Percy Bysshe Shelley – Jackson Community Church

Reflections on Earth Day

By jacksonnhccPosted on April 18, 2018Posted in Home, Justice & Activism, Weekly MeditationsTagged chief seattle, Gandhi, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Henry David Thoreau, Jane Goodall, John Paul II, John Ruskin, Laudato Si, Leo Tolstoy, Margaret Mead, Navajo Way Blessing Ceremony, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Pope Francis

Earth Day — Jane Yolen

I am the Earth And the Earth is me.

Each blade of grass, Each honey tree,

Each bit of mud, And stick and stone

Is blood and muscle, Skin and bone.

And just as I Need every bit

Of me to make My body fit,

So Earth needs Grass and stone and tree

And things that grow here Naturally.

That’s why we Celebrate this day.

That’s why across The world we say:

As long as life, As dear, as free,

I am the Earth And the Earth is me.

Learn More

Creation Justice Ministries Earth Day resources
Pope Francis encyclical on environment and human ecology Laudato Si

Of the Earth

The good man is the friend of all living things. —Gandhi

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together … all things connect. —Chief Seattle

Away, away, from men and towns, To the wild wood and the downs, — To the silent wilderness, Where the soul need not repress its music. —Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say we love the land and then take steps to destroy it for use by future generations. —John Paul II

What’s the use of a fine house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on. —Henry David Thoreau

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. —Margaret Mead

One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and nature shall not be broken. —Leo Tolstoy

Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty. —John Ruskin

You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make. —Jane Goodall

The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil … the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings. — Gerard Manley Hopkins

Walking in Beauty:
Closing Prayer from the Navajo Way Blessing Ceremony
In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again …
Today I will walk out, today everything negative will leave me
I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body.
I will have a light body, I will be happy forever, nothing will hinder me.
I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me.
I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me.
I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.
In beauty all day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons, may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With dew about my feet, may I walk.
With beauty before me may I walk.
With beauty behind me may I walk.
With beauty below me may I walk.
With beauty above me may I walk.
With beauty all around me may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.
My words will be beautiful…