Prayer of Confession is offered

September 1, 2018

Photo credit: Cindy Correll, Haiti

In 2015, Pope Francis proclaimed Sept. 1 as the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation,” joining Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios I of Constantinople, who earlier extended an invitation for Christians to offer together “every year on this date prayers and supplications to the Maker of all, both as thanksgiving for the great gift of creation and as petitions for its protection and salvation.”

The environmental work of the Presbyterian Hunger Program is grounded in Scripture, Reformed theology, the numerous General Assembly policies that call us to care for creation, including the 1990 foundational policy “Restoring Creation for Ecology and Justice,” and prayer.

On this World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, we offer this Prayer of Confession, taken from the 2018 Creation Justice Ministries Earth Day Sunday resource “A Sense of Place.”

Jessica Maudlin, Associate for Sustainable Living and Earth Care Concerns, Presbyterian Hunger Program

Today’s Focus:  World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Andrea Stopper, PMA
Gail Strange, PMA

Let us pray:

Prayer of Confession

Holy God, we confess that for many of us the history of how we came to be here is more complex than we understand.

We confess that we have lost our connection to our local habitat — to the names of the birds of the air, and the fish of the waters, and every crawling thing that you have created. We confess that we are a people who have lost our connection to the dirt under our feet. The very substance into which you breathed life.

Transform us, O God, and give us roots.

Empower us to discover the history of this sacred place where you have called us. Embolden us to reconcile with all children of God who called this place home, and to honor their care for the land. Help us to learn the seasons of this sacred place — to learn the native flowers and trees, native birds and wildlife. Open our eyes to the seeds that have been sown here for millennia and the intentional care you have taken in crafting our habitat. May we be rooted and grounded in the family of God in our midst. Amen.

Daily Readings

Morning Psalms 122; 149
First Reading Job 9:1, 10:1-9, 16-22
Second Reading Acts 11:1-18
Gospel Reading John 8:12-20
Evening Psalms 100; 63