Season of Creation, Wind,
Welcome to our Season of Creation for 2022 as we celebrate the many gifts given to us, and that we share with all of creation. As we begin this month, the Winds of Change are moving around us and through us. Wind is a powerful element. Quiet and flowing, strong and life-changing, Wind is a force that we cannot deny. When there is stillness, we notice it’s absence. When the Wind roars, we look to shelter. Welcome then, to the Spirit of Wind in our lives.
Opening Prayer: Holy Spirit, bringer of the Breath of Life, open our hearts and minds to the Winds of change around us. Help us to see your presence by the movement of being and action that are evidence of your power. Help us to Stand Strong even as the elemental Wind may move us to other places. Help us to be like the feather in the wind when you use us to plant seeds of Love all around us. Give us the wisdom to know your desire and to follow it.
Amen.
Opening Song: Breath of the One Life, Jan Novatka
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Reading 1: A reading from Cherokee sage, Joyce Sequichie Hifler:
Can you see the wind? Can you see the fragrance of flowers floating on the breeze? Can you see thought or what it is that changes a tree from bare limbs and brown leaves to lush green? Can you see love or joy or peace? We can only see evidence of these invisible things, and it is enough to make us know they do exist. The substance of life is so evident, so real, so beautiful.
Why is it that we ever question the existence of our Creator who set all things in motion? Are we so grounded that unless it gives us momentary pleasure, feeds our starving appetites, we cannot recognize the greatest help available? It is Galun lati the Great Holy Spirit, invisible but more real than all we see that is tangible.
These are the words of Sequichie Hifler, and our community affirms them by saying, AMEN.
Reading 2: A Reading from Revelations of Divine Love - The thirteenth revelation Chapter XXVII By Julian of Norwich,
“Before this time, I often wondered why, by the great foreseeing wisdom of God, the onset of sin and suffering was not prevented, for I thought, all should have been well … I mourned and sorrowed because of it, without reason. But Jesus, who in this vision informed me of all that is needed by me, answered with these words, and said: ‘It is necessary that there should be sin and suffering; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’ … These words were said most tenderly, showing no manner of blame to me nor any who shall be saved.”
These are the words of Julian of Norwich and the community affirms them by saying, AMEN.
Gospel Acclamation (Deb)
Reading 3: A reading from Cultivating our Relationship to Nature, from The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements, Christine Valters Painter:
Nature to a saint is sacramental. If we are children of God, we have a tremendous treasure in Nature. In every wind that blows, in every night and day of the year, in every sign of the sky, in every blossoming and in every withering of the earth, there is real coming of God to us if we will simply use our starved imagination to realize it.
These are the words of Oswald Chambers, and our community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Shared Homily
Julian of Norwich named the source of creation’s mystery as ‘God’ and the Cherokee used the words ‘Galun latu’, meaning the Great Holy Spirit. Nature’s cycle of life is a mystery, continuing to evolve and change beyond our understanding. A Cherokee named Chased-By-Bears once said, “We see the changes of day and night … the seasons, the stars, the moon, the sun. Anyone must know it is the work of someone more powerful than man.”
The Creator, more powerful than humans, has set the changing seasons in motion, providing the invisible movement of air to sweep in the new and carry away the old. As ecosystems evolve, limbs of plants and trees grow stronger when pushed by the wind. Seeds, birds, and insects are able to move around their environment.
As we go about our days, our senses are relieved from the cool breeze on a hot summer day. The movement of air tingles wind chimes, easing stress, creating a healing effect on the body and mind. The scent of flowers travelling on the wind is a gift to the hard-working gardener.
For centuries, the wind’s energy has been harnessed to provide a clean
sustainable fuel source. It has carried explorers in great ships across the oceans, who knew full well that they cannot change the wind’s direction. They learned how to set the sails to determine which way they will go.
But there are damaging winds that are also part of nature’s weather pattern. Dust storms, tornadoes, monsoons, and hurricanes bring about destruction and severe suffering. Julian of Norwich’s vision during a near-death experience answered her longstanding question, “In God’s loving wisdom, why must there be suffering?”
She wondered about the Creator’s divine plan to provide the beauty and goodness that surrounds us, yet suffering was not prevented. While attempting to understand this paradox, Julian recognized wisdom in the letting go of fear and trusting that ‘All will be well.’
The greatest help available to release fear is to meet the Great Spirit in the stillness of prayer and contemplation. Mindful focus to the natural rhythm and flow of our breath in meditation opens a door to listen gently to our innermost feelings. Beneath the suffering that cloaks our inner most longing is something that needs attending. It is ours to discover for as we witness or endure suffering, we will be able to respond from a loving and virtuous heart.
As Jesus so often prophesized, the seeds of empathy and compassion have been planted in our own sacredness by a loving Creator. The readings suggest that moving deeper into the mystery of creation, deeper into the light, love, and joy, we may find ourselves forever connected to one another, we are never alone as we meet the loving Creator in one another. Therein lies the power to call forth action to solve our problems that cause suffering. As Jesus had faith in us, the winds of change blow freely and ‘All may be well’.
Please consider sharing your thoughts that may have surfaced.
Statement of Faith
We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding,
the heart of all that has ever existed,
that exists now, or that ever will exist.
We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the Holy One's
prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of divine love,
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace in the world.
We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living in each of us.
We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now,
stretched out all around us for those
with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it happen.
Deb: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to the table our prayer of intentions:
Deb: We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Liturgy of the Eucharist
Suzanne: With open hearts and hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer in one voice:
ALL: 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: Here in this Place by Christopher Grundy
Deb and All: 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.
We invoke Your Spirit upon the gifts of this Eucharistic table, bread of the grain and wine of the grape, that they may become gifts of 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 the Seder 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:
All lift their plate as the community prays the following:
Take this bread and eat it;
This is my very self.
(consume bread and pause)
All lift their cup as community prays the following:
Suzanne: 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.
(drink and pause)
In union with all peoples living and dead, we unite our thoughts and prayers, asking wisdom to discern more wisely your call to us in the circumstances of our daily lives.
We seek to act justly and courageously in confronting the suffering that desecrates the Earth and its peoples; to take risks in being proactive on behalf of the marginalized who suffer the environmental injustices of fouled air, tainted water, and a poverty of parks and public spaces that bring people together to enjoy nature. We pray for inspiration to act with the harmony and unity and synthesis that is modeled for us by the trees of the forest, and the stars of the evening.
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.
Deb: 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 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
Suzanne: We are called to live the Gospel of Creation in harmony and gratitude with all our sisters and brothers across the Earth. We will live justly, love tenderly and walk with integrity in Your Presence.
Communion song: By Breath song by Sara Thomsen Video – Quote by Chief Seattle
Final Blessing
Deb: Let us pray together our closing blessing:
Creator most generous and kind, your gift of Earth and sky reveals your omnipotence and glory. May we go forward boldly to live in the glory.
May we feel the wind of your spirit in our lives and discern your will to take action or allow your holy breath to move through us.
May we treat all of Creation as sacred and discern the best path to an equitable distribution of the resources we share with our sisters and brothers across the globe. Let us live as if the future depends on it. Amen.
Closing Song: Somewhere to Begin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei54clvS1m4&authuser=0
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