The Art of Creation

The Art of Creation: A Litany of Change

Here is a prayer for an individual or a community striving to change their relationship with the rest of the created world.

Today I share a prayer of confession and repentance from the United Nations Environmental Programme. With each segment, I suggest that you read slowly to allow the words to become real to you. You might pause before or after each repeated line until you have in mind specific examples from your own life, community, or nation.

In the first three sections, picture ways you and your community have failed to remember who you are. To help you recognize the failures, you might try to envision what the opposite would look like: What would it mean to be connected to the movements of the Earth, rather than estranged from them?

The fourth section is the turning point of the prayer. This section is essential if the changes envisioned in the latter part of the prayer are to happen. Here we ask for what we cannot produce on our own, but need in order to do the work before us.

Forgiveness is one of those things we need if we are to move on from the weight of our guilt and live in a new relationship to the rest of creation and the Creator. In order to change deep-seated habits and practices, we need both a mental picture of a healthy membership within creation and the strength to make the changes that will be required to do so. We need help remembering what we have forgotten—patterns of health and harmony, ways to be a contributing member of creation. We need to be reminded of practices of care—how to give back to creation rather than being a force of destruction and consumption.

Before moving onto the final sections of the prayer, I suggest you pause in silence and reflection. Allow the desire for change to build within you. Ask God to help you remember times when you or someone you know contributed something positive to the community of creation. Make space to be reminded of healthy practices or attitudes toward the creation that you have left behind or have never practiced.

As you move into the sections that envision a changed relationship, allow yourself to feel the lift of the beautiful possibilities portrayed in the prayer. If there is part of the vision that feels particularly strength-giving to you, make note of it so that you can remember it. Is there an image from the prayer that resonates with you? If so, linger on it so that it can become a new memory that will encourage and motivate you when change is particularly difficult.

A Litany of Sorrow and of Healing

We have forgotten who we are.
We have alienated ourselves from the unfolding cosmos.
We have become estranged from the movements of Earth.
We have turned our backs on the cycles of life.
We have sought our own security.
We have exploited for our own ends.
We have abused our power.
We have forgotten who we are.

Now the land is barren,
and the waters are poisoned,
and the air is polluted.
We have forgotten who we are.

Now the forests are dying,
and the creatures are disappearing,
and humans are despairing.
We have forgotten who we are.

We ask forgiveness.
We ask for the gift of remembering.
We ask for the strength to change.
We have forgotten who we are.

We join with the earth and each other
To bring new life to the land,
to restore the waters,
to refresh the air.

We join with the earth and each other
To renew the forests,
to care for the plants,
to protect the creatures.

We join with the earth and each other
To celebrate the seas,
to rejoice in the sunlight,
to sing the song of the stars.

We join with the earth and each other
To recreate the human community,
to promote justice and peace,
to remember our children.

We join together as many and diverse expressions of one loving mystery.
for the healing of the earth and the renewal of all life.
From Only One Earth, a United Nations Environment Programme publication for "Environmental Sabbath/Earth Rest Day," June 1990.

May this prayer give voice to the desires of your heart.

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Louise