Father God, we lift up our eyes to the hills. The rocks from which they are made are the most durable material on earth.

As we look upon the hills, we know that they look the same today as they did before any man walked on this planet. We gain strength from that constancy. How much more then do we gain strength from the constancy of your presence.

You O God are unchanged from the dawn of time, the ignition point of creation - and will be constant forever. In that is our strength, our faith. The rocks of the hills you have taught us to fashion into stones for building, sculpture, roads and all things which we want to be permanent. Thus we use stones to remember our forebears, marking their final resting place on earth.

We thank you for stones, and for the skills of the stonemason, builder and sculptor. We thank you for beautiful buildings you have helped mankind create all around the world. We thank you for our churches. The stones of our churches absorb the spirit of worship and the Holy Spirit. They give it back in the quiet times, so that in your churches, Lord, we may always find you.

We thank you for the smaller stones, which make our beaches, and provide gravel and sand to make mortar, so that we may join stones together to create our beautiful buildings. We, your flock Lord, are like the small stones. On our own, we are likely to be thrown hither and thither, kicked, crushed and scattered. Cemented by your love, we are strong enough to build the highest of achievements. Bind us together Lord, in a mortar that cannot be crushed.

Bless O Lord the spirit of teamwork in our Parish, especially thinking today the new team working to enhance our Sunday School. The smallest of stones we find as soil. Father, we thank you for the soil which sustains us by being the nursery ground for the plant kingdom, feeding and protecting. Lord protect us in your loving care as the soil protects the plants.

And Father, we thank you especially today for flowers, the artistry of plants. Few if any of your people on earth have been unwarmed by the beauty of flowers. We marvel at their simplicity of form, their ingenuity of shedding their pollen, the radiance of their colours. How can we look on flowers Lord, and not see our creator God? How can we look on flowers Lord and not see a mirror of heaven. How can we look on flowers Lord, and not have hope for the world.

The snowdrop, meekly saying to us "Spring is coming"
The daffodil which exuberantly claims that spring is here.
The bluebell woods where almost any pain can be eased.
The rose which tells of deep love, the apple blossom from which stems the fruit, yielding the seeds for re-birth of your creation, the lily of long remembrance at the end.

O God our Father, creator of hills and rocks and stones and pebbles and sand and soil and plants and flowers, we thank you from the deepest of our souls for the life you have given us here on earth.
Christ Jesus, in whose name we have created many churches, we thank you for the hope of resurrection. Holy Spirit we thank you for the love which surrounds us in these flowers and stones today.

Amen.