St. Clement Parish in Lynn Valley were invited through liturgy, prayer and song to participate in Good Seed Sunday and Stream Clean-up on April 27th, 2014, the closest Sunday to April 22nd’s Earth Hour . During the Eucharist the children brought up plants and seeds to be blessed. We sang about the thrush singing high in the tree, the waves and waterfalls roar, bumble-bees hum along in a song of love to the Giver (It's a song of praise to the Maker) with the children joyfully "playing their instruments". Each family was given a small plant by the children.
We gathered downstairs for a warming bowl of soup prior to venturing outside for the stream clean-up. The Reverend Elizabeth Mathers, our resident gardening expert showed us examples of invasive species to pull out on the banks of the stream. We came prepared with rubber boots and heavy rain gear which was just as well as we were surprised by a hail storm in the middle of our clean-up!
Young and old were happily engaged with creation, the words of our collect came to mind, inviting us 'to take our place as co-workers in serving you in your garden'. It felt right and good.The Venerable Dr. Lynne McNaughton, rector of St. Clement’s also gave us this quote to take home and place on the fridge:
Gracious Lord Christ: the divine influence secretly diffused and active in the depths of matter, and the dazzling centre where all the innumerable fibres of the manifold meet, power as implacable as the world and as warm as life ....you whose hands imprison the stars; you who are the first and the last, the living and the dead and the risen again; you who gather into your exuberant unity every beauty, every affinity, every energy, every mode of existence, it is you to whom my being cries out with a desire as vast as the universe: "In truth you are my Lord and my God" (Teilhard de Chardin 1881-1955)Many thanks to A Rocha for calling Christians into caring for Creation, for providing materials to use in church and Kids School and for setting this Sunday aside as a special day to honour earth and the Creator who made all things good.
Images: Top and homepage, the Reverend Elizabeth Mathers with some Sword Ferns., one of the best of our native woodland plants. Middle, Proof positive that we worked through the hail storm. Bottom, some nasties pulled from the stream bank. Below, Barry Goodwin and the Ven. Lynne McNaughton. PHOTOS: Kathleen Biebrich