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IntroductionRev. Katherine JeschIn these challenging times, it is especially important to look to our spiritual lives for sustenance and hopeas we struggle with how to respond to all the crises we face, small or large, local or global. Many of uslook to our spiritual connection with nature and how that relationship nurtures and sustains us as we seekto heal a broken world. A healthy, Earth-based spiritual life is a way to be fully at home in our lives andon this earth. A strong spirit helps us to weather the storms of life.Worship as spiritual practice is a central part of our congregational life. Our weekly worship services arethe most common and consistent gathering place, offering both the space and time in our daily busy-nessto pause and consider those most profound religious questions that give meaning to our lives.Worship is one of the four program elements of the Green Sanctuary Program, as developed by UUMinistry for Earth. As we struggle to create more sustainable patterns for our personal andcongregational lives, our Sunday worship services are occasions for education and inspiration, motivationand support. They are opportunities to celebrate our collective will, and the progress we have made.And perhaps most of all, they offer moments for healing.We need one or more “Earth Day-style” Sundays each year when we consider the earth, but we alsoneed to make room in every service to honor our life support system. In any given week of the year, wecan honor a turn on the wheel of the seasons, or acknowledge a victory for an ecosystem or life supportelement, or affirm the need for action in response to a new threat. In all cases, we want to hold up to ourcommunities our desire to change—for the health of our children, for the beauty of the earth, for thepeace we seek—and to accomplish this change peacefully.There are many ways to bring an Earth consciousness into both regular worship and special celebrations.But first we must consider what worship is and why it is important in our congregational life. In 1983, theUUA Commission on Common Worship published “Leading Congregations in Worship: A Guide.” Thatguidance has now found its way onto the UUA website at Worship egations/index.shtml. In the Introduction, worship isdescribed as a deeply human activity. We are reminded that, “though it is often defined as reverencegiven to a divine being or power, worship need not have supernatural implications. The origin of the word"worship" is in the Old English weorthscippen, meaning to ascribe worth to something, to shape things ofworth. We worship, then, whenever we ascribe worth to some value, idea, object, person, experience,attitude, or activity—or whenever we give form or shape to that which we have already found to be ofworth.”“Worship is usually considered to be a formal and deliberate shaping, ordering, or recalling of thethings of worth which we experience individually at various moments in our lives . . . This shapingis done in the context of a community of persons who share common values, ideas, andattitudes . . . The shaping process which is worship must have a social and historical dimension ifit is to be complete.”Over the centuries, worship has taken on or been assigned a number of different purposes. Severaldistinct styles of worship have evolved to meet these purposes, any and all of which can be focusedexplicitly or implicitly on honoring Earth.Honoring Earth7

Sacramental or dramatic worship. In this style, the worshiper is called to be part of the sacredevent and to be transformed by it. Words and actions are believed to participate in the divinereality.Educational or interpretive worship. The main purpose here is to express a particular idea ormessage. The goal is to move people, and through them, society -- to help create community,justice, equality, and to widen personal horizons. The appeal is to the intellect and the will ratherthan the senses.Celebratory worship. Worship as celebration emphasizes the artistic. It attempts to reflect all oflife, taking note of the realities already present in the worshiping community. Its purpose,however, is not to create community, inspire social responsibility, or teach a lesson, but is simplyto reflect, to celebrate.Thematic worship. This is a type of worship in which a particular idea or set of ideas isemphasized or clarified and applied to daily life. A single idea or theme is developed throughreadings, music, collective acts and a major presentation such as a sermon, panel, or sharingceremony. This style may combine one or more of the first three styles.Liturgical worship. Worship in this style usually follows a pattern that attempts to touch certainhuman needs. The service is performed as a “drama,” a choreographed event with a blending ofresponses, litanies, and prayers, and often a sermon or presentation. The repeated elementsbecome for the worshipers a common body of devotional material made familiar through frequentuse.High-quality worship engages people. It meets their needs to give praise, affirm common values,acknowledge inadequacies, experience something of the transcendent, reach toward the future in hope,and go forth in strength. Besides challenging them intellectually or ethically, it gives worshipers anopportunity to show gratitude, acknowledge errors and shortcomings, experience healing andforgiveness, and feel connected with the church community.Of course, worship rarely is, and need not be exclusively any one of these styles. There are times whenwe want worship to be educational. There are times when we want it to be playful or artistic. And thereare times when we want it to be truly transforming, even sacramental. Common worship can meet any orall of these needs.Earth-honoring worship nourishes our spirit by strengthening our sense of connection – with each otherand with Earth. None of us is isolated; feeling disconnected is usually recognized as a pathology to behealed. Worship, in its best forms, can be a tool for this healing. We recall the sustenance and comfortwe received from camping overnight in the woods, or walking on a deserted beach, or resting at the edgeof a meadow. We remember the spicy scent of cedar trees, the salt smell of ocean air, the rich musk ofdamp soil. We play again in our minds the symphony of wolves howling at the moon, or waves crashingon the beach songbird warbling in sunshine. And we are renewed and healed; we are stronger for theexperience.Honoring Earth8

And when the subject of our worship is endangered, as Earth is so profoundly today, our worship can –and should – inspire us to action, to taking responsibility for the healing that must occur in the world weleave for our children’s children and all future generations.We offer this collection of worship materials as a resource for designing Earth Honoring Worshipexperiences that will do all of this – honor and celebrate the interconnected web of life, nourish andsustain our spirits, and inspire us to go forth to heal this broken world – as we gather together in ourcommunities of faith.—Rev. Katherine Jesch, former Director of Environmental Ministry, UU Ministry for EarthHonoring Earth9

Words for Opening & Lighting the ChaliceAs surely as we belong to this universewe belong together.We join here to transcend the isolated self,to reconnect,to know ourselves to be at home,here on the earth, under the starslinked with each other.Rev. Margaret KeipThis earthen chalice was born of clay and water,The flesh and blood of Gaia;Given form by the hand of the potter,set by the bonding fire of the kiln.As we touch the flame to her lips,joining fire and air,May her light remind usof earth, air, fire, and water,of plant and animal, human and mineral,that we and the Earth are one.Rev. Edwin LaneHail Mother, who art the earth,Hallowed be thy soil, rocks and florathat nourish and support all life.Blessed be thy wind that gives us breathand thy waters that quench, bathe, and refresh all living things.Holy Earth -as one - we praise your majesty, grace, and wonder.-UnknownWe light this chalice with hopes for a bright future.May our children their children, all childrenIntermingle their laughter throughout the world.May they be as the rainbowColor and hope for the coming dawn.Reena KondoHonoring Earth10

I Believe in NatureFlorence EmmonsWe light this chalice to honor the orderly processes of the Universe, which hold the planets intheir orbits and control the activities of microscopic cells.To honor the pervading, impartial forces of nature through which destruction is madeconstructive;To honor the ever-changing beauty of the natural world, which brings joy and inspirationto many people;We believe in the healing and restorative power of nature without which all living thingswould be in great jeopardy;We believe in the profound lessons which nature teaches; lessons of struggle andadaptability, tenacity and purpose, endurance and growth, patience, balance, and the inevitabilityof cause and effect;We believe in the hope and faith which nature gives to the observant through predictable,compensatory certainties: light after dark, warmth after cold, peaceful calm after lashing storm,and always the miracle of the sun, the rain and the seed.Florence Emmons was baptized at St. Paul's Universalist Church (now the UnitarianUniversalist Church in Meriden, Connecticut) in 1912. She wrote this affirmation for an adultreligious education class at the church in the 1970s. Since then, the text has been used in Sundayservices and set to music. This reading first appeared in UU World XVII: 2 (March/April 2003):18Honoring Earth11

Closing WordsCreator God, we are grateful for the beauty of the earth,for all flowering things,for the water that nourishes all this and all of us.Forgive us when we despoil your creation,and help us to be more fully awake to the gifts of this natural worldand to be more careful stewards of these gifts.May we walk upon the earth in thankfulness all the days of our lives.Amen.--Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sewell“The True Reason the Forest is Called Primeval”Needles of heaven seek pinpricks through clouds of green. filter into dusts of light layer between laden boughs suspend themselves in vibrant airEmerge, to dance with shadow on the carpet floor.You are a child of this;Step softly.--Rev. Margaret KeipIn the beginning, there was Love,and Love created and thus became Creator.We give our humblest gratitude to the Creatorfor giving us the gift of Life in Loveheld so delicately in each and every breath.In a worldwhere the flapping of a butterfly’s wings over Transylvaniamay conjure up a storm in Gaithersburg,no one can say our efforts will prove insignificant.Whatever the outcome,we are called to actby our history,by our tradition,by the times in which we find ourselvesto protect this gift of life that connects us all.May we re

need to make room in every service to honor our life support system. In any given week of the year, we can honor a turn on the wheel of the seasons, or acknowledge a victory for an ecosystem or life support element, or affirm the need for action in response to a new threat. In all cases, we want to hold up to our