Song of Celebration "Polka Dots"

Welcome and Announcements

Processional/Lighting of Candles "All Are Welcome"

Call to Worship

L: Gardeners do not know what will come of the seeds they plant with their hands.

Yet they kneel in the dirt, dig with their hands, and bury one seed a time.

They come away with dirty fingernails and expectant hearts.

When those sprouts emerge,

P: what will the future be like?

L: When any of us suffer, support from others allows us to imagine futures more promising than our present.

Hands are held. Stories are heard. Skills are grown.

And laughter bubbles up where heartache held strong.

When hearts mend and new life blooms,

P: what will the future be like?

L: One plants. Another waters. But God gives the growth.

What is the future like when we join as co-workers in God’s service to release the healing waters of God’s love throughout our world?

P: Come, join hands. See the fruitful future God brings even now.

Opening Prayer

Response “Amen” #315

Pastoral Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer #310

Message “Investing in the Future”

Hymn “In the Bulb There Is a Flower” #638

Invitation to the Lord’s Table 

Hymn “Seed, Scattered and Grown” #395

Offertory Response “Accept, O God, the Gifts We Bring” #379

Table Prayers

Words of Institution

Partaking of the Bread and Cup

The bread which we break,

Is it not a means of sharing in the body of Christ?

The cup of blessing which we bless,

Is it not a means of sharing in the blood of Christ?

Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body,

For we all partake of one bread.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Rain-bringing God,

We give thanks for the gifts of bread and cup flowing with your promise of a future full of hope. Carry us forth with courageous compassion to live for the love of all that we do not yet see. With trust in your eternal stream of new life we pray. Amen.

Closing Hymn “For the Fruit of All Creation” #714

Sending Forth with Blessing