Climate Justice Hymnal
This hymnal is born from a world that is both breathtakingly beautiful and terribly wounded. It rises from forests turned to ash, from rivers that no longer reach the sea, from coral that has lost its color, from skies that carry smoke instead of rain. It rises also from hands planted in soil, from songs sung at protests and prayer vigils, from communities rebuilding after storms, from youth who refuse to surrender the future.
The Earth is not silent.
Creation is crying out.
And faith-if it is to be faithful-must answer.
For too long, much of Christian worship has treated the Earth as scenery rather than as sacred community. We have sung about heaven while the soil beneath our feet was poisoned. We have praised abundance while ignoring the cost borne by the poor, by Indigenous peoples, by creatures with no voice in our courts or markets. We have spoken of "dominion" without confession, of "blessing" without repair.
This hymnal is an act of repentance.
It is also an act of hope.
Here you will find songs that bless the beauty of creation and songs that tell the truth about its destruction. You will find laments for extinct species, confessions of collective harm, prayers for climate refugees, and fierce anthems of resistance. You will find hymns that refuse to separate environmental devastation from racism, poverty, colonialism, and empire-because the wounds of the Earth and the wounds of the marginalized are the same, cut by the same systems of greed and extraction.
This is not a "nature appreciation" hymnal.
It is a climate justice hymnal.
These songs are written for worship in sanctuaries and under open skies, for candlelit vigils and crowded marches, for grief circles and tree plantings, for flooded basements and scorched hillsides, for the long work of conversion-of hearts, of economies, of habits, of churches.
The theology of this hymnal is simple and demanding:
The Earth is not property; the Earth is kin.
Humanity is not separate from creation; we are part of it.
The suffering of the planet is inseparable from the suffering of the poor.
Silence in the face of destruction is a form of consent.
Hope without action is not hope-it is delay.
And yet, this hymnal is not only a book of warning. It is a book of fierce, grounded, stubborn hope. Not the kind of hope that denies reality, but the kind that grows its roots in grief and still insists that another world is possible. It sings of resurrection that includes rivers and lungs, soil and seed, children and coral, glaciers and grass.
You will find here a vision of covenant that is wider than humanity alone-a covenant that binds God, people, and planet together in sacred responsibility. You will find a gospel that does not escape the Earth but commits to it. You will find a Spirit who does not hover above disaster but breathes through compost, protest, tears, and tenacious love.
This hymnal exists because the climate crisis is not only scientific, political, or economic.
It is spiritual.
It is moral.
It is theological.
May these songs teach us how to grieve without despair, to repent without paralysis, to resist without hatred, and to hope without illusion. May they form communities that live more gently, share more boldly, and act more faithfully. May they help us become people who do not merely pray for the Earth-but stand with it.
These hymns are all new, use traditional music, and may be freely used, copied, and shared for any non-commercial purpose, including worship, education, and community gatherings. Commercial use is not permitted without written permission from the author.
The Earth is not silent.
God is not absent.
And the song is not finished.
Let us sing as if the world depends on it-
because it does.
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