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Opening Prayer

God of abundance,
We are thankful
for the beauty all around us.
Weave us together in a life
full of goodness and joy.
Help us to move in harmony
with one another
and with all Creation.
Let us travel on your path
toward release in your presence.
Amen.

Written by Rev. Laurie Bayen and Rev. Laura Baumgartner. Rev. Bayen, Cotati, CA (ancestral homelands of the Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok peoples), is an elder in the California-Nevada Annual Conference, serving Windsor Community UMC. She is involved with the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement. Rev. Baumgartner, Seattle, WA (ancestral homelands of the Duwamish and Coast Salish peoples), is an elder in the Pacific Northwest Conference, serving Haller Lake UMC. She is involved in the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement.

Call to Worship

How shall we live when shadows gather?

Drawn to God’s unquenchable light, we are also drawn into one another’s presence.

What was hidden has been revealed; we are woven together with all Creation.

When we live in the light, as God is in the light, we are one with each other.

Let us worship God, who is our Light and Salvation.

Written by Rev. Paul Mitchell, Walla Walla, WA (ancestral homelands of the Cayuse, Umatilla, Palus, and Walla Walla), senior pastor of Pioneer United Methodist Church. He is an elder in full Connection in the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference and is involved in the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement.

Communion Liturgy

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Creator God, you revealed to us your Creation on earth.
The waters flowed, and the winds blew.
You set the cosmos into motion and created living beings.
You gave life to the plants and the sea creatures and the land animals.
You put into flight the birds and insects, and you made people to walk on the ground.
You blessed us all and called us good.
But when our love failed and we turned away,
You revealed a love for your people and all of Creation that never ends.
And so we praise you, with all the company of saints and sinners, singing your unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory
Hosannah in the highest.
Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosannah in the highest.

You continued to reveal your love for us in your son, Jesus,
who came to live among us and move as a human on this Earth.
When he dined with his friends, just before he was to be executed,
he reminded them of your love revealed in the gifts of bread and juice before them on the table.
He took the bread in his hands, gave thanks to you, broke it, and shared it with his friends, saying the familiar words,
“Take, eat. This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
And when the supper was over, he took the cup, again gave thanks for it, and shared it with all who gathered, reminding them,
“Drink this all of you. This is the cup of my covenant with you, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Together we proclaim the mystery of faith.
Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Still-creating Spirit,
Be poured out on those gathered here and on these gifts from the field in bread and juice. As we receive them into our bodies, make us your body. Unite us with those who have come before us in your kin-dom and with those who will come after us, now and always. Amen.

Prayer after Receiving

Creative God,

We thank you for revealing your love to us in bread and juice. We recognize your presence in us and all around us, and we ask that you continue to reveal your love for all Creation to the ends of the Earth through our lives. Make us your people and use us to reveal the inbreaking of your kin-dom here and now: a world of justice and peace. Amen.

Written by Rev. Laura Baumgartner, Seattle, WA (ancestral homelands of the Duwamish and Coast Salish peoples), an elder in the Pacific Northwest Conference, serving Haller Lake UMC. She is involved in the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement.

Benediction

Love will come to perfection in us when we can face the day of judgment without fear – because our relation to this world is just like Christ’s. There is no fear in love, for perfect love drives out fear. (1 John 4:17-18)

Shine the light of your love upon us, O God, and reveal the goodness of Creation.

Our salvation is bound together with Creation.

Pastoral Prayer

How to use these prayers: These pastoral prayers are drawn from the lectionary texts for the first three Sundays following Easter 2024. Each prayer is written according to a pattern of praise, confession, and assurance.

Two optional segments are written in as part of the prayer. For those presiding in worship

settings where specific prayer requests are shared from the congregation, there is a section where these can be inserted following the second paragraph of each pastoral prayer. Another optional segment is at the end of the prayer. For congregations who have not prayed the Lord’s Prayer elsewhere in the service, they may do so at the close of the pastoral prayers.

Is it faithful to read the Psalms through the lens of the climate crisis?

The psalms were written by a people who too often found themselves in conflicts with their neighbors. They cried for justice, protection, righteousness, and faith. In the Psalms, restoration and peace were described with words telling of the strength of mountains, of abundant harvest, flowing water, multiplying fish and animals, and songs of the earth in praise of God. As we look at the harm done to the planet, we see some common cause with these ancient people. In that way and more, the psalms are both timeless and timely. If we listen to the verses, we hear their voices—and whole ecosystems and the planet itself—cry out.

Pastoral Prayer

Inspired by and drawn from Psalm 133

Creator God, maker and sustainer of all life, Dew-bringer, you draw water from the highest limestone crest to fill the deepest mountain springs of Mt Hermon. You have made these highest waters flow down deep yet rise again as they pour cascading into waterfall after waterfall; such glory! Forgive us, Lord! As we gather around your mountain-fed waters to drink all you have given, we have not been one people. We have jostled and shoved; we have taken too much; we have made suffering where you have offered Life overspilling! This is not your way.

(Optional, the leader shares prayers of the people): Listen to our prayers, the prayers of the people of your Creation, as we raise our hopes in you.

Mountaintop, Almighty God: You do not just offer the blessing of everlasting Life; you command it. We kneel at the foot of the waterfall. We are in the midst of your oasis. We drink at the pool of the Hermon Stream, breathing in your Spirit mist. We share this Life with our neighbors and your whole Creation of animals, birds, and fish. One world. One Word. One community. One everlasting Life. Amen.

(Optional. The Lord’s Prayer.) To you, we raise the prayer taught to us by the Lord, Jesus Christ...

Written by Rev. Richenda Fairhurst, Ashland, Oregon (Homeland of the Shasta and Takelma peoples). Richenda works with the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement and is a Climate Chaplain.