Welcome to Aurora United Church …uniting hearts and hands on the journey. World Communion Sunday October 4, 2020 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of one loaf. (1 Corinthians 10:17) -2- SEEKING GOD TOGETHER PRELUDE Brand New Life (Royal Wood) Steve Falk WELCOME & CONGREGATIONAL LIFE PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP Lighting of the Christ Candle Acknowledgment of Territory As we come into worship today, we acknowledge that we reside and worship on the traditional lands of the people of the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation… and acknowledge their stewardship of this land throughout the ages. CALL TO WORSHIP Sarah & Emily Crawley Light, love and freedom are the gifts of God. We come in peace. Bread, wine, and friendship are the gifts of Christ. We come in joy. Wisdom, compassion, and grace are the gifts of God. We come in hope. Across the world today, in a multitude of ways, we come in worship on this World Communion Sunday. Let us worship! HYMN We Are One (D.Lankshear-Smith/J.Sam) VU 402 We are one as we come, as we come, joyful to be here, in the praise on our lips there’s a sense that God is near. We are one as we sing, as we seek, we are found; and we come needful of God’s grace as we meet, together in this place. -3- We are one as we share, as we share brokenness and fear, in the touch of a hand there’s a sense that God is here. We are one as we care, as we heal, we are healed; and we share warmth in God’s embrace as we pray together in this place. We are one as we feast, as we feast, peace becomes a sign; in the bread and the wine there’s a sense of love divine. We are one as we come, as we feed, we are fed; and we feel God’s refreshing grace as we meet at table in this place. We are one as we hear, as we hear, heart and hand unite; in the word we receive there’s a sense that God is light. We are one as we leave, as we love, we are loved; and we seek justice in God’s ways as we move together from this place. PRAYER FOR RENEWAL Jesus prayed that we may be one; one in spirit, one in mission, in union and in communion with each other and with you, O God. Today we acknowledge our struggle in accomplishing unity, as we set aside yet another day to remind our- selves of the task. On this World Communion Sunday, give us eyes to recognize your reflection in the eyes of those we meet. Give us a mind to accept and celebrate our differences. Give us hearts big enough to love your children across the world. We thank you for setting a table with space enough for us all. Amen. WORDS OF GRACE God who accepts us will empower us. God who loves us will inspire us in our struggle for a healing and just world. Thanks be to God! THEME STORY The Peace Crane Project (2014) YouTube (Each year, children from around the world join together in folding cranes to celebrate the International Day of Peace.) -4- FINDING GOD TOGETHER SCRIPTURE Philippians 3:4b-14 (Paul’s testimony-his gains were loss.) NRSV Laurie Marie 4even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. GIFT OF MUSIC I’m So Glad (Royal Wood) Steve Falk GOSPEL Matthew 21:33-46 (The Parable of the landowner and the tenants.) NRSV “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. 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. Finally 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 -5- 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 the fruits of the kingdom. 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. Come to the quiet...a time for reflection SERMON !orld "iew HYMN When Hands Reach Out Beyond Divides (K.Wehlander) MV 169 When hands reach out beyond divides and hope is truly found, each chain of hate will fall away and bells of peace shall sound, and bells of peace , of peace shall sound, and bells of peace shall sound, each chain of hate will fall away and bells of peace shall sound. When fear no longer guides our steps and days of war are done, God’s dream for all shall live anew; our hearts will heal as one, our hearts will heal, will heal as one, our hearts will heal as one, God’s dream for all shall live anew; our hearts will heal as one. When race and creed blind us no more, a neighbour’s face we’ll see, and we shall dance the whole world round, for love will set us free, for love, yes love will set us free, for love will set us free, and we shall dance the whole world round, for love will set us free. -6- SHARING GOD’S LOVE THE NEW CREED VU p. 918/YouTube 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 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. (The United Church of Canada, General Council 1968,alt.) THE PEACE The peace of Christ be with you! And also with you! -7- A Statement about the gifts we bring in worship for the life of the church…. OFFERTORY PRAYER SACRAMENT OF COMMUNION The Great Thanksgiving Jesus said: ‘I am the bread of life. all who come to me shall not hunger, and all who believe in me shall not thirst.’ With Christians around the world and throughout the centuries, we, in spirit, gather around these symbols of bread and wine—simple elements that speak of nourishment and transformation. Loving God, we thank you that you are as close to us as breath, that your love is constant and unfailing. We thank you for all that sustains life, and especially for Jesus Christ, who teaches us how to live out an ethic of justice and peace, and for the promise of transformation made manifest in his life, death and resurrection.