Prayers of the People: In the Beginning ~ 1st Sunday of the Season of Creation

For Sunday, October 9, 2022; Readings: From Meditations with Julian of Norwich*, Psalm 100, **M.K. Gandhi, John 1:1-14

          Artist: Marleen Visser

Welcome to the Season of Creation!

        

    The Season of Creation originated in the Anglican Church of South Africa in 2008 and 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 humanity, but our total environment, as it pertains to ALL life. 

        From the early days of the Season of Creation at The Episcopal Church of Sts. Andrew and Matthew in Wilmington, Delaware [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.

      We will use Biblical and other readings that pertain to the specific theme of each of the 7 weeks. The alternate readings used will follow the prayers on this page.

        We begin this Season at the Beginning. Professor Wangari Maathai, [1940-2011], a Kenyan environmental and political activist, Member of Parliament as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, was educated in the United States and in Kenya. In 2004, she was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She was honored for "her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace".  Professor Maathai described the Book of Genesis as "the book for environmentalists." "If we had been created on Tuesday," she said, "There would have been nowhere for us to stand! God, with infinite wisdom, waited until the last day!"

Week I's Theme is: In the Beginning

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ Creator and Eternal God, You are the Light that shines in the darkness, the Light of all people. Guide us to know ourselves through Your infinite love, and to identify with all that lives in Your Creation. Help us to know our purpose in life is to love and serve You better, as You live within each of us and wrap, clasp, and enclose us, never to leave us.

                                          

                                                      Faithful, Loving God                                        

RESPONSE:              We return to You with thanks and praise                

~ Creator and Eternal God, encourage goodness in all who hold political authority across the vast expanse of Your Creation. Guide them to see You in themselves, in every human face, in every tiny hazelnut, and to govern justly, mercifully, and with humility. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       Faithful, Loving God

                                                       We return to You in thanks and praise

~ Creator and Eternal God, grant healing to the spirits of those laid low by illness or life circumstance, and resilience for all who give care. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need… add your own petitions

                                                       Faithful, Loving God

                                                       We return to You in thanks and praise

~ Creator and Eternal God, may echoes of sweet memory quell the pain of earth-bound grief, as the souls of those who’ve left this life now, soar in the peace and glory of new life in Christ. We pray especially for… add your own petitions

                                                       Faithful, Loving God

                                                       We return to You in thanks and praise

~ Creator and Eternal God, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials, aloud or silently… add your own petitions

                                                       Faithful, Loving God
                                                       We return to You in thanks and praise                

~ Creator and Eternal God, we give thanksgiving for Your loyal and anointed servants who lead us in Your Church, who re-awaken our wonder and teach us the way to our true place with You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       Faithful, Loving God
                                                       We return to You in thanks and praise                                                                                 

The Celebrant adds:   Holy God, Divine Architect, release us from all selfish diversion and turn us to never-ending thanksgiving, selfless service, and praise, as grateful sheep of Your eternal pasture. Remind us of our role in faithful action for the land, the sea, the air, all of humanity, and every living creature granted us by Your enduring love. We ask through Jesus, our Merciful Healer; and the Holy Spirit, the sacred Breath within us, who together with You are our One Almighty and Loving God, now and forever. Amen.

 

*Reading #1: From Meditations with Julian of Norwich

 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.

** Reading #2  M. K. Gandhi, Service Before Self, ed. A.T. Hingorani Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi, 1971

What is the purpose of life? The purpose of life is undoubtedly to know oneself. We cannot do it unless we learn to identify ourselves with all that lives. The sum total of that life is God. Hence, the necessity of realizing God living within every one of us. The instrument of this knowledge is boundless, selfless service. The aim of life is that we should serve the power that has created us, and on Whose mercy or consent depends our very breath, by heartily serving its creation. That means love, not hate-which one sees everywhere.

 

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