The heavens are telling the stories of God.
God casting constellations and comets,
dreaming galaxies beyond measure,
detailing stars and supernovas.
From our tiny terrestrial home
our naked eyes take in the Milky Way,
our telescopes perch in space
expanding our deep field vision.
We are so small, God,
why do you notice us?
Your ways are higher than our ways:
our solar system is your molecule,
We have a long history
and you know it all.
From week one something in us
grasping forbidden things,
walking away from others.
Humanity or our ancestors
ranging for food, shelter, warmth.
Taking it where we could find it,
wresting it away from others.
God of sea and sky,
God of this great earth laid out under the sun,
we come with thanks on our lips and praise in our hearts.
Thank you for life and breath,
and senses to experience the beauty all around us.
Thank you for the dear ones we love, those around us, those far away,
and those who we will only see again in heaven, by your mercy.
We ask for your comfort for those among us who grieve
and those who are sick, especially…
As human beings we are bound to make “scale errors” when it comes to God, because our knowledge is incomplete. We see this in theology. The church in a certain century has a view of God that they think is extremely important…several centuries later, the church realizes that maybe that wasn’t as big and important as they thought it was. Conversely, something considered a little theological issue for a thousand years suddenly looms large. We can see this in our own lives as well.
Mennonites are part of a peace church tradition which means we don’t believe violence is the solution. We will not use violence to kill and we stand up for the defenceless, for people who are being attacked. Will we stand up for creatures that are under attack? They are truly the most defenceless. They cannot speak for themselves. The passenger pigeon could not write articles in newspapers to defend itself,or start lawsuits about their own demise or stage public protests in big cities. All they did was disappear.
Thank you God for everything under us;
for these chairs on which we sit,
for this church’s firm foundation,
for the soil with its burrowing animals and insects,
for the rock down under that, layered by the sea in ancient times,
for the water that flows in subterranean channels far beneath us,
and for the miles upon miles of bedrock,
unknown and unexplored by all but you,
all the way down to the living heat of our planet,
the molten rock deep in the heart of the earth.
Thank you God for everything above us;
Holy Spirit, you hovered over the deep,
and you know the deep problems we face today
around energy and fossil fuel consumption,
and the way this conflict gnaws at the church.
We live in a cold country, we need to keep warm.
Our homes are heated with oil and gas.
Help us find efficient and affordable ways
to keep ourselves warm.
We are people on the move; thank you for new technologies
that reduce our consumption of fuel,…
This is a prayer we are reluctant to pray
because it is so hard to name what we fear out loud.
We go through our days trying to pretend
that life as normal will continue forever,
but that is harder and harder to sustain.
And so we need this prayer where we lay out
the disasters of climate change to you and to each other:
the loss of species never to be seen again,
the bleaching of the coral reefs,
Come, worship the Lord
in the beauty of holiness.
Holiness present in the silent pulse
of the earth beneath us.
Holiness present in the beating
of the sun and stars.
Holiness present in the chorus of life,
breathing together, even here in this room.
God of creation,
open us to the beauty in and around us
in this hour of worship
I am a Mennonite pastor currently teaching theology at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario. I’ve served congregations in Ontario and most recently, Alberta.
I love to write and to lead worship! If you are finding my writing helpful, I would love to hear from you! Feel free to use or adapt the material here, it is all written by me. If printing material, please credit “Copyright Carol Penner www.leadinginworship.com” (and say whether you modified it). If publishing, please contact me for permission. Contact me at carol@leadinginworship.com
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