Praying with Creation:
the Season of Lent
Ash Wednesday through
the Sunday of the Passion
Year C
by Dennis Ormseth
Ash Wednesday
Joel
2:1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 51:1-17; 2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10; Matthew
6:1-6, 16-21
Lord, you are sovereign
in our land and all the earth. Your reconciling love is steadfast and your
mercy encompasses all things.We have deeply wounded your life-giving Spirit.
Before we touched this land, it was a Garden of Eden; we are in danger of leaving
it a desolate wilderness. Turn your righteous anger from us. Turn us toward
contrition for our actions and lead us into right relationships with your whole
creation.
First Sunday in Lent
Deuteronomy
26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 (Ps. 91:11); Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13
God of the seasons, as
the days lengthen, we look forward in hope to the bounty your love brings forth
in our land. When your Son was tempted in the wilderness, he refused the spirit
of domination by which we try to gain our daily bread and even to free
ourselves from earthly limitations. In this season of renewal, grant us his
life-sustaining Spirit, so that we may tend the earth with joy and
thanksgiving, and share its bounty with all living things.
Second Sunday in Lent
Genesis
15:1-12, 17-18; Psalm 27 (Ps. 27:5); Philippians 3:17—4:1; Luke 13:31-35
Creator of light and
dark, your presence is known in the rising and setting of the sun. With the
faith of Abraham we see signs of your promises in both the stars of heaven and
the deep and terrifying darkness of the cleft earth. When the rulers of this
world threaten to destroy the creatures of your making, the spirit of your Son
gathers us as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. May the certainty of our
citizenship in heaven inspire and sustain our resolve in caring for your
beloved earth.
Third Sunday in Lent
Isaiah
55:1-9, Psalm 63:1-8 (Ps. 63:1), 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Luke 13:1-9
Gracious host of all
creation, you freely provide food and drink for all living creatures. You
husband the fruitless tree. At our Lord’s Table, you nourish us with bread that
is broken, and renew our spirit with poured-out wine. Liberate us from our
dependence on stores of food and energy seized and held by imperial power. Lest
we all perish, move our nation’s agriculture into policies and practices that
respect the metabolisms of nature and resist the improvident mandates of our
capital markets.
Fourth Sunday in Lent
Joshua
5:9-12, Psalm 32 (Ps. 32:11), 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Forgiving parent to all
creation, your mercy is boundless. We squander the inheritance of this earth as
mere commodity to be bought and sold for our comfort and entertainment. We
refuse to share its bounty with our brothers and sisters in the great family of
creation. Yet you welcome us home, and invite us to celebrate the feast of your
new creation with all your children: those who swim beneath the waves of the
sea and those who live in its soil; the children of the flowers in the meadows
and the trees in the forest; all the children who roam over the land and the
winged ones who fly with the winds; and yes, your human children too.
[Adapted in part from Thomas Berry, The Great Work: Our Way into
the Future.]
Fifth Sunday in Lent
March
25, 2007, Isaiah 43:16-21, Psalm 126 (Ps. 126:5), Philippians 3:4b-14, John
12:1-8
Creator Spirit, wild
animals honor you for your care for us, your people. Help us to honor your care
for them. All relationships within your creation are graced with beauty and
purpose. You have blessed all creatures with capacity for both joy and care.
You bind all things together in love, and mend all brokenness. Help us to love
all that you love; help us to resist all abuse, whether of persons or things.