Prayers of the Saints – A Prayer of Solidarity with Creation by St. Basil the Great

We’ll be celebrating Earth Day Sunday together at St. Paul’s at our 8:30 and 10 a.m. Services on April 26. The following prayer by St. Basil the Great (c. 330-379) expresses our kinship with our fellow-creatures, something we’ll be particularly remembering. It’s taken from a collection of worship resources from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, entitled Season of Creation Three.

O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, our brothers the animals [and all creatures] to whom you gave the earth as their home in common with us. We remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion of humans with ruthless cruelty so that the voice of the earth, which should have gone up to you in song, has been a groan of travail. May we realize that all creatures live not for us alone but for themselves and for you, and that they love the sweetness of life.

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Embedded below is a rendering of “This is My Father’s World,” which will be our Processional Hymn at our 10 a.m. Service on April 26.

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APRIL 26 UPDATE:

Embedded below is the video featuring Brian Doerksen’s song “Creation Calls” that we watched on our Screens at our 8:30 and 10 a.m. Services as part of our Earth Day celebration.

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To see how we celebrated Earth Day at St. Paul’s in 2013, please click here.