January 15th, 2023
Volunteer Appreciation Sunday
Find this service at www.graceunitedthornbury.ca/live
Leading us today in Worship:
Worship Leader: Rev. Christine Smaller
Music Director: Dr. Christopher Burton
Scripture Reader: Mike Weller
~ Leader: regular font ~ All: bold font ~ Sung words: bold italics
PRELUDE:
“Sonata in B Flat Major” ~ G.F. Handel
CALL TO WORSHIP:
The church is a community of people with varied gifts,
united by the Holy Spirit.
We gather to celebrate God’s presence,
to discern God’s truth,
and to follow the way of Jesus.
And in our gathering, in our praying and singing and in our volunteering…
we are making and remaking the Church. Creating and recreating this congregation.
We are the hands and feet of Jesus in the world.
We are the body of Christ, each of us essential, needed, beloved.
Today we celebrate the privilege and the honour, the joy and the toil of bringing this congregation alive…
Day after day, week after week, year after year.
Praise God for each volunteer who animates this community.
Praise God for Grace United Church!
Amen.
WELCOME & DECLARATION OF SAFE SPACE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE TRADITIONAL TERRITORY
*OPENING HYMN: We Are Pilgrims
1. Brother, sister, let me serve you;
let me be as Christ to you;
pray that I may have the grace to
let you be my servant too.
2. We are pilgrims on a journey,
and companions on the road;
we are here to help each other
walk the mile and bear the load.
3. I will hold the Christ light for you
in the nighttime of your fear;
I will hold my hand out to you,
speak the peace you long to hear.
4. I will weep when you are weeping;
when you laugh I'll laugh with you;
I will share your joy and sorrow,
till we've seen this journey through.
5. When we sing to God in heaven,
we shall find such harmony,
born of all we've known together
of Christ's love and agony.
6. Brother, sister, let me serve you;
let me be as Christ to you;
pray that l may have the grace to
let you be my servant too.
OPENING PRAYER
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION:
Beloved God, we long to be devoted, committed, and steadfast in our work toward transforming the world. Help us know that what we do is enough, that we are enough. You have given each of us different gifts, but we are all essential, needed and beloved. Through your word, may we understand in a new way how much you love and appreciate who we are and what we bring to your church. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READINGS: (NRSVUE)
I Corinthians 12: 4-6 & 12-21
Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
James 2: 14-18
What good is it, my siblings, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it? If a sibling is naked and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from works, and I by my works will show you faith.
RESPONSE:
The word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
ANTHEM: “Put Peace into Each Other’s Hands”
APPRECIATING OUR VOLUNTEERS
*HYMN: MV 161 I Have Called You by Your Name
1. I have called you by your name, you are mine;
I have gifted you and ask you now to shine.
I will not abandon you;all my promises are true.
You are gifted, called, and chosen;you are mine.
2. I will help you learn my name as you go;
read it written in my people, help them grow.
Pour the water in my name,
speak the word your soul can claim,
offer Jesus’ body given long ago.
3. I know you will need my touch as you go;
feel it pulsing in creation’s ebb and flow.
Like the woman reaching out,
choosing faith in spite of doubt,
hold the hem of Jesus’ robe,
then let it go.
4. I have given you a name, it is mine;
I have given you my Spirit as a sign.
With my wonder in your soul,
make my wounded children whole;
go and tell my precious people
they are mine.
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 OF CHRIST:
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 FOR PASSING THE PEACE:
Improvisation on a Hymn ~ C. Burton
DEDICATION of OFFERING:
Donate online: www.graceunitedthornbury.ca, select “Give”
or contact the office by email: accounting@graceunitedthornbury.ca
or phone: 519-599-2438to 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
GOOD NEWS CANDLE
*CLOSING HYMN: MV 154 Deep in Our Hearts
1.Deep in our hearts there is a common vision;
deep in our hearts there is a common song;
deep in our hearts there is a common story,
telling Creation that we are one.
2.Deep in our hearts there is a common purpose;
deep in our hearts there is a common goal;
deep in our hearts there is a sacred message,
justice and peace in harmony.
3.Deep in our hearts there is a common longing;
deep in our hearts there is a common theme;
deep in our hearts there is a common current,
flowing to freedom like a stream.
4.Deep in our hearts there is a common vision;
deep in our hearts there is a common song;
deep in our hearts there is a common story,
telling Creation that we are one.
*COMMISSIONING and BENEDICTION
*SUNG BLESSING: VU 429 May the Blessing of God Be upon You
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 A Major” ~ F. Kuhlau
*****
RESOURCES USED
LITURGY SOURCES: The following are used with permission:
PRAYERS: C. Smaller
HYMNS and SUNG VERSES
- “We Are Pilgrims:” Words: Richard Gillard, 1977. Music: Richard Gillard 1977; arr. Betty Pulkingham. Words and music copyright © 1977. Scripture in Song, administrated in USA and Canada by The Copyright Company.
- ”I Have Called You By Your Name:” Words and music: Daniel Charles Damon, 1995; French trans. David Fines 2006. Words and music copyright © 1995 Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved. Used by permission. One License #608577
- ”Deep In Our Hearts:” Words: John Oldham, 1995.Music: Ron KLusmeier, 1996. Words copyright © 1995 by John Wesley Oldham. Used bypermission. Music copyright © 1996 by Ron KLusmeier. www.musiklus.com. Used by permission. One License #608577
- “May the Blessing of God Be Upon You:” Words: R. Gordon Nodwell 1989. Music: William H.M. Wright 1989. Words copyright © 1995 Gordon Nodwell. Music copyright © William H. M. Wright
SCRIPTURE PASSAGES:
Scripture Passage from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSVUE) 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 B Flat Major” ~ G.F. Handel
Anthem: “Put Peace into Each Other’s Hands:”Words: Fred Kaan 1989, rev 2001. Music: Ron Klusmeier, 2004 .Words copyright © Hope Publishing Company. Music: copyright © 2004 Ron Klusmeier. Used by permission. One License #608577
Music for Passing the Peace: Improvisation on a Hymn ~ C. Burton
Postlude: “Sonata in A Major” ~ F. Kuhlau
