Wesley Church Melbourne Congregation of the Uniting Church in Australia Service for the Lord’s Day - Online 21st March 2021 Creation Acknowledgement of Country We acknowledge the First Peoples of the Kulin Nation, traditional custodians of the land, under God. We commit ourselves to work and pray for justice in this land. Using this resource: 1. At points through this Order of Service you will find links (in brown text) to audio and video files which are recordings by the worship leaders. 2. To hear the sound file for the hymns and still be able to read the words on the Order of Service, simply hold the ‘Control’ key while you click on the hymn link. It will open up a new tab which enables you to play the music AND go back to the previous Tab and see the words. Greeting, acknowledgement and introduction Call to Worship Our help is in the name of the Lord: who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 124: 8) In the beginning, God made the world: made it and mothered it, shaped it and fathered it; filled it with seeds and signs of fertility, filled it with life and with song and variety. All that is green, blue, deep and growing, God’s is the hand that created you. All that is tender, firm, fragrant and curious, God’s is the hand that created you. All that crawls, flies, swims, walks or is motionless, God’s is the hand that created you. All that speaks, sings, cries, laughs or keeps silence, God’s is the hand that created you. All that suffers, lacks, limps or longs for an end, God’s is the hand that created you. 2 The world belongs to God, The earth and all its people. We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. (Nicene Creed) Hymn 181 Come, O God of all the earth Words and music by permission of G.I.A. Publications, Inc. Track source unknown. 1. Come, O God of all the earth: come to us, O Righteous One; come, and bring our love to birth: in the glory of your Son. Sing out, earth and skies! sing of the God who loves you; raise your joyful cries; dance to the life around you. 2. Come, O God of flashing light: twinkling start and burning sun; God of day and God of night: in your light we all are one. Refrain 3. Come, O God of snow and rain: shower down upon the earth; come, O God of joy and pain: God of sorrow, God of mirth. Refrain 4. Come, O Justice, come, O Peace: come and shape our hearts anew; come and make oppression cease: bring us all to life in you. Refrain 3 Prayers of Thanks and Confession Creator God, We give you thanks for your beautiful creation, for the intricate web of life that weaves us together. Christ, our Redeemer, forgive us when we exploit and degrade the earth. O God, your fertile earth is being stripped of its riches, Open our eyes to see. O God, your living waters are being choked with chemicals and human-generated waste. Open our eyes to see. O God, your clear air is being filled with pollutants. Open our eyes to see. O God, your creatures are dying and your people are suffering. Open our eyes to see. God our maker, so move us by the wonder of creation, so move us to grieve the loss of life, that we amend our ways and learn to cherish and protect your world. Hymn 734 Lord, Have Mercy Music and arrangement from "Many and Great" by permission of Wild Goose Publications Organist: Geoff Urquhart. Soloist: John Lander. Recorded at Wesley. 1. Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy. 2. Christ, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Christ, have mercy. 3. Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy. Introduction of the theme with the children ‘God saw that it was good’ 4 Hymn 146 God who made the earth ©Together in Song. Track source unknown. 1 God, who made the earth, the air, the sky, the sea, who gave the light its birth, God cares for me. 2 God, who made the grass, the flower, the fruit, the tree, the day and night to pass, will care for me. 3 God who made the sun, the moon, the stars, is he who, when life's clouds come on, still cares for me. 4 God, who sent his Son to die on Calvary, has shown how lovingly he cares for me. Reading: Your word, O Lord, is a lamp to our feet: a light to our path. Numbers 20:2-13 2 Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 The people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had died when our kindred died before the Lord! 4 Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? 5 Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to bring us to this wretched place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; and there is no water to drink.” 6 Then Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting; they fell on their faces, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 The Lord spoke to 5 Moses, saying: 8 Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and command the rock before their eyes to yield its water. Thus you shall bring water out of the rock for them; thus you shall provide drink for the congregation and their livestock. 9 So Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he had commanded him. 10 Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank. 12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” 13 These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and by which he showed his holiness. Lord, may your Word live in us: and bear much fruit to your glory. Preaching - Prof Peter Rayner Note: The sermon will be recorded in the live service and posted on our webpage early next week Affirmation of Faith We believe that God creates all things, renews all things and celebrates all things. We believe Earth is a sanctuary, a sacred planet filled with God’s presence, a home for us to share with our kin. We believe that God became flesh and blood, became a piece of Earth, a human being called Jesus Christ, who lived and breathed and spoke among us, suffered and died on a cross, for all human beings and for all creation. We believe that the risen Jesus is the Christ at the core of creation, reconciling all things to God, renewing all creation and filling the cosmos. We believe the Spirit renews life in creation 6 groans in empathy with a suffering creation, and waits with us for the rebirth of creation. We believe that with Christ we will rise and with Christ we will celebrate a new creation. Source: https://seasonofcreation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/liturgy-planet-earth- sunday-1.pdf Hymn 668 Touch the earth lightly Words from "Every Corner Sing" by permission Hope Publishing Co., USA. YouTube taken from St. Mark's Lutheran Winnipeg Channel. 1. Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently, nourish the life of the world in our care: gift of great wonder, ours to surrender, trust for the children tomorrow will bear. 2 We who endanger, who create hunger, agents of death for all creatures that live, we who would foster clouds of disaster, God of our planet, forestall and forgive! 3 Let there be greening, birth from the burning, water that blesses and air that is sweet, health in God's garden, hope in God's children, regeneration that peace will complete. 4 God of all living, God of all loving, God of the seedling, the snow and the sun, teach us, deflect us, Christ re-connect us, using us gently and making us one. 7 Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer For climate scientists, conservation organisations, and for Christians everywhere, that we take seriously our role as stewards, carers and servants of God’s creation For our political leaders, that they exercise true leadership and change the current trajectory so that the earth and its creatures can be preserved For our Pacific and other neighbours who are already facing the impacts of rising sea levels For those countries most affected by the Covid pandemic, especially Papua New Guinea and other poor nations struggling to respond For all whom we love and care for, especially those who are sick, grieving, lonely or anxious… Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.