Everything is related, and we human beings are united as brothers and sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage, woven together by the love God has for each of his creatures and which also unites us in fond affection with brother sun, sister moon, brother river, and mother earth.
- Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 9
Climate Emergency Webinar: Pray
In May 2021, members of the two Episcopal dioceses in Massachusetts recorded a one-hour video about how the climate crisis calls us to pray.
Preach
Preaching regularly about climate change is one of the most effective ways for clergy to address the spiritual, moral, and pastoral aspects of our changing climate and to mobilize a bold, faithful, and Gospel-centered response.
Our diocese is committed to preaching and speaking about climate change. In 2017 we passed a resolution entitled We Are Still In: A Resolution to Fight Climate Change. The resolution pledges support of the goals of the Paris Climate Accord and calls upon preachers “to speak from the pulpit about the moral obligation to protect God’s creation.”
We invite you to read Rev. Margaret’s short essay, “Why we need to preach on Creation care” (a talk given for a webinar hosted by Church of England Environment Programme) and her longer article in the Anglican Theological Review, “Preaching When Life Depends on It: Climate Crisis and Gospel Hope.” The article reflects on the power of sermons to awaken moral courage and to create the conditions for spiritual awakening and prophetic action. It considers six ideas for preachers, starting with how to frame the climate emergency in terms of Christian theology. The article includes resources for “best practices” in climate preaching and communication.
Other Preaching Resources
For additional sermon resources, visit RevivingCreation.org, the website of the Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, to read her lectionary-based sermons on climate.
Preaching for God’s World is a helpful resource for preachers, offering notes on each Sunday’s Revised Common Lectionary readings as viewed through the lens of the Anglican Five Marks of Mission – in particular, on caring for people and planet.
Looking for easy-to-use climate preaching resources that include both sermon tips and suggested actions? Check out a new free resource, Eco-Preacher 1-2-3. Drawing from Eco Bible, a Jewish ecological commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures, Dr. Leah Schade, author of Creation-Crisis Preaching: Ecology, Theology and the Pulpit (Chalice Press, 2015), provides sermon preparation for preaching about caring for God’s Creation that is short, accessible, and based on a solid biblical foundation.
EcoPreacher 1-2-3 offers a brief “eco-exegesis” for interpreting a Hebrew text from the Revised Common Lectionary for that Sunday. This is followed by one “eco idea” for the basis of the sermon, two “eco questions” to go deeper, and three “eco actions” to choose from to help a congregation put their faith into action. With this resource, preachers can use the sermon ideas in their own context and make it relevant for their congregation.
Creation Care Preaching Circle
Members of our diocese gathered four times in September 2020 to discuss the challenges and opportunities in climate preaching. Guest presenters included seminary professors and a local pastor. Click here to find these short (under 30-minute) videos.
Green New Deal
Are you considering preaching on the Green New Deal? Seven preachers known for their work in caring for Creation were asked to offer a tip on how to talk about the Green New Deal from the pulpit. Read the seven tips here.
Holy Baptism
Bishop Doug Fisher encourages everyone in the diocese to add this closing promise to the five promises we make in our Baptismal Covenant. This promise is being widely used in The Episcopal Church.
Celebrant: Will you cherish the wonderful works of God and protect the beauty and integrity of all creation? People: I will, with God’s help.
Renew your contact with the natural world.
Wander outdoors. Take a Sabbath walk. Breathe, gaze, touch, notice, pray.
Go for a meditative walk without goal or agenda. Pause wherever something attracts your attention or curiosity. If you like, find a comfortable place to stand or sit, and take time to see, smell, hear, and touch the living world around you. How does God speak to you through the wind on your face, the Earth beneath your feet, or the leaf in your hand?
If you would like to learn some contemplative exercises for befriending God’s creation as a crucial aspect of Christian faith, read Steven Chase, Nature as Spiritual Practice (Eerdmans).
Those who contemplate the beauty of the Earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. - Rachel Carson
Renewing God’s Creation: Daily Meditations for Lent
In 2022 and 2023, the Creation Care Leadership Circle (a small group in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts that advises our Missioner for Creation Care) prepared a collection of inspirational quotes and images for release during the Forty Days of Lent.
Design a special service that celebrates the sacredness of God’s creation and our call to protect it.
The Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts created a special liturgy for the service of Holy Communion at our 118th diocesan convention in 2019. Our convention theme was “Holy Earth, Holy People: Restoring God’s Creation.”
We encourage congregations to use or adapt this worship service as they plan services that honor God’s Creation. As described on the first page of the PDF version of the leaflet, please honor copyright and licensing requirements. The sources used in the service are carefully cited within the context of the leaflet so that you can find the larger works more easily. We did our best to honor copyright and licensing requirements, and we hope that you will, too! Permissions to reprint service components and music were obtained through RiteSeries.org. Permission to print music and lyrics not found in hymnals of The Episcopal Church was obtained through OneLicense A-729200.
The four beautiful Creation Care banners that adorned the worship space were created by the St. Andrew’s Guild of Ss. James and Andrew Episcopal Church (Greenfield) as a gift to our diocese. You may borrow them for use in your parish by contacting the church (413-773-3925).
To create a very special service, consider including elements of the climate oratorio, “A Passion for the Planet.” For more information about this powerful piece of music click here.
Try adding a new prayer to your church’s weekly services. Sts. James and Andrews Episcopal Church, Greenfield, includes this prayer in every Sunday morning service:
A Collect for Creation Care Bountiful God, you call us to labor with you in tending the earth: Where we lack love, open our hearts to the world; where we waste, give us discipline to conserve; where we neglect, awaken our minds and wills to insight and care. May we with all your creatures honor and serve you in all things, for you live and reign with Christ, Redeemer of all, and with your Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Especially during Lent, Rogation Days, and Creation Season, or at any appropriate service, consider using this powerful new prayer composed in 2021 by the Rev. M Lise Hildebrandt (Diocese of Massachusetts), “The Great Litany of Creation,” which recognizes the connections between climate emergency and white supremacy.
Pray that we will be guided and strengthened to reweave the web of life. Pray that we will awaken to our kinship with the whole creation.
Creation Season provides an opportunity to explore new Eucharistic prayers, collects, Prayers of the People, litanies, confessions, music, and sermon topics that focus on God’s love for and redemption of the whole created order.
The Rev. Nina Pooley (Rector, St. Stephen’s, Pittsfield) has shared several worship services that she developed for Creation Season. View and download them here: 2017, 2018, 2019. Please honor all copyright notices.
Here are some other Christian resources for creation-centered preaching, worship, and prayer:
Grace-St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Tucson, AZ creates consistently outstanding Creation-centered liturgies from within and beyond the Book of Common Prayer. You can download some beautiful Creation Sunday liturgies here.
God’s Good Earth. Anne and Jeffrey Rowthorn have published a wonderful new book that could become a classic – an anthology of prayers and worship services.
God’s Good Earth offers Christians and their communities an engaging resource for prayer, reflection, and worship that reflects and nourishes their efforts to serve God and care for God’s creation. Compilers Anne and Jeffery Rowthorn have prepared 52 beautiful, ready-made prayer services, each around a specific theme, drawing from a rich variety of ecumenical resources: psalms and other responsive readings, Scripture, hymns, prayers, and reflections from the world’s most engaging nature writers and interpreters of the social and cultural landscape. Each section can be used in full, or the user may select smaller sections; permission is granted to the purchaser to reproduce for use in public prayer.
Organize an ecumenical or interfaith service focused on God’s Creation that is held outdoors in a public place.
A simple service of singing, prayers, and speaking from our various faith traditions can lift up the sacredness of the natural world, name our lament and grief about its destruction, acknowledge our guilt and repentance, and confirm our shared resolve to take effective action. Give children a chance to speak or otherwise take leadership. Develop a ceremony (lighting a candle, pouring water) that gives participants a way to engage their bodies.
Form a local chapter of Holy Hikes
Holy Hikes® is an eco-Ministry committed to rebuilding Communion between all of God’s Creation. Celebrate Holy Communion outdoors, in communion with sun and wind, birds and trees.
For information about Holy Hikes and how to start a local chapter, click here.
Read Active Hope, by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone (New World Library, 2012).
Hold a Creation-centered retreat
Consider organizing a morning, afternoon, or whole day retreat to facilitate a deep spiritual experience and to encourage our ecological conversion. Pray outside. Reflect on texts that speak about God’s presence and power in the natural world. Consider the cry of creation and how we can join with God to heal the world entrusted to our care.
Stay Connected
Would you like to join a growing network of folks in and beyond the Diocese of Western MA who care about Creation and want to stay connected?
Visit RevivingCreation.org to sign up for the Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas’s blog posts.
Check out our Facebook Group, Creation Care, and join the conversation.
Explore the resources of the Creation Care Justice Network (CCJN), a growing band of Episcopalians across Massachusetts working together to build a robust response to the climate/ecological emergency. To connect with our network and receive email updates, please sign up here. For more information, please email: creationjusticeepisma@gmail.com.
Feeling alarm or devastation can guide us to a deep sanity, reminding us of who we are and what we need. It can remind us that we belong to this larger body and that we care for it. Our power to act, our power to take part in the healing of our world, our power to bring things back into balance, comes from the same source as that devastation. Our pain for the world, and our power to take part in the healing of our world, both come from the same place.
