Daniel McGill is director of religious education and youth ministry at St. Joseph's Church in Grand Junction, Colorado. He describes this top-drawer volume as services for individual or communal use modeled after the Liturgy of Hours and alert to the link between the earth environment and human prayer. These night devotions bring together psalms, Christian prayers and hymns, and the writings of mystics and naturalists, with ample selections from many other religious traditions.

McGill's ecological perspective is evident in many of these night services. Here is A Prayer for Homo Sapiens in "Winter Moon":

Source of all life,
For your name's sake,
For your joy cast upon the Earth,
For life's great delight in your handiwork,
Remember all the wounded and broken things,
unclean water
poisoned air
desecrated land
fleeing wildlife
dying innocents
And please remember us,
When our lives become enemies of your life,
Open our hearts to our family,
Earth's many children;
Return our hearts to you. Amen.

We were impressed with the creativity and brevity of these night services. Here are a few of our favorites: "All Shall Be Well," "The Stones Would Cry Out," "Compassion," "Peace Without Borders," "Letting Go," and "Gentle Our God and True."

Try a Spiritual Practice on Devotion