I am going to use this week’s blog post to help publicize an exciting set of worship services on April 24.
Some time ago, I was approached by some among our congregation to focus an entire worship service on the care for the environment. After all, we believe that the earth and all that exists in it are God’s gifts to us. We also believe that God has entrusted us with the awesome responsibility of taking care of God’s creation:
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. (Genesis 1:26-31)
The unfortunate fact is that we haven’t done a great job at taking care of God’s gift to us. In fact, our environment has been degraded; mind-boggling numbers of plant and animal species have gone extinct because of humanity; our planet’s atmosphere, rivers, lakes, and oceans are polluted, rain forests are cut down to make room for cash crops and cattle growing; people have very uneven access to the beautiful resources which God has given to us, and so forth.
On April 24, two days after our nation observes Earth Day, we at Bethel will be celebrating our first Earth-Keeping Sunday. All aspects of both worship services (confession, prayers, litanies, readings, music, offering, visuals) will be creation-themed.
In addition, I am also using this day to plan one last interactive set of prayer stations which will be available smack in the middle of both services. Each service will feature 18 prayer stations, spread out over the sanctuary, narthex, Music & Ed Room, and Fireside Room.
There will be stations for all ages and abilities. Some of the prayer stations allow or quieter, meditative prayer, other will have opportunities for artistic endeavors and playful ways of praying.
To wet your appetite a bit, I am attaching the list of prayer stations and a map.
April 24 would be the perfect Sunday to invite all your biking, hiking, nature-loving, child-loving, pro-environment-activist, and/or creative friends. We would love to welcome them among us. With them, we will start from the inside-out, from what is most significant to us – that is, worship – and hope to be equipped to take better care of God’s gift of creation.
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