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Worship

Worship is the central and distinctive act of the church. When we gather to worship and praise God, we express the deepest levels of who we are as individuals and a community. We orient ourselves toward that which is most important -- toward God's purposes. In worship, the community of faith is nurtured in its belief and practice. A congregation that is theologically committed to eco-justice -- or is striving for that commitment -- will bring that awareness and perspective into the worship life of the church on a regular basis. If eco-justice is not reflected in the worship life of a congregation, that is an indicator that those commitments are not deeply held or theologically grounded. This page is an index to resources that will help you bring an eco-justice faith perspective into the worship life of your congregation. We encourage suggestions for resources to list on this page, and we invite authors and composers to submit original works for posting on this site.

Background articles and resources from Eco-Justice Ministries:
Quick tips for Worship - from the staff of Eco-Justice Ministries, some basic tips, pointers and suggestions about bringing eco-justice into congregational worship.

Three Layers of Environmental Preaching - this short article discusses the diversity of forms of environmental preaching, and illustrates the variety by reference to some of our Eco-Justice Notes. We hear that this article has been very helpful to preachers, and to church members who are encourging their pastor to preach on the topic.

A Short Story About Silence - Many church people report that they have never heard a sermon about caring for creation. This very brief article illustrates what is communicated when the subject is never mentioned.

Our congregational assessment tools raise questions to help you evaluate your church's worship life. We propose suggestions about worship content and style in relation to our Greening Your Church materials: Getting Started & Doing the Basics,   Leadership & Action, and Transformational Ministry.

Liturgical resources

• Preaching on Genesis 1 -- a comprehensive set of resources based on our training workshop
  These are a good example of a worship approach that "takes the Bible seriously, not literally"
• A Litany of Hope
• A Prayerful Reflection on Water
• Miscellaneous prayers
• Having All Things in Common -- a set of worship materials for Earth Day, 2002

Sermons by Rev. Peter Sawtell, Executive Director of Eco-Justice Ministries

• "New Directions, New Dimensions"
• Celebrating the Asses In Our Lives -- based on the story of Balaam's Ass
• A Blessed Way of Life
• Seeing, Believing and Acting - a sermon outline for Earth Day, 2004
• A Matter of Hope
• Reconciling the World

Music and Hymns

• The Earth is the Lord's - a hymn by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette; copyright release provided for one-time use in local churches.
• This Is God's Wondrous World -- an inclusive language version of "This Is My Father's World"

Links to worship resources beyond this site

• Web of Creation

  Among many other worship resources, the Web of Creation site has two sample liturgies for animal blessings. One of them is a fairly traditional Episcopal service. The other, from the Australian Season of Creation collection, has a more confessional style, and is more attentive to the whole animal realm. Our Eco-Justice Notes on Blessing All the Animals encourages churches to reach beyond household pets in their animal blessings.

• Earth Ministry
• The Lake Junaluska Conference Center in North Carolina hosts an annual Caring for Creation conference. They have posted the worship resources from many years of those events.
• An Interfaith Requium for the Species [PDF], from St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Seattle, WA
• A Tenebrae for the Earth [DOC], by Kim Winchell, 2009