Join us for our ecology-centered worship services on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 10:00 am beginning February 19th and concluding March 13th at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, 2199 E. Main Street, Columbus, OH.
This Lenten journey will involve time spent outdoors and a set of alternative Old Testament scripture lessons on creation and ecology. Dr. Lisa Dahill, Associate Professor of Worship and Christian Spirituality at Trinity, published an essay proposing these texts for Lent and Easter of Year C in the Revised Common Lectionary. The lessons are Hosea 4:1-3, Genesis 3:8-24, Isaiah 24:4-8, 19, Isaiah 30:18-26, and Leviticus 25:1-12, 23-24, and will be read as the Old Testament lesson during the Wednesday Eucharist services held in Gloria Dei at 10:00am. They will also be the readings for our Tuesday services, which will be held outside in various locations around the seminary grounds also beginning at 10:00am. Direction for location will be provided outside Gloria Dei on these Tuesdays. Please dress for outdoor worship lasting 15-30 minutes. Four students who participated in the Eco-Spirituality class during the intensive j-term (also taught by Dr. Dahill) will work to creatively preach on these texts incorporating movement, fire, liturgical variety, and other natural elements. Students hope to share their powerful experiences of outdoor worship from the class with the rest of the seminary community. Here is a sample from TLS student Sara Cogsil of what creative energy was a part of this class and will be a part of our worship experiences during this Lenten season in a poem entitled Visible and Invisible Creation.
Standing still among the woods
aware of the plastic bottle captured by the creek
I take notice of the lone kayaker
ripples following behind as he paddles onward
calling me to float downstream
miles and miles of the unknown before me
questioning the destination of man
Where did he come from?
Where is he headed?
What is his purpose?
The big questions of life mirrored in the individual
Some questions being answered
Others left to the mystery
All fragments of the creation of God.