St. Hubert Parish launches ecumenical prayer novena honoring God’s creation
LANGLEYBy John Wolcott
Margaret Andersen is excited about this year’s ecumenical Earth Day novena, linked to Holy Week and spearheaded by her parish, St. Hubert in Langley.
The parish has produced a novena booklet, “God Saw That It Was Good,” which includes reflections on God and creation contributed by various Whidbey Island faith communities.
“The intent is for people to use the novena booklets for daily prayer to thank God for his creation, the earth we all live on,” Andersen said. The booklet and a video, “Nine Days of Prayer” (produced by parishioner Don Haynes), are available online at http://www.sthubertschurch.org/ and www.whidbeyearthday.org/churchevents.html.
An invitation to join the novena asks participants to “personally pray, reflect and meditate, drawing on the powerful statements and spiritual traditions in this booklet. Each day invites us to acknowledge the beauty of Whidbey Island’s water, land, resources and extraordinary people.”
The novena started April 14 and concludes on Earth Day, April 22. Each day of prayer takes about two minutes and focuses on a specific Whidbey Island element. St. Hubert’s peace and social justice commission is promoting the novena, along with a variety of other groups on south Whidbey Island: Greening Congregations, Earth Ministry, and the Episcopal, United Methodist, Unitarian, Quaker and Jewish faith communities, said Andersen, a member of St. Hubert’s seven-member commission.
The effort has taken a big leap from last year’s Earth Day novena, when the parish passed out a booklet of prayers and reflections to 150 parishioners. This year, Anderson said, booklets have been distributed to the six participating congregations as well as local libraries and other congregations in Coupeville and Oak Harbor, including St. Mary Parish in Coupeville and St. Augustine Parish in Oak Harbor.
To mark the end of the novena on April 22, people will gather for a blessing, followed by a screening of the climate-change film “Thin Ice” at South Whidbey District High School in Langley.
Andersen marvels that the small parish of St. Hubert, with only 250 families, has been able to do so much, and praises the work of Elizabeth Guss, who coordinated the booklet’s content, which includes contributions from St. Hubert parishioners and their pastor, Father Rick Spicer.
“It’s exciting and very fulfilling to grow from last year’s prayer efforts that centered within the St. Hubert family and, this year, to work and pray with people from other congregations,” Andersen said. “We want to engage people in a very active, prayerful way to honor God’s creation and remind them of the need to care for the earth he gave us.”
March 15, 2014