EarthRise Dedication and Blessing The Greeting Leader: The Lord be with you. People: And also with you. Leader: Let us pray. O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you, bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit upon all flesh, hasten the coming of your kingdom, and nourish us to do more together; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Scripture Readings A Reading from the Revelation of St John 9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” – Revelation 7.9-12- The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God A Reading from the Acts of the Holy Spirit as recognized by the Apostles 24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And God is not reliant on the patronage of human hands, as if God needed anything. Rather, God’s very Self gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one human God made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and God marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek God and perhaps reach out for and find God, though God is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in God we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own, classical poets have said, ‘We are God’s offspring.” -Acts 17.24-28- The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God The Prayer of Blessing Gracious and loving God, the source of all beauty and creativity: We thank you for the gifts of imagination and skill that you have bestowed upon the Genesis Art Collaborative to create this work of art. May it inspire us, as we contemplate the out-of-this-worldly acts of NASA and the space program, to live into the fullness of your grace and dignity in all people and recognize the ingenuity of getting beyond the world we settle for. Guide our remembrance of the ones who push the limits of what we thought possible in this world so that we can live beyond any divisions that exist within it. We give you thanks for the courage and perseverance of Ed Dwight, primed to break the color barrier in the heavens, and the art he constructed born of his story and service. Amen. We are grateful for Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr. offering his very life to the dream of living out of this world. Amen. We praise you for the discipline and creativity of George Robert Carruthers, whose far-ultraviolet electrographic detector brought images of the cosmos to earth. Amen. May we follow the witness of Ruth Bates Harris and Astronaut Group 8, who ultimately sent Guy Bluford, Sally Ride, and a host of other divine image-bearers of varied faiths, races, and tongues out of our atmosphere. Amen. Grant us humility to join Bernard Anthony Harris Jr. in boldly walking through the space that is above our world and developing space rovers to help others follow in his wake and widen our means for exploration. Amen. Inspire us with the peace in adversity that Sunita Pandya Williams displayed in over nine months aboard the ISS that we might also persevere in striving for justice and reconciliation on earth, as in the heavens. Amen. And grant us the integration of faith, inquiry, daring, and administration you made palpable in Charles Frank Bolden Jr that we might bring our whole hearts and whole selves to bear in our vocations and ministries. Amen. And may our awareness of these representative few remind us to celebrate your Incarnation in the human race and to work as one body to love one another on earth. Amen. Grant us the grace to work with one another to repair the breaches of our legacies that divide one from another and can mask the recognition of your image and likeness in the world you created and love. May the work of the Episcopal diocese of Texas and the Talbott grant committee inform our call to love one another as you love us. May this artwork serve as a sign of your presence, sparking conversations, offering comfort, and reminding all who pass by of our shared humanity, and the wonder of your creation. Protect this piece from harm, and use it to bring joy, inspiration, and unity to all who view it. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Conclusion Leader: Let us be a blessing to the Lord and to one another. People: Thanks be to God- We can do more together!
