In partnership with A Rocha, a non-profit organization that engages in scientific research, environmental education and community-based conservation projects, St. Clement’s Anglican Church in Lynn Valley recently held a “Good Seed Sunday, ” involving a special service, stream clean-up and invasive plant pull. This article was submitted by parishioner Wilna Parry, with photos by Kathleen Biebrich.
St. Clement’s parishioners were invited through liturgy, prayer and song to participate in Good Seed Sunday. During the Eucharist the children brought up plants and seeds to be blessed, and we sang about the glory of God’s creation as the children provided a joyful instrumental accompaniment. 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. Elizabeth Mathers, our deacon and 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 hailstorm in the middle of our clean-up!
As I looked at young and old, happily engaged with creation, the words of our collect came to mind, inviting us to “to take our place as co-workers in serving you in your garden.” It felt right and good.
Our priest, the Rev. Dr. Lynne McNaughton, 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 1851-1955)
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.
– By Wilna Parry, St. Clement’s
