JULY 17, 2022
6th Sunday After Pentecost
Find this service at www.graceunitedthornbury.ca/live
Leading us today in Worship:
Worship Leader: Rev. Christine Smaller
Guest Music Director: Saundra Lake
Scripture Reader: Debbie Potts
~ Leader: regular font ~ All: bold font ~ Sung words: bold italics
We Gather to Worship God
PRELUDE: “Meditation” Nathaniel Irving Hyatt.
GREETING: (2 Cor. 13:13)
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.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE TRADITIONAL TERRITORY
CALL TO WORSHIP:
God for everything there is a time,
and time is now our most precious commodity.
Our clocks are always running.
From birth to death:
during times of joy and sorrow:
work and play:
business and pleasure:
speech and silence:
worship and church activities:
tick, tock, tick, tock.
We are like Martha,
with our long to-do lists.
Slow us down Lord,
and for now simply remind us that
only one thing is needful,
that we be still before you
and know that you are God. Amen.
*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!
We Listen to God’s Word
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION:
God of justice, your word is light and truth.
Let your face shine on us now and help us
put aside all of our worries so we can really listen.
Amen.
READINGS:
Luke 10:38-42
Jesus Visits Martha and Mary
Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at Jesus’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, but few things are needed—indeed only one. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
RESPONSE:
The word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE: “Pastorale” J.F. Burgmuller
SERMON
*Hymn: VU # 356 Seek Ye First the Kingdom
1. Seek ye first the kingdom of God
and God’s righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Hallelu, hallelujah.
2. Ask and it shall be given unto you;
seek and you shall find;
knock and the door shall be opened unto you.
Hallelu, hallelujah.
3. We do not live by bread alone,
but by every word
that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Hallelu, hallelujah.
We Respond to God’s Word
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE:
Holy One, we celebrate that where people are gathered together in love:
You are present
and good things happen and life is full.
We celebrate that we are immersed in your mystery
our lives are more than they seem:
We belong to each other
and to a universe of great creative energies,
whose source and destiny is you, our God.
We celebrate that your spirit beat in the heart of Jesus of Nazareth:
The good news of your healing, embracing and liberating love was heard by the broken, the lonely
and all bound by life’s sorrows and struggles.
We celebrate that the spirit of peace and hope is present
with us and through us:
In our struggle to love
we incarnate your holy presence in our world.
And so, aware of the hurts and longings all of us carry,
the awe and wonder that is around us,
and the gifts of faith and this community of faith:
We pause and we become ever aware
of the sacredness of our lives.
In that awareness may we act and speak and live.
May it be so.
(silent prayer)
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 OF CHRIST
The Peace of Christ be with you. And also with you.
We share the peace of Christ by typing in the chat box.
You may also think of one person with whom you would like to share the peace of Christ.
MUSIC for PASSING the PEACE:
“In Remembrance” Charles Demorest
PRAYER OVER THE OFFERING:
Spirit of Christ, grant us sustained focus on what is life-giving so that restoration, joy, and mutuality may flow in our lives and in our communities. According to our abilities, we offer each other gifts of money, relationship, and labor that it may be so. Amen.
Donate online: www.graceunitedthornbury.ca, select “Give”
or contact the office by email: graceucworship@gmail.com
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
We Go Out to Share the Good News
*HYMN: VU # 337 Blessed Assurance
Refrain
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
1. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of his Spirit, washed in Christ’s blood.
Refrain
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
2. Perfect submission, perfect delight!
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
angels descending, bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
Refrain
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
3. Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Saviour am happy and blest;
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with God’s goodness, lost in Christ’s love.
Refrain
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
*COMMISSIONING and BENEDICTION:
*SUNG BLESSING: MV #214 May God’s Sheltering Wings
May God’s sheltering wings,
her gathering wings protect you.
May God’s nurturing arms,
her cradling arms sustain you,
and hold you in her love,
and hold you in her love.
POSTLUDE: “A Joyous Postlude” Carl Wilhelm Kern
RESOURCES USED
LITURGY SOURCES: The following are used with permission:
Call to Worship: by Rev. Dr. A.R. Neal Mathers, in Mary and Martha: Worshipful Work
Prayer of Illumination: C. smaller
Offering Prayer © 2022 enfleshed
Prayers of the People: adapted from a prayer by Rex Hunt (Uniting Church of Australia)
HYMNS and SUNG VERSES
-“Come and Find the Quiet Centre:” Words: Shirley Erna Murray,1989. Music: Benjamin Franklin White1844, Harmony Ronald A Nelson1978. Used by permission. One License #608577
-“Seek Ye First the Kingdom”, Words and Music Karen Lafferty, copyright © 1972 Maranatha Music, Used by permission. One License #608577
“Blessed Assurance::” Words: Fanny J. Crosby1873, Music Phoebe Palmer Knapp1873, Used by permission. One License #608577
-“May God’s Sheltering Wings:” Words and music Judith Snowdon 2004. Used by permission. Words and music copyright © 2004. One License #608577
SCRIPTURE PASSAGES:
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: “ Meditation” Nathaniel Irving Hyatt.
Interlude: “Pastorale” J.F. Burgmuller
Music for Passing the Peace: “ In Remembrance” Charles Demorest
Postlude: “A Joyous Postlude” Carl Wilhelm Kern
