Earth Day Worship: at Goyne Park

Ephesians 4:7-16

Here is what Ampthill Church did during their "Worship in the Park" service on April 18th, it was a guided meditation activity inspired by the text above.

Jesus spoke about grace and love shining forth from the community of faith as like a “light on a hill.” In order for us to grow into more mature and Christlike disciples, I’m going to ask us to take on a spiritual practice for the next couple of months…the growing season, as farmers like to call it. But first, I want you to split up into groups of 2-3, with people who know you well, and whom you know well…a spouse, fiancé, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, neighbor, good friend…but small groups though, no more than 3. Have someone come up and get a pot for each member of the group and one marker per group.

Write your name on your pot. This is going to represent your growth through this spiritual practice.

I’m going to come around and bring bowls of potting soil and I’d like you to fill your pot up to just an inch from the top.

So…here you are…a cup of dirt. Sometimes we can feel like that. As the church, we are used to thinking about and confessing our sins, but how often do we think about and profess our gifts? It occurs to me that we should do this more often, because God forgives us our sins so that we can grow into more mature and Christlike disciples, or as the letter to the Ephesians puts it, “to equip us for works of service that build up the body of Christ.” In other words, God has planted something within us that God wants us to tend, nurture, and grow within ourselves to bear fruit and beauty for the Kingdom of God.

So I am going to come around and pass out seeds, and when you get it I want you to plant it in your soil…make a hole with your finger just about up to your second knuckle, drop in the seed, and loosely cover it with soil. As you do this, I want each of you to take a moment to think about this question: “Where do you shine?” What are you good at, how has Christ gifted you for service, what brings you joy? Write the answers that come to you on your pot.

In your groups to share your responses, what gifts do you see in yourself?

Now, take a moment to profess and bless the gifts you see in one another, again, writing these gifts on the pot of the person whom you are blessing.

I’m going to come around and water your seed…and as I do, I want you to remember your baptism, or, if you haven’t been baptized yet, to remember that in Christ, God’s grace for you is abundant. And I want you to pray for those gifts that God has planted in you that they might grow and develop.

This wouldn’t be a spiritual practice if I didn’t ask you to continue it. Take these plants home and give them light. Put them in a place where you will see and remember them. Take time each day to water them, and as you do…take a moment, just a couple of minutes, to water yourself. Give thanks to God for your gifts and to think about how God might be calling you to use them in service to the church, your family, your neighborhood…to use somewhere in this Kingdom. And I want you to put your rock somewhere beside this pot. If there are things you need to let go of so that you can be more loving to yourself, pray on those things first. Pick up the rock and pray for God to take those things away, then let go, put down the rock, and speak the truth to yourself in love: you are forgiven. Build yourself up in love: you are beautiful, a child of God, called to bless the world through your giftedness. Thanks be to God for each and every one of you.

Friends, you are made of dirt. So is a garden. But when you think about a garden, you don’t think about the dirt. You think about what’s growing in it. Amen.