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04/04/2008
Stewardship of Creation Liturgy Now Online
by the Rev. Deacon Dave Drachlis
Liturgical appointments for use on Stewardship of Creation Sunday, April 27, are now available online.
During this year’s 177th Convention of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Alabama, the Rt. Rev. Henry Parsley announced plans -- which were ratified by the convention -- to appoint the fourth Sunday in April each year as Stewardship of Creation Sunday.
The appointments were released last week for appropriate use by all parishes on April 27. They include scripture readings, hymn suggestions, and a choice of two litanies.
Bishop Parsley's Cover Letter (Download)
Stewardship of Creation Readings (Download)
Stewardship of Creation Liturgy I (Download)
Stewardship of Creation Liturgy II (Download)
Comments:
The content of the Stewardship Liturgies is good, but their grammar, punctuation and style are atrocious. In the future it would be a good idea to have such things written -- or at least corrected -- by an experienced writer.
Posted by: Richard Losch
I was surprised and alarmed to discover, upon coming to church yesterday morning, that the Sixth Sunday of Easter had (this year) been replaced by a new Holy Day called Stewardship of Creation Sunday, just coincidentally the Sunday after Earth Day.
I find it interesting that we celebrate environmental stewardship now, even though we don't have a Sunday in which we celebrate stewardship of our families; we don't have a Sunday in which we celebrate stewardship of the work we are given by God to do; we don't even have a Sunday in which we celebrate stewardship of the money and material goods that God has given us. Of course, celebrating stewardship of our families, livelihoods, and material possessions would cause us to contemplate our own sinfulness and perhaps adopt an amendment of life. We might experience discomfort. We might have to change.
I am all for protecting the environment, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, stopping all forms of air and water pollution, reducing our carbon footprints, stopping the destruction of the rainforests, protecting endangered wildlife, and just about any other environmental cause one can name. But is very difficult for me, impossible actually, to imagine St. Paul celebrating a Stewardship of Creation Sunday. The reading for the day from Romans, which is about the existing creation longing for Resurrection Day, the day when all death and decay will be over, hardly advocates for stewardship of the environment. St. Paul was an effective preacher of the gospel because he remained focused, always, on Jesus Christ and him crucified. He simply did not take part in the great political controversies of his day, other than to proclaim to anyone who would listen that we have a new king, and his name is Jesus Christ.
If I had not been committed to teaching a Sunday School class at my parish later that morning, I would have gotten up out of my pew and gone to church elsewhere that morning. If it is to be the practice of my parish to celebrate Stewardship of Creation Sunday on the fourth Sunday of every April, I will worship somewhere else on that day in future years.
Rick Harris
St. John's Montgomery
Posted by: Rick Harris
