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How beautiful is the morning: all bright in its tranquility.
Clear blue is the depth of the heavens: and the earth is silent and calm.
The bloom is purple on the mountains: the waters are transparent in the valley.
The sweet grass is an emerald floor: the vesture of earth is aglow with rejoicing life.
There is the ripple of clear waters over golden sands: the encircling sea, the breaking waves upon the rocks.
The pine covered cliffs that guard our land: the serenity of inward calm;
The friendly trees of the forest: their noble forms, the quiet glades;
The flowers of hill and valley: the swelling downs, the hamlet that nestles below;
The country, mine own people unutterably beloved: whose future I long to know;
The children, most precious, most to be revered: born of heaven to be proclaimers of life and light.
The glory of life is upon me: the vision of a pure delight.
(From Psalms and Canticles for Public Worship, 1927, No. 37)
We praise with our hearts: we acknowledge the wonder of the world.
All the earth is glorious: with nature ever changing.
To these all people cry aloud: in cities and the country therein.
To these human and animal life continually do cry
Holy, holy, holy: life - all is sacred.
All that surrounds us is full of the majesty and the glory.
The goodly fellowship of the seekers: praise this
The noble gathering of the knowing: praise this
The glorious company of the sure: praise this.
The holy faiths throughout all the world: do acknowledge this.
The earth and nature's majesty.
(Based on the Te Deum Laudamus)
We talk of creation as a past thing but the truth is creation is eternal. Creation never ceases.
Every time the clouds drop in rain, everytime the waters freeze into new ice, every time the juices of nature gather into a new flower, every time a new cry of life is heard, another tear, another breath, there is God as truly present in his miraculous creative capacity as on the day when he said, "Let there be light."
(Menzies, P. S., in Haddon, C., ed., The Yearbook of Hope and Inspiration, Penguin: 1989, for September 3rd.)
Let us acknowledge the source of life
for the earth and for nourishment.
May we conserve the earth
that it may sustain us
and let us seek sustenance
for all who inhabit the world.
Let us distinguish
parts within the whole
and bless their differences.
Like sabbath and the six days of creation
may our lives be made whole
through relation.
(Judith Plaskow, Standing Again at Sinai, San Francisco: Harper, 1990, 142-3; from Falk, Notes on Composing New Blessings, 52-53)
Blessed is She who spoke, and the world came to be...
Blessed is She who in the beginning, gave birth...
Blessed is She whose womb covers the earth...
Blessed is She whose womb protects all creatures.
(Judith Plaskow, Standing Again at Sinai, San Francisco: Harper, 1990, p. 137; from Janowitz, N. & Weinig, M. (1976), Siddur Nassim: A Sabbath Prayer Book for Women, unpublished, Brown University.)
Blessed three in one, the seasons are given,
May each time give more richness;
Blessed three in one, the earth is given,
May it become fertile and rich;
Blessed three in one, the skies are given,
May the air be clear and sweet, and the clouds give soft rains;
Blessed three in one, the sparkling waters are given,
May the streams and rivers flow pure and clear once more.
O winds from the East blow sweet and free,
O warmth from the south bring life from the sun,
O waters from the west, glisten clear and fresh,
O land from the north, grow rich and bring forth.
Amen.
(Based in part on 'Full Moon and Beltane Rituals' in A Book of Pagan Rituals, 56 and 68)