At the beginning of time and space,

God gave us a world.

with granite, with gravity, with grapes.

At the beginning of time and space,

God gave us a world.

with marble, with molds, with marigolds.

At the beginning of time and space,

God gave us a world.

with croaking bullfrogs, with the buoyancy of water,

with duck-billed platypuses.

At the beginning of time and space,

God gave us a world.

with living cells and dying stars,

with black holes and the speed of light,

with human beings.

At the beginning of time,

God gave us a world.

Made in God’s image

to live in loving communion with our Maker,

we are appointed earthkeepers and caretakers

to tend the earth, enjoy it,

and love our neighbors.

God uses our skills

for the unfolding

and well-being of his world

so that creation

and all who live in it may flourish.

—from Our World Belongs to God, st. 10

When humans deface God’s image,

The whole world suffers:

Therefore let us confess our sins.

—from Our World Belongs to God, st. 15

Lord God, you have provided for us

a creation filled with food and water,

a universe rich with energy and resources,

and charged us to have dominion over all you have created.

But we confess that we have often spoiled your gifts,

we have put material possessions ahead of everything else,

and we have abused the environment you have provided for us.

Forgive us, Lord, and make us better stewards of your creation.

We pray through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Creator God, we confess that all too often

we have ignored and denied your lordship of the land entrusted to us

by assuming the right to do with it as we please,

by taking more from it than we have returned to it,

by taking for granted its productivity,

by denying justice to many who have labored on the land,

by wanting food for less than it costs to produce.

We confess that material values, rather than kingdom realities,

have often determined our relationships.

We have indulged our appetites with little consideration for others.

We have been more interested in our neighbor’s land than in our neighbor.

We have harbored bitterness and resentments

because of economic problems.

We are not reconciled to some who have hurt us,

even members of your body.

God of beauty and of justice,

we pray for the earth—

for restoration of soil, air, and water.

We pray for all people you have created—

for restoration of dignity and hope.

We pray for our nation and community—

for restoration of our sense of responsibility in service.

We pray even for ourselves—

for restoration of our resolve to love you and the world you made.

Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

Great God, lover of life, you give sweet air and clean water. You give us a healthy garden in which to breathe and drink. You are the God of seedling, of snow, of sun that melts snow. You are the God of birds chasing birds and of puppies chasing their tails. So let us touch the earth lightly for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

“I came upon this text by Shirley when I was browsing in my personal library through In Every Corner, Sing: The Hymns of Shirley Erena Murray (Hope Publishing, 1992). Admittedly there was already a well-sung tune by Colin Gibson but I thought it might be interesting to set the text to a tune that sought to nuance the fragile nature of God’s creation that requires our tender stewardship. This song together with my tune to Murray’s “Come and Find the Quiet Centre” were my initial effort to set her texts following our meeting at the 1997 World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Seminar on Liturgy and Music held in Tainan Theological College and Seminary, Taiwan. In 2012, I provided a brief write up on this text and tune to Dean B. McIntyre, Director of Music Resources at the General Board of Discipleship in Nashville, Tennessee. This can be accessed at: http://www.gbod.org/lead-your-church/hymn-studies/resource/touch-the-earth-lightly

Shirley Erena Murray (b. Invercargill, New Zealand, 1931) studied music as an undergraduate but received a master’s degree (with honors) in classis and French from Otago University. Her upbringing was Methodist, but she became a Presbyterian when she married the Reverend John Stewart Murray, who was a moderator of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. Shirley began her career as a teacher of languages, but she became more active in Amnesty International, and for eight years she served the Labor Party Research Unit of Parliament. Her involvement in these organizations has enriched her writing of hymns, which address human rights, women’s concerns, justice, peace, the integrity of creation, and the unity of the church. Many of her hymns have been performed in CCA and WCC assemblies. In recognition for her service as a writer of hymns, the New Zealand government honored her as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit on the Queen’s birthday on 3 June 2001. Through Hope Publishing House, Murray has published three collections of her hymns: In Every Corner Sing (eighty-four hymns, 1992), Everyday in Your Spirit (forty-one hymns, 1996), and Faith Makes the Song (fifty hymns, 2002). The New Zealand Hymnbook Trust, for which she worked for a long time, has also published many of her texts (cf. back cover, Faith Makes the Song). In 2009, Otaga University conferred on her an honorary doctorate in literature for her contribution to the art of hymn writing.

I-to Loh, Hymnal Companion to “Sound the Bamboo”: Asian Hymns in Their Cultural and Liturgical Context, p. 468, ©2011 GIA Publications, Inc., Chicago

Swee Hong Lim (b. 1963) is the Deer Park Assistant Professor of Sacred Music at Emmanuel College of Victoria University in the University of Toronto, Canada, and directs the Master of Sacred Music program. Prior to this, he taught at Baylor University, Waco,TX and Trinity Theological College in Singapore. He earned degrees from Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music, Manila; Southern Methodist University, Texas; and Drew University, New Jersey. He has contributed essays to Oxford Handbook on Christianity in Asia (Oxford, 2013), Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology (Canterbury, 2013), and New Songs of Celebration Render (GIA, 2013). His hymn tunes are found in many North American hymnals.