We continue our journey with our Christian sisters and brothers from around the world in celebrating the Season of Creation. This prayer service was co-created by Nancy K and Rev. AndreaGrace. It was offered at last week's BeLoved Sunday evening prayern service.
You are most welcome to Join us every Sunday at 5 PM ET for prayer.
Tonight, we'll focus on water and Jesus as the Living Water. with St Photini, the Samaritan Woman.
Next week, we'll celebrate Mass on zoom and in person - with a light dinner to follow. If you know you are coming, please sign-up now. so that we may plan accordingly.
Opening Prayer – The Season of Creation Prayer
Triune God, Creator of all,We praise you for your goodness, visible in all the diversity that you have created, making us a cosmic family living in a common home. Through the Earth you created, we experience love and nourishment, home and protection.We confess that we do not relate to the Earth as a Mothering gift from you, our Creator. Our selfishness, greed, neglect, and abuse have caused the climate crisis, loss of biodiversity, human suffering as well as the suf- fering of all our fellow creatures. We confess that we have failed to listen to the groans of the Earth, the groans of all creatures, and the groans of the Spirit of hope and justice that lives within us.
May your Creator Spirit help us in our weakness, so that we may know the redeeming power of Christ and the hope found in him. May the groans of the Spirit birth in us a willingness to serve you faithfully, so that we may hear and heal Creation, to hope and act together with her, so that the firstfruits of hope may blossom.
Loving and Creator God, we pray that you will make us sensitive to these groans and enable us to have the same compassion as that of Jesus, the redeeming Lord. Grant us a fresh vision of our relationship with Earth, and with one another, as creatures that are made in your image.
In the name of the one who came to proclaim the good news to all Crea- tion, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Song – For the Beauty of the Earth https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy7t2Uasqe8
Readings:
This year’s Season of Creation theme and logo focus on hope.
The Firstfruits of hope from Romans 8:22-25 from the New Catholic Bible
As we know, the entire creation has been groaning in labor pains until now — and not only creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for our adoption as children, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now to see something does not involve hope. For why should we hope for what we have already seen? But if we hope for what we do not yet see, then we wait for it with patience.
Let us sit in holy silence.
Now read this Bible verse again from The Message - a contemporary rendition of THe Bible.
All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God are arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. With hope, we are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
Let us sit in holy silence.
Reflection:
The Season of Creation offers this explanation:
Hope is an instrument enabling us to overcome the natural law of decay. Hope is given to us by God as a protection and guard against futility. Only through hope we may realize the gift of freedom in fullness. Freedom to act not only to achieve enjoyment and prosperity but to reach the stage in which we are free and responsible. Freedom and responsibility enable us to make the world a better place.
We act for a better future because we know Christ has overcome death…. There is a lot of pain on Earth because of our shortcomings… because of our negligence, because of ignorance, because of our selfishness.
There’s a phrase commonly attributed to Saint Augustine that says: “Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.” As we witness the cries and sufferings of Earth and all creatures, let holy anger move us toward the courage to be hopeful and active for justice.
In some languages, the translation of the Pauline passage expresses that hope is not a passive waiting but rather an active hope. There is much we can learn from other cultures and countries on how to hope and act together with Creation. The Portuguese verb “esperançar”, as well as the Span- ish “esperanzar”, express well that hope must be understood as an active verb to avoid falling into the trap of superficial positivity. In French, there are also two different ways to speak about this notion: “espoir”, which evokes the attitude of waiting, and “espérance” which expresses the active hope in the light of God. The same nuance appears in the Arabic language which distinguishes between “amal (لما)” and “raja’ (ءاجر)”, showing how there is much more to reflect about what we mean when we speak about “hope”.
Let us sit in holy silence.
Prayerful Pondering
We hope that some of our own actions will help heal all of creation including Mother Earth herself. A name for Mother Earth is Gaia (pronounced Guy-ah). What are some of the ways that we are caring for Creation – acting with hope.
· Cut down on what we throw away – reduce, reuse, recycle
· Volunteer for a clean-up in your community
· Conserve water – e.g. save water from showers waiting for it to heat up & use it to water plants, turn off faucet when brushing teeth, washing face or dishes
· Use long-lasting light bulbs
· Plant a garden or tree
· Don’t send chemicals to our waterways – use “green” cleaning products
· Educate family & friends on things they can do to conserve resources
· Meatless Mondays – eat more plants
· Buy local – reduce shipping materials & fuel
· Advocacy – solicit support from legislators for environmentally friendly bills
· No Mow May – delay mowing grass in the Spring
· Become a Papertarian – someone who chooses to use paper and paper packaging whenever possible
· Do not rake leaves in the Fall – good for soil and animals
· Consider installing solar panels or getting an electric or hybrid vehicle
· Carpool when you can, walk or ride a bike
· “Make donations” to organizations doing conservation
· If you have investment funds, consider how the companies are treating the environment
Have you heard about the 6 Rs: refuse, reduce, reuse/repair, replace/rebuy, recycle https://www.ncronline.org/earthbeat/faith/season-creation-daily-day-17-six-rs
1. Refuse, make the choice not to generate waste in the first place
2. Reduce, make decisions that decrease the amount of waste produced
3. Reuse and
4. Repair expand the shelf-lives of products; join the growing movement to RE-USE
5. Replace, next time consider the recycled and green option
6. Recycle, reclaim the raw materials
Praying
We will now sit and breath with Ruah – the Holy Spirit – consider breathing in on Rue – and exhaling on Ah… Invite Ruah who is also known as Sophia or Lady Wisdom to show you what you can focus on to care for creation with hope.
Prayers of the Faithful
Let us pray….
· That we may respond to the Divine Spirit calling us to safeguard God’s Creation, and stand in solidarity with all human and non-human inhabitants of the earth. We pray…. Thank you, Beloved God, for hearing our prayer.
· That we may model Jesus through the teachings found in Laudato Si’ and bring about ecological conversion, changing hearts and minds to look beyond our own interests to the needs of the earth and lovingly renew our commitment to be good stewards of God’s creation. We pray…. Thank you, Beloved God, for hearing our prayer.
· That through God’s grace we may be good neighbors to each other and to the whole of creation, restoring and caring for all that God has made. We pray…. Thank you, Beloved God, for hearing our prayer.
· With hope for future generations that they will inherit the gift of Earth with cleaner land, water, and air; healed, restored, and teeming with life. We pray…. Thank you, Beloved God, for hearing our prayer.
· For all leaders: that God may grant us wisdom to make just decisions which respect the earth and all that lives in it, especially those who are poorest and most vulnerable. We pray…. Thank you, Beloved God, for hearing our prayer.
Blessing
Please open your hands as a sign of your reception to God’s graces…
God of truth and justice:Fill us with your spirit of compassion so we may live and act with and in solidarity with Creation. Guide us in paths of righteousness that help us to tread softly on the land and sail gently on the sea.Give us wisdom and courage to recognize our role in the evil of systemic exploitation and extraction and to speak truth to power.Give us strength of heart and arm to be agents of the ecological conversion the world so desperately needs.Creator God: May we hope and act with Creation. Amen. (Rev. James Bagwan, Pacific Conference of Churches)
Closing Song – Tend the Ground https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z7k3WWKSPgM
PS - We hope you will join us for prayer as we continue celebrating the Season of Creation - this Sunday at 5 PM ET as we focus on The Living Wateror next Sunday for Mass - as we celebrate St. Francis of Assisi and the Blessing of Pets. Sign-up now to get all the details!
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