy of celebrating with a deep breath and a tall glass of water! It’s a shame that it has taken a multi-national grounding of humanity in order for nature to be refreshed, but maybe that is one of the silver linings of this pandemic’s storm cloud. When life and activities pick up speed again, let’s remember the lesson. We do have the capacity to tread lightly, and the Earth does have the capacity to heal. We are in partnership with Creation!

Let me invite you to an activity you can do from wherever you are sheltering this evening. Ideally, you’ll create a quiet moment and get in a comfortable position. Close your eyes, and allow your thoughts to drift to a place of natural beauty. Perhaps it’s a place that’s part of your daily existence, or maybe it’s someplace you’ve been to only once, but the scene sticks with you. A beach sunrise…a plunging waterfall…a pine grove…a wildflower field…a backyard pond…a mountaintop vista…. In your imagination, put yourself directly into the setting. Take it in. Look all around you. Observe not only what it looks like, but what it feels like, smells like. Stay in that place, marveling, as long as you’d like. And when you’re ready to come back, be sure to thank God for the opportunity to remember something so inspiring.

The psalmist was inspired by the natural world. If, after reading the psalm offered below, you feel likewise inspired to generate a poem or a song, please do! Share them with me if you’d like! Or sing/speak them aloud as a gift to the Earth herself.

With Praises and Thanksgiving,

Pastor Chris

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  ¹ Let my whole being bless the Lord!
    Lord my God, how fantastic you are!..
⁵  You established the earth on its foundations
    so that it will never ever fall…
¹⁰  You put gushing springs into dry riverbeds.
    They flow between the mountains,
¹¹          providing water for every wild animal—
        the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹²  Overhead, the birds in the sky make their home,
    chirping loudly in the trees.
¹³  From your lofty house, you water the mountains.
    The earth is filled full by the fruit of what you’ve done.
¹⁴  You make grass grow for cattle;
    you make plants for human farming
        in order to get food from the ground,
¹⁵          and wine, which cheers people’s hearts,
        along with oil, which makes the face shine,
        and bread, which sustains the human heart.
¹⁶  The Lord’s trees are well watered—
    the cedars of Lebanon, which God planted,
¹⁷      where the birds make their nests,
    where the stork has a home in the cypresses.
¹⁸  The high mountains belong to the mountain goats;
    the ridges are the refuge of badgers.
¹⁹  God made the moon for the seasons,
    and the sun too, which knows when to set.
²⁰  You bring on the darkness and it is night,
    when every forest animal prowls.
²¹  The young lions roar for their prey,
    seeking their food from God.
²²  When the sun rises, they gather together
    and lie down in their dens.
²³  Then people go off to their work,
    to do their work until evening.
²⁴  Lord, you have done so many things!
    You made them all so wisely!
The earth is full of your creations!
²⁵  And then there’s the sea, wide and deep,
    with its countless creatures—
    living things both small and large.
²⁶  There go the ships on it,
    and Leviathan, which you made, plays in it!
²⁷  All your creations wait for you
    to give them their food on time.
²⁸  When you give it to them, they gather it up;
    when you open your hand, they are filled completely full!
²⁹  But when you hide your face, they are terrified;
    when you take away their breath,
    they die and return to dust.
³⁰  When you let loose your breath, they are created,
    and you make the surface of the ground brand-new again.
³¹  Let the Lord’s glory last forever!
    Let the Lord rejoice in all he has made!