Blessed are You our God
and God of our fathers and mothers,
God of everyone and everywhere since time’s beginning,
God of our children to time’s end.
My heart is bursting beyond its boundaries
in this company of ancient holy beings,
in their forest home
for the chimpmunk darting through the bushes,
for the bird calling out its exhuberent song overhead,
for the flower unfurling its orange petal glory by the clear flowing creek,
and this old man seeking a little quiet time with You.
These gentle giants are naked and defenseless
against the terrible machinery
of human greed, arrogance, blindness.
This land without boundaries,
flowing with milk and honey,
which You gave us for an inheritance
for ourselves and our children to the end of time,
has been decimated, desecrated, clear cut for quick bucks.
If we had ears
to hear her screams of anguish and her sobs of mourning,
who could survive?
Now a few small precious vulnerable remnants,
protected only by governing bodies
themselves under attack by the same forces that decimated the ancient forests,
remain.
As I sit here in the circle of ancient holy beings,
they embrace me and comfort me.
We have been here a long time, they say.
More has happened than you can imagine.
More is yet to come.
This moment is alive, radient.
Be here with us.
God wipe away our tears,
heal our broken hearts,
teach us to treasure each other,
make us worthy to receive the inheritance
that you’ve temporarily placed in our hands for safe-keeping.
Bless us with the wisdom
to learn from these ancient holy beings
and all the holy beings that surround us every day
to treasure and care for your gifts,
to pass them on in undiminished glory
to our children and our children’s children
to time’s end.