Sunday service 9 July 2023

Sunday 9 July 2023
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143 
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland (dot) org (dot) uk

Prelude Music

Welcome and Announcements

Call to Worship (bold lines to be sung to Old Hundredth)
We are a family, gathered in love to worship —
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
We are blessed and called to be a blessing:
to the broken-hearted as to the joyful,
in compassion and help, in praise and prayer.
Praise Christ all creatures here below!
God breathed life into the world, and called us to strive for justice and joy.
Praise Holy Spirit, evermore!
We aren’t perfect, but in this is love —
not that we loved God, but that God loved us first.
Praise Triune God whom we adore!
Standing on God’s promises and trusting the Spirit’s leading,
we worship and we share the hope of God’s kingdom.

Sanctuary Hymn 198 vv 1 & 5: Let Us Build A House

Prayer
You are God of all —
all times and seasons, all people and places,
every generation and every moment.
We thank you for gathering your people together in love,
creating us to be family.
We confess that sometimes we forget we’re meant to be together,
and we assume that some have more to offer than others.
Forgive us when we leave some people on the sidelines,
dismissing them because they’re too young, too different, too…something.
We confess that we know your Spirit’s voice,
and we hear her calling us to join your work,
and that we have been so overwhelmed we just stopped listening.
Forgive us when we think we have to do it on our own,
ignoring the gifts others offer and the fact we are part of your Body.
We confess that we love the idea of being the hands and feet of Jesus,
until we remember the places he went and people he served and things he did.
Forgive us when we withhold love, joy, and generosity
because we want to decide who is worthy to receive.
We know we are not perfect, O God.
We are a work in progress,
and sometimes we are the ones standing in the way of that progress,
other times we are so desperate to move forward we want to skip past the hard work.
Forgive us, and in your mercy bring us once again into fullness of relationship with you.
Help us to trust your leading,
to stand firm in your promise,
to be bearers of your good news,
and to live for your glory.
We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Online hymn: Build Your Kingdom Here
Sanctuary Hymn 342: Says Jesus, ‘Come and Gather Round’

Sanctuary Children’s Time
(Hymn 504, starts on sol)
Two little fishes, five loaves of bread,
five thousand people by Jesus were fed.
This is what happened when one little lad
gladly gave Jesus all that he had.
All that I have, all that I have,
I will give Jesus all that I have.

Reading: John 6.1-14 (New Living Translation)
After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.) Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.
Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!”
Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”
“Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!”

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: full
Here we are in the fourth telling of this story — it’s easy to see how over the decades of telling stories of Jesus, lots of different perspectives were shared! By the time John wrote this one down, it had been maybe 25 or 30 years since Mark wrote his, and maybe even as long as 70 years since it happened. Like anything, our perspective changes the way we tell the story, and having four different perspectives on this one story really helps us get a fuller picture.

There are a few differences you may have noticed, if you’ve been here the last few weeks. The timing is different — John mentions Passover, and nothing about either John’s death or the 12 disciples being sent out on their mission. They weren’t trying to get away, they were just going about their business and the crowd was curious because of all the healings, and following them. And John is clear that Jesus sat down with the 12, and the crowd came up and gathered round. And in one of the bits that’s most different, John explicitly says that Jesus knows what he’s going to do, but the disciples don’t. But you can still hear the same panic in their voices like in the other gospels though: “even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money!” Even when Andrew introduces a new character — a boy who has perhaps overheard Jesus and Philip, and offers his own packed lunch to help — he does so with a note of despair: “what good is that when this crowd is so huge?”

You all know already what I think about the idea of saying “what good is that” when we bring something to Jesus! But to Andrew’s credit, even though he thought it was pointless, he listened to the wee boy, and he took him seriously enough to bring him to Jesus — something we often don’t do. We dismiss the young along with their gifts: “what good is that when we’re trying to solve a grown up problem?” But Andrew didn’t scoff and send him away, he didn’t set up a separate room with kids activities, he didn’t suggest he come back when he was older and better able to sit still and understand. He brought the boy and his lunchbox to Jesus, despite his own doubts, and that was the start of a sharing that must have gone on for hours. The one small gift shared, the tiniest amount of hope in the face of a big challenge, kept multiplying and multiplying as it passed from hand to hand.

And it was enough.

One of my favourite things about the way this translation tells John’s version of this event is the phrase “And they all ate as much as they wanted.”

As much as they wanted!!

Now that may not sound like anything unusual to us. Most of us are probably accustomed to eating all that we want, and maybe even more. But in the first century — indeed, in most of human history, including many places still today — the vast majority of people would never have eaten as much as they wanted. They would have eaten what was available, which was usually not enough. Most people living in a subsistence peasant society would have never, or maybe only once or twice in their lives, feasted in a way that we eat every day, until they were full and literally did not want any more.

On this day, when a child shared what he had, and an adult took it seriously, and Jesus blessed it and passed it round, they all — ALL of them — ate as much as they wanted. And only after EVERYONE was full — FULL! — they gathered up what was left and it was enough to take home and share with others.

What else could work that way?

Sure, most of us can eat as much as we want every day. There are definitely people in the world who can’t. There are people in our own neighbourhood who can’t. And we should be talking more about the injustice of that — that there are hundreds of families in Inverclyde who need the food bank, and it’s so important that we donate to the food bank, yes, and it’s also important that we find ways to change the system so our neighbours aren’t starving themselves while we stuff ourselves.

But aside from food, what else do we ration out, and can’t even really imagine the miracle of having as much as we want?

What if we had all the love we wanted, not just a little here and there but enough that we leaned back and said “I’m so full!”
What if we had all the friendship, all the kindness, all the justice we wanted, and we actually got full…
What if we took in all the hope we could hold, if we were stuffed with hope, and when we looked around, there was actually still plenty to share?

Can you even imagine being so hopeful — so full of hope — that you thought “I’m so full…do you want the rest of mine?”

Perhaps the first step to having enough hope that we have plenty to share is the same as the first step Andrew takes in this story…to listen to the young people and take seriously what they have to offer.

The younger generations are the ones who will have to live with the world we leave them, and yet somehow they still have hope things can be better, they still bring their gifts and talents and skills to the table…often only to be pushed away or ignored by those of us who “understand how the world works” and who hold all the power in society and business and government and church.

But what if we, who have been overheard in our panic of not knowing how to address the massive challenges in front of us, invited the young people to share what they have…and we took it seriously enough to actually do something with it?

Not just “oh it’s so good to have you here” or laughing at their cuteness, or saying “we’ll take that on board” while quietly putting it to one side, but actually listening and bringing the young people and Jesus together to see what they might do?

There’s a risk, of course. John’s telling of the story is a little different in another way: once Andrew brings the boy to Jesus, the disciples are kind of…well…cut out of the story until it’s time to pack up the leftovers. They bring the child to Jesus, and then Jesus and the boy get on with it. It’s Jesus himself who hands out the bread here, unlike the other three gospels where he gives it to the disciples to give to the people. The very same disciples who were panicking about what THEY were going to do end up on the sideline while the miracle happens around them, and then they come back in to take it to the next step of sharing beyond the day.

Would we be willing to facilitate an encounter between young people and Jesus, and then step out of the way and let them crack on while we stand on the sideline? We like our illusion of control. We want to be sure people know it was us that did this, so we keep our hand in everything, making sure it fits our traditions and our brand before letting it get out the door. But If there’s going to be enough hope to fill everyone up, as much as we want and can hold, and then still have plenty to share the next day, that may be what we need to do. Those of us who think we know how things work may have to step out of the way and let the young people who haven’t yet learned to be cynical or despairing about their own gifts, the people who are still brimming with naive idealistic hope, take the lead. We can stand ready to offer support in spreading it farther and wider, picking up the pieces and taking them to the next place.

In the spirit of all the different perspectives we’ve seen over the four gospels’ tellings of this story…one last perspective shift could take us back to the idea we talked about four weeks ago when we first read this story: what if we are the bread, the hope, the love, that passes from the hands of Jesus into the hands of the world, meant to be shared…and though we may be only a few, actually that’s all Jesus needs to give everyone not just a taste but a feast? It so often feels like we are not enough. We look at ourselves and we believe Andrew’s question: what good is that? But then…passed from the hand of the child to the hands of Jesus, when the panicked disciples stand aside…something happens. Maybe we don’t look any bigger, we’re still just the size of a packed lunch. But we are different, on the inside, and just like we learned last week with the chocolate easter egg at children’s time, a blessing has to be broken open to be shared. And from hand to hand, the more we share the hope of God’s kingdom, the more we are the hope of God’s kingdom…where there’s enough for everyone to have as much as they want, and more to share…and more, too.

May it be so. Amen.

Hymn 543: Christ Be Our Light

Offering (Sanctuary only)

Sanctuary Offering Response 557 verse 1
O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee:
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depths its flow
may richer, fuller be.

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Loving God, we place ourselves in your hands,
grateful for the ways you hold us close,
carry us when we are weary,
and lift us up when we are down.
We offer ourselves to you,
trusting you will hold us gently when we are hurting,
and push us on when we are hesitating.
We thank you for your comfort for those who suffer,
and your protection for those who are vulnerable,
and your strength for those who are weak.
In your hands, may all know themselves beloved members of your family.
We ask for your blessing to fill your world, God.
For there to be so much blessing going in,
that our only option is to share.
We pray for your justice to roll down like a mighty river,
for your peace to flow into every nook and cranny between people,
for your love to soften every heart,
for your hope to infuse every mind and colour all our thoughts and actions,
for your grace to fall like rain and water this weary world.
For all those places where there is violence or fear or hate,
where the creation groans and suffers,
where everything feels an uphill climb and there’s no relief in sight…
May your blessing fill the world to overflowing,
so there is no longer room for hate, or greed, or despair.
Change the world by blessing it, Lord.
We pray for your Church,
and ask for you to break our hearts for what breaks yours,
to break our tight grip of control,
to break open the closed circles of your church and make room for others,
to break us out of the traps we have set for ourselves.
You have shown us that there’s plenty and more than enough,
that your Church is like yeast, like a mustard seed, like just a few loaves,
seemingly small in the eyes of the world
yet capable of more than we can imagine,
if only we will open up and share.
Give us courage to face the breaking open,
faith enough to move out of the way when you are calling others forward,
and trust that in your hands, all things are possible.
And we pray for the sharing at the heart of your call, loving God.
Send us out to love as we have been loved,
to bless as we have been blessed.
As we carry your word and your love,
may we be agents of your grace,
and may we discover there is more than enough to go around.
Make us bold to share the hope of your kingdom far and wide.
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.

Sanctuary Hymn: Build Your Kingdom here (praise band)

Benediction
The writer and former Czech president Vaclav Havel once said, “Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
This is hope that requires us to get out of the way and trust: to be certain that sharing the kingdom of God makes sense, even if we don’t understand how it can work. Go to live in this hope.
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. Amen.

Sung Benediction Response (John L Bell, tune Gourock St John’s)
Now may the Lord of all be blessed,
Now may Christ’s gospel be confessed,
Now may the Spirit when we meet
Bless sanctuary and street.

Postlude Music
 

Announcements

* Registration is open for St John’s Summer Exploratorium, our new summer holiday club for P1- P7 children, will be from 24-28 July, 9am – 1pm. More information and registration will be available soon. If you would be interested in helping with advance preparation (decorating, advertising, etc), or during the week in the kitchen (breakfast club from 8:30am, or lunch), or during the week with the programme (which requires being added to our Safeguarding/PVG register), please speak to Teri or Graham Bolster.

* Starter Packs are short of kitchen roll, children’s & adult shampoo, and tea bags. The FoodBank are short of biscuits, UHT milk, tinned fruit, and tinned meats. You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!

* You can read all about the latest from the school in Venda by downloading their new newsletter, complete with stories and photos! Just click here!

* We worship in the sanctuary on Sundays at 11am, and all Sunday worship is also online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print). If you are able, please enter by the front door in Bath street, and only those who need step-free access should use the back door. If you feel unwell, please worship online, to protect both yourself and others in our community.

* Did you know that the ministry we do at St John’s costs about £2700 per week? Everything we do is funded by your generous giving — all our support for young people, older people, bereavement care, community outreach, worship, study, spiritual growth, and community work is because of your offering. If you would like to 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 Teri and she can give you the treasurer’s details. You can also send your envelopes to the church or the manse by post and we will ensure they are received. 
It is also possible to donate to the work of the new parish assistant, speak to Anne Love about how to go about directing new donations to that new item in the budget.

*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!

* Wednesday Evening Bible Study is on a summer break!

* Young Adult Bible Study is on a summer break!

* The 2nd Gourock Boys Brigade anniversary Grand Charity Ball will be Saturday 9th September 6.00 for 6.30pm in Greenock Town Hall. Tickets priced £50 or £500 for a table of 10 are available now! We are delighted to announce that every penny raised from ticket sales and our charity auction on the evening will go directly to our chosen charities. This event is open to all so please spread the word, book your table, put the date in your diary and look forward to what we are sure will be a Second To None evening of enjoyment and celebration. Speak to Alan or any other officer of the BB for more information.

* Free period products are available in the church toilets for anyone who might need them, thanks to Hey Girls and Inverclyde Council.