June 6, 2021 – Second Sunday after Pentecost
Find this service at www.graceunitedthornbury.ca/live
Leading us today in Worship
Minister: Rev. Christine Smaller
Guest Musician: Saundra Lake
Scripture Reader: Jim Dolmer
~ Leader: regular font ~ All: bold font ~ Sung words: bold italics
PRELUDE:
Song without Words ~ Charles Demorest
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.
WELCOME:
CALL TO WORSHIP:
Holy God:
Come fill our hearts with your endless love, and send the wind of your Spirit to bring new hope through our lives.
Come light our souls to rise in faith, to reach out for your kingdom.
Come pour out your Spirit upon us as we gather together as siblings in Christ.
Lift up our heads, brush away the shadows, and shine your grace into our minds.
So, Creator, as we prepare to worship, we shake off the shackles of a fallen world and join our hearts together.
With gratitude we gather as a community in praise, Creator, to seek transformation and to celebrate the power of your Spirit that is always moving.
OPENING PRAYER:
We offer ourselves to you, O God our Creator.
We offer our hands.
Use our healing touch to comfort siblings and children who are afraid.
We offer our eyes and ears. May we see and hear the signs and stories of violence,
So that all my have someone with them in their pain and confusion.
We offer our hearts and our tears as their hurt and sorrow echo within us.
May we be healed as we embrace each other.
We offer our anger. Make it a passion for justice.
We offer all our skills. Use our gifts to end violence.
We offer our faith, our hope, our love.
May this worship service bring us closer to you and to each other.
All this we ask through Jesus Christ. AMEN
HYMN: VU 218 We Praise You, O God
1 We praise you, O God, our Redeemer, Creator;
in grateful devotion our tribute we bring.
We lay it before you; we kneel and adore you;
we bless your holy name: glad praises we sing.
2 We worship you, God of our mothers and fathers,
through trial and tempest, companion and guide.
When perils o'ertake us, you will not forsake us,
but faithful to your promise, you walk by our side.
3 With voices united our praises we offer,
and gladly our songs of thanksgiving we raise.
Our sins now confessing, we pray for your blessing,
to you, our great Redeemer, forever be praise!
PRAYER OF APPROACH:
Merciful God, we come before you today looking for something more. Something more than our own desires, patterns, notions. We sense we are limited by our unwillingness to really look around and see the world the way You do. Teach us to open up to the beauty and the sorrow in the world. Lead us into deeper understanding of you and all of creation.
WORDS OF ASSURANCE:
Hear the good news of Jesus Christ: We are loved and lovable even in the moment we err. We are a forgiven and redeemed people, held in the mercy of our Gracious God.
All: Thanks be to God! Amen.
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION: (Lay Reader)
Holy One, we know that you constantly breathe new life into every word of scripture. Help us hear the Living Word you share with us today.
SCRIPTURE: (Lay Reader) 1 Samuel 8:4-11, 16-20
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots;
He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
Psalm 138 (VU 860)
Refrain:
We worship in your holy place and
praise you for your truth and grace.
I praise you, O God, with all my heart
Before the gods I will sing your praises
I bow down toward your holy temple
And praise your name for your love and faithfulness,
for you have exalted your name
and your word above everything.
On the day that I called, you answered me,
and put new strength in my soul.
Refrain:
We worship in your holy place and
praise you for your truth and grace.
All earth’s rulers shall praise you,
When they hear the words of your mouth.
They shall sing of your ways, O God,
sing that your glory is great.
For though you are high, you care for the lowly.
As for the proud, you humble them from afar.
Refrain:
We worship in your holy place and
praise you for your truth and grace.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me,
you stretch out your hand against my enemies’ rage,
your powerful hand delivers me.
You will fulfil your purpose for me.
Your love, O God, is eternal.
Do not leave unfinished the work of your hands.
Refrain:
We worship in your holy place and
praise you for your truth and grace.
Mark 3:20-35
…and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.
“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
RESPONSE:
The word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE
PRAYER OF PREPARATION:
May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable to you Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
SERMON: “Now that we know”
HYMN: VU 510 We Have this Ministry
1. We have this ministry
and we are not discouraged;
it is by God’s own power
that we may live and serve.
Openly we share God’s word,
speaking truth as we believe,
praying that the shadowed world
may healing light receive.
We have this ministry, O God, receive our living.
2. O Christ, the tree of life,
our end and our beginning,
we grow to fullest flower
when rooted in your love.
Brothers, sisters, clergy, lay,
called to service by your grace,
different cultures, different gifts,
the young and old a place.
We have this ministry, O God, receive our giving.
3. The yoke of Christ is ours,
the whole world is our parish;
we daily take the cross,
the burden and the joy.
Bearing hurts of those we serve,
wounded, bruised and bowed with pain,
Holy Spirit, bread and wine,
we die and rise again.
We have this ministry, O God, receive our loving.
PROFESSION OF FAITH A New Creed
We are not alone,
we live in God’s world.
We believe in God:
who has created
and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others
by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus,
crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
In life, in death,
in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
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.
Think of one person with whom you would like to share the peace of Christ.
You can also share the peace by typing in the chat box.
MUSIC for PASSING the PEACE:
OFFERING
We honour all the ways we give as we dedicate our offering.
INVITATION TO OFFERING
With an offering stone to honour all the ways we give as we dedicate our offering let us pray:
PRAYER OF DEDICATION OF GIFTS AND SELF
We bring our gifts to you, God.
Here is the work of our hands,
and here is the love of our hearts.
Accept them and use them,
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
A single stone placed in the offering plate honours all our gifts.
Donate online: www.graceunitedthornbury.ca, select “Give”
or contact the office by email: accounting@graceunitedthornbury.ca
Ways to give:
Phone: 519-599-2438 or
Email: accounting@graceunitedthornbury.ca to arrange a cheque pick-up, or an e-transfer
Mail: Grace UC, 140 Bruce St. S. PO Box 219, Thornbury, ON N0H 2P0
Credit Card: www.graceunitedthornbury.ca, select “Give”
More ways to give: Care, Prayer, Share
ANNOUNCEMENTS: (Lay Leader)
Join us by Zoom following this service for:
Communion followed by Coffee Time
HYMN: VU 595 We are Pilgrims
1. We are pilgrims on a journey,
fellow travelers on the road;
we are here to help each other
walk the mile and bear the load.
2. Brother, sister, let me serve you;
let me be as Christ to you;
pray that I may have the grace to
let you be my servant too.
3. I will hold the Christ light for you
in the nighttime of your fear;
I will hold my hand out to you,
speak the peace you long to hear.
4. I will weep when you are weeping;
when you laugh I'll laugh with you;
I will share your joy and sorrow,
till we've seen this journey through.
5. When we sing to God in heaven,
we shall find such harmony,
born of all we've known together
of Christ's love and agony.
SENDING:
SUNG BLESSING 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
In response to congregation feedback, the Worship Committee has decided that, a sending or blessing other than Go Now in Peace will be sung one Sunday a Month.
POSTLUDE:
Gloria ~ Rob Roy Peery
*****
RESOURCES USED:
LITURGY SOURCES: The following are used with permission:
- Opening Prayer: Carol Penner, Healing Waters: Churches Working to End Violence against Women (Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada), pp. 147, 149.
- Affirmation of Faith: “A New Creed,” The United Church of Canada, General Council 1968, alt. 1998
- Call to Worship: Adapted from 2020 Indigenous Day of Prayer: The Seven Grandfather Teachings By Deb Anderson Pratt
If no attribution, prayers have been written by C. Smaller
HYMNS and SUNG VERSES
-“We Praise You, O God”, Julia Cory, © 1980 G.I.A. Publications, Inc.
- Psalm response William B. Bradbury
- “We have this Ministry, Jim Strathdee © 1979 Desert Flower Music
- “We are Pilgrims”, Composer Richard Gillard (1977), Arranger: Betty Pulkingham 1977 Scripture in Song, administered in USA and Canada by The Copyright Company.
- “Go Now in Peace.” Words by Don Besig and Nancy Price. © 1988 Harold Flammer Music, Inc. Alternate words used with permission. Used by permission, One License, #608577.
Used by permission, One License #608577
Used by permission, CCLI license #11203479
Scripture Passage from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.
Scripture Passage from The Message (MSG)Bible, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Scripture Passage from the Good News Translation (GNT)Bible, copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society
PRELUDE: Song without Words ~ Charles Demorest
POSTLUDE: Gloria ~ Rob Roy Peery
