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October 4, 2026: Sunday Morning Service

Rev Brian Goodings

Sunday, October 4, 2026

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October 4, 2026

Worldwide Communion Sunday

Find this service at www.graceunitedthornbury.ca/live

Leading us today in Worship:
Minister: Rev. Dr. Brian Goodings
Director of Music: Dr. Christopher Burton
Lay Reader: Debbie Potts

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

Scripture for meditation
Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. (Matthew 21: 33)

PRELUDE: A selection of Favourite Hymns. Compiled by C. Burton

A Stewardship Second
Sometimes the greatest generosity comes from the people you would least expect—like you.

We Gather

WELCOME & INTRODUCTION

LIGHTING the CHRIST CANDLE: “Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying” VU #400
Lord, listen to your children praying,
Lord, send your Spirit in this place;
Lord, listen to your children praying,
send us love, send us power, send us grace!

OUR COMMITMENT to SAFER SPACE & ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of the LAND
Grace United Church follows in Jesus’ way of love and compassion. We are committed to being a safer spiritual home for people of all gender identities and sexual preferences. We do this by opening our hearts and listening to people’s experiences.
In gratitude and respect, The United Church of Canada gathers, worships, and works on Indigenous lands across Canada.

CALL to WORSHIP (adapted from Walter Brueggemann)
O God you are much easier to face “on the page” than “in the flesh”.
You are a much loved although oft questioned concept- sometimes you are a tame creation of ours.
We are not prepared to hear you speak the truth to us and we ask you bless us to pursue our own self-serving agendas
And excuse us all our excesses and appetites.
Your commandments are largely unpopular with the “in-crowd” and we turn them over to experts to find loopholes and to create excuses for not following your ways.
But try as we do, we cannot delete or ignore them because they are written on our hearts.
We come to this time and holy text today- pretending not to know your ways.
But we fool no one- especially you.
Allow us, once again we ask, a place in your holy story and room at the table of Christ. We are starving for You.

OPENING HYMN: MV #1 “Let Us Build a House”
1. Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live,
A place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions, rock of faith and vault of grace;
here the love of Christ shall end divisions:
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

2. Let us build a house where prophets speak, and words are strong and true,
where all God’s children dare to seek to dream God’s reign anew.
Here the cross shall stand as witness and as symbol of God’s grace;
here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

3. Let us build a house where love is found in water, wine and wheat;
a banquet hall on holy ground, where peace and justice meet.
Here the love of God, through Jesus, is revealed in time and space;
as we share in Christ the feast that frees us:
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

4. Let us build a house where hands will reach beyond the wood and stone
to heal and strengthen, serve and teach, and live the Word they’ve known.
Here the outcast and the stranger bear the image of God’s face;
let us bring an end to fear and danger:
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

5. Let us build a house where all are named, their songs and visions heard
and loved and treasured, taught and claimed as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter, prayers of faith and songs of grace;
let this house proclaim from floor to rafter:
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

Lighting the Children’s Lantern

Theme Conversation: Worldwide Communion Sunday

CHOIR ANTHEM: “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” - R.W. Thygerson

Sacrament of Communion
We believe that where people are gathered together around the communion table of love;
God is present and good things happen and life is full.
We believe that we are immersed in mystery and our lives are more than they seem;
We believe that we belong to each other and to a universe of great creative energies whose source and destiny is God.
We believe that God is “after us” like a pursing lover and calling us to real life.
We believe that God’s truth and being is delightfully revealed in the restless and living story of Jesus of Nazareth.
We believe that the Spirit of Peace is present with the Church universal.
We marvel at the simplicity and beauty of the communion sacrament as we gather, worldwide, to celebrate our common mystery.
And most deeply, we believe, that in our imperfect struggle to love we incarnate God in the world.
Through memory and story we re-enact the mystery of the last-supper so it becomes the first meal of our shared future.
We are caught in the mystery and wonder of friendship and laughter.
We are filled with joy as we share the sacredness of life.
We celebrate all we believe about God and defy those who would destroy life- not with weapons or power- but as a community sharing bread and cup.
May God be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to God.
Let us give thanks to God.
It is right to give God our thanks and praise.
Holy God, Holy One, Holy Three
Our Life, our Mercy, our Might,
Our Way, our Truth, our Life.
Before all that is, You were God.
Outside all we know, You are God.
After all is finished, You will be God.
Archangels sound their trumpets,
Angels teach us their song,
Saints pull us into your presence.
Holy God, Holy One, Holy Three.
You beyond the galaxies,
You giving us your image,
You carrying us through the waters,
You holding us in the night.
Your smile on Sarah and Abraham,
Your hand with Moses and Miriam,
You lived as Jesus among us.
Healing, teaching, dying, rising,
Inviting all to your table.
So it is we worship you and bless your name. We join together to sing of your goodness:

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee; holy, holy, holy merciful and mighty God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy God, we remember your Son, his life with the humble, his death among the condemned, his resurrection for us all:
Your wisdom our guide, your justice our strength, your grace our path.
Grant that in praise and thanksgiving we so offer ourselves to you that our lives proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.

Blessing of the Elements
Send O God, your Holy Spirit upon us and these gifts, that all who share this loaf and cup may be the body of Christ: light, life and love in the world. In this hope and as your people, we praise you.
Through Christ, with Christ and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all glory is yours. God most holy, now and forever. AMEN

Breaking the Bread and Raising the Cup

Sharing the Meal

Eternal God, Maker of heaven and earth, we join with all your people to give you thanks and praise. You formed the universe in your wisdom and created all things by your grace. We praise you for all your good gifts: the witness of saints and prophets; the work of faithful women and men; this earth in all its blessing and promise; and this bread, once scattered, now brought together and made one. In the hope that your people may be brought together from the ends of the earth into your reign of justice and compassion, we gather with those of every time and place to give you praise and glory by singing together:

(VU #959)…Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. AMEN

SCRIPTURE READINGS
Responsive Psalm 19 VU #740
Refrain:
The precepts of our God give joy to the heart.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the vault of the sky reveals God’s handiwork.
One day speaks to another,
and night shares its knowledge with night,
and this without speech or language;
their voices are not heard.
But their sound goes out to all the lands,
their words to the ends of the earth.
Refrain:
The precepts of our God give joy to the heart.

In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun
which comes out like a bridegroom from under the canopy,
like an athlete eager to run the race.
Its rising is at one end of the sky,
it runs its course to the other,
and there is nothing that is hidden from its heat.
Refrain:
The precepts of our God give joy to the heart.

God’s law is perfect, refreshing the soul;
God’s instruction is sure,
giving wisdom to the simple;
God’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart;
God’s commandment is pure
giving light to the eyes;
God’s fear is clean, enduring forever;
God’s judgements are true,
every one of them righteous;
more desirable than gold, even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey,
pure honey from the comb.
Refrain:
The precepts of our God give joy to the heart.

By them is your servant warned;
for in keeping them there is great reward.
But who can discern unwitting sins?
O cleanse me from my secret faults.
Keep your servant also from presumptuous sins,
lest they get the better of me.
Then shall I be clean and innocent of great offence.
Refrain:
The precepts of our God give joy to the heart.

All Let the words of my mouth
and the thoughts of my heart
be acceptable in your sight, O God,
my strength and my redeemer

Gospel Matthew 21: 33-40 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)
Parable of the Wicked Tenants
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away.When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce.But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them in the same way.Then he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?
“Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruits.The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them.They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

SERMON: “Rant Control” Rev Brian Goodings

PASTORAL PRAYER

*HYMN: VU #220 “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”
1. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, who rules all creation;
O my soul, praise him, at all times your health and salvation.
Come, all who hear: brothers and sisters draw near,
joining in glad adoration.

2. Praise to the Lord, above all things so mightily reigning,
keeping us safe at his side, and so gently sustaining.
Have you not seen how all you needed has been
met by God’s gracious ordaining?

3. Praise to the Lord who will prosper our work
and defend us;
surely his goodness and mercy will daily attend us:
ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
who out of love will befriend us.

4. Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that has life and breath come now with praises before him!
Let the Amen sound from God’s people again:
gladly with praise we adore him.

We Respond

INVITATION to the OFFERING
The people invited to the banquet that God provided—I wonder what they did afterwards? Did they go away praising? Did they try to be more generous, themselves? Or did they hoard their leftovers? I wonder what we would do? Let’s offer our gifts now.

PRAYER of DEDICATION of OUR OFFERINGS
God of the feast, we give thanks that all have been invited to your table and you have provided enough for all. Help us to pass the salt, fill our neighbour’s cup, and share more, even if that requires us to live with less. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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

DEDICATION HYMN: MV #191”What Can I Do?” (2x)
What can I do? What can I bring?
What can I say? What can I sing?
I’ll sing with joy. I’ll say a prayer
I’ll bring my love. I’ll do my share.

What’s up at Grace?

We Go Out

*HYMN: VU #242 “Let All Things Now Living”
1. Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving
to God our Creator triumphantly raise;
who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
by guiding us on to the end of our days.
God’s banners are o’er us, pure light goes before us,
a pillar of fire shining forth in the night;
till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished,
as forward we travel from light into Light.

2. By law God enforces, the stars in their courses
and sun in its orbit obediently shine;
the hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains,
the depths of the ocean proclaim God divine.
We, too, should be voicing our love and rejoicing;
with glad adoration a song let us raise:
till all things now living unite in thanksgiving,
to God in the highest, hosanna and praise.

*COMMISSIONING

*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.