Creator God, the One who was in the beginning,
the One who spoke life out of nothing – creatio ex nihilo –
We bear witness to the order of your creation,
for with a word, you brought order out of chaos.
So we give thanks for your ordered gift of life to us:
the rhythm of day and night.
the predictable change from one season to another,
Decay always giving way to resurrection and new life.
We take comfort in your eternal rhythm.
Even when that rhythm is interrupted,
and the storms come and the earth shifts beneath our feet,
You give the gift of balance and equilibrium to center us again.
Just when it seems that the world we live in – both public and private –
is coming apart at the seams, your creation refuses to be undone.
You speak peace and we will not be afraid.
You created the garden of Eden,
and, in the mystery of faith, continue to cultivate the garden of our souls.
We pray that you would do your work of creation in us again and again.
Where there is sickness, plant a garden of good health.
Where there is anxiety, plant peace.
Where there is doubt, plant faith.
Where there is sorrow, plant joy.
Where there is the vast void of depression and despair,
speak into the void again with words of hope.
Where there is the pervasive darkness of ignorance,
may we hear again, “Let there be light…”
And there was evening and there was morning, another day.
Creator God,
be our day and our night,
be our heaven and our earth,
be our sea and our sky,
and in the end be our true home,
for our hearts are restless like the chaos that was in the beginning.
Simply speak the word, O God who creates through words,
and we will be healed, we will be made as new as the first light of morning.
In the beginning was the Word,
and the word was with God and the Word was God.
All things came into being through this Word,
and without this Word not one thing came into being.
And so we pray in name of that creating Word made flesh,
the One who taught us to pray in this way:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.