April 22nd is observed annually as Earth Day, though celebrations are often held on the nearest weekend. This year our church sponsored an Earth Day prayer gathering as part of the 2009 Community United Prayer Services. Since many people were unable to attend due to the mid-day timing of the service, here are some of the resources for you to read, meditate upon, and pray through at your convenience.

Plants

Be dismayed, you farmers,
wail, you vine-dressers,
over the wheat and the barley;
for the crops of the field are ruined.
The vine withers,
the fig tree droops.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple—
all the trees of the field are dried up;
surely, joy withers away
among the people.
-Joel 1:11-12

The vibrant greens of plant life remind us of the budding of spring around us. Yet those greens too often fade and wither as plants struggle to survive. We repent for the ways we have contributed to the disappearance of all kinds of vegetation. We pray for vanishing rainforests in the Amazon, cut down to make way for beef pastures. We pray for the loss of biological diversity and that God will give us wisdom and guidance in caring for the flora of this world.

Water and Sky

And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
-Genesis 1:6-8

The vivid blues of the seas and skies are often tainted by our human actions. We pray for the restoration of their purity. We remember the life-giving waters of baptism as we pray for our rivers, lakes, oceans, and skies and all of the life-sustaining power they contain. We give thanks for clean water and clean air, and pray for the many places in our world where both are scarce.

Animals

God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered.
-Genesis 9:1-2

Our lives are enriched by the many other creatures who co-inhabit the earth with us. We are entrusted with their care, but often we fall short. We pray that every animal might experience the fullness of life, even as we seek that fullness ourselves. We pray for wild animals balancing the natural order of things, for domesticated animals that bring us joy and happiness, and for the animals that eventually become our food. May they all be well cared for and blessed.

Land

For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in their yield; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of complete rest for the land, a sabbath for the Lord: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.
-Leviticus 25:3-4

We depend upon the soil of the land to support our gardens, our crops, our very lives. We pray for the health of the land, and confess that we sometimes neglect it. We mourn for the places where the land has become barren and lost its life-giving properties. As the land struggles under the burden of unsustainable patterns of use, we pray for farming practices and patterns of living that will preserve the vitality of the land for future generations.

For further resources about Earth Day and creation care, visit the following sites:

Earth Day Network

National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Programs

New Community Project