SUNDAY, SEPT. 6, 2020

Pentecost 14 (Lectionary 23)
Exodus 12:1-14 | Psalm 149 | Romans 13:8-14 | Matthew 18:15-20
“Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep.” Romans 13:11

Discipleship is a lifelong calling to worship, learn, listen and act in the name of Jesus. In Romans 13, disciples are invited to wake up to the significance of the times in which they live.
Waking up to matters of climate justice and environmental stewardship are among the most important callings people have today. Over many years, through many voices, our churches have come to a growing conviction that loving our neighbor includes loving Mother Earth as a neighbor.
Who helps you to wake up?
For our churches, many voices have come from Indigenous Peoples who continue to teach us the significance of land and relationships. The particular “place you are in” at any given moment is important. “Land” is about relationships between earth, water, animals, plants, peoples, environments and climate. Healing relationships with the land are essential for justice and peace among peoples. God speaks to us anew through relationships with the land.

Worship also wakes us up. Worship helps open our hearts, minds, bodies and spirits to our relationships with creation and to the possibilities for action. We are grateful for the worship you regularly offer in order to support many on the journey of learning, listening, discerning and acting.
We are excited to share these devotions with you during the Season of Creation. We share with you these hymns that speak to our spiritual connections to creation:

• ELCA in Canada National Bishop Susan Johnson: “Touch the Earth Lightly” (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 739)
• Episcopal Presiding Bishop Michael Curry: “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” (Lift Every Voice and Sing II, 217)
• Anglican Church of Canada Archbishop Linda Nicholls: “Now the Green Blade Rises” (Common Praise, 237)
• ECLA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton: “Light Dawns on a Weary World” (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 726)

Perhaps you will have an opportunity to sing one or more of these hymns during the Season of Creation.

What songs, prayers, words and practices encourage you as you express your discipleship through caring for creation? What helps you wake up?

Prayer: Loving God, we thank you for the gift of life in all its diversity and beauty; renew us in discipleship and in love for the earth. Amen.

Learn more about the Season of Creation here: karls246.sg-host.com/the-season-of-creation/