for Sunday October 15, 2017, 1st Sunday in the Season of Creation, Readings:
God’s Longing*, Ps 100, Julian of Norwich**,
John 1: 1-14
Welcome
to the Season of Creation!
The Season of Creation originated
in the Anglican Church of South Africa and was formalized in 2008. It is designed for us to
explore our faith from a Creation perspective. We are to realize our place
in the order of God’s creating and to see and act upon the need to care for our
entire life-support system - the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil
in which we grow our crops - not merely for humanity, but for our total environment, as
it pertains to ALL life.
From the early days of the Season of Creation at SsAM [www.ssam.org], we established that
“the primary aim of the events of the Season is to enable adults and youth to
celebrate and experience the inextricable link which binds together the
destinies of all of God’s creatures.” It is a moment of pause to remind
ourselves that God calls us to see “what great dangers we are in by our unhappy
divisions” and for us to renew our commitment to making real the biblical
vision of the earth at unity with itself. It is a vision of human beings
of all races, backgrounds and walks of life in local communities and among the
nations of the earth, living together in love and peace with justice for all. "As
disciples of Christ, we are called through our Baptismal Covenant, to be
instruments for the healing of our broken world," and with a renewed
commitment to personal and communal prayer and action. The overarching theme
for 2017 is Environmental Justice inspired
in part by the Youth Principles from the Second National People of Color
Environmental Leadership Summit*** in Washington, DC in 2002,
the text of which follows the prayers along with the alternate readings from
Ron Starbuck and Julian of Norwich.
We
will use Biblical and other readings that pertain to the specific theme of each
of the 7 weeks of the Season. Alternate readings used will follow the
prayers.
Week One's Theme is: In the Beginning
LET
US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY
Leader: ~ God of The Beginning,
the Now, and the Always, we, Your not-always-humble creatures, often need
reminding of the wisdom of Your order of creating, and the longing You have for
us to know and return Your love by our thoughts and actions. Help us to be more
consciously aware of our place as stewards, not only of all forms of life, but
also of the environment that supports us all.
Holy and Almighty Lord
RESPONSE:
You are the Ground of our Being
~
God of The Beginning, the Now, and the Always, we must continuously proclaim
the Sacredness of all Creation to those who make political decisions for this
Earth, for our Country, and for all villages, towns, and cities. Guide us in our
work to require protections, ethical standards, and justice for the safety and
health of eco-systems and livestock, wild birds and tigers, water sources and
humanity, hazelnuts and icebergs, for current and future generations. We pray
especially for: add your own petitions
Holy and Almighty Lord
You are the Ground of our Being
~
God of The Beginning, the Now, and the Always, shine Your light and whisper
Your Word of comfort into the shadows of those suffering
through illness, emotional trials, and natural and human-made disasters.
We pray especially for: add your own petitions
Holy and Almighty Lord
You are the Ground of our Being
~
God of The Beginning, the Now, and the Always, bring all who mourn into the
daylight of Your grace upon grace, as You receive in glory those we love into
the fullness of Christ, the very expression of Your love for us all. We pray
especially for: add your own petitions
Holy and Almighty Lord
You are the Ground of our Being
~
God of The Beginning, the Now, and the Always, we pause in
this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions,
petitions, and memorials, aloud or silently…
Holy and Almighty Lord
You are the Ground of our Being
~
God of The Beginning, the Now, and the Always, refresh and excite those who are
called as Stewards of Your Church so that they may bring the Word that is Christ,
and the words that are of Christ, to inspire us to live in Christ
through our every word and every action. We pray especially for: add
your own petitions
Holy and Almighty Lord
You are the Ground of our Being
The
Celebrant adds:
Holy God, Divine Architect of All Life, You proclaimed all of Your work to be
Good, In the Beginning. Grant us consciousness and stamina that our
work in and for all of Your Creation will be just, fruitful, sustaining, and given
as our praise, with delight and thanksgiving. We ask through Jesus, the
incarnate Word, and the Holy Spirit, the vital Spark, who
together with You, reign as One God in the limitless expanse of all known and
unknown Creation, beyond all time. Amen.
*First Reading: God’s Longing, from There is Something about being Episcopalian, by Ron Starbuck, St. Julian Press, 2016
It isn’t known when it began, God’s longing, certainly no one mortal
knows. The angels might know, but for most, it is still a heavenly secret, a
mystery of mysteries long hidden. Some would say that it was always there, has
always been there, from the first instant, long before the big bang. Banged! Leading up to the first thought that
caused creation, to explode suddenly out of the emptiness and nothingness of
all reality, which is still expanding, still growing still arising within us
each. Many would say, and I would be one, that God’s longing is eternal. It is
a deep longing, a true longing, a longing that lingers slowly and perfectly
stretching out far pat our own imaginations. However, far back or forward we
are able to imagine. It is almost as if God suddenly awoke and being alone. In
knowing loneliness from the beginning sighed deeply, sighed so deeply in that
loneliness, that in breathing out some portion of God’s breath left his body
and being to seed all creation. Perhaps it was then, in that moment when the
breath of God first moved across the waters of earth or moved through the
depths of nothingness giving birth to creation. Or gave breath to both Adam and
Eve, and then to all humanity. Sometimes a thought crosses my mind, a single thought,
born out of my own breath, as I breathe in deeply during meditation and out
once again quietly and stilly. Sometimes it comes to me then, in a split second
that this was when God’s Holy Spirit first appeared and continues to appear
throughout all history. I even imagine that in some secret way my own
loneliness and longing are helping to give birth to God’s Holy Spirit and the
compassionate loving-kindness that follows God’s gift to all humankind. I know
this much, that God’s longing for us runs so deep and so true that He gave up
His only begotten Son, even unto death. So that we might come to know Him and
He us, and that by this miracle of love God’s Holy Spirit comes to dwell and
rest in us.
**Second Reading: from Meditations with Julian of Norwich edited by Brendan Doyle, 1983
**Second Reading: from Meditations with Julian of Norwich edited by Brendan Doyle, 1983
I saw that God was everything that is good and encouraging. God is our
clothing that wraps, clasps, and encloses us so as never to leave us. God
showed me in my palm a little thing round as a ball about the size of a
hazelnut. I looked at it with the eye of my understanding and asked myself:
“What is this thing?” And I was answered: “It is everything that is created.” I
wondered how it could survive since it seemed so little it could suddenly
disintegrate into nothing. The answer came: “It endures and ever will endure,
because God loves it.” And so everything has being because of God’s love.
***Youth Principles from the Second National People of Color Environmental
Leadership Summit, Washington, DC, 2002
Environmental
Justice demands for the U.S. Government to be held accountable for
violations of human rights and land rights both domestically and
internationally. Environmental Justice
calls for us to build communities, conduct gatherings, and build our political
structures in a way that reflects the histories, traditions and practices of
the full spectrum of identities and abilities that make up the communities we
come from and that do not reflect the structures that oppress us. Environmental Justice demands that youth
seek to challenge and change the environmentally destructive aspects of our
lifestyles in order to stop the destruction of our planet. Environmental Justice respects and promotes the full involvement of
all people across the full spectrum of identities and abilities that make us
who we are. Environmental Justice
calls for us to utilize movement resources, sch as funds, staff, and people’s
time and energy, in a way that is sustainable, renewable and puts these
resources back into our oppressed communities so that they serve the movement
as a whole. Environmental Justice requires
the experiences of youth and elders to be shared and respected in all areas of
the movement and the need for an intergenerational approach that challenges
divisive tendencies. Environmental
Justice demands that low-income youth, including immigrant youth, and
indigenous youth, live in communities that are secure from crime, drugs,
disease, pollution and labor exploitation. Environmental
Justice demands that young people work to incorporate the principles of
environmental justice into government funded institutions that perpetuate the
issues affecting youth of color, indigenous youth, and immigrant and undocumented
youth. Environmental Justice demands
that as youth we stand against unjust war in all its forms, including
disproportionate military recruitment in our communities, the media’s
glamorization of military lifestyle and the tremendously destructive effects
militarism has on the environment, air, water, land, and food.
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