Hymns for Earth Day
A collection of hymn suggestions for Earth Day from the Unbound catalog. Curated by editor Adam Tice, this list also features commentary by other Unbound text authors.
The Unbound catalog offers extensive resources for Earth Day. I have compiled a list of suggestions to explore (below), and invited a few Unbound writers and composers to select and highlight a few songs with me. I have divided the songs into four general categories: Diversity of Creation, Beauty of Creation, Prayer and Lament for the Degradation of Creation, and Hope for Restoration.
Diversity of Creation
Diversity of Creation is really my way of describing a sub-genre of hymn that I think of as “Catalog of Creatures.” These are texts that celebrate the ways in which all creation joins in praising the Creator. Two of them are among our newest releases
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
“This piece is quite literally full of life, reveling in the fullness of life all around us: from the sun to the sequoias to the snails. It is a joy to sing.” –Chris Shelton
Genesis of Phytoplankton
“Any biologists (or precocious children) in your congregation will delight in this text’s scientific language. Brown artfully highlights Creation’s rich and wild array.” –Adam Tice
Earth is Full of Wit and Wisdom
“Whimsical, this deceptively childlike text gently reminds us that the care of the earth is serious business. The text envisions the humorous contrasts of earthy creatures - the small and the large, the noisy and the silent, the exotic and the ordinary - and then reminds us that we are all in this together.” –Jacque Jones
Beauty of Creation
The Beauty of Creation category includes praise for the goodness of creation, explorations of God’s nature as revealed through creation, and prayers for peace using inspiration from creation … and much more!
You Grow Like the Moss
“Hannah C. Brown paints a vivid picture with the first half of each stanza, adding depth with an explicit petition that begins in line 5. My favorite is: ‘God, teach us a slowness that nurtures the soul, a vibrance that’s subtle and strong.’ This beautiful, rich text is just as meaningful in personal devotion and reflection as it is in corporate worship.” –Eli Cooper-Nelson
The Earth is Full of Your Glory
“This bilingual collaboration celebrates the ‘sacred story’ told by all creatures, even mountains and oceans.” –Adam Tice
Prayer and Lament for the Degradation of Creation
As the length of the list below will reveal, in recent decades concern for the environment has motivated many hymn writers to write songs of Prayer and Lament for the Degradation of Creation.
The Garden Needs Our Tending Now
“For many years this has been my “go to” for earth-centric services in Sunday worship, Wake Forest Divinity School chapel, and Abbey worship on the island of Iona.” –Sally Ann Morris
Hope for Restoration
Songs in the Hope for Restoration category remind us of God’s vision for the renewal of creation.
After the Flood
“This powerful text could easily appear in the Prayer and Lament category, but verses 2 and 3 point us toward hope, reminding us (like Mr. Rogers) that ‘helpers come to lend a hand.’” –Adam Tice
More suggestions:
More songs celebrating the Diversity of Creation:
Creative God, You Spread the Earth (Duck)
I Cannot Sing the Robin’s Song (Shelton/Dengler)
If the Rocks and Stones (Tice/Morris)
Learn from All the Songs of Earth (Troeger/Morris)
More songs on the Beauty of Creation:
God’s Is a World of Beauty (Bell/Morris)
I Plant My Feet upon the Earth (Somerville/Morris)
At the Weaving of Creation (Bjorlin/ Brody) See recent feature
Be Our Inhale (Cooper-Nelson/Brody)
For All Things Worth Praising (Bjorlin/Brody) (Text also available with THE ASH GROVE)
For Distant Clouds (Leckebusch/Brody)
God Who Moves Throughout Creation (Jones/Brody)
May the Peace of Christ Be Yours (Bringle)
People of the Soil and Air (Bringle)
O Beauty, Veiled and Yet Revealed (Dufner)
The World at Day’s Dawn (Tice/Rowan)
Waters that Rise and Flow (Jones/Brody)
We Bless You, God of Strength and Might (Bringle/Morris)
Who Is This Who Spins the Planets (Dufner)
With Dazzling Light (Bringle/Pavlechko)
More songs of Prayer and Lament for the Degradation of Creation:
We Sit in Shambles We Have Built (Bjorlin/Miller)
Can Weeping for Our Planet Be Enough (Tice/Morris)
Earth Is Aching (Gambrell)
For Every Child (Tice/Gibson)
God Placed Us In Creation (Tice/Haugen)
God In All Worlds (Murray/Young)
Gracious Gardener of Creation (Shelton/Brody) (Text also available with JEFFERSON)
In Woods and Wetlands (Brown/Morris)
One By One, as Songs Fall Silent (Bringle/Brody)
People of the Earth, Come Tremble (Brown/Brody)
Seek Peace with All Creatures (Tice)
The Earth Belongs to God Alone (Tice/Sarbora)
This Is God’s World (Bell)
Touch the Earth Lightly (Murray/Brody)
Were We There When Earth Was Made (Shelton)
When I Gaze on Creation (Dufner)
When Our Daily Bread (Bjorlin/Brody)
Who Is the Neighbor (Dufner)
More songs of Hope for Restoration:
I Dream of Your Heaven (Brown) (See Chris Shelton’s reflection on this song.)
I Saw a River Flowing (Tice/Brody)
In the Beginning (Brown/Williams)
Two Trees Rose from the Garden Ground (Bjorlin/Brody)