January 14^th, 2024

2nd Sunday After Epiphany

Find this service at www.graceunitedthornbury.ca/live

Leading us today in Worship:
            Minister: Rev. Dr. John Greg. Smith
            Music Director: Dr. Christopher Burton
            Scripture Reader: Marilyn Parkin

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

We Gather 

PRELUDE

GREETING:  (2 Cor. 13:13)
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!

LIGHTING the CHRIST CANDLE
The light of Christ is with us always!
The light of Christ is in this place!
The light of Christ fills us with hope and courage
and gives us strength for the journey ahead!

Thanks be to God for the light of Christ!

WELCOME

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of the LAND and of OUR COMMITMENT to SAFE SPACE
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 Inuitpeoples 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 United Church we strive to offer a safer, inclusive and generous space for all who are seeking a faith community – people of all gender identities, sexual orientations, races, ages and abilities. We honour the holy truth that all people are made in the image of God and are innately entitled to dignity and respect.  We are committed to learning what it means to be an affirming congregation and how we can be welcoming and inclusive in all ways and at all times.

CALL to WORSHIP
We open our spirits to the call of the One Spirit.
We open our hearts to the call of the Heart of all Hearts.

We open our ears that we might hear the spirit’s urgings.
We open our hearts that we might hear the spirit’s whispers.

Always, Spirit says, Wake up my love! 
You have been sleeping too long.
You have forgotten who you are on the inside!
Hold tenderly to who you really are, 
And let a deeper knowing colour the shape of your humanness!

We open our spirits to the call of the One Spirit;
We open our hearts to the call of Heart of Hearts.

Today in our worship, let’s become one with Divine Light!
Let’s be faithful to the beauty of that light in our spirits and in our hearts!
Let’s listen for the one word that is uniquely ours to hear!
Let’s open ourselves to this Word, and not be too stingy with our generosity!

And let the one word we hear in each of our hearts
Be the missing word in the poem God is writing for our world:
A love poem, a peace poem, a poem to shine divine light
In every place, in every heart.

May it be so!!!

*OPENING HYMN:
“When Your Heart is in a Holy Place”   
Refrain:
When our heart is in a holy place,
When our heart is in a holy place,
We are bless’d with love and amazing grace,
When our heart is in a holy place.

1. When we trust the wisdom in each of us,
Ev’ry color ev’ry creed and kind,
And we see our faces in each other’s eyes,
Then our heart is in a holy place.
Refrain:
When our heart is in a holy place,
When our heart is in a holy place,
We are bless’d with love and amazing grace,
When our heart is in a holy place.

2. When we tell our story from deep inside,
And we listen with a loving mind,
And we hear our voices in each other’s words,
Then our heart is in a holy place.
Refrain:
When our heart is in a holy place,
When our heart is in a holy place,
We are bless’d with love and amazing grace,
When our heart is in a holy place.

3. When we share the silence of sacred space,
And the God of our Heart stirs within,
And we feel the power of each other’s faith,
Then our heart is in a holy place.
Refrain:
When our heart is in a holy place,
When our heart is in a holy place,
We are bless’d with love and amazing grace,
When our heart is in a holy place. 

OPENING PRAYER
Holy One,
May your light dwell within me;
May your light shine through me;
May your light shine into the world.

We thank you God for the gift of this Epiphany,
For in our lives and in our time and in our spirits,
We can see your light shining.
We can feel your love for us burning.
We can feel your grace enfolding us and holding us.

Holy One,
May your light dwell within me;
May your light shine through me;
May your light shine into the world.

As we come together today as your church,
We pray that our light might be YOUR light.
We pray that our light might lift the spirits of others
And bring hope to weary souls.
We pray that our light might fill each of us
With an overflowing measure of peace
This day and everyday.

Holy One,
May your light dwell within me;
May your light shine through me;
May your light shine into the world.

As we bring our concerns to worship,
We pray that our prayers might rise like incense,
That our prayers might become little orbs of light
Sent out into the universe.
We pray that our prayers might fill those for whom we pray
With beauty, with grace, with caring intention.

Holy One,
May your light dwell within me;
May your light shine through me;
May your light shine into the world.

Let us now take a moment of silence
To remember others in our prayers….

Let us remember those who sick or unable to come to worship.

Let us remember those who are watching with us online.

Let us remember those who are grieving the loss of a loved one.

(a moment of silence)

Holy One,
May your light dwell within me;
May your light shine through me;
May your light shine into the world.

Now let us sing our response:

“Christ Be Our Light”
Refrain:
“Christ be our Light!
Shine in our hearts!
Shine through the darkness.
Christ be our light;
Shine in your church, gathered today!”

SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
The Peace of Christ be with you all.                           
And also with you.

*HYMN:  VU 644 “I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry”             

1. I was there to hear your borning cry,
I’ll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
to see your life unfold.

2. I was there when you were but a child,
with a faith to suit you well;
in a blaze of light you wandered off
to find where demons dwell.

3. When you heard the wonder of the word,
I was there to cheer you on;
you were raised to praise the living Lord,
to whom you now belong.

4. If you find someone to share your time
and you join your hearts as one,
I’ll be there to make your verses rhyme
from dusk till rising sun.

5. In the middle ages of your life,
not too old, no longer young.
I’ll be there to guide you through the night,
complete what I’ve begun.

6. When the evening gently closes in
and you shut your weary eyes,
I’ll be there as I have always been
with just one more surprise.

7. I was there to hear your borning cry,
I’ll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
to see your life unfold.

We Listen

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18     (Common English Bible)
Lord, you have examined me.
    You know me.
 You know when I sit down and when I stand up.
    Even from far away, you comprehend my plans.
 You study my traveling and resting.
    You are thoroughly familiar with all my ways.
 There isn’t a word on my tongue, Lord,
    that you don’t already know completely.
 You surround me—front and back.
    You put your hand on me.
 That kind of knowledge is too much for me;
    it’s so high above me that I can’t reach it.

You are the one who created my innermost parts;
    you knit me together while I was still in my mother I give thanks to you that I was marvelously made.
    Your works are wonderful—I know that very well.
 My bones weren’t hidden from you
    when I was being put together in a secret place,
    when I was being woven together in the deep parts of the earth.
 Your eyes saw my beginnings,
    and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me,
    before any one of them had yet happened.
 God, your plans are incomprehensible to me!
    Their total number is countless!
 If I tried to count them—they outnumber grains of sand!
    If I came to the very end—I’d still be with you.

Mark 1:1-13      (Common English Bible)
The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, God’s Son, happened just as it was written about in the prophecy of Isaiah:

Look, I am sending my messenger before you.
He will prepare your way,
 a voice shouting in the wilderness:
        “Prepare the way for the Lord;
        make his paths straight.”

John the Baptist was in the wilderness calling for people to be baptized to show that they were changing their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins.  Everyone in Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went out to the Jordan River and were being baptized by John as they confessed their sins.  John wore clothes made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey.  He announced, “One stronger than I am is coming after me. I’m not even worthy to bend over and loosen the strap of his sandals.  I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
About that time, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River.  While he was coming up out of the water, Jesus saw heaven splitting open and the Spirit, like a dove, coming down on him.  And there was a voice from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.”
At once the Spirit forced Jesus out into the wilderness.  He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among the wild animals, and the angels took care of him.

RESPONSE
May these words of scripture inspire us in heart, mind and soul.  AMEN

ANTHEM

SERMON:  “The One Word You Were Born to Utter”

We Respond

*HYMN:   VU 442  
“Wash, O God, Our Sons and Daughters”

1. Wash, O God, our sons and daughters,
where your cleansing waters flow.
Number them among your people;
bless as Christ blessed long ago.
Weave them garments bright and sparkling;
compass them with love and light.
Fill, anoint them; send your Spirit,
holy dove and heart’s delight.

2. We who bring them long for nurture;
by your milk may we be fed.
Let us join your feast, partaking
cup of blessing, living bread.
God, renew us, guide our footsteps;
free from sin and all its snares,
one with Christ in living, dying,
by your Spirit, children, heirs.

3. O how deep your holy wisdom!
Unimagined, all your ways!
To your name be glory, honour!
With our lives we worship, praise!
We your people stand before you,
water-washed and Spirit-born.
By your grace, our lives we offer.
Recreate us; God, transform!

PRAYER of DEDICATION for OUR OFFERINGS
The work of creating a world that works for all, 
Requires many gifts, many talents, many resources.
We bring all that we have, our courage, our strength,
Our prayers and our dreams,
Our gifts of time and treasure,
And all the love and acceptance we embody,
To create God’s world of justice and joy.
Thanks be to God. 
AMEN

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

PRAYERS of the PEOPLE & the LORD’S PRAYER  (VU 910)

What’s Up at Grace?

We Go Forth           

 *HYMN: VU 352 
“I Danced in the Morning”

1. I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
and I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
and I came from heaven and I danced on the earth;
at Bethlehem I had my birth.
Refrain:
Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the dance, said he,
and I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,
and I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.

2. I danced for the scribe and the pharisee,
but they would not dance and they would not follow me;
I danced for the fishermen, for James and John;
they came with me and the dance went on.
Refrain:
Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the dance, said he,
and I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,
and I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.

3. I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame;
the holy people said it was a shame;
they whipped and they stripped and they hung me high,
and left me there on a cross to die.
Refrain:
Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the dance, said he,
and I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,
and I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.

4. I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black;
it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back;
they buried my body and they thought I’d gone,
but I am the dance and I still go on. 
Refrain:
Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the dance, said he,
and I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,
and I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.

5. They cut me down and I leap up high;
I am the life that will never, never die;
I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me;
I am the Lord of the dance, said he. 
Refrain:
Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the dance, said he,
and I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,
and I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.

*COMMISSIONING

*SUNG BLESSING:  VU 964  “Go Now in Peace”
“Go now in peace, go now in peace,
May the Love of God surround you,
Everywhere, everywhere you may go.”

POSTLUDE:

*****  

LITURGY SOURCES: The following are used with permission:
Call to Worship is adapted from a poem The Call,  by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. Baldwin, Emma. "Oriah Mountain Dreamer: The Canadian Author with a Poetic Journey". Poem Analysis, https://poemanalysis.com/oriah-mountaidreamer/biography/ Accessed 3 January 2024
Prayers are written by Rev. John G Smith

HYMNS and SUNG VERSES

Prelude:

Anthem:

Postlude: