Vespers

We have vespers every day at Holden. Every couple of weeks we have a children's vespers. Last night I gave the children's vespers. It was a lot of fun. We pretended to go on a trip on a space ship and the kids really got into it. As we were deciding what we needed to live on a space ship, we called upon people in the village to go with us to help. We had helpers from all different areas such as utilities, food service, air quality control, mechanics, housekeepers, a laundress, people to make repairs, a garbologist, a medic, a pastor, and a captain. As we called on these people by name, we (by "we" I mean the children and I) had them stand. Eventually everyone in the room was standing. We were taking them all along to help run the ship.

Then I told them that we were all on a ship right now along with 6 billion other people and that I had brought a model of the ship we are on. I had them open the box it was in. They were really excited to find an Earthball in the box. The Earthball is a replica of the way the Earth looks from outer space. It is really beautiful. Then we talked about creation (they told me most of the story) and about how God created us to take care of the Earth. They (the children and adults) gave suggestions about how they can help care for creation The adults actually got into the scenario as much as the kids did. I had some helpers read quotes by some of the astronauts of how they felt when they saw the Earth from thousands of miles away. Then I read part of Psalm 108 and we closed with a prayer asking God for guidance in learning how to care for the Earth.
The kids and adults all liked the service. I thought it went really well. I wanted to share it with everyone.

For the past 35 years I have been into such things as recycling, not buying paper items such as plates and napkins or anything thing that is disposable. (Okay, I do buy toilet paper). I have a compost pile and compost all my yard and food waste. But over the last two years I have really gotten a lot more knowledgeable about what is going on in the environment and really want to do something more than just personally. I have gotten a membership in an organization out of Seattle called Earth Ministry. If you are interested in learning more about them, their website is www.earthministry.org. I hope sometime while I am still in the Northwest I can go to one of their events.

Gail