Loving Mother Earth

Order of Worship Service—Earth Day Sunday#2 , May 3, 11am  (printable PDF link)
     (Video will be posted LIVE on the church’s FB page at 11am.  Livestream will be cross-posted here ASAP once the livestream starts, depending on how cooperative Facebook and my computer are)

PRELUDE: Clair de Lune (from Suite Bergamasque), by Claude Debussy
CALL TO WORSHIP
HYMN:  Sing the Faith#2061    Creator of Mountains 

CONFESSION

• Leader:          We have forgotten who we are
  We have alienated ourselves from the unfolding of the cosmos
  We have become estranged from the movements of the earth
  We have turned our backs on the cycles of life.
• People:           We have forgotten who we are.
• Leader:            We have sought only our own security
  We have exploited simply for our own ends
  We have distorted our knowledge
  We have abused our power.
• People:            We have forgotten who we are.
• Leader:            Now the land is barren
  And the waters are poisoned
  And the air is polluted.
• People:           We have forgotten who we are
• Leader:            Now the forests are dying
  And the creatures are disappearing
  And humans are despairing.
• People:           We have forgotten who we are.
• Leader:            We ask forgiveness
  We ask to go beyond the mind we now have.
  We ask for the strength to change, to seek a higher consciousness.
• People:           May we remember who we are.     

BIBLE READINGS: Genesis 1: 1-24   Romans 8:18-27  (NRSV)   Neal Long
SUNG RESPONSE to Scripture: Climate is Warming (by George Steward), Tune – The Ash Grove

1. As climate is warming
   Will bees keep on swarming
   If we just continue to damage the earth?
   Will birds and sea-creatures,
   With beautiful features,
   Forever be lost by denying their worth?
   Will trees and each flower
   Succumb to the power
   Of poisons and toxins we put in the air?
   As ice-caps diminish,
   A sign of the finish –
   We must meet this crisis and show that we care.
2. If we start to measure
   Some things that we treasure
   It may cause us anguish to let these things go;
   For comfort and leisure,
   Our life-style and pleasure,
   We claim we have earned and don’t wish to forgo;
   But we can all ponder
   And face what we squander,
   Then start to make change in the way that we live;
   We can curb excesses;
   Each harms and oppresses
   The poor and the weak; we take what they don’t give.
3. To greenhouse emissions
   We make our additions
   And by them we foster some possible gloom;
   But with perseverance
   We can make a diff’rence;
   We can work to limit the fuel we consume;
   We’ll tell each law-maker
   That every green acre
   Is ours to look after and not to destroy;
   God’s bounty possessing;
   We’re stewards of blessing;
   We meet our commitment with challenging joy.

SERMON: Earth Day#2    Loving Mother Earth 
CHORAL ANTHEM: King Jesus Hath a Garden, Harmonization by Charles Wood, Arr. Richard Shephard
INTERCESSORY PRAYER: with comments by people on FB (Deanna will read these in spaces of silence)… conclude with the Lord’s Prayer
SUNG RESPONSE: #851 Come Bring Your Burdens to God, (Sing twice)
OFFERTORY SOLO:  When the Rain Comes: Bonnie McClarty, Poem Caryn Miriam-Goldberg, sung by Neal Long, tenor
                 Offering link
PRAYER OF DEDICATION (Sung): Blue hymnal#595 Heleluyan
HYMN:  Glory to God#69  Here I Am, Lord  (Links: Verses, Chorus)
FINAL BLESSING
SUNG RESPONSE:  #740 Lead Me, Guide Me  (Sing Twice)
POSTLUDE:On Jordan’s Stormy Banks (THE PROMISED LAND), Setting by C.E. Walz

Participants:
Pastor- Reverend Scott
Piano- Emily Davidson
Quartet-
Camera and Facebook- Deanna Capps
Website- Martine Roesel