The River Mighty, Beloved, Restored

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In September, we officially begin another Season of Creation for worship, prayer, liturgy, and teaching that centers this good and beloved earth, our home. Whether you haven’t yet heard of the Season of Creation, or are already knee-deep in planning, this article will hopefully be a help to you as you dig in to this year’s theme.

Below find:

Stories of river and wetland conservation and restoration in the US and globally.

Season of Creation worship planning information and links.

Starting place ideas for Season of Creation and nature in worship.

Season of Creation 2023

This year’s theme centers ‘A mighty river,’ and draws out the words of Amos, “…let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5: 24).

You can find liturgy and resources for the season in a number of places online. Much info and history is available at the Season of Creation main site, in addition there are also resources online from organizations, denominations and worship teams. One of those is ‘Let Peace and Justice Flow, Season of Creation for 2023.’ This five week series includes a worship planner with prayers, liturgy, children’s material, sermon starters, suggested hymns, videos and more.

This series is free to use and comes through the grass-roots United Methodist Creation Justice Movement (UMCJM), a national effort to promote and boost creation/environmental justice within the denomination and beyond. It is available through United Methodist Discipleship Ministries, as well as on the Creation Justice Movement website. It is inter-denomination friendly, with flexibility for churches of different traditions and contexts.

In August, the UMCJM featured worship resources through its newsletter, and worship team members joined the Movement Cafe for a conversation about the 2023 Season of Creation resource, how it came together, and what ways it can be used and shared. Included in the conversation was Lisa Hancock of Discipleship Ministries to share creation justice resources and the growing commitment within Methodism to speak to environmental and climate justice.

The worship and planning resource is here, Let Justice and Peace Flow, and it includes a number of prayers, videos, liturgies, and sermon starters as well as explainers for the series, all linkable and free to use in worship. Members of the Movement’s worship team included writers from across the country, from Washington DC to Washington State.

Rev. Laurie Bayen, who serves Windsor Community UMC in Sonoma, CA, and contributed short video resources for benedictions, calls to worship, and more, shared that “The best thing,” in creating these resources “has been getting inspired by the creativity, thoughtfulness and excellence of these amazing colleagues. It really does engender hope, and reminds me that I am not alone in the heartbreak and the passion of this work.”

River Restoration Stories

Having spent many years preaching, I know how important it is to find stories to share and connect with. I am hoping this round-up of river stories may be helpful as you connect the worship series with lived experiences and the ongoing efforts to conserve and celebrate this good earth.

From Mongabay, Expedition catches Amazon river dolphins to help save this iconic pink species, this story tells of the conservation efforts of local people and scientists to learn about how to protect river dolphins. The dolphins are a key species for the ecological health of the river, yet they are experiencing disease and injury. In Brazil, scientists are working together to learn more and protect the river and its species.

Another from Mongabay, ‘It gives life’: Philippine tribe fights to save a sacred river from a dam, this story tells of the Dumagat-Remontado Indigenous people’s efforts to prevent construction of a dam near the Tinipak River. The dam would bring fresh drinking water to the growing city of Manilla, but at the cost of submerging the Tinipak river, a healing and ancestral river sacred to its people. The story includes a link to an online petition to stop the project. Read also, The village at Kaliwa Dam’s ground zero.

From the Missoula Current in Montana: BLM (Bureau of Land Management), Partners, Celebrate the Start of Blackfoot Restoration Projects. This article tells of the partnership of government and local agencies with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes to better support and fund restoration efforts in the Blackfoot river valley and including the headwaters of the Missouri River. The effort includes restoration of Belmont, Nevada and Gold Creeks and other streams, including restoration of native animals and plants—such as the blue camas. Recently, restorers joyfully reported 18 new beaver dams, as well as active spawning sites for bull trout.

From US Fish and Wildlife and speaking to the restoration of the Conasauga River in Georgia: Much money, effort to restore Conasauga's long-ago luster. The Conasauga and Coosa are among the nation’s most endangered rivers. They should be home to native mussels, chub, and the amber darter. But the last decades have been too hard on the waterways, which have been impacted by fertilizer runoff, pollution, road construction, and E.coli from cattle. In 2020 studies, no amber darters were found in the rivers at all, leading to a fear that the fish were headed toward extinction. Community members continue to build energy and momentum to restore the river, and yes, if you ask them they will tell you it is totally worth it.

Rivers and Rights of Nature Stories

In an effort to protect rivers and watersheds across the world, people are seeking legal remedies, including declaring that rivers themselves have a right to exist. From a biblical perspective, when God created the earth—the animals and plants and waters—God declared it to be good. God’s commandment for this goodness was for the birds and fish and plants to be fruitful and multiply. In other words, the fish, birds, and insects had a right to exist. They were a integral part of what was ‘good.’ In the order of things, the river has the right to be what it was created to be, a river. It has a right to flow, to be free from pollution, and to be a home to fish and plants, and exist within a healthy ecosystem.

Churches and faith groups, including the UCC, have declared the Rights of Nature. This backs up the work and teachings of Indigenous groups, environmentalists and legal scholars who see a legal effort to conserve nature as part of how to teach, communicate, and protect what is divinely and wondrously made.

Since the Rights of Nature movement began, globally nations have stepped up. Ecuador was the first to enshrine the Rights of Nature in its constitution in 2008. Panama did the same in 2022.

Currently, a number of rivers now have legal status, with many more efforts underway. Here are a few of those stories:

From the AP: New Zealand river’s personhood status offers hope to Māori. This article tells the story of the Whanganui River, the first river globally, in 2017, to gain legal rights and personhood. The Associated Press in 2022 returned to the river and its people, to find out what personhood has meant for protection and conservation of the river, ecosystems, and life-ways. The protections were important, not only in setting limits on impacts to the river, but also in empowering the community and preserving life for future generations.

From High Country News, The Yurok tribe declared the first rights in the US for a river in 2019: The Klamath River now has the legal rights of a person; A Yurok Tribe resolution allows cases to be brought on behalf of the river as a person in tribal court. With the climate crisis and other environmental crises effecting the Klamath basin, the declaration is hoped to safeguard the river. If the river is harmed, a case can be brought to the tribal court. Other tribal legislatures are following suit, such as the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. They declared rights for the Menominee River in 2020.

From Canadian Geographic, I am Mutehekau Shipu: A river’s journey to personhood in eastern Quebec, a story of the Indigenous Innu and non-Indigenous land defenders to protect the Mutehekau Shipu (also called the Magpie river). In February 2021, in a first for Canada, a shared agreement established legal personhood for the river. This story is a deep dive with both information and storytelling.

From Vox: Lake Erie now has legal rights, just like you; Ohio voters passed groundbreaking legislation that allows citizens to sue on behalf of the lake when it’s being polluted. The effort reportedly started in a pub over beer. What resulted was a special election where the voters of Ohio gave Lake Erie the ‘right to flourish.’ The effort left Ohio citizens with much to hope for, and an opportunity to change things for the better.

Watershed Stories - Wetlands, Glaciers and Ponds

The Season of Creation series gives room to explore well beyond rivers. Watersheds include wetlands, tributaries, even glaciers, and the ecosystems of which they are an essential part. A few stories here include:

From Humanosphere: India grants glaciers legal personhood in effort to protect them. The Himalayas are marked by shrines that used to abut glaciers. Those glaciers are disappearing. Glaciers may be icy and seem removed and mountainous. But they feed water to humans, species, plants and ecosystems from the mountain through the valley to the sea. They cool river water for fish. They saturate farmland to feed nations.

From Nebraskaland, Just a Little Salty – Nebraska’s Saline Wetlands. I did not expect this, but did you know that nearly a million acres in Nebraska are wetlands? Of which, the salt marshes are most at risk. Less a story than just good information, this article introduces us to God’s wonderful wetland life, a ‘little bit salty’ and full of salt creek tiger beetles and saltwort.

Waterways are whole ecosystems! From Starnews Online: Escargone? Native to Brunswick, this 'magnificent' snail could soon become extinct Two ponds in North Carolina’s Lower Cape Fear River Basin are critical habitat for the magnificent ramshorn snail. Yes, I said magnificent. It seems like a big title for a snail, but I am here for it. More about these magnificent snails from US Fish and Wildlife.

Starting Place Ideas

I am hoping by now you have imagined and reimagined worship in your faith community to include stories of restored rivers and protected wetlands. While global and national stories can inspire possibilities, the stories with the most meaning are usually the ones in one’s own home. Lived experience is no match for books and photos of somewhere else.

One way to bring stories local is to look to the watershed where you live and worship. Is there a river near you, or did there used to be? Are there wetlands? Is there a forest? If there is a national forest near you, call up the ranger station and ask about your local watershed. You can also connect with your local US Fish and Wildlife office and/or your local Riverkeeper, they usually have ongoing projects.

Learn about ongoing efforts, and then preach about them. Preach about the ongoing efforts of stewardship in your local community. Share about environmental challenges and pathways to restoration. Collaborate with tribes, neighbors, and conservation groups to bring those efforts into your first-hand and real-world experiences. Check out my article on Plovers! for more ideas as to how to bring the natural world into faith teachings and worship spaces.

Consider subscribing to JustCreation—it’s free!

The Rev. Richenda Fairhurst organizes the Climate Cafe Multifaith as a co-leader of Faiths4Future. She serves on the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon board, chairing the Creation Justice Committee and Oregon Interfaith Power and Light. Richenda is ordained in the United Methodist tradition, and served churches in Oregon and Washington State. Find her in real life in Southern Oregon, working as Steward of Climate with the nonprofit Circle Faith Future. This article is republished permission from her Substack blog, JustCreation.