Sunday, September 1, 2019 – First Sunday of Creation / Communion

Approach

Gathering Song – VU #820 “Make a Joyful Noise”

Welcome, lighting the candle and announcements

Call to Worship

One: O Divine Voice, You Sing and the universe comes into being;
All:   O Divine, Breath, You breathe and all things spring to life;
One: O Divine Word, You call and creation is sustained;
All:   O Divine Flesh, You are born among us, and the Creator is clothed in creation;
One: O Divine Spirit, You contain all that has been formed;
All:   O Divine Life; You are the pulse of all that is;
One: And so, in faith and expectation, in wonder, and celebration we gather to
remember this mystery:
All:  In You all things live and move and have being, in all things You live and move and express Your Divine artistry;
One: And so we join with creation in the eternal so of worship.
All:  Amen.

Opening Hymn – VU #291 “All Things Bright and Beautiful”

Prayer of Approach and Confession

O God, who gives birth to all that we see, all that we know, all that we dream, and all that is unseen, unknown, and unimagined, we celebrate your life that holds and nurtures the universe, we celebrate your love which joins creation as one and unites all things with you; we give thanks for your life which is incarnated in Christ and which is limitless and welcoming, and your Spirit which fills every moment of time and every fragment of matter. But ever as we receive again vision of life, we recognize that we have been blind to its universal heartbeat; even as we remember the connectedness of all things, we acknowledge that we have divided and separated ourselves, and forgotten our part in creation; even as we are energized by your breath within us, we confess our destructiveness, and repent of the harm we have done to ourselves and our world. We ask you to recreate us, to reconnect us, and to restore to us the vision of your life in creation, and the power to live it. Amen.

Words of Assurance

Passing the Peace

Time for All Ages

Hymn – MV #30 “It’s a Song of Praise to the Maker”

The Word

Scripture Reading:      Psalm 57:7-10
Response:
     Sing a new song unto God,
     who has done such marvellous things.

Scripture Reading:     Psalm 98:4-6
Response:
     Sing a new song unto God,
     who has done such marvellous things.

Scripture Reading:         Ephesians 5:19-20a
Response:
     Sing a new song unto God,
     who has done such marvellous things.

Scripture Reading:      Luke 15:25
Response:
     Sing a new song unto God,
     who has done such marvellous things.

Meditation – “God and Creation”

Hymn – VU #296 “This is God’s Wondrous World”

The Response

Offering / Response: “For the Gift of Creation” (VU #538)
     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

Closing Hymn – MV #135 “Called by Earth and Sky”

Commissioning / Benediction Response (VU #117)
     Holy Spirit, teach us how to read the signs,
     How to meet the challenge of our troubled times.
     Love us into action, stir us into prayer,
     Till we choose God’s life, and find our future there.