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Welcome, as we conclude our celebration of all that is, the beautiful Season of Creation. On this, the feast day of St. Francis, let us see the scripture of the natural world as he did. Let us be glad. Let us rejoice.
Opening Prayer
Holy One, you have gifted us with being. Through eons of evolution, through seasons of becoming, you have led us to this time, to this place. Like our brother Francis before us, our gratitude overflows as we greet you in all we encounter this day. Amen.
Opening Song: Brother Sun (Giving Glory)-Liz Vice from The Porter’s Gate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbLI_8kTyPY
First Reading: From All’ve It by Matt Moberg
The older I get,
the less use I have for certainty.
Certainty has never made me pull over
because the sunset looked like God
dropped a jar of peach jam
across the whole midwestern sky
and decided to be lazy
and not clean up.
Certainty has never made me gasp
at rain on hot pavement.
Certainty has never found me
in the cereal aisle,
holding Captain Crunch,
suddenly remembering
that everyone I have ever loved
was made from stardust,
hunger,
and a series of decisions
we probably should have slept on.
No.
It has always been awe.
Awe was the first church.
Before steeples.
Before committees.
Before men got involved
and started making rules about skirts.
Awe was there
with its wild hair
and muddy feet,
saying:
Look.
Look again.
Look until looking
becomes love.
These are the words of poet Matt Moberg, and we affirm his words with Amen.
Gospel Acclamation: Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker video by MTStreck
https://youtu.be/4cs8NDVM3Vk
Second Reading: The Canticle of the Creatures, St. Francis of Assisi (Names of God Revised by Denise)
Praised be You, Great Maker, with all Your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor,
Of You Most High, he bears the likeness.
Praised be You, Blessed One, through Sister Moon and the stars,
In the heavens, you have made them bright, precious and fair.
Praised be You, Beloved, through Brothers Wind and Air,
And fair and stormy, all weather's moods,
by which You cherish all that You have made.
Praised be You, Holy One, through Sister Water,
So useful, humble, precious and pure.
Praised be You, My Touchstone, through Brother Fire,
through whom You light the night,
and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.
Praised be You, Source of Wonder, through our Sister, Mother Earth
who sustains and governs us,
producing varied fruits with colored flowers and herbs.
Amen
These words are attributed to St. Francis, follower of the Way of Jesus. We affirm these words with Amen.
Homily Starter
“Look until looking becomes love.”
I ask myself, “how many sunsets have you seen?” “How many wildflowers have you seen?” And of course, I don’t know the answers. Many. Many, many. But how many have I looked at? Really looked at, until my looking became love? Way fewer.
We are busy people. All of us. We have demands put on us, responsibilities. We are always moving from here to there, from one place to another. The sunsets, the beautiful songbirds, the bright insects, the sweet wildflowers, the human beings, they are there, on our routes, while we move, constantly, from place to place.
The gift of St. Francis, and the gift of this Season of Creation, for me, has been that bright call to stop. Sometime during the day as I move from one task to another, somewhere along the way as I move from one place to another, this wonderful season, and the great saint of the natural world, have called me to stop. So that, like Francis, the Earth and her creatures might become for me both choir and choir master. So that they reveal themselves as the words and the melody that have echoed in every scripture ever written, in any religious tradition. So that I learn their songs of praise and wonder. So that, like Francis, I learn to not just hear, but listen; not just see, but look. Until listening and looking become love.
What did you hear in today’s readings? Please share your thoughts.
Statement of Faith (for Season of Creation)
We believe in God, who creates all things,
who embraces all things, who celebrates all things,
who is present in every part of the fabric of creation.
We believe in God as the source of all life,
who baptizes this planet with living water.
We believe in Jesus Christ, seen in the suffering one,
the poor one, the malnourished one,
the climate refugee - who loves and cares for this world
and suffers with it.
And we believe in Jesus Christ, the seed of life,
who came to reconcile and renew this world
and everything in it.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the breath of God,
who moves with God
and who moves among and with us today.
We believe in everlasting life in God.
And we believe in the hope that one day God will put an end to
death and all destructive forces.
(Lutheran Theological College, South India, adapted)
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
adapted from Diarmuid O’Murchu
Prayers of the Community
As we prepare for the sacred meal, we are aware that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns. Please feel free to voice your concerns beginning with the words “I bring to the table….”
We pray for these and all unspoken concerns. Amen.
Eucharistic Prayer
With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic Prayer together:
O Holy One, you are always with us. In the blessed abundance of creation, we gather to celebrate Your nourishing gift of life. May our hearts be open as You invite us to participate in the wise and wonderful work of co-creation. May we be ever aware of Your Spirit within and among us as our world unfolds amid pain and beauty into the fullness of life.
We are grateful for Your Spirit whose breath inspired the primal waters, calling into being the variety and abundance we see around us. Your Spirit sustains and animates our every endeavor, inviting us to act in wisdom and in truth.
In gratitude and joy, we embrace our calling and we lift our voices to proclaim a song of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Karen Drucker
As a community, we gather in the power of your Spirit, refreshing wind, purifying fire and flowing water, for the variety and diversity of Creation. We seek to live as Jesus taught us, wise and holy as Spirit-filled people, courageous and prophetic, ever obedient to your call.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
Your Spirit resides within and around us and all of creation, including the bread and wine on this table. You have gifted us with wisdom, light and truth, which remind us of our call to be the body of Christ to the world.
On the night before he faced his own death, Jesus sat at supper with his companions and friends. He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly with them, he bent down and washed their feet. When he returned to his place, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat;
This is my very self.
Jesus then raised a cup of blessing, spoke the grace and offered the wine saying:
Take and drink of the covenant
Made new again through my life in you.
Whenever you remember me like this,
I am among you.
What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives, as we share communion, we will become communion, both Love’s nourishment and Love’s challenge.
Please receive communion with the words: Let my looking become love.
Communion song: Take More Time, Cover Less Ground, Carrie Newcomer https://youtu.be/0kzo_Ntd-vM?si=yZLAoZLcgllT6ShD
Prayer After Communion:
Holy One, your transforming energy is always moving within us and working through us. Like Jesus, we will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and we will live compassionate lives,
for it is through living as Jesus lived, that we awaken to your Spirit within,
Moving us to glorify You, O Holy One,
At this time and all ways.
Amen.
Prayer of Jesus
Let us pray as Jesus taught us with an eye toward this Season of Creation:
Generous Creator, the intricate and elegant biodiversity of our world is your hallowed autograph on our lives, on our souls and in our hearts.
We yearn for the wholeness of being in harmony with Your will and with all living things.
Each day we draw on your creative, life-giving energy with gratitude, joy, and awe as we find nourishment in seed and field, river and forest.
May we be stewards and co-creators with you in caring for the gifts of Your Creation.
We acknowledge our shortcomings, especially our neglect of the environment. We seek to be reconciled with those we have hurt and we resolve to do better.
With your unfailing wisdom and the wind of Your Spirit, inspire us that we may reach out and love one another and care for the world, our home.
Strengthen us to work for local and global justice so that we may one day reap a harvest of equality and fairness as if they were wildflowers, propagating spontaneously, unerringly and in surprising abundance. Amen.
Lynn Kinlan
BLESSING
Let us raise our hands and bless each other.
As we travel through our busy days may we note the call to stop. May we take the time to wonder at the beauty that surrounds us in nature and in the people making this journey with us. May we look. Until looking becomes love. Amen.
Closing Song: Let the River Run, Carly Simon video by DHS
https://youtu.be/I8O984Z2eQs
Note: I was so happy to learn of Matt Moberg’s poem “All’ve It” just in time for Season of Creation. It’s a very long poem, and well-worth reading in full. You can find it here:
https://pattidigh.substack.com/p/poetry-wednesday-every-human-being
