Sunday service for 1 August 2021

Sunday Service for 1 August 2021, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday school Revisited week 10
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, phone 01475 270037.

Prelude Music

Welcome/announcements

Call to Worship: Psalm 77, verses 1-4, 11-15
1: I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God that he may hear me.

2: In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.

1: I think of God, and I moan;
I meditate, and my spirit faints.

2: You keep my eyelids from closing,
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

1: I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;
I will remember your wonders of old.

2: I will meditate on all your work,
and muse on your mighty deeds.

1: Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is so great as our God?

2: You are the God who works wonders;
you have displayed your might among the peoples.

All: With your strong arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

Prayer
Holy God, your power is displayed throughout the universe,
right down to our own everyday lives.
For you, all things are possible.
And we know that with you, all things are possible.
You are our refuge and our strength.
We confess, though, that sometimes we prefer refuge to strength.
Our spirits are willing, at least mostly willing —
we know what you call us to do, and we really want to want to do it.
But the flesh is weak.
So we come to you for refuge, but we confess that we’re hiding.
Hiding from the hard path,
hoping you will reveal a different one if we wait long enough.
Forgive us, O God, and fill us again with your strength.
Make us strong and courageous, ready to do your will,
trusting that the words we say about you are actually true:
that you will never leave us nor forsake us,
that with you all things are possible,
that your grace is enough,
that you will lead us into abundant life for all,
if only we will follow you out of the safe place
and into the streets of this world you so love.
May your forgiveness fuel our faith,
and make us anew into your Body on earth.
We ask in the name of Jesus the Christ,
who was obedient even to death on a cross,
and beyond to the empty tomb.
Amen.

Music
Online: What Wondrous Love is This
In Person: Lilting by Philip Norris

Children’s Time

Reading: Mark 14.32-51 (New Revised Standard Version)

They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.’ And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, ‘Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.’ He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him. He came a third time and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.’
Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; and with him there was a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, ‘The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.’ So when he came, he went up to him at once and said, ‘Rabbi!’ and kissed him. Then they laid hands on him and arrested him. But one of those who stood near drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled.’ All of them deserted him and fled.
A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.

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: Yet

I think this might be one of the most heartbreaking moments in all of scripture. The rest of the passion story, and plenty of other stories throughout the Bible, are hard, gruesome, horrifying, or sad…but in the garden of Gethsemane, we see both the difficult events play out and also the feelings. Normally scripture doesn’t give us much about the interior lives or emotions of people involved, which makes it all the more powerful when we see glimpses in the garden.

Jesus took his three closest friends, the three who had witnessed his transfiguration, who had proclaimed their loyalty by insisting they could drink the cup that would guarantee a seat at his right and left hand, who had seen him for who he really was before anyone else. Once the four of them were alone amidst the olive trees, Jesus let them see his distress. Jesus was in pain that night in the garden — his body wasn’t hurting yet, but his spirit was.
His grief became visible on his face and his body…he asked them to watch, and then he threw himself on the ground.

The kind of prayer where you throw yourself on the ground, not just sink down to your knees or find a comfortable spot to sit, but throw your body down, lying face down, begging for help…that’s what the disciples saw.

For a moment, anyway, before sitting in the garden in the darkness on a warm spring evening after a big meal made their eyes get heavy.

Three times he asked them to keep vigil with him. Three times they failed to support their friend, they didn’t know how, and they knew they had failed and had no excuses to offer.

While his friends napped, Jesus was pleading with God. Please please please, can we do this a different way? Please please please, you can do anything, can you take this away from me? Please please please.

I’m sure many of us have pleaded with God for something — whether for ourselves or a loved one, asking for healing, or a new job, or the resources to do something, or help with an exam, or safety in a sticky situation, or any number of other things. We’ve asked God for what we want and what we need, just as we have been taught — to bring our desires to God.

Jesus does that, over and over affirming God’s power to do anything — for you all things are possible. So, God, could you just use that power for a minute, and save me and my friends and family from this terrible pain, this grief, this torture?

And then Jesus used a tiny wee word that makes all the difference in any prayer.

Yet.

Yet not what I want…but what you want.

I think those are probably the hardest words anyone can utter in prayer. To pour out our hearts, to ask and ask for what we want, and then to say: yet not what I want, but what you want.

It sometimes feels like our lives are defined by a combination of our own desires and the expectations of others, and that’s what we pray about. We ask God for help living up to those expectations, or to give us the gifts we need to be and do what we want…and here’s Jesus, knowing what’s coming, begging for another way, saying “yet not what I want, but what you want.”

St Ignatius of Loyola taught about the grace of “detachment” — essentially, of praying this prayer of Jesus. Detachment, or sometimes it’s called “indifference,” doesn’t mean not caring. It means that when we have offered our desires to God, we let go of controlling the outcome. How often do we pray about things and then still try to force them to go the way we want? Detachment or Indifference is a blessing that allows us to pry our fingers off the controls and allow God to answer our prayer however God will, not just the way we want God to answer.

Praying with Jesus for God’s will to take precedence over our own desires, our own pride, our own sense of meeting others’ expectations, may mean that God writes us a story we weren’t expecting. It will almost certainly mean disappointing someone, or letting go of some of the things we want, or things we remember, or things we once thought were important. After all, Jesus is basically begging for his life. And not just his life, but for his friends too — for their lives, for their community, for their place in his life. They were sleeping, and one was at the head of an angry mob on the way to betray him with a kiss, and they were all about to deny him and leave him alone, even abandoning their clothes and dignity to get away and save themselves. He would be bereft of his closest friends as he faced the worst torture humanity could dream up at the time. With his heart breaking into pieces, and that emptiness in his chest and the pit in his stomach, he still prayed “yet not what I want, but what you want.”

And what he got was the courage to be obedient to God’s way even through the darkest of dark valleys, to face down the powers of this world and declare that they are no power at all in the face of God’s love and desire for life, to take on the weight of the world and bear it to the very end, and beyond, changing the story of the world forever.

I imagine he was still wiping away tears, and catching his breath, when Judas arrived. Knowing his three closest friends had slept through his increasingly desperate prayer, he must have felt totally alone in the garden. But he also had the grace of detachment — the strength to trust that God’s will was for the best, and however big the hole in his heart might be, he was not truly abandoned. So when the mob scene turned unruly, he was able to point out how ridiculous they were — coming under cover of darkness when he was openly available all day long, hiding their actions because they knew they were wrong. But — there’s that same word again. Yet. But. Let the scripture be fulfilled. Not what I want, God, but what you want.

And then he was alone. Choosing to give up his own desires, choosing to step away from his friends’ expectations, and going instead with God’s way, meant they all deserted him. They didn’t know how to support him through this journey, or maybe they weren’t sure they wanted to anyway.

That happens sometimes when we pray this prayer. We might find that those who want us to follow their script will simply abandon us when we choose a different one. We might also find others who are laying aside those human expectations in favour of the divine story and want to join us. But either way it won’t be easy. Whether we are praying for the church to grow, and so have to be ready to let go of some things we have loved and even been proud of to make room for God to do a new thing, or praying for direction in our own lives or jobs and have to be prepared to learn something new to make that shift, or praying for the health and safety of friends or family members or ourselves and maybe have to heed the call to a different lifestyle… “yet not what I want but what you want” will require courage. Courage to trust God, and God’s power, and God’s goodness. Courage to keep going even when we have to let go of things that have made us comfortable before. Courage to stand up for what’s right even if others pull away. Courage to actually walk the path God sets before us…not just talk about praying for a new path. Courage to rely on friends who are also walking that path, and courage to be the friends who support others in the hardest times.

It’s not a prayer where we simply hand everything over and sit back and wait for God to fix everything. It’s a prayer in which we commit ourselves, our bodies, minds, and spirits, our resources, our energy, our everything, to God’s will ahead of our own. It isn’t a prayer to be prayed lightly, but it is one that’s necessary — perhaps uttering that little word even at the end of every single prayer we make.

Yet …not what I want, but what you want.

May it be so. Amen.

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
(Including hymn 793 “Stay With Me”)
Stay With Me x 3….

Gracious God, we give you thanks this day for your many blessings. Thank you for bringing us together to pray and to rest in you. Thank you for this space and this community. Thank you for all your incredible gifts.
Here in this place, we offer to you the things we are grateful for.
(…)
Stay With Me x 2

God, we come carrying burdens of worry and anxiety about many things and many people, especially our families and friends. Your children are in need of healing, courage, strength, and love. Pour out your grace and mercy, your healing power, your loving presence, on your people.
Here in this place, we offer to you the people who are in need of your healing, your love, your strength.
(…)
Stay With Me x 2

O Lord, our world is so troubled. War, famine, disease…our nightly news tells stories of destruction. But we know that is not the end of the story, and so we pray for your peace, your abundance, your healing, for your people around the world. Send your Spirit on all your people that they may know your comfort, your grace, your joy.
Here in this place, we offer to you the situations and places in the world in need of your overwhelming peace, healing, love, and fullness of life.
(…)
Stay With Me x 2

God, you hear the prayers of our hearts, and where we cannot form the words your Spirit intercedes for us. We have so much to pray for, Lord, that now, in this place, we offer you the prayers that are in our hearts and minds, the prayer of our souls.
(…)
Stay With Me x 2

O Lord, hear our prayers and have mercy on us and on your whole creation. We pray that you would walk alongside us as we seek you in our everyday lives. Keep us focused on you and your will. Strengthen us as we serve you and your people in the world, and guide us, for we are bold to ask: not what we want, but what you want.
We pray in the name of Jesus, 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: When My Flesh Is Weak (Resound Worship)
In person sung Hymn: O Jesus Christ, in human flesh (words: John L Bell, tune: St. Columba)

Benediction

Go into your week trusting that what God wills is for the best, and so you can have the courage to pray “yet not what I want, but what you want.” 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.

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

* Teri will be off from the 19th – 29th of July. Please contact Cameron or your elder for any pastoral emergencies.

* All worship is online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print) and we also meet in person, subject to the usual protocols for distancing, hand hygiene, mask wearing, and some limited singing! We can welcome approximately 35 people for worship, so if you would like to come in person, please phone Cameron (630879) on a MONDAY afternoon between 1-3pm or Anne Love (07904 617283) on a Saturday morning between 10-12 to book a place.

* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page, led tonight by Jonathan. 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!

* 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!