Hampstead Congregational Church
April 19, 2026
Third Sunday of
Easter & Earth Day
No Matter Who You Are or Where You Are on Life’s
Journey,
You are Welcome
Here!
Order of Worship
Prelude Herb Tardiff
Greetings and Announcements
Call to Worship (responsive)(based on Psalms 96, 104, 148) Linda Tilden
Leader: Praise the Lord!
All: I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have
being.
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
Praise the Lord, sun and moon, and all you shining stars!
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to
my God while I have being.
Praise the Lord from the earth, Praise the Lord you sea monsters
and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and frost, and stormy wind. —Wild animals
and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds! Mountains and all hills, fruit
trees and all cedars!
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to
my God while I have being.
Let heaven celebrate! Let the earth rejoice! Let the sea and everything in it roar! Let
the countryside and everything in it celebrate!
Then all the trees of the forest too will shout out joyfully before the
Lord because the Lord is coming! The Lord is coming to establish justice on the
earth!
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
Invocation (unison) Linda Tilden
Holy God, We come this day with praise in our hearts and songs on our tongues. We join all creation - from the sun, moon, and stars to the wild animals, mountains and trees – in praising your holy name. Holy Spirit, through this worship, move in us and through us. Strengthen our connections to each other and to the natural world so that we recognize creatures great and small, and rivers, hills, and trees as our siblings. Christ our Lord, embolden us to be doers of justice in our local communities and to the ends of the earth so that all people and all creation may know your love and mercy. In the name of the incarnate Jesus we pray, Amen
Passing of the Peace of
Christ
(Feel free to pass the peace by shaking hands, offering hugs or waves. Those who would like to share peace without physical contact are invited to place their hands over their hearts in greeting.)
*Opening Hymn:
Scripture
Readings: Job 12: 7-10; Romans 8: 18-25 (NRSVUE) Linda Tilden
Job
12: 7-10
7 “But ask the animals, and they will
teach you,
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach
you,
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of every human being.
Romans
8: 18-25
18 I consider that the sufferings of
this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed
to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing
for the revealing of the children of God, 20 for
the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but by the will of
the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the
creation itself will be set free from its enslavement to decay and will obtain
the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We
know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together
the pains of labor, 23 and not only the creation,
but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while
we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For
in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes
for what one already sees? 25 But if we hope for
what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Children’s
Choir: “Draw
the Circle Wide”
Draw
the circle wide, Draw it wider still
Let this be our song: No one stands alone
Standing side by side, Draw the circle, draw the circle wide
Children’s
Message
Sermon: "With Creation as Our Teacher” Rev. Paige Besse-Rankin
Special
Music
Prayer of Lament
Creation calls to us.
To open our eyes to the devastation we have and
are causing our earthly home. The harm
being done to trees, soils, oceans, air, and so much more.
Creation reminds us.
To recognize our oneness with all beings, human
and non-human.
Creation calls to us.
To value the community of creation above human
greed.
Creation is waiting for us.
To move from doing what is easy to doing what is
necessary and right.
Creation is waiting for us.
To prioritize the needs of community over the convenience
of self, for loving each other is a seed of hope.
Creation hurts and aches, and is lashing out!
She asks that we stop polluting, and remove the
pollution from our seas, land, air, bodies and hearts.
Creation longs for us.
To lament over the devastation of war; the lives lost; Earth, the destruction of her land, and the assault on her climate. To be like the mustard tree seed that grows into a glorious tree in which a myriad of creatures, including human beings, find shelter, food, and protection.
Creation is waiting for us but will not wait
forever.
In all these things and more, creation waits for us to remember our connection to it,
before technology and self-sufficiency distanced us, before our creaturely
instincts became dull behind concrete walls.
Oh God we ask for radical courage.
To remember that we are creation within
creation, For truly nature sustains us. Moreover,
nature is God’s face too - mottled with chlorophyll, adorned in foliage, dusted
with feathers, and dewy in morning light.
May we be moved.
To assume our roles as creation’s servants and
protect it.
To know that we are a human and nonhuman family,
inhabiting the same home.
Amen, Amen.
Call for
Concerns & Celebrations
(Please write joys and concerns on
the papers in the baskets in the pews and pass them to an usher. The Congregational Response is: “Hear Our
Prayers”)
Pastoral Prayer
Rev.
Paige Besse-Rankin
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be
thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Give
us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Call to Offering
*Doxology: NC #17 To You, O God, All Creatures Sing (vs 1)
To you, O God, all creatures sing, and all creation, everything sings your praises, Alleluia! Your burning sun with golden beam, your silver moon with softer gleam Sing your paise, Alleluia! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
*Prayer of
Dedication
Rev. Paige Besse-Rankin
God, we give you back a tiny bit of the blessings that you have so freely given to us. Let our generosity flow to others so they may see your love and respond to it by giving also to others. Amen.
*Hymn of Going Forth:
*Benediction Rev. Paige
Besse-Rankin
Just as all
creation celebrates God with all that it has, so we are called to go from this
place celebrating God—with our gifts, with our talents, with our love. And as
we do, may we know that God the Creator and giver of all good gifts, God the
Son and savior of us all, and God the Holy Spirit, guide, healer and comforter,
will be with us always and forever. Amen.
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