Earth Care Lenten Devotional

Feast­ing on God’s Gifts; Fast­ing in Sorrow

Brought to you by Pres­by­te­ri­ans for Earth Care: An Eco-Justice Network

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PEC Lenten Reflec­tion 2012, Moderator’s Com­ments,
by Diane Wad­dell
We enter into Lent in grat­i­tude for God’s gra­cious­ness. We are in awe of the beauty of this sacred space with which God has gifted us. At the same time, we come in grief; with deep sor­row for the losses which Cre­ation has borne…loss of top­soil, clean water, habi­tats of species; loss of clean air and pris­tine wilder­ness, of oppor­tu­nity for fuller health and heal­ing; and much more.

With this Lenten Devo­tional, Pres­by­te­ri­ans for Earth Care invites you to enter into Lent with us … seek­ing… reflect­ing …pon­der­ing… “Feast­ing and Fast­ing.” Each devo­tional will con­tain Scrip­ture, Prayer, and a Reflec­tion. There is a read­ing for each holy day and one for each week of Lent.

The reflec­tions are based on “Feast­ing and Fast­ing.” A 2006 set of devo­tion­als from (then) Pres­by­te­ri­ans for Restor­ing Cre­ation fol­lowed a sim­i­lar theme. Mem­bers explained, “We are called both to attend to the sacred­ness of Cre­ation and to respond to it by active par­tic­i­pa­tion in the pro­tec­tion of Creation”.

Deep peace and strength to us all as we enter into this sacred holy sea­son. May we together seek and find the con­nec­tions and bless­ings of feast­ing and fast­ing as we encounter Christ in and through Creation.

A Prayer from the Lenten Devo­tional, by John Pit­ney
Cre­ator God, make us wor­thy of our food. Let us feast to the fullest on the faire of flock and field that most hon­ors the integrity of soil, water, air, the sanc­tity of human labor, and the suf­fi­ciency of com­mu­nity. Let us fast of tables that exploit, deplete, iso­late, and con­demn. And may we wel­come to the best seats, the most mar­gin­al­ized of human­ity and the most endan­gered of plant and crea­turekind. If by break­fast, lunch, and din­ner, we can con­demn, then by din­ner, lunch, and break­fast may we be saved. Amen.

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More Lenten Envi­ron­men­tal Resources

• Tread Lightly for Lent 2012 Cal­en­dar: Each of the 40 days of Lent has a topic to learn about or a sug­gested action for indi­vid­u­als and con­gre­ga­tions; pro­vided by the PC(U.S.A.) Envi­ron­men­tal Ministries.
• 2012 Ecu­meni­cal Lenten Car­bon Fast
• Seven Weeks for Water, 2012: Check in each week for spe­cial atten­tion to “green econ­omy;” pro­vided by the World Coun­cil of Churches.
• ‘And It Was Good’ Lent Course: Angli­can Com­mu­nion Bible in the Life of the Church program.
• “Earth Care as Lenten Prac­tice,” by Rebecca Barnes-Davies
• “Cross on my fore­head, future gen­er­a­tions on my mind,” NCC Eco-Justice Pro­grams Ash Wednes­day blog and action alert
• “A Lenten Fast: From Insight to Action in the Gospel of John,” Pres­by­ter­ian Hunger Pro­gram reflec­tions on food with farm­ers and global partners

Take Action Today!

• Join Pres­by­te­ri­ans for Earth Care
• Order eco-palms for Palm Sun­day 2012
• Pledge to avoid bot­tled water
• Become an Earth Care Congregation
• Young adults: become an Eco-Steward
• Go car­bon neutral
• Get involved with Green­Faith: Inter­faith part­ners for the environment
• Take action with the NCC Eco-Justice Programs

 

PEC is a member-based, grass­roots, non-profit orga­ni­za­tion oper­at­ing pri­mar­ily along­side the Pres­by­ter­ian Church (U.S.A.) but also in ecu­meni­cal cir­cles. PEC cares for God’s cre­ation by con­nect­ing with God and oth­ers through bib­li­cal and the­o­log­i­cal reflec­tion, study, and expe­ri­enc­ing God in Cre­ation; equip­ping mem­bers with news and effec­tive tools and resources; and inspir­ing mem­bers through con­fer­ences on timely eco-justice issues and Creation-honoring worship.