Earth Day 2025 Worship from the Creation Care Team of the Episcopal Diocese of Maine
Resources for liturgy for a service on Earth Day (The Tuesday of Easter Week, April 22, 2025) or on the following Sunday, April 27, the Second Sunday of Easter.)
Theme: Divine Mercy to All Creation
Introduction
Our siblings in the Roman Catholic tradition of the universal church celebrate the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. This is in response to a popular movement among Catholic laypeople to honor a twentieth century saint, Faustina, canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000. Her visions of Jesus with Divine Mercy flowing from him in streams of light became the focus of so much devotion in the early 20th century that the Vatican banned them for a while! But later they were accepted and incorporated into the liturgical life of the church.
I decided to take the theme of Divine Mercy for this year’s Earth Day service in part as an ecumenical witness. But even more, in this Easter week, Divine Mercy Sunday
provides us with a vision of the Risen Christ through whom all are saved and renewed by God’s Mercy streaming from the heart of love: not only humanity, but all of creation.
As we contemplate, with shame and grief, the destruction and danger that human life has brought to the natural world, we may receive new strength and hope when we seek
and find God’s mercy in Christ. What’s more, we can rejoice in the knowledge that the Resurrection life is offered not only to humans but to the whole community of living
beings, and indeed to all that God created.
Among the readings and prayers suggested for this service are selections from the Papal Encyclical Laudato Si issued by Pope Francis in 2015, which is a beautiful document calling for Christians to unite in “care for our common home.” The texts of all the readings are on a separate page. Download both documents below. –Jenny Reece+
Creation Care Team Earth Day Liturgy
Earth Day 2025 Readings