By Laurie Gordon, Climate Justice Team

I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will bless them and multiply them and will set my sanctuary among them forevermore.

As we celebrate Earth Day, I can offer nothing more valuable than to dare us to love the Earth ever more boldly and fiercely. It is the one action we can take that will “make a difference” in years to come. It’s easier to offer gifts from a heart made spacious by love than to force actions driven by despair. Let us become containers expansive enough to hold our hearts steady and true in these portentous days of climate emergency, biodiversity loss, and impending environmental collapse.

She is still beautiful, our Mother Earth. How shall we love her and receive her love? How shall we love her back to health for the welfare of all? I offer a brief Earth Examen inspired by Robin Wall Kimmerer’s “Epiphany in the Beans” in her book Braiding Sweetgrass.

Remember a moment that ignited an awareness of your love for sacred creation. What does it feel like to love the Earth? When might you have come into relationship with a particular created being and felt the stirrings of love? Get up and walk out your door; renew and deepen your love for God’s sacred creation this very day.

Do you know the Earth loves you? How do you know? Invite a memory or awareness of the Earth loving you back—perhaps through a creature, place, or experience. (Keep it particular!) How is Earth’s love for us expressed differently than what we have come to expect from the way humans love?

Holding as one your love for the Earth and the possibility that the Earth loves you back, sense the sacred bond flowing between you. This is what’s called reciprocity…the love we share is a two-way flow of mutual love. Abide here awhile, feeling the expanses of gratitude and your answering response. Experience your kinship in the family of all beings, the Kin-dom of God on Earth. “As the trees and plants breathe in; you breathe out. As you breathe out, the trees and plants breathe in.”

Feeling the expanses of gratitude that well up in you, tend any answering desire to reciprocate Earth’s generosity with your own generosity. What gifts are you moved to offer? A whispered prayer? A song or dance? A gesture of reverence or respect? Giving prophetic voice or action on behalf of creation? What response arises naturally, not as a quid pro quo but in a mutual flow of gratitude, generosity, and reciprocity.

Prayer Phrase

“…my God turns my darkness into light” (Psalm 18:28).

Spiritual Practice

Light

Close your eyes and become centered with your breath. As you breathe gently in and out, reflect on the statement, “The light of God is in all things.” The light has a bright, soft beauty and radiates God’s healing love. The light of God reaches you and permeates you with a deep sense of peace. Rest in the light as it surrounds and fills you. Thank God that you live in God’s light, and it lives in you.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.