Praying at home today:
The Season of Creation
The message of each creature in the harmony of creation

For four weeks, following the first Sunday in September until the day before Harvest Sunday, we will be focussing on the season of creation, in preparation for the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow.

Although we will follow our usual form of prayer, our readings and some other material will follow those given in Daily Prayer of the Scottish Episcopal Church for this Season of Creation.

This is a good time to be grateful for our beautiful, yet fragile world, and to dedicate ourselves anew as faithful stewards to its protection.

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A warm welcome to PrayingAtHome.com, where you can find worship resources for praying at home today or wherever you are.

We hope these readings, prayers, music and the short reflection will help you stay in touch with the Church and to sustain you on your journey through life.

If this is your first visit to this website, then you might like to read about the common elements and the suggested structure for each day’s prayer.
Everything’s optional!

Opening to the Word

You can spend a few moments in silence,
focussing on your breathing
to become more mindful of the present moment
and to open yourself more fully
to God’s presence within you.

O God, you created the heavens and spread out the earth
You gave breath to all people
and spirit to everything which walks on the earth.

Isaiah 42:5

The Lord is a great God, and a sovereign above all gods.
In God’s hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are God’s also.

The sea is God’s, for God made it, and God’s hand formed the dry land.
O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

Psalm 95:3-6

Short reading

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in God’s holy place?
Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
who do not lift up their souls to what is false,
and do not swear deceitfully.

Quis ascendet in montem Domini?
aut quis stabit in loco sancto ejus?
Innocens manibus et mundo corde,
qui non accepit in vano animam suam,
nec juravit in dolo proximo suo.

Qui pourra monter à la montagne de l’Eternel?
Qui pourra se tenir dans son lieu saint?
Celui qui a les mains innocentes et le cœur pur,
celui qui ne se livre pas au mensonge
et qui ne fait pas de serments trompeurs.

Psalm 23(24):3f

The Liturgy of the Word

Here is today’s Bible reading.

• Psalm 23(24)

Short reflection

During these four weeks of the Season of Creation, I’m reading Pope Francis’s encyclical letter Laudato si’, mi’ Signore – Praise to you, my Lord (LS) – and I hope to share with you a few nuggets from the Church’s social teaching on Creation and our stewardship of this planet we call our home.

In this second week, he explores what theology (Faith seeking understanding) has to say, with particular reference to the Bible (LS62).

The message of each creature in the harmony of creation

Francis reminds us that while each human being is an image of God, we should not overlook the fact that each creature has its own purpose and none is superfluous, since all of the material universe speaks of God’s love, of God’s boundless love for us (LS84).

From Canada comes the observation that

From panoramic vistas
to the tiniest living form,
nature is a constant source of wonder and awe.
It is also a continuing revelation of the divine
(cf. LS85).

Whilst from Japan we hear that

To sense each creature
singing the hymn of its existence
is to live joyfully
in God’s love and hope (LS85).

So God reveals God’s self to us not only in the Scriptures but also in the blaze of the sun and the fall of night (LS85).

The French philosopher Paul Ricoeur wrote that

I express myself in expressing the world; in my effort to decipher the sacredness of the world, I explore my own (LS85).

So, the universe as a whole, in all its manifold relationships, shows forth the inexhaustible riches of God. These multiple relationships speak of the richness of every created thing: their variety, their importance and meaning all are understood more clearly if we contemplate them within the entirety of God’s plan.

We all depend on one another, complete each other, in the service of each other (LS86).

Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures expresses this truth so well.

Praise be you, my Lord,
with all your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
who is the day
and through whom you give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant
with great splendour;
and bears a likeness of you, Most High.

Praise be you, my Lord,
through Sister Moon and the stars,
in heaven you formed them clear
and precious and beautiful.

Praise be you, my Lord,
through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene,
and every kind of weather
through whom you give
sustenance to your creatures.

Praise be you, my Lord,
through Sister Water,
who is very useful and humble
and precious and chaste.

Praise be you, my Lord,
through Brother Fire,
through whom you light the night,
and he is beautiful and playful
and robust and strong (LS87).

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The Lord, God of hosts, touches the earth and it melts,
and all who live in it mourn.
And all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;

The Lord builds upper chambers in the heavens,
and founds vaults upon the earth;
And calls for the waters of the sea,
and pours them out upon the surface of the earth.

Amos 9:5f

Music for reflection

Prayer Suggestions

We continue our journey in faith today:

• for all preparing for the COP26 Climate Conference
• for those in most danger from the climate emergency
• for scientists and politicians,
  artists and musicians
• for those working in garden centres
  and for promoters and protectors of nature
• for all who inspire us.

(In Holy Trinity, Stirling, we invite you to pray today
for Mary Kenyon, Flowers Convenor and Health & Safety Officer.)

For all who have asked for our prayers.

a moment of silence

Pray for us all
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

We can say the Lord’s Prayer in any language or version we choose.
Here it is, in English, Latin and French.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your Kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom,
the power and the glory are yours, 
now and for ever.
Amen.

Pater Noster

Pater noster, qui es in cælis;
sanctificetur nomen tuum:
adveniat regnum tuum;
fiat voluntas tua,
sicut in cælo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie:
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris:
et ne nos inducas in tentationem:
sed libera nos a malo.

Quia tuum est regnum,
et potestas, et gloria, in saecula.
Amen.

La Prière du Seigneur (2017)

Notre Père, qui es aux cieux,
que ton nom soit sanctifié,
que ton règne vienne,
que ta volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel.
Donne-nous aujourd’hui notre pain de ce jour.
Pardonne-nous nos offenses,
comme nous pardonnons aussi à ceux qui nous ont offensés.
Et ne nous laisse pas entrer en tentation
mais délivre-nous du Mal.

Car c’est à toi qu’appartiennent le règne,
la puissance et la gloire
pour les siècles des siècles. Amen.

L’Église Catholique de Paris

Concluding prayer

God Most High,
maker of heaven and earth,
you created humankind in your own image
and entrusted the whole world to human care:
give us grace to serve you faithfully,
that we might be trustworthy stewards of your creation,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Collect for the Season of Creation

Returning to the world

Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Benedicamus Domino.
Deo gratias.

Thank you for joining us in praying at home.
Oremus pro invicem.

In these strange times, we are called to trust

* You can find more organ music from Holy Trinity Church, Stirling
on Alistair Warwick‘s website and on SoundCloud

There are several books by Brother Roger of the Taizé Community from many booksellers.

You can buy The Complete Chronicles of Narnia at Bookshop.org

Praying at Home Today: Acknowledgements

The lectionary for weekdays is taken from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.

In that lectionary, the readings are in the following order: Old Testament reading, Psalm, New Testament reading; we have changed the order to the more usual OT, Psalm and NT.

English Bible texts are usually from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Latin Bible texts are from Biblia Sacra Vulgata, and are in the Public Domain.

French Bible texts are usually from Version Segond 21, copyright © 2007 Société Biblique de Genève by Société Biblique de Genève.

Images, unless otherwise stated, are from lockdown in Scotland, by Alistair Warwick.

Music engraved by The Art of Music.

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