Sing Out, O Earth!

Sing Out, O Earth!

Psalm 96

Sing out, O Earth,

Bowl thrown on God’s wheel–

turning from your slumber like a drowsy child,

humming with joy as you spin beneath our feet

spinning like a top within a jetty of the Milky Way.

Sing out, O Earth:

Home of the martins swooping in arrow-flight,

perch of the kestrel and owl and waxwing

shelter of the rabbit, shyly scuttling through grass-tufts.

You hold the whale within your cupped hands;

Gratefully receiving each fallen leaf,

Humus alive with industry and rebirth

(If we pondered it, would we ever tread so heedlessly?).

Sing out, O Earth—

Gathering yourself beneath the blanket of snow

With the promise of green ready to spring forth 

Like a panther after its prey

Sending winds to set the dogwood blossoms dancing

Bedecked with gaily waving blanket flowers and lupine

Enticing the improbably aloft bumblebee;

Carrying us like a mother, gravid, arms slung

Around the delicate body of her child,

Waxing full across the face of the Moon, or

Skimming like a raft through the velvet sea of night.

Sing out, O Earth!

And call us to join the harmony

Major third, perfect fourth, minor fifth;

Let the springs murmur,

Let the rivers unravel and spool out their tale,

Let the oceans scrub your shores

Leaving behind their tokens of sea-glass and shell

As they trace a path along your side.

Sing out, O Earth,

And join the chorus of constellations,

The trees of the wood “Alleluia” in joy,

While the rest of creation waits

in breathless hope and wonder–

The Star moves restlessly to illumine the scene

and the Magi jerk awake from their dreams

to set out for unknown lands;

the shepherds stir uneasily from their tower,

the young mother gasps as the pains begin.

Sing out with her, and receive the glad news–

The Prince of Peace approaches.

The Rev. Leslie Scoopmire is a priest in the Diocese of Missouri. She is rector of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Ellisville, MO.  She posts prayers, meditations, and sermons at her blog Abiding In Hope, and collects spiritual writings and images at Poems, Psalms, and Prayers.

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