June 9th, 2024

3rd Sunday after Pentecost

Music Sunday

Find this service at www.graceunitedthornbury.ca/live

Leading us today in Worship:
     Worship Leader: Dr. Christopher Burton
     Music Director: Dr. Christopher Burton
     Scripture Reader: Shirley Woolner

Leader: regular font ~ All: bold font ~ Sung words: bold italics.
Asterisk * Indicates when the congregation may stand if able.

We Gather

PRELUDE
“Preludes in C Minor and C Major”- J.S. Bach

GREETING
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.

WELCOME

OUR COMMITMENT to SAFE SPACE & ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of the LAND
We believe all people are made in the image of God and are entitled to dignity and respect. At Grace United Church we try to offer a safe, inclusive and generous space for all who are seeking a faith community. We offer full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, all races, ages and abilities in the life and work of the ministry.

Grace United Church is situated on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabek, Petun, Huron-Wendat and Mississauga peoples, located within the boundary of the region of Treaty 18 of 1818. We humbly acknowledge the First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples of Canada as traditional stewards of the land on which we work and worship and are committed to working actively toward genuine restitution and reconciliation.

The CHRIST CANDLE
As we gather together on this most glorious day,
We turn to light the candle which reminds us:
Christ’s light dances within us,
Christ’s light enlivens us, and gives us strength,
And, Christ’s light fills us, holds us, and blesses us,
For the living of these particular days.
May it be so! Amen!

CALL to WORSHIP
Whenever we feel disrespected or overlooked, let down by others,
resting and praying, we affirm that God knows us and loves us.
In those times when we feel lost or unsure, seeking God’s presence in our lives,
listening and singing, we remember that God leads us.
As we worship, we share our worries and concerns, craving answers and support.
Praising and reflecting, we recognize that God works through us.
Together we remember that our God is a God of surprises,
working in surprising places through surprising people, loving us in surprising ways. And so we worship God.

OPENING PRAYER
O God, Creator of us all,
May our hearts give in to loving and peaceable ways only, never to what is less than you would have us do and be.
Remind us that respect needs to be given toward all others.
Remind us that we need to claim respect for ourselves.
In this time of worship, may we release into your care, into forgiveness and love, all matters that are troubling us, and may we release, for this moment, all those who harmed us in any way. Freed now from angst and ill will, we take in your breath in a healing calm.
Let this calm wash us all into the waters that cleanse and allow us to emerge, much as in baptism, knowing love belongs to everyone. You, O God, leave no one out.
Every heart belongs to you, our Creator God.
Amen

*OPENING HYMN: VU # 221
“Sing Praise to God Who Has Shaped”

1. Sing praise to God, who has shaped and sustains all creation!
Sing praise, my soul, in profound and complete adoration!
Gladsome rejoice -
organ and trumpet and voice -
joining God’s great congregation.

2. Praise God, our guardian, who lovingly offers correction,
who, as on eagle’s wings, saves us from sinful dejection.
Have you observed,
how we are always preserved
by God’s parental affection?

3. Sing praise to God, with sincere thanks for all your successes.
Merciful God ever loves to encourage and bless us.
Only conceive
what godly strength can achieve:
strength that would touch and caress us.

4. Sing praise, my soul, the great name of your high God commending.
All that have life and breath join you, their notes sweetly blending.
God is your light!
Soul, ever keep this in sight:
amen, amen never ending.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION
In peace, we can let your light touch our deepest place, Rock of Ages, Rainbow of Love.
We slip, we err, we lose our way.
In quiet moments, we can confess the sin. That has harmed us and the sin by which others have been harmed.
We often behave as if we are not loved,
As if you do not love every other creature,
As if we are not lovable at all.

(a time of silent prayer)

Touch us with your light, we pray.
Let us glow with the rainbow light of love.

WORDS OF ASSURANCE
Love persists.
Love knocks on the door and doesn’t stop.
Love waits for us to open and welcome it in.
Be assured that you are lovable and loved.
Be assured that you have endless love within
you because you are God’s beloved child.
Thanks be to God!

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
Open us to your Spirit, O God. Help us to truly open to you in this time of receiving scripture.
Let us do more than go through the motions of worship. Give us fresh perspectives as we receive your word in this time of worship.
Give us fresh voices to share your good news with others. Give us fresh hearts and minds to wrestle with your will for us and to find the commitment to strive with passion toward your glory. Be with us in this time of worship. Be in us as we receive your word. Amen.

We Listen 

SCRIPTURE READINGS
2 Corinthians 4:13-18 & 5:1    (NRSVUE)
But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture -- “I believed, and so I spoke” -- we also believe, and therefore we also speak, because we know that the one who raised Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and will present us with you in his presence. Indeed, everything is for your sake, so that grace, when it has extended to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.  For our slight, momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
For we know that, if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

RESPONSE
The word of God for the people of God.
Amen.

ANTHEM
“A Jubilant Song” - Mary Lynn Lightfoot.

SPECIAL MUSIC
“Sonata in E Flat Major, Hob. XVI: No. 52”      
Franz Joseph Haydn
     i. Allegro
     ii. Adagio
     iii. Presto (Finale)

*HYMN: VU #240
“Praise my Soul, The God of Heaven”

1. Praise, my soul, the God of heaven,
glad of heart your carols raise;
ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
who, like me, should sing God’s praise.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Praise the Maker all your days!

2. Praise God for the grace and favour
shown our forebears in distress;
God is still the same forever,
slow to chide and swift to bless.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Sing our Maker’s faithfulness!

3. Like a loving parent caring,
God knows well our feeble frame;
gladly all our burdens bearing,
still to countless years the same.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
All within me, praise God’s name!

4. Frail as summer’s flower we flourish;
blows the wind and it is gone;
but, while mortals rise and perish,
God endures unchanging on.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Praise the high eternal one.

5. Angels, teach us adoration,
you behold God face to face;
sun and moon and all creation,
dwellers all in time and space.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Praise with us the God of grace!

We Respond 

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Dear God,
We live in a world that does not listen for the Holy Spirit. We live in a world that is troubled,
A world of terrorism, sexism, and racism,
A world of fear, scarcity, and violence,
A world of abuse, addiction, and abandonment.
The Holy Spirit tells us to love others as you love us.
We pray for the courage to show others we love them.
The Holy Spirit tells us that the world will hate us.
We pray for the integrity to defy the world’s values.
The Holy Spirit tells us to give unselfishly.
We pray for the strength to deny ourselves for the good of others.
The Holy Spirit is God’s presence in us.
We are God’s presence in the world.
May we bring God’s peace and comfort
To those who are sick or in hospital,
To those who are mourning loss,
To those who are lonely or depressed,
To those we name aloud or in our hearts.

(a time of silence)

May others know we are disciples of Jesus by our love of neighbour.
May we offer God’s love, compassion, and grace to all. May the Holy Spirit inspire us to live Christ’s commandment. Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER (Spoken, traditional words, VU 921)
We lift this prayer in the words that Jesus gave his disciples to pray together, and so, together, we say: heavenly parent, our mother…
Our Father, who art in heaven…

PASSING THE PEACE
Improvisation on a Hymn -  C. Burton

INVITATION TO THE OFFERING
God has given to us—beyond our imagining.
We have received new life and new hope.
Let us offer our gifts and ourselves in service of God’s mercy and grace.

DEDICATION OF GIFTS AND SELF
We dedicate these gifts and our lives to you,
O God, in thanksgiving for your great gift of Jesus
In whom we know an inner peace that is beyond our
Human understanding. Strengthen and empower us with
The Holy Spirit to be bearers of this peace wherever we go.
Amen.

Donate online:   www.graceunitedthornbury.ca,  select “Give” 
     or contact the office by email: accounting@graceunitedthornbury.ca
     or  phone: 519-599-2438 to arrange a cheque pick-up, or an e-transfer
     Mail: Grace UC, 140 Bruce St. S. PO Box 219, Thornbury, ON N0H 2P0
     or Offering Plate at the back of the sanctuary.

     Care, Prayer, Share

What’s Up at Grace?

We Go Out

*CLOSING HYMN: VU #633
“Bless Now, O God, the Journey”

1. Bless now, O God, the journey
that all your people make,
the path through noise and silence,
the way of give and take.
The trail is found in desert
and winds the mountain round,
then leads beside still waters,
the road where faith is found.

2. Bless sojourners and pilgrims
who share this winding way,
whose hope burns through the terrors,
whose love sustains the day.
We yearn for holy freedom
while often we are bound.
Together we are seeking
the road where faith is found.

3. Divine Eternal Lover,
you meet us on the road.
We wait for lands of promise
where milk and honey flow.
But waiting not for places,
you meet us all around.
Our covenant is written
on roads, as faith is found.

*COMMISSIONING & Benediction
As we leave this place, renewed in faith by receiving the good news and reflecting on it,
May God fill us with love.
May Jesus fill us with courage,
And may the energy of the Holy Spirit inspire us
to serve as disciples in our community
as we work with God and with each other
to recreate the world as God would have it. Amen.

CHORAL SENDING: MV #209
“Go Make a Diff’rence”

Refrain:
Go make a diff’rence.
We can make a diff’rence.
Go make a diff’rence in the world.
Go make a diff’rence.
We can make a diff’rence.
Go make a diff’rence in the world.

1. We are the salt of the earth,
called to let the people see
the love of God in you and me.
We are the light of the world,
not to be hidden but be seen.
Go make a diff’rence in the world.
Refrain:
Go make a diff’rence.
We can make a diff’rence.
Go make a diff’rence in the world.
Go make a diff’rence.
We can make a diff’rence.
Go make a diff’rence in the world.

2. We are the hands of Christ
reaching out to those in need,
the face of God for all to see.
We are the spirit of hope;
we are the voice of peace.
Go make a diff’rence in the world.
Refrain:
Go make a diff’rence.
We can make a diff’rence.
Go make a diff’rence in the world.
Go make a diff’rence.
We can make a diff’rence.
Go make a diff’rence in the world.

3. So let your love shine on,
let it shine for all to see.
Go make a diff’rence in the world.
And the spirit of Christ
will be with us as we go.
Go make a diff’rence in the world.
Refrain:
Go make a diff’rence in the world.
Go make a diff’rence
In the world.

POSTLUDE
Improvisation on “Be Still My Soul” - C. Burton

*****

LITURGY SOURCES: The following are used with permission:
- The Christ Candle: written by Rev. Dr. John Greg. Smith
- Call to Worship: Written by Gill Le Fevre, Walton Memorial U.C., Oakville, ON Gathering, Pentecost 1 2024, Page 39. Used with permission. 
- Opening Prayer: Written by Diane Trollope, Sudbury, ON. Gathering, Pentecost 1 2024, Page 39. Used with permission.
- Prayers of Confession and Assurance: Written by Robin Wardlaw, Toronto, ON Gathering, Pentecost 1 2024, Pages 39-40. Used with permission.
- Prayer of Illumination: Written by Elaine Bidgood Sveet, First Lutheran, Rugby and Leeds, North Dakota. Gathering, Pentecost 1 2024, Page 45. Used with permission.
- Prayers of the People: Written by Tricia Challoner, Norquay U.C., Norquay, Sask. Gathering, Pentecost 1 2021, Page 31. Used with permission.
- Invitation to the Offering: Written by Frances Flook, Emo/Devlin P.C., Emo, ON Gathering, Pentecost 1 2024, Page 45. Used with permission.
- Dedication of Gifts: Written by Donna Kelly, First South U.C., First South, N.S. Gathering, Pentecost 1 2020, Page 46. Used with permission.
- Commissioning & Benediction: Written by Tom Walkling, Utterson U.C., Port Sydney, ON Gathering, Pentecost 1 2024, Page 34. Used with permission.

HYMNS and SUNG VERSES