Earth Day 2021

 The pandemic has done many things. Each of us has our own story. Perhaps one of the best things that has come out of it is that the Earth has gotten a much-needed rest from us humans. Early on in the pandemic we saw how the waters had cleared ,that the pollution had dissipated and how things that had not been seen or witnessed for years could now be clearly seen because Humanity had been put in time-out. It is my hope and prayer that we will continue to be conscientious, good stewards of this place we call home.

 I want to encourage everyone to celebrate Earth Day today in your own way. Turn off the TV and put the phone away for an hour or so. Get outside . Go out and lie in the grass, walk through the waters,hike through the mountains,watch the clouds, gaze up at the stars and the Moon and listen to the birds. Take in all of the beauty and the medicine that all of Earth has to offer. Here is a prayer for today. I would like encourage everyone to take a moment and read it...  outside if possible.

Infinite Spirit, sometimes called Grandfather, Grandmother —
Father Sky, Earth Mother, Creator, God

We gather to praise your creation,
to honor the swimmers and crawlers,
the four-leggeds and the winged ones;
we give thanks for the beauty and glory of creation and open our hearts to new ways to understand our place in the universe—not the center or focus,
but a humble and balanced place,
where every step we take becomes a prayer,
where every word we say
makes harmony with the vast, vibrating cosmos,
and where we know we are singing the song of life.

We pray to know more deeply that we are in the Garden where every plant and animal and speck of dust is a living prayer.
Without our brothers and sisters
of the plant and animal and mineral kingdoms,
the human family would end.
So we want to bless them, as they bless us.

We pray for humility—
not to humble ourselves before presidents or priests,
but before the ants and trees—
for if we cannot be in true relation to the ant,
we shall be outcasts of the garden.

Let us cast the pollution from our eyes
so we can see the glory and live with thanksgiving.

Great Spirit, let us remember
it is not how we talk but how we walk.
When we say we love animals, let us protect them.
When we say we that we love the plant people,
let us honor them by living lightly on the earth.
When we say we love the minerals,
let us use them only in necessity,
and remember their rightful places.
Oil belongs in the ground,
not in the air through our wasteful machines.

Wondrous trees, breathing life into the atmosphere:
your gifts of fire and shelter, fruit,
and sailing are precious to us.
And in many ways you offer us leaves of knowledge.

May the vision of mutual interrelatedness,
cosmic interdependence,
the seamless process of generations,
not end in cough-filled skies blotting the sun,
but rather may clear air, healthy forrests,
wholesome water, expansive prairie, and pungent earth
nourish paths for all creatures
through mountain and valley, and the salt sea,
and through a protective atmosphere,
as we rejoice in the inhabitants.

Hear and empower our mantra: reduce, reuse, recycle.

With thanks for the surprise and mystery of it all,
we pray in the name of the Creator,
the Processes and Presences, and all our relations.

Vern Barnet

Happy Earth Day

Aho Meyakuyah Ohayesin

Thom