pwrdf.org Web viewA Commemoration of World Food Day by PWRDF. Thursday ... they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the LORD. Second Reading ... Tune: BEACH

Planting Seeds, Sharing Bread

Chapel of the Holy ApostlesCelebration of the Holy Eucharist

A Commemoration of World Food Day by PWRDFThursday, October 15, 2015

Celebrant: Rev. Dr. Eileen ScullyPlease join us for a sharing of food following the service

Be a gardener, dig a ditch,toil and sweat,

and turn the earth upside downand seek the deepness and water the plants in time…

Take this food and drinkand carry it to God as your true worship.

—Julian of Norwich

Gathering

Welcome

Call to WorshipWe gather togetherto celebrate God’s bounty and blessing,to proclaim God’s goodness and love,to remember the many waysin which God has provided for our needs,and to offer ourselves in the work of God’s kingdom.Praise the God of harvest and hope!Let us worship together

(From Hope to Harvest – A Worship Service for World Food DayCanadian Foodgrains Bank)

Apostolic Greeting and Collect for Purity

Hymn – All Things Bright and Beautiful (Common Praise 415)

Word

Collect of the DayLoving God, with a handful of flour and a drop of oil the widow of Zarephath fed the prophet Elijah before her child and herself.God, teach us the joy of hospitality that welcomes friend and stranger, neighbour and enemy, and so find You feasting among us.


First Reading - Kings 4:42-44A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, "Give it to the people and let them eat."

But his servant said, "How can I set this before a hundred people?" So he repeated, "Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and have some left.'"

He set it before them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the LORD.

Second Reading – VII, 1996, from This Day, Collected and New Sabbath Poems, by Wendell BerryIn spring we planted seed,

2

And by degrees the plantsGrew, flowered, and transformedThe light to food, which weBrought in, and ate, and lived.The year grown old, we gatheredAll that remained. We broke,Manured, prepared the groundFor overwintering.And thus at last made clearOur little plot of time,Tropical for a while,Then temperate, then cold.

Gospel Reading – John 6:1-21

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples.

Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little."

One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?"

Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.

When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world."

Homily/Reflection

Prayers

Prayers of the People – Plant a seed, offer your petitions and prayers

Thanksgiving PrayerGod, we thank you for your harvest

3

which feeds us so many times each dayWe are nourished with your forgiveness and hopewe are sustained with your strength and patiencewe are filled with your grace and compassion

God, we thank you for feeding us with a harvest of plentyWe are restored through your generosity and healingwe are replenished with your abundance and joywe are reminded of your selfless abandon

God, we thank you for feeding us with the bread of heavenYour gift of Christ sustains our livesHis presence restores the promise of your loveHis life fills our hearts with your everlasting light

God, we thank you too for filling us with the water of lifeMay we drink deeply that our thirst may be quenchedmay your river continue to flowover us, in us, through usand out into the world you love.Amen.


Prayer of ConfessionYou asked for my handsthat you might use them for your purposes.I gave them for a momentThen withdrew them for the work was hard.

You asked for my mouth to speak out against injustice.I gave you a whisperthat I might not be accused.

You asked for my eyesto see the pain of poverty.I closed themfor I did not want to see.You asked for my lifethat you might work through me.I gave you a small partthat I might not get “too involved.”

Lord, forgive me for calculated efforts to serve youonly when it is convenient for me to do so,and only in those places where it is safe to do so,and only with those who make it easy to do so.

4

Lord, forgive me,renew me,send me out as a usable instrument,that I may take seriously the meaning of your cross.


Assurance of Pardon and The Peace

Meal

Hymn – Song for the EnvironmentWe must care for the environment and this lovely world of ours.Planting trees in every valley, watch them grow up to the stars.See the sun shine on clean rivers, as they flow down to the sea.Every lake has its inhabitants, fishes swimming happily.

No more mining every mountain, no more poisons in the ground.No more pesticides on farm fields, greener planting will abound.When the animals roam freely, never kept away from light,Then the meals at our own table will become a kinder sight.

We can practice better values, in the hurried life we lead.Stop our rushing and our buying, take some time to think and read.How to plant a little garden, how to care for every seed.We’ll grow better as we learn how to live just with what we need.

Ethan Plecash, The Church of the Holy Trinity, April 2010Tune: BEACH SPRING(Ethan passed away in 2013 at age 17)

Prayer over the giftsGod of honey and harvest,of grain and grapeof ocean and orchard:This harvest time may we both praise and pray;praise you for the abundanceand pray that this harvest is not just shared,but shared justly.

God of beehives and breadbasketsof living webs and the weaving of lifeof ecosystems and economy:This harvest timemay we both praise and pray praise you for the wealth of the harvestand pray that this harvest is not just a promisebut is full of promise for all.

5

God of bumble bees and blue whales,evolution and environment,ice-field and star-field:This harvest timemay we both praise and pray:praise you for the sheer wonder of the worldand pray that this harvest is not about our wealthbut the wealth of our generosity.


Eucharistic Prayer

Breaking and Sharing of the Bread

Sending

Doxology

Sending Hymn – For the Fruit of All Creation (Common Praise 259)

Commissioning and BlessingGo now, and invest your lives in the works of faith.Make a name for yourselves for generosity and compassion.Fulfill God’s holy lawby putting love into action as eagerly for othersas you would for yourselves.

And may God be your defender and provider;May Christ Jesus dispel all that disturbs or disables you,and may the Holy Spirit make you rich in faith,and loving and merciful in action.

We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,In the name of Christ. Amen.


6

Documents

pwrdf.org Web viewA Commemoration of World Food Day by PWRDF. Thursday ... they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the LORD. Second Reading ... Tune: BEACH