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Welcome! We're glad you're planning on observing
a liturgical season of creation. We have prepared some materials
for you to use in worship, teaching, and personal reflection.
The Notes on the readings for this topic are
available for you to use. You may
- copy and paste what you wish from this page directly to
your preparation materials or
- download the materials in PDF as part of a reference materials
for the individuals involved in preparing religious education,
homilies, or special liturgical materials for your Service.
Click
here for the list.
This Sunday's topic is The Land. The following
themes may be useful in preparing a sermon, prayers, or study:
wheat fields; arable; rebirth
in spring to full flower in summer to colorful decline in fall
to fallow stillness in winter; unstable because of earthquakes;
majesty of mountains; standing imposingly; the scruffy unevenness
of fallow fields; productive oozing giving way to degy, pinched
sprigs of green; the roar of naked sand blasting its impotent
face into the crevices of that which is anchored in life; creeping
desertification marching relentlessly; wind drying; Cedars of
Lebanon; flooding wadis collect in pools and dry up.
Facts:
- Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth’s surface
and occur where rainfall is less than 50 cm/year. Although most
deserts, such as the Sahara of North Africa and the deserts
of the southwestern U.S., Mexico, and Australia, occur at low
latitudes, another kind of desert, cold deserts, occur in the
basin and range area of Utah and Nevada and in parts of western
Asia. Most deserts have a considerable amount of specialized
vegetation, as well as specialized vertebrate and invertebrate
animals. Soils often have abundant nutrients because they need
only water to become very productive and have little or no organic
matter. Disturbances are common in the form of occasional fires
or cold weather, and sudden, infrequent, but intense rains that
cause flooding.
Source: University
of California Museum of Paleontology
- Grasslands are characterized as lands dominated by grasses
rather than large shrubs or trees. In the Miocene and Pliocene
Epochs, which spanned a period of about 25 million years, mountains
rose in western North America and created a continental climate
favorable to grasslands. Ancient forests declined and grasslands
became widespread. Following the Pleistocene Ice Ages, grasslands
expanded in range as hotter and drier climates prevailed worldwide.
There are two main divisions of grasslands: (1) tropical grasslands,
called savannas, and (2) temperate grasslands.
Source: University
of California Museum of Paleontology
- Perhaps humans can’t control the soil structure of the
Minnesota River basin, or the slope of the land on a watershed-wide
basis. But, says University of Minnesota stream ecologist Bruce
Vondracek, we can change the hydrology of a particular area
– the amount of water that flows over and under soil –
and at what speed it makes that journey. Studies and anecdotal
evidence show that land covered with perennial plants such as
grasses, hay crops and trees is much less prone to erosion when
compared to acres planted to annual crops such as corn and soybeans.
Perennial plant cover slows down the water flow, provides year-around
protection from the soil-loosening effects of rainstorms, and
gives precipitation a chance to soak into the soil structure.
Source: Land
Stewardship Project Fact Sheet #15 (PDF)
Alternate Scripture Readings:
One or more of the following readings could be used
in place of those specified in the lectionary:
- Genesis 1:1-15
- Psalm 8
- Psalm 98: 4-9
- Proverbs 8: 1, 22-31
- Proverbs 29:2, 4, 7-8
- Jeremiah 29: 1, 4-9
Non-Scriptural Writings
In place of or in addition to a scripture reading,
you may use an alternative reading. We offer these for your
consideration:
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Chance
THESE things wondering
I saw beneath the sun:
That never yet the race was to the swift,
The fight unto the mightiest to lift,
Nor favors unto men whose skill had done
Great works, nor riches ever unto one
Wise man of understanding. All is drift
Of time and chance, and none may stay or sift
Or know the end of that which is begun.
Who waits until the wind shall silent keep,
Will never find the ready hour to sow.
Who watcheth clouds will have no time to reap.
At daydawn plant thy seed, and be not slow
At night. God doth not slumber take nor sleep:
Which seed shall prosper thou shalt never know.
~ Helen Hunt Jackson
Source: Poets'
Corner
(Copyright ©1994 - 2009 Poets' Corner Editorial Staff)
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Reflections on Land
Stewardship
Often religious communities
have a close relationship with their land, and cherish
sacred memories of happy times sealed through their own
tender care, hard labor, and the burial of community members
on the land itself. These affections are tied to the mission
and charism of the community, and yet each member knows
this is not a lasting city, nor are our ties so strong
that we are unwilling to part with material things, even
the land itself. But this dual pull of genuine affection
for what currently exists here-and-now and the community's
spiritual future out there-and-then creates a tension
in the community, albeit a spiritual one when prayerfully
considered.
Spiritual growth is both
an individual and a community journey, and these will
often overlap. Throughout history when communities have
been faced with external pressures (e.g., persecution
or external war) they have had to abandon land quickly
and sometimes never had the opportunity to return. Such
circumstances triggered profound changes of direction
as well as purification and spiritual growth. Similar
circumstances may occur after Vatican II through the decimation
of a religious community's numbers. The reasons for this
decline in numbers are quite complex and tend to bring
new relationships, affluence, and loosening of former
cultural bonds.
~ Al Fritsch, SJ
Source: Appalachia
– Science in the Public Interest
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Some additional readings can be found in Earth
Prayers From around the World: 365 Prayers, Poems, and Invocations
for Honoring the Earth, Edited by Elizabeth Roberts and
Elias Amidon; Published by Harper Colllins. The readings below
(with their authors noted) may fit within this topic.
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Page
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Author |
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162
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Allah Renee Bozarth |
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165
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Thomas Merton |
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172
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Mary Rogers - Gaelic |
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200
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Pierre Teilhard de Chardin* |
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203
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Ashanti Prayer |
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204
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Irish Blessing* |
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219
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African Canticle |
* Useful as litany or
adapted to prayers of people
Music
There is a large selection of
creation-related hymns found on the MEESC Listing of Creation
and Environmental Music.
Educational Ideas
Prayers:
Covenant Prayer with the
Land
Today, we make a covenant with this land.
As a branch is grafted onto a mature stock,
So we want to be grafted onto the ancient heritage of this land,
So that its life may flow through us.
We commit ourselves to the land we live in and to all who belong
to it,
Most particularly our Indigenous people
And also the newcomers to this country,
Who have bound themselves to this land.
We will care for it with gentleness, patience, simplicity and
compassion,
Rather then merely something to be bought and sold.
We will see the land as a gift for which we are truly thankful,
And undertake the privileged duty of respecting and looking after
it.
We thank God, the Great Creator Spirit, for all the earth provides:
Water, food, and all the riches above and below the ground.
We undertake to use them sparingly and thoughtfully.
As we enter more deeply into the Spirit of the land,
We see the land as a Sacrament and Icon of our mothering Creator
Spirit.
Be still.
Listen to the breath of the Spirit which has blown through it
for ages past,
Today, and always;
For this is: The Spirit of the Dreaming.
~ Betty Pike
Source: Australian
Catholic Social Justice Council
Gathering prayer:
God we gather in the midst of your creation,
To build each other up in the faith you have given us.
God we come, not alone but as part of your community.
We come from isolated lives and self centred living seeking community,
So that together we might be kept safe in God’s love,
God we come, not alone but as part of your community.
As we build together may we pray in the power of the Holy Spirit,
And await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ open our eyes to
see you,
God we come, not alone but as part of your community.
No one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have
– Jesus Christ,
Who takes our anxious thoughts and the worries that blind our
sight,
God we come, not alone but as part of your community.
Rescue us dear God from the tumult of our busy lives,
Bind us together as we breathe your quiet presence,
God we come, not alone but as part of your community.
Heavenly God, you who are community shelter us;
Christ before us and behind us, Holy Spirit deep within us;
God we come, not alone but as part of your community.
~From Faith
Forward
Copyright © 2008-2011 Patheos, Inc
Some discussion topics:
- What would happen if perennial plant systems were returned
to an agricultural watershed?
- How much of a change in the landscape would it take to reduce
sedimentation to more sustainable levels?
- How do you interact with the land you call home?
- What are the "external pressures" that you see impacting
your relationship with the land?
- Do you "own" land? What are your responsibilities
when owning land?
- One can apply a variant of the Gospel Based Discipleship questions
to almost any reading or situation:
A. What particularly jumps out at you or gets your attention?
B. What is this reading/information/situation saying to us?
C. What is this reading/information/situation calling us to
do
Revised Common Lectionary Readings for
Easter 3, Year A:
PDF Version of these notes: (available
in late April)
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To the other Topics in this series
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The Land
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May 1, 2011
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May 8, 2011
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May 15, 2011
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May 22, 2011
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May 29, 2011
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June 5, 2011
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This Page
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Note: The Reflections and Notes for
this Sunday were prepared by the Rev Wanda Copeland, with
contributions from the Rev Margaret W. Thomas, John G. Gibbs,
PhD, and the Rev Tom Harries.
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