January 9, 2022
Baptism of Jesus Sunday
Watch this Service at: www.graceunitedthornbury.ca/live
Leading us today in worship:
Minister: Rev. Christine Smaller
Music Director: Dr. Christopher Burton
Lay Leaders: Tabatha Weller & Mike Weller
Choir Member: Debby Weale
Leader: regular font ~ All: bold font ~ Sung Words: bold italic font
Prelude:
Sonata in E flat Major 2nd Mov't ~ Haydn
Welcome & Territorial Acknowledgement
Call to Worship:
Through every age of struggle, every era of hope,
the Holy One is a faithful companion.
From spirits that seduce with power,
they deliver and transform.
In the labours of liberation,
They sustain with joy and courage.
Praise God, whose presence is a force for life.
Amen
Opening Prayer:
God of surprises you call us
from the narrowness of our traditions
to new ways of being church,
from the captivities of our culture
to creative witness for justice,
from the smallness of our horizons
to the bigness of your vision.
Clear the way in us, your people,
that we might call others to freedom and renewed faith.
Jesus, wounded healer, you call us
from preoccupation with our own histories
and hurts to daily tasks of peacemaking,
from privilege to pilgrimage,
from insularity to inclusive community.
Clear the way in us, your people,
that we might call others to wholeness and integrity.
Holy, transforming Spirit, you call us
from fear to faithfulness,
from clutter to clarity,
from a desire to control to deeper trust,
from the refusal to love to a readiness to risk.
Clear the way in us, your people,
that we might all know the beauty and power
and danger of the gospel.
Opening Hymn: VU 374 Come and Find the Quiet Centre
1. Come and find the quiet centre
in the crowded life we lead,
find the room for hope to enter,
find the frame where we are freed:
clear the chaos and the clutter,
clear our eyes, that we can see
all the things that really matter,
be at peace, and simply be.
2. Silence is a friend who claims us,
cools the heat and slows the pace,
God it is who speaks and names us,
knows our being, face to face,
making space within our thinking,
lifting shades to show the sun,
raising courage when we're shrinking,
finding scope for faith begun.
3. In the Spirit let us travel,
open to each other's pain,
let our loves and fears unravel,
celebrate the space we gain:
there's a place for deepest dreaming,
there's a time for heart to care,
in the Spirit's lively scheming
there is always room to spare!
Prayer for Illumination:
God of extravagant grace,
may your Spirit refresh our hearts
through the reading of the scriptures
that we may perceive all the good we can do for Christ
and so grow in our faith toward our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Readings:
Acts 8:14-17 (NRSV)
Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 (NRSV)
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Response:
The Word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Musical Interlude:
Improvisation on a Hymn ~ C. Burton
Sermon
Hymn: VU 387 Loving Spirit
1. Loving Spirit, loving Spirit,
you have chosen me to be,
you have drawn me to your wonder,
you have set your sign on me.
2. Like a mother, you enfold me,
hold my life within your own,
feed me with your very body,
form me of your flesh and bone.
3. Like a father, you protect me,
teach me the discerning eye,
hoist me up upon your shoulder,
let me see the world from high.
4. Friend and lover, in your closeness
I am known and held and blessed;
in your promise is my comfort,
in your presence I may rest.
5. Loving Spirit, loving Spirit,
you have chosen me to be,
you have drawn me to your wonder,
you have set your sign on me.
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:
Sheep May Safely Graze ~ J.S. Bach
Invitation to the Offering
When circumstances surround us with grief, box us into fear, or build up our defenses, God turns us toward each other. Together, we find what we need to navigate even the most precarious of times. In this spirit of collective care, let us bring what we have with trust in the Sacred.
Prayer of Dedication:
Loving One, we pray you would bless these gifts, small and humble, toward your work of freedom. Guide our intentions and our actions in the direction of your kingdom - where all creatures, creations, neighbours, and even our enemies are delivered from systems of evil. That your blessings may abound on all the earth, amen.
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Care, Prayer, Share
Announcements:
Closing Hymn: VU 100 When Jesus comes to be Baptized
1. When Jesus comes to be baptized,
he leaves the hidden years behind,
the years of safety and of peace,
to bear the sins of humankind.
2. The Spirit of the Lord comes down,
anoints the Christ to suffering,
to preach the word, to free the bound,
and to the mourner, comfort bring.
3. He will not quench the dying flame,
and what is bruised he will not break,
but heal the wound injustice dealt,
and out of death his triumph make.
4. O Spirit help us be like Christ:
to live in love and charity,
to walk in truth and justice now,
and grow in Christian dignity.
5. We praise you, God, source of all life,
we praise you, Christ, eternal Word,
we praise you, Spirit, gracious gift;
your triune presence fills our world.
Commissioning and Benediction
Sung Blessing:
May the blessing of God be upon you.
May God’s love light all your way.
May the grace of Christ enfold you
and peace around you stay.
May the Spirit of God dwell within you.
May you live in joy each day.
Postlude:
Sonata in E flat Major 1st Mov't ~ Haydn
*****
RESOURCES USED (all with permission):
Prayers and Liturgies:
Call to Worship: © 2021 enfleshed
Opening Prayer: Hanto Yo (Hanto Yo means “clear the way” in the Lakota language of the North American Plains)By Gwyn Cashmore and Joan Puls, From One Race The Human Race: Racial Justice Sunday 2003, published by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland: Churches Commission for Racial Justice, London
Invitation and Dedication of the Offering: © 2021 enfleshed
Hymns and Sung Responses:
- “Come and Find the Quiet Centre:” Words: Shirley Erena Murray, alt. 1989. Music: attrib.Benjamin Franklin White 1844; harm. Ronald A. Nelson 1978. Words copyright©1992Hope Publishing Company. Harmony copyright © 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship. Used by permission of Augsburg Fortress. One license #608577
- “Loving Spirit:” Words: Shirley Erena Murray 1986. Music: Corner’s Gross Catholisch Cesangbuch 1631; arr. William Smith Rockstro ca. 1895. Words © copyright 1987 The Hymn Society. Used by permission of Hope Publishing Company. One License #608577
- “When Jesus Comes to be Baptized:”Words: V.1-3 Stanbrook Abbey 1974, 1995; v.4,5 Concacan Inc.,1989. Music: Musikalishes Handbuch 1690. Words , v1-3, copyright © 1974 Stanbrook Abbey; v.4,5, copyright© 1989 Concarcan Inc.
- “May the Blessing of God Be Upon You:” Words: R. Gordon Nodwell 1989. Music: William H.M.Wright 1989.Words copyright © 1995 R. Gordon Nodwell. Music copyright © 1995 William H.M. Wright.
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.
Prelude: Sonata in E flat Major 2nd Mov't ~ Haydn
Interlude: Improvisation on a Hymn ~ C. Burton
Passing of the Peace: Sheep May Safely Graze ~ J.S. Bach
Postlude: Sonata in E flat Major 1st Mov't ~ Haydn
