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NEW KILPATRICK PARISH CHURCH
open hearts, open minds, open faith
Beginning
When you are made of stardust
you can’t be anything else but special
We didn’t know
when God took dust last week
to form us
that it was star-dust
and we didn’t know
when God breathed into the dust
God kindled the starlight
that now burns in us
The psalmist asked:
When you look to the heavens and see the stars
how is it God you are mindful of us
God is mindful
because we are made of the same
Come let us worship
the star-maker
who is still creating and counting future generations
Stardust & Promise
Contemporary Reading
(Each voice had a star to place on a central area after their words)
Voice 1:
The verb ‘to count’ in this story does, indeed, mean to “count.” But the root of the word is richer. In its various forms and contexts it can mean, not only “to count,” but also “to recount,” or “to narrate,” “to take account of,” or “to make accounting of,” “to interpret,” “to explain.” Our contemporary reading uses these interpretations of the word to expand and broaden how we might understand the story.
Voice 2:
Abraham,
look to the heavens
and take account of the stars.
They tell a story
of the abundance and wonder of love.
There, in the heavens,
for all to see,
an extravagant love,
that you cannot quantify
and interpret in units.
You can try,
but you’ll run out of numbers
so great is the abundance,
so just stand there,
and wonder,
at love.
Voice 3:
Abraham,
look to the heavens
and narrate the stars.
They tell their own story,
they form the handwriting
on the surface of the sky.
“The heaven’s declare the glory of God,”
says the psalmist:
the stars themselves
proclaim the story
of God’s glory,
so join the dots,
shape the letters,
and read what the stars say:
glory,
wonder,
and love.
Voice 4:
Abraham,
look to the heavens,
and recount the stars,
thus shall your offspring be:
more than a number.
Your offspring
will be starlight
in a dark world;
in the shadows
your children will burn brightly
as promise-light,
as love-light,
transforming human destiny
through the light they are,
and by which humanity shall be guided
in truth,
in hope,
in love.
Voice 5:
Abraham,
look to the heavens
and the number of stars:
and know the heavens are not dark.
You can see heaven’s skin is not a deep shadow
but bright with light.
So do not think what is before you is all shadows,
do not think the future is dark,
The future is full of light.
This is the splendour of the promise:
when things look dark,
when the shadows grow over the earth
they will interpret the light,
they will be the light,
the hope,
the wonder,
of love.
Prayer
Loving God
because we are made of promise
may we live as promise
May we live the possibility of the future
in faith:
may we live hopefully,
may we celebrate peacefully,
may we build faithfully,
may we relate gracefully.
May we
in every way we live
live the promise
of what your community
your star-filled community
your kingdom
will be like
So in the stars we praise you
for the promise always there
in the purpose and intent of the future
we praise you
for the movement of your kingdom
always adventuring towards the fulfilment of love
in the journey of each generation
keeping the promise alive
we praise you
for that which has inspired those before us
and fills with hope those yet to come
for the inheritance we have
in the songs we sing
and the faith we wish to pass on
in the stories we curate and love
So in a great shout of praise
story mixed with promise
song mixed with stardust
may you hear your people
of this generation
of this place
as you have heard every generation
since you first patterned the skies
to keep alive
that which inspires us
and the stories which shape us
and the song which follows us
and the journey we share
with every generation
to keep the promise
and share the good news
the creator
the star-maker
has names us
and loved us
and travels with us
in every time and place
into futures unknown