Sunday, November 15, 2020

Words of Welcome             Life and Work of Our Church

Please remember in your prayers the family of Vera Sollows along with all those named in our prayer jar.

We have a new leader in our Baby Picture Competition!  Two people have guessed 5 babies correctly.  Rev Sharon has let everyone who has entered so far know which ones they have guessed correctly so if they want to try again they already have a head start!  If you have not entered or if you think you might do better on a second guess, please consider entering.  So far we only have 15 entries so our fundraiser has earned a total of $75!  You only have until Nov 20^th to enter.

Next week is traditionally Reign of Christ Sunday but it is also the Sunday closest to Nov 20^th which is World Children’s Day and celebrates the signing of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Children.  So next Sunday, instead of Reign of Christ, we will be celebrating Children’s Sunday.  Our Service will include communion.

We are in the process of putting together our Advent Newsletter.  All committee chairs and leaders of teams that report to committees are asked to have a submission to Shelley Melanson this week, no later than November 22^nd.  This is your chance to reflect on what your committee or team has done throughout 2020.

 The Church Council will be meeting by ZOOM at 7 pm this evening.  This is an open meeting and everyone is invited to join us.  The connection information will be sent out to everyone on our Beaconfolk email list following worship today.

We are in the process of putting together our helper’s lists for 2021.  If you are interested in being a reader, a greeter or a recorder of names, please speak to Rev. Sharon.  If you are willing to open, close, count offering or serve as a Green Angel please speak to Stephen.

Thank-you card from the family meeting at Beacon for Supervised Visitation.

Lighting the Christ Candle

As we light our Christ Candle this morning, let us remember that its light is not to one space or one gathering.  The light of Christ is with us everywhere.  So as we light our candle this morning, let us remember that we have been called and challenged to not only recognize Christ’s light wherever it shines but to take that light out with us wherever we go.

Acknowledgment of Territory

Wherever we are in this wonderful province of Nova Scotia, we are reminded that we still gather on lands that are, by law, the unceded territories of the Mi’kmaq people.  We gratefully and respectfully acknowledge this.  We also respectfully honour the traditions and spirituality of all our indigenous brothers and sisters with whom we also share this land.

Call to Worship

(The words of our Call to Worship this morning come from The Most Reverend Thabo Makgobe, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa)

We worship a creator God.  The more we learn about the natural world the more wonderful we discover it to be.  There is a real danger that with all our modern technical discoveries we lose sight of the magnificence and intricacy of creation.  And we are discovering that creation is seriously under threat.  Now is the time to recognize that we have a responsibility to God to care for this intricate web of life, acknowledging that “The Earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it”.

And so this morning we gather to worship the God of Creation, recognizing that “The Earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it”.

 Opening Prayer

Let us pray;

Divine Creator;

At the beginning of time, you placed a single mandate on humankind, to be stewards of Creation, to replenish and nurture for all generations of what you have made.  We kneel today amid that same Creation – a world that is, in many ways, more splendid than ever, but, in too many other ways, is scarred beyond recognition.  Turn us from our carelessness and denial.  Help our touch to be light.  Help us renew the worlds that support us so that we may come to know Creation as we are intended to know it, as part of all that is, including us.  Amen

Theme Conversation/Current Events

Nature is Speaking – Home

https://www.conservation.org/nature-is-speaking/reese-witherspoon-is-home

Scripture Readings

Our last service for Creation Time deals with Stewardship, and where better to start than at the beginning.  In the first creation story found at the beginning of Genesis, God tells humanity that they are to “have dominion” over the creatures that God has created.  This is dominion, not dictatorship.  It is a call to Stewardship of all that has been created.  Reading Genesis 1:24-31

Psalm 8 reminds us that all things, including ourselves, were made by God but that we have been given a specific place in creation, a place that calls us to have authority over and care for all of creation.

1 Corinthians 12 talks about the individual gifts and talents given to each person.  But it also reminds us that those gifts are given to us, not for our own personal enjoyment or benefit, but “for the good of all.”

Just as Jesus parables often dealt with seeds and plants and farming, they also often dealt with the relationship between master and servant.  Today’s reading from Luke talks about the rewards of being a good servant or good steward of what the master has given you.

Stewardship

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, said this.  “For the Church in the 21^st Century, good ecology is not an optional extra but a matter of justice.  It is central to what it means to be a Christian.”

The world around us, our environment, involves not only nature and natural resources, but all human interactions with the planet, which is our home.  How we regard our life support system is strongly influenced by our history, our culture, and our present circumstances.  Eco-justice is therefore not limited to the preservation of rare plants and animals; it is concerned with ecological and economic justice.  It will define the kind of world we will leave to our children, grandchildren, and all future generations.

We often talk about environmental issues, but by exchanging the term ‘creation’ for ‘environment’ we come to understand the world around us and ourselves quite differently.  The concept of creation evokes a deep and value-laden spiritual meaning.

While governments, business corporations, and the media have adopted the language of ‘sustainable development’ it is time for us, as people of faith, to make ‘creation care’ the core principle upon which we base our own life, our growth, and our development.  This is not something new.  In 1994 the United Church of Canada change the creed we commonly use, the “New Creed” written in 1968, by adding the line “to live with respect in Creation”.

If we are to live sustainably, if we are to live with ‘respect in Creation’, we need to nurture and care for that creation.  We need to respect not only the natural world which supplies our needs but also all the people who are part of Creation.  We need to look after people and strive to achieve economic justice and welfare not just for the natural world around us.

From the perspective of the faith we have, for far too long, misinterpreted and misused the directive to “have dominion over” creation.  We have viewed the world from an anthropocentric or human-centered perspective.  Although we are told that people were created in Divine image and came into being as the last great work of creation, we have often taken this to mean that we are separate from and superior to the rest of creation.  We have taken it to mean we have the power, authority, and mandate to exploit, conquer, and abuse God’s creation.  We have not understood the reality that all creatures are an equally valuable and valued part of the covenant that God made at creation.

The concept of ‘stewardship’ has been adopted by many Christians as a gentler and more sensitive way of interpreting the charge for us to “have dominion”.  A good steward will preserve, sustain, nurture, care for and use wisely what has been placed in his or her care.  A good steward must be accountable and responsible to his or her ‘employer’ both in the present and into the future.

But many people are not comfortable with the idea of stewardship.  If creation and life itself are gifts from God, do we not have the right to use them however we choose?  After all, a gift shouldn’t come with strings attached.

As Christians, we need to approach this idea of stewardship with humility. With its hundreds of thousands or perhaps even millions of species how we can be good stewards of God’s creation?  We cannot begin to care for every aspect of the intricacy of all of creation.  It’s just too much.  It’s too big.  But we can respond to the call to care for the creation around us if we see ourselves as keepers or stewards of what God has placed in our care.  There are many ways that we can live out our role as ‘keepers of God’s creation’ both locally and in the wider context.

Throughout worship and liturgy, we have the opportunity to express our gratitude and appreciation for the bounty of creation and the many gifts we are given.  Worship also gives us space to share our own needs and concerns within the context of our faith community.

Eco-Theology is a new term for many people, but it reflects our faithful call as stewards of creation.  ‘Eco’ comes from the Greek word Oikos which means household.  It has come to refer to the wise economic and ecological management of our home.  On a small scale, our home is our local environment.  In global terms, it refers to our planet, Earth.

Theology concerns our beliefs, teachings, and understanding of matters of faith.  It is based on our Bible, our history (both personal and collective), our ethics, our tradition, and our own life experience.  In the 21^st Century, eco-theology is becoming a more and more important part in our collective search for meaning and faith.

According to Genesis, we have been called to “till the earth and keep it” to “cultivate it and guard it”.  To be stewards of creation means to manage creation wisely.  Our ever-increasing demand for natural resources like fresh water, land, oil, minerals, fish, and forest products is outstripping the earth’s capacity to provide and sustain them.  The earth can no longer cope with our waste, destruction and pollution.

Human activities are changing climates and landscapes and are poisoning the air, soil and water.  We are also causing the extinction of many of God’s plants, animals and insects which were entrusted to our care.  But there are things we can do.  Open, unused spaces provide a wonderful opportunity to be stewards of creation and participate in ‘keeping God’s garden’.  I believe that Beacon has done an amazing job of this with our community garden, where all chemicals and artificial pesticides and fertilizers are banned and where the indigenous varieties of vegetation are being cultivated in our ‘water garden’ and in other areas in and around our community garden.

But what we are putting into the earth is only part of it.  We also have to look at what we are taking out.  To a very large extent our society is still heavily dependant on non-renewable fossil fuels such as coal and oil.  We know that the extraction of these fossil fuels not only scares our earth, but the emissions from the burning of fossil fuels contributes greatly to climate change.  Many governments, including Canada, are expanding their use of nuclear power, but concerns over safety and the secure disposal of radio-active waste, which must be stored for thousands of years, leaves many people concerned about the sustainability of this option.

The slow pace of innovative solution to increasing renewable energy sources and the high cost of installation are making the availability of energy from renewable sources frustrating for the general public.  But as faith communities we have a responsibility to promote and encourage changes that will help to sustain and care for God’s creation.

If we believe that God is present in all of creation, then the boundaries of the Great Commandment to love God and our neighbour must extend beyond our human community to include all of creation.  If caring for creation is one of the commitments we make in our profession of faith, “to live with respect in creation”, then we need to find ways to live this out in our daily lives.  And there are things that we can do.

One of the most ‘environmentally expensive’ forms of travel is by air.  A few years ago, when Marti Tindell was elected as moderator, she refused to travel by plane, instead criss-crossing the county by train, bus and car.  It is interested that today environmentalist are talking about how much good Covid-19 has done for the environment as people have been forced to stay at home and travel less.  We have not been able to travel by plane and we have been encouraged not to travel outside our own area unless it is necessary.  Many people, myself included, have been walking more and driving less.  The question is, will we continue these trends once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted?

There are other things we can do as well.  I know a number of people who have, for at least a period of time, committed to going on the ‘hundred mile diet’, not eating anything that must be transported more than 100 miles.  Even after their commitment ended, the majority of those who have done this, continue to shop more locally and to think more carefully about their food choices and the effect these choices have on our environment.

Many people have replaced older appliances with newer more energy efficient models.  Others have replaced drafty windows and doors or increased their insulation.  A lot of these changes are eligible for government grants to help with the cost.  Even something as simple as switching out old light bulbs for newer, more energy efficient bulbs can make a difference.

And there is one more thing we can do.  We can speak out.  Too often we have remained silent on issues of national or global significance.  We have left the decision making to politicians and corporations who, at times, have ignored the warnings of science in order to insure economic prosperity and profits.

The uniting of the voices of people of all faiths from around the world has the potential to be a powerful agent for change.  When we put our belief that God has called us to stewardship of creation into action, amazing things can happen.  As people of faith, as worshiping communities, as individual churches and individuals we can become a force to be reckoned with when we work together.

One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from Margaret Mead who said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”    Amen

 

The Gift of Music      Song of Healing ~ Norman Habel 2000

Healing is flowing, deep in the waters,

Flowing from Eden, flowing from old.

All through creation, God sends forth waters,

Oceans of healing, for all the world.

 

Healing is rising, fresh with the morning,

Healing is rising, bursting with grace.

Christ, our rich healing, deep in creation,

Heal Earth’s deep wounds and rise in this place.

 

Healing is offered, leaves from the life tree,

Healing is offered nations at war.

Come, wounded Healer, torn by the violence,

Rise from the grave, bring peace to our shore.

 

Healing is given, flows from forgiveness,

Healing is given, flowing from our faith.

Christ, give us hearts to love your deep healing,

Living forgiveness, even in death.

 

Healing is rising, free in Christ’s body,

Healing is flowing, free with Christ’s blood.

May this deep healing pulse through our bodies,

Heal the world’s wounds still bleeding and red.

 

Prayer of Blessing (Gifts and Prayer Jar)

Let us take a moment to remember all the gifts that have blessed and enriched our lives and to think about how we can use those gifts to enrich the lives of others …

Let us pray; God you have given us stewardship over all that you have given us.  Help us to use wisely all that we have, our time, our treasures and our talents.  Amen.

And now let us take a moment now to offer our silent prayers for all those named in our prayer jar and all those in our thoughts, our minds and our hearts … Amen.

Minute for Mission

 

Prayers of Gratitude and Concern

Creator God, you call us to love and serve you with body, mind, and spirit.  We pray that you will teach us how to provide for our own lives, mindful of our own needs, yet also mindful of your call to loving service.  Help us to spend our time and our money wisely, never forgetting that all we have has been given in trust by you.

We pray for the wonder and diversity of creation, for all the many species of plants, animal, and insects with which we have been blessed as well as the bounty of land, sea and sky and all that they provide.  Teach us to use wisely what you have given into our care.

We pray that our church, that all churches and all faith communities will be places of generosity where people work together, giving all that they are and all that they have, so that the wonderful resources of our world may be better shared.  Teach us the gratitude that dispels envy, that we may honor each gift of Your creation, as a precious and sacred trust to be treated with reverence and respect.

We pray for those who do not have enough, those who are hungry, those who are homeless, those who do not have access to adequate health care or education.  We pray that our world may recognize these injustices and work for change.

We pray for those caught in the cycle of violence and abuse whether that abuse is caused by political unrest, war and fighting or if it is caused by individuals, those closest to the victim or those who hate simply because someone else is different from them.

We pray for people who wander through life, constantly seeking a purpose, a reason for living.  We pray for those dealing with depression and loneliness especially during this time of pandemic.  We pray for those who are feeling lost and without purpose because of unemployed due to lack of work opportunities, pandemic closures, or due to health issues. We remember to those who have stored up wealth for themselves believing that the road to happiness is through the accumulation of possessions.  Help them to find in you, love, acceptance, wholeness and new purpose.

Holy One, as we come before you now we ask that you will hear our prayers. Make us faithful stewards of all the fragile bounty of this earth, the bounty of natural beauty and resources but also the bounty and diversity of your human creation.  Hear us we pray.  Amen.

 

The Gift of Music      Rise Creator Spirit Rise  ~ Norman Havel 1999

Rise Creator Spirit, rise,

From this land of endless skies.

Rise from deep within this land,

Move across the desert sand.

Rise, create this land anew,

Make your Dreaming song come true.

Fill this land with life again,

Make the desert bloom with rain.

Fill this land with life again,

Make the desert bloom with rain.

 

Rise Creator Spirit, rise,

From this land of endless skies.

Rise from deep in mystery,

Rise to set your people free.

Hear the land cry out in pain,

Hear her people call your name.

Let the rainbow span this Earth

Giving hope and giving birth.

Let the rainbow span this Earth

Giving hope and giving birth.

 

Rise Creator Spirit, rise,

From this land of endless skies.

Rise from deep within the tomb,

Making Jesus’ grave a womb.

Plunging back into your cave,

Bringing live to every grave,

Life that rose with Jesus Christ

Rose to fill our hearts and eyes.

Life that rose with Jesus Christ

Rose to fill our hearts and eyes.

 

Sending Out

God has made us stewards of all creation.  What an honour!  What a responsibility!  So we go out from here now into this amazing, diverse, blessed and suffering creation to do the work to which we are call.  But we don’t go alone.  The one who continues to create is with us, the one who teaches by example guides us, and the one who inspires, challenges and empowers goes with us.  And so we go with God.