Season of creation 1 Sept-4 Oct

Resources posted on the Season of Creation website.

Scroll down below for collation of prayers on this page. 

The Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration to pray and respond together to the cry of Creation: the ecumenical family around the world unites to listen and care for our common home, the Oikos of God. The Season “Celebration” begins 1 September, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends 4 October, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology beloved by many Christian denominations.
The world humans have known, enjoyed and celebrated is changing rapidly beyond repair. Biodiversity is being lost at a rate not seen since the last mass extinction. The hope of keeping average temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius is fading. The futures of young people are threatened by the cascading impacts of the loss of biodiversity and a changing climate. Industrialization, colonization and the extraction and consumption of resources have created great wealth, unequally distributed. We are presently more aware than ever of the link between fossil fuels, and violence and war. 
As an ecumenical family, we can engage in these actions and contribute to ensure that the web of life is preserved and cared for. Our prayers, sermons and liturgies must call for justice not only for humans but for all Creation. Justice, allied with peace, calls us to repent of our ecological sins and to change our attitudes and actions. Righteousness demands that we live in peace, not conflict with our human neighbours, and building right relationships with all of Creation. Through prayer, practical advocacy and sustainable actions, this 2023 Season of Creation can prophetically renew our ecumenical unity and care for our common home. May we journey together in communion as the people of God to let justice and peace flow!

Lots of resources on the Season of Creation website

(see also resources on Earth Day)

Wild Goose Publications – Living Faithfully in the Time of Creation by Kathy Galloway and Katharine M Preston; Caring for Creation Together by Emma Major; Creation

Common Grace resources for Season of Creatition

Centre for Christian Studies: Laments for Creation

Laudato Si’ Movement

Caring for our common home (downloadable resource for personal reflection)

Pastoral Orientations on Climate Displaced People (Catholic resource)

Prayers and music from an Interfaith service
(St Paul’s Cathedral Melbourne – the service is on Youtube)

Prayer
Creator of All,
We are grateful that from your communion of love you created our planet to be a home for all. By your Holy Wisdom you made the Earth to bring forth a diversity of living beings that filled the soil, water and air. Each part of creation praises you in their being, and cares for one another from our place in the web of life.
With the Psalmist, we sing your praise that in your house “even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young.” We remember that you call human beings to keep your garden in ways that honor the dignity of each creature and conserve their place in the abundance of life on Earth.
But we know that our will to power pushes the planet beyond her limits. Our consumption is out of harmony and rhythm with Earth’s capacity to heal herself. Habitats are left barren or lost. Species are lost and systems fail. Where reefs and burrows, mountaintops and ocean deeps once teemed with life and relationships, wet and dry deserts lie empty, as if uncreated. Human families are displaced by insecurity and conflict, migrating in search of peace. Animals flee fires, deforestation and famine, wandering in search of a new place to find a home to lay their young and live.
In this Season of Creation, we pray that the breath of your creative Word would move our hearts, as in the waters of our birth and baptism. Give us faith to follow Christ to our just place in the beloved community. Enlighten us with the grace to respond to your covenant and call to care for our common home. In our tilling and keeping, gladden our hearts to know that we participate with your Holy Spirit to renew the face of your Earth, and safeguard a home for all.
In the name of the One who came to proclaim good news to all creation, Jesus Christ. Amen.
(Source: Season of Creation prayer 2021)

World Council of Churches ‘Roadmap for congregations, communities and churches for an economy of life and ecological justice‘: An invitation to congregations, communities and churches to discuss a 5-step programme to change the way we deal with the economy and our ecological surroundings.

Green Anglicans – Seasons of Creation C resources

Great resource here that would be suitable for Season of Creation

Creator God,
You have called us to be keepers of your Earth;
through greed, we have established an economy that destroys the web of life.
We have changed our climate and drown in despair.
Let oceans of justice flow,
May we learn to sustain and renew the life of our Mother, Earth.
We pray for our leaders, custodians of Mother Earth;
as they gather in Paris at the climate talks
May they negotiate with wisdom and fairness,
May they act with compassion and courage,
and lead us in the path of justice for the sake of our children and our children’s children.
(Source: Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu)

lately, when I need to pray
I go to the church that
has no doors
and where the walls are
made of carved granite
I sit under its moving roof
on a pew that smells
like fresh pine
and fold my hands quietly
until God joins me ~
here in this most ancient of churches,
I watch a dozen fat rainbow angel dressed
as trout dance in the baptismal font
and wonder out loud:
“when will I too,
be made anew?”
there is a special kind of holy quiet here
that rings much louder than any fat
church bell I have ever known
and the silence often rattled my ribs ~
it’s choir loft is high up in a birds nest
and it’s confessional is a breeze
that asks me to speak my sins
and I do, and then they are carried away ~
the longer I sing psalms in this church
the shorter my memory for all of
my past mistakes become
and that is when I hear
the Voice of Love speak
“oh tired light, oh wounded heart,
oh my child of crumbling grace,
come plant your feet in this Eden,
come rest in this sacred space
oh weary traveler, oh somber fire,
oh shaking heart that is prone to fear,
come lay in My ribboned water
come to fully know that I’m right here
oh wilting daisy, oh dying star
oh broken song that needs a name,
come sit with Me among the wild,
and then you’ll never be the same “
God and I take turns
saying all we need to say
to each other
I speak in short heavy jagged breaths
and the Divine replies in thin long pauses
this goes on until the sun begins to set ~
that’s when it’s time to leave
and even though I go home
I’m always still there
in the antiquated church
of trees and valleys
where foxes are lectors
where horizons are steeples
where clouds are vestibules
where campfires are incense
where time is a gospel
where the great flow is a sacrament
where forests are community
where a little piece of me always still remains
talking to the voice of whispering Love
as I watch trout be slain in the spirit
and I can’t stop marveling
at the altar of creation
(Source: John Roedel)

Mothering God
Mothering God,
Giver of life,
who hovered over the deep
at the beginning of time,
who soars like an eagle,
who gathers her brood
under her wings,
who descended from heaven
as a dove:
Open our eyes to see you today.
Open our ears to hear your song.
Open our spirits to sense your presence here in this place.
Open our minds to new insights,
and open our hearts to a
deeper connection with you
and with all the feathered ones
you see and love. Amen.
(Source: Wendy Janzen)

Call To Worship
And God spoke:
“Let us make human beings in our image,
make them reflecting our nature
so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
the birds in the air, the cattle,
and, yes, Earth itself,
and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”
And God blessed us saying:
“Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea
and birds in the air,
for every living thing
that moves on the face of Earth.”
And we did take charge, and we did prosper,
and we did reproduce.
But we failed to be responsible.
Let us approach God in humility to worship and reconnect,
to grieve and hope,
to acknowledge and change.
(Source: Spill the Beans)

Approach to God / Call to worship
Come and celebrate our common home
we gather with the family of humanity.
The mountains, islands and desert
we honour the glory of God in creation.
The lakes, rivers and seas
we come to the source of living water.
With the land, its soil, seeds and sustenance
we give thanks for God’s generous provision.
With the forests of great trees, the lungs of the planet
we will sing with joy and clap our hands.
We join with the whole of creation,
inspired by those who have gone before and the prophetic voices of today.
We dare to praise and pray for another possible world. Amen
(Adapted from ‘We are the Amazon’, an ecumenical act of solidarity and justice for the Amazon and its people.)

Creator of all,
Christ who walks with us,
Spirit enlivening us:
As we move more deeply
into relationship with you
and with the entirety of
the created world,
open our hearts to
new ways of being and
our minds to greater
understanding of
our place in the world.
Transform any notions of
self-centredness into
community-mindedness,
and expand our sense
of community to include
all creation.
​May we fall in love with
our more-than-human
neighbours and understand
that our needs and wellbeing
are intertwined with theirs,
our very flesh and breath
entangled with a billion others.
Move us to see your
presence and wisdom
revealed in the intricacy
of everything around us.
Fill us with compassion
to live lives that
extend benevolence
to all life. Amen.
(Source: Wendy Janzen)

Prayer of Adoration
God of creation and joy,
in whose world we find ourselves overwhelmed by the diversity and wonder,
we approach you as your kin,
part of your creation,
intimately linked with all we see around us
and knowing that our future
is tied to the future of this planet.
The great storytellers of the past
reflected on your spirit of creativity,
day by day,
seeing that it was good, very good,
and we rest ourselves in that same knowledge: that we are also part of that story.
May we take up the responsibilities
with which you have blessed us,
and in the living out of those responsibilities glorify your creative urgency
for the sake of all.
Amen.
(Source: Spill the Beans)

Pollinator Prayer
God, our Provider,
We praise you for pollinators,
for the many beings who
are indispensable in
bringing food to our tables –
birds, bats, beetles,
butterflies and bees…

Bless native plants –
their flowering, fruiting, and
feeding of this ecosystem.
Bless species at risk:
rusty-patched and yellow-banded
bumble bees.
Bless our attempts to partner
in the restoration and health
of this land.

Bless the web of life,
our deep connections,
our interdependence,
our giving and receiving. Amen
(Source: Wendy Janzen)

Simple Sabbath
Sometimes grandeur is great –
mountains and sunsets
and oceans and such…
But sometimes
all I need is simplicity –
a wildflower,
a birdsong,
a bit of blue sky,
my feet connected to
the good earth,
the colour green,
not much to do,
someone to sit with,
a cup of coffee,
a prayer on the breeze –
simple sabbath gifts
to fill my soul and
remind me that
ordinary, everyday
moments are
holy too.
(Source: Wendy Janzen)

Prayer Of Lamentation
What have we done, Lord?
How did we not realise our impact? Whose voices did we fail to heed? Why did we let our greed take over? Where are people suffering today?
Fires destroying towns amidst parched forests; hurricanes fuelled by warm ocean waters; smog trapped cities;
rising sea levels;
global temperatures breaking records; politicians floundering;
decisions delayed;
deadlines coming and going;
and the echo of your voice
to be stewards responsible for it all do not go away.
What can we do, Lord?
(Source: Spill the Beans)

Prayer Of Confession
God who is love and grace,
God who brings second chances and reconciliation,
God who offers forgiveness and healing,
we fall before you
admitting our failure to address climate change
in a way fitting to its impact on future generations.
We confess
that we have damaged our environment,
sometimes unaware of the damage we were doing,
sometimes all too aware, 
but heedless of the costs.
We confess
that we have borrowed from future generations
in order to defend our current way of life,
that we have taken advantage of developing nations in order to protect what we believe is ours,
that we have burnt away options
with little regard for what we were doing.
We confess
that those with no voice suffer most,
in the animal kingdom,
in our seas and oceans,
generations not yet born,
the poor and most vulnerable,
as the effects of climate change take hold.
As we offer our humble confession,
aware of the power that forgiveness
and reconciliation possesses,
convict us to change our priorities
and to count the cost of our global footprint.
Prepare us for the challenges with which we must grapple,
and to do so, step by step,
with the assurance that the more we change our ways the greater the mitigation of crisis will be.
Hear us, God of all creation, heal us and forgive us. Amen.
(Source: Spill the Beans)

Confession
For the beauty of the Earth
desecrated by pollution, extinguished by forest fires, choked by plastic waste
Christ, our God, forgive us for systemic greed.
For the urgency of this hour
ignored by apathy or procrastination
wasted by ineffective decisions and denied by economic interests
Christ, our God and Saviour,
forgive us for selfish short-term behaviour.
For the joy of human love
fractured by forced migration, crushed by bereavement
lost to typhoons, floods and starvation.
Christ, our God, bringer of justice, forgive us for this climate crisis.
(Source: Wendy Lloyd, Church of Scotland)

Prayer For Ourselves And Others
Father, we thank you
that you are the Creator of the world, and you sustain it by your power.
We thank you for its fruitfulness,
beauty and the wonder and love it inspires.
We recognise that changes in the climate
are already damaging the ecosystems which sustain life.
We remember how in the days of Noah and the flood
you gave the rainbow as a sign of your care
for the earth and those who live in it,
and ask that you would help us as we grapple with the problem.
We pray for scientists seeking to understand
the complexity of what is happening;
for the politicians faced with big decisions;
and for your wisdom for all who are seeking
to reduce the threat of climate change to this and future generations.
We pray for those seeking truth about those
who deny climate change
and defend the powerful and rich
at the expense of the poor and vulnerable.
Lord Jesus,
we remember that you gave your life for everyone to be reconciled to you and find life in all its fullness.
We pray that as we enjoy reconciliation and new life in you, so your Spirit would open our hearts
and transform our attitudes
both to other people and to your creation.
Please make our lives more truly fruitful so that in our actions
we may work for the good of all.
Help us to pursue the wellbeing of all your children, both in this generation and in times to come.
Father, we bring before you in our prayers
areas of the world that suffer great environmental problems,
including flooding, storms,
drought and uncertain weather patterns.
We pray for the people in those parts of the world
which are already feeling the impacts of climate change – such as… [Bangladesh, island nations everywhere, many parts of Africa facing climatic instability].

[We remember especially…]

We pray for your blessing on those
who work to alleviate the impacts of climate change,
wherever they are found,
and to provide for those made destitute in poor countries.
We pray for the work of all those charities and campaigning organisations
which seek to educate people
and to bring pressure to bear on governments so that problems will be addressed.
Help them to operate effectively and with integrity, and we ask that their voices may be heeded.
Father, we thank you for your promise
that one day there will be a renewed heaven and earth in which your Son will reign in righteousness,
and where sorrow and suffering will be no more,
and your people will be one in him.
We bring these prayers to you in Jesus’ name. Amen.
(Source: Spill the Beans)

Sinking…
I dive beneath dark water,
immersed and held
briefly in another world.
Surfacing, I breathe deeply.
Floating, face to the sky,
with each exhale, I sink slightly.
I align my body to the
sinking sun in the hazy sky;
a brilliant orange path
glistens across the water,
reflects fires burning
points right to my feet.
My heart sinks with
the knowledge
we are all sinking,
burning, melting, choking.
God, save us from ourselves.
Have mercy on us.
Have mercy on the Earth,
on the trees, sky, glaciers,
communities, and creatures…
Save us from this
path of self destruction.
Save us from sinking
into oblivion.
You are our bright light,
fresh air, quenching rain,
enduring solace, solid ground,
our hope beyond hope.
(Source: Wendy Janzen)

Beneath the continents
the great artesian seas are suffering.
Replenishment is overtaken by the works of human hands.
Anthropocene – no precedent in time.
A metaphor – these aquifers transformed to deserts.
Once the numinous was near – essential things possessed our words,
and life was drawn without incurring loss.
Through common use, the holiness of things
descends much deeper in the ground beneath our knees.
To pray is difficult. Our wings are clipped.
Our soul is forfeit to the thief.
A thunderstorm? The sky above is clear.
A downpour in unseasonable years?
(Facebook post May 2019 by Australian Religious Response to Climate Change ARRCC)

Thanksgiving and intercession
God of abundant life,
we see Your goodness all around us and we thank You for every part of it:
from the plants and animals which play their part in complex ecosystems,
to the dry deserts and stormy seas which test the limits of life.
We pray that in this time of climate crisis and ecological emergency, You may
help us to rediscover
Your love of creation and to reflect that in our own lives.
God, in Your mercy
hear our prayer.
God who speaks through unexpected people,
We thank You for contemporary prophets
who are challenging us to act on climate change;
for indigenous people and their invaluable knowledge
of the land and sea where they live,
for scientists dedicating their careers to warning us
about changes to the planet,
and for young people striking for their future.
We pray that You will help those in power to hear their prophetic voices.
Help them to see beyond short-term political priorities and business plans.
Give them wisdom and courage when they face difficult decisions.
God, in Your mercy
hear our prayer.
God of second chances,
we recognise the damage we have done to the Earth
and the injustice we see in society every day,
fuelled by worship of profit and possessions.
We pray for the coming of a better world
with justice, kindness and humility at its heart.
We ask that You guide us to be co-creators of this new world.
Give us confidence to follow the prophetic voices,
to stand against injustice to people and to planet.
So that together, in Your strength,
we stop this climate crisis.
God, in Your mercy
hear our prayer.
(Source: Wendy Lloyd, Church of Scotland)

Capitalism and the planet cannot co-exist, article by Samuel Alexander (21 Feb 2020)

Ark-jacking, our new mortal sin
On May 6, 2019 a Global Assessment released by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) announced that nearly one million species are at risk of extinction.
God looked out over the climate
and called for humans to build a great ark
so that the creatures, all creatures,
would be saved
from the danger to come.
In our day we invent grandiose arks
in hope to preserve
the human ways of life
of those who are most comfortable,
with the most access to power —
fracking, pesticides, genetic modification,
mountain-top removal coal mining,
habitat degradation,
overharvesting, overhunting, overfishing,
desertification, deforestation,
introduction of invasive species,
global warming,
pollution of land, air, water, space.
Footprint?
It is a great carbon butt-swath
mooning scientific reality,
but also faith,
and as the storm approaches,
I hear the hammers,
but they are not working day and night
for koalas,
river dolphins, mountain gorillas,
the fragile flying of bees.
(Source: Maren C. Tirabassi, Gifts in Open Hands)

Jesus,
Word of life,
God and sower of the seeds of the Kingdom,
Come and wreck the perfect lawn of our religion and life.
So the seeds of diversity,
That the deep faith ecology of the Kingdom,
Might take root and grow in us as individuals and community.
May we ever live out the messy and tangled, but thoroughly alive, faith ecosystem of your call to
diversity,
hospitality,
justice
and reconciliation,
That we might be like a forest floor,
Teaming with life,
Breaking down what is dead,
And nurturing growth.
Help us let go of our concepts of perfect religion,
And embrace the wildness of your way of faith and discipleship.
This we try to pray.
Amen.
(Source: Jon Humphries, Prayers that Unite)

Water and Wind – We weep with the earth…
Wild waters ranging beyond banks and beaches,
Arid and thirsting tessellated clay pans,
Torrents, forging erratic rivers and
Empty billabongs, dusty with desire.
Relentless havoc or neglecting habitations,
A call of passion and a cry of poverty.
Now, God, we hear and feel and know and grieve
Desperate cries and calls we must not ignore,
Willing us to listen and respond
In a compassionate embrace of all creation.
Now, God, we listen and respond and think and understand,
Divesting ourselves of ignorance while opening ourselves to the pain.
We weep with the earth.
(posted on a weekly email from South Australian Council of Churches)

Prayer: A prayer for Earth Day by the Sisters of Mercy
As we are called to see ourselves and each other as earthen vessels that hold God’s presence and bring God’s gifts to the world, so too, this very world and all that is above, around and within it are earthen vessels – just as easily shattered, just as much in need of our loving attentiveness and support. May our hands align with God’s in caressing and shaping these vessels.
For trees, plants, crops, and forests. Let us pray.
For water, oceans, rivers, streams and ponds. Let us pray.
For air, wind, climate and weather. Let us pray.
For sun, clean energy and prevention of global warming. Let us pray. For animals, especially endangered species. Let us pray.
For all humankind. Let us pray.
For recycling and moderate personal consumption. Let us pray.
For proper use of chemicals and disposal of toxic waste. Let us pray.
For Earth and unity. Let us pray.
Creator God, we thank you for all of creation.We ask your forgiveness where we have failed to be just stewards. And we now ask for your guidance in restoring the face of the earth. May we learn to live in harmony, safety and just sharing of resources among all so that we achieve the kingdom of God.
Peace be to this community. Peace be to this land. Peace be to all people. Amen.
This prayer was adapted for Earth Day 2013 by the Catholic Health Association from a novena developed by the Mercy Justice Circle in New Jersey.

Prayer – Climate Change
Creator God,
breath and source of life,
in love you called the world into being
and in grace you made us and call us your children.
We stand in awe of the wonder of your creation:
its beauty and wildness;
complexity and power;
resilience and fragility.
God of life,
you call us to be participants in the web and wellspring of life:
to be nurtured by the planet;
to be nurturing of the planet;
to cherish the world and all that lives.
But we have failed and creation groans under our weight.
God of grace,
forgive us in our brokenness:
when we have taken too much from the earth;
when we have not spoken out against greed and destruction;
when we have allowed our most vulnerable neighbours to be harmed.
We seek courage and forgiveness to be made whole.
God of love,
we pray for those people, communities and nations already suffering the devastating effects of climate change; and we pray for the diversity of life on earth, so much of it already threatened by our actions.
God of hope,
we pray for political leaders.
Bless them with wisdom and creativity,
and a shared vision of hope for all creation.
May they find the determination
to take strong action to halt the destructive effects of climate change, and the political will to act together for the common good
Creator God,
we pray for us all,
that we might restore our relationships with each other and work together to heal the earth.
Renew us in your grace
for the sake of your creation. Amen.
(Source: Uniting Justice)

Prayer of praise and awe – Celebrating life
We respond in awe to our life in God’s realm.
The Essence of Creation encompasses us,
And is displayed from galaxy clusters eons away
to minuscule DNA messages within every cell.

The Initiator of all Nature’s laws and beauty
enables every wonder and power in the cosmos,
every tragedy and triumph, every comfort and cringe.
This Source of all resources initiates the ancient heritage of our lives,
and blesses the conclusion of our existence.
This YHWH instigates everything.

Discovering that we are integral within this cosmos,

We build our lives on the wisdom and stories of forbearers and prophets:[here mention any personal guiding influences, such as
Samuel, Ruth, Yeshua, Miriam, Francis, Martin, Karen, Desmond,
Malala, family, Pastors.]

We strive to return gratitude for our life,
Encouraging children, visiting the lonely, feeding the hungry,
offering compassion and wellness for those at loss,
calming the agitated, forgiving and even loving miscreants;
enjoying good friends, ever adoring intimate partners,
enhancing earth’s natural provisions and our own talents.
Thus we hope to bear exemplary spiritual fruits: Patience, Gentleness,
Faithfulness, Humility, Beauty, Peace, Joy, and Love.

As God’s Universe swirls about us
We simply inhale, inspired,
exuding light and truth to the benefit of all neighbours,
in praise and honour of our Origin.
(Source: Dave Mesh, March 2019 and posted on Progressive Christianity

Great God,
Who makes the sun to rise, and opens the heavens,
Hear the cry of the people
Who sow in hope for rain, but reap only despair,
Hear the cry of the people
Seeking shelter from the storm, their hopes and homes submerged
Hear the cry of the people.
When creation is hitting back, with rage and resistance
Give us hope, grant us salvation,
Give us a new relationship with creation
With reverence to tend this gift from You
And say once again of the earth and all you created
It is GOOD.
(Source: Rev. Bob Kikuyu, Christian Aid Global Theology Advisor, Nairobi, Kenya)

Blessing / Closing prayer
May God bless us with wonder at creation’s glory.
May God bless us with fury at creation’s spoiling.
May God bless us with courage at this critical hour.
And may the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Rest upon us and on all creation,
This day and for the future to come. Amen.
(Source: ACT Alliance)

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognise: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child – our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”
(Source: Thích Nhất Hạnh, Vietnamese monk)

Let Us Bless the Earth
Let us bless the Earth,
And all that is steady and firm.
Let us bless the Sky,
And all that is open and filled with light.
Let us bless their union,
Holy and without ceasing.
Let us bless their children,
The bounty of field and forest,
Stones, plants, animals, and all living things.
May the gifts of the Earth and Sky
Strengthen, refresh, nourish, and heal the peoples of the Earth. Amen.
(Source: by Eric Williams)

Cicero

Resources from NZ for Season of Creation

Prayer of confession: Weapons of Massive Consumption
God who conceived creation,
And breathed it into being with the Word,
You have observed the eons pass,
You have seen the cosmos evolve,
And give rise to our humanity.
We have come to know of you and even to know you
But we fall so short in who we could be in relationship to you.
We fall out of relationship with you and creation,
We fall out of relationship with each other and ourselves.
In our small-minded self-interest,
In our self-centred drive for ever-increasing comfort,
In our pursuit of our wants and the illusion of power over the earth,
We have become the outsiders,
setting ourselves beyond the natural order of creation.
We are the only living things whose waste cannot be broken down
and reintegrated in the living cycle.
We have unrelentingly taken from the resources of the planet with a domineering mindset and a disregard for impact on the world or the future.
We have been the cause of desecration, degradation and destruction,
In our obsession with more and better.
We have become ecological weapons of massive consumption,
Destroying ecosystems,
Polluting the planet,
Decimating nature and its goodness an beauty,
Being responsible for death and extinction with little regard,
As we forge forward towards our own sinful death of this planet
and its ability for it to sustain us.
We, in the so-called developed world, have spread the cancer of our greed,
Failing to learn from indigenous cultures who live or have lived
in harmony with the planet.
We are responsible.
We have sinned against you, against creation,
against each other and against ourselves,
And for the most part we are unrepentant.
Forgive as you do,
But pierce us with your truth and grace,
Confront us with our sin, that we might repent and be transformed.
Creator God,
It almost seems that thigs are too late.
The cancer of our consumption is too advanced,
The damage has been done to a point of irreversibility.
Is there hope for redemption of what we have done,
Or all that can be done now is to wait for history to take its course
towards the final end of all things,
Where you will come and renew all of creation?
May this not be so.
May we be converted and transformed.
May we spread the gospel, not just for our salvation,
but for your call for the salvation of creation in this planet.
May we become agents of your healing.
May we work to change our ways through the inspiration of your Spirit,
Until we find our humble and responsible place once again in the natural order.
God of creation,
We pray for this world which we do not respect.
Heal our ignorance and apathy,
So that your will may be done.
This should be our prayer,
Not just now, but always.
Amen.
(Source: Jon Humphries)

Helpful resources for Season of Creation included in this sample from Seasons/Fusion

“Each of the interconnected threads in a tapestry contributes to the beautiful pattern of the whole – so too in creation. This has huge implications for how we live on this planet, and for our theology and spirituality”.
(Source: Br. Kevin McDonnell)

“It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know the sense of wonder and humility.”
(Source: Rachel Carson)

Good and Gracious God,
Source of the evolving Universe,
Source of all Life,
All creation is charged with your Divine Energy.

Ignite your Spark within us,
That we may know ourselves
As truly human and holy,
Irrevocably part of the Web of Life.

All creation
– each star and every flower,
– each drop of water and every person,
– each and every atom, down to its very electrons,
explodes with the revelation
of your sacred mystery.

Our minds alone cannot fathom such splendor,
Our hearts can only respond in awe, praise and gratitude.

Forgive us, we pray, our ignorance
And insecurities which
– blind us to your Thumbprint writ large,
– deafen us to the sacred space
– between two heartbeats,
– prompt us in arrogance to demand and dominate,
– numb us to the destruction we’ve caused,
– hold us hostage to “either-or” thinking and living.

May we always walk gently upon this earth,
– in right relationship,
– nurtured by your Love,
– taking only what we need,
– giving back to the earth in gratitude,
– honoring all with reverence,
– reconciling and healing,
– mindful of those who will come after,
– recognizing our proper place as part of,
not apart from, your creation.

Grant us the strength and courage, we pray,
For such radical transformation into your Kin-dom.

The we, too, with the very stones will shout, “HOSANNA.”
(Source: Michelle Balek, OSF, Progressive Christianity)

‘“The Radiant Tapestry of Being” – a possible theme for Season of Creation.

Environment in Religion” by Vladamir Tomek

WCC’s Time for Creation is in the same time frame as Seasons of Creation in September each year.

Canticle of Daniel on Youtube by Don Stewart with visuals by Rob Hanks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWzqPov0k3E

Richard Rohr:
When he considered the primordial source of all things, [St. Francis] was filled with even more abundant piety, calling all creatures, no matter how small, by the name of brother and sister, because he knew they had the same source as himself. —Saint Bonaventure (1221-1274) [1]
If Christianity would have paid attention to the teachings and example of Jesus and Francis, our planet—“Mother Sister Earth,” as Francis called her—would perhaps be much healthier today. But it took until the 21st century for a pope to write an entire encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, making this quite clear and demanding.
We have not honored God’s Presence in the elemental, physical world. We made God as small as our own constricted hearts. We just picked and chose, saying, “Oh, God is really only in my group, in baptized people, in moral people, etc.” Is there that little of an Infinite God to go around? Do we have to be stingy with God? As Isaiah put it “the arm of God is not too short to save!” (59:1). Why pretend only we deserve God, and not other groups, religions, animals, plants, the elements, Brother Sun, and Sister Moon? It just won’t sell any more.
God is saving creation and bringing all creatures back where they began—into union with their Creator. God loves everything that God has made! All created things God proclaimed “good” (see Genesis 1:9-31 and Wisdom 11:24-12:1). But we, with our small minds, can’t deal with that. We have to whittle God and Love into small parts that our minds can handle and portion out. Human love is conditional and operates out of a scarcity model. There’s not enough to go around, just like Andrew said about the boy’s five loaves and two small fish (John 6:9). Humans can’t conceptualize or even think infinite or eternal concepts. We cannot imagine Infinite Love, Infinite Goodness, or Infinite Mercy.
Tertullian, a third century Father of the Church, often called the first Christian theologian, said “enfleshment is the hinge of salvation.” [2] We don’t come to the God Mystery through concepts or theories but by connecting with what is—with God’s immediate, embodied presence which is all around us. I want you to begin to notice that almost all of Jesus’ common stories and examples are nature based and relationship based—and never once academic theory! (Fr. Thomas Berry [1914-2009] taught the same way in our time, and I hope to share his work much more in my writings and teachings in the future.)
We have not recognized the one Body of Christ in creation. Perhaps we just didn’t have the readiness or training. There is first of all the seeing, and then there is the recognizing; the second stage is called contemplation. We cannot afford to be blind any longer. We must learn to see and recognize how broad and deep the Presence is if we are to truly care for our common home.
References:
[1] Bonaventure, The Life of Saint Francis, trans. Ewert Cousins (HarperCollins: 2005), 84.
[2] Tertullian, “Caro salutis est cardo,” from De resurrectione carnis (Treatise on the Resurrection), 8, 2.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, “The Christification of the Universe,” a homily at Holy Family Parish, August 16, 2016, Center for Action and Contemplation.

Richard Rohr writes:
When we are in right relationship—we might say “in love”—there is the Christ, the Body of God, and there is the church. But Christians sadly whittled that Great Mystery down into something small, exclusive, and manageable. The church became a Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant private club, one not necessarily formed by people who were “in communion” with anything else, and only rarely with the natural world, with non-Christians, or even with other Christians outside their own denomination.
Our very suffering now, our condensed presence on this common nest that we have largely fouled, will soon be the one thing that we finally share in common. It might well be the one thing that will bring us together politically and religiously.
The earth and its life systems, on which we all entirely depend might soon become the very things that will convert us to a simple lifestyle, to necessary community, and to an inherent and universal sense of reverence for the Holy. We all breathe the same air and drink the same water.
There are no Jewish, Christian, or Muslim versions of these universal elements. All water is “holy water” even before the benefit of a priest’s waved hand. It is always and everywhere two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, and voilà—we have the absolute miracle of liquid water, absolutely necessary for all that lives.
This earth indeed is the very Body of God, and it is from this body that we are born, live, suffer, and resurrect to eternal life. Either all is God’s Great Project, or we may rightly wonder whether anything is.

In the late fourth century, St. Augustine, recognized by both East and West as a Doctor of the Church, said that “the church consists in the state of communion of the whole world.”
Sufi teacher Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee writes:
The world is not a problem to be solved; it is a living being to which we belong. The world is part of our own self and we are a part of its suffering wholeness. . .
It is this wholeness that is calling to us now, that needs our response. It needs us to return to our own root and rootedness: our relationship to the sacred within creation. Only from the place of sacred wholeness and reverence can we begin the work of healing, of bringing the world back into balance.

Theologian Sallie McFague (1933–2019) powerfully described creation as “the body of God” and the place of salvation. She wrote, “Creation as the place of salvation means that the health and well-being of all creatures and parts of creation is what salvation is all about—it is God’s place and our place, the one and only place.”

When the mind is festering with trouble or the heart torn, we can find healing among the silence of mountains or fields, or listen to the simple, steadying rhythm of waves. The slowness and stillness gradually takes us over. Our breathing deepens and our hearts calm and our hungers relent. When serenity is restored, new perspectives open to us and difficulty can begin to seem like an invitation to new growth.
This invitation to friendship with nature does of course entail a willingness to be alone out there. Yet this aloneness is anything but lonely. Solitude gradually clarifies the heart until a true tranquility is reached. The irony is that at the heart of that aloneness you feel intimately connected with the world. Indeed, the beauty of nature is often the wisest balm for it gently relieves and releases the caged mind.
JOHN O’DONOHUE
Excerpt from his books, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace (US) / Divine Beauty (Europe)

What a wonderful world (Louis Armstrong)

“The fullness of joy is to behold God in everything.”
~ Julian of Norwich

Walk among trees who do not judge you,
who travel seasons in perfect meekness.
Leave the drumbeat of blocks and apartments,
hours and trains, lines and squares,
and return to the rhythm of living things.
Observe beings who live the life they are given.
Go at a pace you won’t trip over roots
while looking up.
Listen to the conversation the sun has with the grasses,
watch its slow labor among the trees.
Let your life become as purposeful as any wild thing.
Stay long enough to shed the illusion
that you are superior, that you are separate,
that this is not also your flesh.
Let your breath, prairie wind, sea breeze,
—amazing gift, moment after moment!—
carry you through the day.
Your own organs, your hands, your eyes,
let them infest this day of work.
Earthling, be of this earth.
Let it have you.
(Source: Steve Garnaas-Holmes, Unfolding Light)

The ‘Earth’ Story
Presently this traditional story is dysfunctional in its larger social dimensions,
even though some believe it firmly and act according to its guidance.
Aware of the dysfunctional aspects of the traditional program,
some persons have moved on into different, often new-age, orientations,
which have consistently proven ineffective in dealing with our present life situation.
Even with advanced science and technology,
with superb techniques in manufacturing and commerce,
in communications and computation,
our secular society remains without satisfactory meaning or the social discipline needed
for a life leading to emotional, aesthetic, and spiritual fulfillment.
Because of this lack of satisfaction, many persons are returning to a religious fundamentalism But that, too, can be seen as inadequate to supply the values for sustaining our needed social discipline.
A radical reassessment of the human situation is needed,
especially concerning those basic values that give to life some satisfactory meaning.
We need something that will supply our times what was supplied formerly by our traditional religions story.
If we are to achieve this purpose, we must begin where everything in human affairs – with the basic story,
our narrative of how things came to be,
how they came to be as they are,
and how the future can be given some satisfying direction.
We need a story that will educate us, a story that will heal, guide, and discipline us. (Thomas Berry)

Thou,
Holiness,
One,
in morning stillness
I walk among you.
From dark earth beneath
you branch out above me.
From dark space beyond
you shine down among us.
In darkness hidden deep
your invisible angels
of bug and fungus fashion glory,
working their feast of rot and fermentation,
your millioned resurrections.
Your trees and I breathe each other,
in and out.
They branch out in me.
I breathe in them,
each breath a hymn.
I move through you,
the holy space between us;
the air of you is charged
with light, with birds, with praise.
Our flights are song,
our greenness is praise,
even our stones,
being,
praise,
their silence your purest praise.
I waken to my belonging.
How could we
– even I –
ever stop
– even in death –
praising you?
(Source: Steve Garnaas-Holmes, Unfolding Light)

Pure
As long as the air was clean,
so was the rain;
as long as the land was unsoiled,
so was the stream;
as long as the stream was filtered,
so was the lake;
when we drank its water,
it cleared our throats.

River, you carry the melted snow from the peaks
the rain from the catchment and the lakes;
you purify the aquifers
feed the forests and farms
greening grass and budding leaves.

The gardener sang as he worked
in the cadence of creation
marrying the land and the river
in the fertility of his garden.

Swimming in the river’s rippling currents
he felt renewed and entranced
by its rare voice.
(Source: John Howell)

A collation of resources here on the original Season of Creation website.

Benediction
Deep peace of the running wave to you
Deep peace of the flowing air to you
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you
Deep peace of the Son of peace to you
(Source: Fiona Macleod, owing credit to John Rutter)

Prayer 
Lord God, we know you are our creator.
You created us in your own image.
You gave us responsibility of dominion over the earth and all in it.
We repent that we have not been good stewards of your creation.
We have caused global warming through burning fossil fuels,
we have cut down a lot of trees without replacing them,
we have advanced in technology and increased in population,
hence manufacturing machines that pollute your nature,
we have constantly benefitted from the natural resources and in return giving nothing back.
Lord, grant us your wisdom, so that we may turn back and preserve our environment.
Help us to always stick to the proper use of the natural resources
so that we do not continually harm climate.
We ask all of these in Jesus name,
Amen.
(Source” Rev Emmanuel Ngambeki, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, Karagwe Diocese, Tanzania)

Prayer from Indonesia
We ruin life by starting the fire in our woods
We replace the fresh air with smoke
We poison our clean water and bath our children with waste We killed our grandchildren by inheriting them poison and pest God, have mercy on us
O God, we are ignoring the natural disaster, but nature is you.
We are speechless, afraid of the laws abusing the nature. And we are scared of YOU.
And even a church as your body, often keeps quiet looking for a safe place.
O God we are waiting for the new the heaven and earth where the truth and justice belong to all your creation
O God, have a mercy of Lord
(Source: Karo Batak Protestant Church (GBKP), Worship, Medan, Indonesia, 2012)

Christine Valters Painter’s book, Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire : The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements, may be a useful resource (with a focus on the elements of water, wind, earth fire during Season of Creation).
Note: Pilgrim UC used this resource for 2016 Season of Creation series

William Wallace (New Zealand) has prepared a ‘Mass of the Universe‘ with all the text and music – could be worth considering for the opening Sunday or closing Sunday of the month set aside for Seasons of Creation. Ideally it will need some advance notice for preparation of the music with cantors, small choir etc. Definitely worth checking out.

The earth is at the same time mother,
she is mother of all that is natural,
mother of all that is human,
She is the mother of all,
for contained in her
aret he seeds of all.
The earth of humankind
contains all moistness,
all verdancy,
all germinating power.
It is in so many ways fruitful.
All creation comes from it.
Yet it forms not only the basic
raw material for humankind,
but also the substance
of the incarnation
of God’s son.
Hildegard of Bingen, c. 1125

In The Gift of Wonder,Christine Sine talks about the practice of Lectio Tierra, a great way to attune our senses to the wonder of God. This practice is similar to Lectio Divina from which it is adapted. “As I wander through the forest, brush against my lavender or listen to the music of water cascading over rocks, my senses are awakened to”read” God’s presence. Anything that catches my attention and shimmers with the presence of God provides fuel for reflection”. Could be a ‘take home’ resource, or incorporated into ‘stations’ for a Season of Creation service. More here.

Textweek.com has online resources for each Sunday in Season of Creation.

Uniting Earth Web has great resources online for Seasons of Creation.

Uniting Church WA produces resources for ‘Sustainable September‘ each year.

A great video clip (4.58 mins) – She’s Alive, beautiful, finite, dying, worth dying for –  could be shown during a service. The blurb: “It was made to highlight the fact that world leaders, irresponsible corporates and mindless ‘consumers’ are combining to destroy life on earth. It is dedicated to all who died fighting for the planet and those whose lives are on the line today. The cut was put together by Vivek Chauhan, a young film maker, together with naturalists working with the Sanctuary Asia network (http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/). The principal source for the footage was Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s incredible film HOME http://www.homethemovie.org/. The music was by Armand Amar. Credit and thanks to Greenpeace and http://timescapes.org/”

Lord of life,
Things are not as they should be.
Our world is not as you intended.
We have overreached our place in the world.
We have upset the balance of nature.
We do not live in harmony with the environment.
We have exploited our planet.
Our devouring of resources is unnatural.
Our excesses are overbearing
Our destruction of the wild places is abhorrent
Our ignorance of the damage resulting from our lifestyle is inexcusable
We should be sorry.
We know the facts.
We have seen the effects.
But little do we change.
Do not forgive our token gestures.
Hold us accountable until we repent.
Disabuse us of our perverted selfish ways.
Grant us the shocking vision of the truth.
But also call us to your purpose.
Awaken in us the seeds of change.
Help us take up our responsibility.
Show us how to make amends.
Join us to your mission,
That our world may be renewed.
That we may be redeemed.
That the Creating Christ may be served.
In his name.
Amen. (c) Jon Humphries

God-the-creator-of-life.001

“During a 2009 countrywide drought in India, when I visited Navdanya farmers in different parts of the country, I found their crops had not suffered, because they were using locally adapted seeds, and their soils had water-holding capacity because of organic manuring. Farmers using Green Revolution, fertilizer-intensive varieties, or GMO Bt cotton, had a crop failure because neither the seed nor the soil was drought resilient.
Growing diversity and growing organic have become necessary for adapting our soils to climate change. Supporting healthy soils is the most effective way to get carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Soils with organic matter are more resilient to drought and climate extremes. Biodiversity-intensive systems – which are, in effect, photosynthesis-intensive systems – drive carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and into plants and then into the soil. Soil, not oil, holds the future for humanity.”
(Source: Vandana Shiva, ‘Who Really Feeds the World?’)

Creation and communion liturgy
A Liturgy of Creation and Communion – John Van De Laar

Opening prayer (includes acknowledgement of land)
We give thanks for creation:
its vibrant genesis and evolution
its wonder and mystery
its delicacy and strength
its wordless word
it’s yes!
We give thanks for the Kaurna people who nurtured this land:
for their stories of the dreaming
for their connection with the sacred
for their yes!
We give thanks for the gift of this community:
for calling us to be present to one another
for the mystery of grace in our lives
for your yes!

Greenness
Dear God, there are times
when I hear your voice most clearly
in greenness: in the singing of sap,
the conversation of the leaves, the whisperings
of shoot and stem, root, sap and cell,
calling me back to creation
to feel again the freshness of you
running through everything
like a bright emerald current.

God of greenness, you know well my tendency
to fill my life with my own methods of communication.
Thank you for constantly returning me to the simplicity of yours.
Again I experience you in the rejoicing
of bare feet on a damp forest path,
in the wonder of light thrown against
a kaleidoscope of tree ferns,
in the myriad textures of moss-clad trees,
in the shining of you beneath every surface.

Beloved Creator, coming to our greenness
is always a coming home,
a time of peace and grace
as the unimportant in me falls away
and I know again that bright green shoot
of my own beginning
which comes from you
and is one with you,
bright and beautiful God.                Source: WCC website

Practice: Conversations with Nature (Richard Rohr)
Although creation may be “wordless,” we can still dialogue with it as St. Francis did. Bill Plotkin suggests a practice of “talking across the species boundaries” in his book Soulcraft that expands upon last week’s contemplative practice of presence to Presence within an ordinary object:
Go wandering [in nature]. Bring your journal. . . . Wander aimlessly until you feel called by something that draws your attention, by way of an attraction, a curiosity, an allurement, a repulsion, a fear. . . . Whatever it is, sit and observe it closely for a good length of time. Interact with your senses, offer your full visual and aural attention to the Other. Record in your journal what you observe.
Then introduce yourself, out loud—yes, out loud. . . . Tell this being about yourself. . . . Tell the truth, your deepest, most intimate truth. In addition to ordinary human language, you might choose to speak with song, poetry . . . movement, gesture, dance. Then, using the same speech options, tell that being everything about it you have noticed. . . . Keep communicating no matter what . . . until it interrupts you.
Then stop and listen. Listen with your ears, eyes, nose, skin, intuition, feeling, and imagination. . . . In your journal, record and/or draw what happens. Offer the Other your gratitude and a gift . . . a song, a dance, a lock of hair, praise . . . some water. . . .
Enter your conversations with the Others with the intention of learning about them and developing a relationship, but don’t be surprised if you thereby discover more about yourself. [1] And, I would add, more about God who created them.
Gateway to Silence: Brother Sun, Sister Moon, help me see God in all things.
Reference: [1] Bill Plotkin, Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche (New World Library: 2003), 168-169.
(quote is from Richard Rohr, A New Cosmology: Nature as the First Bible CD and MP3 download ; Richard Rohr and Bill Plotkin, Soul Centering through Nature: Becoming a True Human Adult, CD and MP3 download)

One of the most demanding, but often overlooked, dimensions of the creation story is that when creation was finished, it wasn’t really finished at all. Instead, God committed the rest of the process to us. What humans do on this earth either continues creation or obstructs it. It all depends on the way we look at life, the way we see our role in the ongoing creation of the world.
Work is our contribution to creation. It relates us to the rest of the world. It fulfills our responsibility to the future. God left us a world intact, a world with enough for everyone. The contemplative question of the time is what kind of world we are leaving to those who come after us. The contemplative sets out to shape the world in the image of God; to bring the Glory of God into the stuff of the moment, the character of the little piece of the planet for which we are responsible.
The ideal state, the contemplative knows, is not to avoid work. The first thing Genesis requires of Adam and Eve is that they “till the garden and keep it.” They are, then, commanded to work long before they sin. Work is not, in Judeo-Christian tradition, punishment for sin. Work is the mark of the conscientiously human. We do not live to outgrow work. We live to work well, to work with purpose, to work with honesty and quality and artistry.
The contemplative is overcome by the notion of “tilling the garden and keeping it.” Work does not distract us from God. It brings the reign of God closer than it was before we came. Work doesn’t take us away from God. It continues the work of God through us. Work is the priesthood of the human race. It turns the ordinary into the grandeur of God.
(Source: Illuminated Life (Orbis) by Joan Chittister)

Great Chain of Being (reflections by Richard Rohr)
I would like to reclaim an ancient, evolving, and very Franciscan metaphor—the Great Chain of Being—to name the nature of the universe, God, and the self, and to direct our future thinking.
Using this image, medieval theologians tried to communicate a linked and coherent world. The essential and unbreakable links in the chain include the Divine Creator, the angelic heavenly host, the human, the animal, the world of plants and vegetation, and planet Earth itself with its minerals and waters. In themselves and in their union together the links proclaim the glory of God (see Psalm 104) and the inherent dignity of all things. This image became the ontological basis for calling anything and everything sacred. Without it, the idea of “sacred” is subject to the feelings and whims of the individual.
Saint Bonaventure, who is called the second founder of the Franciscan Order, took Francis of Assisi’s intuitive genius and spelled it out into an entire philosophy. He wrote: “The magnitude of things . . . clearly manifests . . . the wisdom and goodness of the triune God, who by power, presence and essence exists uncircumscribed in all things.” [1] God is “within all things but not enclosed; outside all things, but not excluded; above all things, but not aloof; below all things, but not debased.” [2] Bonaventure spoke of God as one “whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.” [3] Therefore the origin, magnitude, multitude, beauty, fullness, activity, and order of all created things are the very “footprints” and “fingerprints” (vestigia) of God. Now that is quite a lovely and very safe universe to live in. Welcome home!
Bonaventure said further:
Therefore, open your eyes, alert the ears of your spirit, open your lips and apply your heart so that in all creatures you may see, hear, praise, love and worship, glorify and honor your God, lest the whole world rise against you. [4]
It is hard to imagine how different the last seven hundred years might have been if this truly catholic (kata holos, or “according to the whole”) vision had formed more Christians. Instead, our seeing has been partial and usually prejudicial. We have hardly seen at all. The individual decided where and if God’s image would be recognized and honored.
The primary losers according to this labeling system were “sinners,” variously defined: heretics defined by the empowered group; witches, usually defined by males; Muslims and Jews; indigenous peoples and religions; buffalo, whales, and elephants; land, water, and air itself. Finally, the Divine Presence ended up being almost nowhere except in gatherings of our own small group—and even there we had levels of worthiness! No wonder we live in a secular and empty world where hardly anything seems sacred.
How can we call ourselves monotheists if we cannot see that “one God” unites our world? How can we call ourselves Christians if we don’t believe that being “Christ-like” means loving “the least of the brothers and sisters” (Matthew 25:40)?
Once the Great Chain was broken, and even one link withdrawn, the whole catholic/universal vision collapsed. It seems that we either honor God in all things or we soon lose the basis for seeing God in anything.
Gateway to Silence:
Praised be You, my Lord, through all your creatures. —Francis of Assisi
References:
[1] Bonaventure, Bonaventure: The Soul’s Journey to God, 1, 14, trans. Ewert Cousins (Paulist Press: 1978), 65.
[2] Ibid., 5, 8, 100ff.
[3] Ibid., 5, 8, 100.
[4] Ibid., 1, 15, 67-68.
Adapted from Richard Rohr with John Feister, Hope Against Darkness: The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an Age of Anxiety (Franciscan Media: 2001), 135-137.

Season of Creation.Week1 Water.printed service

Communion liturgy by John van de Laar

Communion – Season of Creation
Invitation
Open hearts and spirits to the Holy One
who invites us to this meal.
Taste the earth-borne gifts
that bare the communion of Christ’s presence.
Grains drawn from soil,
milled and mixed,
kneaded and baked,
form the loaf of our common life.
Grapes plucked and pressed,
strained and aged,
fill the cup of our common hope.
All these, all of us,
fearfully and wonderfully made by God:
All these, all of us,
gathered to celebrate the mystery of presence
in this communion and in all of life
.

Gracious God, ever-creating,
with all of creation we look to you.
We look to you as the One
from whom all things have sparked:
from sub-atomic particles to forested slopes,
from strands of DNA to the deepest ocean trenches.
We look to you as the One
in whom all life holds together:
from the delicate balancing
of soil and water and oxygen and light, to the delicate balancing
of personalities and faith and values.
We look to you as the One
who fashions this table in multiple places but with singular purpose:
to offer invite and gather all,
to offer unlimited forgiveness,
to offer vocation with Christ.
May all creation be blessed in this meal
a reminder of life shared with and for others, and of community fashioned,
not on the basis of our differences,
but by the truth that all are one in you. Amen.
(Source: online sample of SeasonsFUSION)

MUSIC

Carolyn Winfrey Gillette’s website has songs for Creation and Creation Care

God walks with us in shimmering heat
Lyrics: Leigh Newton (c) 2022; Tune: ‘Repton’ (TIS 598) Charles H.H.Perry (1848-19-18)

God walks with us in shimmering heat and thundering skies of grey,
In nature’s wildest alchemy,
And stone of regal majesty,
Such glory on display. Such glory on display.

In banksia shades of sunset bloom, in Gouldian Finch array,
The artist’s joy seen unashamed,
From pallet bright and unexplained,
What wonders in our day! What wonders in our day!

God hovers ‘round this captured rock, and all the universe,
Yet Christ comes here to show God’s face,
To make the holy common-place,
To let God’s voice be heard. To let God’s voice be heard.

God sings to us from in the soil, from in the rain and air,
This fabric on which we depend,
We hardly, barely understand,
This web in disrepair. This web in disrepair.

Now fire and flood and brooding storm fragment this Earth, our home,
As summer lengthens year by year,
And precious waters disappear,
We pray your call be known. We pray your call be known.

Come, Jesus walk with us each day, forgive our blinkered ways.
Bring hope when storms assail the land,
Turn hearts and hands to work your plan,
Inspire us all our days. Let love lead all our ways.

Song: Learn from all the songs of earth (Thomas Troeger)
Audio on this link

Wake, Now My Senses (Tune: Slane, 10 10 10 10, 547 TiS)

Wake, now my senses, and hear the earth call;
feel the deep power of being in all;
keep, with the web of creation your vow,
giving, receiving as love shows us how.

Wake, now my reason, reach out to the new,
join with each pilgrim who quests for the true;
honour the beauty and wisdom of time;
suffer your limit, and praise the sublime.

Wake, now compassion, give heed to the cry;
voices of suffering fill the wide sky;
take as your neighbour both stranger and friend,
praying and striving their hardship to end.

Wake, now my conscience, with justice your guide;
join with all people whose rights are denied;
take not for granted a privileged place;
God’s love embraces the whole human race.

Wake, now my vision of ministry clear;
brighten my pathway with radiance here;
mingle my calling with all who will share;
work toward a planet transformed by our care.
(Words: Thomas J S Mikelson)

We’re standing here on holy ground” (Tune: ‘Ellacombe(2)’, 86 86D,  453 TiS)
We’re standing here on holy ground,
on land your hand has made;
Your art displayed in timeless rocks,
in purple haze and space;
Its mighty gums and feathery ferns
your beauty magnify.
Tread softly then, in awe reflect,
and listen to the land.

We’re standing here on holy ground,
on land which ancients trod.
They wrote your law in hills and streams
in rocks and caves and trees;
A law to tell us who we are,
to guide and make us strong.
Tread gently then, respect the earth,
remember whence we’ve come.

We’re standing here on holy ground,
on land that toil has shaped.
It’s fertile plains will feed us all,
when tilled with care and love.
But mindless greed and drought and flood
wreak havoc in the land.
Then let us tread with love the earth,
that’s fed us faithfully.

We’re standing here on holy ground,
on land we long to share,
Where each has space and equity,
and neither want nor fear
But demons fierce are dancing here
of race and greed and hate.
Engrave upon our wills, we pray,
your ancient covenant law.

We’re standing here on holy ground,
we seek your rule on earth;
Your will be done in politics,
in law court, market, church;
Your gentleness among us reign,
and each one dwell secure;
May generations yet unborn,
live here in harmony.  © JBrown. (Adapted – Verses 1-2, 4-6)

For the Beauty of the Earth (Tune: ‘Dix’, 77 77 77) 21 SLT
For the beauty of the earth,
for the splendour of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies:

Refrain:
Source of all,
to thee we raise this
our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of ear and eye,
for the heart and mind’s delight,
for the mystic harmony
linking sense to sound and sight:
Refrain:

For the wonder of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale and tree and flower,
sun and moon and stars of light:
Refrain:

For the joy of human care,
sister, brother, parent, child,
for the kinship we all share,
for all gentle thought and mild:
Refrain:
Source of all,
to thee we raise this
our hymn of grateful praise.

(Source: FSPierpoint/adapt)

The Universe in God
(Tune: “Praise my soul”, 87 87 87. 179 TiS)
All creation sings a story
Of great splendours to declare.
When we contemplate its beauty
We are called forth into prayer.
We, enchanted, stand in silence;
God discovered everywhere.

When we stumble on new knowledge,
When new insights help us grow,
We are quick to re-discover
Just how much we do not know.
But the Universe smiles gently,
As our theories come and go.

Outer space and inner being
Both have secrets they conceal.
Galaxies so grimly awesome,
Deep emotions that we feel –
All in God are judged as sacred;
It is God they all reveal.

Ageless mysteries still excite us;
Time and space we must explore.
God the ‘Presence’ and ‘Surrounding’,
God the ever wondrous ‘More’
Is not found by science labours,
But in praise when we adore.
(Source: George Stuart)

Song of healing
(Words: Norman Habel. Tune: Morning has Broken)
Healing is flowing, deep in the waters,
Flowing from Eden, flowing from old.
All through creation, God sends forth waters,
Oceans of healing, for all the world.

Healing is rising, fresh with the morning,
Healing is rising, bursting with grace.
Christ, our rich healing, deep in creation,
Heal Earth’s deep wounds and rise in this place.

Healing is offered, leaves from the life tree,
Healing is offered nations at war.
Come, wounded Healer, torn by the violence,
Rise from the grave, bring peace to our shore.

Healing is given, flows from forgiveness,
Healing is given, flows from our faith.
Christ, give us heart to love your deep healing,
Living forgiveness, even in death.

Healing is rising, free in Christ’s body,
Healing is flowing, free with Christ’s blood.
May this deep healing pulse through our bodies,
Heal the world’s wounds still bleeding and red

God who formed the mighty ocean
(Words: Timothy Dudley-Smith, tune: Ode to Joy)
God who formed the mighty ocean,
loosed the winds upon their ways,
gave the circling planets motion
in their round of ceaseless praise,
hear our thanks for hearts that love us,
for the hour that gave us birth,
heirs of starry skies above us
and the seas of all the earth.

Hold within your care unsleeping
all who face tempestuous seas,
harvests from the waters reaping,
God be thanked for such as these.
Earth is rich beyond all measure,
may we prize her gifts the more,
we who find our work or pleasure
on the seas or by the shore.

Guard, when stormy waves are breaking,
those who cross the oceans wide;
share with them their watchful waking,
be with them through wind and tide.
Christ our Savior, friend unfailing,
as the seas of life we roam,
chart our course and guide our sailing
safe to harbor and to home.

Morning Opens wide before us
Words” Kathy Galloway, Iona
Tune: Regent’s Square (praise my soul the King of heaven)
Morning opens wide before us
like a door into the light.
Just beyond the day lies waiting
ready to throw off the light,
and we stand upon its threshold
poised to turn and take it’s flight.

Now the earth in all its glory
springs to meet the rising sun,
warms to all who walk upon it,
cradling all that will be done.
All our labour, all our living
mingle and become as one.

We receive God’s graceful moment,
while the day is fresh and still,
ours to choose how we will greet it,
ours to make it what we will.
Here is given perfect freedom,
every hope in love to fulfil.

As we take first step together,
passing through the door of day,
may the love of Christ the Creator
give us peace in all that we say,
heart for all that lies before us,
grace to guide us on our way.

Song: Sing praise to God and mountain tops (sample: music and lyrics on Hymnary)

Don’t Fear, You Good Earth
FOUNDATION 11.11.11.11 (“How Firm a Foundation”)
“Do not fear, O soil; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things!… Do not fear, you animals of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and vine give their full yield…” Joel 2:21-23

Don’t fear, you good earth; now rejoice! Have you heard?
The Lord has created you by his own word.
Don’t fear, all you fields for God sends you the rain.
The farms overflow with the wine, oil and grain.

Don’t fear, all you creatures who live in the field;
The pastures are rich and they give their full yield.
You creatures, now sing— for the meadows are green;
Around us, good gifts of creation are seen!

O God, as the prophet proclaimed long ago,
You care for your earth and your gifts overflow.
Though sin leads to things that disrupt and destroy,
You work to redeem and to bring life and joy.

This season, we gather to thank you and say:
O God, you continue to bless us today!
May we who’ve been blessed by the gifts of your hand
Now care for the water, the air and the land.

Text: Copyright © 2018 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved.
Email: bcgillette@comcast.net New Hymns: www.carolynshymns.com

God of creation
(tune: Bunessan ‘Morning has Broken’; words: Craig Mitchell)
God of Creation
Gentle life-giver
Present at birth, and
all through our days
Author of sunrise
Song in the night sky
Here in this place, we
offer our prais

Jesus, Companion
teacher and healer
friend of the grieving,
suffering, the poor
Stand with your people
whisper among us
promise of mercy
goodness for all

Spirit of Comfort
blow through Creation
stir up new life, breathe
peace through our world
Healer of hearts, and
hope for tomorrow
weave all our sorrows
into new dawn

Here we give thanks for
life in its fullness
blessings received
your gifts to us all
Make us a people
filled with compassion
selflessly giving
serving your world

Inspiring Love
[tune: ‘Love divine, all loves excelling’ – HYFRYDOL. Could also sing to Blaenwern] 
Love divine, all love inspiring,
joy of heav’n on earth is known;
you, the heart of all that’s living,
you, the breath, the mind, the soul.
All creation sings your praises,
plains and mountains, sea and sky;
we will join the sacred chorus,
we will sing your love through time.

Jesus come to dwell among us,
Holy love personified.
Wisdom of the broad wide cosmos,
timeless star dust in your eyes.
With your touch you healed and welcomed,
with your words you showed us your way;
now we follow your path of justice,
spread your peace more day by day.

Breath of Life, breathe ever hopeful,
liberate from tyranny.
Blow, wind, blow, and carry onward
humans into unity.
Help us weave our threads together,
vibrant, strong, community;
we are one, one body in Spirit;
found in wonder, love, are we.
(Words: Rev Dr Sarah Agnew, in loving memory of her father David)

God of Seasons God of Change
Music: Amazing Grace
O God of Sea, of Sky, of Earth
Come hear our broken cry
Creation’s cry for life, re-birth
Oh, heal us! Breathe new life!

O God of seasons, God of change
God in both drought and rain
come change our hearts to end this pain
renew the Earth again

We’ve ravaged species, land and sea
We’ve squandered all your gifts
We have not lived in harmony
Oh change us! Lord, forgive!

We’ve broken lives and bio-zones
With broken hearts we cry
Come heal our broken, dying home
Forgive us! Breathe new life!

Creating God, Incarnate Lord!
You’ve shown us how to be
life-giving! Living, breathing life!
Amen! So let us be!

O God of Sky, of Sea, of Earth
Of seasons and of change
come change our hearts to bring re-birth
renew your Earth again.
Words by Brenton Prigge © 2021

Praise for the depths of space,
its endless scope and scale:
in such a vast embrace
our words and numbers fail.
For what are we,
that mortal mind
should seek and find
infinity?

Praise for the rules that show
the patterning of time,
creation’s ebb and flow
expressed in reason’s rhyme.
Can these great laws
contain our awe,
a formula
for wonder’s cause?

Praise for the complex codes
each spiral strand conveys,
as chemistry explodes
to life in myriad ways.
Can we compare
what’s ours alone
if we are known
through all we share?

Praise for the drive to know;
from human nature springs
a need to learn and grow,
to understand all things.
Yet wisdom’s prize
is never won:
from all that’s done
new questions rise.

Praise to the one whose Word
breathed purpose into chance,
for whom all matter stirred
to join creation’s dance.
For love made known
in every thing
in praise we sing
to You alone.
(Tune: Love unknown; Words: Rev Ally Barrett)

Through Devastating Storms
LEONI 6.6.8.4 (“The God of Abraham Praise”)
Through devastating storms, through times of heat and drought,
through fire and flood, creation mourns and so cries out.
As hot and cold extremes cause overwhelming need,
the earth bears witness to the cost of human greed.

We’re always wanting more; we spend and build and buy.
To meet our wants, we hurt the poor — till many die.
The world that we have built is one we can’t sustain,
and all around us, God’s creation cries in pain.

Creator, by your grace, you give the gift of life —
You entered into time and space in Jesus Christ.
Your Spirit makes us strong to tend and heal and lift —
and helps us see creation as a sacred gift.

There’s no time left to wait! May we be bold to give.
May we plant trees and advocate and gently live —
God, as we love the earth and love each other, too,
may we bring hope and healing to this world with you.

References: Romans 8:22-25; Isaiah 58:6-10; Luke 16:19-31; John 3:16; 1 John 4:7-21
Text: Copyright © 2021 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved.
Email: carolynshymns@gmail.com New Hymns: www.carolynshymns.com/

Creation Sing Out (inspired by Psalm 148)
Creation, sing out.
Sing praises to God
Shout your praises
Shout your praises!
Sun, moon and stars
Sing praises to God
Shout your praises
Shout your praises!

Praises sing from the depths of the oceans
The creatures of water cry forth
Fire and snow, every stormy wind
Sing praises, all the earth!

Creation, sing out.
Sing praises to God …

Praises ring from the mountain, the hillsides
The forests and everything grown
You animals, birds – you wild, you tame
Creation praise God’s name!

Creation, sing out.
Sing praises to God …

Praises sing out from young and from older
All nations, yes – everyone
God’s name is highest over all
Creation sing as one!

Creation, sing out.
Sing praises to God …

David MacGregor © 2021 Willow Publishing
(contact David direct for the music, Together to Celebrate website

God of creation
(tune: Bunessan ‘Morning has Broken’; words: Craig Mitchell)
(video below and on Youtube)
God of Creation
Gentle life-giver
Present at birth, and
all through our days
Author of sunrise
Song in the night sky
Here in this place, we
offer our praise

Jesus, Companion
teacher and healer
friend of the grieving,
suffering, the poor
Stand with your people
whisper among us
promise of mercy
goodness for all

Spirit of Comfort
blow through Creation
stir up new life, breathe
peace through our world
Healer of hearts, and
hope for tomorrow
weave all our sorrows
into new dawn

Here we give thanks for
life in its fullness
blessings received
your gifts to us all
Make us a people
filled with compassion
selflessly giving
serving your world

Song: Touch the earth lightly (Shirley Erena Murray)
Words & Music – https://www.hopepublishing.com/find-hymns-hw/hw372.aspx

PREVIOUS THEMES

2022 theme: Listen to the voice of creation
God’s creation moans ever louder and suffers more every day amidst the ongoing climate emergency and biodiversity crisis. Rev. Rachel Mash, Provincial Canon for the Environment in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, said: “We are recovering the sense of wonder at how the world was made, and we need to reclaim the theology of why it was made. We need to listen to creation so that we can move from a theology of plunder back to a theology of wonder.” She and the other leaders encouraged all Christians to embrace the ecumenical Season of Creation and recognize how as one global Christian family united for our common home, we can be a force for so much good.

Season of Creation 2021 Worship Guide available now
A home for all? Renewing the Oikos of God. Amid crises that have shaken our world, the global Christian family was awakened to the urgent need to heal our relationships with creation and with each other during the ecumenical Season of Creation. During the 2021 Season of Creation, from 1st September through 4th October, thousands of Christians on six continents will get together for a time of restoration and hope, a jubilee for our Earth, and to discover radically new ways of living with creation. The full guide and resources are available to download here. https://seasonofcreation.org/. A full liturgy outline, sermon reflections and an adaptable Powerpoint slideshow for each week are available for download here. https://ecochurcheswa.net/worship-resources/.

About admin

Rev Sandy Boyce is a Uniting Church in Australia Minister (Deacon). This blog may be a help to people planning worship services.
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