5 June 2016 World Environment Day

Reader 1: From the Book of Proverbs:
Thus says the wisdom of God:
From of old I was poured forth,
at the first, before the earth.
When there were no depths
I was brought forth,
When there were no fountains
or springs of water;
before the mountains were settled
into place,
before the hills,
I was brought forth:
while as yet the earth and fields
were not made,
nor the first clods of the world.
“When God established
The heavens I was there,
when God marked out the vault
over the face of the deep;
when God made firm the skies above,
when God fixed fast
the foundations of the earth;
when God set for the sea its limit,
so that the waters should not
transgress God’s command;
then was I beside God
God’s artisan,
God’s delight day by day,
playing before God all the while,
playing on the surface of the earth;
and I found delight in the human race.”
(Proverbs 8:22-31)
(Pause for silent prayer)
Leader: Sacred all life, sacred each other; all reflect God who is good.
All: Lord Jesus,
as you made your way throughout the land,
you often stopped to contemplate the beauty sown by your Father.
In constant touch with nature,
you lent it an attention full of fondness and wonder;
you lived in harmony with creation and
invited us to see within it the divine message.