We recently had our annual church retreat and I decided for our Sunday morning worship service to use the theme of ‘Creation’.

Here are some creative worship ideas, songs, and videos on the theme of God’s beauty in creation.

Readings below are taken from www.anewliturgy.com – Liturgy # 4

Backgrounds

In an effort to lead people in worship visually I decided to try and have video clips that matched the lyrics of the song. I purchased a monthly subscription to www.videoblocks.com – which for 17.99 gave me unlimited downloads of a bunch of great clips. I can’t show them all here but I’ll include screen shots of the Pro Presenter icons for the lyrics. What I liked about this option was that it allowed me to get very specific footage of either a bird, or mountain, or colored leaves, or stars etc… which would match the lyrics. I’ve previously used something like ‘Earth’ by Disney, which has some breathtaking footage – but it’s a lot harder to match the clips with the lyrics of the songs.

While we often imagine what we are singing… for example a mighty mountain or the sun that rises… I found that having the visual support of the videos added a whole new layer of depth to the songs.

Creation Set List

Opening Prayer

Almighty and everlasting God, You made the universe with all its marvelous order, its atoms, worlds, and galaxies, and the infinite complexity of living creatures: Grant that, as we probe the mysteries of Your creation, we may come to know You more truly, and more surely fulfill our role in Your eternal purpose; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Great and Awesome – by Dan Loewen

God of Wonders – Third Day

The Earth Is Yours – Gungor

Reading

All of creation beckons me to worship You.
The grandeur of the universe, echoes Your Glory!
More than spectacular is the work of Your hands!

Who can match Your brilliance and authority?
You set boundaries for the ocean,
You raise majestic mountains to touch the sky
Sunrise and sunset happens on Your watch

Holy Holy, Holy Holy Lord – The Earth is yours

Who is humankind that You are mindful of us,
the frail sons and daughters that You would
entrust us rule over all you’ve made?
Who are the peoples of the earth that we get to bare your image?

Holy Holy, Holy Holy Lord – The Earth is yours

Who am I that you even notice me?
How can it be that my tears and dreams matter to you?
Eternal God -beyond time and space,
Who am I that you lean in when I draw near?

Wind and sea obey at your command,
yet you invite me to follow You with a whisper.
Holy God – you know my hidden sin,
yet you offer me new mercies every morning.

Holy Holy, Holy Holy Lord – The Earth is yours

How Great Thou Art

Reading 3

“…all the beauty of the world, the beauty that calls our admiration, our gratitude, our worthship at the earthly level, is meant as a set of hints, of conspiratorial whispers, of clues and suggestions and flickers of light, all nudging us into believing that behind the beautiful world is not random chance but the loving God.”

(N.T. Wright, For All God’s Worth)

Beautiful – Phil Wickham

Creator of Beauty – Dan Loewen

Reading 4

“The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grownup person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.

But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”

(G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy)

Indescribable

Reading 5

“In short, I had always believed that the world involved magic; now I thought that perhaps it involved a magician. And this pointed a profound emotion always present and subconscious; that this world of ours has some purpose; and if there is a purpose, there is a person. I had always felt life first as a story: and if there is a story there is a Storyteller.”

(G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy)

Creation Calls – Brian Doerksen

Other songs that we didn’t use that would work well…