Sunday Service Material

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The best way to introduce your whole congregation to the benefits of engaging well with science is to do something in a Sunday service. Through whole-person interaction with the topic including songs, prayers, liturgy and learning, you can demonstrate what it looks like to explore the wonders of creation as revealed by science, encourage the scientists and science students in your midst, and pursue fruitful conversations with scientifically oriented people outside of the church. A number of free packages exist to help you do this.

Lament to Action: Exploring and Caring for creation Through Science, a science-themed Eucharist for the Cambridge Theological Federation, May 2022

Celebrating God’s Creation: An all-age service resource was produced by the Faraday Institute in partnership with Bible Society. This material uses clips from the Test of FAITH documentary alongside Bible passages, a sermon notes on Psalm 148, prayers, an interview with a scientist, ideas for sung worship, liturgy, reflections, a quiz and interactive activities.

The Church of Scotland Society Religion and Technology Project published a Weekly Worship resource to celebrate its 50^th Anniversary in 2020. This includes reflections on Bible passages, sermon ideas, prayers and suggestions for sung worship.

The John Ray Initiative produced this creation care-oriented communion service.

Another complete outline for a science-oriented service can be found on the blog of Cambridge-based writer Trevor Thorn.

St Peter’s Episcopal Church in Edinburgh won a Scientists in Congregations grant some years ago, to produce a Science for Sundays resource booklet. This includes short talks and prayers for advent and Easter, sermons for advent and epiphany, a liturgy for Harvest, and well as short talks on famous scientists.

The ECLAS project in Durham has produced a series of collects for Advent.

There is a wealth of resources available for focussed Sunday services on creation care. More recent contributions include the annual Season of Creation and Climate Sunday, Eco Church, and Doxecology which features a raft of new songs as well as service plans. Explore our hot topics section on this issue for more church service resources.

There is a movement to worship outdoors, including intentional interaction with all of creation as part of the worship. Again, there is a wealth of resources to help you do this, some of which are listed on our outdoor worship page.