Praying for the Earth

“We naturally pray for what we care about, and care more for what we pray about” is the premise on which Praying for the Earth is based.

Rob Kelsey was the Environment Officer for the Church of England diocese of Newcastle when the precursor of this book came into being. It has grown from a small booklet of prayers compiled by members of the Newcastle Diocesan Environment Group to a fully-fledged book. Following an introduction by the Bishop of Salisbury, there is an inspiring essay on why Christians should pray for the Earth, and a section on how to use the prayers in the context of worship as well as for personal prayer time, which I found particularly helpful.

The Five Marks of Mission of the Anglican Communion include as the fifth mark: “safeguarding the integrity of creation and sustaining and renewing the life of the earth”. This aspect of mission is frequently ignored or forgotten in Church life and particularly, in my observation, in the intercessions. Here those who offer prayers pray for the Church, the global and local community; the sick, and the dead are remembered; but prayers are usually very centred on human beings. There is little or no attention given to the rest of Creation, still less to our part in abusing and exploiting what God has created and which we are called to sustain and renew. If we care about Creation, this should be heard in the prayers of the church.

This collection of short prayers provides a rich resource to ensure that praying for the environment, environmental care and sustainability is included in our intercessory prayers. Some of the prayers are based on passages of scripture, others relate to specific seasons and times, some are intended for use during the week and others, on a two monthly cycle of prayers, cover various topics with a link to the environment. I like the fact that the language used is simple and straightforward and goes to the heart of what we should, as a praying community, be attending to.

I will certainly be encouraging those responsible for preparing intercessions at my church to make use of this book.