Kids on a swing, hanging from a mighty oak tree.

April 22. Unitarian Universalism’s seventh principle: “Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part” makes this a day to celebrate religiously. Themes can include: earth-centered spirituality; connecting to the divine through nature; caretaking of the environment; the interdependent web. Another day to celebrate these themes is Arbor Day, the date of which varies from state to state.

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The Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth envisions a world in which reverence, gratitude, and care for the living Earth are central to the lives of all people. Their purpose is to inspire, facilitate, and support personal, congregational, and denominational practices that honor and sustain the Earth and all beings. They affirm and promote the seven principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association, including: "Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part."

a very bright and elongated meteor in the night sky, over a dark horizon

From Tapestry of Faith Curricula

Unitarian Universalist Perspectives

Young woman holds plastic earth ball at rally for environmental justice in Louisville, KY, June 2011.

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  • A tale of salvation, ecology, and sharing. Characters Narrator Noelle Voice in a dream Noelle’s sisters Jane, Rain, and Elaine Friendly farmer(s) Ship builder(s) Numerous animals: dogs, cats, mice, cows, horses, frogs, etc. Act 1 (Noelle at center stage, sitting, covered in blanket and appearing...
    Story | By Christian Schmidt | January 25, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Activism, Children's Sabbath, Christianity, Direct Experience, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Environment, God, Interdependence, Justice Sunday, Service, Water Communion
  • I pledge allegiance to the earth on which I stand, and to the environment of which I am a part, one planet in a Process, with soil, water and air like one body, indivisible, with resources to be cherished and protected by all.
    Reading | By Vern Barnet | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Environment
  • Oh power of springtime, Spirit of green grasses and warm breezes; Goddess of creativity of birth of life renewed You sing all about us at this time. The birds call your sacred name. Buds burst forth with your vestment....
    Prayer | By George A Tyger | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Awe, Body, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Grace, Nature, Vernal Equinox
  • Infinite Spirit, sometimes called Grandfather, Grandmother —...
    Meditation | By Vern Barnet | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Indigenous American
  • We give thanks for the earth and its creatures and are grateful from A to Z: For alligators, apricots, acorns and apple trees; For bumblebees, bananas, blueberries and beagles; Coconuts, crawdads, cornfields and coffee; Daisies, elephants, and flying fish; For groundhog, glaciers and grasslands;...
    Meditation | By Gary Kowalski | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animal Blessing, Animals, Children, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth Day, Environment, Nature, Secular
  • Water! Earth! Air! Fire!...
    Opening | By Peter S. Raible | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth Day, Paganism
  • I pledge allegiance to the earth and all life: the fields and streams, the mountains and seas, the forests and deserts, the air and soil, all species and reserves, habitats and environments; one world, one creation, one home, indivisible for all, affected by pollution anywhere, depleted by any...
    Reading | By Vern Barnet | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth Day, Environment, Interdependence
  • Let us bless the Earth, And all that is steady and firm. Let us bless the Sky, And all that is open and filled with light. Let us bless their union, Holy and without ceasing. Let us bless their children, The bounty of field and forest, Stones, plants, animals, and all living things....
    Prayer | By Eric Williams | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Abundance, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Healing, Imbolc / Brighid's Day / Candlemas, Lammas, Nature, Paganism, Relationships, Summer Solstice, Vernal Equinox
  • I have a story for you. It's a tale of two heads of lettuce. This one (hold up head of lettuce and maybe even move around the sanctuary as you speak) was grown in Salinas Valley, CA. It was grown according to conventional, industrial farming methods by a multi-national corporation. They used...
    Time for All Ages | By Melissa Carvill-Ziemer | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Community, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Economy, Food, Living Our Faith, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Responsibility
  • It’s really complicated honey. I’m only now understanding it myself. We weren’t really thinking about it like you and your friends do. It’s not that we didn’t care about how it would impact you; we weren’t really thinking about you at all. Oh that’s sounds terrible, I’ll say. I...
    Sermon | By Scott Tayler | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Environment, Generations, Healing, Responsibility, Unitarian Universalism
  • I [do not] mean to present myself as some kind of bodhisattva of compassion. However, in my better moments—at least in my more conscious moments—while I’m eating, I do try to imagine the lives and even the deaths of the creatures who nourish me. I try to think of the freedom and exhilaration...
    Reading | By Lillian Nye | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Activism, Animals, Body, Earth Day, Ethics, Food, Food Justice, Nature, Thanksgiving, Unitarian Universalism, Work
  • "Humans are part of the web of life. What we do to the planet, what we do to other species, and what we do to other people, we end up doing to ourselves."...
    Quote | By John Robbins | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Interdependence, Nature, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Responsibility
  • A person is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred, that of plants and animals as that of other men and women, and when one devotes oneself helpfully to all life that is in need of help.
    Quote | By Albert Schweitzer | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animal Blessing, Animals, Connections, Earth, Earth Day, Humanism, Interdependence, Sacred
  • There was a Mystery. She was a great Mystery. And nobody understood or appreciated her mainly because there was no one else around to appreciate or understand much of anything.
    Story | By Thomas Rhodes | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Earth Day, God, Mystery, Playfulness
  • You Birds of the Air, Hawk, Sparrow, and laughing Jay You embody freedom itself, delight us with your song, astound us with feats of migration Grant us your perspective, for too often our horizon is limited and we are blind to the full results of our actions....
    Meditation | By Thomas Rhodes | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), All Saints Day, Animal Blessing, Animals, Connections, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Humility, Love, Nature, Relationships
  • The Woman Who Outshone the SunThe Legend of Lucia Zenteno Characters Narrator Lucia Zenteno (older child or adult) Iguana (small child) Water (several) Fish (several) Otters (several) Townspeople-elders and children (several) Props Long, flowing, bright skirt with pinned on flowers and butterflie...
    Story | By Nancy Jilk | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Diversity, Earth Day, Forgiveness
  • Children of the earth and sky, we are nurtured, sustained, given warmth and light from above and below. Supported by earth's strong, firm crust, we build our homes, till the fields, plant our gardens and orchards....
    Opening | By Alice Berry | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Autumnal Equinox, Awe, Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Meaning, Nature, New Child, Searching, Unitarian Universalism, Vernal Equinox
  • Once more, the earth has turned toward the light of the sun. As we are bathed in the light of a new day, So may we greet the dawning of fresh possibility. Once more, we awaken from our slumber....
    Opening | By Amy Bowden Freedman | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Earth Day, Vernal Equinox
  • As surely as we belong to the universe we belong together. We join here to transcend the isolated self, to reconnect, to know ourselves to be at home, here on earth, under the stars, linked with each other...
    Opening | By Margaret A Keip | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Connections, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Inclusion, Interdependence, Unity, Weddings and Commitment Ceremonies
  • In the hours before the birds stream airborne with chiming voice, a silent breath rests in the pines, and upholds the surface of the lake as if it were a fragile bubble in the very hand of God. And I think, this is how we are called....
    Meditation | By Kimberly Beyer-Nelson | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Awe, Calling, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Nature, Transcendence, Wonder
  • Early spring awakens memories of a deeper cold and hopes of a warmer wetness, sprouting seeds and budding branches. Gray trees on gray sky screen eyes from all that lies waiting: the color of a million flowers, the feathers of migrating songbirds, the blossoming smiles of friends. Soon we will no...
    Meditation | By Stephen M. Shick | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Abundance, Autumnal Equinox, Beginnings, Communion (Christian), Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Journey, Nature, Transcendence, Transformation, Vernal Equinox
  • Blessed are the heavens, for they declare the power of creation. Blessed is the earth, our beloved home, for she is a planet of plenitude. Blessed are the waters thereon, for they gave rise to living things. Blessed is the land, for it is the source of life abundant....
    Reading | By Richard S. Gilbert | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Awe, Earth Day, Nature
  • (From the East:) Brothers and sisters in creation, we covenant this day with you and with All creation yet to be; With every living creature and All that contains and sustains you; With All that is on the earth and with the earth itself; With All that lives in the waters and with the waters...
    Reading | By Sydney A Morris | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth Day, Paganism