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phone-in for (audio only) Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Family Liturgy of Gratitude
Pre-Liturgy Activity:
The children will be invited to bring in t-shirts (preferably ones with team logos or other designs on them) that they have outgrown. The shirts should be washed and folded. The children will place them in a basket which will be placed in front of or on the Table. In addition, we will have a supply of white t-shirts and fabric markers in the back room that the children can design and also place in the basket as an offering.
Welcome: Welcome to the Season of Creation! Every year during the month of September we especially remember the great gift of creation, and remind ourselves of our responsibility to care for it. This year our theme will be “Let justice and peace flow like a mighty river.”
Opening Prayer:
Holy One, we gather today in thanksgiving for the great gifts of creation. We thank you for our Earth, for the air we breathe, and for the water we drink. We thank you for the Sun which warms us and gives us life. We know that when we treat the Earth badly we are treating you badly. We will always try to honor you by honoring the Earth. Amen.
Our opening song this morning is about what happens when people do not care enough to honor the Earth.
Opening Song: Garbage, by Pete Seeger https://youtu.be/1ffBb2zaMjk
LITURGY OF THE WORD
We have two special readings to listen to today. Let’s quiet ourselves as we listen to the first reading.
First Reading: Amos 5:24 and Micah 6:8 (Adapted from The Message Bible and NIV)
Reader 1: The Holy One says, “Do you know what I want?
I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want.
Reader 2: The Holy One has shown us what is good, and that is
to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.
These words are from the ancient prophets Amos and Micah, who understood how people should live. We believe their words, so we say AMEN.
Alleluia: https://youtu.be/4cs8NDVM3Vk
Second Reading: From Psalm 104 adapted from Nan Merrill)
Reader 1:
Because of you, grass grows for the cattle,
and plants for us to grow
So that we might have food from the earth.
You give us oil and healing herbs of many kinds,
and bread, our daily food.
Reader 2:
The trees are watered with the rain you send,
And with the sun they provide the air we breathe.
Every living creature has its home:
the birds nest in trees, the wild animals upon the mountaintop;
even the rocks provide protection.
Reader 3:
You created the moon to mark the tides and seasons,
the sun, that rises and sets in beauty.
In darkness, when night comes,
the creatures of the forest roam the earth.
Reader 4:
They eat their fill, as much as they need;
You provide their food.
When the sun rises, they disappear from sight
and lie sown in their dens.
Reader 5:
As your people go forth to their work,
You are there to guide them.
Praise the Creator of the Universe!
Bless the Heart of my heart, O my soul!
All: Amen.
This is a song our ancestors sang about the beautiful works of the Holy One. We believe that the Holy One is present in all of creation, so we say Amen.
Homily Starter (This is an interactive, guided conversation.)
Once there were two girls. They went to the same school and were in the same class. Every day, one girl brought her friend a surprise at lunch time. One day an apple, another day a candy bar, or maybe a peach or some grapes. And every day the other girl ate the special gift her friend brought her. And in return, she gave her friend the trash. The apple core, the wrapper from the candy bar, the peach pit. Never did she thank her friend. As time went on, the girl brought more and more trash and gave it to her generous friend. Old clothes that no longer fit her. Toys that were broken or ones she no longer wanted. Huge stacks of paper from old school work. Her friend took all of the trash. Until one day. One day the generous friend did not come to school. Many days went by and still there was no sign of her. The girl began to wonder where her friend was. She went to her friend’s house. But she couldn’t even get into the front door. Her friend’s house was so full of the trash that the girl had loaded on her that the door wouldn’t even open. It was blocked by the trash.
Every day our generous friend, the Earth, gives us gifts. Food. Water. Beautiful plants and flowers to look at. Air to breathe. And every day we give our generous friend our trash. So much trash that our friend the Earth has become polluted with it. So much trash that some of the Earth’s water is not safe to drink. So much trash that our Earth’s air is not safe to breathe.
Let’s try to change things. Let’s try to become more like the generous friend who gives good gifts, and less like the girl who gives only trash. Let’s look at some of the trash the girl gave her generous friend and try to think of alternatives….other choices that would have been better. Please share your thoughts about what we could do with:
Food scraps….(share ideas)
Old clothing….(share ideas)
Old toys….(share ideas)
Paper waste….(share ideas)
Thank you for sharing your good ideas! Let’s make a promise to put these ideas into practice in our own homes. Let’s say together: “I promise to be a generous friend to the Earth and to all people.”
Statement of Faith
We believe in the Holy One who is in everything we see
And even in everything we cannot see.
As far away as the most distant star and as near as the air we breathe
The Holy One is there, creating everything out of Love.
We believe in Jesus, who showed us the Holy One
In how he lived his life,
He showed us that the Holy One is
In our lives too.
We believe that we are called to live like Jesus.
We are called to bring peace, and light, healing and kindness,
We are called to be brave and speak up, and help out when
Others are suffering or things are not right.
We believe that the Spirit of the Holy One
Lives in us and in all of creation.
We feel the Spirit in the wind, the warm sun,
The cold snow, and we see it in the faces of other people.
We believe that if we live in the Spirit of the Holy One,
If we remember to act with kindness and courage,
We will make the family of the Holy One larger and larger
Until the whole world is at peace.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Now we will pray our great prayer of Thanksgiving, called our Eucharistic Prayer. The beginning of this prayer is a collection of all the things the children have told us they are grateful for. Let us give thanks for these and all the good gifts of our Beloved.
Holy One you have given us all good things. Every friend we meet is a gift from you. We are grateful for all of our friends. We thank you for our bodies, we wouldn’t be here without them. We are grateful for the moon because the sky wouldn’t be the same without it. We thank you for the sun, because it gives us heat and helps the plants make food. And we are thankful for love, Holy One; love that comes from you through the people in our lives.
We pray now for the things we are grateful for and for the things that worry or concern us. As we bring these prayers today we begin with the words “I bring to the table.”
Conclude with:
In love and gratitude, and in faith, we pray for all these things and for all the prayers we hold in our hearts.
Holy, Holy, Holy by Karen Drucker https://youtu.be/kl7vmiZ1YuI
(Invite children to join presiders at the table)
Holy One, we see around us all of your creation. The trees, flowers, birds, animals and insects sing with joy for your creative power. We are your creation too, and we thank you for our lives.
We thank you for sending Jesus, our brother, to show us how to live so that your love can show through in the world. We thank you for your Spirit, which showers your love and wisdom on the earth like rain, and which opens our eyes in wonder.
Please hold your hands out like this… (demonstrate) as we bless the bread and juice.
Holy One, you blessed the grain in this bread and the fruit in this juice as they grew on the earth. The people who baked the bread and made the juice blessed them with their work. Today, with your Spirit, we bless them again, as they become gifts of love, light and truth and remind us that we too are blessed with your Spirit.
Jesus gathered his friends around a table like this. He took the bread, and said a prayer of thanksgiving. Then he broke the bread and shared it with his friends, saying, “Take and eat this bread. It is my very self.”
After the meal, Jesus took the cup of blessing. He said another prayer of thanks, and then he offered his friends the cup saying
“Take and drink of the loving agreement
Made new again through my life in you.
Whenever you remember me like this,
I am among you.”
We are one today with all people who have ever lived, all the people and animals we have loved. With them we ask you, Holy One, for the wisdom to know what is right and the courage to do what is right.
- Help us to be kind to one another.
- Help us to take care of the earth.
- Help us to reach out to people who need our help.
And as we grow, help us to see where your Spirit leads us as our lives unfold in this world of pain and beauty so that we may become wise co-creators of the future.
Like Jesus, we will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and we will live loving lives, for it is through living as Jesus lived, that we awaken to your Light within.
Amen.
We will pass the plate around the circle. When the plate comes to you please take a piece of bread and eat it. As you receive Communion remember the words, “Thank you for the Earth.”
Communion Meditation: For Her Speak, by MaMuse https://youtu.be/Ms2Ar-yrMjA
Jesus taught us how to love and care for one another and all of creation. We are grateful for our brother, Jesus, who taught us how to pray.
Let us pray like Jesus taught us:
Great Spirit,
You are within, around and among us,
We know you by many names:
Beloved, Holy One, Great Mystery….
May we be wise.
May we live as you want us to live.
Each day you give us all we need.
You guide us and support us in our power.
For you dwell within us,
and we celebrate you now and forever. Amen
BLESSING
Holy One, we ask your blessing on all the children and adults gathered here today, and on all of your creation. May we walk with joy and gratitude as we know that you are always walking with us.
All: AMEN
Closing Song: Blessings by Hollow Coves
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