GRACE CHURCH OF MARTHA'S VINEYARD

  • WELCOME
  • Contact Us
  • Leadership
  • Parish Calendar
  • Online Sunday Services at Grace
    • 10.11.26 Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
    • 10.4.26 Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
  • Church and Faith
    • Annual Report 2025
    • African American Heritage Trail
    • Our Three-Year Plan
    • Weddings
    • History of Grace Church
  • Climate Change
  • Donate
  • Liturgies to Say at Home
    • Spiritual Communion
    • Morning Prayer
    • Daily Devotions
    • Noonday Prayer
    • Evening Prayer
    • Compline for nightly use
    • The Angelus
    • BCP Services
  • Lobster Rolls and More
    • Summer Lobster Rolls
    • Community Suppers
  • WELCOME
  • Contact Us
  • Leadership
  • Parish Calendar
  • Online Sunday Services at Grace
    • 10.11.26 Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
    • 10.4.26 Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
  • Church and Faith
    • Annual Report 2025
    • African American Heritage Trail
    • Our Three-Year Plan
    • Weddings
    • History of Grace Church
  • Climate Change
  • Donate
  • Liturgies to Say at Home
    • Spiritual Communion
    • Morning Prayer
    • Daily Devotions
    • Noonday Prayer
    • Evening Prayer
    • Compline for nightly use
    • The Angelus
    • BCP Services
  • Lobster Rolls and More
    • Summer Lobster Rolls
    • Community Suppers
Picture

The Holy Eucharist Rite II:  Eucharistic Prayer C
All music printed by permission in accordance with ONE LICENSE, License #A-734784.  
​Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with License #A-734784.

All rights reserved.

Prelude
​

Welcome & Announcements

Hymn 8  Morning has broken
Picture

Celebrant      Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
People         And blessed be his kingdom, now and for ever. Amen.
Celebrant.    Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
S277 Gloria
Picture
Picture
Celebrant.     The Lord be with you.
People.         And also with you.
Celebrant.     Let us pray.

The Collect of the Day
 
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
 ​The Lessons

​The First Reading: Isaiah 5:1-17,
 read by Karen Huff

Let me sing for my beloved
    my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
    on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
    and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
    and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
    but it yielded wild grapes.
And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
    and people of Judah,
judge between me
    and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard
    that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
    why did it yield wild grapes?
And now I will tell you
    what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
    and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
    and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste;
    it shall not be pruned or hoed,
    and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
    that they rain no rain upon it.
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
    is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
    are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
    but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
    but heard a cry!

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Psalm 80:7-14 Qui Regis Israel  read by DiAnn Ray
​
7 Restore us, O God of hosts; *
   show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
8 You have brought a vine out of Egypt; *
   you cast out the nations and planted it.
9 You prepared the ground for it; *
    it took root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered by its shadow *
     and the towering cedar trees by its boughs.
11 You stretched out its tendrils to the Sea *
     and its branches to the River.
12 Why have you broken down its wall, *
     so that all who pass by pluck off its grapes?
13 The wild boar of the forest has ravaged it, *
     and the beasts of the field have grazed upon it.
14 Turn now, O God of hosts, look down from heaven;
     behold and tend this vine; *
​     preserve what your right hand has planted.

The Second Reading: Philippians 3:1-13 read by Carolyn Eddy

     If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised 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; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.    Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More 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 and 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. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
    Not 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. Beloved, 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, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
The Word of the Lord.   
Thanks be to God.            

Hymn 388: O worship the King
Picture
Picture

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Matthew 21:33-46

People             Glory to you, Lord Christ.

    Jesus said, “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 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.
The Gospel of Christ.
​People     Praise to You, Lord Christ.

Sermon               The Rev. Sharon Eckhardt

​The Nicene Creed

​Celebrant    Let us confess our faith, as we say

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
 
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made,

of one being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the scriptures; he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
​and his kingdom will have no end.


We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father.
With the Father and the Son
he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The Prayers of the People Form III, read by John Hickey
​
The Leader and People pray responsively

God, we pray for your holy Church;
That we all may be one.

Grant that every member of the Church may truly and humbly serve you;
That your Name may be glorified by all people.

We pray for all bishops, priests, and deacons;
That they may be faithful ministers of your Word and Sacraments.

We pray for all who govern and hold authority in the nations of the world;
That there may be justice and peace on the earth.

Give us grace to do your will in all that we undertake;
That our works may find favor in your sight.

Have compassion on those who suffer from any grief or trouble;
That they may be delivered from their distress.

Give to the departed eternal rest.
Let light perpetual shine upon them.

We praise you for your saints who have entered into joy;
May we also come to share in your heavenly kingdom.

Let us pray for our own needs and those of others.

Silence

The people may add their own petitions.

​
The Celebrant adds a concluding Collect.

The Confession of Sin
 
Celebrant      Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor. 

Celebrant and People
 
Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name.  Amen.
 
Celebrant       Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life.  Amen.

The Peace
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
People: And also with you.

Announcements

Hymn 488  Be thou my vision
Picture
The Doxology: Hymn 380, v3
Picture

The Holy Communion

​Eucharistic Prayer C
Picture
Then, facing the Holy Table, the Celebrant proceeds:
​
God of all power, Ruler of the Universe, you are worthy of glory and praise.
Glory to you for ever and ever.

At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies,
suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.
By your will they were created and have their being.
 
From the primal elements you brought forth the human race, and blessed us with
memory, reason, and skill. You made us the rulers of creation. But we turned against you, and
betrayed your trust; and we turned against one another.
Have mercy, Lord, for we are sinners in your sight.

Again and again, you called us to return. Through prophets and sages you revealed your
righteous Law. And in the fullness of time you sent your only Son, born of a woman, to fulfill your
Law, to open for us the way of freedom and peace.
By his blood, he reconciled us.
By his wounds, we are healed.


And therefore we praise you, joining with the heavenly chorus, with prophets, apostles,
and martyrs, and with all those in every generation who have looked to you in hope, to proclaim
with them your glory, in their unending hymn:
   Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
   heaven and earth are full of your glory.
      Hosanna in the highest.
   Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
      Hosanna in the highest.

The Celebrant continues:
And so, Father, we who have been redeemed by him, and made a new people by water
and the Spirit, now bring before you these gifts. Sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be the Body
and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.

On the night he was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his
friends, and said, “Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance
of me.”

After supper, he took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, “Drink this, all of you: This is my
Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.”

Remembering now his work of redemption, and offering to you this sacrifice of thanksgiving,
We celebrate his death and resurrection,
as we await the day of his coming.


Lord God of our Fathers; God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ: Open our eyes to see your hand at work in the world about us. Deliver us from the
presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not
for renewal. Let the grace of this Holy Communion make us one body, one spirit in Christ, that we
may worthily serve the world in his name.

Risen Lord, be known to us in the breaking of the Bread. Accept these prayers and praises, Father, through Jesus Christ our great High Priest, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, your Church gives honor, glory, and worship, from generation to generation. AMEN.

And now, as our Savior As our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray,
The Lord's Prayer
 
Our Father, who art in heaven,
         hallowed be thy Name,
         thy kingdom come,
         thy will be done,
         on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
         as we forgive those
         who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
         but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
         and the power, and the glory,
         for ever and ever. Amen.

The Breaking of the Bread
​
The Celebrant breaks the consecrated Bread.
A period of silence is kept.

Celebrant
(Alleluia.) Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
Therefore let us keep the feast. (Alleluia.)

Celebrant: The gifts of God for the People of God.
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
 
Leader and People
In union, O Lord with the faithful at every altar of Your Church, where the Holy Eucharist is now being celebrated, we desire to offer You praise and thanksgiving. We present to you our souls and bodies with the earnest wish that we may always be united to you. [And since we can not now receive you sacramentally,] we beseech you to come spiritually into our hearts. We unite ourselves to you, and embrace you with all the affections of our souls. Let nothing ever separate you from us. May we live and die in your love. Amen.

Hymn 377, vs. 1-4  All people that on earth do dwell
Picture

The Post Communion Prayer
 
Let us pray.
Celebrant and People
 
Almighty and ever-living God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the Body of your Son, and heirs of your eternal kingdom. And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

​Blessing

​Hymn 448  O love how deep
Picture

Dismissal

Leader               Let us go forth in the name of Christ. 
People               Thanks be to God. 

Postlude      


The flowers are placed on the altar by Faith and Lew Laskaris,
I memory of Faith's parents.

October Birthdays
Nancy Kelly, James Pringle, Shaun Hickey, Arthur Whitworth, Stella Giordano,
Parker Hoehn, Kim Garrison,  and David DaSilva
October Anniversaries
James & Lorraine Pringle

Please email
[email protected] to update or include yours!
 
 Sunday Prayers

Sean, our Presiding Bishop; Julia, Ian and Mary our Bishops
Stephen, Storm, and Sharon, our Priests
The Very Reverend Amy McCreath & the Cathedral Congregation of St. Paul
The Manna Community
The Cape & Islands Deanery
 
Donald, our President  •. The Members of Congress;
Maura, our Governor, and all our elected officials
Pray for Our Country
 
For peace in the Middle East
For the people of Ukraine; the people of Iran; All Refugees
The Campers, Counselors, and Staff of Camp Jabberwocky

For our planet
All those affected by climate change
​
All Staff of the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital
Our Vineyard EMS, Fire and Police Departments
All the Members of the New York City Fire Department
 
           Sarah & Richard, Chelsea, Debbie and Alan, Bill, Deborah, Jen B., Judy B., Kathy,Lorraine & Richard, Margaret, Mark & Donna, Mary & Gregg, Maureen M., Nancy, Pat,
Paul, Suzanne, Janet, Corby, Molly, Lorraine S. and her family, James and his family,
Jon, Rhonda, John, Newton and his family and Luiza and Wayne.
Those who have died and their families.

 All those killed because of oppression, gun violence, hatred, war, or the color of their skin.


GRACE CHURCH
Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts
(508) 693-0332

Rector: The Reverend Stephen Harding
Priest Associates: The Rev’d Sharon Eckhardt
                               The Rev’d Dr. Storm Swain
Parish Administrators:  Mary Lee Carlomgno, Mim McLaughlin and Ann Thifault
Cellist:  Jan Hyer
Bookkeeper:  David Smith
 
Senior Warden: Jennifer Haynes
Junior Warden: Liz DaSilva
Treasurer: Andrea Wong–Monteiro
Clerk: Kim Garrison
 
Vestry:      Gary Eckhardt, Donna Griffen, Betsy Holcomb, Karen Huff,
Faith Laskaris, Rori Peters, Deborah Koines -Alternate
 
ASSISTING IN OUR WORSHIP
A/V Wizards: Gary Eckhardt, Betsy Holcomb
Bulletin and Website Design: Karen Huff
Zoom Hosts:  The Rev’d Ribbons Harris & Karen Huff
Hospitality: Lorraine Clark, Bebee Green & members of the parish
Readers and Intercessors: Judy Carter, Carolyn Eddy, Kim Garrison, David Grey, Ribbons Harris,
Jennifer Haynes, John Hickey, Betsy Holcomb, Karen Huff, Jan Hyer, Faith Laskaris,
Michelle Lynch, Gus Harris, Daniela Lynch, Mateo Lynch, Grace Douglas, & DiAnn Ray
Eucharistic Ministers: Abby Bates, Judy Carter, Carolyn Eddy,
Jennifer Haynes & DiAnn Ray
Singers:  Abby Bates, Judy Carter, Rev. Sharon Eckhardt, David Grey, Donna Griffen,
Rev. Stephen Harding,  John Hickey, Betsy Holcomb, Jan Hyer
Ushers:  Lorraine Clark and BeBee Green

We invite you to join us! Please email [email protected]

Interim pastors while Rev. Stephen is on sabbatical:
Rev. Sharon Eckhardt and Rev. Cynthia Hubbard

​

PO Box 1197 • 34 Woodlawn Avenue • Vineyard Haven MA 02568
​
www.graceepiscopalmv.org • 508 693-0332