Earth Day Services
 

CALL TO WORSHIP

Our help is in the name of the Lord,
Creator of heaven and earth!
Praise be to Jesus Christ!
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all   creation.
In Christ all things in heaven and on earth were created.
All things have been created through him and for him.
In Christ the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
Through Christ God was pleased to reconcile all things,
Things on earth and things in heaven, 
Making peace through the blood of the cross.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Merciful God, in your gracious presence we confess our sin and the sin of this world. Although Christ is among us as our peace, we are a people divided against ourselves as we cling to the values of a broken world. The profit and pleasures we pursue lay waste the land and pollute the seas. The fears and jealousies we harbor set neighbor against neighbor and nation against nation. We abuse your good gifts of imagination and freedom, of intellect and reason, and have turned them into bonds of oppression. Lord, have mercy upon us; heal and forgive us. Set us free to serve you in the world as agents of your reconciling love in Jesus Christ.                                   From the Book of Common Worship (PCUSA)

The prayer will continue in silence

LITANY FOR CREATION 

Leader: Creator God, breathing your own life into our being
You gave us the gift of life.
You placed us on this earth with its minerals and waters,
Flowers and fruits, living creatures of grace and beauty.
You gave us the care of the earth.
Today you call us: ÒWhere are you; what have you done?Ó

Silent prayer for creation.

Leader: We hide in utter shame, for we are naked.
We violate the earth and plunder it.
We refuse to share the earthÕs resources.
We seek to own what is not ours, but yours.

People: Forgive us, Creator God, reconcile us to your creation.

Leader: O God of love, you gave us the gift of peoples-
Of cultures, races and colors-
To love, to care for, to share our lives with.
Today you ask us: ÒWhere is your brother, your sister?Ó

Silent prayer for others.

Leader: We hide ourselves in shame and fear.
Poverty, hunger, hatred and war rule the earth.
The refugees, the oppressed and the voiceless cry out to you.
Forgive us, O God of Love,
And reconcile us to yourself and to one another.

People: Teach us, O Creator God of Love,
That the earth and all its fullness is yours,
The world and those who dwell in it.
Call us yet again to safeguard the gift of life. Amen.
                                                                                               Sixth Assembly of the World Council of Churches

SENDING FORTH    

People of God, the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God. Such is the love God has given us, that we should be called children of God.

People of God, the day is coming when creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We are GodÕs children now; what will be is yet to be revealed.

People of God, in Christ, God was reconciling the world, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

Go forth, therefore, as signs of the new creation:

We go in the Spirit of Christ, who calls us to bring justice to those who are poor; to make peace among the people; to tend and keep the gifts of creation.
                                                              (from Romans 8, I John 3, II Co. 5)

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Earth Day Message - click here