Grace United Church | United Church in Thornbury, ON

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October 20, 2024 - Sunday Morning Service

Rev Dr John Smith

Sunday, October 20, 2024

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October 20th, 2024

22^nd Sunday After Pentecost

World Food Sunday

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: Heather Dickson

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

We Gather

PRELUDE
“Gnossienne #3”– E. Satie

A Stewardship Second
Knowledge defines all we currently know and understand; imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.
Albert Einstein

WELCOME

THE LIGHTING of the CHRIST CANDLE
As we turn out hearts toward worship,
We light the Christ candle.
The light of Christ fills our hearts with love:
For God, for our community, for others.
May the light of Christ burn bright in our worship,
And fill us with courage and strength for the journey.
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
We come today with our whole heart,
With our whole body,
And with our whole mind.
We come seeking truth, seeking love, seeking solace,
Seeking peace.
We come seeking community, seeking hope, seeking meaning and purpose.
We come seeking truth for living with integrity in this world of ours.
As we come together,
Let us remember we are fastened together as the body of Christ.
We are the presence of Jesus in the world around us.
We are bread and salt and light and yeast.
We are not stale, we are not spent, we are not too small or too old:
The body of Christ is made new each day
Through the loving spirit of God in us.
So come, people of God, there is still much left to do.
Come with courage, come with hope, come with love as your intent!
Thanks be to God!

*HYMN: “When Our Heart is in a Holy Place”
Chorus: When our heart is in a holy place,
When our heart is in a holy place,
We are bless’d with love and amazing grace,
When our heart is in a holy place.

1. When we trust the wisdom in each of us,
Ev’ry color ev’ry creed and kind,
And we see our faces in each other’s eyes,
Then our heart is in a holy place.
Chorus: When our heart is in a holy place,
When our heart is in a holy place,
We are bless’d with love and amazing grace,
When our heart is in a holy place.

2. When we tell our story from deep inside,
And we listen with a loving mind,
And we hear our voices in each other’s words,
Then our heart is in a holy place.
Chorus: When our heart is in a holy place,
When our heart is in a holy place,
We are bless’d with love and amazing grace,
When our heart is in a holy place.

3. When we share the silence of sacred space,
And the God of our Heart stirs within,
And we feel the power of each other’s faith,
Then our heart is in a holy place.
Chorus: When our heart is in a holy place,
When our heart is in a holy place,
We are bless’d with love and amazing grace,
When our heart is in a holy place.

OPENING PRAYER
As we come together in community,
Let us pray that our words and actions might be wise and warm, healing and hopeful.
Let us pray that all that we do and say flows directly from Love Eternal,
from the Source of Love and Light.
May I be a source of love today;
may my words and actions flow from the Source of Love Eternal,
and pour out on all around me.
May I be a source of peace today;
may my heart and mind rest in the peace that passes understanding,
and keep me balanced and free this day.
May I be a source of courage today;
may my own inner strength be a source of courage,
and spur me to do great things today.
May I be a source of wisdom today;
may my thoughts and my words be full of truth,
and provide hope and comfort to others.
May everything we do, everything we say, everything we pray for, everything we attempt,
be done in a spirit of trust in the God of Love, Love Eternal, Holy Mystery,
the One who holds us all in the palm of his hand.

(a moment of silence)

May God’s abiding love and presence renew us this day and every day.
In our hearts, let us turn to the light, and be made new. AMEN

RESPONSIVE PSALM: Based on Psalm 1
Blessed are those who walk hand in hand with goodness,
Who seek virtue, and who desire to sit in the seat of truth.
Blessed are we when we see the light in the heart of others,
When we desire to work together to heal the earth.
For our delight is in the Spirit of Love and Wisdom;
Our delight is in Love Eternal, dwelling in our hearts.
We are like trees planted by flowing streams of water;
Our roots reach down deep;
Our branches extend upward and outward.
Our hearts are like an orchard in the fall: ripe with life giving fruit,
Ready to serve and nurture the whole world.
In all that we do and say O God of Wisdom,
Keep us on the side of life.
In all that we dream, in all that we pray,
Keep us true to the pathway you have set for us God.
For Love knows the way of truth.
Love’s penetrating Light breaks through hearts filled with illusions.
May it be so! AMEN

THEME CONVERSATION: Jesus the Wisdom Teacher

*HYMN: VU #605
“Jesus Teacher Brave and Bold”

1. Jesus, teacher, brave and bold,
let us serve you, young and old.
Let us faith-filled workers be,
all around, your wisdom see.
Let us play and dance and sing,
your goodness find in everything.

2. Jesus, friend, so strong and true,
show us good, brave work to do.
Show us those who need a friend,
all things broken help us mend.
Free our minds and stretch our care,
teach us to serve you everywhere.

ANTHEM: “On Eagle’s Wings”

We Listen

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Deuteronomy 26:5-13 New Revised Standard Version
You shall make this response before the Lord your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.’ You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.
When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year (which is the year of the tithe), giving it to the Levites, the aliens, the orphans, and the widows, so that they may eat their fill within your towns, then you shall say before the Lord your God: ‘I have removed the sacred portion from the house, and I have given it to the Levites, the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows, in accordance with your entire commandment that you commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor forgotten any of your commandments.

Mark 12:28-34 New International Version
The Greatest Commandment
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.”
“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

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

SERMON: “Jesus’ Teaching: How do we LOVE God?”

We Respond

*HYMN: MV #176
“Three Things I Promise”

1. Three things I promise, Holy God,
in age and youth, in life and death:
to bless your Name, and cling to Christ,
and listen for the Spirit’s breath

2. Your love unfolded time and space,
and life, and all that life became,
and so, with thankful heart and voice,
through good and ill, I bless your Name

3. I follow, serve, and cling to Christ
amid out culture’s tides and trends,
for here your Name is most revealed:
Majestic Love, and Best of Friends

4. Enlivened as the Spirit moves
to cleanse, awaken, and renew,
I pray that justice, peace, and truth,
may seed and grow in all I do

5. If I should live when vigor fades,
and family and friends are gone,
three acts of loving faith remain
when days are slow, and work is done

6. Revive and guide me, Living God,
as day by day, until my death,
I bless your Name, and cling to Christ,
and listen for the Spirit’s breath.

Prayer Candles

THE LORD’S PRAYER (VU 910)

INVITATION to the OFFERING
God is faithful, generous, creative, and loving. Therefore, let us put our trust in God, offering our gifts of finances, time, prayer, and creative imagination for the joy of ministry here in this community of faith and beyond through Mission and Service. I invite you at this time to share God’s abundance—in person, online using the donate button on Grace United web page, assessing through Canada Helps, or through PAR.

PRAYER of DEDICATION for our OFFERINGS
Holy and Gracious One, increase our imagination that we may see your love more fully realized through this community of faith and the life-giving purpose at our centre. Bless the gifts we make in your name, and help us to give with even more generosity and compassion than we have received. 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, and 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: MV #89
“Love is the Touch”

1. Love is the touch of intangible joy;
love is the force that no fear can destroy;
love is the goodness we gladly applaud:
God is where love is, for love is of God.

2. Love is the lilt in a lingering voice;
love is the hope that can make us r3ejoice;
love is the cure for the frightened and flawed:
God is where love is, for love is of God.

3. Love is the light in the tunnel of pain;
love is the will to be whole once again;
love is the trust of a friend on the road:
God is where love is, for love is of God.

4. Love is the Maker and Spirit and Son;
love is the kingdom their will has begun;
love is the path which the saints all have trod:
God is where love is, for love is of God.

*COMMISSIONING

*SUNG BENEDICTION
“Go Now in Peace”

Go now in peace. Never be afraid.
God will go with you each hour of every day,
Go now in faith, steadfast, strong and true,
Know God will guide you in all you do.
Go now in love, and show you believe.
Reach out to others so all the world can see.
God will be there, *within, around, above.
Go now in peace, in faith and in love.
Amen, amen, amen.