September 12, 2021 – 16th Sunday after Pentecost
Watch this Service at: www.graceunitedthornbury.ca/live
Leading us today in worship:
Minister: Rev. Christine Smaller
Music Director: Dr. Christopher Burton
Scripture Reader: Mike Weller
Leader: regular font ~ All: bold font ~ Sung Words: bold italic font
Prelude:
Bagatelle Opus 33, No.6 - L. van Beethoven
Greeting:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.
Welcome
Call to Worship:
The Wisdom of God is non-reactionary, does not punish us when we are not yet able to heal.
The Wisdom of God is ancient, rooted, creative, and unfolding.
The Wisdom of God meets us with compassion.
The Living Christ does not ask us to suffer for suffering’s sake.
The Living Christ desires our needs to be met and our hearts to be consoled.
The Living Christ loves our flourishing.
Come, let us gather in the Wisdom of God and the Spirit of the Living Christ.
Opening Prayer:
God, the enormity of the suffering of the world burns in us like a forest fire, collapses us like a building, washes over us like floodwaters, sits in us like a plane that can’t leave the gate. In our sorrow, console us with moments of beauty and belonging. Build with us communities of solidarity and kindness, for you desire not our suffering but our delight. Amen.
Opening Hymn: VU 892 Wisdom 7 - Who Comes from God
1. Who comes from God, as Word and Breath?
Holy Wisdom.
Who holds the keys of life and death?
Mighty Wisdom.
Crafter and Creator too,
Eldest, she makes all things new;
Wisdom guides what God will do,
Wisest One, Radiant One, welcome, Holy Wisdom.
2. Who lifts her voice for all to hear?
Joyful Wisdom.
Who shapes a thought and makes it clear?
Truthful Wisdom.
Teacher, drawing out our best,
magnifies what we invest,
names our truth directs our quest,
Wisest One, Radiant One, welcome, Holy Wisdom.
3. Whom should we seek with all our heart?
Loving Wisdom.
Who once revealed, will not depart?
Faithful Wisdom.
Partner, Counselor, Comforter,
love has found none lovelier,
life is gladness lived with her,
Wisest One, Radiant One, welcome, Holy Wisdom.
Prayer for Illumination:
Holy One, we know that you constantly breathe new life into every word of scripture. Help us hear the Living Word you desire to share with us today.
Scripture:
Proverbs 1:20-33 (NRSV)
Wisdom cries out in the street;
in the squares she raises her voice.
At the busiest corner she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
Give heed to my reproof;
I will pour out my thoughts to you;
I will make my words known to you.
Because I have called and you refused,
have stretched out my hand and no one heeded,
and because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when panic strikes you,
when panic strikes you like a storm,
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.
Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
would have none of my counsel,
and despised all my reproof,
therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way
and be sated with their own devices.
For waywardness kills the simple,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;
but those who listen to me will be secure
and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.”
Wisdom of Solomon 7:26 - 8:1 (Common English Bible)
She’s the brightness that shines forth from eternal light.
She’s a mirror that flawlessly reflects God’s activity.
She’s the perfect image of God’s goodness.
She can do anything, since she’s one and undivided.
She never changes, and yet she makes everything new.
Generation after generation, she enters souls and shapes them into God’s friends and prophets. God doesn’t love anything as much as people who make their home with Wisdom. She’s more splendid than the sun and more wonderful than the arrangement of the stars. She’s even brighter than sunlight, for night follows day, but evil can never overcome Wisdom. She stands strong from one end of the world to the other. She is a marvelous governor over everything in between.
Response:
The Word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Musical Interlude: :
Fantasy on a Hymn - C. Burton
Sermon
Hymn: VU 272 Open Your Ears, O Faithful People
1. Open your ears, O faithful people,
open your ears and hear God's word.
Open your hearts, O faithful people,
God now speaks to you.
Refrain:
God has spoken to the people, hallelujah!
And those words are words of wisdom,
hallelujah! Hallelujah!
2. They who have ears to hear the message,
they who have ears, now let them hear.
They who would learn the way of wisdom,
let them hear God's word.
Refrain:
God has spoken to the people, hallelujah!
And those words are words of wisdom,
hallelujah! Hallelujah!
PROFESSION OF FAITH A New Creed
We are not alone,
we live in God’s world.
We believe in God:
who has created
and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others
by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus,
crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
In life, in death
and in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
Prayers of the People:
The Lord’s Prayer:
As a child turns to a loving caregiver who watches over them, we turn in prayer to you O god, who are our heavenly parent, our mother,
Our Father who art in heaven…
Passing the Peace:
The Peace of Christ be with you all.
And also with you.
Everyone is invited to share the peace of Christ by offering a message in the chat box.
You may also wish to think of someone you would like to pass the peace to this week.
Music while we share the Peace of Christ:
La fille aux cheveux de lin - C. Debussy
Invitation to the Offering:
Ella Baker, visionary and human rights activist, said “give light and people will find the way.” Let us bring forth our offerings that we might offer a way to one another.
Through our giving and receiving, let us illuminate the path to collective thriving.
Prayer of Dedication:
Holy Spirit, bless our offerings to the lineage of the saints who have gone before us, the wise people who envisioned a way of being where all lived with dignity.
Bless our offerings to the generations who come after us, may they embody freedom in ways we have yet to imagine. Amen.
A single stone placed in the offering plate honours all our gifts.
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
Care, Prayer, Share
Announcements:
Closing Hymn: VU 589 Lord, Speak to Me
1. Lord, speak to me that I may speak
in living echoes of your tone;
as you have sought, so let me seek
your straying children lost and lone.
2. O lead me, so that I may lead
the wandering and the wavering feet;
O feed me, so that I may feed
your hungering ones with manna sweet.
3. O teach me, so that I may teach
the precious truths which you impart;
and wing my words, that they may reach
the hidden depths of many a heart.
4. O fill me with your fullness, Lord,
until my very heart o'er flows
in kindling thoughts and glowing word,
your love to tell, your praise to show.
Commissioning and Benediction
Sung Blessing: 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.
* alternate words: watching from above
Postlude:
Rondeau - J-J Moreau
*****
RESOURCES USED (all with permission):
Prayers and Liturgies:
- Call to Worship: © 2021 enfleshed
- Opening Prayer: © 2021 enfleshed
- Prayers of the People: Christine Smaller
Hymns and Sung Responses:
- “Wisdom 7 Who Comes from God” Words: Patrick Michaels 1989 Music: Choralemelodien zum heiligen Gesange 1808; arr. Hal H. Hopson 1991Words copyright © 1989 arrangement copyright © 1991 Hope Publishing Company One License #608577
- “Open Your Ears, O Faithful People” Words: from The Talmud: "Israel and the Torah are one", English Willard F. Jabusch 1966 rev. 1985 Music: Hasidic melody, harm. Richard Proulx 1984 Words copyright © 1968, 1975 Willard F. Jabusch. Harmony copyright © 1985 G.I.A. Publications, Inc. One License #608577
- “Lord Speak to Me” Words: Frances Ridley Havergal 1872 Music: Samuel Sebastian Wesley 1872 Public Domain
- “Go Now in Peace” Words by Don Besig and Nancy Price. © 1988 Harold Flammer Music, Inc. Alternate words used with permission. Reproduced with permission, One License, #608577.
Scripture Passage from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.
Scripture Passage from the Common English Bible
Prelude: Bagatelle Opus 33, No.6 L. van Beethoven
Interlude: Fantasy on a Hymn C. Burton
Passing of the Peace: La fille aux cheveux de lin C. Debussy
Postlude: Rondeau J-J Moreau
All in public domain
