|
God's Creation Worship Service
and Sermon Resources
Contents:
1.
Gratis Video: How Great is Our God
2. Worship
Service Outline with Prayers and Hymn Suggestions
3. Powerpoint Sermon Outline and Excerpt
4. Sermon:
A Celebration of Creation
by Richard Gehring
5. Visit our Nextgen
Environment Resource Page
Download this Video
Gratis
(for private use or use in your service)
Call to Worship (based on Psalm 19)
L: The heavens are telling the glory of God; and
the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
P: The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the
soul; the decrees of the LORD are sure, making wise
the simple;
L: the fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are true and righteous
altogether.
P: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation
of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock
and my redeemer.
L: Come, let us worship the LORD!
Opening Hymn: "All Creatures of Our God and King"
Prayer of confession (in unison)
For the marvelous grace of your Creation, we pour
out our thanks to You, our God. We
praise you, O Lord
for plants growing in earth and water, for
life inhabiting lakes and seas, for life creeping in
soils and land, for creatures living in wetlands and
waters, for life flying above earth and sea, for
beasts dwelling in woods and fields.
But we
confess, dear Lord,
As creatures
priviliged with care and keeping of Your Creation
that we have abused Your Creation gifts through
arrogance, ignorance, and greed. We confess, Lord,
that we often are unaware of how deeply we have hurt
Your good earth and its marvelous gifts.We confess
that we are often unaware of how our abuse of
creation has also been an abuse of ourselves. For
our wrongs, Lord, we ask forgiven ess. We offer our
repentance. We promise to reverence Your Creation as
a gracious gift entrusted to us by You, our God. We
promise anew to be stewards and not pillagers of
what You have entrusted to us.
Scripture
Reading: Genesis 2:4-24
Closing Hymn: "How Great Thou Art"
Closing Prayer
Creator God, our
Heavenly Father,
How many and
wonderful are your works, our God! In wisdom you have made
them all!. May we show our appreciation for your gift of
life to all of us, may we seek you daily, and may we live
in harmony with creation in such a way that we bless
others. Through Jesus Christ , our Lord, we pray. Amen.
3.
PowerPoint Sermon:
download this presentation for
free
Excerpt
from the PPT Sermon:
Genesis chapter 1
is an account probably from the Priestly tradition which flourished from the
time the temple was erected under King Solomon. Genesis 1 reads very different
from the creation story in Genesis 2; there is a certain rhythm, a meter, and
certain repetitions such as “And God saw that it was good” as well as “And
there was evening, and there was morning—the first …second… third day,” etc
It has been suggested that the
reading of Genesis 1 was part of the temple worship services at one time. And
one can easily see why that is entirely possible. It has the feel of a call to
worship or a psalm.
The creation passage from Genesis 1
is a true celebration of God’s Creation—a Tribute to our Creator God. There are
so many “wows” in this passage, and yet, to some Christians the passage poses
some difficulties.
So let’s address the “difficulties”
some believers have with this passage and move on to celebrate, because that’s
what this passage calls us to do—to celebrate our God, our faith, and God’s
creation.
One of the most common difficulties
people have with Genesis 1 is that the world view expressed is not consistent
with our modern understanding.
What does Genesis 1 actually say? When God went to shape creation, according to Genesis
1:2, there was something there already, namely the “deep” and water—a primordial
ocean if you will. Critics will point out that that’s very different from
modern scientific understanding of a universe that started with a big bang.
........
4. Sermon:
A Celebration of Creation
(excerpt)
a sermon based on
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
by Richard Gehring
In the beginning when
God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and
darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the
face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was
light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from
the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.
It's winter now at the South Pole—which means
that it is also night time there. The sun set in March, thus beginning the
six-month-long polar night. Most of the three hundred scientists and
support personnel who staff the Amundson-Scott South Pole Station during the
brief Antarctic summer packed up and left already in February. But sixty
hardy souls are still living and working in the total darkness that has now
descended over the pole.
The near total lack of light, and the
bone-chilling temperatures that come with it, make it impossible for planes
to fly to and from the South Pole at this time of year. No one and no
supplies can be transported for several months. Yet the “polies,” as they
are known, continue to go about their daily lives in this dark, frigid
world. Some of them even make the two-mile round trip through the ice and
snow every day on foot in order to keep the South Pole Telescope up and
running.
With no light, it's impossible to see where
you're going. With no light, nothing is able to grow. With no light,
temperatures during the Antarctic winter often dip into the
triple-digit-below-zero realm, with wind chills even lower.
It's no surprise, then, that most “polies” look forward to
the sunrise with great anticipation. As the dim orb slowly creeps back over
the horizon in September, they are ably to begin moving around beyond the
small compound where they have been sequestered for months. They wait
expectantly for the first flight in October when their isolation will come
to an end as new supplies and personnel arrive, and many of those who
wintered over can return home. They deeply appreciate the goodness of light
and the possibility for life that it brings. Those who have endured the
months-long night really understand just how meaningful those words are:
“Let there be light.”
And there was evening
and there was morning, the first day.
And God said, ‘Let
there be a dome in the midst of the waters [continue]
|
