Bulletin – Sunday, September 4, 2022 – Season of Creation 1 / Communion

Sunday, September 4, 2022
Season of Creation 1 / Communion
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. We have silenced the voices of your people – protectors of the Earth who have been killed by land grabbers, mining companies and oil companies. Many of these have been silenced by flooding, hurricanes, and drought as the earth’s warming brings destruction. 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 with each protector silenced.
All:      Do we see God’s tears?

One:   God laments human greed.
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 – “We are One”

We are one as we come, as we come, joyful to be here,
In the praise on our lips there’s a sense that God is near.
We are one as we sing, as we seek, we are found;
And we come needful of God’s grace as we meet, together in this place

We are one as we share, as we share brokenness and fear,
In the touch of a hand there’s a sense that God is here.
We are one as we care, as we heal, we are healed;
And we share warmth in God’s embrace as we pray together in this place.

We are one as we feast, as we feast, peace becomes the sign;
In the bread and the wine there’s a sense of love divine.
We are one as we come, as we feed, we are fed;
And we feel God’s refreshing grace as we meet at table in this place.

Prayer of Approach and Confession

Holy Wisdom, we see the destruction in the world around us, and hear the cries of our fellow humans and creatures affected by climate change. We call to you: guide us; teach us; inspire us; forgive us.

And you say, “I have been your guide and teacher. The whole cosmos bears witness to my wisdom, and creation itself is the revelation of my love. Turn to the plants and animals, the sea, and the sky. They will show you my wisdom.” And so we say, “Open our hearts and minds to all the wisdom of creation as we gather in worship today.”

Creator God, made in your image, we have made ourselves in our own image: valued for our “bottom line” and production. Forgive us for losing touch with the truth of our connection with all creation and the presence of the holy in each of us. Amen.

Words of Assurance

Hymn – “Great is Thy Faithfulness”

Great is thy faithfulness, God our Creator,
There is no shadow of turning with thee;
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
As thou hast been thou forever wilt be.

Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, ever to me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, ever to me!

Pardon for sing and a peace the endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow—
Wondrous the portion thy blessings provide.

Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, ever to me!

The Word

Scripture Reading:           Jeremiah 18:1-11

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ² “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. ⁴ The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.

⁵ Then the word of the LORD came to me: ⁶ Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷ At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, ⁸ but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. ⁹ And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, ¹⁰ but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. ¹¹ Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the LORD: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.

Scripture Reading:           Luke 14:25-33

²⁵ Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, ²⁶ “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸ For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹ Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. ³³ So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

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

Time for All Ages – “Inside Out”

Meditation – “Rose-Coloured Glasses!”

The Response

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.

Communion

One:   Once upon a time, God made a garden, and every creature lived in it happily with God.

One:   We took long walks with God in the cool of the evening, humans and snails, deer and bears, kitties and larks.

One:   And when we all sat down with God to eat, the curling vines gave up their fruit, the tall gold wheat gave up its grain, and we at delicious bread and drank from a cup of blessing, singing songs under stars ‘till morning. And the grateful creation was at peace.

One:   But we wandered away from the garden. We believed that we knew better but you continued to call us back to your table. Through mystics and mistrals, poets and priest, you call us back to you, yet, we continued to wander. In our wandering we forgot to care for your creation, seeing our needs as more important. So you sent your son, to remind us of your love for us and your love for all creation.

One:   Ever since, whenever we honour the earth by eating and drinking with heartfelt thanks, God walks with us again. God sits with us and eats. Our tables become the garden, the whole creation sighs with peace, and we see again how life was meant to be.

One:   Come, now, everyone, to this table, to the garden God planted in the East, in Eden. Come, taste and remember, taste and see how good God is.

Communion Prayer

One:   Let us pray. Thank you, Creator God, for sharing your life with us in every good think of this world. Thank you most of all for Jesus, who sat us down to eat and drink good bread and good wine, so that in tasting how good they are we could remember how good you are.

One:   He is our East, our Eden, our Garden of peace. In him we find the fullness of life you desired for us from the start—walking together, sharing food, living in peace.

One:   Send the Spirit to this table now where he still sits us down, where we still remember you. Send your Spirit to those we life up to you this day…

One:   Bless the bread and the cup, fruit of the earth and work of our hands. May they become by your grace the taste of Eden in our hearts. As we eat and drink together, let us see more clearly a vision of life as you meant it to be. Consecrate us to the ministry of making it so, by sharing earth’s goodness with all, in reverence and hope, with justice, and joy. Amen.

Sharing Bread and Cup

One:   Dear friends in Christ, on the night before he was given up, Jesus gathered at a table much like this, a table that was Eden for his followers. This is the bread Jesus blessed and broke and gave us to share in remembrance of him.

One:   After supper this is the cup Jesus blessed and poured and gave us to drink in remembrance of him.

One:   Eating and drinking together, we remember his death, we rejoice in his rising, and we wait for him to come again, to judge in mercy, to welcome in love, and restore all creation, to the praise and glory of God. Amen!

One:   The bread of life. The cup of God’s blessing.

Prayer after Sharing

In this moment and this meal, we have remembered that the whole of creation is held in the hand of God and that the whole of creation is filled with the life of God; that the whole of creation has been restored by the work of God and that the whole of creation is flooded with the Spirit of God; that the whole of creation will be renewed according to the promise of God and that the whole of creation reflects the glory of God from eternity to eternity. As we are strengthened by this meal let us see all creation as the work of God’s loving hands. Amen.

Hymn – “Creator God You Gave Us Life”

Creator God, you gave us life, your image formed within our souls,
Yet through the mist of time and space, we search for that which makes us whole.
Through hands that paint majestic skies, and voices chanting melody,
With words that reach beyond the page, we comprehend your mystery.

In every flower and every tree, we see your great diversity,
Yet greater still we see your love, expressed in our humanity.
Though hands that paint majestic skies, and voices chanting melody,
With words that reach beyond the page, we comprehend your mystery.

When with our hearts, our hands, our minds, we share our gifts with all the world,
Our spirits soar beyond the veil, to touch the very face of God.
Through hands that paint majestic skies, and voices chanting melody,
With words that reach beyond the page, we comprehend your mystery.

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 our lives and the Church. To listen to the voice of all creatures, that reflect God’s glory in creation.

Response – “We are One”

We are one as we hear, as we hear, heart and hand unite;
In the word we receive there’s a sense that God is light.
We are one as we leave, as we love, we are loved;
And we seek justice in God’s ways as we move together from this place.