PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE

Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love, you created us as curious and inquisitive beings,
and so we try to understand everything, to have all our questions answered
Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love, you also call us to live with mystery and uncertainty.
So help us, we pray, to be at peace with the questions we can not answer.
As we live with the complexities of the world you have created and are creating,
grant us the ability to trust those who know more than we do,
the courage to keep seeking new answer, even if they may be uncomfortable,
and the wisdom to know that some things will remain a mystery, beyond our understanding.
God of Grace that overflows, of Love that fills us up,
help us live with respect in creation, keep us searching for the best way forward, keep us humble we pray.
And lead us forward into the next steps of the journey we share with the rest of your creation.
Amen

For June 22, 2014 -- A service Celebrating the Goodness of Creation

CALL TO WORSHIP

In the beginning there was God,

calling forth light, land, and life.

As this week begins, there is God,

calling us to gather together, calling us to live and love in the world.

Let us worship together, let us open our hearts to God...

OPENING PRAYER

God who has created and is creating...

we gather for worship, we gather to reflect on what is and what will be.

In this time of speech and song, prayer and reflection,

open our eyes, our hearts, our souls,

so that we would see the goodness in all creation,

so we would celebrate the goodness in all creation.

And when our worship is ended,

lead us out into the world to share the Good News of blessing and love and life.

These things we pray in Jesus' name, as we also pray together the words he taught his friends...

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE

God, you look at creation and call it good.

All of creation? Really? Including mosquitoes and boll weevils? Including us?

You look at all of creation and call it VERY good.

And sometimes we have trouble believing your grace extends that far.

We look at the world, at our neighbours, at ourselves, and see the flaws.

Help us look and see the blessings. Help us live as though the blessings count more than the flaws.

...time of silence...

The grace of God extends beyond our wildest dreams. The grace of God shows in the beginning of our faith story. God knows the world fully, deeply, the good and the bad. And still God's final statement is “it is very good”.

Thanks be to God, who calls us loved, who calls us good. Amen.

COMMISSIONING:

Our time of worship comes to a close,

our time of service continues.

We who have heard the story of creation,

go out to celebrate, to care for, to love that which has been created.

As those who have been reminded that God calls God's world good,

we go out knowing that we also have been called good, we go out to remind others that they are Beloved children of God.

Go with God, who has created and is continuing to create and re-create

Amen.

Litany for Creation

God of life, in the beginning of our story you moved over the waters.

You spoke and there was light, you spoke and the story of life began.

Through the eons the world you created has changed over and over again,

some forms of life have died out, to be replaced by new ones,

mountains have risen up, rivers have worn away rock,

ice sheets have expanded and contracted, lakes have flooded and receded.

Our story tells us that You have given us a special role

in the ongoing life of this tiny blue ball floating in the heavens.

God who has created and is creating

Help us to be good stewards of the world you have created

God of imagination, we have done well with the world into which we have been placed.

Using the gifts that You have given us we have accomplished amazing things.

With each new generation we find that we can do more, make more, have more.

We have moved from knocking rocks together to computer-guided laser sculpting,

from a daily struggle to find food to shrink-wrapped meat at the local supermarket,

from a time when the environment controlled our activity

to a time where we believe we can control the environment.

And so we need to remember the wisdom:

with great power comes great responsibility.

God who has created and is creating

Help us to be good stewards of the world you have created

And yet, God of covenant,

we have to admit that we have failed to keep our end of the bargain.

As a collective we have not always thought thoroughly about the consequences of our choices.

In our excitement about what was possible, we have forgotten to ask what is wise,

in our focus on the present and our push to improve on the past

we have not fully comprehended how we will impact the future.

So now we look around and see that the environment we thought we could control

is changing in ways we did not predict and are not sure we can manage.

Is it time for us to rethink our assumptions about the world and our place in it?

God who has created and is creating

Help us to be good stewards of the world you have created

God of our future hope,

over the last few decades we have started to ask harder questions.

We have started to wonder what we will leave to future generations,

we have started to rethink what the old story meant

when it told us we were given dominion over the earth,

we have started to question the wisdom of our collective choices of the past.

God who has created and is creating

Help us to be good stewards of the world you have created

God, eons ago you looked at the creation and called it very good.

You called us into partnership with you in caring for it.

Almost 14 billion years from the Big Bang have brought us to this point,

where will we go from here?

As we move forward, we seek your help.

Help us to continue to ask the hard questions

about our relationship with the world in which we live.

Help us to re-shape that relationship into one of co-dependence rather than master and servant.

Give us the wisdom to use the gifts we have been given so that they are blessings

for us, for our neighbours, and for our children and grandchildren

even unto the seventh generation.

And may our amazing imagination and inventiveness,

along with Your Guiding Spirit,

show us the path that leads to a time when we can say with confidence that

we are living up to the covenant into which You have invited us.

God who has created and is creating

Help us to be good stewards of the world you have created

So be it.  AMEN.

For Earth Day Worship

CALL TO WORSHIP & OPENING PRAYER

The One who spoke into the primordial chaos, calling forth light,

speaks into the modern chaos, calling forth faith.

The One who was present at the Big Bang, watching and weaving,

is present now, watching and weaving.

14 billion years have brought us to this point,

accompanied by the God who has created and is creating, the God who calls us to live and work together for the greening of the earth.

Creating and re-creating God, in this time of worship

reawaken in us the awe and wonder we get from:

seeing a sunrise, hearing birdsong, smelling fresh flowers,

tasting spring water, feeling the warmth of a summer breeze

And as we remember again the wonders of the Creation around us,

remind us of our call to be careful and responsible stewards, empower to go out and live that stewardship in the world.

In this season of new life, we pray in the name of the Risen Christ, who called us to consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, and who taught his friends to pray saying...

COMMISSIONING:

The God who Created us gave us a challenge,

to live with respect for the Creation around us.

The God who re-creates us gives us a challenge,

to live lovingly within the world, caring for each other and the world.

As we go out, wherever we go,

we are walking on Holy Ground, and so we tread carefully and respectfully

And we go knowing the the Creator is with us each step of the way.

Amen.