For January 10, 2021 Prayer for Peace (from Worship Helps) and Peace Moment with introduction
Introduction
Each week during Advent and beyond we will hear a Peace Moment in addition to the prayer for peace. Hopefully you will be blessed with these devotional thoughts. This week’s Peace Moment is by Glenn Johnson. It is a dialogue supporting the worship emphasis on water.
Peace Moment – Focus Moment: Lion and Lamb
Have lion and lamb puppets or stuffed animals and an empty cup ready. Rehearse the parts.
Lamb: Hi Lion, it’s a beautiful day!
Lion: It sure is Lamby, and I am so glad to be together with our church friends. Lamb: Me too, but I am thirsty. Can you get me a drink of water?
Lion: Sure, Lamby. Hold on. Fetches the empty cup and gives it to Lamb.
Lamb: Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp. Hey! Wait a minute. There’s no water in this cup, Lion! What happened?
Lion: Did you know over 2 billion people live in areas experiencing high water stress? Lamb: Really? What will happen to them?
Lion: Well, as many as 700 million people on planet Earth could be displaced by water scarcity by 2030.
Lamb: Why? What’s happening?
Lion: With climate change, water scarcity could force people in desert places and semi-arid places to move. Among the world’s large groundwater systems, 1 in 3 already are in distress.
Lamb: Well, we need to do something about it. Quick, call the fire department tell them not to use water. Call um, um the city swimming pool and um …
Lion: Hold on, we don’t need to panic. We can all be sure not to waste water, though,
with shorter showers, installing low-flow devices, being vigilant looking for leaks, landscaping with drought-tolerant plants, and planting crops that make sense for our farms and gardens.
Lamb: Lion!!! I just thought of something. Lion: What?
Lamb: I could run for the Water Board! Lion: Well … yeah…
Lamb: excitedly Quick, I’ll need posters. And campaign buttons. And bumper stickers. Do you have any friends in politics? I think I have a good voice for radio, do you think I have a good voice for radio? Ahem….Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m here to talk to you today about water scarcity…
Voice trails off and characters leave.
Prayer for Peace
Light the Peace Candle.
Prayer
God of the Wind and the Water,
Voice resounding over the waters, wind rippling over the seas: teach us how to create peace in our world and live in peace with creation. We respond to Holy Spirit as a fellowship, a Community of Christ, that seeks to uphold and honor the sacredness of creation. Help us to know this Earth as your blessed creation and honor our calling to live peacefully with the Earth. Forgive us when we falter in ways of pollution and misuse of resources. Guide us in learning new ways of living that preserve, protect and defend sacred creation. Inspire us to become a voice for peace with God’s creation as advocates for environmental protection. Show us the way forward in wisdom, even as we pray in the way of Jesus. Amen.