1 The Word of God
Blessed be the One who creates all things.
The Holy One’s love is new every morning.
2 The Profession of Faith
The Profession of Faith is from Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute (a seminary in South India), adapted by Keld B. Hansen, 2009, as provided in “Listen to the Voice of Creation,” Season of Creation Celebration Guide 2022, 33.
We believe in God,
who creates all things,
who embraces all things,
who celebrates all things,
who is present in every part of the fabric of creation.
We believe in God as the source of all life, who baptizes this planet with living water.
We believe in Jesus Christ, the suffering one,
who loves and cares for this world and who suffers with it.
And we believe in Jesus Christ, the seed of life,
who came to reconcile and renew this world and everything in it.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the breath of God,
who moves with God and who moves among and with us today.
We believe in everlasting life in God.
And we believe in the hope that one day God will put an end to death and all destructive forces. Amen.
3 The Prayers of the People
The Prayers of the People Phina Borgeson (Deacon of the Diocese of North Carolina), “A Litany for the Earth,” adapted as published in “Holy Earth, Holy People.” The closing collect for the Prayers of the People is by Anne Rowthorn from God’s Good Earth.
The Prayers of the People–A Litany for the Earth Form A
Let us offer our prayers to God who gives life and breath to all creatures, saying, “God of glory, hear us.”
I ask your prayers for the mission of the church throughout the world, for sharing the promise of abundant life and working toward it for all. We pray today that we may use the resources that this church has been given for God’s work in this world and for the good of the earth. God of glory, hear us.
I ask your prayers for the leaders of the nations, and for all who make or influence decisions for the health of our planet and the well-being of its peoples. We pray for those in this nation who make legal decisions regarding the earth, that they may protect it as God’s beloved creation.
God of glory, hear us.
I ask your prayers for peace with justice around the world, especially for an end to violent competition for limited resources. We pray for an end to all wars and for the dawning of the peace that only God can give.
God of glory, hear us.
I ask your prayers for those who suffer illness, want, or exile because of environmental degradation. We pray for those in need of water, food, and space to live in safety and freedom. We pray for those on our prayer list, especially Nathaniel Schnakenberg, Lisa Herbert and John Kirwin. God of glory, hear us.
I ask your prayers for the environmental concerns that we lift up now, either silently or aloud. (Silence) We pray for an end to deforestation. We offer our fears.
God of glory, hear us.
I ask your prayers for those who in their daily work are stewards and protectors of God’s creation in ways large and small; for gardeners, farmers, and ranchers; for rangers and park managers; for fishers and foresters; for climate scientists, ecologists, and activists, and for all who work to restore and heal our wounded Earth.
God of glory, hear us.
I ask your prayers for the dead, especially for those holy women and men who taught us to marvel in all God’s works. God of glory, hear us.
God of glory, give us hearts and minds eager to care for your planet, humility to recognize all creatures as your beloved ones, justice to share the resources of the earth with all its inhabitants, and love not limited by our ignorance. This we pray in the name of Jesus, who unifies what is far off and what is near, and in whom, by grace and the working of your Holy Spirit, all things hold together. Amen.
- The Peace
The Peace
Peace with yourself.
Peace with Creation.
Peace with one another.
The peace of Christ be always with you.
And also with you.
- Eucharistic Prayer at Communion
The Eucharistic Prayer is adapted by Nina Ranadive Pooley from sources including: Eucharistic Prayer One, Season of Creation Two, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (as published online by Green Anglicans, Anglican Church of Southern Africa Environmental Network) and a Creation-specific Eucharistic Prayer in Sam Wells and Abigail Kocher, Eucharistic Prayers (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2016). Used with permission.
The Holy Communion
Eucharistic Prayer for Creation
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our Creator.
It is right to give our Creator thanks and praise.
Praise and thanks are yours, our Creating God.
From the dust of the earth you shaped human beings in your own image, and you filled the earth and seas and skies with a myriad of wonders.
Yet we consistently turn your generosity into our scarcity, your elegance into our meanness, and your simplicity into our corruption. Though we poison and destroy your good Creation, you continue to offer us your abundance.
In your mercy, you have redeemed us through your Son, Jesus, transforming death into life.
Through the Spirit you continue to call us into covenant with you—for the restoration of Creation and the reconciliation of all people.
And so we give you thanks, rejoicing with all of Creation, as we join the saints and angels in their unending hymn:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory,
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes, in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest, Hosanna in the highest.
In the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread, and gave thanks to God, the Creator of all. He broke the bread, gave it to his friends and said: “Take and eat, for this is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Jesus took the wine, and gave thanks to God, the Creator of all. He gave it to his friends saying: “This is my blood of the new covenant, shed for you and for all creation for the forgiveness of sins. Every time you drink of the wine, do this in remembrance of me.”
So we proclaim the mystery of faith:
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.
Merciful God, we come to this table seeking reconciliation: with you, with one another, and with all creation. Through these mysteries reconcile us to our world and empower us to restore your Creation and fulfill your will.
Send your life-giving Spirit upon us, and upon this bread and wine.
Stir in us the creative and redeem the destructive.
Heal your stricken world, that the soil, the skies, and the seas may be filled with your life anew.
Fill every heart with the sure and certain hope that we shall enter into the fullness of your joy, when your whole Creation is justified by faith and sanctified by love, and you are all in all.
Through Christ and with Christ and in Christ, in the unity of the Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, everlasting God, now and forever. AMEN.
6 Post Communion Prayer
Post communion Prayer 3 from Lenni Lenape Algonkian Iroquoian Council, Diocese of Huron (Huron LAIC), 2001, as published in “Worship in the Vision of New Agape – A Collection of Resources” (Anglican Church of Canada, 2004), 44.
Prayer by Anne Rowthorn from God’s Good Earth.
Post-Communion Prayer
Let us pray.
Holy One, you feed us with bread from heaven and the gifts of mother earth. In this communion, you have drawn us into your embrace, and you call us to friendship with one another. You have given us the gift of reconciliation. May we who have tasted that gift from you, offer ourselves in peace and humility to one another. And may you always walk among us as our friend. Amen.
The Blessing
God of the galaxies,
God of the starburst and sunlit morning,
God of the forest and shining seas, God of the blooming desert and rolling grasslands –
shine on us today and bless us with your presence.