Sunday, July 19, 2020 - 7th Sunday After Pentecost

July 18, 2020 Brian Stevens - Hope United Church

July 19 2020 - 11:00am
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
The Congregation of Hope United Church
Pastoral Charge Supervisor - Brian Stevens BA. MDiv
Summer Student – Christopher Slusar

WELCOME

Welcome everyone. My name is Brian Stevens, I am the Pastoral Charge Supervisor and Worship Leader at Hope United Church in Toronto. We are so pleased to have you with us today. Our musicians today is Sandy. Gavin is our Zoom host assisting with our sound. You can type hellos and greetings at anytime in the chat. A copy of the order of service was mailed out with your invitation. It is also available on our website HopeUnited.ca

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE LAND (Verona)

With respect, we acknowledge the world views, spirituality, history and stewardship of the Mississauga of Scugog, the Hiawatha and the Alderville First Nations, on whose traditional lands our church resides. We thank and honour the other indigenous peoples who share this land. As followers of the Jesus Way, we affirm our commitment as a people empowered to work in restoring broken relationships.

GREETING (Christopher)

I greet you in the name of our risen Lord and welcome you to our on-line service of worship. Let us join together in the singing of our opening hymn “Spirit, Open My Heart”. The words will also appear on your screen and it is # 79 in Voices United.

“Opening Hymn” More Voices # 79 “Spirit, Open My Heart” (Sandy)

Spirit, open my heart
To the joy and pain of living.
As you love may I love,
In receiving and in giving,
Spirit, open my heart.

God, replace my stony heart
with a heart that's kind and tender.
All my coldness and fear
to your grace I now surrender.

Spirit, open my heart
To the joy and pain of living.
As you love may I love,
In receiving and in giving,
Spirit, open my heart.

Write your love upon my heart
as my law, my goal, my story.
In each thought, word, and deed,
may my living bring you glory.

Spirit, open my heart
To the joy and pain of living.
As you love may I love,
In receiving and in giving,
Spirit, open my heart.

May I weep with those who weep,
share the joy of sister, brother.
In the welcome of Christ,
may we welcome one another.

Spirit, open my heart
To the joy and pain of living.
As you love may I love,
In receiving and in giving,
Spirit, open my heart.

CALL TO WORSHIP (Sheldon and Gavin)

We come to celebrate God’s blessings to us.
People: Surely God is in this place!

We come to open ourselves to God’s guidance and love.
People: Surely God is in this place!

We come to see more clearly God’s presence in our lives.
People: Surely God is in this place!

We come to see God in this community of seekers.
People: Surely God is in this place!

We come to pray, praise, and offer ourselves to God.
People: Surely God is in this place! Let us worship!

OPENING PRAYER (Tess)

Holy One, you know us already. Help us to know you better. Open our eyes that we might see you all around us….that we might see you in everyone we encounter as we journey our days.
Fill our worship with your Spirit so that we may learn to recognize your presence, not only in this place, not only at this time, in all places and people. This is our prayer this summer morn.
Amen.

LIGHTING OF THE CHRIST CANDLE (Christopher)

We light this candle as a symbol of Christ’s light in the world. May it burn brightly within us all. Amen.
Let us sing together, twice through, “Touch us With Your Light”. The words will appear on your screen.

“Touch us with Your Light” (Sandy)

Light from this candle burning bright
Light our way through dark of night.
Help us find our way to you,
Guide us, touch us with your Light, O Lord.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION (Marion)

Gracious God, in the fields of our lives, we strive to be fruitful, but we fall short. We get so comfortable that we sleep when we need to be vigilant about the errors in our own lives and the injustices around us.
We are so casual about wrongdoing that it creeps into our lives and threatens to overwhelm the good we do. We do not pay attention to the unjust systems which shape our lives, that we must work to transform so that your Beloved Community may come to be. Forgive us.Keep us awake so that we can produce the lives you call us to live.
Amen.

ASSURANCE OF GRACE (Brian)

God’s grace is always with us. You are not God’s tenants or employees; you are God’s precious family. In the words of the apostle Paul, “You did not receive a spirit of servitude to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.”
As God’s children, in God’s embrace, you are forgiven and free.

Let us sing together, three times through, the Gloria. The words will also appear on your screen and it is also in Voices United # 37

VU # 37 “Gloria” (Sandy) (sung three times through)

Gloria, Gloria, in excelsis deo,
Gloria, Gloria, alleluia, alleluia!

THE PEACE OF CHRIST (Brian)

May the Peace of Christ be with you always.
And also with you.

Let us take a moment to greet one another! Mics will be unmuted.

FIRST READING Genesis 28:10-19 (Bruce)

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.

I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.

This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

VU # 861 PSALM 139 (Text - Tess and Jimmy Sandy - Refrain)

Refrain: God, you have searched me,
you know me through and through.

O God, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
    You discern my path and the places I rest;
    You are familiar with all my ways
Before a word is on my tongue, you know it, O God completely.
You guard me from behind and before,
And lay your hand upon me.
    It is beyond my knowledge; it is a mystery I cannot fathom it.

Refrain: God, you have searched me,
you know me through and through.

Where can I escape from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
    If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
    If I lie down in the grave, you even are there.
If I take wing with the dawn and alight the sea’s farthest limits,
    There also your hand will be guiding me,
    Your powerful hand, holding me fast.
If I say, “let the darkness cover me and my day turn to night”
    Even darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day,
    For darkness is as light to you.

Refrain: God, you have searched me,
you know me through and through.

It was you who formed my inward parts;
You fashioned me in my mother’s womb.
    I praise you, for I am fearfully, wonderfully made.
    Wondrous are your works; that I know very well
My frame was not hidden fro you when I was being fashioned in secret,
Intricately woven in the mystery of clay
    Your eyes saw my substance taking shape
    In your book my everyday was recorded,
    All my days were fashioned, even before they came to be.

Refrain: God, you have searched me,
you know me through and through.

How deep your designs are to me, O God! How great their number!
    I try to count them but they are more than the sand
    I come to the end- I am still with you.
Search me O God and know my heart
    Test me and know my thoughts.
Watch closely, lest I follow a path of error
    And guide me in the everlasting way.

Refrain: God, you have searched me,
you know me through and through.

SECOND READING Romans 8: 12-25 (Suzanne)

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Hear the Good News of Christ!
Praise to you, O Christ.

“Surely God is in this Place” (Diana Chappell)

Surely God is in this place help me notice,
Surely God is in this place help me see !
Surely God is in this place help me notice
Surely God is in this place help me see!

Open my eyes to your presence.
In my discomfort show your face.
I long to feel your loving arms around me,
Rest securely in your grace.

Surely God is in this place help me notice,
Surely God is in this place help me see!
Surely God is in this place help me notice,
Surely God is in this place help me see!

It's been so easy to deny you
And lose myself without a trace.
I long to share joy you bring each moment…
Spread your presence, live your grace!

Surely God is in this place help me notice,
Surely God is in this place help me see!
Surely God is in this place help me notice,
Surely God is in this place help me see!

Joined with the presence of your Spirit
Connected to this Holy space
Help me to savour every moment with you
Resting safely in your grace

Surely God is in this place help me notice,
Surely God is in this place help me see!
Surely God is in this place help me notice,
Surely God is in this place help me see!

SERMON: “Embraced by God” (Christopher)

MUSIC MINISTRY

“Healer of our Every Ill” Sung by Marion Burt