Praying with Creation
Ash Wednesday through the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A

by Dennis Ormseth

Ash Wednesday

Psalm 51:1-18; Joel 2:12,12-17; 2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10; Matthew 6:1-6,16-21
Merciful Creator, we are dust. You explode stars and gather their dust to make planets. Your spirit enlivens the dust, and humble creatures such as we come forth to behold your glory. But our sin darkens our vision: your storms stir fear in our hearts, birds of your making lie lifeless on the sands, and the light of your stars grows dim to our eyes. Restore our faith and renew right relationships between all your creatures.

First Sunday in Lent

Psalm 32; Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
Spirit of the wilderness, you inspire understanding and restore right relationships between all earth’s creatures. We humans presume to dominate all creation by the very powers you have given us to serve it, and so unleash the power of death in its midst. Help us to trust unfailingly in your Word Jesus, so that all things might be reconciled in him and all creation might rejoice in your unfailing love.

Second Sunday in Lent

Psalm 121; Genesis 12:1-4a; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17
O Spirit that moves freely to all corners of creation, all things come to be through the power of your love. You provide all creatures their kin, their habitat, and their dignity. Energize us anew. Give birth in us to new life in the name of Jesus, God’s child and all creatures co-creature.

Third Sunday in Lent

Psalm 95; Exodus 17:1-7; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-42
Holy Wellspring, you are the Source and the Sea of a flood of fresh life-giving water. Like the wanderers in the wilderness with Moses, we too waste ourselves faithlessly and thirstily in the desert we make of this earth. We yearn to be restored to your presence. Refresh us in the river of your mercy.

Fourth Sunday in Lent

Psalm 23; 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41
Healing God, you look on all your creatures with truth and compassion. In our blindness we humans cannot see the beauty of your creation, and we fail to comprehend the wisdom of its wondrous complexity. Where you open ways to new life, we are set to see only black holes of death. Heal our eyes, and let us behold your glory in all that is.

Fifth Sunday in Lent

Psalm 130; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Romans 8:6-11; John 11:1-45
Spirit of steadfast love, what you have created you have power also to restore; you even bring dry bones from the valley of death back into the land of the living. Renew the earth, that all its inhabitants might sing your praises with one voice.