Celebrating God s Creation: Earth Day 2012 April 14, 2012 Chris and Joanne Amoroso Reason says that destroying clean air is impractical; Faith ought to say it is blasphemous. Joseph Sittler, theologian Announcements Opening Prayer: (from Godspace) For the music of our world, The divine song that sings through all creation, For the beauty of all you have created, A mirror of the wonders of heaven, God our creator, we praise you For the resounding roar of thunder, Your awesome majesty revealed, For a clouded sky splashed with sunset colors, A glimpse of heaven s glory, For the fragrance of a rose, Your sweet perfume of grace, Picacho Peak AZ Daily Star For a riotous field of wildflowers, God s exuberant laughter unfolded, For a snowflake, an atom, a mathematical formula, A hint of your unimagined complexity, For the call to steward your creation,
To tend your garden and make it flourish, Hymn: Morning Has Broken (419) Penitential Rite: Desmond Tutu Disturb us, O God, when we are too well pleased with ourselves; when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little; when we arrive safely because we sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, O God, when with the abundance of things we possess we have lost our thirst for the Waters of Life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim. Disturb us, O God, to dare more boldly - to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes, and to push us in the future with strength, courage, hope and love. First Reading: (from: What Are People For?) (quoted from The Green Bible) I will make my Dwelling among you and I will not reject you. I will walk among you; I will be your God and you will be my people. (Leviticus 26:11-12). The ecological teaching of the Bible is inescapable: God made the world because God wanted it made. God thinks the world is good, and God loves it. It is God s world; God has never relinquished title to it. And God has never revoked the conditions that oblige us to take excellent care of it. If God loves the worlds, then
how might any person of faith be excused for not loving it or caring for it? If God loves the world, then how might any person of faith be justified in destroying it? (Wendell Berry) (Footnote: Wendell Berry thought gardening, growing your own food, was a sacrament.) Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 104 R: Bless our God, my Soul! Clothed with majesty and splendor; My God, how great you are! You are wrapped in light as with a garment; you stretch our the heavens like a tent, you build your house above the waters, R. You make the clouds your chariot and ride on the wings of the wind; you make the winds your messengers, and fire and flame your ministers. R. You set the earth on its foundations, and never will it be shaken. You covered it with ocean like a garment, and waters spread over the mountains. R. Painting by D. Huntimer Second Reading: (from: Sanctuary for All Life, pp. 153-4) Many religions have taught that the link between the communion insight and right livelihood is simplicity: to need little, take only what one needs, and try to give more than one takes. This is a radical rejection of market morality (although not necessarily of market mechanism). One makes-do with what s at hand. Neighborly sharing and exchange displace commerce, to minimize the importation of goods, services, and labor and to reduce economic competition. What s enough to meet the life-support needs of one person is seen to be essentially the same for all, and consuming or hording more than enough cultivates discord. Spending too
much time on economic activities also withers the life of the individual, family and community; increased efficiency should yield more time for interests other than increased production. (Vietnamese market A. Nitko) Because this kind of simplicity is the ground for fully engaged nonviolence, it enables the communities that practice to cultivate peace within a warmaking society. In an acquisitive society, it also deinstitutionalizes its practitioners, freeing them for cocreativity. Unlike the technocratic worldview, it assumes that Nature s creativity doesn t need to be fixed or improved, just our relation to Nature s gifts. Unlike the civilized worldview, which aspires to globalize the city by integrating everyone into a single marketplace, it aspires to transform cities into sustainably healthy outposts of the country. (Cities have a cancerous relation to the earth when their dependence on their rural environment is taken as dominance, the citycentered market then seeming to be the essence rather than a reflection of Nature s economy (Jim Corbett, 2005) Gospel Acclamation: Gospel: John 15: 1-8 God be with You. And also with you. A reading from the Gospel of John. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Listen to what the Spirit is tell us this evening. Glory and Praise to Jesus Christ. Intercessions:
Hear us, O Creator. God said, Let there be light. (Genesis 1.3, 14). We thank you for brother sun, sister moon and the stars. We give thanks for the rhythm of the days, months and years. Help us to value both light and darkness. Grant us wisdom in the use of energy supplies, and inspiration in the development of renewable resources. God said, Let there be a dome (sky) in the midst of the waters. (Genesis 1.6, 8). We thank you for the air that we breathe and for the ever-changing skies. We give thanks for the rhythm of the seasons, for the warmth of the summer sun and the sharpness of the winter frost. Help us to feel the freshness of the breeze upon our faces and to discern the rainbow of hope that you give us. Hear us, O Creator. God said, Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place. (Genesis 1.9). We thank you for the life-giving waters of the earth. We give thanks for the rains that bring refreshment to the dry land and succor to living things. Help us to see your peace in the still waters, your power in the flood and the crashing wave, your joy in the babbling brook, and your timeless presence in the cascading waters. Hear us, O Creator. God said, Let the dry land appear.... Let the earth put forth vegetation. (Genesis 1.9, 11). We give unbounded thanks for the land which sustains us, in all its variety and complexity. We thank you for high mountains and deep valleys, for fertile plains and desert places, for tropical forests and meadow grasslands. Help us to value the soil of which we are part, and to be good caretakers of the land on which we all depend. Hear us, O Creator. God said, Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth.... Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind. (Genesis 1.20, 24) We thank you for the integrity and diversity of all living creatures. Enlarge within us a sense of fellowship with our brothers and sisters, the animals, with whom we share the earth and who love the sweetness of life.
Grant us compassion in our dealings with all creatures great and small. Hear us, O Creator. God said, Let us make humankind in our image. (Genesis 1.26). We thank you for creating humankind according to your likeness. Help us, like you, to see the goodness of creation. Help us to remember that we are part of a greater whole, and that we have a duty to care for the earth, not just for ourselves. Help us to live in balance rather than conflict, to treat the material world with care and gentleness, and to conserve and nurture the things around us. Hear us, O Creator. Let us add our own individual intentions, aloud or in our hearts. R. Hear us, O Creator. God rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. (Genesis 2.2). We thank you for the gift of Sabbath rest amid the busyness of our lives. May we have time to stand and stare, to reflect on the beauty of the created world, and to appreciate the many blessings of this life. Help us to be satisfied with enough, and to live within our means in relation to the earth. Hear us, O Creator. Bread Breaking Prayer: Malawi food distribution- Nitko God be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to God. Let us give thanks to God our Creator. It is right to give God thanks and praise. Holy Creating God, we give you thanks for your sustaining mercy is ever present, your healing love is ever new. With all creation we praise you. With ant and whale, with ocean and raindrop, with glacier and desert, with tree and star we sing your glory, for you created us and have not abandoned us in our need. We give you thanks for sending us Jesus, your Son, to proclaim the Kindom, to heal broken people, broken society, and broken creation.
As by the Spirit long ago, you multiplied the loaves in Jesus' hand, send now your Spirit on this meal and on us, that by its eating it might multiply and be for all who hunger the Bread of Life and Cup of Salvation. Abba, Amma, God of all, holy is your name. May your kindom come. May your will be done, here and now as in heaven. Give us the bread we need each day, and forgive us our faults as we forgive the faults of all we meet. Do not allow us to yield to temptation but cleanse the evil within and around us. Yours is the kindom and the power and the glory now and forever. Amen Hymn: Let All Things Now Living (617) Closing Prayer: Faithful God, creator of all times and seasons, We so easily forget that hidden within the night s dark embrace are the seeds of life. Remind us loving God that when all seems dark and empty, you are still at work strengthening our roots, healing our wounds, anchoring our lives. Remind us, generous God, that when morning dawns, it is the night s long rest that has sustained and nurtured our souls. Keep us faithful God through the dark journey of life, so that when the new dawn breaks our roots may be deep and strong. Blessing: God who makes the crops to grow, God who feeds the birds and beasts, Refresh us this night and protect us from harm God who heals our wounds and pain, God who brings us peace and rest, Refresh us this night and protect us from harm and Deep peace of the running wave to us Deep peace of the flowing air to us Deep peace of the quiet earth to us Deep peace of the shining stars to us Deep peace of the Son of Peace to us
Deep peace of the God of life to us Deep peace of the Christ of love to us Deep peace of the Spirit of truth to us Deep peace of the God of Gods to us The peace of all peace be ours this night and forevermore Amen. Hymn: Canticle of the Sun (419) Happy Birthday to Jack Duncan