15.
RESOURCES: WORSHIP AND PRAYER
When is
Creation?
Creation is
all the time, but because the liturgical year follows the story
of redemption the world's creation by God is not celebrated with
a major festival - officially. However, in some churches
Harvest Thanksgiving and Mothering Sunday have, for
the last century, been treated as major festivals by many
parishioners regardless of official policy. It seems there is a
strong drive to celebrate creation.
In the Book of
Common Prayer the third Sunday before Lent (or Septuagesima) was
when the creation narratives were read at Mattins and Evensong,
though not at Holy Communion.
In the days of
the ASB Creation was the theme of the 9th Sunday before
Christmas. Now, in the Common Worship Lectionary, it has moved
to the Second Sunday before Lent.
The European
Christian Ecology Network is encouraging churches to adopt the
period from the 1st September to the 2nd Sunday in October as
Creation Time. And many churches are following this. For
many of us that coincides, of course, with Harvest Thanksgiving.
Christian
Ecology Network and A Rocha are encouraging people to keep the
first Sunday in June as Environment Sunday because
the
early summer is most suitable for outdoor events, the Wildlife
Trusts, promote the first week in June as "wildlife week" and
the United Nations has declared June 5th as World Environment
Day.
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But the ecological crisis challenges us
to think not only about Creation but also many other
gospel themes in the light of what is happening to the
world: Sin, the Incarnation of Christ, the Crucifixion,
Resurrection and the Hope of eternal life. All these are
relevant to the situation we are in. So we need to be
looking to pray and worship God at many other times with
an awareness of what is happening to the life of the
world. |
Sources
The European
Christian Environmental Network publishes resources for worship.
Go to
www.ecen.org and look
particularly for its worship materials under Creation Time.
The
Eucharist
New
Patterns of Worship
(CHP 2002) contains a Holy Communion Liturgy: All Creation
Worships (p458)
Times
and Seasons
(CHP 2006) has material, especially under the section The
Agricultural Year (p599). Don't be put off if you live miles
from the nearest cow! There is material there for everyone.
Also the
Church of Scotland's Book of Common Order contains
propers which strongly reflect the theme of Creation: index
Creation, especially p136, 151
All Age
Services of the Word
New
Patterns of Worship
(CHP 2002) contains material for all kinds of services: index -
God in Creation.
There is also
a wealth of material from the Iona Community.
See The
Iona Abbey Worship Book (Wild Goose Publications 2001),
especially the Service of Prayer for Justice and Peace (p73f)
and the Creation Liturgy (p135f).
Also in
A Wee Worship Book (4th Incarnation, Wild Goose
Publications, 1999) the theme of God as creator is strong in
many of the liturgies, not only in its acclamations of praise
but also in confessions and intercessions.
The A Rocha
Environment Sunday Pack: The Heat is On, contains
a variety of worship materials on CD.
Hymns
Some hymnbooks
have a section on Creation in their index. In others you have to
look under Harvest. But in some of the older hymns the theme of
God as creator is addressed in hymns indexed under Praise and
Thanksgiving, Morning, Evening or God's Glory. In the old
hymnbooks it was sometimes hard to find hymns on Creation,
except in the Children's Section - as if only children could
appreciate God in the world. However there is a slowly
increasing number of hymns to God the Creator. But more are
needed.
The winners of
the 2006 BBC competition 'Hymn for the Green Church' are
available on:
www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/music/hymnwriting
The A Rocha
pack, The Heat is On, contains
suggested hymns from the books Songs of Fellowship
and Mission Praise.
David Osborne
has produced a guide to hymns which relate to ecological themes
in the hymnbooks
Hymns Ancient and Modern,
Songs of God's People and Common Ground.
Many hymns
from The Iona Community a relevant to services
with an ecological concern.
The Dark
Side
The Creation
is not just bright and beautiful. The life of earth is scarred
by human activity, but without humanity there was still pain,
death and extinction. It is possible for our worship to neglect
this as we extol the glories of creation and fail to think about
its dark side.
Here the
Psalms are good, seeing the harvest as God's blessing with the
enthusiasm of people who know what it is like to go hungry. Some
of the old hymns of Isaac Watts or Joachim Neander also have a
realism about them, as well as great hopefulness.
Among recent
hymn writers Kathy Galloway, Anna Briggs, Brian Wren and Fred
Pratt Green have depth as well as good phrasing. Common Ground
(St Andrew's Press) is a useful ecumenical hymn collection.
Prayers
from across the World
By definition,
environmental issues are global issues. In praying about them we
are praying with people across the world.
Harvest for
the World
(Christian Aid 2006) In these prayers and readings writers
around the world celebrate the goodness of creation and the
miracle of growth, and also reflect on the human toil that is
involved.
Janet Morley,
Bread for Tomorrow: Praying with the World's
Poor (SPCK/Christian Aid 1992)
Pilgrimage
Simon Bailey,
Stations: Places for Pilgrims to Pray
(Cairns, 1991) is a small book with prayers to help the reader
make the place they are be a part of their prayer.
David Osborne,
Pilgrimage (Grove, 1996) explores the concept and
gives practical advice on making a pilgrimage.
Animals
Some churches
have pet services. Others have rogation services when animals
are blessed.
Andrew Linzey,
Animal Rites: Liturgies of Animal Care (SCM Press,
1998) might be helpful, as might A Service of Animal
Welfare published by the RSPCA in 2004.
The Celtic
Tradition
Prayers in the
Celtic Tradition are in numerous collections, often
extracted from a Hebridean collection known as the Carmina
Gadelica.
The writing of
modern prayers in the Celtic style has been encouraged
particularly by the work of David Adam and of Philip Newell,
whose many collections are readily available.
The Iona
Community
Based in
Glasgow but with residential centres on the island of Iona the
Community has a strong strand of environmental concern and also
draws on the Celtic tradition for some of its inspiration.
For prayers,
readings, meditations and play scripts see particularly:
Mary Low,
Cherish the Earth: Reflections on a Living Planet
(Wild Goose Publications, 2003)
Kathy
Galloway, The Pattern of our Days: Liturgies and Resources
for Worship (Wild Goose Publications, 1996)
Ruth Burgess
and Chris Polhill, Eggs and Ashes: Practical and
Liturgical resources for Lent, Holy and Holy Week (Wild
Goose Publications, 2004)
Neil Paynter
and Helen Boothroyd, Holy Ground: Liturgies and worship
resources for an engaged spirituality (Wild Goose
Publications)
For hymns see
particularly the following collections:
The Iona
Abbey Worship Book
Heaven
Shall Not Wait
(Wild Goose songs vol 1): creation and incarnation
Enemy of
Apathy
(Wild Goose songs vol 2): Easter to Pentecost
Love
from Below
(Wild Goose songs vol 3): celebrating the seasons of life
Many and
Great:
songs of the world church vol 1
Sent by
the Lord:
songs of the world church vol 2
There is
one among us:
chants and responses
Come all
you people:
chants and responses
The
Courage to Say No:
songs for Lent and Easter
Love and
Anger:
songs of faith and social justice
One is
the body:
songs of unity and diversity
I Will
Not Sing Alone:
songs for the seasons of love
Anthologies
In
Anthologies it is always a matter of knowing where to look,
and trying various possible themes in the index. The following
might be helpful:
Angela Ashwin,
The Book of a Thousand Prayers (Harper Collins
1996)
Philip Law,
A Time to Pray (Lion 1997)
Hannah Wild
and Jennifer Wild, The Christian Meditation Collection,
(Lion, 1998) see especially part 1, The Gift of Life and part 8,
The Gifts of the Spirit.
Spirituality and Simplicity
For further
reading :
Richard
Foster, Celebration of Discipline, (Hodder, 1980)
Gerard W.
Hughes, God in All Things (Hodder, 2003)
Melvyn
Matthews, Delighting in God (Fount, 1987)
Sara Maitland, Awesome God: Creation,
Commitment and Joy (SPCK, 2002)
Anthony de
Mello, Awareness, (Harper Collins, 1990)
Richard Rohr,
Simplicity: The freedom of letting go
(Crossroad, 2003)
Anne Richards,
Sense Making Faith (CTBI, 2007)
Bible
Readings - Creation Time
David Osborne
has
devised a lectionary for five weeks of Creation Time, to tie
in with the Common Worship Lectionary.
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