Praying at home today:
The Season of Creation:
Environmental, economic and social ecology

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 the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
From whom and through whom and to whom are all things.
To God be the glory for ever. Amen.

Romans 11:33,36

The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it;
For God has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the rivers.

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.

Psalm 24:1-4

Short reading

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night”,
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

Et dixi: Forsitan tenebrae conculcabunt me;
et nox illuminatio mea in deliciis meis.
Quia tenebrae non obscurabuntur a te,
et nox sicut dies illuminabitur:
sicut tenebrae ejus, ita et lumen ejus.

Si je me dis: «Au moins les ténèbres me couvriront»,
la nuit devient lumière autour de moi!
Même les ténèbres ne sont pas obscures pour toi:
la nuit brille comme le jour,
et les ténèbres comme la lumière.

Psalm 138(139):11-12

The Liturgy of the Word

Here is today’s Bible reading.

• Psalm 138(139)

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 third week, he explores the human roots of the ecological crisis (LS101).

Environmental, economic and social ecology

Since everything is closely interrelated, we need to look for solutions that embrace and clearly respect human and social dimensions (LS137).

Ecology is the study of the relationship between living organisms and the environment in which they develop. So we’re talking about the survival of society and how we need to be honest: to question where we’re going with some models of development, production and consumption.

We can’t overstate how everything is interconnected, time and space, atoms and subatomic particles, fish and chips; none can be considered in isolation.

Just as parts of nature are interrelated, so are living species part of a network that we’ll never fully explore and understand; this includes our genetic code, which is share by many living beings.

So we need a broader vision of reality (LS138).

Speaking of the environment, we are not separate from nature, nor is it merely a setting in which we live – we are part of it, and thus in constant interaction with it.

When we explore why a region is polluted, we need to look at all of the contributory factors: the workings of society, its economy, its behaviour patterns, and the ways it grasps reality.

There is so much change taking place that we cannot simply home in on one part of the problem and thereby hope to find an overall answer; we need to look at the whole picture and find comprehensive solutions for both society and the environment (LS139).

Researchers need broad academic freedom to be able to explore issues without being beholden to large corporations or others that might want to “colour” the results to suit their own purposes.

Sustainability needs to look to the past as well as the future, since it is the past that has been given to us with its power for regeneration; we can see evidence of this in how ecosystems interact in dispersing CO₂, purifying water, controlling illness and epidemics, forming soil, breaking down waste etc. (LS140).

The whole is greater than the part: we urgently need a humanism capable of bringing together different fields of knowledge, including economics and humanities.

Today’s analysis of environmental problems cannot be separated from analysis of human, family and work-related contexts, since it is essential that we analyse how individuals relate to themselves, which leads to how they relate to others and to the environment. Everything is connected (LS141). 

If everything is interrelated, then the health of society has consequences for the environment and the quality of human life.

Society’s institutions are in place and develop to regulate human relationships; a failure to do so results in injustice, violence and loss of freedom, mirrored by an unjust bias towards those who profit from the situation. Legislation and regulations protecting society and the environment need to be effective and consistent (LS142). 

What can we do?

We can challenge our governments (national and local) to work for the greater good of all they are elected to serve, challenging them when they fail to do so and giving praise where it is due.

We can find out what is being done in our name by institutions.

We can challenge injustice and inequality, bringing light to dark situations.

Step by step,
every little counts. 

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Responsory

The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers;
the heavens languish together with the earth.
The earth lies polluted
under its inhabitants;

For they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt.

Therefore the inhabitants of the earth dwindled, and few people are left.
The wine dries up, the vine languishes,
all the merry-hearted sigh.

Isaiah 24:4-7

Music for reflection

Prayer Suggestions

Creation waits in hope for God’s children to be revealed.
Creation waits in hope for God’s children to be revealed.

That Creation may be set free from its bondage to decay.
For God’s children to be revealed.

Glory to God, Source of all Being, Eternal Word and Holy Spirit.
Creation waits in hope for God’s children to be revealed.

Romans 8:19-21

We continue our journey in faith today:

• for all preparing for the COP26 Climate Conference
• for the small steps we take to combat climate change
• for those experiencing change that scares them
• for all who inspire us.

(In Holy Trinity, Stirling, we invite you to pray today
for the patients and staff at Forth Valley Royal Hospital
and for Bridget.)

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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