Science and Technology Sunday

The idea for this service came out of a discussion with my youngest daughter Olivia, the aspiring astronaut in the house.  She's more of an agnostic when it comes to God, and finds more meaning in science when it comes to the universe we live in.

We also have quite a few scientists in the congregation, from university folk to Dupont engineers of all sorts, not to mention my husband who works for Sikorsky Aircraft and would love to have a career in the solar industry.  So it seemed fitting that to have a Sunday worship that celebrates the gifts of science and technology.

In the weekly announcements I invited everyone to download the BibleGateway app on their phone or tablet so they could use it in worship.  At prayer time, some of us used the contact list in our phones as a prayer list.

Our call to worship was a video of Hubble space photography with a response from Psalm 111.

Response:  Praise God! I will give thanks to God
  with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright,
  in the congregation.

Great are the works of God,
  studied by all who delight in them.

Full of honor and majesty is God's work,
  and God's righteousness endures forever.

Our opening prayer was composed of quotes by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson (probably much to his chagrin if he ever found out):

When we look up at the night sky, and we know that, yes, we are part of this Universe, we are in this Universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. Remind us, O God, to reflect on that fact and to look up at the stars.  So often we feel small, because we are small and the Universe is big. Help us to know that really we are big, because our atoms came from those stars.  Unsettle our philosophy daily, that we not ignore all the Universe has to offer.  Teach us, that we would know more about the world today than we did yesterday and to lessen the suffering of others.  AMEN.

When we had Communion, the servers shared their experiences of the different "technologies" that were used to distribute the elements: intinction, wafers vs. bread in cubes, wine, juice, in the pew, at the railing.

    Prayer of Thanksgiving

    We give thanks for all the ways we can come to this Table and be closer to you, O God, and to each other.  Aid us in sharing this technology of grace, this science of love in the living of our lives, that the world, the very earth would know its creation for wholeness and goodness.  AMEN.

At the close of the service, we gathered in our usual benediction circle with the Communion table in the middle of it all:  as though we are a living cell and our worship is our nucleus, our center. 

It was a wonderful celebration of science and religion, two companions in the search for truth.