Soil Stewardship Week was established by the National Association of Conservation Districts, an organization that was founded to direct resources after the devastation to agriculture in the United States as result of the Dust Bowl. Stewardship Week has been clebrated annually since 1955.

Prayer:

Written By:

Michael L. Lyle, Senior Minister Washington Street United Methodist Church

We rejoice, O God, that you are ever planting gardens. You called the dry land earth and caused it to put forth plants yielding seed and fruit of every kind. You plant within us, anew, each moment, seeds of hope that can only grow in the fertile ground og your love. You formed us from the dust of the ground and you raise us from the dust of despair. you help us to see the degradation, but also the limitless possibility of your good earth. You give us sensitivity, vision and courage to act righteously in behalf of all creation. God of all the people of earth, every plant and  animal, every plot of life-giving soil, all rain and wind, send your life-renewing Spirit to blow over, within and around us anew, that we might join ever more fully with you in celebration of, and advocacy for, our shared creation.

Thanks and praise be to you O God. Amen.