“Earth and all stars, loud rushing planets…” is a hymn that I like. The end of our “On Earth” series coincided with the culmination of our first ever Serve & Learn Week. An intergenerational group of people spent the week focusing on loving our neighbors and caring for creation.
We immersed ourselves in God’s creation as we visited the Rice Street Gardens at Galilee Lutheran – community gardens for 265 of their neighbors, the Roseville Arboretum, and the Roseville Nature Center. We pulled weeds, picked up trash and hauled buckthorn out of the woods at church. We forged a new partnership with the Roseville Park volunteers. The board walk at the Nature Center gave us time to slow down, breathe and notice that if we were really quiet, we could hear the bumble bees buzzing.
Our planet is so much a part of who we are and we are so much a part of the planet. The intricacies of creation continue to amaze me. God not only created all of this beauty and diversity, God entrusted it to our care.
Let us pray…
Creator God, you formed the earth from chaos;
you encircled the globe with air;
you created fire for warmth and light;
you nourish the lands with water.
You molded us in your image,
and with mercy higher than the mountains,
with grace deeper than the seas,
you blessed the Israelites and cherished them as your own.
That also we, estranged and dying,
might be adopted to live in your Spirit,
you called to us through the life and death of Jesus.
Amen.