Welcome
Welcome to our website!
St John’s is a congregation and parish within the Church of Scotland. As such, we seek to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all in as faithful and friendly a way as we can. As a fellowship, we endeavour to encourage one another and provide the means whereby we can grow in Christian grace and faith.
During this time of global pandemic, the church is not doing all the same things in person, but that does not mean that church is cancelled! Rather it means that we have moved to a variety of different ways of supporting each other, building community, nurturing faith, and participating in God’s mission in the world.
Our Sunday service is online here each Sunday morning, an audio recording is available by calling 01475 270037, and we are also open for in-person worship in the sanctuary with space for a limited number of attendees. All these services include the same reading, prayers, and sermon. The in-person music is different than online/phone, as there is no singing in the sanctuary just now.
If you would like more information about what the covid protocols entail and how to book a space for in-person worship, you can find that by clicking here. The phone numbers to book are —> in the sidebar!
We also have regular video devotions on our Youtube channel and Facebook Page. In addition there is a weekly devotional email, which you can sign up for by clicking here.
The young people’s Bible study now meets on Zoom most weeks at 1pm (BYOPizza). If you would like the login information, please contact Teri.
Our elders and members are building community and deepening relationships through phone calls, cards, and emails. If you or someone you know is in need of some support through a friendly phone call or a neighbour who can help with essential tasks, please contact the minister and she will make connections: tpeterson at churchofscotland.org.uk.
Sunday Service for 18 April 2021, third Sunday of Easter
Sunday Service for 18 April 2021, Third Sunday of Easter
Prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson, Gourock St. John’s
Manse phone: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
To hear an audio recording of this service, including music, please phone 01475 270037.
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Call to Worship
The Risen Christ has made us his Body,
to love, serve, and care for each other.
The Risen Christ has made us his Body,
calling us in every language and from every background.
The Risen Christ has made us his Body,
giving us grace to live his way.
We join with God’s people in every time and place
to seek the Spirit’s purpose.
Come, let us worship.
Let us pray.
God who is Three and yet One,
you call us into community,
to live out your vision together.
Focus our hearts now,
that we may be faithful in a world
that offers us other ways that do not lead to life.
Reveal your majesty,
give us the words to proclaim your story,
and empower us with your Spirit
to serve you with joy in every place.
Amen.
Music: Now the green blade riseth improvisation by Philip
Children’s Time (in person only)
Reading: Acts 6.1 – 7.2a, 44-60 (Common English Bible)
After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples several times before being taken up into heaven — Luke records the ascension both at the very end of the gospel and the very beginning of Acts. Then the whole group of the disciples waited in Jerusalem. They continued to worship in the Temple and to gather together, around 120 of them. They chose Matthias to replace Judas, and they spent time in prayer. After several weeks, the Holy Spirit filled the house and sent them out into the streets sharing the good news, and the church began to grow, by the hundreds and thousands. Still this growing community spent their time praying, worshipping, sharing meals, teaching, and healing the sick. They took care of each other, ensuring that no one was in need among them. Some of their healing and teaching activities caught the attention of the authorities, but one member of the council persuaded the rest to leave them be. That’s where we pick up the story in the book of Acts, chapter 6, beginning at verse 1. I am reading from the Common English Bible.
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About that time, while the number of disciples continued to increase, a complaint arose. Greek-speaking disciples accused the Aramaic-speaking disciples because their widows were being overlooked in the daily food service. The Twelve called a meeting of all the disciples and said, “It isn’t right for us to set aside proclamation of God’s word in order to serve tables. Brothers and sisters, carefully choose seven well-respected men from among you. They must be well-respected and endowed by the Spirit with exceptional wisdom. We will put them in charge of this concern. As for us, we will devote ourselves to prayer and the service of proclaiming the word.” This proposal pleased the entire community. They selected Stephen, a man endowed by the Holy Spirit with exceptional faith, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. The community presented these seven to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. God’s word continued to grow. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased significantly. Even a large group of priests embraced the faith.
Stephen, who stood out among the believers for the way God’s grace was at work in his life and for his exceptional endowment with divine power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose from some who belonged to the so-called Synagogue of Former Slaves. Members from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia entered into debate with Stephen. However, they couldn’t resist the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. Then they secretly enticed some people to claim, “We heard him insult Moses and God.” They stirred up the people, the elders, and the legal experts. They caught Stephen, dragged him away, and brought him before the Jerusalem Council. Before the council, they presented false witnesses who testified, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and the Law. In fact, we heard him say that this man Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and alter the customary practices Moses gave us.” Everyone seated in the council stared at Stephen, and they saw that his face was radiant, just like an angel’s.
The high priest asked, “Are these accusations true?”
Stephen responded, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. ….
44“The tent of testimony was with our ancestors in the wilderness. Moses built it just as he had been instructed by the one who spoke to him and according to the pattern he had seen. In time, when they had received the tent, our ancestors carried it with them when, under Joshua’s leadership, they took possession of the land from the nations whom God expelled. This tent remained in the land until the time of David. God approved of David, who asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who actually built a house for God. However, the Most High doesn’t live in houses built by human hands. As the prophet says,
Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
‘What kind of house will you build for me,’ says the Lord,
‘or where is my resting place?
Didn’t I make all these things with my own hand?’
“You stubborn people! In your thoughts and hearing, you are like those who have had no part in God’s covenant! You continuously set yourself against the Holy Spirit, just like your ancestors did. Was there a single prophet your ancestors didn’t harass? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one, and you’ve betrayed and murdered him! You received the Law given by angels, but you haven’t kept it.”
Once the council members heard these words, they were enraged and began to grind their teeth at Stephen. But Stephen, enabled by the Holy Spirit, stared into heaven and saw God’s majesty and Jesus standing at God’s right side. He exclaimed, “Look! I can see heaven on display and the Human One standing at God’s right side!” At this, they shrieked and covered their ears. Together, they charged at him, threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses placed their coats in the care of a young man named Saul. As they battered him with stones, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, accept my life!” Falling to his knees, he shouted, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” Then he died.
For the word of God in scripture,
for the word of God among us,
for the word of God within us,
Thanks be to God.
Music: Steal Away
Sermon: Don’t Want To Hear It
The spiritual Steal Away to Jesus was sung by enslaved people in the USA in the 1800s — both as a reminder that the suffering they were enduring now was not the full truth of their story, an affirmation that God cared for them…and also as a call to come to meetings for worship and organising and a message that underground railroad conductors would be waiting during upcoming stormy weather to help people escape. For nearly 200 years it has been a song of faith and of longing for freedom and hope — in this world and the next.
On Friday morning, I woke up to news headlines and social media stories about 13 year old Adam, who had been shot and killed by Chicago police. The police lied and said he had a gun when he did not, and they just released video showing that in fact had his hands in the air just as they had asked. Having seen a similar video of when they killed 17 year old Laquan four years ago — a boy in his last year of high school, also unarmed though they lied and said he had drugs — I knew not to watch this time, as it’s a sight that will never disappear from my memory.
Earlier in the week the headlines said that Minneapolis police had shot and killed 20 year old Daunte, just a few miles away from where another Minneapolis police officer is currently on trial for killing 46 year old George by kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes.
So many of these things happen that the responses are fairly predictable.
Of course African Americans and other people of colour in the US get yet another gut punch, they seem to come every day — reminders that their very existence inspires fear in so many, and that their lives are expendable.
While some white Americans are outraged or saddened or feel detached from the problem, many will claim that if these people would just comply with police, they would be alive. It’s hard to know where to begin with that, since the facts proclaim it to be untrue — George Floyd was handcuffed and face down on the ground, Breonna Taylor was asleep in her own bed, 13 year old Adam had his hands up…and 12 year old Tamir was killed at the playpark before the police even got out of the car to speak to him…and and and. Not to mention that being unable or unwilling to comply, especially in a split second, should not be an immediate death sentence.
On this side of the Atlantic, white people will read the headline and shake our heads in disbelief at how bad things are over there. The different roots, history, culture, and community understanding of policing make it almost impossible to understand how these things happen. So we’ll be saddened, and confused — especially those of us who live in places where police rarely carry guns. We might comment on how shocking the state of race relations is in the US. And then we’ll move on with our lives until the next incident captures a headline.
Meanwhile, here in our own nation, many people of colour will also be feeling grief and anger and solidarity, and will tell stories of experiencing racism even here where we don’t have so many weapons. They’ll be asking for our attention to our history and to the current realities of living with brown skin in a nation where in everyday conversation “traditional British” means white, and we have a variety of shorthand slurs and stereotypes at the ready for people of Asian descent, where people of colour are suffering more from Covid, where we can’t put our finger why but we just don’t like that Meghan, and we defend our statues of slave traders more than we stand up for our neighbours.
And then I read this line in Acts: “At this, they shrieked and covered their ears.”
The people who picked up their stones and threw them until Stephen’s body was battered to death didn’t want to hear what he had to say. And it didn’t matter to them that what others had said about him were lies. They could not deal with the fact that he was a foreigner who had not only turned from his ancestral Judaism to follow Jesus, but he was so charismatic and so obviously full of the Spirit that his very existence frightened them. At least he got the chance to speak first, though — a chance denied to so many today.
Stephen’s powerful teaching and his grace-filled way brought attention — not because he wanted it or sought it, but simply because some people have such gifts that the rest of us are drawn to them. They shine and we gravitate to their peace, their passion, their spirit. But some didn’t approve. Perhaps they were jealous, or maybe they thought he had risen above his station, or maybe even that this immigrant-Jew-turned-Christian-leader was making their lives complicated as Greek-speaking immigrants to Jerusalem. When their lies about him landed him in court, it says that the council could see his face was shining like an angel. You may remember that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai after speaking to God, his face shone as well, and it scared people so much that he wore a veil. The leaders of the council would certainly have remembered that story. Stephen didn’t cover up though, he stood there just as he was, comfortable in his own skin, and faced their accusation that he wanted to change things from the way Moses did them thousands of years ago.
Stephen spoke about the relationship between their common ancestors and God over a hundred generations, and pointed out that things had already changed. After all, during the time of Moses, God lived in a tent and traveled with the people in the wilderness. When David got everyone settled in peace in the land, God denied him his desire to build a permanent Temple. Eventually Solomon did build that Temple, and that was already a significant change from the way Moses did things! From a traveling God who lived close to the ground among the people, to a massive gold-plated temple with different sections for different people where God would live behind many thick stone walls…and then through the changes of the destruction of that Temple, the exile and discovery that God was with them even in a foreign land, then building a new smaller Temple…and on down to where they sat, in that second Temple, now surrounded and infused by trappings of the Roman Empire, discussing whether God could have taken on flesh in Jesus, whom thousands were now following as the Messiah.
Things had already changed. Stephen was simply inviting the people of God to catch up to what God was already doing. In some ways, it was the macro version of the micro-event that started the chapter, where we heard that the fast-growing church was becoming more diverse and didn’t quite know how to manage everything. They were committed to caring for each other and ensuring that there was no one among them in need — as we talked about in Wine and the Word on YouTube and Facebook on Thursday. But also the leaders all spoke Aramaic and some members spoke only Greek, and that meant that some of the poorer members didn’t have the language or means to speak up for themselves. So new leaders were added, to ensure that everyone would be looked after — Stephen was one of those, called and ordained to minister to people who were being overlooked. And so in the first steps toward an organisational structure, the church tried to follow where God was already at work.
But the council leaders did not want to hear about how God might be doing things that were different from the way they’d always done it. And they especially did not want to hear that from an immigrant who didn’t even speak their native tongue. Stephen called them “stubborn” and said that they set themselves against the Holy Spirit — they insisted that God could not do a new thing, and even if God did, they weren’t having any part of it.
And they didn’t want to hear this truth about themselves, or about God. They covered their ears and shrieked when he described the beauty of God’s kingdom to them….and they picked up their stones and threw them until he was quiet.
Meanwhile, a young man named Saul, who was also called Paul, held their coats and looked on, silently. Whatever he might have thought inwardly, his silence was approval enough. And he learned from them what was possible, and carried that brutality forward in the next chapter.
What is it that we don’t want to hear? Where might God be moving that we don’t want to follow, so we cling instead to our traditions and insist they can’t be changed — forgetting that they, too, were innovations once? What beautiful diversity of God’s kingdom are we missing out on because there’s no room for it in our systems and structures? And are we covering our ears because we don’t want to hear it…or silencing those stories because they disrupt our comforts…or standing by quietly while people assume we approve of their behaviour?
We don’t have to throw the stones in order to participate in the injustice. After all, someone started by lying about Stephen, and others allowed it, listened to it, shared the gossip. And even the rest of the church community seems to have pulled back, leaving Stephen out on his own — they’re nowhere to be seen in the rest of his story, he stands on his own before the council, only Jesus by his side. And no one stopped the council as they dragged Stephen out of the city. And the witnesses taught the young Saul how to handle those who challenge the old ways.
This is a story that is hard to end with “thanks be to God.” Especially when we continue to enact it, day after day. But there is good news hidden here: that God has no intention of being bound by our ways. Whether we are willing to hear it or not, God is moving beyond the structures and traditions of our churches, and our white supremacy, and our culture and language. And the Spirit is calling and gifting people — us, the Body of Christ — to follow where God is already moving and working, to change those systems that kill. Even when we don’t want to give up our conveniences and privileges, even when we don’t want to hear the harm others have suffered, even when we would rather shake our heads in dismay but not rock the boat. Stephen saw the truth: that Jesus was indeed God’s word made flesh, and his resurrection changed everything, including us…so that we can change the world. We don’t only await our chance to steal away into heaven. God offers liberation from things that bind us here — from enslavement to white supremacy, to vision constrained by nostalgia, to a false peace without justice. As the spiritual says, “I haven’t got long to stay here.” Our neighbours and siblings in Christ haven’t got long…they need us to speak up and to be faithful to God’s call now, before any more lies are told, before any more stones are thrown, before silence kills again. May we be willing to break down those ways and follow Jesus into a new way, sooner rather than later.
May it be so. Amen.
Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
Gracious God, you have been with us in every time and place.
From age to age you travel beside us,
and we are grateful for your presence and providing.
We come before you with thanks,
and with hope and concern for your world.
We lift up those who have slipped through the cracks,
overlooked, forgotten, not-quite-meeting-the-requirements.
For all who are struggling yet don’t qualify for help,
and those who are too proud to ask,
and those who feel helpless in the face of a system they can’t navigate
due to language barriers, time constraints, disability, fear, or lack of access,
we pray for your help in opening doors and smoothing paths.
We pray, too, that you would make us advocates for those in need.
Show us how our skills and gifts can serve others whom we normally might not even see.
We lift up those who are called to leadership,
in church, community, and nation.
Give them wisdom, compassion, flexibility, and an extra measure of your Spirit,
to guide us in your kingdom ways
rather than simply the way things are.
Let your grace be at work in their lives, and in ours,
visibly and tangibly,
that together we might grow in love for our neighbour and for you.
We lift up those who face violence of any kind,
from within and without.
Especially we pray for those caught in an unjust system of state violence,
facing execution or war or persecution.
May your peace fall like rain on the earth and grow from every place,
that in our homes and hearts, our lives and livelihoods, our policies and practices,
we might become people of peace.
We ask these and all things in the name of the One
who heals all division, re-members us into his Body, and renews all life:
Jesus the Christ, who taught us to pray together,
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.
Amen.
Music: Hymn 416, Christ Is Alive (Truro)
Benediction
Friends go into your week following where Christ is already working, dismantling oppression and leading us all into abundant life. And as you go, may the Spirit of God go above you to watch over you; may the Spirit of God go beside you to be your companion; may the Spirit of God go before you to show you the way and behind you to push you into places you might not go alone; and may the Spirit of God go within you, to remind you that you are loved more deeply than you can possibly imagine. May the fire of God’s love burn brightly in you, and through you into the world. Go in peace. Amen.
Announcements
* All worship is online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print) and we have also begun to meet in person, subject to the usual protocols for distancing, hand hygiene, mask wearing, and no singing yet. We can welcome 33 people for worship, so if you would like to come in person, please phone Cameron (630879) on a MONDAY afternoon between 1-3pm (note this change!), or Anne Love (07904 617283) on a Saturday morning between 10-12 to book a place.
* Young Adult Bible Study is on Zoom at 1pm, we are reading through the Gospel According to Mark. Contact Teri for login details.
* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page. Teri is leading tonight’s service, log on at 6:58pm to join in.
* The Kirk now has online giving! If you have not already set up a standing order in order to facilitate your spiritual discipline of giving, or if you would like to make an extra gift to support the ministry St. John’s does in our parish, you can give online by clicking here. If you would like to set up a standing order, please contact Peter Bennett, our treasurer, or Teri and she can give you his details. You can also send your envelopes to the church or the manse by post and we will ensure they are received. Remember: no one is coming to your door to collect your envelopes, so please stay safe!
* The theme for worship during the season of Easter is “Re-membering” — being put back together as a community, perhaps in new ways! Easter is a season that lasts 50 days, from Easter Day until Pentecost.
* Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Youtube, and to sign up for our email devotions! Midweek you can watch Wine and the Word on Youtube, pray with video devotions on Facebook, and consider a new angle on something with a devotional email. Feel free to share with your friends, too!
* The coffee money that we normally send on to the school in Venda has been exhausted. If you would like to contribute to keep our donations to the school going, please send your donations to Rab & Eileen Gowans at 38 Divert Road, PA19 1EE. Or you can contact Rab & Eileen for bank details for donations, phone 634159.
LIFE AND WORK MAY 2021
The Privilege of Democracy
Thomas Baldwin explains why churches have a key role to play in this month’s elections to the Scottish Parliament
‘A Cherished Part of the Church’s Tradition’
The Rt Hon Baron Wallace of Tankerness QC looks ahead to his year as Moderator-Designate to the 2021 General Assembly with Lynne McNeil, as he encourages elders to serve more widely in the Church of Scotland
Assembly 2021
Timetable and reports to this year’s General Assembly, which will be held online
God’s Table
The first in a new series of Bible studies by the Very Rev Dr Derek Browning, focusing on hospitality
Kirk Session Records Launched Online
More than a million pages of local Church of Scotland records have been published online for the first time
New Guild Partner Projects Unveiled
The six new three-year projects adopted by the Church of Scotland Guild
Our Planet is Changing
Val Brown of Christian Aid Scotland introduces the campaign for this year’s Christian Aid Week
Online
Visit www.lifeandwork.org for news and exclusive features, including Coronavirus Diaries from Church of Scotland mission partners across the world. You can also find us at facebook.com/lifeandwork or on Twitter @cofslifeandwork. You can now buy a single issue of Life and Work online. Visit www.lifeandwork.org/subscribe, where you will also find options to subscribe to either the print or digital magazine.
Sunday Service for 11 April 2021, Second Sunday of Easter
Sunday Service for 11 April 2021, Second Sunday of Easter
Prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson, Gourock St. John’s
Manse phone: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
To hear an audio recording of this service, including music but without communion, phone 01475 270037. Minutes should be included in your phone package.
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Call to Worship
There’s more to the story.
Whatever part we have played so far,
whoever we are and wherever we’ve been,
whether we’re certain of all the facts
or still trying to figure things out —
there’s more to God’s story.
So come to hear the others,
the perspectives and pieces, past and present.
We come to remember, and be re-membered,
that we may recognise Christ among us,
for Christ is risen, he is risen indeed!
Let us worship together.
Let us pray.
Set our hearts aflame and open our eyes,
O Risen One.
We want to hear you again,
from in the beginning to why do you look for the living among the dead?
Unfold the mysteries of scripture to us,
that when we welcome the stranger, break bread together,
care for others, or proclaim your good news,
we might find ourselves in your story,
remembering things we didn’t realise were within us all along.
Amen.
Music
Online: Hymn 414, Come you faithful raise the strain
In-person: ‘Alma Virgo’ by Hummel (organ arrangement)
Prayer of Thanksgiving for the Life of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (from the Moderator of the General Assembly)
Almighty and everlasting God, the life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field — the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But you are forever, from everlasting to everlasting, and we put our trust in you, for you have promised never to leave us nor forsake us. Loving Lord, in this last year, through the worst of a global pandemic, we’ve been face to face with our fragility and vulnerability, perhaps for some of us as never before. Against that backdrop of hurt and loss, we give you thanks for the life and service of Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh. Some are called to the front of the stage, others to supporting roles. We rejoice in the way he supported Her Majesty the Queen through all the years of her reign. We remember, too, his work supporting charities, and perhaps most memorably for young people, for over 60 years his patronage of the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme. In this hour of loss we offer our heartfelt prayers for Her Majesty, and her family. Comfort them in their loss, bind up their wounds, and grant them the consolation of a store of treasured memories. Grant Her Majesty the peace that comes from knowing you, and which passes all understanding. These and all our prayers we ask in the name of Jesus, who through his life, death, and resurrection offers us hope instead of despair, life instead of death. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Reading: Luke 24.13-35, NRSV
Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognising him. And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.’ Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognised him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
For the word of God in Scripture,
For the word of God among us,
For the word of God within us,
Thanks be to God.
Sermon: Making Sense of It All
Have you ever had the experience of trying to figure something out, but you just can’t get everything to make sense? Like you have multiple pieces of information, but they don’t seem to fit together, and no matter how much you obsess about it — or what I call “thinking about things” — it just doesn’t come together into a complete picture. So you keep thinking it over, trying to see if you’re missing a piece, or if there’s something that you thought was right but isn’t, or maybe if you just think in a different order, it’ll all work out.
Now add in grief and crushed hopes, and that’s where these disciples were, on Easter afternoon. They had a lot of information, but it didn’t make sense. And when someone joined them along their walk and invited them to talk it through out loud, they started their story with past-tense hope. They used to hope. Once they had hoped. Their hopes were dashed, left behind, and all they had was a bunch of disjointed bits that they could not for the life of them figure out.
The stranger on the road listened to them as they wrestled with their confusion — with their “besides all this” and “moreover” and “but” — and then he started the story from the beginning. He talked of God’s work through people and places and events, from the shores of the Red Sea to the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and showed how all these seemingly disparate bits fit together as pieces of the larger picture. He invited them to see themselves as part of God’s story — in a way that only the living word made flesh could do.
Before they knew it, both their journey and the story were at an end — or at least, so it seemed. The two disciples were perhaps feeling a bit less scattered than they had been before. When their companion waved goodbye at their door and stepped off into the twilight, they did what any follower of Jesus would do: they invited him in for an evening meal. They had learned well the lesson of hospitality, as they traveled the countryside two by two, visiting villages with the good news. So they insisted he come in, and together they sat down at the table.
There, around their own kitchen table, with a simple evening meal, their companion picked up the bread and did what the host usually did: he took the bread and said the blessing: “Blessed are you, O Lord our God, ruler of the universe, for you have brought forth bread from the earth.” And he broke it in pieces, and gave it to them, serving them as if it were his own table.
In that moment of broken bread, they remembered. I mean, they re – membered. They put it all back together, and they themselves became whole again as everything fell into place. Their eyes were opened and they recognised him — recognised: to understand something they had known before. They saw Jesus, right there at their own table, being the host. And though they couldn’t understand it all, that moment drew them into a deeper reality that was there all along. They remembered all the other times he had taken bread, blessed and broken it, and given it to them — with the crowd on the hillside and at home after synagogue and in the borrowed upper room. They remembered the story he had told them on the road, and with the pieces of bread in their hands, it all just…clicked. Their eyes were opened, and they recognised him.
And before they could do or say anything, he vanished from their sight.
It turned out that neither the journey nor the story had ended. Jesus was alive, but not back, if that makes sense. They wouldn’t be able to grasp onto Jesus and hold him in place and just pick up where they left off before the trauma of losing him. Just a few verses after the end of our reading today, Jesus blesses his disciples and then ascends to heaven, leaving them to do all that he taught them — to teach his word, to heal, to welcome, to challenge injustice, and to take bread, bless and break it, and share it, so that others might also see him. Jesus is alive, and leading us forward into life too — and he left us with the power of the word and the bread together, and that was enough for the disciples. They still didn’t get him back to the way things used to be, but he gave us something we can do anytime to remember and be re-membered: to hear the word and break the bread, and see. Wherever they were, at any table, they could see him. Wherever we are, at any table, we can see him.
We are inundated with more information than we can really make sense of, but the story of God’s love and providing and leading is still there for us to enter into, and it can tie together things we never thought would be part of the same big picture. There are still unexpected companions on our journeys, and there are still people who need inviting in to share a meal. And we still need to share our experiences of seeing God. Because it is in telling the story of God’s saving grace to others that the Body of Christ is able to see the fullness of God’s goodness. It took the women’s story, and Peter’s, and the two disciples who went to Emmaus, all seen together in light of the others for the truth to become clear: that Christ is alive, and brings us into new life with him. Not into our old lives, but new life. Jesus may have vanished from their sight, but he is still visible when we make him known.
When we break bread together, we are re-made, re-membered into the Body of Christ. We are the ones who live as his hands and feet in our community, we are the ones whose voices speak his word. We remember all that he did and said, and by pulling that past story into the present, we help others experience God today. If we will not act like Christ and share his word, where will people see him?
The first step into new life with Christ is that we must see him — not just a jumble of facts and moments, but a whole story God has been telling from the beginning of time and continuing on today. And we see best in the breaking of bread.
Look at your table.
Its familiar contours, that scratch on the leg, that one spot you shouldn’t lean too hard on.
Look at your table.
Everyone has a place at Christ’s table —
whether we sit at the same spot every time or have never sat at the table before.
Despite all appearances and expectations,
Christ is the host at this table — even your table.
He is the One who tells the stories,
the One who takes, blesses, breaks, and shares,
the One who knows us better than we know ourselves.
Christ is the host at your table,
at every table,
and in him all our broken pieces are re-membered into his Body.
So take your place at Christ’s table,
listen,
be fed,
and your eyes will be opened to recognise him.
Music
Online: “Let us stay together for a time” by Brian Woodcock
In person: Ave Verum by Mozart (organ arrangement)
Prayer & Lord’s Prayer
Blessed are you, O Lord our God, ruler of the universe,
for your story that makes sense of all our lives.
In the beginning, you called for yourself
a people and promised life abundant.
When we turned away from you,
you spoke through prophets and priests,
foreign kings and servant girls,
and then you sent your Word become flesh,
living and real and for us.
We give you thanks for the many ways
Jesus showed us how to follow you,
eating with sinners, touching the outcast,
loving all.
After you raised him from the dead,
making everything different by the power of your love,
he promised your Spirit to go with us as we proclaim the good news
that you have triumphed over death,
that life and love have the last word.
And now we wait to feel again the movement of your Holy Spirit,
giving gifts and expecting us to use them.
We look around at your world,
praying for eyes to see and ears to hear you—
in the face of the stranger,
the tears of the refugee,
the love of our pets,
the fear of our neighbours,
the pain of our friends,
the laughter of children.
And when we have seen, give us courage to speak and act
as witnesses to your presence, your love, your good news.
Where there is despair, make us beacons of hope.
Where there is suffering, make us your healing hands.
Where there is violence, make us creators of justice and peace.
We give you thanks for your unending love for us,
and for your gift of broken bread, for you are host even at our own tables.
We pray you would make yourself known to us, and through us.
Make us again into your Body, witnesses to your good news,
loving, serving, and caring for your world.
We pray in the name of our Risen Lord Jesus the Christ,
who taught us to pray together…
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.
Amen.
Music (online only): Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord
Benediction
Go into your week to make Christ visible through your actions and words, sharing your story of encountering God so that all may see the love of God through you. And as you go, may the Spirit of God go above you to watch over you; may the Spirit of God go beside you to be your companion; may the Spirit of God go before you to show you the way and behind you to push you into places you might not go alone; and may the Spirit of God go within you, to remind you that you are loved more deeply than you can possibly imagine. May the fire of God’s love burn brightly in you, and through you into the world. Go in peace. Amen.
Announcements
* All worship is online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print) and we have also begun to meet in person, subject to the usual protocols for distancing, hand hygiene, mask wearing, and no singing yet. We can welcome 33 people for worship, so if you would like to come in person, please phone Cameron (630879) on a MONDAY afternoon between 1-3pm (note this change!), or Anne Love (07904 617283) on a Saturday morning between 10-12 to book a place.
* Young Adult Bible Study is on Zoom at 1pm, we are reading through the Gospel According to Mark. Contact Teri for login details.
* The Kirk now has online giving! If you have not already set up a standing order in order to facilitate your spiritual discipline of giving, or if you would like to make an extra gift to support the ministry St. John’s does in our parish, you can give online by clicking here. If you would like to set up a standing order, please contact Peter Bennett, our treasurer, or Teri and she can give you his details. You can also send your envelopes to the church or the manse by post and we will ensure they are received. Remember: no one is coming to your door to collect your envelopes, so please stay safe!
* The theme for worship during the season of Easter is “Re-membering” — being put back together as a community, perhaps in new ways! Easter is a season that lasts 50 days, from Easter Day until Pentecost.
* Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Youtube, and to sign up for our email devotions! Midweek you can watch Wine and the Word on Youtube, pray with video devotions on Facebook, and consider a new angle on something with a devotional email. Feel free to share with your friends, too!
The coffee money that we normally send on to the school in Venda has been exhausted. If you would like to contribute to keep our donations to the school going, please contact Rab & Eileen for bank details for donations, phone 634159.
Sunday Service for 4 April 2021, Easter morning
Sunday Service for 4 April 2021, Easter Day
Prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson, Gourock St. John’s
Manse phone: 632143, Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
To hear an audio recording of this service, including music, call 01475 270037. Minutes should be included in your phone plan for landline numbers.
Today’s video service was recorded at sunrise from Tower Hill. There is no manuscript. However, the sermon from the Easter Eve service and the sermon for the 11am service are both printed below, for those who would like to read them, as neither service was recorded. They are both following the same text, Luke 24.1-12.
Easter Eve message: “Remember”
It’s such an interesting question — “why do you look for the living among the dead?” The short answer, of course, is that they weren’t looking for the living. They were looking for the dead. Going to the grave to pay their respects, as so many of us do. They had prepared everything, and gone out at the first possible opportunity — walking through the valley of the shadow of death as they navigated the pre-dawn shadows outside the city gates. They were doing the same thing that thousands of people have done this year — just a handful of them, still in shock from something that should not have happened, gathering to grieve in a way that they never imagined.
When the men at the open tomb said “he is not here, but has risen” I imagine their minds could not comprehend the words. What could that mean?
Then they said — remember?
Remember.
Look back, and draw those moments together into the present. The meaning of all those teachings, and healings, and meals, comes together in this moment. All the pieces from the past, the promises of God’s faithfulness, the reminders of God’s call, the bread and wine, the sermons in the boats, the calmed storms, the blind who see and the lame who walk and the outcast who are included…when we re-member, put it together, we see the truth that has been there all along: that God was in Christ, bringing us into the kingdom even now…and of course God cannot be defeated by the empire or by death or by anything else. There is nothing that can separate us from Love, and God’s love was certainly not going to be stopped by a tomb.
The women ran back with this news — they remembered, and that gave them strength to see and live anew. In remembering, they too were re-membered, put back together. All the broken pieces that shattered on Friday were re-made and the breath of life was flowing through them.
The other disciples were still in the shadowed valley. They hadn’t gone to do the grieving, and they were stuck…they thought this was silly women being delirious. It would take some time for them to remember, and to be re-membered. The women faithfully told the story, putting pieces together. They may not have understood it all, but they trusted that Jesus’ word was true.
Isn’t that how all of us are, really? We don’t understand it. We expect the shadows of death to hold our grief and confusion and hearing the words “he has been raised” contradicts everything we’ve ever experienced. But if we can remember…and trust…we may just find ourselves telling an unexpected story of life and love and grace and light that changes everything.
Easter morning 11am sermon: “Goo”
I have mentioned before about perhaps my favourite ever podcast episode, when I learned what happens to caterpillars once they build themselves a chrysalis. The caterpillar spins its cocoon and then, basically…dissolves into goo, and is entirely re-made into a butterfly. Scientists discovered that somehow, though, butterflies retain memories of their caterpillar life…and they also discovered that if you were to dissect a caterpillar, you would be able to see the structure of future butterfly wings tucked up under the skin. So a caterpillar already contains the seeds of what will be…and a butterfly remembers things from its past…even though in between it’s just a slimy sticky pot of goo.
I have been thinking a lot about that story this week, because it feels a little bit like what happened that first Easter morning. The women and the other disciples had experienced the worst possible trauma, watching their friend be tortured and killed, all their hopes and dreams dying along with him. Everything they thought they knew was sealed up in a tomb, and they retreated behind closed doors during the Sabbath. With the curtains drawn and the door locked, it was the perfect time to fall apart, to dissolve into tears and let the grief wash over them, because soon they would need to pull it together and attend to the details.
They must have still been feeling a bit fragile, a bit gooey, even, when the women left the house in the morning darkness. The men stayed in, leaving the women to do the dirty work of tending to the dead. Perhaps they weren’t ready to venture out yet, to show the depths of their grief, or perhaps they were still asleep after the trauma of the past few days, or perhaps they just assumed it was women’s work — though they could have at least come along to move the stone! In any case, it’s the women who moved silently through the shadows when the sun was still just below the horizon. And it’s the women who got the shock of their lives when they reached the tomb.
When the men in dazzling clothes spoke, their question was ridiculous. Why do you look for the living among the dead? Well….because they’re looking for the dead, that’s why. But then the instruction the men give points them to the future by way of the past: remember.
Though you’ve felt all dissolved and like nothing can ever be the same again, remember. Reach back through the goo, through the veil of tears, through the fog of grief, and remember. Call up his face and hear his voice echoing in your mind. Remember what he told you — along the road, around the table, in the boat, amidst the crowds. Remember what he did — touching the bodies of the blind and sick, speaking words of healing from afar, restoring community. Remember.
And they remembered his words.
In that moment, when they remembered, it was as if they were being re-made too — from the dissolved pool of goo that was left of their former life, something new and beautiful was born. They trusted that the frame of what would be in the future was already in them before, just like the wings of the butterfly are built in to the caterpillar.
So the women ran back to tell the other disciples…and they weren’t quite ready to hear it. They assumed that the women were wild with grief, not thinking straight, talking nonsense.
My first reaction always is something like — of course they thought the women were just being hysterical and ridiculous, because no one ever believes what women say. But also, to be fair, it’s a pretty outrageous thing they’re saying this time. The idea that someone would be raised from the dead was indeed nonsense. Even today, we know all too well the reality that death is irreversible. Our faith tells us that death does not have the last word, but that doesn’t make it hurt less in the moment…and the other disciples didn’t have that faith yet, it was brand new that morning.
Those disciples who hadn’t been at the tomb at dawn had to rely on the stories told by others. The testimony of those witnesses would be the pieces they needed to also put the bigger picture together, to remember and so be re-membered themselves. The women’s story of trust and renewal could be what would kickstart their own re-making out of the goo of grief, helping them remember what Jesus had said and done so they could see the wings just under the surface and grow into something beautiful and new.
That morning, they couldn’t do it. They couldn’t allow the story to be true, whether because of grief or because they thought they knew better. But ultimately, we need each others’ stories of faith. We need to hear about encounters with the Living God, because hearing those stories help us to remember, and to look forward. We may not be able to see every angle ourselves, but listening to others gives us a clearer glimpse of the picture. That also means we need to be ready, like the women, to share our stories! To tell others what we have seen, even if it’s more about trust than full understanding — that’s what will make it possible for others to move through the goo toward new life as well. It takes all of us, sharing and listening, to be the Body of Christ, to grow together and keep the good news moving through the world.
Whatever stage we’re at — caterpillar, goo, butterfly; women on the way to the tomb, or remembering and being re-membered, or other disciples uncertain how to make sense of these stories, or dazzling messengers pointing others forward through the old stories — hear this good news. God has planted within us what we are meant to be. It’s already in us. And remembering Jesus, God’s word made flesh, and how he embodied God’s kingdom, his teaching and healing and companionship, his death and his resurrection, is how we become who God made us to be — it’s how we are re-membered, put back together into something more beautiful than we could have imagined before.
May it be so. Amen.
Announcements
* All worship is online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print) and we have also begun to meet in person, subject to the usual protocols for distancing, hand hygiene, mask wearing, and no singing yet. We can welcome 33 people for worship, so if you would like to come in person, please phone Cameron (630879) on a Friday morning between 10-12, or Anne Love (07904 617283) on a Saturday morning between 10-12 to book a place.
***Easter weekend will have two services: An Easter Vigil on Saturday evening at 8:30pm, and Easter Sunday morning at 11am. The same booking procedure applies to both services. An Easter service will also be available on our recording ministry by phoning 01475 270037 anytime after 11am on Easter morning.
* The Kirk now has online giving! If you have not already set up a standing order in order to facilitate your spiritual discipline of giving, or if you would like to make an extra gift to support the ministry St. John’s does in our parish, you can give online by clicking here. If you would like to set up a standing order, please contact Peter Bennett, our treasurer, or Teri and she can give you his details. You can also send your envelopes to the church or the manse by post and we will ensure they are received. Remember: no one is coming to your door to collect your envelopes, so please stay safe!
* The theme for worship during the season of Easter is “Re-membering” — being put back together as a community, perhaps in new ways!
* Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Youtube, and to sign up for our email devotions! Midweek you can watch Wine and the Word on Youtube, pray with video devotions on Facebook, and consider a new angle on something with a devotional email. Feel free to share with your friends, too!
* Evening Prayer with Connect will be led by all three Connect clergy this evening. Join us on the Connect Facebook Page at 6:58pm.
***The coffee money that we normally send on to the school in Venda has been exhausted. If you would like to contribute to keep our donations to the school going, please contact Rab & Eileen for bank details for donations, phone 634159.
Sunday Service for 28 March 2021, Palm Sunday
Sunday Service for 28 March 2021, Palm Sunday
Prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson, Gourock St. John’s
Manse phone: 632143, Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
To hear an audio recording of this service, including music, call 01475 270037. Minutes should be included in your phone plan for landline numbers.
Young adult bible study is on Zoom at 1. If you or someone you know would like login details, please contact Teri.
The last session of our Lent Study will be online this Wednesday. Each day throughout the week we are learning about various people of faith through the ages on Lent Madness, and then on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 we will gather on Zoom to go more in depth about them and what we can learn from their faithfulness to help us on our own journeys with Christ. If you know someone who needs the details to join by audio only (by phone) please contact Teri for the details.
~~~
Call to Worship and Recognition
All creation reverberates with the Truth —
the very stones would shout!
Not just for one nation, but for every nation,
God’s promise comes to fruition,
even now.
Come, tune your life to the praise
of mountain and colt and stone,
preparing for the One who changes everything:
The King is coming!
Will we recognise him?
Recognise —
To see or understand something we have known before
A place we have been
A person we have met
A word we have heard
Sometimes we forget, sometimes we’ve been away for a while,
sometimes it was crowded out, sometimes we didn’t want to recall
but when the moment of recognition comes, it is just that:
Re – cognition. Knowing again.
In the beginning, God made humankind in God’s image.
In the beginning, God breathed into dust and ashes, and we came to life.
Along the way, God spoke, filling our ears with promise.
Along the way, God wrote the word on our hearts.
Yet we have forgotten, we’ve turned away for a while, we got busy, we didn’t want to recall.
We went our own way —
the way of the to-do list that can’t be set aside
the way of easy judgmental answers that put some out while we’re in
the way of accepting that wholeness, shalom, is an impossible, naive dream
the way of overlooking things that make us uncomfortable
the way of silencing those who do not fit our ideal
the way of self-sufficiency and self-preservation
The whole time, You have been here.
The whole time, You have been speaking, calling to us.
In the word, in the flesh, in our neighbour, in the stranger, in our hearts, in our communities,
you have been here all along,
and we have not recognised you.
Show us your way again, Lord.
Remind us of what we have forgotten, turned away from, crowded out, ignored.
Give us hearts and minds to recognise you,
wherever you reveal yourself today
We ask in the name of Jesus the Christ, who taught us to pray together,
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.
Amen.
Hymn: Hosanna (Praise is Rising) by Paul Baloche
Luke 19:29-48, NRSV
When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just say this: “The Lord needs it.”’ So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’ Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,
‘Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!’
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’
As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognised on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognise the time of your visitation from God.’
Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, ‘It is written,
“My house shall be a house of prayer”;
but you have made it a den of robbers.’
Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.
Let us pray.
The crowds shout with joy,
and we are caught up in the moment,
singing and praising,
for we have indeed seen wondrous powerful things.
We bless you, O God,
for coming among us and drawing us to yourself.
We bless you for the truth of your story —
as you promised, so it has been and will be.
We bless you for the closeness of our connection with you,
and we pray for that same care and love within your Body,
as we learn again how to live in your different kind of kingdom.
Amen.
Sermon: Disruption
Today is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week, the week that leads up to Good Friday and then on to Easter. This is the week when the conflict comes to a head between who Jesus is, what he does, what he represents — the kingdom of God come near, in the flesh — and the powers of the world who want to maintain the status quo, to do everything according to their version of normal.
Luke’s version of Palm Sunday is a bit different than the other gospels — first of all, there are no palms! And second, no one shouts “Hosanna”!
Instead Luke tells us about people laying their cloaks down to line the road, and the crowd shouting “peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”
Does that sound familiar?
Remember way back, in the fields on Christmas night, the message the angels gave to the shepherds? Glory and peace. Peace to those who were frightened by the reality of God in their midst — there in the occupied territory, among the poor, in the midst of an oppressive regime. Glory to God, and peace.
That night the angels sang their song to terrified shepherds, who then ran into town to see if it was true, to see if there really was a baby wrapped in old clothes lying in a manger, who would change the world.
Today, some of the Pharisees tried to stop the joyful noise of the disciples who echoed the angels, proclaiming God’s glory and peace to a people living under occupation, longing for a different way yet unable to see how it could be.
And then Jesus looked at the city, at the Temple, at the centre of his people’s world, and wept, for they did not recognise the things that make for peace.
They did not recognise the things that make for peace.
They did not recognise the presence of God in their midst.
They did not recognise that the way they’d always done things was obscuring God’s new call.
They did not recognise the kingdom of God was at hand, and it was different. It wasn’t a nationalistic military power with waving palms and titles and flags and a bigger arsenal. It wasn’t business as usual where those who participated in injustice the rest of the week could simply pretend the hour they spent in the Temple made it alright, as if it was the robbers’ safe haven. It wasn’t going to be possible to live in God’s new kingdom with only the old ways of seeing, and being, and doing that the leaders used to uphold their position in the institution.
At Christmas we proclaimed that God was with us, the prince of peace. Throughout Jesus’ ministry we have seen him show us what it means that the kingdom of God is here, now, being fulfilled in him: the blind see, the sick are healed, the poor get good news, the hungry are fed, and jubilee makes justice possible. When he entered the Temple he removed those who made a place of prayer into a marketplace. Yet when the angels song echoed through the voices of the disciples, all the leaders could hear was disruption. Disruption of their good life, their ease and normality, their comfort and position. And they tried to silence it, because they would rather live with the evil they know and that benefits them, than to step into the unknown even if it is toward the kingdom of God.
That’s the challenge, isn’t it? That so often we are constrained by the ways we’ve been taught, the way things have always been. We want “normal” so badly that we forget that it doesn’t actually work — it doesn’t work for the environment, it doesn’t work for those who are kept poor, it doesn’t work for those who are excluded, it doesn’t work for those who happen to be born in different coloured skin or differently abled bodies or in other parts of the world from here. We have tried to address some of that injustice but the reality is that we are caught in the trap of thinking we can change things with the same methods that got us where we are. The system is designed for the results it is getting…and the only way change happens is to disrupt the way things are.
If only we recognised the things that make for peace. And when we won’t learn the ways of peace, Jesus tells us that war and suffering and destruction is the inevitable result.
What if disruption is the thing that makes for peace? Not just any disruption, but the disruption of Jesus. He stepped into this world and insisted that power could look different, that justice was possible, that feeding each other and touching the outcast and creating a community from all sorts of people from all walks of life was what God’s kingdom would look like. He stretched out his arms and gave his life because God is love, and he invited us to abide in love and so to abide in God. His way is a different economic set-up, his life is a deeper relationship with God and each other, his truth that God is with us will set us free.
If only we recognised that God is in our midst. If only we saw the image of God. If only we cared enough about it to serve rather than be served.
It’s no wonder the people were spellbound by his teaching, and no wonder his disciples shouted with joy when he came into the city, proclaiming all the incredible things they had seen. Jesus painted a compelling picture of what abundant life in God’s kingdom is like — and he didn’t just talk about it, he embodied it, the Word made flesh. He offered a truth our hearts recognise even if our minds refuse.
So it’s no wonder the leaders wanted to silence them.
But God’s good news cannot be silenced. The voice that said “let there be light” is the voice that said “love your neighbour” is the voice that said “I will write my word on their hearts” is the voice that said “this is my Son, the beloved” is the voice that said “today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” is the voice that said “you give them something to eat” is the voice that said “the first shall be last and the last shall be first” is the voice that calmed the sea saying “peace, be still” is the voice that said “this person is a child of Abraham” is the voice that said “the greatest among you must be your servant” is the voice that said “the stones would shout.”
This is the voice that will say “this is my body, given for you.” And the one that will say “into your hands I commend my spirit.” And the one that will meet us on the road to tell us stories we thought we knew.
Even the stones underfoot, the stones of the city walls, the stone in front of the tomb, proclaim the unfathomable grace of God.
Surely even hearts of stone can recognise this voice, can recognise the things that make for peace, can recognise God in our midst…and allow his disruption to change us, and so to change the world.
May it be so. Amen.
Musical Reflection: What Wondrous Love Is This
The Stones Shout Out
Take your stone in your hand. Look at it, turn it over, feel its contours, its weight, its shape.
If these stones could speak…
Would they tell us tales of being washed by the waves,
of being skipped over the surface of the water by children,
of being sniffed by dogs and serving as a perch for seagulls?
Would they tell us tales of being tumbled in the sea,
or of being pressed and pressed some more in the depths of the earth,
hot and cold,
bearing more than we can imagine?
Would they tell us tales of their past as sand or lime or lava?
Would they reveal the words God spoke in the beginning,
to bring them forth from the depths and fashion them into these colours and shapes?
Would we hear about the boulders they once were part of,
moving through the mountains and valleys to where we find them today?
If these stones could speak…
we might hear of times long past
we might hear of places far and near
we might get a different perspective…
Stones have been building blocks for buildings,
housing the joys and sorrows of everyday life,
the complexities of governing,
the mysteries of faith,
soaking up words and sounds and smells,
being carved by artists and visitors and children.
Stones have been the building blocks for roads,
carrying people here and there —
merchants and kings and fishermen and teachers,
women and men and children and animals and carts and cars.
Stones have been the building blocks of both war and peace,
thrown in anger,
stacked into walls,
built into sanctuaries for human and animal alike,
painted to share joy.
What stories these stones could tell!
Listen.
Hold your stone and listen —
Jesus says that when our voices are silent, the stones will shout.
The whole of creation reverberates with his good news:
The kingdom of God is among you!
The stones have seen kingdoms come and go,
yet still they hold the truth of the very beginning:
God’s word that created all things still runs through the heart of creation.
Listen to the stories the stone will tell,
the gospel it holds:
Jesus the Christ brings God’s kingdom here.
Let us join in welcoming him.
During this week, decorate your stone with an Easter message — perhaps a picture of an empty tomb, or an empty cross, or perhaps simply “christ is risen” or “alleluia”, or whatever message you think the stone wants to shout out today! When your stone is ready, take it on a walk and put it somewhere for someone else to find for Easter — the stones shout out the good news even when we can’t sing aloud!
You can use a Sharpie marker to decorate your stone, or paint. If you would like to use paint pens (very easy to use!), there are paint pens behind the door of the manse. Feel free to borrow a couple and then return them to the “used” cup, and I will disinfect them to be used by others.
Hymn 370: Ride On by John L Bell & Graham Maule
Benediction
Friends, listen for the good news of this Holy Week — that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends, and Jesus not only shows us the way but is the way. As you proclaim that good news with your decorated stone and with your life, may the Spirit of God go above you to watch over you; may the Spirit of God go beside you to be your companion; may the Spirit of God go before you to show you the way and behind you to push you into places you might not go alone; and may the Spirit of God go within you, to remind you that you are loved more deeply than you can possibly imagine. May the fire of God’s love burn brightly in you, and through you into the world. Go in peace. Amen.
Announcements
* All worship is online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print) and we have also begun to meet in person, subject to the usual protocols for distancing, hand hygiene, mask wearing, and no singing yet. We can welcome 33 people for worship, so if you would like to come in person, please phone Cameron (630879) on a Friday morning between 10-12, or Anne Love (07904 617283) on a Saturday morning between 10-12 to book a place.
***Easter weekend will have two services: An Easter Vigil on Saturday evening at 8:30pm, and Easter Sunday morning at 11am. The same booking procedure applies to both services. An Easter service will also be available on our recording ministry by phoning 01475 270037 anytime after 11am on Easter morning.
* The Kirk now has online giving! If you have not already set up a standing order in order to facilitate your spiritual discipline of giving, or if you would like to make an extra gift to support the ministry St. John’s does in our parish, you can give online by clicking here. If you would like to set up a standing order, please contact Peter Bennett, our treasurer, or Teri and she can give you his details. You can also send your envelopes to the church or the manse by post and we will ensure they are received. Remember: no one is coming to your door to collect your envelopes, so please stay safe!
* The theme for worship during the season of Lent is “Recognition” — a word which means “understanding something we previously knew/have seen before.” God has written the covenant in our hearts, and we have heard Jesus’ teaching before…where do we recognise him in our daily lives, what lessons is he reminding us about when he tells his parables, and how do we return our way to the way he has faithfully laid out for us, time and again?
* Each day of Lent — 40 days not including Sundays — I will be posting a video on our Facebook page about “Faith in 40 Objects” — household things that can inform our faith journey, depending on how we look at them!
* Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Youtube, and to sign up for our email devotions! Midweek you can watch Wine and the Word on Youtube, pray with video devotions on Facebook, and consider a new angle on something with a devotional email. Feel free to share with your friends, too!
* Evening Prayer with Connect will be led by David this evening. Join us on the Connect Facebook Page at 6:58pm.
***The coffee money that we normally send on to the school in Venda has been exhausted. If you would like to contribute to keep our donations to the school going, please contact Rab & Eileen for bank details for donations, phone 634159.