Focus

Slow your breathing and become aware of the taking in and letting out of your breath. Focus on putting things aside so you will be open to what God is saying to you today.

Read

Psalm 65 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

To the leader. A Psalm of David. A Song.

Praise is due to you,
O God, in Zion;
and to you shall vows be performed,

O you who answer prayer!
To you all flesh shall come.

When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
you forgive our transgressions.

Happy are those whom you choose and bring near
to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
your holy temple.

Reflect

Psalm 65 is a hymn of praise to God who answers prayer. The Prayer Psalm is set in covenant community filled with the goodness of God and marked by joy and hope. The song recognizes God as present in the world as creative relational love caring for the world, described in our last evotion as God’s pasture land.

The Psalmist sees God in the world and for the world, in us and for us. This is a prose poem of ecology. God visits and waters the world, blessing and enriching it (Psalm 65:9-13). E. O. Wilson calls us planetary killers. We pollute and destroy our environment.

In a relational world, God’s love energies affect how the world unfolds. Relational loving-kindness invites us to become adventurous partners with God in bringing justice to all people and saving our environment. (See my book, A Center that Holds: Adventures in Kindness, for a fuller treatment of prayer that honors God and my book, TREES AND DRIFTWOOD: Poetic Ecology).

Pray

Loving God, help us to be become adventurous partners in bringing justice to all people and saving our environment.

Go with God!