March 22, 2020 Worship Bulletin

This Sunday we worship with creation in a forest. 

Ideally this worship service would take place out of doors in an actual forest or thicket of trees. Imagine that you are surrounded by living trees, ferns, and other forest plants throughout your home. At the center of your worship space, wherever you are, is a tree that represents the tree of life.

Prelude           “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”          David Cherwien

Call to Worship

Leader: We invite the forests to worship with us:

People: mountain ash and vibrant maples, quivering ferns and glistening moss!

L: We invite tall trees to celebrate life:

P: to lift green leaves in the breeze and sing their oxygen into the air.

L: We call to the forest to sing in the night:

P: green tree frogs and timid moths, butterflies and swirling bats!

L: We join with the fauna of the forest in praising God:

P: red winged blackbirds and hummingbirds, creeping things and butterflies.

L: We celebrate the song of the forest!

P: Sing, forest, sing!

Hymn:   “For the Beauty of the Earth”

              For the beauty of the earth, for the splendor of the skies,

          For the love which from our birth, over and around us lies,

          God of all, to you we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.

Invocation

Leader: In the name of the Creator, the fountain of life, in the name of Christ, the pulse of life, and in the name of the Spirit, the breath of life. Amen.

People: Holy! Holy! Holy! Earth is filled with God’s presence.

L: Christ, we come into your presence to worship in this sanctuary called Earth,

P: a planet pulsating with your presence, a presence quivering in the forests, a presence vibrating in the land, a presence pulsating in the wilderness, a presence shimmering in the rivers.

L: God, reveal yourself to us in this place, and show us your face in all creation.

P: Holy! Holy! Holy! The whole earth is filled with your glory.

Call to Confession

Leader: For our time of confession, I want you to imagine that you are sitting under your favorite tree with your favorite flower growing next to you. Let us confess together:

Prayer of Confession 

UNISON: We remember the first garden, where God planted a forest of trees. We remember with awe and wonder the gift of this planet blessed with trees. We remember the gardens of flowers and the forests of our childhood, the places where we played in the past when we felt close to Earth, to trees and to our kin born of Earth.

Leader: Christ, crucified on a tree, hear our cry.

People: We regret that we have become alienated from Earth and have treated this garden as a beast to be tamed, as a domain to be dominated, and as a place to be ruled for our gain.

L: We remember and confess how we have violated and polluted the trees and plants in our garden planet.

P: We are sorry. We have ignored the distant sounds in the forest, the sound of chainsaws clearing for greed and gain, the sound of those old forest giants falling forever, the sound of rare species breathing their last. We are sorry. We are sorry.

Absolution

Leader: Christ hears your confession from the cross, forgives your sins against the trees of the forest and the plants of the garden, and calls you now to open your ears and your hearts to serve and to protect rather than to destroy our trees and plants, the trees God has planted for life and wonder.

People: Christ, teach us to love Earth as our home and all living creatures as our kin. Help us to return home to Earth.

L: I speak for Christ: Jesus says, I invite you to come home to Earth, and I call you to care for this planet with love, to nurture the plants and trees of the forest as I have nurtured you, and to join me in healing creation.

P: Shalom! Shalom! We are coming home!

L: As we come home to Earth:

P: Christ, have mercy.

L: As we seek to love our home:

P: Christ, have mercy.

L: As we seek to care for our kin:

P: Christ, have mercy. Amen.

Praise Response  “For the Fruit of All Creation”

For the fruit of all creation, thanks be to God.

For God’s gifts to every nation, thanks be to God.

For the plowing, sowing, reaping, silent growth while we are sleeping,

Future needs in earth’s safekeeping, thanks be to God.

Children’s Message

Old Testament Lesson - Genesis 2:4b–22

In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

New Testament Lesson - Revelation 22:1-5  

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Sermon                           “The Healing Power of Creation”

Creation Creed

UNISON: We believe that God creates all things, renews all things, and celebrates all things.We believe Earth is a sanctuary, a sacred planet filled with God’s presence, a home for us to share with all creatures. We believe every creature joins us in praising God. We see many suffer with Earth because of human crimes against creation. We believe that God became incarnate as a part of Earth, Jesus Christ, that he lived and breathed and spoke among us, suffered and died on a cross, for all human beings and for all creation. We believe that the risen Jesus Christ fills the whole creation, reconciling all things to God, renewing all things. We believe the Spirit renews life in creation, groans in empathy with every suffering creature, and waits with us for the rebirth of the whole creation. We believe that with Christ we will rise and with Christ we will celebrate a new creation, reconciled, restored, and renewed.

Prayer Concerns/Prayers of the People

(From St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Medina, Washington.)

Leader: We give you thanks and praise, O God of creation, for the grandeur of all that you have made, saying

People: We thank you, God.

L: For the healing waters of creation, which bring pleasure and health, purity and life,

P: We thank you, God.

L: For the richness of the good Earth that brings forth trees and fruits and flowers, a pleasure to taste and a joy to behold,

P: We thank you, God.

L: For the soaring birds of the air, the crawling creatures on the Earth, the gliding fishes in the seas, for all creatures great and small with whom we share this precious web of life,

P: We thank you, God.

L: For the invigorating sunlight of day, the deepening mystery of night, the wonder of the stars, and the call of the unknown in the universe,

P: We thank you, God.

L: From heedless misuse and dishonoring of the wonders of your hand,

P: Good Lord deliver us.

L: From squandering resources, abusing our companion species, and polluting the habitat we all share,

P: Good Lord deliver us.

L: From the folly of imagining ourselves free from the fate of your whole creation,

P: Good Lord deliver us.

L: For the courage and wisdom to confess how little we have cared for your gifts,

P: Strengthen us, O Spirit.

L: For the conviction that you have called us to love and restore the Earth,

P: Strengthen us, O Spirit.

L: For repentance and the determination to begin our stewardship anew,

P: Strengthen us, O Spirit.

Unison:  O merciful Creator, your hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature: Make us always thankful for your loving providence; and grant that we, remembering the account that we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your good gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever, Amen.

Offering

Prayer of Dedication

Unison:  God, our Creator, through your love you have given us all the gifts of creation to share.  Accept our offerings as an expression of our thanksgiving and as a sign of our concern for those in need, including all our fellow creatures on Earth. AMEN.

Hymn  “All Things Bright and Beautiful

 All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small,

 All things wise and wonderful, our dear God made them all.

The cold wind in the winter, the pleasant summer sun,

The ripe fruits in the garden, God made them every one.

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful, our dear God made them all.

Commission

L: Christ calls you to be his disciples, to serve him with love and compassion, to serve Earth by caring for creation, especially the forests that God has planted to provide breath for all living things.

P: We follow our Lord, the crucified Christ, we will listen for cries of injustice from Earth, we will groan with a creation burdened by our sin. We will follow our Lord, the risen Christ, we will be partners with Christ in healing our planet, we will join the Wounded Healer as he restores all things. We will care for creation. We will nurture the forests. We will love our kin. We will celebrate life.

Blessing

L: May the God who is above and through all and in all fill you with the knowledge of God’s presence in Earth, the pulsing of Christ through Earth and the dream of the Spirit that all will be reconciled, renewed, and restored through Christ our wounded healer.

Dismissal

L: Go in peace, serving Christ

P: We go in peace, serving Christ and loving the Earth.

Postlude                  “The Peaceful Forests”                     Alexander Schreiner