Spirit of God, Present in the North, the place where water
is snow and ice, we greet you. You are
the Spirit of the cold and biting wind that blows across our land, that strips
the Earth of all that is dead and decayed, that robs us of the false securities
so easily blown away. Teach us to plant
our feet securely on the Earth and to see creation as it really is, that your
coming may find us standing firm in integrity.
Your winds bring the snows of winter with their fury and
their solitude. It is you who blanket
the Earth for sleep.
Strengthen us for whatever is cold and uncertain in our
lives. Help us to be faithful when the
struggles are hard. Teach us, Spirit of
the North, in the silence of winter, to wait in darkness with the sleeping
Earth, believing that we, like the Earth, already hold within ourselves the
seeds of new life.
Sprit of God, present in the East, where the sun comes up
over our Atlantic Ocean, we greet you. You usher in the dawn with diamonds of light sparkling
on the waving surf.
You promise new birth – birth of babies, birth of puppies,
birth of ideas, birth of friendship. You
bring us the hope of a new day, hope that we can live in harmony with one
another and with the whole community of life.
Spirit of the East, fill our bodies with your breath, bring
us light, invigorate us that we might reach out boldly to grasp the miracles
that come to birth with each new dawn.
Spirit of God, present in the South, with its warm, tropical
waters and currents, we greet you. You
warm our oceans and nurture our land.
Your mighty rain forests breathe life into our Earth.
You are the Spirit of all that is soothing, gentle and
refreshing. We ask you to give us this spirit
of growth, of fertility, of gentleness.
Caress us with a cool breeze when the days are hot. Give us seeds and rain that the flowers,
trees and fruits of the Earth may grow.
Give us the warmth of happy families and good friendships.
Oh Spirit of the South, thaw and soften our coldness and
hardness that we may, like children, rejoice in the simple signs of life.
Oh Spirit of God present in the West, where water finds its
home in both sparse desert plants and in the wild surf of rugged, jagged
coastlines, we greet you.
We turn to you in praise of sunsets and in thanksgiving for
changes. It is by your power that the
sun hangs suspended for endless moments before you catch it with your breath
and carry it off into the night.
You are the great colored sunset of the red west which
illuminates us. You are the powerful
cycle which pulls us to transformation.
O Spirit of the West, keep us open to life’s changes. And guide us at the end of each day that,
filled with your peace, we might rest securely in your great mystery of night
until morning calls us forth again.
We greet you, Great Spirit of the Earth. It is from you we came and from a mother; you
nourish us still and give us shelter.
Teach us to walk softly on your lands, to use with care your
gifts, to love with tenderness all our brothers and sisters, humans and
non-human, who have been born of your goodness.
And when the day comes when you call us back to yourself,
help us to return to you as a friend, to find ourselves embraced, encircled,
enfolded in your arms. Amen.
