Preparing for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

August 31, 2019

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In 2015, Pope Francis proclaimed Sept. 1 as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, joining Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios I of Constantinople, who earlier extended an invitation for Christians to offer “every year on this date prayers and supplications to the Maker of all, both as thanksgiving for the great gift of creation and as petitions for its protection and salvation.”

The environmental work of the Presbyterian Hunger Program is grounded in Scripture, Reformed theology, General Assembly policies that call us to care for creation, including the 1990 foundational policy “Restoring Creation for Ecology and Justice,” and prayer.

Jessica Maudlin; Associate for Earth Care Concerns; Presbyterian Hunger Program; Compassion, Peace & Justice

On World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, the Hunger Program offers this Psalm of the Cosmos as a prayer:

Psalm of the Cosmos

Loving God, loving God,

all creation calls you blessed,

and so do we, and so do we.

Loving God,

all your creation calls you blessed.

Your spirit imprints the whole universe with life and mystery.

Yes, all creation proclaims your love.

We now join this chorus of praise.

Loving God,

all of nature calls you blessed,

and so do we.

For you have woven an intimate tapestry

and call it life

and called it good.

In love you have formed a universe

so diverse yet so related,

and into its web you call us forth

to walk the land and swim the sea

with all our natural brothers and sisters.

To the stars

we seem no more than blades of grass.

Yet to you, each of us,

as each blade of grass and each star,

is an irreplaceable treasure,

an essential companion on this journey of love.

Loving God, as you lure the whole world into salvation,

guide us with your Spirit

that we might not be only pilgrims on the earth,

but pilgrims with the earth,

journeying home to you.

Open our hearts to understand

the intimate relationship that you have with all creation.

Only with this faith can we hope

for tomorrow's children.

Amen. Alleluia!

Source unknown; prayer found at webofcreation.org

Today's Focus: World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Amy Driscoll, PMA

Elle Drumheller, PPC