Grace United Church | United Church in Thornbury, ON

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September 15, 2024 - Sunday Morning Service

Rev Dr John Smith

Sunday, September 15, 2024

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September 15th, 2024

Season of Creation 2

Find this service at www.graceunitedthornbury.ca/live

Leading us today in Worship:
Minister: Rev. Dr. John Greg. Smith
Music Director: Dr. Christopher Burton
Scripture Reader: Carol Clarke

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

We Gather

PRELUDE
“Bagatelle in F Major Opus 33 #3” - L. van Beethoven

WELCOME

LIGHTING the CHRIST CANDLE
The season of creation is a time to pause and reflect
on our place in creation,
our love for creation,
and our care-taking of creation.
Let the Christ candle remind us of our sacred inner light
Which we share with all living beings.
May the Christ light ignite our hearts
With love for all creation! AMEN!

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 safer, 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, Metis 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.

CALL to WORSHIP
O God our God,
How majestic is your name in all the earth!
God’s glory is sung in the heavens,
A cosmic choir of praise and awe.
God’s glory is sung in the oceans and streams,
Waters of life and nurture.
God’s glory is sung in the forest and fields,
The bountiful harvest expressing astonishment and praise.
God’s glory is sung in the light of the moon,
A beacon of light in the darkness around us.
God’s glory is sung in the peoples of the earth,
Tones and tongues voicing gratitude and grace.
As we gather this morning,
May our voices join the chorus of creation!
May our voices be in harmony with nature, and with one another.
May our voices lift our hearts, and bring joy to each one gathered here!

*HYMN: VU # 248
“When Long Before Time”

1. When long before time and the worlds were begun,
when there was no earth and no sky and no sun,
and all was deep silence and night reigned supreme,
and even our Maker had only a dream....

2. ...the silence was broken when God sang the Song,
and light pierced the darkness and rhythm began,
and with its first birth-cries creation was born,
and creaturely voices sang praise to the morn.

3. The sounds of the creatures were one with their Lord’s,
their harmonies sweet and befitting the Word;
the Singer was pleased as the earth sang the Song,
the choir of the creatures re-echoed it long.

4. Though, down through the ages, the Song disappeared,
its harmonies broken and almost unheard,
the Singer comes to us to sing it again,
our God-Is-with-Us in the world now as then.

5. The Light has returned as it came once before,
the Song of the Lord is our own song once more;
so let us all sing with one heart and one voice
the Song of the Singer in whom we rejoice.

6. To you, God the Singer, our voices we raise,
to you, Song Incarnate, we give all our praise,
to you, Holy Spirit, our life and our breath,
be glory for ever, through life and through death

OPENING PRAYER
In our worship today, let us gather our hearts and minds together
in gratitude to the Source of Light and Love.
As we remember we are created out of grace and goodness,
let us know we are made FOR good, FOR blessing, FOR hope.
Let us remember we are made in the image of God;
All beings in creation are made the same way.
Let our hearts and souls be made new with Eternal Love.
Let today become the first day of the rest of our lives!
Let our actions and our thoughts flow from the goodness of our Creator.
Let our souls resonate with the beauty of the earth,
coming alive in each new moment with a Big Bang of purpose and love.
Let today be the first day of our commitment to heal the earth.
We remember the wars, the ongoing struggles in the Middle east,
and those fleeing oppressive countries in unsafe boats.
Help us to hold the fear and repression of our time into the light of Christ.
Help us carry this light with us each day, a beacon of hope.
Let today be the day we re-imagine our lives.
Let today be the day we open our hearts fully to God’s loving embrace.
Let today be the day we speak the words someone needs to hear.
Let today be the day we bless the ones we find hard to bless.
Let today be the day that God’s love pours into our souls,
And flows freely from there into everything we do and say.
May it be so! AMEN!

PSALM READING: PSALM 8 (Responsive)
Womb of life,
How exalted is your Name in all the earth!
Out of the mouths of children and nursing babes
Your majesty is praised above the heavens.
You have founded a stronghold against your adversaries,
To put an end to the enemy, to put an end to fear and despair.
When I consider the heavens, and the work of your fingers,
The moon and the stars that you have created,
I wonder why you should be mindful of us?
I wonder why you attend the birth of new things, with care and love?
You have made us a little lower than yourself,
Yet you still adorn us with honour and glory.
You give us mastery over the works of creation;
You put all things beneath our feet:
The sheep and oxen, the wild beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, the fish of the sea.
How marvelous is your care for us!
Womb of Life,
How exalted is your name in all the earth!

*HYMN: VU #260
“God Who Gives to Life its Goodness”

1. God who gives to life its goodness,
God creator of all joy,
God who gives to us our freedom,
God who blesses tool and toy:
teach us now to laugh and praise you,
deep within your praises sing,
till the whole creation dances
for the goodness of its King.

2. God who fills the earth with beauty,
God who binds each friend to friend,
God who names us co-creators
God who wills that chaos end:
grant us now creative spirits,
minds responsive to your mind,
hearts and wills your rule extending
all our acts by Love refined.

We Listen

SCRIPTURE READING

1^st Kings 17: 1- 24 (The Message translation)
And then this happened: Elijah the Tishbite, from among the settlers of Gilead, confronted Ahab: “As surely as God lives, the God of Israel before whom I stand in obedient service, the next years are going to see a total drought—not a drop of dew or rain unless I say otherwise.”
God then told Elijah, “Get out of here, and fast. Head east and hide out at the Kerith Ravine on the other side of the Jordan River. You can drink fresh water from the brook; I’ve ordered the ravens to feed you.”
Elijah obeyed God’s orders. He went and camped in the Kerith canyon on the other side of the Jordan. And sure enough, ravens brought him his meals, both breakfast and supper, and he drank from the brook.
Eventually the brook dried up because of the drought. Then God spoke to him: “Get up and go to Zarephath in Sidon and live there. I’ve instructed a woman who lives there, a widow, to feed you.”
So he got up and went to Zarephath. As he came to the entrance of the village he met a woman, a widow, gathering firewood. He asked her, “Please, would you bring me a little water in a jug? I need a drink.” As she went to get it, he called out, “And while you’re at it, would you bring me something to eat?”
She said, “I swear, as surely as your God lives, I don’t have so much as a biscuit. I have a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a bottle; you found me scratching together just enough firewood to make a last meal for my son and me. After we eat it, we’ll die.”
Elijah said to her, “Don’t worry about a thing. Go ahead and do what you’ve said. But first make a small biscuit for me and bring it back here. Then go ahead and make a meal from what’s left for you and your son. This is the word of the God of Israel: ‘The jar of flour will not run out and the bottle of oil will not become empty before God sends rain on the land and ends this drought.’”
And she went right off and did it, did just as Elijah asked. And it turned out as he said—daily food for her and her family. The jar of meal didn’t run out and the bottle of oil didn’t become empty: God’s promise fulfilled to the letter, exactly as Elijah had delivered it!
Later on the woman’s son became sick. The sickness took a turn for the worse—and then he stopped breathing.
The woman said to Elijah, “Why did you ever show up here in the first place—a holy man barging in, exposing my sins, and killing my son?”
Elijah said, “Hand me your son.”
He then took him from her bosom, carried him up to the loft where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he prayed, “O God, my God, why have you brought this terrible thing on this widow who has opened her home to me? Why have you killed her son?”
Three times he stretched himself out full-length on the boy, praying with all his might, “God, my God, put breath back into this boy’s body!” God listened to Elijah’s prayer and put breath back into his body—he was alive! Elijah picked the boy up, carried him downstairs from the loft, and gave him to his mother. “Here’s your son,” said Elijah, “alive!”
The woman said to Elijah, “I see it all now—you are a holy man. When you speak, God speaks—a true word!”

RESPONSE
These words from scripture are meant to guide us, nurture us, and teach us.
Thanks be to God!

ANTHEM
“Song of Fellowship” - Besig/Price

SERMON: “That’s Awesome!”

We Respond

HYMN: VU #296
“This is God’s Wondrous World”

1. This is God’s wondrous world,
and to my listening ears
all nature sings, and round me rings
the music of the spheres.
This is God’s wondrous world;
I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, of skies and seas,
God’s hand the wonders wrought.

2. This is God’s wondrous world:
the birds their carols raise;
the morning light, the lily white,
declare their Maker’s praise.
This is God’s wondrous world:
God shines in all that’s fair;
in the rustling grass or mountain pass,
God’s voice speaks everywhere.

3. This is God’s wondrous world:
O let me ne’er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is God’s wondrous world:
why should my heart be sad?
Let voices sing, let the heavens ring:
God reigns, let earth be glad!

A Time for Prayer Candles

PRAYER and THE LORD’S PRAYER

PRAYER of DEDICATION for OUR OFFERINGS
The work of creating a world that works for all,
Requires many gifts, many talents, many resources.
We bring all that we have, our courage, our strength,
Our prayers and our dreams,
Our gifts of time and treasure,
And all the love and acceptance we embody,
To create God’s world of justice and joy.
Thanks be to God. 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.

Tap your debit card at the door of the church, or Donate to Grace United Church through CanadaHelps.org. Our account is set up with them now and it is easy to register. Tax receipts are given automatically at the time of giving.

Care, Prayer, Share

What’s Up at Grace?

We Go Out

*HYMN: VU #297
“All Praise to You”

1. All praise to you, O God of all creation:
you made the world, and it is yours alone.
The planet earth you spun in its location
amid the stars adorning heaven’s dome.
We lease the earth but for a life’s duration,
yet for this life it is our cherished home.

2. With wondrous grace you clothed the earth in splendour;
with teeming life you filled the sea and land.
Instil in us a sense of awe and wonder
when we behold the bounty of your hand.
Then when we hear the voice of bird or thunder,
we hear the voice our faith can understand.

3. To tend the earth is our entrusted duty,
for earth is ours to use and not abuse.
O gracious God, true source of all resources,
forgive our greed that wields destruction’s sword.
Then let us serve as wise and faithful

COMMISSIONING

*SUNG BENEDICTION: MV #209
“Go Make A Difference” Chorus X2

Go make a dff′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

POSTLUDE
"Clair de lune" - C. Debussy

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