God’s Good Earth offers Christians and their communities an engaging resource for prayer, reflection, and worship that reflects and nourishes their efforts to serve God and care for God’s creation. Compilers Anne and Jeffery Rowthorn have prepared 52 beautiful, ready-made prayer services, each around a specific theme, drawing from a rich variety of ecumenical resources: psalms and other responsive readings, Scripture, hymns, prayers, and reflections from the world’s most engaging nature writers and interpreters of the social and cultural landscape. Each section can be used in full, or the user may select smaller sections; permission is granted to the purchaser to reproduce for use in public prayer.
God’s Good Earth forms hearts and minds to know that transformation is not only possible but essential if the Earth is to survive, healthy and whole. Those who enter into the book’s praise and prayer will have their faith in God the Creator strengthened, their gratitude for the wonders of God’s creation deepened, and their commitment to act on behalf of God’s good earth enhanced. The print edition is printed with high production standards on recycled, FSC-certified paper.
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CONTENTS
Preface xi
Foreword xiii
Introduction xvii
How to Use This Book xxii
God the Creator and God’s Glorious Creation
1. God the Creator 3
2. God’s Glorious Creation 9
3. Sacred Earth 16
4. Living Waters 22
5. Wonder 28
6. The Song of Creation 34
7. God Be Praised 40
God’s Physical Universe
8. Oceans 49
9. Sky 54
10. Wilderness 60
11. Mountains 67
12. Trees and Forests 74
13. Deserts 80
14. Universe 86
The Diversity of God’s Creatures
15. God’s Gift of Diversity 95
16. Biodiversity 101
17. The One Human Family 107
18. Children 113
19. The Wisdom of Indigenous Cultures 119
20. Animals 125
The Human Community and Its Needs
21. A Good Society 135
22. Farms 141
23. Agriculture with a Human Face 147
24. Water 154
25. Cities 160
26. Nations 166
27. Work 172
28. Simplicity 178
29. Compassion 184
30. Survival 190
31. The Language of Love 196
The Whole Creation Groaning in Travail
32. Exploitation of the Earth 205
33. The Culture of Death 212
34. The Lure of Money 218
35. Climate Change 224
36. Global Warming 230
37. Forgotten People 235
38. Poverty 241
39. Hunger 247
40. Migrants 253
41. Violence 259
42. Victims of War 265
43. Consequences 271
44. Judgment and Mercy 277
45. Death and Resurrection 283
Hope and the Future
46. Ecological Conversion 291
47. Action 298
48. Science 304
49. Healing Our Nation 311
50. Peace 317
51. Hope 323
52. Replenishing God’s Good Earth 329
Index of Psalms and Other Biblical Readings 337
Index of Contemporary Reflections 341
Index of Hymns 343
Supplementary Hymns 345
Acknowledgments 350
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Jeffery Rowthorn, an Episcopal bishop, has compiled The Wideness of God’s Mercy: Litanies to Enlarge Our Prayer. His hymns have been widely published and he has compiled three hymnals. His most recent collection (with Russell Schulz-Widmar) is Sing of the World Made New: Hymns of Justice, Peace, and Christian Responsibility.