July 25th, 2021 – 9th 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: John Corrigan
Leader: regular font ~ All: bold font ~ Sung Words: bold italic font
Prelude:
Prelude in C Major J.S. Bach
Greeting:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.
Welcome
Call to Worship:
Come, rest your spirits in the Lord.
We come, hungering and thirsting for God’s word.
This is a place of peace and hope, where all may be fed and healed.
Bring us to the time of healing.
Come, place your trust in God who is always near you.
Open our hearts, Lord, to hear your word and feel your presence.
AMEN.
Opening Prayer:
Holy One, in your faithfulness, regulate us; not through oppression and fear, but by steadying our breath to the rhythm of your sacred invitation.
Holy one, in your steadfastness, establish us; not through the way of powers and principalities, but as roots do, reaching into the nourishment of soil.
In your tender and tending name we pray, Amen.
Opening Hymn: VU 468 Let us Talents and Tongues Employ
1. Let us talents and tongues employ,
reaching out with a shout of joy;
bread is broken, the wine is poured,
Christ is spoken and seen and heard.
Refrain
Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around: loaves abound!
Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around: loaves abound!
2. Christ is able to make us one,
at the table he sets the tone,
teaching people to live to bless,
love in word and in deed express.
Refrain
Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around: loaves abound!
Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around: loaves abound!
3. Jesus calls us in, sends us out,
bearing fruit in a world of doubt,
gives us love to tell, bread to share:
God (Immanuel) everywhere!
Refrain
Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around: loaves abound!
Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around: loaves abound!
Prayer for Illumination:
God of wisdom and compassion refresh our hearts with your living Word here today. May we hear fresh insights and gain new inspiration as we listen together to this ancient text. Amen.
Scripture:
2 Kings 4:42-44 (NRSV)
A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, "Give it to the people and let them eat." But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’” He set it before them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the LORD.
Psalm 14 (VU 735)
Refrain
Dear God, who loves all humankind,
forgive our foolish ways.
The foolish have spoken in their heart,
and said "There is no God.'
They are corrupt; they do abominable things;
there is no one who does what is good.
God looks down from heaven upon us all,
to see if any are wise and seek after God.
But all have gone astray; all alike are corrupted;
there is no one who does good; no, not one.
Refrain
Dear God, who loves all humankind,
forgive our foolish ways.
Have they no knowledge, all those who do evil?
They devour my people like so much bread,
and do not pray to God.
But see, they will tremble with fear,
for God is on the side of the righteous.
Do not mock the hope of the poor,
for God is their refuge.
O that deliverance for God's people
would come forth from Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of the people,
then shall Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.
Refrain
Dear God, who loves all humankind,
forgive our foolish ways.
John 6:1-14 (NRSV)
After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.”
Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”
Response:
The Word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Musical Interlude:
Improvisation on a Hymn C. Burton
Sermon
Hymn: VU 702 When a Poor One
1. When a poor one who has nothing shares with strangers,
when the thirsty water give unto us all,
when the wounded in their weakness strengthen others,
Refrain
then we know that God still goes that road with us,
then we know that God still goes that road with us.
2. When at last all those who suffer find their comfort,
when they hope through even hope seems hopelessness,
when we love though hate at times seems all around us,
Refrain
then we know that God still goes that road with us,
then we know that God still goes that road with us.
3. When our joy fills up our cup to overflowing,
when our lips can speak no words other than true,
when we know that love for simple things is better,
Refrain
then we know that God still goes that road with us,
then we know that God still goes that road with us.
4. When our homes are filled with goodness in abundance,
when we learn how to make peace instead of war,
when each stranger that we meet is called a neighbour,
Refrain
then we know that God still goes that road with us,
then we know that God still goes that road with us.
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
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:
Selection from “Water Music” G.F. Handel
Invitation to the Offering:
Community means we don’t have to have it all, know it all, or be all things to all people. In community, our complexity can be held. In community, we have the honor of putting each other’s minds at ease. In the spirit of easing each other’s minds and easing each other’s burdens, let us bring our offerings to God.
Prayer of Dedication:
Spirit of Truth, you remind us that in togetherness our needs are met. Where your kin-dom ethic of solidarity has been confused with the ways of hierarchy, forgive us. We dedicate this offering to the work of your already here and yet-to-come kin-dom. Amen
A single stone placed in the offering plate honours all our gifts.
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Mail: Grace UC, 140 Bruce St. S. PO Box 219, Thornbury, ON N0H 2P0
Care, Prayer, Share
Announcements:
Closing Hymn: VU 658 O Love that Wilt Not Let me Go
1. O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depths its flow
may richer, fuller be.
2. O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
my heart restores its borrowed ray,
that in thy sunshine's blaze its day
may brighter, fairer be.
3. O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
and feel the promise is not vain
that morn shall tearless be.
4. O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life's glory dead,
and from the ground there blossoms red
life that shall endless be.
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:
Prelude in D Flat R. Glière
*****
RESOURCES USED (all with permission):
Prayers and Liturgies:
- Call to Worship: Nancy C. Townley, Worship Connection July 25th, 2021.
- Opening Prayer: Adapted from Enfleshed Liturgy July 25th, 2021.
- Offering Invitation/Dedication: Enfleshed Liturgy July 25th, 2021.
Hymns and Sung Responses:
- Let us Tongues and Talents Employ: Words: Fred Kaan 1975, Music: Jamaican folk song, adapt. Doreen Potter 1975, Words and music copyright 1975 Hope Publishing Company, One License
- Psalm 14: Words: Psalter, Music: C. Hubert H. Parry 1888, Public Domain
- When a Poor One: Words: Spanish, J.A. Olivar and Miguel Manzano 1976, trans. George Lockwood 1989, alt. Music: J.A. Olivar and Miguel Manzano 1976, arr. Alvin Schutmaat Translation copyright 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House. Words music and arrangement copyright 1976 J.A. Oliver, Miguel Manzano, San Pablo International SSP. Sole U.S. Agent Oregon Catholic Press
- O Love that Wilt Not Let Me Go: Words: George Matheson 1881, Music: Albert Lister Peace 1884, Public Domain
Prelude: Prelude in C Major J.S. Bach
Interlude: Improvisation on a Hymn C. Burton
Passing of the Peace: Selection from “Water Music” G.F. Handel
Postlude: Prelude in D Flat R. Glière
All Public Domain
