April 27, 2025 Order of Worship
As the Deer (arr Bruce Greer) – Geoffrey Liu
Welcome – Terry Bolender
Earth Day Video
Across the Lands – W&S #3032
Opening Prayer – Morgan Walt
Leader: God, thank you for creating us with your own beauty and power to bless others.
People: We are your holy hope of human wildflowers yet to come.
Leader: Fling us, God, here and there throughout the day.
People: Soften us when we fall on the hard path where hearts and minds have long been closed.
Leader: Gentle us when we fall on rocky ground where doubt and fear divide, among the thorns that tear us apart.
People: Unite us, God, in unwavering commitment to care for the earth and all its creatures as we would our own families.
Leader: God, make our fragile beauty a hint of your glory that we were meant to be.
People: Lord, make our words a blessing that point others to you.
Leader: Make our actions a gift of mercy with justice.
People: You are the good soil, God, holding us fast, deeply rooting us wherever we land today.
Leader: Raise us up to bear good fruit so that your church is as colorful as your creation!
People: Throw us now, God, into the world that you so love.
Leader: In the way of Jesus and in his name,
People: We care for the earth, and live, and pray. Amen!
For the Beauty of the Earth – Sanctuary Choir
Time with Young Disciples – Stephanie McIlwain Miller
Scripture Readings – Morgan Walt
Introduction to the First Scripture Reading
The first page of the Bible is a carefully crafted story about how God ordered all of creation and what God intends for it. Imagine that you are created in God’s image to reflect God’s power and beauty and purpose of blessing and right relationship with all people and all things, everywhere. Now, you are ready for the surprising truth of scripture…
Genesis 1:26-28
Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
So, God created humans in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
Introduction to the Second Scripture Reading
Our second reading comes from the collection of poems that in the Old Testament called the Psalms. It’s about the surprising choice God makes to elevate humans and especially those who don’t feel powerful. God fills us with godliness and power so that we can shine and share God’s values with the world. Listen to words of Psalm 8…
Psalm 8:1-9
O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are humans that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Message – Remember Your Reflection – Pastor Jim
Touch the Earth Lightly – W&S #3129
Pastoral Prayer and The Lord’s Prayer
Offering Our Gifts to God – Liz Gough
Doxology – Many Gifts, One Spirit – UMH #114, refrain
Prayer of Dedication
Pastor: All that we have, we have from you, Creator and Preserver of all.
People: Accept these gifts which we now offer. Help us to make the whole of life an offering and every thought a prayer.
All Things Bright and Beautiful – UMH #147
Blessing – Pastor Jim
All Creatures of Our God and King (setting Joshua Evanovich) – Geoffrey Liu
Resources for Worship
Opening Prayer is by Jim Head-Corliss for worship at Kent UMC, April 27, 2025, with images from a prayer he wrote June 16, 2024.
Time with Young Disciples includes excerpts from Miss Rumphius, story and pictures by Barbara Cooney, copyright © Barbara Cooney Porter, 1982. This edition published by Puffin Books.