Want to color worship green?
by Jane J. Young
Start planning now for an Earth Day service.
I
n print, on television, in grocery and clothing stores, most everywhere, green is bustin’ out all over! Voices for environ- mental care, scattered and faint a few years
make. A sense of the interrelatedness of all things is burgeoning. Human awareness is beginning to go green.
How do the worship services in your church – or in conferences or retreats for which you provide leadership – relate to this process? What color are they? If influenced by you, a reader of Worship Arts, they aren’t likely to be gray, as in dull or routine. Nor will they be black, as in dead or asleep. But how often and how clearly do they voice God’s call in regard to Earth? Or, for that matter, sound the cry of Earth itself? In a faith that declares the natural world to be the Creator’s handiwork, are the two calls even different?
It appears that historically God has sometimes had to entrust messages to hearts and minds outside the Church before being able to get the attention of those within. Slavery and other human rights issues, for instance, have often been confronted by others while we church folk argued and fought about what Jesus really meant when he said to love our neighbors as ourselves. And ... so far, ours have not been the strong- est voices speaking truth about our relation- ship with Earth.
Table arrangement with Season of Creation logo: Shirley A. Myers
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ago, now teeter on the cusp of surround sound. They daily force us to consider consequences of fuel, clothing, and food choices – in fact, of almost every choice we
Biblical passages regarding the natural world are abundant. The first page of the preface of The Green Bible, published by HarperCollins Publishers, 2008, tells us that the writings we consider sacred contain more than a thousand references to earth and the care of creation. This green-letter text also features an introduction by Archbishop
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2010 • WORSHIP ARTS
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