Together on the Journey:
A Weekly Blog 

This past Sunday at St. George’s, we observed Harvest Thanksgiving, a feast day where we celebrate and give thanks for the good gifts that God has given us. The church was beautifully decorated with produce representing the harvest (thank you, Chancel Guild!).

Now sometimes, the words of our liturgy beautifully reflect the meaning behind feast days and capture the essence of the occasion. But sometimes, they can distract me from worship when certain words pull at my attention.

And this week, it was the word ‘dominion’ from the prayer over the gifts at the beginning of the Eucharistic prayer:

Source of all life, the heaven and earth are yours, yet you have given us dominion over all things. Receive the symbols of our labour and love which we offer you this day, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

The idea that humans have ‘dominion’ over the earth comes from the book of Genesis, where God made humans on the 6th day and gave them dominion over ‘the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth’ (Genesis 1:26).

But here’s the thing, the word ‘dominion’ is actually a bad translation of the original Hebrew word which would be better translated as ‘serve and observe’. When we think about it, that changes the meaning entirely. If my job is serving and observing creation instead of having dominion over it, then I become a partner; creation becomes something I am on equal terms with instead of something I am in charge of.

So this Thanksgiving, I invite you to ponder how you can serve and observe creation. Maybe you could take a walk in the woods, or sit by a lake, or even just take a stroll around your neighbourhood. Creation is all around us, so let us experience joy by observing it, and embracing it as an equal partner, all in the arms of a loving God who created us all. Amen.

– Jess