Mother Earth: Celebration and Resistance
Sunday 25th August 2024, led by Patricia Higgins
Victoria Falls, by Sammy Wong on Unsplash
Gathering
In this time we take a few minutes to think of ways in which you try to resist the onslaught of ecological devastation being visited on our planet.
Readings
Creation is allowed in intimate love
To speak to the creator as if to a lover.
As the creator loves her creation,
So Creation loves the Creator.
Creation of course was fashioned to be adorned
To be showered, to be gifted with the love of the Creator.
The entire world has been embraced by this kiss.
God has gifted creation with all that is necessary.
God’s Word is in all creation, visible and invisible.
The word is living, being, spirit, all verdant greening.....all creativity
This word manifest in every creature.....
Now this is how the spirit is in the flesh - the Word is indivisible from God.
Hildegard of Bingen
When despair in the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s life may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world and am free.
Wendell Berry ‘The Peace of Wild Things’
I think the indigenous women’s wisdom is crucial. So much of the care of the earth has come from the mothers. I think it’s imperative we turn to their wisdom on how to take care of the planet.
Alice Walker
Individual Contemplative Time
In our walk around the garden can we bring to mind someone who has inspired us to look afresh at the wonder and beauty of the world. Thank them for helping you on your journey of discovery and fostering the desire to resist its destruction.
Regathering
We share any responses or reflections arising from our time in the garden
Readings
Amidst the gale, they stand so tall
Refusing to break, refusing to fall
Against mighty storms, their roots grow deep,
Unyielding in purpose, a vow they keep.
For in Resistance, strength does lie, Beneath open skies and the watchful eye. With determination and fire in their gaze They challenge the norms, setting hearts ablaze
Though the journeys hard, and nights are long Their spirit remains powerful and strong.
In the face of adversity, they persist, For the soul of resistance can’t be dismissed
‘Unyielding Spirit’ Maya Anthony
If we are bold
Love strikes away
the chains of fear
from our souls.
Maya Angelou
Knowing what I do there would be no future peace for me if I kept silent.
Rachel Carson ‘Silent Spring’
Freda and Mimi at the Restore Nature Now march in June 2024
Prayer
Dear Mother Earth give us the courage and commitment to continue our journey of love and resistance to the destruction of the planet you have so gracefully bestowed on us all. Amen.
Upcoming Eco-Contemplative Liturgies
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