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April 27, 2025: Easter 2 - Sunday Morning Service

Rev Dr John Smith

Sunday, April 27, 2025

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April 27th, 2025

Easter Season, Easter 2

Find this service at www.graceunitedthornbury.ca/live

Leading us today in Worship:
Minister: Rev. Dr. John G. Smith
Music Director: Dr. Christopher Burton
Lay Reader: Mary Lou Gignac

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

We Gather

PRELUDE
“Laudate Dominum” - W.A. Mozart/C.Burton

A Stewardship Second
Whatever it takes to share the amazing news of Jesus’ resurrection, let us offer those things.

WELCOME

LIGHTING the CHRIST CANDLE
In the season of Easter, we awaken to new life all around us.
Spring offers us daily confirmation that growth and new beginnings are a part of our lives.
As we light the Christ Candle, we remember that the essence of life, which is light and love,
Is planted deep within us.
May our worship today fill us with light and love,
And send us home, bright with new beginnings.
Amen

OUR COMMITMENT to SAFER SPACE & ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of the LAND
We believe all people are made in the image of God and are entitled to dignity and respect. At Grace United Church we try to offer a safer, inclusive and generous space for all who are seeking a faith community. We offer full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, all races, ages and abilities in the life and work of the ministry.
Grace United Church is situated on the traditional territory of the Saugeen Ojibway First Nation. We acknowledge that they are the first stewards of this land and we respect their histories and past and present cultures. We will work to recognize and remove barriers to reconciliation.

Opening Song: VU #381 “Spirit of Life”
Spirit of Life, come unto me.
Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion.
Blow in the wind, rise in the sea;
move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice.
Roots hold me close; wings set me free;
Spirit of Life, come to me, come to me.

OPENING PRAYER
Spirit of life, you call to our deepest selves:
“Now is the time to awaken”.
Your breath is our breath; your pulse is our pulse.
For now we can see, we are one with you and with all of creation.
Spirit of life, you mend our torn and broken spirits.
You hear our isolation; you carry our fears on your wings.
You know our sorrows and our weaknesses,
for you live inside our beings too.
Help us let go of these, even for just these few moments this morning.
Help us set down our burdens, and feel the freedom.
Help us remember the freedom of unfettered movement;
give us courage to look to the day when we might rejoice again.
Today, let our spirits be open.
Let our spirits be held.
Let our spirits be grasped in your deep embrace, O Spirit of Life.
Let our minds and our hearts and our bodies too,
be like the tulip bulb, stirring to life,
risking growth, seeking the embrace of the sun. AMEN

*HYMN: VU #402 “We Are One”
1. We are one as we come,
as we come, joyful to be here,
in the praise on our lips
there’s a sense that God is near.
We are one as we sing,
as we seek, we are found;
and we come needful of God’s grace
as we meet, together in this place.

2. We are one as we share,
as we share brokenness and fear,
in the touch of a hand
there’s a sense that God is here.
We are one as we care,
as we heal, we are healed;
and we share warmth in God’s embrace
as we pray together in this place.

3. We are one as we feast,
as we feast, peace becomes the sign;
in the bread and the wine
there’s a sense of love divine.
We are one as we come,
as we feed, we are fed;
and we feel God’s refreshing grace
as we meet at table in this place.

4. We are one as we hear,
as we hear, heart and hand unite;
in the word we receive
there’s a sense that God is light.
We are one as we leave,
as we love, we are loved;
and we seek justice in God’s ways
as we move together from this place.

A Poem: “How Did They Know?” by Joyce Rupp
Sturdy, deep green tulip shoots:
How did they know it was time to push up
through the long-wintered soil?

How did they know
it was the moment to resurrect
while thick layers of stubborn ice
still pressed the bleak ground flat?

Still, the tulips knew.

There’s a hope-filled place in me
that also knows when to rise.
It is urged by the strong sun
warming my wintered heart.
It is nudged by the Secret One,
calling, calling, calling
“Arise my love, and come.”

Like a dormant bulb
my heart stirs
and hope comes dancing forth.

Not unlike the Holy One
kissing the morning sun,
waving a final farewell
to a tomb, emptied of its treasure.

A Prayer
God of us all, these are trying times.
We have our good days, we have our bad days,
We have our ups and our downs.
Still we seek something which will guide us toward hope.
We long for news of a new way forward, even if it is new.
Our hearts desire connection;
Our minds seek resolution, though they are clouded with doubt.
In our time of doubt and fear, God help us find calm.
In our time of anxious worry,
our time of lonely isolation,
our time of contactless transactions,
help us find a bottom that will hold…
Like the hull of a ship,
like the rock of the escarpment,
like the ground underneath the river, holding it as it rages.
When we doubt your presence God,
help us to dance until we sense you are dancing with us.
Help us to sing your song underneath all songs.
Help us to pray even when there are no words to pray.
And gentle us forward, a step at a time,
towards a blessing, a blessing of time or person or gift or word.
May there be a bit of blessing hope,
to tide us over until banquet day.

(your own prayer)

THE LORD’S PRAYER

ANTHEM
“Hallelujah, Sing with Glory!” - Besig/Price

We Listen

Theme Conversation: Preparing for our 100th!

SCRIPTURE LESSON

John 20: 19 – 31 (Common English Bible Version)
It was still the first day of the week. That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you don’t forgive them, they aren’t forgiven.”
Thomas, the one called Didymus, one of the Twelve, wasn’t with the disciples when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We’ve seen the Lord!”
But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger in the wounds left by the nails, and put my hand into his side, I won’t believe.”
After eight days his disciples were again in a house and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus entered and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand into my side. No more disbelief. Believe!”
Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus replied, “Do you believe because you see me? Happy are those who don’t see and yet believe.”
Then Jesus did many other miraculous signs in his disciples’ presence, signs that aren’t recorded in this scroll. But these things are written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Son, and that believing, you will have life in his name.

RESPONSE
These words from scripture are meant to guide us, nurture us, and teach us.
Thanks be to God!

SERMON: “The Holy Gasp!!!”

HYMN: MV #82 “Bathe Me in your Light”
1. Bathe me in your light, O God of All, Creator;
let it shine upon my soul with healing and with grace.
Be to me a beacon bright through shadows of life’s wounding,
showing me the way to live in faith, in your embrace.

2. Bathe me in your love, O Source of Awe and Wonder;
help me walk the sacred path of harmony and peace.
May I be attentive to the musings of your presence,
drinking from the well of hope that brings the heart release.

3. Bathe me in your grace, O One of Spirit’s longing;
teach me of your gentle ways that fill the soul with strength.
Guide me on the pilgrimage that leads to truth and wholeness,
Fill me with your promise of a love that knows no length.

We Respond

INVITATION to the OFFERING
As we hear the stories, it’s still sinking in. Jesus is alive! What does it mean? How do we respond? Like Thomas and the other followers, with praise and generosity? Let us praise God as we present our offerings.

PRAYER of DEDICATION of OUR OFFERINGS
As we hear the stories, it’s still sinking in. Jesus is alive! What does it mean? How do we respond? Like Thomas and the other followers, with praise and generosity? Let us praise God as we present our offerings.

Donate online: www.graceunitedthornbury.ca, select “Donate”
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
or Offering Plate at the back of the sanctuary.

Tap your debit card at the door of the church, or Donate to Grace United Church Thornbury through CanadaHelps.org. Our account is set up with them now and it is easy to register. Tax receipts are given automatically at the time of giving. Care, Prayer, Share

PRAYER CANDLES

What’s up at Grace?

GOING FORTH

*HYMN: VU #560 “O Master, Let me Walk with Thee”
1. O Master, let me walk with thee
in lowly paths of service free;
teach me thy secret, help me bear
the strain of toil, the fret of care.

2. Help me the slow of heart to move
with some clear, winning word of love;
teach me the wayward feet to stay,
and guide them in the homeward way.

3. Teach me thy patience; still with thee,
in closer, dearer company,
in work that keeps faith sure and strong,
in trust that triumphs over wrong,

4. in hope that sends a shining ray
far down the future’s broadening way,
in peace that only thou canst give,
with thee, O Master, let me live.

*COMMISSIONING
Deep peace of the running wave to you,
Deep peace of the flowing air to you,
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the shining stars to you,
Deep peace of the gentle night to you,
Deep peace of Christ, the light of the world, to you,
Deep peace to you. AMEN

*SUNG BENEDICTION: VU #967 “Choral Amens”
Amen, amen, amen.

POSTLUDE
“Ballade in G minor, Opus 118 #3” - J. Brahms

*****