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Opening Prayer

God of Hope,
We see your love
poured out for us
in all the world.
Make us more like you.
Teach us to live together
as one community
human and beyond-human,
creature and created
to your glory,
so your love is known
among all the living. 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 lavished with love?

“We are God’s children, but it has not been revealed what we are to become in the future.” (1 John 3:2)

Just as in our origins, our future is tied to our planet.

Creator has given us partners for mutual flourishing.

Let us worship God, who makes all things new.

Rev. Paul Mitchell, Walla Walla, WA (ancestral homelands of the Cayuse, Umatilla, Palus, and Walla Walla), is the 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.

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)

Mountains and valleys, flora and fauna, receive your love and echo with praise.

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 4

Righteous God, who ordains the rise and fall of the sun and moon and the ebb and flow of the snows and streams of Mount Hermon; Life-sustaining God, who sets the warblers and the wrens to feed fat on the crimson pods of the Hermon maple trees: They rest securely, nestled in the soft green leaflets of the birdsfoot trefoils.

Save us, Lord! Save our woods, our sibling creatures, our sustaining water. The heat rises, and the rain no longer fits in its securing cycle; it no longer feeds the Dan and Hermon Spring or the Jordan River as it once did. We are unsure. We no longer know the season-by-season refilling of the Jordan Valley, where the rock dove flew above our Lord. We do not know this land as Jesus did.

(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.

Shining God, turn your face to us, your people, your community! You hear our cry! We repent of the lures that led us to drought, for they are worthless. We seek restoration of the cycles you ordained, of snow and rain, of the wren, the dove, and the trefoil. We step away from sin. We refresh ourselves in your righteousness. We rest secure and are assured in you. 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.