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LETTER FROM THE CHAIRPERSON

June 09, 2013

Dearly Beloved in Christ,

The CSI Synod Department of Ecumenical Relations and EcologicalConcerns has prepared a resource book for the celebration of EnvironmentSunday on 09th June 2012 on the theme “BREAD OF LIFE : BREAD FORLIFE”. I thank the Director of the Department Rev. Viji Varghese Eapen, for thesplendid way in which he is giving leadership to this Department and forbringing out this Resource Book, for the use of the worshippers.

‘Bread of Life : Bread for Life’ - Life is gift from God, who imparts this lifein manifold ways, ‘Bread’ being one among them. Bread participates in the lifegiving activity of God. In this way the nature, out of which the bread isproduced, participates in the saving activity of God, by giving life to the entirehumankind.

Further, nature, in a wider sense, is the ‘Bread’ for all creation. At the sametime, we should note that life refers not only to the survival, but eternal. Whenwe look at creation from this perspective, with awe and wonder, we praise andthank God, that He is giving Himself to us through the nature and whole ofcreation.

Jesus identifies Himself with the nature by saying that, “I am the BREADOF LIFE”, and the Word became flesh, a human being, by identifying Himselfwith the whole creation. He, along with the whole creation is the Bread of Lifeand Bread for Life.

We are called to communicate this good news that in Christ, God isaccepting the whole cosmos as it is and is sharing God’s own life with all thecreation. This also challenges us to share the Bread and commit ourselves tostrive for ‘Food Justice’.

It is my prayer that the celebration of this year’s Environment Sunday willgive its contribution in enabling us to realize the meaning of the theme ‘Breadof Life : Bread for Life’ and practice the same.

Rt. Rev. Dr. John S. Sadananda

Chairperson

CSI Synod Ecumenical Relations and Ecological Concerns Committee

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LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

June 09, 2013

Respected Bishops/Presbyters/Deacons/Church Workers,

Greetings from the CSI Synod Department of Ecumenical Relations andEcological Concerns!

At the very outset, may I join with the officers of the CSI Synod, theChairperson of the CSI Synod Ecumenical Relations and Ecological ConcernsCommittee and the sisters and brothers in the Department of EcumenicalRelations and Ecological Concerns, in thanking the Almighty for the ways inwhich he had guided us all in living as ‘God’s Mission’. At the Synod level aswell as at the Diocesan (and congregational) level, the Almighty has availedus a number of opportunities to actively involve in creatively responding tovarious ecological issues, encouraging our congregations to refrain fromabusing nature’s resources and challenging our members to strive hard inprotecting God’s creation. I am indeed very grateful to the Rt. Rev. Dr. John S.Sadananda, for his prayers, blessings and encouragement. May I join with hisgood-self in hoping and praying that God would continue to help and guideall of us in our ‘Green Pilgrimage’

In order to make our ‘Environment Sunday Worship Service’ moremeaningful, this year too we are serving every church in the CSI with worshipresources - the liturgy and sermon. I take this opportunity to thank Rev. D. C.Premraj (Diocese of Madras) for preparing the Sermon and Liturgy in English.Our thanks are due to Mr. Joshua Rajkumar for designing the logo and Mr. D.Solomon Raja, for designing the Poster.

I hope that all of You would recollect the Environment Sunday themes in2011 (Forest: Our Good Neighbour) and in 2012 (Turn to God : Turn to Green).In fact, both these themes wee in line with the United Nation’s EnvironmentProgramme theme during the respective years (‘Forest: Nature at Your Service’and ‘Green Economy: Does it Include You?’). In line with the theme proposedfor this year’s World Environment Day by the UNEP, “Think.Eat.Save”, thechurch of South India has selected “BL : BL (Bread of Life: Bread for Life)”

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as the theme for this year’s Environment Sunday, to be celebrated onJune 09, 2012.

The focus for this year is on ‘Food Justice’ and corresponding to this, theCSI Synod has initiated the “Food for Life” Campaign. To promote thecampaign, which was launched in Bangalore on April 18, 2013, we are alsosending about 40-50 Posters highlighting the Indian Context of poverty andhunger. We request all the congregations to ensure the participation of all themembers to engage in the ministry of promoting food justice. Let us listen tothe cries of millions around us praying “Give us this Day our Daily Bread” andcreatively respond to the same, so that we would hear His voice, “I washungry. You have fed me”.

May we all through this year’s ‘Environment Sunday’ worship andcelebrations, be challenged and urged to become channels in promoting FoodJustice.

With love and Prayers,

Viji Varghese Eapen (Rev.)

Director DEREC, CSI Synod

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ORDER OF SERVICE

VESTRY PRAYER

Celebrant: Come let us worship God the source and fount of life, in whosegoodness the created order is sustained and by whose generosity the entirecreated order live and flourish.

Silence

Celebrant: God of our day and our night, God of our hopes and our aspirations,God of our yesterdays and our today, God of our waking and our sleeping, Wewake up once again to see Your glory all around us. Come to us in the radianceof goodness. Come to us in the splendour of Your love. Come to us in thefullness of Your grace. Come to us yet again. AMEN.

OPENING HYMN/LYRIC

Let us all join together with the creation in singing Hymn/Lyric no. ….

PRAYER FOR PURIFICATION

Celebrant: O God, who created and sustains us with the goodness of foodand water, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known and from whom nosecrets are hid, by the inspiration of Your same Spirit, that brooded over thewaters and created life out of chaos, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts, thatwe may perfectly love You and Your creations and worthily magnify Your holyname in union with them; through Christ our Lord, AMEN.

ADORATION

Gloria in Excelsis (In Unison): (As in the CSI Book of Common Worship)

Or

Celebrant: Gracious God, we look at the entire creation they proclaim thewonder of Your creative power. You have made everything so beautiful andeverything so good. The created order is a demonstration of Your presence inour midst and it is a expression of Your nature to feed and sustain the creation.

Response: We praise You O Gracious God.

Celebrant: Compassionate God, You have not only created us and the rest ofcreation. You sustain us with the goodness of food. There is so much of foodall around for the entire creation to live and flourish. We praise and adore Youfor Your Son Jesus Christ who for us has become the bread of life. All thosewho feed on him may have New Life.

Response: We adore You O Compassionate God.

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Celebrant: Loving God, we give You thanks and praise for Your Holy Spiritwho from before creation have been brooding over the waters, with greatpower raises people to be leaders who will see the world with the eyes of God,who opens our eyes to the truth about life that we may appreciate and valueand preserve all that You have created.Response: We praise and thank You O Loving God.OUR LORD’S SUMMARY OF THE LAWAND THE PROPHETS (As in theCSI Book of Common Worship)CALL TO CONFESSIONCelebrant: Dearly beloved in Christ, by the Word of His mouth everythingwas created and through His Body and Blood, everything was redeemed. Wehave come together to hear this holy Word and to receive this Body andBlood. Let us therefore, kneel and examine ourselves in, silence, seeking God’sgrace that we may draw near to Him with repentance and faith.All kneel. After a period of silence the celebrant continuesCONFESSIONCelebrant: Merciful Father, a world You created so full of life is now filled withso much of death such as the death of peoples, communities, various species,forests and glaciers.Response: Have mercy on us and forgive us, O God.Celebrant: A world of plenty for so many people and for so many other fellowspecies is now becoming a world of deprivation. Nearly 852 million peopleacross the world are hungry. Every day, more than 16,000 children die fromhunger-related causes—one child every five seconds.Response: Have mercy on us and forgive us, O God.Celebrant: Forests are destroyed; lakes are converted into housing plots bygreedy land grabbers. Agricultural fields of the villages which used to producefood for millions are now fast converted into industries and lands remaindesolate, the birds of the air about which our Lord Jesus Christ marveled nowdie of hunger.Response: Have mercy on us and forgive us, O God.Celebrant: You have created a wonderful world for us, we want to createanother where only the rich will live, You gave us enormous resources tosustain life of all creation, in the name of science and technology andadvancement we pollute the air, the water and the land. Like how we crucifiedYour Son Jesus Christ, we are crucifying Your creation on the cross of ourselfishness, thoughtlessness and greed.

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Response: Have mercy on us and forgive us, O God.

Silence

Then the Celebrant stands and reads

Hear the gracious Word of God, to all who turn to Him through Jesus Christ,the First born of all creations,

God loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love ofthe LORD. (Ps. 33:5)

The LORD is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made.... The LORDis faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made.”(Ps. 145:9, 13)

The Lord will surely comfort Zion and look with compassion on all her ruins;He will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord.(Isa. 51:3)

Through Him God was pleased to reconcile to Himself all things, whether onearth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross.(Col. 1:20)

(Silence)

ABSOLUTION

Celebrant: May the God who is always compassionate on people who repentof their sins have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, re-create our minds, ourscience and technology, our businesses and trade, our theology and our faithand help us to value all that God has provided to sustain the entire createdorder.

Congregation: Amen, thanks be to God.

THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD OF GOD

Celebrant: The Peace of the Lord be with You.

Congregation: And also with You.

COLLECT

Celebrant: Gracious and Almighty God, we thank You for the gift of life andfor the resources for life that You have mercifully entrusted to us, Grant usgrace to become aware of the dangers that our planet is facing and to benourished by the bread of life Jesus Christ that we may always be satisfiedand not be greedy or exploitative through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives andreigns with You and the Holy Spirit one God now and forever. AMEN.

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SCRIPTURE READING

Old Testament Ex. 16: 13-21Gradual Ps. 78: 21-35,Epistle 1 Cor. 11: 17-26Gospel Lk. 12: 13-21HYMN/LYRICSERMONNICENE CREED: (As in the CSI Book of Common Worship)INTERCESSION

Celebrant: We pray for the peace and well being of the entire creation, bringingbefore God the well being of God’s creation.

Response: Lord in Your mercy, save our planet

Celebrant: We pray for presidents, prime ministers and heads of governmentsthat a new eco friendly political culture should emerge all over the world. Thatevery decision and action of governments should aimed at checking globalwarming and seek the well being of the planet.

Response: Lord in Your mercy, save our planet

Celebrant: We pray for all endangered species of the world, for those who areworking hard to avoid extinction of several species.

Response: Lord in Your mercy, save our planet

Celebrant: We pray for the leaders of the Churches, especially G.Devakatacham, the Moderator of the Church of South India, P. P. Marandih,the Moderator of the Church of North India, Joseph Marthoma, theMetropolitan of the Marthoma Church, all the Bishops of the Church of SouthIndia, particularly ……………………. Our Bishop, ......................., our Presbyter,that their teaching and preaching may inspire the church to be concernedabout the food crisis that is gripping the planet and work to recreate the ailingsystem of life.

Response: Lord in Your mercy, save our planet

Celebrant: We pray for activists and organizations campaigning and strugglingto seek justice for the earth’s resources and for the well being of the planet.

Response: Lord in Your mercy, save our planet

Celebrant: We pray for people who are living below the poverty line and allthose who are forced to be estranged from nature and be deprived of food.

Response: Lord in Your mercy, save our planet

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Celebrant: We pray for the well being of oppressed communities and displacedcommunities who are struggling to live with dignity.

Response: Lord in Your mercy, save our planet

Celebrant: We pray for people who are facing religious persecution, who areliving under oppressive regimes, who are living in areas of unrest, war andconflict.

Response: Lord in Your mercy, save our planet

Celebrant: We pray for all those who have died due to hunger and disease,for those who are dying due to unfair economic policies and diseases due toindustrial pollution.

Response: Lord in Your mercy, save our planet

Celebrant: Gracious God have mercy on us and hear our prayer for the sake ofYour Son, Jesus Christ the bread of life. AMEN.

PRAYER OF DEDICATION: (To be repeated after the Presbyter)

We dedicate ourselves to seek life for ourselves and the entire creation. Wededicate ourselves to liberate ourselves from the delusion of modernizationand technology and in the power of the Holy Spirit discover a new way ofliving that will protect the integrity of creation and the well being of God’screation. We dedicate ourselves to become people who value food as the rightof all that in our abundance we will not waste food but become a people shareour resources with people who are deprived and are poor. We dedicateourselves to become a Eucharistic community and deal with the earth’sresources sacramentally and strive for the well being of the entire createdorder. AMEN.

FIRST BENEDICTION

Presbyter: May the Grace, Love and Peace of our Triune God, be with us, nowand forever more. AMEN

THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD

( The worship service from here shall be as in the CSI Eucharist Liturgy.Along with the offertory and Bread and Wine, it will be meaningful if wecould offer a tray of flowers with other signs of God’s goodness in creation,and placed on the altar)

BENEDICTION

Celebrant: May the God the Father of life give us grace to live our livesresponsibly, May God the Son Jesus Christ the bread of life nourish us to seeGod in every part of creation, May God the Holy Spirit empower us to change

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our attitude of life, The Blessing of the Triune God be with us and bless us andthe entire creation. AMEN.

CLOSING HYMN

Following the service, any ecologically relevant symbolic actsencouraging the congregations to strive for ‘Food Justice’ or launching

any ecological programme shall be initiated.

APPENDIX: It is recommended to use responsively the following ‘Canticleof Brother Sun and Sister Moon’ by the St. Francis of Assisi.

Celebrant: Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord, All praise is Yours, allglory, all honour and all blessings.

Response: To You alone, Most High, do they belong, and no mortal lips areworthy to pronounce Your Name.

Celebrant: Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures, especially SirBrother Sun, Who is the day through whom You give us light.

Response: And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour, Of You MostHigh, he bears the likeness.

Celebrant: Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,

Response: In the heavens You have made them bright, precious and fair.

Celebrant: Praised be You, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,

Response: And fair and stormy, all weather’s moods, by which You cherishall that You have made.

Celebrant: Praised be You my Lord through Sister Water,

Response: So useful, humble, precious and pure.

Celebrant: Praised be You my Lord through Brother Fire, through whomYou light the night

Response: And he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.

All: Praised be You my Lord through our Sister,Mother Earth who sustains and governs us,Producing varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.Praise be You my Lord through those who grant pardonFor love of You and bear sickness and trial.Blessed are those who endure in peace,By You Most High, they will be crowned. AMEN.

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BREAD OF LIFE - BREAD FOR LIFE

GOSPEL: Luke 12. 13-21

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide thefamily inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to bea judge or arbitrator over You?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care! Be onYour guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in theabundance of possessions.” 16 Then he told them a parable: “The land of arich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, “What shouldI do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, “I will do this: Iwill pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all mygrain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, You have ample goodslaid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him,“You fool! This very night Your life is being demanded of You. And the thingsYou have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So it is with those who store uptreasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

Food is central to life and food is seen as an expression of the goodness ofGod through nature and the work of human hands. Food is a classic exampleof the way life is sustained and life is shared. It is not possible to live withoutfood. We are now facing a situation where so many people live in hunger notable to have access to nutritious food and that affects life. There are otherextreme situations where deprivation is the cause of death of so many peoplein the world. Poverty and hunger are the worst tragedy in human history. Weare facing a situation where 852 million people across the world are hungryand that is a very significant number. Statistics reveal that Every day, morethan 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes—one child every fiveseconds. In essence, hunger is the most extreme form of poverty, whereindividuals or families cannot afford to meet their most basic need for food.

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Creation and Well being:

The Genesis writers wonderfully explain the nature of God’s creation. Theentire scheme of creation is based on a network of life sustenance. It is sowonderful that God in creation has provided for the existence of all thecreatures. The earth is so full of goodness that no one need to go hungry ordie of hunger. This being the case, poverty and hunger are the result of theway human beings treat the created order and the way societies have orderedthemselves. There is so much of death and disease because of the way foodproduction, marketing and distribution is ordered by the economic systems.Poverty and hunger in the world are indicators of the way God’s goodness increation is manipulated and there are some people who have access to foodand there are others who struggle for food and others who do not have accessto food. Food in a way is spiritual in nature because it affects life. God couldnot stand the hunger of the people of Israel in their liberation journey and Godprovides manna where God keeps the people alive with food.

Food and the Bible:

Food is one of the necessities of life in the biblical times (cf. Ecclus. 39:26).Thedanger of famine due to crop failure and natural disasters was much greater inancient times. These difficulties were enhanced by the lack of a well-developedsystem of trade whereby needy areas could be relieved by the food surplusesof other districts; in a time of famine Jacob and his sons were forced to procuregrain from Egypt (Gen. 42:1-2). For these reasons the simple gathering andpreparation of food occupied a major part of man’s life; the alternative wasdeath by starvation.

Food was not merely a means for sustaining life in biblical times; it had widesignificance in the social and the economic life generally.

As a bond of fellowship. In OT times almost every pact or covenant wassealed with a common meal; the food consumed by both parties madethem, so to speak, members of the same family or clan. In spite of themutual suspicion between Jacob and Laban, they concluded their boundary

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treaty with a meal which lasted all night (Gen. 31:54). Such an agreementwas not always made between two equal parties, however. Joshua and hismen were convinced by the Gibeonites that they were “from a far country”and therefore needed the protection of a covenant; as a sign of agreementthe Israelites ate of the provisions which the strangers had brought withthem (Josh. 9:3-15). The bond thus created was so strong that it could notbe broken even when it was discovered that the Gibeonites were actuallyfrom a nearby district (vss. 16-27). Similarly Mephibosheth, who describedhimself as a “dead dog,” was adopted by David and thus was allowed toeat at the king’s table, like one of his sons II Sam. 9:7, 10-11).

Gifts of food. Because of the function of food in sealing personal andcommunal relationships, gifts of food were not merely a matter of form.The recipient, if he accepted the gift, was put under an obligation, and thegiver was well aware of this. When it became necessary to make a secondtrip to Egypt in order to get food during a time of famine, Jacob and hissons were somewhat concerned about the good will of “the man” (Joseph)who had previously given them grain; the patriarch thus advised his sonsto “take some of the choice fruits of the land in Your bags, and carry downto the man a present, a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachionuts, and almonds” (Gen. 43:1-11).

It was even more necessary to placate a political leader. When David wason the point of becoming king of all Israel, the people of Hebron, hisformer capital, made adequate provision for a feast lasting three days, andIsraelites from as far as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali “came bringingfood on asses and on camels and on mules and on oxen, abundantprovisions of meal, cakes of figs, clusters of raisins, and wine and oil, oxenand sheep, for there was joy in Israel” (I Chr. 12:38-40—H 12:39-41). Evenwhen he was later forced to flee on the occasion of Absalom’s revolt,David was brought food by his loyal subjects II Sam. 16:1; 17:27-29);presumably they hoped that he would again rise to power and reward themaccordingly.

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The earlier prophets were also given gifts of food, either as payment forservices rendered or as a sign of good faith. When Saul and his servantwere looking for lost asses, they decided to consult the seer Samuel; Saul,however, was concerned because their bread was gone and they had nopresent to bring I Sam. 9:6-7).

FAITH IS TO BE GROUNDED IN JESUS THE BREAD OF LIFE

Jesus in the gospel text is challenging the futility of accumulation of wealth.While the bible describes the wealth as a blessing from God, wealthbecomes relevant only if it ensures the well being of all. Jesus challengesthe attitude of accumulation, if You are to die tonight of what relevance isthe resources for food relevant. One of the greatest expressions of wellbeing in the ministry of Jesus was Jesus eagerness to share food, evenwith the sinners and the tax collectors. This so much irked the pharisaicreligion that Jesus is sharing food with the so called sinners and the taxcollectors. In the Table fellowship of Jesus is the new epression of thecreation, of sharing food. In sharing food there is the opening for a newconversation about life.

The occasion of the last supper is another great expression of the new wellbeing that Jesus was offering the world. On the night he was betrayed, hetook bread, gave thanks, broke bread and did not begin to eat but gave itto the disciples and said take eat this is my body. Food for a Eucharisticcommunity as the church is not merely for consumption but it becomes anopportunity to give thanks to God, food is an opportunity for sharing aswhatever food has to be broken and shared. Food is not merely for selfpreservation but food is an opportunity to demonstrate one’s faith in Godthe provider. The hungry should be nourished and made to live.

Faith in Jesus the bread of life is to become open to the needs of otherpeople who do not have access to food. Food is an opportunity to expressour solidarity with God who is the true provider and with the people whodo not have access to food.

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In the feeding of the multitudes, Jesus demonstates a new approach tofood. Every one needs to be fed, with whatever is available. After the meanno food is wasted, food is spiritual as it is sacramental in as much thegrace of God id the basis of food produced therefore nothing should bewasted. Food is gathered and kept that a new use should be found forfood. The Gospel writers do not talk about the use of the food gathered.Obviously more people must have had an opportunity to share in the foodthat is available. Jesus the bread of life challenges us by offering himselfas the bread, to feed on him is to be able to feed people who do not haveaccess to food for various reasons.

MISSION IS TO ENSURE BREAD FOR LIFE

We now face situations of ecological suffering where the earth which isthe glory of God is suffering by the way people have exploited the earth’sresources and have plundered God’s creation. Industrial priorities haveled to agricultural lands going a waste, laid bare and impotent. Theuncertainity of rain and other climatic changes is now giving rise to somany farmers committing suicide. The wealthy and the one’s who canafford food are able to waste so much of food. Food bought and wasted,food cooked more than what is required is wasted, food consumed morethan what one requires all push humanity to disease and destruction.Jesus the bread of life is able to nourish us is able to transform us tobecome new co creators with God where the system of life is now rearranged. The earth needs to regain its glory as the earth is protected andthe integrity of creation is re discovered by repentance and renewal ofpeoples and structures of society.

In the teaching of the rich man and lazarus, the awareness of the richmanwas too late and infact such an awareness that comes too late is irrelevantfor Jesus.

We as a church now are called to wake up to the reality of destruction ofthe scheme of life. The effect climate change is having on land andresources of life should open our eyes to the danger it poses. Managingdanger will only be shortlived as any further manipulation will only lead to

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more destruction of human well being and the well being of the createdorder.

The Church now needs to become a truly Eucharistic community inunderstanding and in using the goodness of God that comes through thegoodness of the earth. People around the Eucharistic table withoutstretched arms waiting to receive the body of Christ should be the newapproach towards God’s creation. In this approach there will be life, life infullness for all.

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