Grace United Church | United Church in Thornbury, ON

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July 30, 2023: Sunday Service

Guest Speaker - Rob Murdock

Sunday, July 30, 2023

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July 30th , 2023

Proper 12 - 9th Sunday After Pentecost

Find this service at www.graceunitedthornbury.ca/live

Leading us today in Worship:
Worship Leader: Robert Murdock,Candidate for Ordered Ministry
Music Director: Dr. Christopher Burton
Lay Leader: Sandy Eagles

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

We Gather

PRELUDE:
“English Suite No 4. Sarabande” ~ J.S. Bach

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.

LIGHTING the CHRIST CANDLE

WELCOME

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE TRADITIONAL TERRITORY:
Grace United Church is situated on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabek, Petun, Huron-Wendat, and Mississauga peoples, located within the boundary of Treaty 18 region 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.
At Grace, we strive to make all of our spaces - including oursanctuary during worship - as safe a place as possible. We celebrate and honour the holy truth that all people are made in the image of God and are innately entitled to dignity and respect. Any practice, religious or otherwise, which explicitly or implicitly indicates that some people are more beloved than others, goes against our core beliefs here at Grace. We join together in an ongoing commitment to learning how we can live out genuinely welcoming and inclusive behaviour in all ways and at all times.

CALL TO WORSHIP: (Responsive)
Today we are looking for answers in a confusing world,
Hear our call to worship and attend our pleas, Spirit of Love.
Tomorrow we beseech you that things will be better,
As stewards we know our responsibilities run deep.
We come to pray and to praise in hope you will enter our hearts
And be rewarded in a future with the Holy Spirit of your Love.

OPENING PRAYER

*OPENING HYMN: VU 395
Come in, Come in and Sit Down

Refrain
Come in, come in and sit down,
you are a part of the family,
We are lost and we are found,
and we are a part of the family.

1. You know the reason why you came,
yet no reason can explain;
so share in the laughter and cry in the pain,
for we are a part of the family.
Refrain
Come in, come in and sit down,
you are a part of the family,
We are lost and we are found,
and we are a part of the family.

2. God is with us in this place,
like a mother's warm embrace.
We're all forgiven by God's grace,
for we are a part of the family.
Refrain
Come in, come in and sit down,
you are a part of the family,
We are lost and we are found,
and we are a part of the family.

3. There's life to be shared in the bread and the wine;
we are the branches, Christ is the vine.
This is God's temple, it's not yours or mine,
but we are a part of the family.
Refrain
Come in, come in and sit down,
you are a part of the family,
We are lost and we are found,
and we are a part of the family.

4. There's rest for the weary and health for us all;
there's a yoke that is easy, and a burden that's small.
So come in and worship and answer the call,
for we are a part of the family.
Refrain
Come in, come in and sit down,
you are a part of the family,
We are lost and we are found,
and we are a part of the family.

PRAYER of CONFESSION and WORDS of ASSURANCE

We Listen

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

SCRIPTURE READING: (NRSVUE)
Romans 8: 26-39
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words. And God, who searches hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ who died, or rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

RESPONSE:
The word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.

MUSICAL INTERLUDE:
“Little Litanies of Jesus” ~ G. Grovlez

MESSAGE: The Strength of our Faith Lies Here

*HYMN: MV 145 Draw the Circle Wide
Refrain:
Draw the circle wide. Draw it wider still.
Let this be our song, no one stands alone,
standing side by side, draw the circle wide.

1. God the still point of the circle,
‘round whom all creation turns;
nothing lost, but held forever,
in God’s gracious arms.
Refrain:
Draw the circle wide. Draw it wider still.
Let this be our song, no one stands alone,
standing side by side, draw the circle wide.

2. Let our hearts touch far horizons,
so encompass great and small;
let our loving know no borders,
faithful to God’s call.
Refrain:
Draw the circle wide. Draw it wider still.
Let this be our song, no one stands alone,
standing side by side, draw the circle wide.

3. Let the dreams we dream be larger,
than we’ve ever dreamed before;
let the dream of Christ be in us,
open every door.
Refrain:
Draw the circle wide. Draw it wider still.
Let this be our song, no one stands alone,
standing side by side, draw the circle wide.

We Respond

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

THE LORD’S PRAYER (Spoken, traditional words, VU 921)
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:
Improvisation on a Hymn ~ C. Burton

INVITATION to the OFFERING

PRAYER OF DEDICATION OF GIFTS AND SELF:
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

WHAT’S UP at GRACE?

We Go Out

*CLOSING HYMN: VU 654
All My Hope is Firmly Grounded

1. All my hope is firmly grounded
in our great and living Lord;
who, whenever I most need him,
never fails to keep his word.
God I must wholly trust,
God the ever good and just.

2. Tell me, who can trust our nature,
human, weak, and insecure?
Which of all the airy castles
can the hurricane endure:
Built on sand, naught can stand
by our earthly wisdom planned.

3. But in every time and season,
out of love's abundant store,
God sustains the whole creation,
fount of life forevermore.
We who share earth and air
count on God's unfailing care.

4. Thank, O thank, our great Creator,
through God's only Son this day;
God alone, the heavenly potter,
made us out of earth and clay.
Quick to heed, strong in deed,
God shall all the people feed.

*COMMISSIONING & 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:
“ Sonata Opus 10 #2, 1st Mov’t” ~ L. van Beethoven

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