Drought Liturgy: A service of solidarity for/with drought sufferers

Marilyn Houser Hamm

Dear Brothers and Sisters of Mennonite Church Canada,

It is with a heavy heart that I bring to you conversations with our congregations in the drought-stricken areas of Alberta and Saskatchewan in the past week. The struggle is enormous, and we, as the larger faith community body, have been asked to pray. I assured these communities that we, in the wider church, would be in prayer. I know that you will do so, even as there are members who struggle in your own congregations. Knowing how to pray beyond "…and we pray for the churches struggling with the drought" is difficult unless our prayers can be guided and informed. With this mailing comes a poignant liturgy from the Alberta heartland, a Lutheran congregation pastored by Bill Harder, the brother of Making Peace with the Land speaker, Cam Harder.

For those congregations which are experiencing the same struggles, may this liturgy bring the strength of God to you. For those congregations seeking the ways to pray and support our brothers and sisters and all those affected by this situation, the door has opened into their journey and the cry and hope of their hearts in the God who sustains us.

It will be not be difficult to adapt the prayers to pray "on behalf of those who are experiencing…" (I have also included where in Hymnal Worship Book these songs may be found with the exception of one song, for which I gave alternate suggestions.) As you use this liturgy, in whole, or in part, would you please honour the request of its givers to communicate its use with Rev. Bill Harder, whose e-mail address is listed below.

Check the MC Canada website for additional resources, send us additional resources which you are creating or have found helpful, and know that we also are seeking to post worship resources for the anniversary of September 11th. The Spirit is speaking to us in our time. We are being called to care for our earth, and for one another. It will take all of us - our prayers, our time, our creative energies, our minds and hearts - to be faithful to this call, one step at a time, but seeking clear vision that comes from our God.

May the presence of Christ through the Spirit guide and strengthen you, forming us into the body that Christ would have us be.

Grace and peace to you all,

Marilyn Houser Hamm
Director, Worship & Spirituality

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Service of Prayer and Conversation in the Midst of Drought

Equipping, September 2002

Introduction

We gather as a community drawn together by our common journey through this drought; as we do so we pray to the living God, the God of love & infinite mercy, Creator of all that has life. We come to God as a people in need, in a time of crisis for the earth and yet touched by the hope and newness of life we have found in our Lord. In all of this we do not stand alone…

The Voice of Lament

The first part of this service is about lament. We have gathered together to find hope, to be renewed in blessing and our Lord will pour out both abundantly. The path, though, to hope and blessing runs through the pain of our loss and our anxiety. Fowl have died in the heat; herds have been sold because there is no feed; producers are turned away at the auctions because there are too many animals to process; crops whither. Grief, anger and frustration crowd our emotions and we need to know that our God hears the cries of our hearts.

Symbol and Silence:

Three small pots of dry soil are carried in and tipped over on the pedestal.

Hymn

"Healer of Our Every Ill" (HWB # 377)

Reading

Jeremiah 14:1-9

Prayer

Psalm 8
L: O LORD, God of my salvation, when, at night, I cry out in your presence,
C: let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry.
L: For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
C: I am counted among those who go down to the Pit; I am like those who have no help,
L: like those forsaken among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave,
C: like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.
L: You have put me in the depths of the Pit, in the regions dark and deep.
C: You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a thing of horror to them.
L: I am shut in so that I cannot escape; my eye grows dim through sorrow.
C: Every day I call on you, O LORD; I, O LORD, cry out to you;
L: in the morning my prayer comes before you.
C: O LORD, why do you cast me off?
L: Why do you hide your face from me?

L: The Lord be with you.
C: And also with you.
L: Let us pray, responding to each petition with "O Lord, Hear My Prayer" (HWB#348)

Prayers of Lament

God of all creation, we cry out to you. The land is our hurting partner; she is thirsty, she is cracked and dry. Lord of the rains you weep for creation when she is hurt. Lord of life you weep with us in our loss, our despair, our hunger and thirst. Hear the cries of our heart, O God, and give us your Spirit to sustain us in the drought. We pray…

Lord, some livestock are dying, others languish for lack of feed; stir up those who have resources to share in their abundance, that the creatures in our care may not suffer. We pray…

Lord, great economic stress hovers over us. Protect our families, our marriages, our community from the ravages of this dry season. Send your Holy Spirit to draw us to the wellspring of life and hope where despair and hopelessness are known no more. We pray…

Sharing the Journey…

What frustrates you about the lack of rainfall? What resources exist for you through this time?

The Voice of Hope

From where does our hope come? Our hope is in God who is the LORD of all of creation; our hope is in the promises of Scripture wherein the Lord of life sustains and nourishes creation; our hope is in finding, in community, the strength and support to live. Our hope is that the rains will come - spiritual rains that wash despair from our thirsting spirits and physical rain to nourish the land. We have cried out our lament, now we reach for hope. Hear the words of Habakkuk and of the Psalmist as they draw us into the heart of God.

Symbol and Silence:

Three pitchers of water are carried in and slowly poured into a large bowl on the pedestal

Hymn

"God of the Farmlands" (Voices United #306)

Suggested: HWB #557 "O God in Restless Living" or #327 "Great Is Thy Faithfulness"

Reading

Habakkuk 3:7-19

Prayer

Psalm 65
L: Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion;
C: and to you shall vows be performed,
L: O you who answer prayer! To you all flesh shall come.
C: By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
L: O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
C: and of the farthest seas.
L: You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it;
C: the river of God is full of water;
L: you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it.
C: You water its furrows abundantly,
L: settling its ridges, softening it with showers,
C: and blessing its growth.
L: You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
C: The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy,
L: the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain,
C: they shout and sing together for joy.

L: The Lord be with you.
C: And also with you.
L: Let us pray, responding to each petition with "Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying" (HWB #353)

Prayers of Hope

God of springtime and planting, stir in our hearts hope for the harvest; not merely the harvest of our labours, but more so the harvest that is yours in the Spirit. May we, by your Spirit, know the abundant produce that is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control - these, the fruit of the Spirit. We pray…

God of love may we know your love in each other. Bind us together as family as we walk these dusty roads of drought. Grant that we may carry each other's burdens and ease each other's shame. Give us a spirit of love to share with each other, even in our lack. We pray…

God of earth and sky, land and seas; break open the vault of heaven and pour rain upon the dry lands. May every country and all peoples on earth who suffer from drought be drenched in rain until the land is quenched and the ditches overflow. May we dance in the rain as we sing praise to you for your provision. We pray…

Sharing the Journey…

What do you need from God right now; what is your heart's desire? What is the difference between hope and wishful thinking?

The Voice of Blessing

As our hope is stirred we become open to the blessing of our God. In this way we seek God's blessing in all aspects of our life - our work, our families and our communities. We recognize blessing as God's ongoing presence with us, God's grace surrounding us, God's love giving us strength. As God blesses us, so do we bless the Lord by offering our lives as a sacrifice of praise and service.

Symbol and Silence:

A live (and healthy) plant in a pot, along with seed to be spilled around the pot, is carried to the pedestal. A plant representing crops planted in the area is appropriate.

Hymn

"Great is Thy Faithfulness" (HWB #327)

Scripture

Revelation 22:-5

Prayer

Selections from Psalms 104 and 147

L: Sing praises to the Lord; praise our God with harps.
C: You fill the sky with clouds and send rain to the earth and make grass grow on the hills.
L: You give food to cattle and to the little birds that call.
C: You make springs pour into the ravines; they flow between the mountains.
L: They water all the wild animals; the wild donkeys come there to drink.
C: Wild birds make nests by the water; they sing among the tree branches.
L: You water the mountains from above. The earth is full of the things you made.
C: You make the grass for cattle and vegetables for the people. You make food grow from the earth.
L: You give us wine that makes happy hearts and olive oil that makes our faces shine.
C: You give us bread that gives us strength. The Lord's trees have plenty of water;
L: they are the cedars of Lebanon, which he planted.

L: The Lord be with you.
C: And also with you.
L: Let us pray, responding to each petition with "Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying."

Prayers of Blessing

Lord of all hopefulness walk with us as we return to our homes. Be our guide through these days of crises, our light when we enter the dark night of the soul. We pray…

Lord bless us in community that none shall fall prey to despair. We cling to you and in so doing we reach out our hands to our neighbour. May we know your love and strength in the embrace of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We pray…

O God, we bless you for your faithfulness, for your provision of all that we need. We thank you for fulfilling your promise to be with us, to laugh with us, to cry with us. We bless you for drawing us into your heart by water and by the Word that we might know life abundant, even as we are challenged by struggles in our lives. Lord, we bless you and offer up our lives as living sacrifices, made holy by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(Opportunity for spontaneous prayer offered by the congregation may be made here.

All for which we have prayed we place in your hands, trusting in your grace and mercy through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lord's Prayer

Sharing The Journey: The final conversations will take place during coffee following the service. Your questions to ponder are - How do God's promises help you during this time of trial? Why do bad things happen to good people?

Blessing:

Psalm 144
C: Let our sons
in their youth
grow like plants.
Let our daughters
be like the decorated stones in the Temple.
Let our barns be filled with crops of all kinds.
Let our sheep in the fields have
thousands and tens of thousands of lambs.
Let our cattle be strong.
Let no one break in.
Let there be no war,
no screams in our streets.
Happy are those who are like this;
happy are the people whose God is the LORD.