Liturgy has always been a living growing entity. Before the invention of printing, liturgies varied from place to place. Manuscripts traveled from place to place. Much of our holy week liturgies were formed by pilgrims coming back from the Holy Land, e.g. the Palm Sunday procession.
We may be witnessing the evolving of a new liturgical season of creation, beginning with September 1st and ending with the Feast of Saint Francis on October 4th.
BELOW IS A DRAFT OF A POST FOR MY "WEAL" WEBSITE. A SELECTION OF LINKS AND TEXTS THAT I WILL ORGANIZE BETTER.
WE SHOULD BE CREATIVE AT THE GRASSROOTS LEVEL IN FORMING A SEASON FOR CARE OF CREATION
FOR EXAMPLE, LABOR DAY RATHER THAN SEPTEMBER 1 OR A SUNDAY SEEMS AN IDEAL DAY TO CELEBRATE THE CARE OF CREATION.
FROM THE BEGINNING THIS HAS BEEN AN ECUMENTICAL PROJECT. THE MODEL OF THE ANGLICAN CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE OF NINE LESSONS AND CAROLS SEEMS IDEAL.
I PROPOSE A SERVICE OF LESSONS AND SONGS AROUND THE THEME OF CARE OF CREATION.
WHAT SCRIPTURE READINGS WOULD YOU INCLUDE? The Genesis account of the creation from the Easter Vigil seems an ideal beginning.
WHAT SONGS WOULD YOU INCLUDE? In the Lessons and Carols service, there is a beginning carol, and more than one carol per reading. Some of the carols are chosen to be used each year and sung by the congregation. Some are sung each year by the choir because they require more technical virtuosity. Some are new each year. The Season of Creation international committee has a theme for each year. This year it is flowing water from Ezechiel. What songs about flowing water would you include this year?
WHAT PSALMS WOULD YOU INCLUDE? I am thinking of nine psalms about creation which would precede the Service of Lessons and Songs of Creation. It would cover the assembling of the community. Similar criteria to the songs above including some songs about water for this year.
As an undergraduate I took an anthropology course on childhood and society at the University of Washington in Seattle. The professor had done his research on native Americans in the Northwest. He was deeply impressed by their ritual creativity in song and dance. He attributed this to the fact that young people on the periphery of the assembly were encouraged to imitate their elders who led the assembly. That meant by the time they became leaders they had a whole repertory of song and dance to use creatively. I had already experienced several forms of the Liturgy of the Hours and resolved to let it unfold naturally in my life as I experienced more music and ritual. Anthropologically I think we all have the capacity to be liturgically creative.
POPE LEO WILL CELEBRATE THE NEW MASS FOR THE CARE OF CREATON SHORTLY AFTER NOON TODAY. CHECK OUT THE YOUTUBE VATICAN WEBSITE
