A Service of Worship for
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Adult Education - TODAY, 9AM
Adult Education will be showing the movie The Strange Demise of Jim Crow over two Sundays at 9AM on July 12 & 19 via Zoom. Zoom links are available on the Online Gatherings page on our website: https://www.covenanthouston.org/covenant-gatherings.html This movie was created by Thomas Cole and co-produced by Bill Howze: Not all the civil rights victories of the '60s were won at the cost of vicious beatings and mass arrests played-out in front of television cameras. The Strange Demise of Jim Crow reveals for the first time on film how many Southern cities were desegregated in a quieter, almost stealthy fashion with behind-the-scenes negotiations, secret deals and controversial news black-outs. It makes visible a fascinating case-study in Houston of how urban power is really wielded. You can also see an introduction to the movie on our This Coming Sunday page on our website: https://www.covenanthouston.org/this-coming-sunday.html Creator/Executive Producer: Thomas R. Cole, Director: David Berman Co-producer/Editor: William Howze Worship notes are included at the bottom of this page.
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Prelude
"Canon in D" by Johann Pachelbel, Jacy Grannis, viola. Call to Worship Opening Sentences To be of the Earth is to know the restlessness of being a seed the darkness of being planted the struggle toward the light the pain of growth into the light the joy of bursting and bearing fruit the love of being food for someone the scattering of your seeds the decay of the seasons the mystery of death and the miracle of birth. Scripture Lesson: Matthew 13:1-23 Time for Children For more ideas for conversation starters with kids, click the image below:
Call to Confession Unison Confession
Sower of living hearts, sower of tenderness, sower of courage, sower of service, sower of prayer, sower of light. God, sow within us.! Sower of gifts, sower of forgiveness, sower of faith, sower of joy, sower of life, sower of the Beatitudes. God, sow in the hearts of all people! Even if we are hard as stones, be patient with us! Your Good News will manage to slip between the tight cracks in our rock and will grow into giant sheaves of Good News! Music/Hymn “Though I May Speak,”text by Hal Hopson, sung by the Covenant Singers. |
Proclamation
Prayer From http://worldinprayer.org Creator God, we meet to give you praise and worship. Each one of our homes can be called Beth-el, the house of God: Hear us as we now try to pray from our place here in the United States and in the world for it is all your world. We praise you for the beauty of the world and we worship you that we are able to see it as it is – your creation. We pray for all children and teenagers especially in countries where one school year is ending and we have doubts about what the new one will bring; the changes to schools and universities and how these will affect our lives. We pray for all those we meet as life slowly changes to a new normal, especially those for whom it means vast changes to life and work. We pray for the vast networks of support, from foodbanks to care assistants, that all may discover the help needed. We pray for all who have found lock-down hard, life difficult, and health problematic; for those who mourn, who despair, and who suffer. For those we know and can name in the silence of our hearts; for those we don’t know but know about, and for those worldwide who suffer. We pray for our environment: despite the lock-down, earthquake and storm, wildfire and drought, flood and destruction, continue to happen. We celebrate the reduction in human-made air pollution: now that we have seen how quickly the earth responds grant us the will to care for the whole ecosystem. We pray for those who are still growing crops and wondering how harvesting will take place. We pray for those packing our food; for those who transport it, especially the crews of bulk carriers and container ships, of tankers, and also of cruiseliners. We pray, giving thanks for the things we have rediscovered this year: the beauty of silence and bird song; the letting go of busy, over-committed lives; the time to savor in many ways the gifts of word, speech, and friendship; the time to be in your world as your house. This is your world, all things are made by you and for your glory. Hear us, that we might know you are indeed our God. Amen.
Invitation Prayer of Dedication Don’t worry and fret about the crops. After you have done all you can for them, let them stand in the weather on their own. But the real products of any year’s work are the farmer’s mind and the cropland itself. If he raises a good crop at the cost of belittling himself and diminishing the ground, then he has gained nothing. He will have to begin all over again the next spring, worse off than before. Let him receive the season’s increment into his mind. Let him work it into the soil. The finest growth that farmland can produce is a careful farmer. Make the human race a better head. Make the world a better piece of ground. Affirmation of Faith In the stilled place that once was a road going down from the town to the river, and where the lives of marriages grew a house, cistern and barn, flowers, the tilted stone of borders, and the deeds of their lives ran to neglect, and honeysuckle and then the fire overgrew it all, I walk heavy with seed, spreading on the cleared hill the beginnings of green, clover and grass to be pasture. Between history’s death upon the place and the trees that would have come I claim, and act, and am mingled in the fate of the world. Benediction And so we acknowledge that we need to listen, we commit to being not only hearers but doers also, we feel the support of this community as we seek to be more loving. Amen. Postlude “Bamboo Stem and Jasmine Flower” from Two Folk Tales from Southern China, Jonathan Stock, ed. Jacy Grannis, viola. | |||
Worship Notes
The worship leader is Jeannette Dixon.
The prelude is played by Jacy Grannis, viola.
The Call to Worship is from “Connections Are Made Slowly” by Marge Piercy.
The Opening Sentences are by John Soos.
The Unison Confession is from Imaging the Word Vol. 2, by Charles Singer and Albert Hari.
“Though I May Speak” is sung by The Covenant Singers.
The Prayer of Dedication is from “Prayers and Sayings of the Mad Farmer” by Wendell Berry from Farming: A Handbook.
The Affirmation of Faith is from “Sowing” by Wendell Berry from Farming: A Handbook.
The postlude is played by Jacy Grannis, viola.
The worship leader is Jeannette Dixon.
The prelude is played by Jacy Grannis, viola.
The Call to Worship is from “Connections Are Made Slowly” by Marge Piercy.
The Opening Sentences are by John Soos.
The Unison Confession is from Imaging the Word Vol. 2, by Charles Singer and Albert Hari.
“Though I May Speak” is sung by The Covenant Singers.
The Prayer of Dedication is from “Prayers and Sayings of the Mad Farmer” by Wendell Berry from Farming: A Handbook.
The Affirmation of Faith is from “Sowing” by Wendell Berry from Farming: A Handbook.
The postlude is played by Jacy Grannis, viola.
Copyright (c) 2020, Covenant Church
