"Woven into our lives is the very fire from the stars and the genes from the sea creatures, and everyone, utterly everyone, is kin in the radiant tapestry of being. This relationship is not external or extrinsic to our identity but wells up as the defining truth from our deepest being". – Theologian Elizabeth Johnson
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Call To Worship
from Psalm 146:1-2, 6-8 (CEB)
Praise the LORD!
Let our whole being praise the LORD!
We will praise the LORD with all our life;
We will sing praises to our God as long as we live.
God: the maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them.
God: who is faithful forever, who gives justice to people who are oppressed, who gives bread to people who are starving!
The LORD: who frees prisoners, makes the blind see, who straightens up those who are bent low, who loves the righteous.
Praise the LORD!
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Creation Prayer of Adoration and Confession
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Assurance Of Forgiveness from Isaiah 43:19 (NRSV)
Thus says the Lord: I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
We are a new creation. In the name of Jesus Christ we are forgiven!
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Prayer for Illumination
Holy Spirit, you swept over the unformed waters bearing witness to the birth of God’s creation. We pray that you would be our witness now, so that God’s Word may be birthed in us. Amen.
Scripture
Genesis 1:1-31 (CEB)
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"The Gift and Call of Creation" by Michelle Henrichs, pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church. As the first in the worship series When God Creates, Henrichs explores the creation story in Genesis 1. "Creation is the physical sign of God’s character and presence in our lives. Creation enables us to smell, feel, hear,
taste, and spatially experience the God we cannot see."
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Prayers of the People
Called from the beginning to care for all that God has created, let us pray for the church, the world and all whom God has created.
We give you thanks, O God, for our world, which you made and renewed in the power of Jesus' resurrection. Make us wise and careful of your gifts as we live on earth.
We pray that the love which ceaselessly passes between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit may renew and deepen the life of each Christian and draw us all into your unending life.
For the leaders of the church in all her forms, around the world and here at home, and for the ecumenical endeavors that seek to bring us closer to each other and to you, we pray.
For the earth and all creatures and plants; for healthy soil, air, and water; for policies and laws that regard our home on God's earth as precious, Abundant Creator, hear our prayer.
For our families, households, and communities, that your life together--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- may show us the like importance of each of us, strengthening us in grace and truth, and teaching us to tear down walls of racism, classism, sexism, or any prejudice which divides, we lift our prayers to you.
For the sick and those who suffer in any way; for those who struggle to pay the rent or mortgage; for those who have no home; for those who are neglected or abused in our communities; for the lonely; for those wracked with anxiety or fear, we pray, O God of mercy.
For all those needs unnamed before you and all we would name before you now......................we pray.
Into your hands, we place our concerns, longing for the day that your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ who taught us to pray.
The Lord's Prayer
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Hymn For the Beauty of the Earth |
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In mystery and grandeur, we see the face of God; in earthiness and the ordinary, we know the love of Christ.
In heights and depths and life and death, the Spirit of God is moving among us.
I will be a light in the name of God who lit the world and breathed the breath of life into me.
I will be a light in the name of the Son who saves the world and stretches out his hand to me.
I will be a light in the name of the Spirit who encompasses the world and blesses my soul with yearning.
And may the triune God, the beginning, the end, the everlasting one, make you to shine like the sun, bearing the light of God all your days. Amen.
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The liturgy for this service was put together by Michelle Henrichs (Call, Confession, Assurance, and Prayer for Illumination) and Ann Gibbs with resources adapted from Feasting on the Word, Liturgies for Year A, volume 2, and Imaging the Word , Volume 3.
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