July 4th 2021 – 6th Sunday after Pentecost
Watch this Service at: www.graceunitedthornbury.ca/live
Leading us today in worship:
Minister: Rev. Christine Smaller
Music Director: Dr. Christopher Burton
Scripture Reader: Sandy Eagles
Leader: regular font ~ All: bold font ~ Sung Words: bold italic font
Prelude:
Sonata in B Minor D. Scarlatti
Greeting:
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; and may the grace of Jesus Christ be with you all.
And also with you.
Welcome
Call to Worship:
My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples, says the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Opening Prayer:
God of the Covenant, your compassion reaches beyond the mere making and keeping of promises. You are with us in broken promises too, calling us forward to listen to one another with Your heart.
Calling us to remember our one true foundation: Love.
Calling us into a listening, loving project of reconciliation with all creation. Amen.
Opening Hymn: VU 325 Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation
1. Christ is made the sure foundation,
Christ the head and cornerstone,
chosen of the Lord, and precious,
binding all the church in one,
holy Zion's help for ever,
and its confidence alone.
2. To this temple where we call you,
come, O Lord of hosts, today;
with your faithful loving-kindness
hear your servants as they pray,
and your fullest benediction
shed within its walls alway.
3. Here bestow on all your servants
what they ask of you to gain,
what they gain from you for ever
with the blessed to retain,
and hereafter in your glory
evermore with you to reign.
4. Laud and honour to the Father,
laud and honour to the Son,
laud and honour to the Spirit,
ever three and ever one,
on in might, and one in glory,
while unending ages run.
Prayer for Illumination:
God, by the power of your Spirit, give us the words of life that our faith may increase, and our hearts be made whole. Amen.
Scripture: Mark 6:1-13 (NRSV)
He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
Psalm 48 (VU pp. 772-773)
Refrain
Glorious things of you are spoken,
Zion, city of our God.
Great is God,
and greatly to be praised in the city of our God.
Fair and lofty is God's holy mountain;
it is the joy of all the earth.
On Mount Zion, in the far north,
stands the city of the Great Ruler;
in its citadels God is known as a sure defence.
Refrain
Glorious things of you are spoken,
Zion, city of our God.
See how the rulers assembled;
they raged together against it.
But when they saw it, they were astounded;
they were dismayed and ready to flee.
Trembling came upon them,
as anguish comes to a woman in childbirth;
as when the east wind blows
and breaks up the ships of Tarshish.
As we have heard, so have we seen,
in the city of the God of hosts,
the city our God upholds forever.
Refrain
Glorious things of you are spoken,
Zion, city of our God.
We remember your steadfast love, O God,
as we gather in your temple.
Your name, like your praise,
reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with victory.
Let Mount Zion rejoice,
and the children of Judah be glad
because of your judgements.
Go in procession around the circuit of Zion,
count the number of its towers,
take note of its ramparts,
examine its citadel,
so that you may tell the next generations:
"Such is our God, our guide for ever."
Refrain
Glorious things of you are spoken,
Zion, city of our God.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 (NRSV)
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.
Response:
The Word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Musical Interlude:
Improvisation on a Hymn C. Burton
Sermon
How sure is that foundation?
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 feats 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 and 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.
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 and
in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
Prayers of the People & Lighting of the Prayer Candles
The Lord’s Prayer:
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:
The Peace of Christ be with you all.
And also with you.
Everyone is invited to share the peace of Christ by offering a message in the chat box.
You may also wish to think of someone you would like to pass the peace to this week.
Music while we share the Peace of Christ:
Improvisation G. Fauré
Invitation to the Offering:
Friends, God is gracious and loving. Let us show our thanksgiving by giving generously to support ministries that ease burdens and give rest where needed.
Prayer of Dedication:
Gracious God, receive now these gifts as tokens of our gratitude to you, that your mercy may be multiplied, and your blessings abound to embrace all those in need. 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
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
Announcements:
Closing Hymn: VU 586 We Shall Go Out
1. We shall go out with hope of resurrection;
we shall go out, from strength to strength go on;
we shall go out and tell our stories boldly;
tales of a love that will not let us go.
We'll sing our songs of wrongs that can be righted;
we'll dream our dreams of hurts that can be healed;
we'll weave a cloth of all the world united
within the vision of new life in Christ.
'2. We'll give a voice to those who have not spoken;
we'll find the words for those whose lips are sealed;
we'll make the tunes for those who sing no longer,
expressive love alive in every heart.
We'll share our joy with those who still are weeping,
raise hymns of strength for hearts that break in grief,
we'll leap and dance the resurrections story,
including all in circles of our love.
Commissioning and Benediction
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
Postlude:
Impromptu Opus 90 #4 F. Schubert
*****
RESOURCES USED (all with permission):
Prayers and Liturgies: All prayers adapted from Feasting on the Word, Worship Companion, Kimberly Bracken Long, editor.
Hymns and Sung Responses:
- Christ is Made the Sure Foundation: Words: John Mason Neale 1851, Music: Henry Purcell
- Psalm 48 (VU pp. 772-773) Words: Psalter, Music: Franz Joseph Haydn 1796, Public Domain
- Let us Build a House Words and music: Marty Haugen, 2006, Words and music copyright 1994 all rights reserved. One License
- We Shall Go Out Words: June Boyce-Tillman 1993, Music: Traditional Irish melody, arr. John Barnard 1982, Words copyright 1993 Stainer & Bell Ltd. Used by permission of Hope Publishing Company, Arrangement copyright 1993 Hope Publishing Company, One License
Prelude: Sonata in B Minor D. Scarlatti
Interlude: Improvisation on a Hymn C. Burton
Passing of the Peace: Improvisation G. Fauré
Postlude: Impromptu Opus 90 #4 F. Schubert
All Public Domain
