A Service of Worship for
​Earth Day
April 25, 2021

If we will have the wisdom to survive,
to stand like slow-growing trees
on a ruined place, renewing, enriching it,
if we will make our seasons welcome here,
asking not too much of earth or heaven,
then a long time after we are dead
the lives our lives prepare will live here, 
their houses strongly placed
upon the valley sides, fields and gardens
rich in the windows. The river will run
clear, as we will never know it,
and over it, birdsong like a canopy.
On the levels of the hills will be
green meadows, stock bells in noon shade.
On the steeps where greed and ignorance cut down
the old forest, an old forest will stand,
its rich leaf-fall drifting on its roots.
The veins of forgotten springs will have opened.
Families will be singing in the fields.
In their voices they will hear a music
risen out of the ground. They will take
nothing from the ground they will not return,
whatever the grief at parting. Memory,
native to this valley, will spread over it
like a grove, and memory will grow
into legend, legend into song, song
into sacrament. The abundance of this place,
the songs of its people and its birds,
will be health and wisdom and indwelling
light. This is no paradisal dream.
Its hardship is its possibility.

Wendell Berry
Worship notes are included at the bottom of this page and in the Worship Order located at the link below.
With this link you can make a donation to Covenant through PayPal or a credit card. 
Adult Education:
This Sunday, Yan Diglov, Executive Director, Firestarter; Producer, We Are In It (2016), Lessons in Seeing (2017), and Seeds of All Things (2018) will speak on The Cost of Bipartisanship: How compromise led to neglect in U.S. refugee resettlement. Americans should take valuable lessons from the history of refugee resettlement to understand the inevitable outcome of political posturing. Texas has been fertile soil for new political games that led to the steady deterioration of a previously functioning public institution. I will trace how the system of refugee resettlement went from giving me and my family a chance to demonizing communities fleeing their homes.
​​Zoom link is available on the Online Gatherings page on our website: https://www.covenanthouston.org/covenant-gatherings.html
Full worship service video:
COFFEE TIME Gathering on Zoom
Today, 11AM
We will begin as a large group before we transition into “rooms" for coffee time. 
​Log in details on the Online Gatherings page. 
Prelude
"Voluntary in 'C'," by William Boyce. Andrew Bowen, organ. 

​Call to Worship

Opening Prayer
Hear me, four quarters of the world—a relative I am!
Give me the strength to walk the soft earth,
a relative to all that is!
Give me the eyes to see and the strength to understand
that I may be like you. . .
Great Spirit, Great Spirit, Grandfather,
all over the earth the faces of living things are alike.
With tenderness have these come up out of the ground.
Look upon these faces of children without number
and with many children in their arms
that they may face the winds
and walk the good road to the day of quiet.

​Scripture Lesson:  Psalm 23 and Job 39:1-30
​
​Hymn
"The King of Love My Shepherd Is," Tune: St. Columbia. Words: Henry Williams Baker. The Covenant Singers. Andrew Bowen, organ. 

​Time for Children

Confession
Unison Confession
In the beginning was God
In the beginning
    The source of all that is
In the beginning
    God yearning
    God moaning
    God laboring
    God giving birth
    God rejoicing

And God loved what she made
And God said,
    "It is good."
And God, knowing that all that is good is shared
Held the earth tenderly in her arms
God yearned for relationship
God longed to share the good earth
And humanity was born in the yearning of God
We were born to share the earth

​Music
"The Lord is My Shepherd," from Requiem by John Rutter. The Covenant Singers, directed by Fran Avera. Liz Herbert, oboe; Carl McAliley, organ. 
Proclamation

​Prayer
One of the main beneficiaries of 2020 was our earth – 
We didn’t drive as much,
We didn’t fly as much,
We didn’t shop as much,
We didn’t produce as much waste,
But even with these gains, God,
we know they are not enough,
Not enough to reverse decades of harm and
destruction to our planet.
We know how to make a difference,
we know what we can do, we’ve all Googled it!

Gracious God, give us the strength to make these changes, to take small and large steps that will help change the course.

We know, we’ve asked for a LOT of strength these past 12 months. And you’ve been more than generous.
Thank you. 

We will continue to draw upon your strength and courage and comfort as we face these continued challenges.

We see hope and it drives us forward. We see despair and need to learn to let that be an equal driver of change for us. Our planet is worth it, our communities are worth it, we are worth it. 
​
Thank you, God, for reminding us of our worth. In life and in death we are celebrated and loved because of your love for us. 
Amen. 
- Jodi Bash
​​
​Invitation
​
​Prayer of Dedication
Be a gardener.
Dig a ditch 
toil and sweat, 
and turn the earth upside down 
and seek the deepness 
and water the plants in time.
Continue this labor 
and make sweet floods to run 
and noble and abundant fruits 
to spring.
Take this food and drink 
and carry it to God 
as your true worship.

Doxology

Affirmation of Faith
I dream a world where [people]
No other will scorn,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn.
I dream a world where all
Will know sweet freedom’s way,
Where greed no longer saps the soul
Nor avarice blights our day.
A world I dream where black or white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the earth
And every [hu]man is free,
Where wretchedness will hang its head,
And joy, like a pearl, 
Attends the needs of all [hu]mankind

Benediction

Postlude
"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty," by Max Reger. Andrew Bowen, organ.
Worship Notes

The worship leader is Laura Mayo.

Our guest proclaimer is Tom Cole. 

The prelude and postlude are played by Andrew Bowen, organ.

The Call to Worship is by Pattiann Rogers.

The Opening Prayer is by Black Elk.

The Unison Confession is by Carter Heyward, from A Passion for Justice: Images of Power, Sexuality and Liberation.

"The Lord Is My Shepherd" is sung by The Covenant Singers, from November 5, 2017, directed by Fran Avera, Liz Hebert, oboe.

The Prayer of Dedication is by Julian of Norwich, as reprinted in Imaging the Word, Vol. 2.

The Affirmation of Faith is “I Dream A World” by Langston Hughes.

Sunday schedule for today: 
9:00 - Adult Education with Zoom
10:00 - Worship via videos on the Worship Page
11:00 - Transition from worship to coffee time with Zoom

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