One... Home

Prayers for the place we all call home

As people, we’re typically very good at noticing and finding points of difference between ourselves and other people. Sometimes our enthusiasm for labelling ourselves into groups with common goals and interests, can obscure our understanding of the common bonds we share with people all over the world. In as much as we stand ‘for’ something, we can easily find others who are ‘against’ and this drives us away from unity or caring for others who are experiencing life differently to us.

In our One series our prayers are for our world, our planet, the place we all call home. We might name the place we call ‘home’ as the building we sleep in at night, or the city in which our dwelling sits, or the country named on our passport. Maybe home is a person rather than a place. Whatever our definition of home, we are held together, across the globe, friends and strangers alike by belonging to our earth home.

When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Genesis 1: 1 - 5 (NRSVUE)

Today’s prayers invite us to put aside our sense of difference from others, and instead pull us toward our shared journey of living on earth. We pray together for this planet we call home.

Our first prayer today invites us to get our hands dirty as we dig in soil or sand or similar. Our second prayer today invites us to clean our hands in water.

Trowel Prayer

Find a place outdoors where you can dig into the ground with a small spade or trowel. Plan to get your hands dirty. Break up the soil with your trowel. Scoop up your findings of soil, mulch, sand or clay from the earth in your hands. Engage your senses as you observe your cupped hands filled with organic, earthy material. Sit for a moment and contemplate what this soil provides for us on our Earth home. Pray for our planet and for the soil of your land and for the soil all over our world. Pray for yourself, inviting God’s guidance on how you can get your own hands dirty protecting and caring for creation.