Environmental Stewardship Commission

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 rreflection.

The Reflections and Notes on the readings for this Sunday 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 as part of a reference materials for the individuals involved in preparing religious education, homilies, or special liturgical materials for your Service.

Reflection and Notes for Easter 4, Year A:

Revised Common Lectionary Readings:

• Acts 2: 42-47
• Psalm 23
• 1 Peter 2:19-25
• John 10:1-10

There are several Themes for this Sunday:

Lectionary themes:

• Good Shepherd Sunday
• Gospel theme: The Good Shepherd

Creation themes

• Lakes and Seas/Oceans
• God/Jesus is the Good Shepherd for all creation, not just humans

Psalm 23 is probably the most familiar of the psalms and right up there with the most familiar pieces of scripture. It is very often chosen to be read at funerals and is an option for most special liturgies for the sick or dying. It is one that provides comfort and hope for anyone anxious or in distress.

“He leads me beside still waters”! How necessary water is! All life itself depends on water. And how magical water is, with solid, liquid and gaseous states which form a water cycle important to life. Water as liquid is present in bodies of living things, moving in and out, present in everything we eat or drink. We were in amniotic water before our birth, our early development entirely enclosed in water, as all primitive life was in the beginning. Advances in both plants and animals made it possible for them to live outside of bodies of water, but didn’t negate their continuing need for a source of water.

At all temperatures between 0 and 100 degrees C., water is a liquid which forms oceans, lakes, ponds, streams and ground water. At temperatures lower that 0 degrees C., water freezes tying up water as ice in polar ice caps forming a whole different ecosystem, now threatened by global warming, where some animals and some humans live a lifestyle dependent on an ice shelf and a temperature range that provides that ice.

Water vapor is a part of our atmosphere in varying amounts which enables evaporation from surface water, and provides rain or snowfall in other places, a cycle which continually redistributes the water of the earth.

At times, water seems to act violently. Waves on high seas have led to the sinking of ships. Water of tsunamis following earthquakes at sea flood coastlines so unexpectedly that many have been killed. Avalanches slide down mountains sometimes killing skiers or climbers. Icebergs in the ocean pose a danger for ships such as the Titanic. Ice can make driving or walking dangerously slippery.

But ... God, the Good Shepherd, leads us to quiet pools, still waters, restful, safe places. How many of us have chosen home sites, cabins, favorite camping places or picnic spots beside the water, looking for the place to catch our breath, where God restores our soul, and sends us on in the right direction?

PDF Version of these notes: click here

This page last updated 2008-02-14.

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