The week after Easter is a quiet week, for the most part. The lectionary moves quickly to resurrection appearances Easter evening and the following Sunday, and we share the good news!
Earth Day was Friday, April 22, and I decided to share about this in the Children’s Time. Our world globe, used for telling the monthly mission story was marked with a large red heart, and we talked about how God created and loved the world “God so loved the world …” The children named things God created – stars, animals, trees, oceans, rivers, people, fruits, and on and on. I shared with the children that one mission God gives to us is to care for the earth in all the ways we can. We spoke of recycling, reusing, picking up trash, not being wasteful, keeping rivers and streams clean, and always being open to learning new ways of caring for creation.
Presbyterians for Earth Care has prepared many materials for worship and study and encourages congregations to become “Earth Care Congregations.” Hopefully a program related to Earth Care/Earth Day will be planned for one of our Summer Sabbath gatherings. As one poster shares: “Every Day is Earth Day….Earth Day is Every Day.” All of us have much to learn about caring for the earth!
On the desk in my office I have a little wooden arrow with these words: “Life is all about how you handle Plan B” “Plan Bs” are the plans we face when our “Plan As” don’t’ work out. I came across a poster with the Earth on it and these words: “There is no Plan-et B” - a deeply truthful and sobering thought.
A Prayer for Earth Day Every Day
Gracious Giver of all Life: Help us hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor as one cry, unified, amplified. May we hear the cry of your creation calling out to be seen from every corner that we might be moved from indifference to compassion, domination to collaboration, from ‘mastery over’ to harmonious coexistence. Amen.
May we help each other to learn more about caring for all of creation.
Elizabeth
Easter Monday is always a quiet day for me – a time of reflection in the “afterglow” of Easter joy! This day is filled with memories of special times shared on Easter day.
Here in Jackson Springs, we shared the joy of greeting the risen Christ at sunrise with our neighbors; the candles of Easter Joy and Resurrection were burning brightly; a special Bunny talked with our children, reminding them that Jesus loves “all the little bunnies of the world,” and shared special treats; we were blessed to hear “The Holy City” and were lead into the heart of God; wonderful organ music undergirded each act of worship with beauty, and the worship space was filled with lilies in memory and in honor of loved ones. We received the “One Great Hour of Sharing Offering” and our children brought their coin-filled “fish banks” as their special part. The bare wooden cross was transformed as we “flowered the cross” during the opening hymn. Again and again, we shared the Easter greeting: “Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!”
The poems “Easter” and “The Glory,” by Ann Weems, celebrate the day:
Just when I thought
there would be no more light
in the Jerusalem sky,
the Bright and Morning Star
appeared
and the darkness has not overcome it. …
The silence breaks into morning.
That One Star lights the world.
The lily springs to life and
Not even Solomon …
Let it begin with singing
and never end!
Oh, angels, quit your lamenting!
Oh, pilgrims,
upon your knees in tearful prayer,
rise up
and take your hearts
and run!
We who were no people
are named anew
God’s people,
for he who was no more
is forevermore.
“Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!”
Elizabeth
Each year I find myself drawn to this beautiful poem from Kneeling in Jerusalem, by Ann Weems:
“Holy Week”
Holy is the week …
Holy, consecrated, belonging to God . . .
with the predictable ease of those who know not what they do.
Our hosannas sung,
our palms waved,
let us go with passion into this week. It is a time to curse fig trees that do not yield fruit.
It is a time to cleanse our temples of any blasphemy.
It is a time to greet Jesus as the Lord’s Anointed One,
to lavishly break our alabaster
and pour perfume out for him
without counting the cost.
It is a time for preparation …
The time to give thanks and break bread is upon us.
The time to give thanks and drink of the cup is imminent.
Eat, drink, remember:
On this night of nights, each one must ask,
as we dip our bread in the wine,
“Is it I?”
And on that darkest of days, each of us must stand
beneath the tree
and watch the dying
if we are to be there
when the stone is rolled away.
The only road to Easter morning
is through the unrelenting shadows of that Friday.
Only then will the alleluias be sung;
only then will the dancing begin.
May these words find a home in our hearts as we journey through the coming days.
Have a blessed Holy Week and a joyful Easter!
Elizabeth