A Service For Hunters
Worship
Lectionary Worship Aids
Series VII, Cycle C
Object:
One: We have come to the season of harvest, and have gathered many good things grown in the soil. We come to another season of harvest, and mean to gather together.
Hunters: God called upon us to manage this world for more than just our benefit -- God means for us to preserve this heritage for the coming of his Son. We accept our responsibility for every living creature with humility, gratitude, and thanksgiving. We pledge to observe all the rules of safety and courtesy, and to praise your name as we take part in a harvest that benefits the herd and ourselves. We recognize that we have come from dust, and to dust we shall return, that death brings life, and that what comes from the earth belongs to all the people of the earth. We will share the bounty of our harvest with others, we will treat our fellow creatures with respect, we will recognize God in all our comings and our goings.
One: In the first chapter of Genesis we read: Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth" (Genesis 1:26). And in the ninth chapter God says to Noah: "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything" (Genesis 9:3). God has given dominion to humankind over all that is in creation. That dominion is not meant to be a tyranny. God loves this creation and has pronounced it very good. It is God's intention that we live as part of a complex structure, respecting the creatures that share God's world with us. Our Native American brothers and sisters, who lived on this continent long before many others came to these shores, thank those creatures that they hunt for food, and demonstrate their respect for them by using them, not abusing them.
Today we pray for your safety as hunters, and for God's blessing upon your work as stewards of creation. We respect and applaud your commitment to gun safety, and are glad for the fellowship you share with family and friends. In our modern society we have sometimes walled ourselves off from God's creation. We encourage you as you hunt to appreciate the wind and the sun, the cold and the warmth, stately trees and running brooks.
Q: Do you pledge to commit yourself to gun safety, to encouragement of others, to respect for nature, and to wise use of the resources to be found in the deer and other game?
A: We do.
Q: Do you recognize God as the author of all good things, and will you take time for prayer and thanksgiving in all you do?
A: We do.
Congregation: Lord, bless these who come before you today. Guard them, guide them, uphold them. Grant them success according to your will and purpose, and bless all of creation through their actions. These things we pray in your mighty name. Amen.
Pastor: Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, giver of all good, we praise you for the beauty of nature, and for your trust in us, calling upon us to practice good conservation and good sense in all our dealings with nature. Protect and preserve our hunters this season and every season, and let your Spirit fill them with a new awareness of all your glory which is arrayed about us. These things we pray in your Son's name. Amen.
Hunters: God called upon us to manage this world for more than just our benefit -- God means for us to preserve this heritage for the coming of his Son. We accept our responsibility for every living creature with humility, gratitude, and thanksgiving. We pledge to observe all the rules of safety and courtesy, and to praise your name as we take part in a harvest that benefits the herd and ourselves. We recognize that we have come from dust, and to dust we shall return, that death brings life, and that what comes from the earth belongs to all the people of the earth. We will share the bounty of our harvest with others, we will treat our fellow creatures with respect, we will recognize God in all our comings and our goings.
One: In the first chapter of Genesis we read: Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth" (Genesis 1:26). And in the ninth chapter God says to Noah: "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything" (Genesis 9:3). God has given dominion to humankind over all that is in creation. That dominion is not meant to be a tyranny. God loves this creation and has pronounced it very good. It is God's intention that we live as part of a complex structure, respecting the creatures that share God's world with us. Our Native American brothers and sisters, who lived on this continent long before many others came to these shores, thank those creatures that they hunt for food, and demonstrate their respect for them by using them, not abusing them.
Today we pray for your safety as hunters, and for God's blessing upon your work as stewards of creation. We respect and applaud your commitment to gun safety, and are glad for the fellowship you share with family and friends. In our modern society we have sometimes walled ourselves off from God's creation. We encourage you as you hunt to appreciate the wind and the sun, the cold and the warmth, stately trees and running brooks.
Q: Do you pledge to commit yourself to gun safety, to encouragement of others, to respect for nature, and to wise use of the resources to be found in the deer and other game?
A: We do.
Q: Do you recognize God as the author of all good things, and will you take time for prayer and thanksgiving in all you do?
A: We do.
Congregation: Lord, bless these who come before you today. Guard them, guide them, uphold them. Grant them success according to your will and purpose, and bless all of creation through their actions. These things we pray in your mighty name. Amen.
Pastor: Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, giver of all good, we praise you for the beauty of nature, and for your trust in us, calling upon us to practice good conservation and good sense in all our dealings with nature. Protect and preserve our hunters this season and every season, and let your Spirit fill them with a new awareness of all your glory which is arrayed about us. These things we pray in your Son's name. Amen.
