Liturgy for World Water Day

A liturgy for World Water Day
This service was put together by Maike Gorsboth of the Ecumenical Water Network

22 March 2010
Worship in the Ecumenical Centre

Welcome

Call to Worship

Holy Spirit, Life-Giver,
Who moved over the waters of creation,
who led your people through the waters of the Red Sea to liberation,
who descended like a dove above the waters of Jesus’ baptism,
draw us together as we gather in your name, seeking replenishment
for your task of repairing the world.


Creator God,
We thank you for your love in all creation,
Especially for your gift of water
to sustain, refresh and cleanse all life.
We ask your blessing on this gathering
as we come together as your people,
bringing our many stories and traditions,
mingling the waters of our experience and our faith.
May we find strength and refreshment in those waters.
Amen

Hymn: A Agua (Simei Monteiro)

Walkerton Water Litany

Creating God, how magnificent are the works of your hands. We remember how
you created the waters of the earth and out of these waters you created life.
ALL: Creating God, help us never to forget.

We remember how you sent rains upon the earth to cleanse it. We remember how you sent the rainbow as a sign of promise each time it rains.
ALL: Creating God, help us never to forget.

We remember how you created a new people by having them pass through the sea with a “wall of water on the right and on their left”. We remember how you provided water that was sweet for forty years in the desert.
ALL: Creating God, help us never to forget.

We remember how the Psalmist called the sheep of his flock to find pasture beside the still waters. We remember how the Prophets announced a time when the wilderness would blossom forth with new life and justice would flow like a mighty river.
ALL: Creating God, help us never to forget.

We remember how Jesus calmed the waters of Galilee. We remember how he
invited all to come and drink from a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
ALL: Creating God, help us never to forget.

We also remember how the waters of our lands were once pure and clean. We
remember how the lakes and rivers and streams sustained the people. We remember how our ancestors settled along the waterways gaining livelihood from the water.
ALL: Creating God, help us never to forget.

But we did forget. We took Your water for granted. We polluted it. We wasted it.
In many places people become sick of it and even die from it.
ALL: Creating God, help us never to forget.

Many years will pass and considerable resources will be needed if the waters are to run clean again in our streams, rivers, lakes and oceans.
ALL: Help us, Creating God, to never forget the sacred gift that is water.
Amen.

Prayer of Confession
Let us pray:
Creator of the waters, source of life,
We confess our incapacity to face
the many distortions of our world,
including the misuse of water.
We also confess our tendency
To establish limits to your free gift
Of love for everyone.
Forgive us when we become a disruption
To your kindness and justice.

Silence

Words of Forgiveness
Isaiah 41,17-20
When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them, I will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive; I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together, so that all may see and know, all may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.

New Testament reading:
Luke 4,14-21
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Reflection on the Word

Hymn: You are the spring of water (Trisha Watts, Australia)

Prayers of Intercession

We pray for those who do not have access to safe water and sanitation, who suffer from illness that prevents them from caring for their families, from going to school. We pray for those who cannot afford medical treatment and those who feel that their illness is a burden to their families.
O God, restore the dignity of the oppressed.

Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

We pray for the women who care for the ill. Who risk being raped as they go to fetch water or while looking for a place to relieve themselves. We pray for the girls who drop out of school upon reaching puberty because of the lack of toilets to protect their privacy and dignity. We pray for the mothers and fathers who lose their children to preventable diseases caused by too little water or polluted water.
O God, heal the sick and bring comfort to those in need.

Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

O God our Creator, you formed the earth and saw that it was good. You led your people through the waters of the Red Sea to liberation. Today our rivers are being polluted and are drying up. Your gift of water is unequally shared between the rich and the poor. This makes your people thirst.
O God, renew and refresh your people and make all things new.

Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

We pray for those who live “upstream”: Those who have access to water and other comforts, those who control the earth’s resources, those who wield economic and political power. Grant them wisdom and insight to use your gifts responsibly and to share them freely.
O God of mercy and grace, you make the last to be the first and the first be the last.

Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

God of all nations, through the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle we pray this week for China, Hong Kong and Macao. We pray for their councils of churches and their efforts towards unity. We pray for the growing numbers of people in China who are resisting the pollution of their water, air, and land for the sake of economic growth.

Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

We pray for this community. God of all peoples you have brought us together to fellowship in this place, may we make great your name.

Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer

Sending forth & Benediction

Go now from this service of worship to the service of God’s people near and far, marked by the water of your baptism and refreshed by the living water that Jesus offers to you.
Listen for the parched voices of the least of these; search out the dry places and the arid souls, and become for them a spring of living water, gushing up to eternal life.
And as you go, may the blessings of the God of life, the Christ of love, and the Spirit of grace be upon you this day and forevermore.
Amen

Closing hymn: Healing River (by Fred Hellerman, USA)


Make a stand for water and sanitation!

Today, 22nd March, 12:00
in the entrance hall of the ecumenical center

Join the global Guinness World Record to form the World’s Longest Toilet Queue – in order to raise awareness and show solidarity with the 2.5 billion people who lack of access to clean water and basic sanitation.

Please come, we need a minimum of 25 people to queue for 10 minutes to join in with the record!