Eco-Sunday is a Sunday where our prime purpose is to celebrate creation and to commit to our care to it. This year we have guest speaker Rev. Jim Antal coming to speak. To prepare for his presence, we will be reading his book, Climate Church, Climate World.
Not only is our worship wound around this theme, but the Faith in Action Team of the church is hosting an Eco-vendor showcase where environmental action groups can come and share their information with us following worship.
For this service, I wrote the following Pastoral Prayer. If you choose to borrow it, you will want to find out what native nations lived (and live) on the land you inhabit. You will want to perhaps change the animal that is the “annoyance” like our black flies. As well, change out the NH granite, majestic mountains, and other NH centric notations like the loon’s cry.
You are welcome to use it for any religious or educational purposes, but please cite me as the author. All rights are reserved.
Pastoral Prayer
Creator, who continues to create,
Today we expand our thoughts and prayers beyond our traditional boundaries –
We pray for the people of this earth, especially the indigenous people of this land on which we stand today: the Abenaki and Pennecook
And also for the non-human inhabitants of this land.
We pray for the great loon whose cry haunts our lakes,
For the salamanders we sometimes find underfoot,
For the bold American Eagle we see fly overhead,
And for the trout and bass in the waters.
We pray for the water herself as she falls from the sky,
For the the water that gathers and flows down our hills,
For the streams and rivers and lakes
And all that find their home in them and from them.
We pray for the beautiful NH granite and the trees that grow so tall.
We pray for the majestical beautiful mountains that reach tall around us
And for the blessing of their many trails.
We give thanks for the frogs, and ducks,
And reluctantly even for the black flies.
In and amongst it all, we give thanks for you, O God, the creator of all that is was and ever will be; and thanks for a system which constantly seeks to right itself, and for those who have put their names, their reputations, and yes, sometimes their lives on the line to protect all that you have made. Continue to watch over the brave. Care for the weak and remind us all of our interconnectedness. We pray all of this in the name of your son, Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Holy One, In a world that sometimes doesn’t know which way is up, be our center. Enter into our days. Enter into our heart. Enter into our lives. Teach us your ways and guide us in your paths so that we may discern how to live in this unbalanced but beautiful world. AMEN
Call to Worship Pastor: In the tiredness of the day, Lord, People: you are there. Pastor: In the weakness of my soul, Lord, People: you give me strength. Pastor: In the chaos of the world, Lord, People: you ground me and give me courage. Pastor: You, O Lord, are our ever-present help. Let us rejoice and praise you.
Invocation Holy One, Meet us here and give us insight to the world and to ourselves so that we can navigate our lives and interactions in a way pleasing to you and to the benefit of all. Help us find balance in the imbalance. Help us find calm in the storm. Be our anchor and our rudder. AMEN
Pastoral Prayer
God who created and cares for each one of us,
We reach to you today to leave at your feet the prayers we hold that are too heavy to bear. Prayers of the hurting, the persecuted, the tired, and the tormented.
We seek your balm to help offer comfort to those who live too often in discomfort.
We seek your peace to soothe the agitated and anxious.
We seek your healing to bring heath and recovery to those who are in physical and mental pain.
Bring healing, peace, and your balm to all who need – those who are both known to us and unknown to us. Search our hearts for the names of those we know, who need you this day and inspire us to care for those whom you know and we may not.
May your grace pour upon all who are in need.
And now let us pray in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together saying:
The Lord’s Prayer
Unison Prayer of Illumination
God, Sometimes we trust our eyes and our mind too much.
Sometimes we let what we believe we know override what you know to be true.
Help us to set down our preconceived perceptions and release our understanding of the world so that your truth may be revealed.
Let us release our expectations so that you can show us your way.
Let us open our heart and hear today’s sacred text. AMEN
Invitation to share
Peter showed Jesus his trust by stepping out of the boat. When do we step out of the boat? When do we begin to let go of control? When do we let “Jesus take the wheel” as Carrie Underwood once sang? One place we can do that is through practicing our generosity. We can open our hands and our hearts and trust that God will meet us there. As you open your hands today to release your offering to God, ponder what you have now made room for.
Unison Prayer of Dedication
God of Grace and hope, Too often we give limitedly, fearful of what giving too much might mean for us. Sometimes, we give just enough for people to notice so that we are seen as generous people. Today though, let us give what is right and good. Let us feel a bit of a pinch as we let go so that we can learn to trust and let us celebrate the fact that we are blessed to be able to give. Accept all that we give and encourage us to give even more through service. AMEN
Note: All Rights Reserved on above prayers. Permission given for use in educational or religious settings with attribution.
People: we ground ourselves in the hope of our creator.
Pastor: When nations are in an uproar and kingdoms totter,
People: we receive our strength and courage from the one who created all.
Pastor: Come let us find our sacred center as we worship God together.
Invocation
Holy One, We’re gathered here a little unbalanced. The world feels askew. We’re gathered here a little imbalanced. We feel a little askew. Meet us here and give us insight so that we can navigate this world in a way pleasing to you and to the benefit of all. AMEN
Pastoral Prayer
Holy One,
As we tear down the walls of our heart and stretch the limits of our compassion,
we seek to hold in our prayer those who we often overlook or ignore.
We pray for those who we have never seen: our neighbors far away.
We pray for those who are most different from us by language, culture, or faith.
We pray for those who we walk by daily, but perhaps do not notice – – –
the person who serves us coffee,
the one who rings us out at the grocery store or packs our groceries.
We pray for the bank teller and the telemarketer.
We pray for the farmer who seeded our dinner into the ground
and the truck driver who brought it near to us.
We pray for those who line our roads and empty our garbage cans.
We pray for the librarian and news broadcaster on the radio.
We pray for those who often go unseen – – –
the 911 dispatcher,
the night clerk at the 24 hour convenience store,
the school custodian,
the cleaning people in our office.
God, there are so many that escape our notice,
but we know they do not go out of your vision or care.
May you continue to pour your love upon them
and may you help us to stop and see and listen to their trouble or tragedy.
Let us remember our connection to the whole.
We also, O God, have those who we do know that we wish to lift up. Hear now their names:
<have people speak names aloud popcorn style>
Be with them in their time of need. Embrace them in your constant grace. Grant them the peace of recognizing your presence.
We pray all of this in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together saying:
The Lord’s Prayer that is used in your setting.
Unison Prayer of Dedication
Generous God, Take these gifts that have been gathered. Bless them and return them into a wanting world. May these financial gifts be just one way that we seek to co-create with you. AMEN
All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for use for educational or religious purposes with attribution.
Pastor: We come to you, O Lord, imperfect, but hungry.
People: We trust in your steadfast love and take hope in your abundant mercy.
Pastor: We turn to you, O Lord, recognizing that too often we turn away.
People: We trust that indeed you are merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in compassion and lovingkindness.
Pastor: We desire, O Lord, your wisdom in our inmost heart.
People: We open ourselves to you.
Invocation
Creator, Meet us here. Meet us now. Walk with us on our Lenten Journey.Continue to create us and form us in your likeness. Let our very being act as an offering to you. AMEN
Unison Prayer of Blessing for Communion
Holy Spirit, we invite you here into our midst. Bless this bread and this juice that in receiving it, we might know you better. In drinking and eating, we might see more clearly. In being filled, we might also become more hungry. AMEN
Unison Prayer of Thanksgiving for Communion
Unison Prayer of Thanksgiving: (DMA – shared)
Holy One, you accept us as we are. You invite us to your table. You make space for all. Your gracious love astounds us. It humbles us. We pray that we might live lives worthy of your generosity. Receive our thanksgiving and our praise. AMEN
All Rights Reserved. Permission for educational or religious use with attribution.
Moutaintop God, Your glory astounds us. We are in awe of all that you have done. The child who came to us just weeks ago now takes his place between Moses and Elijah. Help us to bear the light and not look away. Help us to be the light. Let us take momentary refuge here so that we too are changed; and then push us back into the world and the work you set before us. AMEN
Prayer of Illumination
Pastor: God is Holy, God is beyond what we can know, beyond what we can see, beyond what we can understand; and yet, we look, we listen, we try to comprehend.
People: God, let us see you if only but a glimpse.Let us hear you if only but a whisper.Let us understand you, if only in our heart. AMEN
All rights reserved. Permission given for use in an educational or religious setting with attribution.
The front door before renovations at the First Congregational Church of Brimfield, UCC. -July 1, 2021
Call to Worship
Pastor: In times when we feel like giving up,
People: come to us anew.
Pastor: In moments when we are lost or confused,
People: illuminate your path that we might see where to tread.
Pastor: In times of trouble,
People: protect us and give us refuge.
Pastor: When we are arrogant, believing in only our way,
People: humble us that we may remember our interconnectedness with you and with each other.
Pastor: You sent your son that we might all live,
so let us open our eyes and our hearts that we might learn and live as he did.
Assurance of Pardon
God of Grace,
Pour your love upon this world.
Mend the torn.
Heal the broken.
Weave us together.
Remind us that we are your children, loved, beloved, and forgiven.
Invitation to share:
God as we think of seeing things in new ways, let us not think of what we are necessarily giving to God, but recognize what we are withholding. Help us to notice those areas that our heart is still full of plaque and needing to be cleansed. Relax our grip on personal security and help us trust on the care of one another. Remind us of the widow, who thought not of her own needs, but gave out of faith all that she had, making way for a new way to be birthed.
May we make space by giving out of joy and faith
And not reserving out of fear.
Let us be a part of a new economy of love and thanksgiving.
Prayer of Dedication
Holy One,
As we have opened our hearts to you,
refill us with even more generosity.
Give us new eyes to see potential where others see lack.
Give us new hearts to embrace creative solutions to problems.
Give us new hands to be the helpers the world needs.
Let us honor all you have done for us,
by doing the same for our siblings. AMEN
All Rights Reserved for liturgy above. Permission given for use in educational or religious settings with attribution.
The world is in need of prayers – not just our typical prayers for those who are physically ill or dying, but for an illness of the heart and a struggle of the soul.
There are too many who are grasping control and forgetting about compassion.
There are too many focused on greed and overlooking the simple rules about sharing that we learned even in the sandbox when we were young .
There are too many who are so focused on their own needs and desires that they are failing to see the suffering that exists, some of which they may have a hand in themselves.
God, today we pray for all people,
for all who need a softer heart,
a deeper conscience,
and wider understanding of your golden rules.
We pray for our own prejudices, frustrations, and anger.
We pray for others’ short sightedness, selfishness, and unwillingness to face the impact of their actions.
We pray that we all look to grow as individuals.
We pray that we are all willing to name our shortcomings.
We pray that we are all willing to grow.
We pray that we all are given strength to support the downtrodden,
voice to speak for the voiceless,
courage to stand up for their siblings.
We pray for changed hearts and transformed souls.
May your son’s teachings continue to teach us all,
and may he lead us into a world filled with deeper compassion and care
where we all look to each other’s care, even the stranger’s.
In this silence, let us lift up those who we know who need to be surrounded by and filled with God’s inexhaustible love and grace today:
Now let us pray in the words of your son –
Our Father / Mother / Creator*, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
*Use the words you are most comfortable with or try something you haven’t before to see how that fits or pushes against your theology (understanding of God). Take some time to reflect on your experience.
NOTE: All Rights Reserved. Permission is given for used in a religious or educational setting with attribution.
L: Let us honor the one who is, was, and ever will be.
ALL: AMEN
Invocation
Holy and steadfast God,
You stand beside me each step I take and yet I look past you, over you, and around you. I act as if I am an island floating on the open sea. In our time today, open me to seeing, noticing, and appreciating the many ways you seek to make yourself known and the many ways in which we are interconnected with our siblings and the earth itself. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear your constant and consistent presence. AMEN
You are welcome to use both within a religious or educational setting with citation. All Rights Reserved.
Wandering and Wondering 