At Hennepin Avenue UMC in Minneapolis, we celebrated God's Creation with "Bird Sunday" on April 2, 2006. Here is some of the liturgy from the service. The short video features an eagle, owl and hawk.
Call to Worship (responsive)
We gather as people of faith,
Earthbound yet looking toward the heavens.
Our feet are firmly planted on the soil
While our hearts long to soar.
We gather as people of faith,
Celebrating the winged ones and their Maker,
Who connect land and sky,
Who teach us of freedom,
Who remind us we are held in God's protection.
As we worship today, may we be lifted by the soaring of the Spirit.
HYMN TO THE BIRDS
By Thomas WrightGlory to you, O God of all creation.
Who from the dawn of swirling galaxies,
Wrought teeming life from chaos and commotion.
Creation’s song goes on with each reprise.
You send us birds, aloft in every nation.
Soaring on high, our eyes are drawn to heav’n.
On wings of song, flocks welcome each new season.
Bringing fresh life, renewing hope within.
Nighthawk and owl, befrienders in dark places.
Falcon and eagle lifting spirits high.
Swallow and raven call to open spaces.
The lowly sparrow rests within God’s eye.
Just as the hen, her brood is watching over,
God cares for you, and will not let you fall.
So let us join our hands and work together,
Treating as sacred this terrestrial ball.
May the Maker of the yellow beak, the black bird, be with you.
May the Maker of the broad wing, the brown thrush, be with you.
May the Maker of the fan tail, the white dove, be near you.
May the Great Bird of the wide skies descend upon you.
— John-Johansen-Berg, England
I pray to the birds because I believe they will carry the messages of my heart upward.
I pray to them because I believe in their existence, the way their songs begin and end each day — the invocations and benedictions of Earth.
I pray to the birds because they remind me of what I love rather than what I fear.
And at the end of my prayers, they teach me how to listen.
— Terry Tempest Williams
Offering our Blessing
Flitting, soaring, wading,
nesting, feeding, bathing, guarding, chirping, migrating,
Blessed be the birds of creation.
In the jungle, forests and gardens,
on oceans, plains and peaks, high-rise ledges and dark barn beams:
Blessed be the birds of creation.
Hatched and cared for in our homes, learning to talk and perch on us, singing gladly to the music of our lives:
Blessed be the birds of creation.
Found injured, healed, and set free,
given seeds for winter and water for summer, nesting boxes by roads, sanctuary for others:
Blessed be the birds of creation.
Flitting, soaring, wading,
nesting, feeding, bathing,
guarding, chirping, migrating:
Blessed be the birds of creation.
— Betty Lynn Schwab
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