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phone-in for (audio only) Phone Number: (646) 558-8656Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Season of Creation
Week 4
Welcome:
Welcome to all here present. We gather this day to celebrate Creation, reminding ourselves that we are a part of creation and have been provided the opportunity to care for this planet we call home. We reflect today on our role as co-creators and care-givers of the Earth, and the call to bring harmony to all that we touch with the love and beauty with which the Holy One graces Her creation.
Let us celebrate with joy the indwelling of our God among us and all of creation. Welcome, sisters and brothers, to the table where broken word and bread nourish us and feed our spirit.
Opening Prayer:
Creator, Source of all that we are, we gather to honor your Creation as an integrated and holy system of plant, animal and human life placed lovingly side by side with water, air, wind, and earth. We pray for the imagination and resolve to establish a supportive ecology so that all of Creation may not just survive but thrive as a continuing sign of your wondrous love. Amen.
Opening Song: All You Works of God by Marty Haugen
https://youtu.be/vCTyaOcB4xk?si=Ix6dHNs-4SIFnPKt
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Reading 1: A reading from Joan Chittister (adapted)
“Moses was a reluctant prophet. God calls out to him: “I have heard the cry of my people and I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people out.” But, scripture says, Moses insists, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh … Suppose they do not listen to me … I am slow of speech and tongue. Send someone else!”
Lack of faith in God is one thing, but lack of self-confidence can be just as bad.
To deny the abilities I’ve been given—thought, insight, wisdom, analysis, understanding, explanation, persuasion—is a virtual sin against creation. It degrades the virtue of humility to a kind of debased self-knowledge. It withholds from the human community the very gifts I have been freely given for its good. Having gifts is nothing if we don’t use them. To praise the Creator for seeding the universe with them is bogus if we ourselves fail to use them to their limits.
Most serious of all, this kind of pious worthlessness itself tends to obstruct the prophetic enterprise. And as Moses found out quickly, God does not like the “I am not worthy” argument!
It’s time to understand, with Moses, that the God who calls us to our responsibility for the world will also be with us as we shoulder our part in it. That same God will send the help we need, yes, but more than that, faith in that God will make the rough ways smooth.
These are inspired words from Joan Chittister and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Reading 2: A reading from the Letter of James (Jas 2:14-18)
My sisters and brothers, what good is it to profess faith without practicing it? Such faith has no power to save. If any are in need of clothes and have no food to live on, and one of you says to them, “Goodbye and good luck. Stay warm and well-fed,” without giving them the bare necessities of life, then what good is this? So it is with faith. If good deeds don’t go with it, faith is dead. Some of you will say that you have faith, while I have deeds. Fine: I’ll prove to you that I have faith by showing you my good deeds. Now you prove to me that you have faith without any good deeds to show.
These are inspired words from the Letter of James and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Alleluia: Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker
https://youtu.be/o1rc7ojQtJU?si=PLWpI2sVpZ5LVhpu
Reading 3: A reading from Brian McLaren (adapted)
At each place, [my companions and I] experienced sustained moments of shared, focused attention, so shared and so focused that we forgot ourselves. For significant periods of time, we were drawn out of ourselves into the observation of another, as in another species.
We were thoroughly engrossed by tortoises….
Our attentive experience of self-forgetfulness and whole-hearted tortoise observation was, in a real way, ecstatic. We were taken out of ourselves in the contemplation of a creature so different from us in many ways, yet like us in others. We had fallen out of our normal concerns and into love, you might say. Or risen into love. Or embarked upon it. Or leapt into it.
I know that both Jesus and Saint Paul said that our faith would save us. And I get that. But I wonder if it is equally true to say that if we are to be saved, it will not be by faith alone but by love as well. After all, didn’t Jesus say that love is the one greatest command, and didn’t Paul say that without love, nothing else we have (including faith that moves mountains) amounts to a hill of beans?… Maybe love includes as a given the kind of faith that really matters. That would certainly be the case if another voice in the New Testament was correct when he said, without qualification, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” (1 John 4:16).
Could that be why … [many people] join one another, and perhaps even join their Creator, in loving these creations, these tortoises…?
I gaze with human benevolence and with a deeper human awareness … of our profound, inescapable kinship.
I gaze with love. And somehow, the world is made a little better.
These are inspired words from Brian McLaren and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
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.
Prayers of the Community
Dennis: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we recognize that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. And 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 bring these and all deeply held blessings, cares, and concerns to the table of friendship and peace.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Let us pray the Eucharistic Prayer of Compassion for the Earth with one voice and open hearts,
All: Holy One, we are amazed at the universe and this planet Earth and we respond with gratitude and compassion. We are blessed by the lights of the heavens, the sun and moon, comets and stars; we are blessed by knowing ours is but one galaxy among many.
We are blessed by the darkness which keeps us from being blinded by the light and which eases us into contemplation and rootedness; likewise, we are blessed by light which awakens our souls to the glory of creation.
We are blessed by oceans and the cliffs and shores which envelop them, by streams and rivers, by snow and sleet and rain. The mountains are our blessing of solitude and summit where we can feel the softest wind, see the furthest horizon and expand our imagination and vision.
We are blessed by the children whose easy smiles and open arms teach us enthusiasm and delight at living in the present. We are blessed by friends and strangers, by those who have gone before us and the friends we have yet to meet. These companions are the face of your love and compassion.
Plant and vegetation, whether beauties of the land or harvest for our survival are also our companions, sharing in the sun and wind and rain. The biodiverse wealth of animal and marine life are our blessed companions, deserving also of our protection and care.
In celebration of Creation and all our blessings, we sing with joy…
Holy, Holy, Holy: Here in this Place by Christopher Grundy
All: In times when the pain in our hearts breaks and the world’s pain seems unreconciled, our appreciation and awareness of Creation can dwindle or lapse. The urgency of addressing climate change is not always recognized; valuing creation and sustaining its life-giving properties is sometimes an afterthought.
May our recognition of Earth as our Eden fill us with gratitude. May the saving grace of the Spirit and of Jesus enhance the dialogue and sacrifice necessary to save ourselves and our world.
We celebrate the truth-tellers and the lovers of the environment, living and dead; Ansel Adams, the landscape photographer, John Audubon, the naturalist, Jane Goodall, the anthropologist, Greta Thunberg, and Erin Brockovich, climate activists and authors Henry David Thoreau and Rachel Carson. Like our brother Jesus, these visionaries were pioneers and prophets who sought to live fully and fearlessly the truth of their calling.
Dennis: Please extend your hands in blessing.
All: We are grateful for the bread and wine that remind us that we are called to renew and to be renewed with the love of the Spirit of God who is in everything, every plant, animal and human everywhere. We thank you for Jesus, beacon of love and mercy, forgiveness and healing.
We are grateful for this bread and wine which remind us that we join Jesus in standing with the broken and wounded of the world who are most directly affected by climate change.
On the night before he faced betrayal and death, Jesus shared supper with his 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.
lift the bread
When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat, the bread of life for all who hunger for peace and justice.
(Lift the Cup)
Take and drink, the Cup of Compassion for a broken world.
Whenever you remember me like this,
I am among you.
What we have heard with our ears, we will live in our lives; as we share communion, we will become communion, both Love’s nourishment and Love’s challenge.
Please partake of the bread and cup with the words, I am a steward of Creation.
Communion Song: Creation Calls by Brian Doerksen
https://youtu.be/xAtzO8B1UK8?si=7JT-UgVty2Q2UbtO
Post-Communion Prayer
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.
Jesus Prayer for the Season of Creation
Let us pray, as Jesus taught us.
All: Generous Creator, the intricate and elegant biodiversity of our world is your hallowed autograph on our lives, our souls and 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 awe as we find nourishment in, seed and field, river and forest.
We acknowledge our shortcomings, especially our feelings of being powerless in the face of climate change and injustice. 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. May we 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
Go out from this place, ready to hear creation’s call.
Go out, ready to answer, “I am here, standing up for you!”
And as you go, know that the love of Divine Mystery surrounds you,
the peace of Christ empowers you,
and the companionship of the Spirit moves within you
and all of creation, now and always. AMEN
Closing Song: Love Song to the Earth written by Natasha Bedingfield, Sean Paul, Toby Gad, John Shanks
https://youtu.be/ZSnOXbaXzfM?si=AqHa74sed4Jv8ZUd
Resources
Vision & Viewpoint: Weekly Reflection from Joan Chittister taken from
The Time Is Now:A Call to Uncommon Courage
Center for Action and Contemplation. Column by James McLaren
Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible: The First Egalitarian Translation (p. 2527). Sheed & Ward. Kindle Edition.
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