Despoiling Eden--Jan. 10, 2022

[From Jan. 13, 2020 archive]

 

You founded the earth, O God, 

and gave it to us to till and to keep,

but we have walked around in darkness,

until our very foundations have been shaken. 

We have shown no knowledge or understanding

of the harm we are creating from burning fossil fuels. 

 

Let your light shine in our darkness, Lord Jesus,

so that we may see how our indifference 

and selfishness are despoiling

the Eden God gave us.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 5; 145; 82; 29

Gen. 2:4-25

Heb. 1:1-14

John 1:1-18

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 82:5

[The other members of the divine council] have neither knowledge nor understanding,
          they walk around in darkness;
          all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

 

Gen. 2:15

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

 

Heb. 1:10

And,

“In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth,

          and the heavens are the work of your hands…”

 

John 1:3b-5

What has come into being in [the Word] was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.