Prayer, Praise and the Power in Music
by Diane Waddell
PEC is grateful for our colleagues in creation care, Revs.
Bruce & Carolyn Gillette, co-pastors of Limestone Presbyterian Church in
Wilmington, Delaware. They are consistently
generous in sharing the fruits of their creative ministry both through
liturgical resourcing, contributing and supporting overtures - including On Amending “The Ministry of Members,” by adding “Caring
for God’s Creation - and through
hymnody in eco-justice.
Bruce reminds us that the PC(USA)
joined Pope Francis’ call for all Christians to support an ecumenical day of prayer
for the Care of Creation on September 1 annually at the 222nd
General Assembly. This day was first proposed by Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew. The September 1st
World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation is
to be included in the PC(USA) Program Calendars and
resources are to be made available online on the PC(USA) website. Thanks
also to the Presbytery of Sante Fe who submitted the overture “ On Communicating Gratitude for
and Study of the Encyclical “Laudato Si.”
Bruce and Carolyn have compiled the resources below hat include a
reflection from Dr. Bill Brown and a beautiful litany they have written that
blends the Lord’s Prayer with concern for God's creation.
The Lord’s Prayer and Creation Care: A Litany
of Confession
by Bruce and Carolyn Gillette
Leader:
Loving God, we remember that Jesus taught us to pray saying, “Our Father…”
People:
You created us, you made this world, and you called your creation very good. Yet often we forget
that you are our loving Parent who continues to bless your world.
Leader:
Jesus told us that you are “…in heaven…”
People:
Yet we fail to live in awe of you. We take you for granted, and we don’t see the
awesome beauty of the world you have made.
Leader:
We pray, “Hallowed be your name…”
People:
We confess that our reverence for you does not always lead us to care reverently
for your earth, sky and sea.
Leader:
We pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in
heaven…”
People:
We confess that we often put our own interests first—exploiting your creation, and living
for our own convenience and self-interest.
Leader:
We pray, “Give us today our daily bread.”
People:
We confess that we consume more than our share of the world’s resources, while billions go
hungry every day and your whole creation suffers.
Leader:
We pray, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”
People:
We confess that we see these words only in spiritual terms, while the Bible is filled with
teachings about economic justice and creation care.
Leader:
We pray, “Save us from the time of trial.”
People:
Help us to resist the temptations of spending more, using more, acquiring more, and wasting more.
Leader:
We pray, “Deliver us from evil…”
People:
Free us from greed and self-centeredness that separate us from you and others.
Leader:
We pray, “For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever.”
People:
Help us to know that in caring for your wonderful world, we are working for your kingdom, being
good stewards of your creative power, and giving you glory.
Leader:
We pray, “Amen.”
People:
We end our prayers with “Amen,” a word that means “let it be so.” We know we can be faithful
disciples by your grace. Amen!
The Earth is the Lord’s
ST. DENIO
11.11.11.11 (“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”)
“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”
Creation reminds us, O God, of your love.
By grace we are learning, as year leads to year,
We’re called to be stewards, your caretakers here.
Your rainforests nurture the world that we share.
Your wetlands give animals shelter and care.
Your coral reefs cradle the life of the sea.
You’ve shown us, in love, what your good world can
be.
Too often, O God, we abuse your good earth.
We fail to remember its beauty and worth.
We take from creation much more than we need,
We threaten your world through indifference and
greed.
May we be good stewards of all that you give,
Protecting creation wherever we live.
May we be a church that renews and restores
And lovingly cares for this earth that is yours.
Biblical
References: Genesis 1- 2, Psalms 8 and
24.
Tune: Welsh
Folk Hymn, Adapted in Caniadau y Cyssegr, 1839
Text:
Copyright © 2001 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Permission
is given for free use of this hymn for the Annual World
Day of Prayer for Caring for God’s Creation
Email: bcgillette@comcast.net Website:
www.carolynshymns.com
The
hymn is available online with the music as a free download.
September 1st – World Day of Prayer for the Care for God’s Creation
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 222nd (2016)
General Assembly voted to join “Pope Francis’ call
for all Christians to support an ecumenical day of prayer for the Care of
Creation on September 1 annually.”
Pope Francis recently proclaimed September 1st as
the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation,” joining Ecumenical
Patriarch Dimitrios I of Constantinople, who earlier extended an invitation for
Christians to offer together ”every year on this date prayers and supplications
to the Maker of all, both as thanksgiving for the great gift of creation and as
petitions for its protection and salvation.”
Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, the World Council of Churches General Secretary,
wrote: “Pope Francis’s ecumenical initiative reinforces the growing emphasis on
prayer for the care of creation among all the churches. We welcome the
opportunity to join our efforts with those of the Ecumenical Patriarch and now
the Catholic Church, and through prayer to sharpen our awareness and commitment
to God’s creation, ‘our common home,’ as Pope Francis has called it.”
All-powerful God,
You are
present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures. You
embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of
your love, that we may protect life and beauty. Fill us with peace, that we may
live as brothers and sisters, harming no one. O God of the poor,
Help us to
rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on
it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts of
those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth. Teach us
to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and
contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with
us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and
peace. Amen.
“Laudato Si’ (“Praise Be to You”): On Care for Our Common Home,” 2015 Encyclical Letter of Pope
Francis.
The Bible
and Caring for God’s Creation
The
fundamental mandate for creation care comes from Genesis 2:15, where God places
Adam in the garden to "till it and keep it" (NRSV). A better translation from the Hebrew is
"to serve it and to preserve it."
In Genesis 1:26-28, God blesses humankind with dominion over the
earth. This acknowledgement that
humanity is the most powerful species on earth does not, however, give license
to dominate and exploit the planet.
Indeed, the following verses affirm the right of animals to share in the
bounty of the earth's produce (Gen 1:29-30).
Human "dominion" as intended in Genesis is best practiced in
care for creation, in stewardship, which according to Genesis Noah fulfills
best by implementing God's first endangered species act. More-over, the great creation psalm of the
Psalter views humanity as one species among many animal species, all meant to
flourish together (Psalm 104:14-23). The
psalmist exclaims, “O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have
made them all; the earth is full of your creatures” (v. 24).
Scripture affirms that God
created the world in wisdom and out of love, and it is also out of love for the
world that God gave Christ to redeem it (John 3:16). In Christ “all things hold together”
(Colossians 1:17), and “every creature under heaven” is to receive God’s good
news (v. 23). According to Revelation,
God’s work in the world is “make all things new” (21:5), to bring about a new
creation that does not destroy the old but transforms it, renews it. If the church is the sign of the new
creation, then the church must lead the way in caring for creation.
---Dr.
William P. Brown, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament at
Columbia Theological Seminary, (Copied from the Biblical Background for the approved 2016 GA Overture to add “Caring for God’s Creation” to G-1.0304 The
Ministry of Members)
Caring for Creation and Life (Book of Order, W-7.5003)
God
calls the Church in the power of the Holy Spirit to participate in God’s work
of creation and preservation. God has given humankind awesome power and
perilous responsibility to rule and tame the earth, to sustain and reshape it,
to replenish and renew it.
In
worship Christians rejoice and give thanks to God, who gives and sustains the
created universe, the earth, all life, and all goods. They acknowledge God’s
command to be stewards. They confess their own failures in caring for creation
and life. They rejoice in the promise of the redemption and renewal of the
creation in Jesus Christ, proclaimed in the Word and sealed in the Sacraments.
They commit themselves to live as God’s stewards until the day when God will
make all things new. (W-1.0000)
As
stewards of God’s creation who hold the earth in trust, the people of God are
called to
a. use the earth’s resources responsibly without plundering, polluting, or
destroying,
b. develop technological methods and processes that work together with the
earth’s environment to preserve and enhance life,
c. produce and consume in ways that make available to all people what is
sufficient for life,
d. work for responsible attitudes and practices in procreation and
reproduction,
e. use and shape earth’s goods to create beauty, order, health, and peace
in ways that reflect God’s love for all creatures.
In
gratitude for the gifts of creation, the faithful bring material goods to God
in worship as a means of expressing praise, as a symbol of their self-offering,
and as a token of their commitment to share earth’s goods. (W-2.5000; W-3.3507;
W-5.5005; W-5.6000).
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