Prayers of the People, In the Beginning, 1st Sunday of Season of Creation

For Sunday, October 12, 2025, Readings: Genesis 2:4-9, 15-25; Psalm/Azariah 1:1-22 ~ Canticle of the Three Young Men;* Hildegarde von Bingen,**  John 1: 1-14 

          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 [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 6 weeks. The texts of the alternate readings used will follow the prayers on this page.

    We open this Season "In the Beginning." Our inspiration begins with Professor Wangari Maathai, [1940-2011], a Kenyan environmental and political activist, Member of Parliament as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, she 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." And she said, "If we had been created on Tuesday, there would have been nowhere for us to stand! God, with infinite wisdom, waited until the last day!"

Week One's Theme is:  In the Beginning

      In place of a Psalm this week, we are using The Prayer of Azariah which is contained in the Apocryphal Books of most but not all Bibles. This piece is from an addition to the Greek translation of the Book of Daniel. It is placed in Daniel Chapter 3 in the Greek texts and in the Septuagint edition at the end of Daniel after 12:13 following after the prose stories of Bel and the Dragon, and of Susanna. The Three Young Men, gifted and handsome youths are better known to us from Hebrew, by the names given to them during the Babylonian Exile, by Nebuchadnezzar’s Chief Eunuch, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego. The Greek Septuagint, their Hebrew names are pronounced in Greek as Ananias, Azarius, and Misrael.

*PSALM CANTICLE OF THE THREE YOUNG MEN [The Prayer of Azariah 1:1-22]:

 ¹ And they walked about in the midst of the flames, singing hymns to God and blessing the Lord. ² Then Azari′ah stood and offered this prayer; in the midst of the fire he opened his mouth and said:

³ “Blessed art thou, O Lord, God of our fathers, and worthy of praise;
    and thy name is glorified for ever.
⁴ For thou art just in all that thou hast done to us,
    and all thy works are true and thy ways right,
    and all thy judgments are truth.
⁵ Thou hast executed true judgments in all that thou hast brought upon us
    and upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our fathers,
    for in truth and justice thou hast brought all this upon us because of our sins.
⁶ For we have sinfully and lawlessly departed from thee,
    and have sinned in all things and have not obeyed thy commandments;
⁷ we have not observed them or done them,
    as thou hast commanded us that it might go well with us.
⁸ So all that thou hast brought upon us,
    and all that thou hast done to us,
    thou hast done in true judgment.
⁹ Thou hast given us into the hands of lawless enemies, most hateful rebels,
    and to an unjust king, the most wicked in all the world.
¹⁰ And now we cannot open our mouths;
    shame and disgrace have befallen thy servants and worshipers.
¹¹ For thy name’s sake do not give us up utterly,
    and do not break thy covenant,
¹²     and do not withdraw thy mercy from us,
for the sake of Abraham thy beloved
    and for the sake of Isaac thy servant
    and Israel thy holy one,
¹³ to whom thou didst promise
    to make their descendants as many as the stars of heaven
    and as the sand on the shore of the sea.
¹⁴ For we, O Lord, have become fewer than any nation,
    and are brought low this day in all the world because of our sins.
¹⁵ And at this time there is no prince, or prophet, or leader,
    no burnt offering, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense,
    no place to make an offering before thee or to find mercy.
¹⁶ Yet with a contrite heart and a humble spirit may we be accepted,
    as though it were with burnt offerings of rams and bulls,
    and with tens of thousands of fat lambs;
¹⁷     such may our sacrifice be in thy sight this day,
    and may we wholly follow thee,
    for there will be no shame for those who trust in thee.
¹⁸ And now with all our heart we follow thee,
    we fear thee and seek thy face.
¹⁹ Do not put us to shame,
    but deal with us in thy forbearance
    and in thy abundant mercy.
²⁰ Deliver us in accordance with thy marvelous works,
    and give glory to thy name, O Lord!
Let all who do harm to thy servants be put to shame;
²¹     let them be disgraced and deprived of all power and dominion,
    and let their strength be broken.
²² Let them know that thou art the Lord, the only God,
    glorious over the whole world.”

For more information on the Apocryphal Books, here is one interesting source of information: https://www.bartehrman.com/apocrypha/

** Second Reading, Hildegarde von Bingen: Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars. Gaze at the beauty of earths’ greenings. Now, think, What delight God gives to humankind with all these things. All nature is at the disposal of humankind. We are to work with it. For without it we cannot survive...The fire has its flame and praises God. The wind blows the flame and praises God. In the voice we hear the word which praises God. And the word, when heard, praises God. So all of creation is a song of praise to God. 

    Hildegarde von Bingen, now St. Hildegard was born 1098, Böckelheim, West Franconia [Germany]—died September 17, 1179, Rupertsberg, near Bingen; canonized May 10, 2012; feast day September 17) was a German abbess, visionary mystic, and composer. In 2012 she was proclaimed a doctor of the church, one of only four women* to have been so named. She is revered as a patron saint of musicians and writers. [From Brittanica online] Her music is still being used today and some can be found on YouTube with this link and by searching her name to find more: https://youtu.be/HYzPR0nwcmY

*The other women saints named Doctors of the Roman Catholic Church are Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, Therese of Lisieux. 

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