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| Image by Vincent Desjardins |
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A GREETING
Running waters, bless the Lord, sing hymns,
and lift God high above all others forever.
(Prayer of Azariah 1:55 CEB)
A READING
Why, I ask myself, are you so depressed?
Why are you so upset inside?
Hope in God!
Because I will again give God thanks,
my saving presence and my God.
(Psalm 42:11 CEB)
MUSIC
Sung in Latin, the words are the text of Psalm 51
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
My whole being thirsts for God, for the living God.
When will I come and see God’s face?
(Psalm 42:2 CEB)
A PRAYER
God, our Creator, as we reflect on the mysteries of the ocean depths, we celebrate the wondrous design of the seas that surround us. Help us to discern how we have polluted our oceans and to empathize with the groaning of creation. Teach us to know the presence of God in the tides and currents of the seven seas. Teach us to care for the oceans and all our waterways. In the name of the Wisdom of God, the creative force that designs and governs all creation. Amen.
- "Prayer of the Day" from a liturgy for Ocean Sunday
Web of Creation: : Ecology Resources Transforming Faith and Society
a project of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
VERSE OF THE DAY
Deep called to deep at the noise of your waterfalls.
(Psalm 42:7a CEB)
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| Taken off the California coast. Image by Seabamirum |
From west of Haida Gwaii, the North Pacific Current of the Pacific Ocean divides into two sub currents — the Alaska and the California. Following the California current south inevitably intersects with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Gyre. Sometimes called the California patch, to distinguish it from the other great patch in the Pacific near Japan, it is three times the size of France. Right now it is so large that it is within a thousand miles of the California coast on one end and just a few hundred miles from Hawaii on the other. That’s the equivalent of a four to five hour flight.
The ‘deeps’ in the Hebrew Bible is an image that often appears metaphorically as a symbol of the soul’s relationship to God. The Hebrew word ‘tehom’ occurs most often in the book of Job, where it is associated with a darkness that is unfathomable, unsurvivable. 'Tehom' might be a good word for us today as we try to imagine and cope with the scope of impact of human activity on the planet. How can God help us restore it?
In today’s reading, we hear the words of Psalm 42, which express the deep anguish of the Psalmist. In this translation it is represented as depression. And yet packed into the one verse is also the call to ‘hope in God!’ Sometimes, when it seems like there is so much reason to feel despondent and even hopeless, God stirs in us the very dream of God’s capacity to transform us. The Psalmist represents that longing in images of water, and of the deer who craves a drink from a stream.
Part of what we do in Lent is express repentance and sorrow for what we have done and ask for mercy. Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit that develops technologies for ridding the world’s oceans of its garbage patches. Those who commit themselves to the restoration of our waters themselves experience the deeps and the billowing waves of spiritual progress and challenge. They need our prayer and our support. How can we live into that place of hope with them? We can start by remembering the very first verses of Scripture in which "the earth was without shape or form, it was dark over the deep sea, and God’s wind swept over the waters" (Genesis 1:2 CEB). God’s creation lives in us and we in it. What will it take for us to understand fully that we are the only ones who can make change? How can we be inspired to action today?
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STORIES FROM THE FRONT LINE OF CREATION CARE
Members of Ocean Cleanup, who have been working for more than a decade to retrieve plastic and other garbage from the waters of the Pacific, describe what is both challenging and life-giving in the everyday work that they do.
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Resources in today's devotion:
Scripture passages are taken from the Common English Bible.
Web of Creation is a resource of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago,
developed to be used in the Season of Creation.
For more on Ocean Cleanup, go here.
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LC† Streams of Living Justice is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!