Bulletin – Sunday, September 25, 2022 – Season of Creation 4

Sunday, September 25, 2022
Season of Creation 4
Listening to The Voice of Creation and Lament

Approach

Lighting the Christ Candle

As we light this candle we are reminded that we gather in the name of God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of the Earth and all creatures! Praise be to the Holy Trinity! God is sound and life, Creator of the Universe, Source of all life, whom the angels sing; wondrous Light of all mysteries known or unknown to humankind, and life that lives in all. You have given humans the responsibility to care for each other. Indigenous people have historical, spiritual, and personal ties to these lands on which we inhabit. But many of us have failed to recognize the presence of God in these traditions, and their voices have been silenced. We are thankful to Indigenous Nations for their continuing care and presence on the Earth. We all value the resilience and strength shown through the generations and today. As we light this candle today, let us remember God’s call to care for all Creation.

Call to Worship

One:   God calls out through all creation.
All:      Do we hear God’s call?

One:   God weeps at our treatment of God’s indigenous children.
All:      Do we see God’s tears?

One:   God laments the racism that has led to cultures destroyed.
All:      Do we feel God’s lament?

One:   God grieves creation’s loss.
All:      Do we grieve with God?

One:   We come today to worship the God of all creation.
All:      Let us hear God’s call, let us see God’s tears, let us feel God’s lament, and let us share God’s grief this day, so that tomorrow might be different.

Hymn – “Many and Great, O God, Are Your Works”

Many and great, O God, are your works,
Maker of earth and sky.
Your hands have set the heavens with stars,
Your fingers spread the mountains and plains.
Lo, at your word the waters were formed;
Deep seas obey your voice.

Grant unto us communion with you,
O star abiding one.
Come unto us and dwell with us,
With you are found the gifts of life.
Bless us with life that has no end,
Eternal life with you.

Prayer of Approach and Confession

Creating One, here we are, a gathering of your people, evidence of Creation’s unfolding, we come, all shapes and all sizes, all ages and life stages, all ethnicities and cultures.

We come on dancing feet or carefully walking. We come hesitant and unsure, or filled with conviction and knowing our way. However we come, we are here to join with all of creation praise and thanksgiving.

Yet we don’t always care for your world or for each other. In gracious love, you O God, created the world good and made everyone equally in your image, every race and people, to live as one community. But we rebel against you; we hide from you, our Creator. Ignoring your commandments, we violate your image in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, exploit neighbour and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care.

We don’t always deserve your grace and yet you always are there for us, calling us to see you in all creation. We pray that our selfish ways shall cease and all creation shall live in abundance. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Words of Assurance

The Word

Scripture Reading:           Jeremiah 4:11-28

¹¹ At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights in the desert toward my poor people, not to winnow or cleanse—¹² a wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgment against them.

¹³ Look! He comes up like clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles—woe to us, for we are ruined! ¹⁴ O Jerusalem, wash your heart clean of wickedness so that you may be saved. How long shall your evil schemes lodge within you? ¹⁵ For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims disaster from Mount Ephraim. ¹⁶ Tell the nations, “Here they are!” Proclaim against Jerusalem, “Besiegers come from a distant land; they shout against the cities of Judah. ¹⁷ They have closed in around her like watchers of a field, because she has rebelled against me, says the LORD. ¹⁸ Your ways and your doings have brought this upon you. This is your doom; how bitter it is! It has reached your very heart.” ¹⁹ My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent; for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. ²⁰ Disaster overtakes disaster, the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my curtains in a moment. ²¹ How long must I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? ²² For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.” ²³ I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light. ²⁴ I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. ²⁵ I looked, and lo, there was no one at all, and all the birds of the air had fled. ²⁶ I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger.

²⁷For thus says the LORD: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end. ²⁸ Because of this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above grow black; for I have spoken, I have purposed; I have not relented nor will I turn back.

Scripture Reading:           Luke 15:1-10

¹ Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. ² And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

³ So he told them this parable: ⁴ “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? ⁵ When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

⁸ “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ ¹⁰ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Thanks be to God!

Time for All Ages – Namwayut: we are all one. Truth and reconciliation in Canada

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zuRQmwaREY 

Solo – “All My Relatives”

Meditation – “Justice!”

Anthem – “This Path We Walk”

Offering / Response

For the gift of creation, the gift of your love,
And the gift of the Spirit by which we live,
We thank you and give you the fruit of our hands.
May your grace be proclaimed by the gifts that we give.

The Response

Prayers of the People

One:   O Spirit of the East, to which we turn, grateful for sunrise, birth, and resurrection; open us fully to the possibilities of new birth and transformation, within ourselves, our communities, and our planet. Give us the courage to sow seeds and plant trees for generations yet to come. Help us celebrate the joy of every kind of birth, as miracle and promise.

One:   O Spirit of the South, thanks be to you for the warm winds of summer nurturing growth: fill us with a youthful vibrancy and optimism that we may sustain hope for a loving relationship with earth and all her creatures. Keep us in solidarity with peoples and places of the global South, especially places and particular struggles we name at this time and those whom we pray feel your nurturing presence in their lives today…Set our hearts afire for an indivisible justice.

One:   Of Spirit of the West, for you many-hued sunsets and life-giving rain clouds, we give you thanks. Grant us the steady hand of adulthood. Nurture us for the journeys we face from day to day and bless the place we call home. Help us to care for the sick, the frail, and those in any special need, whom we name at this time…May our care and concern work together for human healing and the mending of a broken world.

One:   O Spirit of the North, home of winter winds, and the season of dark anticipation, we thank you for the majesty of polar bears and snow owls, of dancing Northern lights and of the fish and seals that sustain life there. Fill us with the wisdom of Elders that we may know when and how to speak, for the sake of earth and all her inhabitants. Comfort the elderly who are dying or bereaved, and take away our fear of death, that in returning to earth we may also see promise of resurrection. Amen.

One:   Let us pray the prayer that Jesus taught as brought to us by Maori theologians;
All:      Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven: The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe! The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world! Your heavenly will be done by all created beings! Your beloved community of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth. With the bread we need for today, feed us. In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us. In times of temptation and test, strengthen us. From trials too great to endure, spare us. From the grip of all that is evil, free us. For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. Amen.

 Hymn – “Deep in Our Hearts”

Deep in our hearts there is a common vision;
Deep in our hearts there is a common song;
Deep in our hearts there is a common story,
Telling creation that we are one.

Deep in our hearts there is a common purpose;
Deep in our hearts there is a common goal;
Deep in our hearts there is a sacred message,
Justice and peace in harmony.

Deep in our hearts there is a common longing;
Deep in our hearts there is a common theme;
Deep in our hearts there is a common current,
Flowing to freedom like a stream.

Deep in our hearts there is a common vision;
Deep in our hearts there is a common song;
Deep in our hearts there is a common story,
Telling Creation that we are one.

Benediction

May God who established the dance of creation, who marveled at the lilies of the field, who transforms chaos to order, Lead us to transform out lives and the Church. To listen to the voice of all creatures, that reflect God’s glory in creation.

Response

We are all one people,
We all come from one Creation way on high.
We are all one nation under one great sky,
You and I.
We are all one people.
We are all one colour in his eyes.