Earth Day Sunday
2021-04-18
Services in church continue to be cancelled for Covid protection
THE GATHERING OF THE CHURCH
Earth Day Sunday.
18th April 2021
St. Andrew by-the-Lake
Toronto Islands
www.standrewbythelake.com
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Priest- David Howells 416-890-4578
Church Office – 416-203-0873
Warden - Bella Beazer 416-203-4142
Warden – Jane Davidson-Neville 416-203- 8564
Deputy Warden & Synod Rep – Julia Weldon Tait
Deputy Warden - Nancy Kendrew
Outreach Chair – Graham Mudge 416-203-3556
Treasurer/Bookings – Joyce Rogers 416-203-0987
Musicians--
Roger Sharp, Julia Weldon Tait,
& Jane Davidson-Neville
Music selected by Jane Davidson-Neville
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THE GATHERING OF THE CHURCH
We give thanks to our Creator for the earth we share with all creatures,
and we acknowledge that here we are on the traditional lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabe,
the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Wendat.
We also recognize the enduring presence of all First Nations,
Metis and Inuit peoples, and we seek to live respectfully with
them and with the earth.
We believe that black lives matter.
We know that love is love,
and we welcome everybody
who desires to join us in worship.
You are a beloved creation of God, and you are most welcome.
(borrowed from St Aidan’s in the Beach)
Opening Prayer
We are called to rejoice in the creation of the world.
God has lovingly formed our planet and all that live within it.
God declares this creation to be good and then entrusted us to care for it along with each other.
Sometimes we forget our responsibility to care for nature.
This week we are called to reflect on the marvels and wonders of creation,
and to renew our commitment as good stewards of the earth.
Opening Hymn: ‘Great Trees’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48DtCQvEE3w
Slowly, slowly, they return
To the small woodland let alone.
Great trees, outspreading and upright,
Apostles of the living light.
Patient as stars, they build in air,
Tier after tier a timbered choir,
Stout beams upholding weightless grace,
Of song, a blessing on this place.
They stand in waiting all around,
Uprisings of their native ground,
Downcomings of the distant light;
They are the advent they await.
Receiving sun and giving shade
Their life's a benefaction made,
And is a benediction said
Over the living and the dead.
In fall their brightened leaves, release,
Fall down the wind and we are pleased
To walk on radiance amazed.
O light come down to earth, be praised!
Poem by Wendell Berry, music by Malcolm Dalglish, performed by the Amidon Chorus
1st Reading A reading from the book of Genesis
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God said, “Let there be light!” And there was light. And God saw that it was good. God separated the light from the darkness and called the light “Day” and the dark “Night”.
On the second day, God created a dome in the middle of the waters. God said, “Let the dome be separated from the waters.” And it was so. And God saw that it was good. He called the dome “Sky”.
On the third day, God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. And God saw that it was good. He called the dry land “Earth” and the waters “Seas and Oceans.
On the fourth day, God said. “Let there be lights in the sky in the day and in the night.” And it was so. And God saw that it was good. He called the light in the day “Sun” and the lights in the night “Stars.”
On the fifth day, God said, “Let there be living things and living creatures in the waters and in the skies.” And it was so. And God saw that it was good. He called the living things and creatures in the waters “Fish”, “Seaweed” and “Underwater Plants” and the creatures in the skies “Birds.”
On the sixth day, God said, “Let there be living things and living creatures on the surface of the earth.” And it was so. And God saw that it was good. He called the creatures “Cattle”, “Lions,” “Elephants,” “Mice” and all the other animals of the earth, and called the other living things “Flowers” and “Trees”.
Then God said, “Let there be human beings made in my image. Let these humans rule over all the other animals and living creatures on earth. Let them use plants and seedlings for food and to make shelter and tools. Let them make the land and seas of earth as their home.” And it was so.
And God saw that it was good. He breathed life into the humans and blessed them, making male and female. He called the humans “Man” and “Woman.” Then God looked at all he had made. The day and the night, the land and the seas, the sun and stars, the living creatures in the oceans, the skies and the earth, and the humans in God’s own image. And God saw that it was very good.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Psalm 104: ‘Lord, Send Out your Spirit’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbjJucDgonk
Refrain: Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face the earth!
v.1: Bless the Lord, O my soul, O Lord, my God, you are great indeed! How manifest are your works, O Lord! The earth is full of your creatures! Refrain
v.2: If you take away their breath, they die and they return to their dust. When you send forth your Spirit of life, they are created in your sight! Refrain
v.3: May his glory last for all time; may the Lord be glad in his works. Pleasing to him will be my theme; I will be glad in the Lord! Refrain
Visitation Church choir, Kansas City, Missouri, in 2016
THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke (Luke 12:13–21)
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?”
And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’
But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
The Gospel of Christ
Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ
Reflection on the Readings video of the reflection
John’s Gospel begins: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
I have often spoken about this in conversations. It is a piece of straight-up Biblical theology that our culture has steered well clear of.
John had this sense of everything coming from God.
“let there be light”....and there was light......(and suddenly light came into being)
“let there be water....and sky”.....and there were oceans and streams and puddles and waterfalls an d above it all was sky......
“Let there be living things teeming in the water ....” and SPLASH went the first fish...
And.... well, you can read the first couple of pages of the Bible, (Genesis) and there it all is.
What always struck me was the connection between God speaking and life appearing. The Word “Bird” spoken by God, has wings and feathers and flies. It is the embodiment of the word springing from the mind and heart of God. A bird is a piece of God’s speech in actual life.
I might regret that God said “mosquito”, but my regret doesn’t change anything. Rather it calls me to look again at mosquitos in the whole jigsaw puzzle of creation.
Where this ends up for me is that everything, yes, everything I see and touch, is a fragment of the heart of God, and therefore Holy.
You may recall my thinking about moths in our house. It upsets me to squish a word of God. And that requires me to behave differently.
It seems that the Book of Genesis, or the witness of the Word made Flesh specifically in Jesus of Nazareth does little to direct our collective human attention to the sacredness of all things. “He dwelt among us, full of grace and truth”. But did we pay attention? Did we really look? Did we join the dots?
Rocks that we call mining resources, or fossils, that we call fuel resources, we cannot afford to allow the presence of the Creator to be noticed in. We regard the planet as a shopping mall left unguarded, to be emptied and traded off as quickly as possible for immediate short-term gain. Britain’s forests covered most of the land until they became Elizabeth’s wooden navy to defeat Spain’s Armada, and to then gain sovereignty of the seas for trade, wealth and power. What was left of the forests became “pit-props” for the industrial revolution’s need for coal-powered factories.
Now President Bolsonaro burns down the lungs of the earth because, “They got rich by cutting down trees, so will we in Brazil” and the Amazon forest is burning down for agriculture and mining.
So far we have been able to ride the tide of millions of years of investment by the planet in less than a few generations of plunder. Our species has ballooned numerically pushing others into extinction. God’s presence in “Words” that have been silenced are barely noticed. Once we lived within Creation, in balance. Now we have become, as a species, “invasive” or possibly “cancerous” to the whole ecosystem.
The origins of SARS-Covid and the family of Corona viruses arise in places where humans are cutting down ancient forests, and the clash of species that did not otherwise come into contact facilitates the jump of viruses from another species to our own. Just in our own generation we are encountering the consequences of disregarding the idea of a “balance” in Nature.
When the “industrialsing world” began to colonise the “primitive” cultures of all that “wasn’t Europe” we “Settlers” had already lost our sense of God as Creator. In Canada only the First Nations retain this holy wisdom. But they irritatingly block the pipelines, and the armed police still illegally enter their un-ceded lands to enforce illegal fossil fuel extraction..... And so, the industrialised western culture is largely deaf and blind to the wisdom they carry, a wisdom we badly need.
By now, reading the above, you might be feeling a bit bleak and hopeless! I must confess that I am finding hope hard to find which doesn’t hinge on a massive reduction of human biomass! However, in the midst of Palestine, in the first decades of “the Years of our Lord” one young man, a small following of faithful, but often confused men, and a back-up team of very effective women, .... into the darkness of violence, military rule, casual disregard for life and an utter disregard for justice in place of control by force and fear...into this stepped the Word of God. God spoke into Mary’s body. And she, a peasant lass, said “Yes”. And this little spark of divinity in flesh grew and carried, not force, but wisdom and profound hope. He challenged the injustices and the prejudices, he healed what was sick, and returned dignity to the outcaste. He gave hope and faith a place in life again. He was the light of the world in a period of deep darkness.
I still believe in Him. I believe in the certainty that light will always overcome darkness.
I believe that hope is a better burden than fear to carry in your heart.
I believe that we do not know the way, but the way only opens as you begin to walk in the roughly right direction.
And I believe that the future will not resemble the past, and for the sake of the community of God’s creation on this little blue ball floating so entrancingly in the darkness, we humans must wake up. We must stop growing and believing growth is good. We must repent ( repent in Greek is “meta-noia” which roughly translated into English means “towards - new”)
(As I mentioned, the only life form that thinks growth is always a good idea is called a Cancer, so let’s not go that way anymore!)
Reflection Music: ‘Dido’s Lament’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3DFaIovZxc
When I am laid, am laid in earth, may my wrongs create no trouble in thy breast.
When I am laid, am laid in earth, may my wrongs create no trouble in thy breast.
Remember me. Remember me. But, ah, forget my fate.
Remember me. Remember me. But, ah, forget my fate.
Annie Lennox and the London City Voices
‘When it comes to climate catastrophe, we are on the edge of abyss. I really don’t believe we have much time left to make an effective change. We are looking at a civilization on the downwards side. This is the truth of this matter. It is staring us in the face and we are not paying any significant attention – continuing on as if it doesn’t exist. I see Dido’s lament as lament for our dying planet.’ Annie Lennox, December 2020
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Confession: Stewardship of creation
Holy God, Creator and Lover of all that is, we confess to you that we have sinned.
We have failed in our care for the land and its creatures, we have been greedy, destructive, and wasteful of the resources you entrusted to us.
Polluted air and water, eroded soil and salty earth, birds and animals deprived of habitat, and neighbours left hungry and thirsty by our selfishness:
all these cry out against us.
We do not know how to restore what we have damaged, and we repent in sorrow and distress.
Forgive us, we pray, and have mercy.
Give us grace to change our ways, to make amends, and to work together for the healing of the world, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Absolution: Restoration of creation
Our Saviour died and rose again so that for all who live in him there is a new creation.
Therefore I declare to you: your sins are forgiven, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Send out your Spirit, O Lord. Renew the hearts of your people. Renew the face of the earth.
© The Anglican Church of Australia
Let us pray for ourselves and each other, and for those that we do not know, but who you know, God.
In this month remember those who find the doors of our society locked against them, those who feel they are not equal because of the colour of their skin. Pray for those who have privileged lives without knowing who pays. Pray to be shown how to bring justice, even if only by a first trickle.
As we seek our vaccinations and we face new variants of the Covid Virus,
we pray for our Prime Minister and the Premier of this Province to be blessed with clear guidance and wisdom.
We pray for those who work in dangerous jobs caring for us.
We pray for those who have contracted the Covid 19 Virus in this last year.
We pray for the “long-haulers” dealing with months of pain and fatigue.
We pray for those who have died, and for those who have watched loved ones die.
We pray caregivers in nursing and retirement homes,
for medical staff in clinics and hospitals who have lived with the risks
and some who have contracted the disease.
We pray for those who must organise, communicate with us, the public, and get vaccines in arms.
We pray for the Medical Officers of Health who have guided our political leaders.
We hold up to God all whose lives have been marred by this pandemic, here and far away.
We pray for ourselves and others for a spirit of self-control, compassion and hope and patience.
On this Sunday leading towards Earth Day on Thursday, we pray..
Living in Harmony May we use the world’s resources we need with love, humility, and thoughtfulness, without guilt, without fear, without waste.
May we live in harmony with the earth
May we live together with animals with which we share this planet, being careful not to harm them or their habitats.
May we live in harmony with the earth
May we respect the life in our lakes, rivers and oceans, using them with care and being mindful in our efforts not to pollute them.
May we live in harmony with the earth
May we learn to live within our means, by reducing our waste and continuing to reuse and recycle all that we can.
May we live in harmony with the earth
May we plan to leave the world in a state that all future generations will be able to enjoy, ensuring that it is filled with resources, life, and kept healthy and clean.
May we live in harmony with the earth Lord, Creator of all living things, Help guide our daily actions and thoughts to become better stewards of the earth. Guide us to act responsibly, care for the earth you gave us, and make wise choices in our everyday living. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Adapted from Words for the Journey for Teens by Lisa Freemantle, Les Miller & Melinda Rapallo-Ferrara) Toronto Catholic Schools Board
We remember those we know who are sick in body mind or spirit, especially Donna, Michael, Penny, Enid, Freda, Anne & family, Charlotte, Rose, Gail, Peter, Bob, Douglas, Marian,
We pray for those who are close to death or who have passed through death, remembering Ron, Joey, Mick, Paulette, Bev, Fred, Farima, Cathy, June, Barbara, Craig, Les
In the diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for St. Bride, Clarkson, its involvement in the Caring and Sharing network, Compass community centre and food bank, and Community Church Volunteers, its refugee sponsorship, and its support of Hands Across the Nation outreach in developing countries;
for St. Chad, and its monthly community supper;
and for St. Christopher, and its community environmental stewardship programs.
Here take a few moments to hold before our God all who you are carrying in love and care.....
All of our longings and our fears, our hopes and our desires we bring to you. Hear our prayers, gracious God. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Final Hymn: ‘For the Beauty of the Earth’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7faaCCB9oOw
For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies
Over and around us lies
'Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise
For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night
Hill and vale and tree and flow'r
Sun and Moon and stars of light
Sun and Moon and stars of light
'Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise
For the joy of human love (For the joy of love)
Brother, sister, parent, child (Brother, sister, parent, child)
Friends on earth (Friends on earth) and friends above (And friends above)
For all gentle thoughts and mild (For all gentle thoughts and mild)
For all gentle thoughts and mild
'Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our joyful hymn (Our joyful hymn) of praise (Of praise)
For each perfect gift of Thine
To our race so freely given
Graces human (Given) and divine (Human and divine)
Flow'rs of earth and buds of heav'n
Flow'rs of earth and buds of heav'n
'Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our joyful hymn (Our joyful hymn) of praise
(This our joyful hymn) Our hymn of praise
BBC presentation of young choristers in 2017
May the blessings of the Risen Lord be upon you
May the peace of God’s Holy Spirit dwell within you
May the Creator hold you ever in the palm of his hand.
And may you have joy in your life.
NOTICES
Here are several ways you can support your church:
The Collection Plate (when we are back in Church)
PAR - Pre-Authorized Remittance. You direct your bank to deposit your donation into the church account on the 20th of each month. To apply contact Joyce Rogers at standrewbookings@gmail.com
E-Transfer - Use email: standrewbookings@gmail.com
Canada Helps – Visit the church website www.standrewbythelake.com, go to the Home Page and click on the Donate button.