Produced by A Rocha USA, this is a resource to help church leaders include eco theology and expressions in their worship and teaching. As noted in the introduction, the hope is that ‘this collection of liturgy, prayers and songs will enable and inspire worshiping communities to more faithfully follow Christ, care for creation, and glorify our good Creator.’  While many churches are committed to creation care in their communities, they can lack the experience and confidence to find ways to express it in their worship. But weaving creation care in our worship is vital for as Rev. Dr Ben Lowe, executive director of A Rocha USA, notes in the resource: ‘One way we can know what God’s people care about is to look at what we pray about, sing about, and preach about. And what we pray about, sing about, and preach about in turn helps shape who we are and what we care about.’

There are a number of ways this resource enables churches to express their commitment to creation care in their worship. There are prayers, blessings, and exhortations that correspond to various parts of a liturgical service but which can be adapted for use in other contexts. As well as liturgies for thanksgiving and confession in a regular worship service, there are also prayers of lament, a communion liturgy, prayers for blessing land or a garden and musical suggestions – this section starts with some helpful comments and suggestions about the place of creation songs in worship. There are also several reflection essays written by scholars and practitioners on a variety of topics related to creation care and corporate worship.

Overall this is a helpful resource. It seeks to be accessible to a wide range of churches, but will be particularly helpful for churches who use liturgies regularly in their worship, and for people who haven’t had much experience writing creation care liturgy or need some fresh inspiration. It doesn’t include multi-sensory or multi-age worship expressions although it could inspire them. It draws resources mainly from USA, Australia, and the UK, so there is some diversity, but it does lack the unique perspective that comes from theologically reflecting on creation care from an Aotearoa point of view.  This resource can be downloaded here: https://arocha.us/creation-care-resources