And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? – Acts 2:8 (NRSV)
This fall, I am doing a sermon series on God Languages based on the books Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas and What’s Your God Language? by Myra Perrine. We’ll be looking at nine different spiritual temperaments to identify “our own native language” in which we best worship and experience the presence of God.
This week, we are considering at the Naturalist. The Naturalist loves God through the experience of God’s creation. If Naturalist is your God Language, your soul rejoices when you are in the outdoors. Taking a walk outside, enjoying a sunset, listening to the rain draw you into prayer and love for God.
In worship, we will be bringing in music, Scriptures, and images to speak the Naturalist God Language. Our prayer of adoration and confession uses images to guide us as we pray words from Genesis 1; Psalm 24:1; Jeremiah 4:24-26; Jeremiah 9:10; and Romans 8:22.
Let us pray:
Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean. ~ John Muir Click To TweetPrayer in text form:
Creator God, you spoke the universe into being. You designed the earth to be self-renewing.
Water gathered into the seas, rises and gathers as clouds, that again water the earth.
Seeds rise up from the dirt and grow into plants, that again seed the earth.
Created in your image, you named us stewards of your creation. You blessed it – and us – and said, “It is very good.”
The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants too. Because God is the one who established it on the seas; God set it firmly on the waters. (Psalm 24:1, CEB)
But we have not always stewarded God’s creation well, for thus says the Lord:
I looked at the mountains and they were quaking; all the hills were rocking back and forth.
I looked and there was no one left; every bird in the sky had taken flight.
I looked and the fertile land was a desert;
all its towns were in ruins before the LORD, (Jeremiah 4:24-26, CEB)
I will weep and wail for the mountains, and lament for the grazing lands in the wilderness.
They are dried up and deserted; no sound of the flocks is heard;
no sign of birds or animals is seen; all have vanished. (Jeremiah 9:10, CEB)
We know that the whole creation is groaning together and suffering labor pains up until now. (Romans 8:22, NRSV)
Creator God, you spoke the universe into being. You designed the earth to be self-renewing. Forgive us our self-destruction. Teach us how to care for your creation. Amen.
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If you are interested in more prayers like this, consider checking out my book: 
Prayers for the People: Scripturally Based Prayers for Worship
