Happy Earth Day!

Traditional Chinook Blessing Litany

We call upon the Earth, our planet home,
with its beautiful depths and soaring heights,
its vitality and abundance of life,
and together we ask that it:
Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon the mountains, the Cascades and the Olympics,
the high green valleys and meadows filled with wildflowers,
the snows that never melt, the summits of intense silence,
and we ask that they:
Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon the waters that rim the earth,
horizon to horizon, that flow in our rivers and streams,
that fall upon our gardens and fields
and we ask that they:
Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon the land which grows our food,
the nurturing soil, the fertile fields,
the abundant gardens and orchards,
and we ask that they:
Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon the forests,
the great trees reaching strongly to the sky
with earth in their roots and the heavens in their branches,
the fir and the pine and the cedar,
and we ask them to:
Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon the creatures of the fields and forests and the seas,
our brothers and sisters the wolves and deer,
the eagle and dove, the great whales and the dolphin,
the beautiful orca and salmon who share our Northwest home,
and we ask them to:
Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon all those who have lived on this Earth,
our ancestors and our friends,
who dreamed the best for future generations,
and upon whose lives our lives are build,
and with thanksgiving, we call upon them to:
Teach us, and show us the Way.

And lastly, we call upon all that we hold most sacred,
the presence and power of the Great Spirit of love and truth
which flows through all the Universe...
to be with us to:
Teach us, and show us the Way.

(photo by NASA)