Prayers for Creation 

Friday 24th June 2022

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. Psalm 45:7b, 8a

You Lord, are the source of all good things: 

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation: 

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives: 

May we live together in peace.

Reading: Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices— a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon.

Praise be to God for the gift of smell:

Summer sweet smells,

the spiced scent of roses, 

the honey sweetness of lime blossom, 

the calming fragrance of lavender. 

The morning’s scents of dew damp grass, 

of hay in the noon day’s heat, 

the evening’s languid aroma of honeysuckle 

draws in the smells of night.

The burnt earth smell of bracken, 

the pungent smell of the first rains.

The slip-sliding smell of fresh water, 

the salty tang of the sea.

The simple – overlooked? – nose 

plays host to an olfactory banquet, 

attuning us to the time of day, 

the seasons and the weather.

Picking up signals

that suggest delight or warn of danger,

that pique our appetite, 

and speak of attraction, reward and love.

Praise be to God for the gift of smell.

Ever present God, 

bless our mindfulness, 

our ability to sense your presence,  

to find you in the smells of the everyday, 

to relish the delights than come less often. 

Ever present God, 

be with those surrounded by the smell of war and fear, 

of destruction and decay.

Breathe compassion 

into the hearts of those who wage war, 

and those who make peace. 

Ever present God, be with those 

surrounded with pollution and those who breath acrid air.

Bless the work of all who create green spaces, 

whose living organisms purify the air.

Lend strength to those who protect the environment 

and those who seek a cleaner way of life.

Ever present God, be with those 

in need of healing in body, mind and spirit.

May they breathe out all that causes harm 

and breathe in all that is wholesome. 

Inspire and renew us one and all 

with the sweet fragrance of your Spirit. 

Amen.