Father of Creation,
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
You created a world of wonder,
You declared it to be good.
The world was formless and void,
And you spoke and breathed life into being.
On the third day, you made trees.
You declared them to be good.
And we declare them to be good.
For our lives are inexplicably linked with theirs.
For deciduous and evergreens,
We give thanks;
A stunning array of designs
That sustain life.
Fruit trees & Fig trees,
Ash and Aspen,
Willow and Walnut,
Cyprus and Cedar;
We declare them to be good.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
The Giant Redwood,
The Monkey Puzzle,
The Peppermint tree,
Praise your name,
Through root, trunk, branch and leaves.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
The Sweetbay Magnolia,
The Coconut Palm,
The flowering Dogwood,
Praise your name,
Through root, trunk, branch and leaves.
In this time of climate breakdown,
The trees are our allies,
The Lungs of the Earth,
Forming Habitats of Hope.
The Forest is our friend,
The Woods our co-workers,
The Jungles work for justice.
Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
We have moved East of Eden,
We are Homesick Exiles,
Creation groans,
The Tree of Life is no more.
We have opened the door to the sin of ecological violence,
And it has overwhelmed us.
Through the greed of exploitation,
Slash and Burn,
Over Consumption
Unrestrained Capitalism has unleashed hell against
The Forests, Woods and Jungles.
Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
We have sinned and done evil in your sight.
As unrestrained capitalism, fed by consumerism and profiteering,
Plunders and Pillages,
Ransacks and Rapes
The Forests, Woods and Jungles.
What have we done? Have mercy on us.
What have we done? Have mercy on us.
Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
We remember your son who was nailed to a tree,
Whose blood was poured out on the wood of the cross,
To remind us, in bloody technicolour, of
the evil of empire & violence,
and the butchery and barbarity of man.
It was our sin that held him there.
Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
We remember your son nailed to a tree,
Whose blood poured out on the wood of the cross,
To remind us of self-giving sacrificial love.
In his glorious resurrection, we are offered hope,
And called to a new way of being,
A Priestly calling to tend and keep.
Father of Creation,
God of Compassion,
You have not abandoned us,
But are working through us and in us to bring your kingdom.
A kingdom of Justice and Peace,
A kingdom in which is to be found,
A tree for the healing of the nations.
We pray for the trees,
The Forests, Woods and Jungles.
Call us afresh to tend and keep,
Guard and protect,
Until that day when
We shall go out with joy and be led forth in peace,
The mountains and hills shall burst into song,
And the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Amen
