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Praying about the flow of time: Earth Day

Lynne Baab • Tuesday April 22 2025

Praying about the flow of time: Earth Day

Earth Day is this week, April 20. I want to encourage prayers in honor of Earth Day, specifically prayers for those who influence others to care for the earth. To do that, I’ll describe two people at my church.

My good friend Janette Plunkett works as Energy and Sustainability Manager at Seattle Pacific University on policies that reduce campus energy use.  She recently wrote to me in an email, “In our largest building we've reduced energy usage by 37% and more than $140,000 in avoided costs.  That's also the equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions from 275 airline trips of 3,000 miles each.  This shows Seattle's new regulations can be beneficial. Being forced to pay attention to energy usage can have big benefits.”

Those “Seattle regulations” she mentioned were influenced by Janette and sustainability managers at the other local universities, including the University of Washington and Seattle University. They meet regularly to collaborate on the best ways to influence and implement city and state campus regulations that can reduce energy and carbon emissions. 

She also works to integrate creation care into faculty, staff, and student conversations and daily lives.  For example, the cafeteria has many veg/vegan choices and no-waste packaging, including reusable to-go containers.  And last Earth Day they hosted a lecture with a well known Christian climate scientist who discussed the importance of talking about climate change and how to do that.   

Janette has also volunteered at the national level of the Presbyterian Church (USA) advocating for policy that addresses the climate crisis.

Creator God, we pray for all whose jobs and volunteer positions give them the ability to influence policies related to caring for your beautiful Earth. Help them see the steps to take that will bring the best results. Encourage them when they are sad and disheartened. Give them wisdom and perseverance. We thank you and praise you for them.

The second person I want to highlight is Dr. Eric Long, who teaches biology at Seattle Pacific University. The courses he teaches include ecology, conservation biology, forest ecology, tropical ecology, biostatistics, and vertebrate biology. On his university webpage, he writes, “Teaching biology at SPU provides me a unique opportunity to convey my love of creation and my love of the Creator.”

This coming Sunday, he’ll be teaching a class at our church, Bethany Presbyterian Church, on care for the environment. Here’s the description of the class, which reveals some of his priorities:

“There's a famous accusation that says that we're in this ecological mess because of Christianity. Pagan religions see the world as spiritual, so they protect it (or so the argument goes). Christianity sees the world as non-spiritual material to be exploited for our benefit. What does the Bible teach? What does it mean to understand creation as theocentric (God-centered) as opposed to anthropocentric (human-centered)?”

Word of God, who was present at creation, we pray for all who teach about your beautiful earth. Give them reverence for the complexity and wonder of what you made. Help them convey to students ways we can all care for the earth. Give them the best words as they teach and write.

Janette suggested that I scrap this blog post and write a different one focused on Pope Francis and his advocacy for creation care. Here’s a good summary of the variety of ways he used his influence to promote awareness of the need to care for our precious Earth.  

God our Shepherd, please guide all who are using their positions of power to encourage care for the Earth. Please raise up many like Pope Francis who will speak up.

We pray for those who shape policy, those who teach, and those in leadership positions who care about your creation. Give them wisdom as they seek to use their influence for the benefit of this fragile earth you created.

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Next week: Lessons from the road to Emmaus. Illustration by Dave Baab: Lake Hawea, New Zealand.

Previous posts about creation:

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