Service Sunday April 21, 2024

Services

Apr. 16

Written By Highland Hills

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EARTH Sunday – Fourth Sunday of Easter

All are Welcome!

Watch a video recording of the whole service using YouTube below.

The Gathering

Welcome and Announcements.
Focusing Moment.

Acknowledgement of Land

On this Earth Sunday, we acknowledge, with deep thanksgiving, the wise and careful stewardship of this land through the centuries by the Anishinaabe people. Indigenous peoples shared their teachings with settler peoples. May we continue to learn from First Nations’ wisdom, and care for Earth as they have done through the ages.

Call to Worship:

One:    Whether we live near mountains or in the prairies—
All:     We are one in Christ.
One:    Whether our winters are balmy or our summers are cool—
All:     We are one in Christ.
One:    Whether we live near the Atlantic, Pacific, or Arctic Ocean or   somewhere in the middle—
All:     We are one in Christ.
One:    Whether we live in urban dwellings, nestled in the suburbs, or surrounded by a rural landscape—
All:     We are one in Christ.
One:    In a spirit of unity, caring for each other and the whole of creation—
All:     We are one in Christ.

—Adapted from the Rev. Michelle L. Torigian, “Be the Church: Protect the Environment” worship service. © 2016 Rev. Michelle L. Torigian.

HYMN: “It’s a Song of Praise to the Maker” MV #30

1. It’s a song of praise to the Maker,

the thrush sings high in the tree.

It’s a song of praise to the Maker,

The gray whale sings in the sea,

Refrain

And by the Spirit

you and I can join our voice to the holy cry

and sing, sing, sing to the Maker too.

2. It’s a call of life to the Giver

when waves and waterfalls roar.

It’s a call of life to the Giver

when high tides break on the shore,

3. It’s a hymn of love to the Lover;

the bumblebees hum along.

It’s a hymn of love to the Lover,

the summer breeze joins the song,

4. It’s the chorus of all creation;

it’s sung by all living things.

It’s the chorus of all creation;

a song the universe sings,

OPENING PRAYER:: In Unison

Creator, Maker of this awesome universe where we are blessed to live, we come with open hearts into your loving presence. May all our senses experience the wonder of the world around us. May we grow ever more aware of the needs of the all the aspects of your wondrous creation. May we grow more deeply conscious of the needs of humans, near and far. May a passion for the justice Jesus lived grow in us. We pray in his name. Amen.

MINISTRY OF MUSIC TIME FOR THE YOUTHFUL

HYMN: “Touch the Earth Lightly” VU #307

1 Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently,

nourish the life of the world in our care:

gift of great wonder, ours to surrender,

trust for the children tomorrow will bear.

2 We who endanger, who create hunger,

agents of death for all creatures that live,

we who would foster clouds of disaster,

God of our planet, forestall and forgive!

3 Let there be greening, birth from the burning,

water that blesses and air that is sweet,

health in God's garden, hope in God's children,

regeneration that peace will complete.

4 God of all living, God of all loving,

God of the seedling, the snow and the sun,

teach us, deflect us, Christ reconnect us,

using us gently and making us one.

THE WORD

Scripture: Psalm 23: 1 John 3:17-18

Leader: Hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church.

ALL: Thanks be to God.

MESSAGE

“Pursuing Goodness and Mercy”

No audio recording today.

Please read the message below at the bottom of this page.

OUR RESPONSE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and A CONTEMPORARY INTERPRETATION OF THE LORD’S PRAYER:

(from the New Zealand Anglican Prayer Book)

Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,

Source of all that is and that shall be,

Father and Mother of us all,

Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!

The way of your justice be followed by the people of the world!

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.

In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.

From trials too great to endure, spare us.

From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For your reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and ever. Amen.

HYMN: “Christ Has No Body Now but Yours” MV #171

Refrain

Christ has no body now but yours,

no hands but yours.

Here on this earth, yours is the work,

to serve with the joy of compassion.

1. No hands but yours to heal the wounded world,

no hands but yours to soothe all its suffering,

no touch but yours to bind the broken hope

of the people of God.

2. No eyes but yours to see as Christ would see,

to find the lost, to gaze with compassion;

no eyes but yours to glimpse the holy joy

of the city of God.

3. No feet but yours to journey with the poor,

to walk this world with mercy and justice.

Yours are the steps to build a lasting peace

for the children of God.

4. Through ev’ry gift, give back to those in need;

as Christ has blessed, so now be his blessing,

with ev’ry gift a benediction, be

to the people of God.

PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERINGS

“Your Generosity Matters”

Offertory Prayer (In Unison)

Holy and generous God, in gratitude for the multitude of blessings you provide through your Son and ever-present Spirit, we bring our gifts. May they be used wisely to empower your work of justice, bringing hope to our world. In the name of the Risen Christ we pray. Amen.

SUNG BLESSING: “Go, Make a Difference” MV #209

(refrain only – sing x2)

Go make a diffe’rence. We can make a diff’rence.

Go make a diff’rence in the world.

Go make a diffe’rence. We can make a diff’rence.

Go make a diff’rence in the world.

Sending Forth: In Unison

Surely goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives;

and we shall dwell in the heart of the Beloved forever.

May we always know this to be true. Amen.

A Time of Fellowship

“Pursuing Goodness and Mercy”

Psalm 23, 1 John 3:17-18

Earth Sunday — Fourth Sunday of Easter — April 21, 2024

| don’t know about you, but for a good part of my younger years, | was

completely unaware that Easter was anything more than one day. For me and

my family, and perhaps for the whole of the United Church of Canada, Easter

was a single Sunday when we would sing “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today”, exclaim

our ‘Hallelujahs’, and assure one another that “Christ is Risen”. After that day

we'd set ‘Easter’ aside for a year. But today, as well as being Earth Sunday, is

the Fourth Sunday of Easter. We celebrate resurrection — newness of life — for

many weeks. And when we aren’t intentionally celebrating this Season of Easter,

we continue to feel it deep within ourselves. We are an Easter people!

Reading Psalm 23 gives us that resurrection feeling of newness of life.

The author of this well-known and well-loved psalm was filled with confidence

that God provided all that was needed for flourishing — green pastures, still

waters, a table prepared with abundant food and overflowing cups. And probably

the most important thing God provided to the psalmist was a restored soul.

There is much about Psalm 23 that speaks of resurrection — new life.

The outlook just one psalm earlier is quite different. Like Ps. 23, Ps. 22

begins with familiar words: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

These are words you are more likely to hear at a Good Friday service than during

the season of Easter; they are among words we hear Jesus speak from the

cross. A verse later the psalmist laments, “O my God, | cry by day, but you do

not answer; and by night, but find no rest.” Hearing those verses suddenly

moves us from the celebration and praise of Ps. 23 to lament. And we often ask

ourselves, “Why doesn’t God DO something?”

lament is an appropriate feeling for Earth Sunday. When we consider the

destruction happening all over this planet on which we live — Planet Earth — it's

hard not to lament the rapidly changing climate. As the author of “Our Last Best

Chance’ said in her article in the April/May “Climate Issue” of Broadview, “It’s

become hard to ignore the heat, hurricanes, droughts, fires and floods.”

Last summer, as wildfires burned all over the world, | was painfully aware

of one close to us burning in Eastern Ontario’s Ottawa Valley. A small lake near

the ski hills of Calabogie had an out-of-control fire burning on its wooded

shoreline. There were two things that frightened me about that particular fire.

First was the smoky air that surrounded us, from that fire and others, making any

outdoor activity unpleasant for all and dangerous for those with lung conditions.

But what frightened me even more was a news report that the fire was so

powerful it had jumped across the lake to the opposite shore! As | imagined the

possibility of the same thing happening at our Haliburton lakes, suddenly the

effects of climate change were hitting very close to home.

More and more, it seems, the changing climate of Earth is less ‘out there’

in other parts of our world and more ‘in here’ — touching our country, our

community, and ‘in here’, touching our hearts. We may not be personally

responsible for the vast number of species becoming extinct every day, nor for

the melting glaciers and shrinking Arctic sea ice. We may not have set fire to

huge acreages of forest, nor destroyed vast amounts of tropical rainforest in

South America to make way for cattle to graze. We are, however, members of

the human race who, as a whole, have ‘raced’ to gain as much profit as possible

by extracting everything we could from this astoundingly abundant planet. And in

doing so, we humans have paid little attention, in the words of the first letter of

John, “to our brothers and sisters in need” — be they human, animal, or plant.

Both from an environmental perspective, and a human rights perspective, we

humans have devastated this “very good” world.

| know — all this sounds very discouraging, but the words of Psalm 23 offer

us hope. In the early verses the author of this psalm gives thanks for God’s

shepherding, comforting presence in the midst of danger. Then, as God

becomes host in later verses, offering a bounty of food and drink, the psalmist

expresses overwhelming confidence that “goodness and mercy shall follow’ him,

not just today but “all the days of [his] life’.

| came across something interesting about that word “follow”. The Hebrew

word translated as ‘follow’ actually means “pursue.” The same verb is found in

the description of Pharaoh’s army pursuing the people of Israel as they were

escaping iN at iy) Be" words, the psalmist senses he is being

vigorously pursuedgby God’s goodness and mercy.

It’s likely that the author of Psalm 23 was King David. David had ‘royally’

messed up more than once yet he fully believed God’s goodness and mercy

pursued him and would be with him always. Just like King David, we humans

have ‘royally’ messed up God’s “very good” creatlon, but we too can trust that

God also pursues us with goodness and mercy. And, as | said earlier, we are an

Easter people. Easter gives us hope that the sorrow of Good Friday is not where

the story ends. And there are lots of hopeful signs — large and small — that the

degradation of planet Earth is not where our Earth story ends either.

Let’s begin with the small signs of hope. I’m reading a marvelous book by

Debra Rienstra entitled Refugia Faith. The word ‘refugia’ comes from ‘refuge’. In

her introduction, the author tells the story of the eruption of Mount Saint Helens in

May of 1980. Here are her eloquent words: “The debris and ashfall from the

volcanic blast devastated the mountain and its surroundings for miles, crushing,

burning, killing, and coating everything in hot ash. Everyone assumed life could

return to this apocalyptic death zone only very slowly, maybe over several human

lifetimes. Instead, [just] forty years later, the mountainsides are covered with

lush grasses, prairie lupines, alders. Critters scamper, streams flow.” How did

this new life appear in such a relatively short time? Scientists have discovered

that, as the mountain blasted ash and rock over the landscape, the devastation

passed over small places in the lee of rocks and trees. “These little pockets of

safety are called refugia.” They are tiny, hidden shelters “where life

persists, and new life emerges.”

You and | can find and create refugia, in places where Earth and all its

creatures need help. In order to create such places where new life can emerge,

though, we need to be deeply aware of our dependence on one another and be

in community, perhaps a bit like sheep need to be in a flock and tended by a

shepherd in order to be less vulnerable. If we are to do the holy work of enabling

new life, there is a powerful need for us to work together in and for community.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put it this way in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”,

words just as relevant today as when he wrote them in 1963: “We are caught in

an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

So we work together — to educate the community, as Environment

Haliburton is doing in so many ways, most recently on the best ways to cut back

our personal carbon emissions by using electric power sources instead. We get

involved with community gardens, like those in Minden, and find other ways to

grow and purchase food using less fossil fuel for chemical pesticides, fertilizers,

and transportation. We contribute to the cost of planting trees in poorer

communities, to provide cooling shade and more oxygen for our “brothers and

sisters”. In the words of another pair of authors, “If the world is to move towards

an environmentally sustainable way of life, it means acting on the basis of the

common good as never before.”

These words draw me back to the verses from 1 John: “How does God’s

love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in

need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but

in truth and action.”

God is calling us to act as a community of faithful, hopeful people. God is

pursuing us with goodness and mercy and calling on us to do the same for God’s

beautiful creation. | am confident we can do just that because, after all, we are an

Easter people. We live in hope that new life is possible — possible for our

brothers and sisters in need, possible for Earth. May it be so. Amen.

Highland Hills