Celebrating Earth Day at Grace

On the day after Earth Day, we gather to give thanks and praise for the beautiful gifts of creation. In music and prayer, we’ll call, and we’ll turn our hearts to the wonder and beauty all around us, and we’ll remember our call to be good stewards of all that we’ve been given. As part of our prayer, we’ll begin using a form of the Great Thanksgiving from Enriching our Worship. These prayers highlight the call to mind the wonders of creation as we journey through spring.

Following the 10 a.m. liturgy, we’ll process out and plant a tree as part of the Anglican Communion Forest.

The Anglican Communion Forest

Last November, at the Diocesan Convention, Bishop Deon gave each parish a young oak tree to care for over the winter and then plant when it is safe to do so. Come out and join in the prayer, blessing, and planting of our young oak tree on Sunday, April 23^rd, following the 10 am service.

We do this in solidarity with the Communion Forest Project, a global initiative of the Anglican Communion. The aim of the Communion Forest is to significantly increase Anglican tree growing and landscape protection around the world and deepen care for creation within the life of the Church.

At the heart of our faith is the call to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and to sustain and renew the face of the earth. God’s earth; God’s creation; God’s gift. As we plant our tree, we are not only living out this aspect of our discipleship, but we are also expressing hope for the future.

Let this be an act of hope for us as a community and a pledge to tread more gently on planet Earth for the good of all creation and those who will come after us.