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Worship Planner for A Season to GROW
Week 6: Tending the Garden

Created by Amy Mark, interim assistant pastor, Berkeley Covenant Church in Berkeley, CA. Thanks Amy...

 

Suggested Hymns and Songs

See the Worship Resource Directory for links and ordering information.

1. As the Deer. #2 Covenant Hymnal
2. Center. By Charlie Hall and Matt Redman
   
3. Day by Day with Each Passing Moment. #435 Covenant Hymnal
4. El Señor es Mi Fuerza. #69 Covenant Hymnal
5. Everyday. By Joel Houston
   
6. He Leadeth Me. #404 Covenant Hymnal
7. Lord I Have Made Your Word. #530 Covenant Hymnal
   
8. Lord Jesus, Fill My Days. #378 Covenant Hymnal
9. O Lord to You. By Gary Sadler
   
10. What a Fellowship, What a Joy Divine. #83 Covenant Hymnal
    
11. Deeper, Deeper. #336, African-American Heritage Hymnal
    
12. Keep Me Every Day. #443, African-American Heritage Hymnal

Ideas for Including Children

1. The obvious one is to have children involved in a gardening project of some sort, paying attention to what it takes to keep a garden well.  You deal with nourishment, soil suitability, pruning, and the interaction of all these things, along with the rest of the environment.
   
   
2. The B-I-B-L-E song

Suggested Prayers and Readings

From the Covenant Hymnal

1. # 866 This is the day that you have made, Lord…      
   
2. # 950 Trust in the Lord with all your heart…
3. # 959 Therefore, as God’s chosen people…
4. # 960 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom…
5. # 964 So then, my friends, because of God’s great mercy…
6. # 984 And now to him who can keep you… (This selection has a wonderful emphasis on the communal nature of Christian living.)
7. # 985 Go out into the world in peace…

Calls to Worship

1. pg. 52 “O come, let us worship and bow down…”
2. pg. 54 “Bless the Lord, O my soul…”
3. pg. 55 “O Lord, my heart is not lifted up…”

Invocations

1. pg. 82 “Truly amazing God…’
2. pg. 84 “Come, O Creator, O Immensity of love…”

Confessions of Sin

1. pg. 101 “Leader: Let us confess our sin and admit what we are…”
2. pg. 104 “We are sorry, God; hear out repentance…”

Words of Assurance

1. pg. 108 “God says in so many ways: ‘There is nothing…’”

Offertory Prayers

1. pg. 109 “Remember this: a farmer who plants…”
2. pg. 110 “The long journey of wonder and obedience…”

Charges and Benedictions

1. pg. 116 “Go now, remembering what we have done here…”
2. pg. 120 “We are God’s field; may God work in us…”

Sermon Illustrations and Ideas

1. The mystics are a tremendous resources for this theme.  Two useful books are Quotidian Mysteries by Kathleen Norris, and The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence.
   
   
2. One illustration that could be used to highlight the result of NOT tending the garden is Shel Silverstein’s poem Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out © 1969.  The little girl in the poem did all kinds of chores (she did tend PARTS of the “garden”), but there was this one part that she wouldn’t touch, and it ended up nearly destroying her.  How often do we only do those things we love most, neglecting some of the spiritual practices that are more uncomfortable, or are harder, to the detriment of that fullness of life God so deeply desires for us?
   
   
3. Naturally, Foster’s Celebration of Discipline is a useful source for specific ideas about HOW to nurture on-going spiritual formation.
   
   
4. Jesus’ own example of being intentional about time and energy given to solitude and prayer, teaching and ministry, and worship are a solid witness to the good of tending the garden!
   
   
5. Using what Scot McKnight calls “The Jesus Creed” as a foundation, explore what it would mean to keep “Love God” in balance with “Love others” as a way of living the healthy, fruitful Christian life.