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 Guidelines for Developing Ecologically-Themed
Worship Services
Transformation Through Worship
"We need to move from a spirituality
of alienation from the natural world to a spirituality of
intimacy with the natural world, from a spirituality of the
divine as revealed in words to a spirituality of the divine
as revealed in the visible world about us, from a spirituality
concerned with Justice merely to humans to a spirituality
of justice to the devastated earth community, from a spirituality
of the prophet to a spirituality of the shaman."
–Thomas Berry
Worship is the adoration of God for God's
sake, an adoration that also transforms the worshippers in
ways that bring them into consonance with the divine. How
can we worship God as creator and redeemer of nature in such
a way that we care for and defend the earth God has created?
You can reflect on ways your own tradition might incorporate
creation concerns into the following aspects of worship.
There are many ideas and resources that will help you create
a worship service devoted to environmental concerns or to
incorporate creation concerns into any worship service. Here
are a few ideas:
- Praise: We can praise God
for who God is as creator of all that is. We can celebrate
the wonder of creation and marvel at God's handiwork.
We can also see creation -- animals, flowers, trees,
hills -- as partners in our worship of God as we "let
all creation praise the Lord."
- Thanksgiving: We can thank God for every living
creature and for the earth that sustains them. Our thanks
can reinforce our human dependence on all of nature for
life and health.
- Confession: We can confess the greed and indifference
by which we humans have despoiled the earth, harmed plants
and animals, and placed human life in jeopardy. We can
acknowledge the ways in which the poor have suffered most
from the devastation of the environment. Forgiveness can
free us to act out of compassion rather than out of guilt
or fear.
- Proclamation: We can announce the love of God
for creation, the grace that God offers, and the mandates
God gives as means for humans to address the eco-justice
problems of our age and to make the commitments we need
to make. Proclamation can challenge us and inspire us to
transformation.
- Offering: We can offer ourselves as agents of
God to be guardians of nature, stewards of its resources,
lovers of life, earthkeepers, and caretakers of the land
-- to maintain, redeem and restore all that God has created.
- Prayer: we can offer prayers for the creation,
particularly for endangered species, for threatened ecosystems,
and for changing global conditions. We can pray for the
courage to do something about this.
Some additional ideas:
- Identify the Holy Days in your
tradition for a "care
for creation" emphasis
- Celebrate Earth Week
- Reflect on ways every religious day can be an opportunity
for eco-justice
- Create a sacred space: bring greenery into the worship
area
- Hold worship out of doors
- Plant trees for baptisms or as memorials
- Place in your worship area banners or other symbols
of care for creation
- Hold a service of the blessing of the animals
- Hold a fall service of thanksgiving and share the harvest
with the poor
- Hold a "greening of the cross" service
in Lent
Worship not only celebrates God as creator
but lifts and transforms the worshippers so as to invest
them with the desire and the wherewithal to heal and guard
God's creation. Care for creation should become so much a
natural and integral part of every dimensions of worship
that we incorporate it as a normal expression of our religion
to love God, love others, and love nature.
Resources:
For resources, bibliographies, and worship materials,
see www.webofcreation.org/worship and www.webofcreation.org/liturgies.
See also www.earthministry.org and
get literature on worship from Earth Ministry, 1305
NE 47th Street , Seattle , WA 98105-4498 . Phone (206)
632-2082. E-mail: emoffice@earthministry.org.
Celebrating
the Earth: An Earth Centered Theology of Worship with
Blessings, Prayers and Rituals by Scott
McCarthy (San Jose: Resource Publications, 1991).
Earth
Prayers From Around the World: 365 Prayers, Poems and
Invocations for Honoring the Earth, ed. Elizabeth
Roberts and Elias Amidon (San Francisco: Harper Collins,
1991).
Earth Holy Days: A Resource Guide for Faith
Communities by
Susan Clark (New York: Crossroad, 1992).
<< Back to Spirit
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Upcoming Events:
Meeting
the Sacred in Creation Retreats Offered in Hudson
Valley, Pacific Northwest, Southeast in April, May,
October 2007.
New
Brunswick Environmental Health and Justice Tour, April
18, 2007.
Prof.
Larry Rasmussen to Keynote April 23, 2007 Interfaith
Environmental Conference with Drew Theological School.
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