The Evolution of Creation – Based in Darwin, Divinity and the Dance of the Cosmos
Submitted by Michael Mugford
Welcome
Call to Gather as Community
L: Where
have you come from?
P: We have come from home, work, family and task to be together.
L: Why
have come here?
P: We have come here to be together in holy time and holy
community!
L: How
have you come here?
P: We have come here open to the Spirit of Life in the world and
to each other.
L: What
have you come here to do?
P: We have come here to sing, pray, learn and share who we are
with God and find our way deeper into God’s
eternal presence! We have come to
worship!
Prayer
As we gather here this morning, we are challenged to think about things
that many consider beyond our finite abilities to truly comprehend. Science tells us that there is more to know
than we can ever know and faith tells us that the ways of God are beyond our
ways. We may not be able to know it all,
but we are educated people and people of mature faith, we are ready and able to
think deep thoughts and offer our revelations to the deep mystery of God and
the universe. We are ready to walk the
journey from the beginning and further define our place in the world and in the
universe. Today we say thank you God,
for mind and spirit working together to make me who I am and who I can
become. Amen.
Song – Called by earth and sky – MV 135
Theme Intro – Where did it all begin?
Stories of Creation
Enuma Elish – The
Epic of Creation
The Seven Tablets of Creation, L.W. King Translator, London 1902.
THE FIRST TABLET
When in the height heaven was not named,
And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name,
And the primeval Apsu, who begat them,
And chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both
Their waters were mingled together,
And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen;
When of the gods none had been called into being,
And none bore a name, and no destinies were ordained;
Mi'kmaq - Two
Creators and their Conflicts
The Old Man Told Us: Excerpts
from Micmac History, 1500-1950. Ruth Holmes Whitehead, Nimbus Publishing,
1991.
Before the earth
was new, the sun was all that existed in the great universe. The sun divided
the earth into several parts separated by many great lakes. In each part he
caused one man and one woman to be born. They bore children and lived for many
years. Wickedness pervaded in this family, and slowly they killed one another.
The sun wept and wept with grief. The tears became rain that fell from the
skies until water covered the entire earth. The family had to set sail in bark
canoes to save themselves from the flood. A violent wind overturned their
boats. All perished in the sea, but the old man and the old woman, who were
best of all people, and it was they who populated the earth.
Genesis 1:1-3
In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness covered the face of
the deep. And the Spirit of God was
hovering over the face of the waters.
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
Poem – I Was Fashioned in Times Past, in the
Beginning – Susan McCaslin (Darwin
Divinity and the Dance of the Cosmos - p. 97)
Theme – Eight Epochs of the Flaring Forth (The Big
Bang)
The Big Bang Theory (song)
Eight Epochs of the Flaring Forth
1.) The
Law of Expansion is Fixed
2.) Struggle
Between Matter & Anti-matter
3.) Creation
of Atoms
4.) Ripple
of Gravity
5.) Supernova
Sacrifice
6.) Our
Solar System Born
7.) Life
Emerges on Earth
8.) Emergence
of Conscious Self-reflection in Humans
Song – Each Blade of Grass – MV 37
Theme – The Evolution of Creation and Our Place In It
Song – Touch the Earth Lightly – VU 301
Community
Life
Offering
& Offertory –TUNE MV 191 What can I do
Earth wind and fire
all life inspires,
plants, rocks and
trees,
and rolling seas
Creation lives
If we will give
And so we bring
Our offering.
One with the land
Creation’s grand
Respect for life
Will end much strife
So all might live
We freely give
Bless all we bring
Prayer
Blessing
Song – It’s A Song of Praise to the Maker – MV 30
