Grace United Church | United Church in Thornbury, ON

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September 6, 2026 - Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Guest Speaker - Karen James

Sunday, September 6, 2026

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Service and Hymns

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September 6th, 2026

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Find this service at www.graceunitedthornbury.ca/live

Leading us today in Worship:
Worship Leader: Karen James
Director of Music: Dr. Christopher Burton
Lay Reader: Kelly Adam

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

We Gather

PRELUDE: A Selection of Hymns – C. Burton

A Stewardship Second
When you listen to God with your heart—prayerfully considering the abundance in your life—what are you called to give?

WELCOME

LIGHTING the CHRIST CANDLE
We come from a week of noise —
phones lit, minds elsewhere,
love owed and not yet paid.

(light the candle)

Let this flame be our reminder:
to notice the ones beside us,
to notice the world we are living in and the wonder that surrounds us.
To pay attention,
Like the way Christ’s light attends this room
touching everything, missing no one.

OUR COMMITMENT to SAFER SPACE & ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of the LAND
Grace United Church celebrates diversity and inclusivity. Inspired by the life and teachings of Jesus, we work towards justice and affirm our welcome for people of all gender identities and sexual preferences.

In gratitude and respect, The United Church of Canada gathers, worships, and works on Indigenous lands across Canada.

CALL to WORSHIP
We come from a week of noise.
We come ready to pay attention.

Love is the debt we owe one another —
today, we come to pay it.

The night is nearly over, dawn is breaking —
Wake our hearts, O God.

Christ's light touches everything, missing no one.
Let us worship the God who sees us all.

*HYMN: VU #232 “Joy, Joyful We Adore You”
1. Joyful, joyful we adore you,
God of glory, life and love;
hearts unfold like flowers before you,
opening to the sun above.
Malt the clouds of sin and sadness,
drive the gloom of doubt away;
giver of immortal gladness,
fill us with the light of day.

2. All your works with joy surround you,
earth and heaven reflect your rays,
stars and angels sing around you,
centre of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain,
flowerly meadow, flashing sea,
chanting bird and flowing fountain,
sound their praise eternally.

3. You are giving and forgiving,
ever blessing, ever blessed,
wellspring of the joy of living,
ocean depth of happy rest!
Source of grace and fount of blessing,
let your light upon us shine;
teach us how to love each other,
lift us to the joy divine.

4. Mortals join the mighty chorus
which the morning stars began;
God’s own love is reigning o’er us,
joining people hand in hand.
Ever singing, march we onward,
victors in the midst of strife;
joyful music leads us sunward
in the triumph song of life.

OPENING PRAYER
God, we're here.

And we’ve carried in more than we meant to —
worry, tiredness, things left unsaid and thoughts moving at a million miles a minute.

Slow us down.

Help us to pay attention. Open something in us.
A little more room. A little more grace.
A little more us.

This time is Yours. So are we.

Amen.

*HYMN: VU #333 “Love Devine All Loves Excelling”
1. Love divine, all loves excelling,
joy of heaven to earth come down,
fix in us thy humble dwelling,
all thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
pure, unbounded love thou art;
visit us with thy salvation,
enter every trembling heart.

2. Come, almighty to deliver;
let us all thy grace receive;
suddenly return, and never,
nevermore thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
serve thee as thy hosts above,
pray, and praise thee, without ceasing,
glory in thy perfect love.

3. Finish, then, thy new creation;
pure and spotless let us be;
let us see thy great salvation
perfectly restored in thee,
changed from glory into glory,
till in heaven we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before thee,
lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Lighting the Children’s Lantern

Theme Conversation

We Listen

SCRIPTURE READINGS: The Message
Matthew: 18:15-20
“If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.
“Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”

Romans 13: 8-14
Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don’t sleep with another person’s spouse, don’t take someone’s life, don’t take what isn’t yours, don’t always be wanting what you don’t have, and any other “don’t” you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can’t go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.
But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

RESPONSE: VU #376 “Spirit of the Living God”
1. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Melt me, mould me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.

2. Spirit of the living God, move among us all;
make us one in heart and mind, make us one in love:
humble, caring, selfless, sharing.
Spirit of the living God, fill our lives with love!

ANTHEM: “We Are Called” – Haas/Hayes

SERMON: “Your attention, please.”

*HYMN: VU #427 “To Show by Touch and Word”
1. To show by touch and word devotion to the earth,
to hold in full regard all life that comes to birth,
we need, O God, the will to find
the good you had of old in mind.

2. Renew our minds to choose the things that matter most,
our hearts to long for truth till pride of self is lost.
For every challenge that we face
we need your guidance and your grace.

3. Let love from day to day be yardstick, rule, and norm,
and let our lives portray your word in human form.
Now come with us that we may have
your wits about us where we live.

We Respond

INVITATION to the OFFERING
In the words of Maya Angelou, “When you know better, you do better.” As Christians, we are challenged to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. When we learn the impact our gifts have on others and on the community, we do better. So now I invite you to share generously as a loving, neighbourly act.

PRAYER of DEDICATION of OUR OFFERINGS
Patient God, help us both to know better and to do better in sharing our gifts. Help us imagine ourselves in the place of those who will receive them and grant us the generosity to share what you have given us more fully. As we learn and do better, bless these gifts, and those given online and through PAR, so the good that they do can multiply.

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

PRAYERS of the PEOPLE &The LORD’S PRAYER (VU 910)
God, help us live what we practice here.
Some of us are carrying something heavy — broken relationships, debts of unpaid love, people we've been avoiding. Give us courage to face them.
Some of us are running on empty, too busy to notice the life right in front of us. Slow us down.
We think of the people of this church, this town, this world — the sick, the grieving, the lonely, the lost. Attend to them the way Your light attends this room: touching everything and missing no one.
Teach us to practice love the way we'd practice anything worth having — daily, imperfectly, faithfully.
And when we forget — and we will forget — bring us back.
We pray this together, and we pray it in the words Christ taught us: Our Father...
Amen.

What’s up at Grace?

We Go Out

*HYMN: VU #240 “Praise My Soul The God of Heaven”
1. Praise, my soul, the God of heaven,
glad of heart your carols raise;
ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
who, like me, should sing God’s praise.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Praise the Maker all your days!

2. Praise God for the grace and favour
shown our forebears in distress;
God is still the same forever,
slow to chide and swift to bless.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Sing our Maker’s faithfulness!

3. Like a loving parent caring,
God knows well our feeble frame;
gladly all our burdens bearing,
still to countless years the same.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
All within me, praise God’s name!

4. Frail as summer’s flower we flourish;
blows the wind and it is gone;
but, while mortals rise and perish,
God endures unchanging on.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Praise the high eternal one.

5. Angels, teach us adoration,
you behold God face to face;
sun and moon and all creation,
dwellers all in time and space.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Praise with us the God of grace!

We Go Out

*COMMISSIONING
Go, carrying the debt of love you owe — pay it, one person at a time.
Go, paying attention to the world around you — notice what you've been missing.
Go, and when you forget, come back, and start again.
And let Christ's light go with you — touching everything, missing no one.

*SUNG BENEDICTION: Go Now in Peace
Go now in peace. Never be afraid.
God will go with you each hour of every day,
Go now in faith, steadfast, strong and true,
Know God will guide you in all you do.
Go now in love, and show you believe.
Reach out to others so all the world can see.
God will be there, *within, around, above.
Go now in peace, in faith and in love.
Amen, amen, amen.
*alternate words: watching from above

POSTLUDE: “A Gentle Waltz” – O. Peterson