Sunday service for 10 November 2024, Remembrance Sunday

Sunday 10 November 2024 —Remembrance
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143 
Email: TPeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Email Charlene, Parish Assistant: CMitchell (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

Prelude Music

We Gather As God’s Family (As the Bible is brought in, we stand and sing)
A family gathered in love,
striving for justice and joy,
blessing the broken-hearted,
and sharing the hope of God’s kingdom.

Call to Worship
One: Trusting God is an everyday choice.
1: When we are on our own and when we are in community,
2: when we are zealous for our cause and when we are feeling vulnerable,
3: when we are close to home and when we are in unfamiliar territory,
All: we choose to trust the Living God.

Sanctuary Processional Hymn GWA136: Hope For the World’s Despair

Remembrance Prayer
Liberator God, you are the creator of justice and peace.
This day we come to seek your presence in the midst of grief, and honour, and memory.
We look back, and we confess that sometimes we forget to look forward
to the future you still have in mind for us.
Give us the gift this day of building on memory,
that we may be faithful as your people, our ancestors, have been faithful.

*God you are the giver of every good gift.
We remember the gifts of courage, devotion to duty, and self-sacrifice
of the men and women in our armed forces—
who served their country and the world with honour,
throughout these many years.
We especially pray this day for
those who have been wounded in body or soul,
who bear the scars of war,
and for the families of those who fell in battle,
especially those who were never returned home.
We also remember the toil, endurance and suffering of those not in uniform,
those who lost their lives or homes in air raids,
who served in hospitals and homes,
or who care for family members who will never be the same.
We remember the support of those who sent us help from afar,
or came and stood by our side in our time of need.

Creator God, you make all people in your image,
and so we also remember those who were our enemies,
whose homes and hearts are as bereft as ours,
whose dead also lie in a living tomb of everlasting remembrance,
and we pray for the grace to be able to pray for our enemies,
as you taught us to do.

As we remember, O God, let us also be re-membered;
put back together again as members of your body.
As hatred and war tear us apart,
may our remembrance this day be a step toward healing,
as we pray for your grace to knit us back together,
as we seek peace and unity with all who share this planet with us.
Re-member us into a common purpose to glorify you,
to follow your call to live in community,
to resist the urge to dehumanise others or to use them for our own advantage.
May we remember there is no us-and-them, only us,
the human family made in your image.

We also remember your world still at war, O God.
We beg you would not let us forget the people of
Ukraine, Israel and Gaza and Lebanon, South Sudan, and so many more,
living each day with the sound of gunfire and bomb;
or the people of Albania and Honduras and Venezuela,
desperate for relief from gangs and drugs;
or the people of Yemen, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, North Korea,
starving for bread and for hope.
Your creation cries out, O God,
bearing the weight of our desires and groaning for relief.
Your people cry out, O God,
longing for justice and righteousness.
Give us ears to hear.
Give us hearts to care.
Give us the will to do something,
to practice what we preach,
to put your word into action.
And if we do not have those,
we pray you would silence us until we can hear and are prepared to act.

In our remembrance, make us mindful of those still suffering,
and that when one member of your body suffers,
all suffer together with it.
There can be no peace unless all of us seek it together,
for each other,
and so we pray for your Spirit of challenge to provoke us to action.
Make us an answer to the prayers of others,
until your whole creation sings.

In the midst of our remembrance,
we pause to pray for those young people among us,
and their families.
We pray that we would follow their lead into a more peaceful world,
and they would never again need to see the cruelty and suffering of war,
at home or abroad.
Grant that this generation may be given the chance
to use their gifts for the creation of justice and generosity,
for building this world into your kingdom where all are welcome and valued,
where violence and hate have no place,
where your people live together in peace.

Strengthen our faint hearts and our faltering hands,
that we may seek your peace and justice rather than our own power.
Give us courage to stand up for lives still to be lived
rather than simply allowing more names to be added to our memorials.

We call to mind your grace, Lord,
for your love holds all of us in life and in death.
We ask your blessing on those who have offered themselves,
and on us, that we may honour their memory
by continually seeking your way of justice, mercy, and love.
Amen.

Call to Remembrance / The Tryst
If you’re comfortable doing so, please stand for our act of remembrance.

Today we remember the colourful, frail and human lives
cut down in time of War
especially those known to us
and loved by us.
Let us ask for God’s blessings
that we might work for peace,
pray in Hope
and be the reconciling presence
which this world
and every home and community
so desperately needs.
With one minute we look back
in sorrow and gratitude
and with the second we look forward
dedicating ourselves to God’s future of peace,
and in so doing we hallow this space
to remember and to give thanks
and to honour those whose ultimate price
contributed to the freedoms we claim as ours today.

“They shall grow not old,
As we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them.”

Last Post

Two Minutes Silence

Reveille

In remembrance, in honour, in gratitude for those who gave their today for our tomorrow, strengthened by our whole cloud of witnesses, may we lead lives worthy of our calling, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Online Hymn GWA136: Hope For the World’s Despair

Sanctuary Video Reflection: The World Blessing

Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 17.1-24
Today’s reading takes place in a time when the king had turned away from God’s word. He had made a political alliance by marrying a princess from Phoenicia. She worshipped other gods, and the king had begun to worship her god instead of the true God. We will meet the prophet Elijah who was an outsider — he was an Israelite who lived in the land beyond the river, and he did not have any official position in government or society, but he believed God had called him to speak the truth to the powerful people who were corrupt and using their power and money to hide their wrongdoing. The reading is from the first book of Kings, chapter 17, and I am reading the New Revised Standard Version.

Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” The word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Go from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” So he went and did according to the word of the Lord; he went and lived by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the wadi. But after a while the wadi dried up because there was no rain in the land.
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there, for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said, but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.” She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She then said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” But he said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” So the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

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: peace starts at the dinner table
This may seem a strange story — and a strange one for today. It’s full of names and places that are hard to pronounce — Alan did a great job — and so it’s easy to dismiss it as something that doesn’t have anything to do with us. But ultimately, this is a story about a political leader abusing his power and serving himself instead of serving the community, and a story about God calling ordinary people to do what the political leaders can’t seem to do.

The king had married a princess from a neighbouring country, to try to make a political alliance. Unfortunately, that also led him to bad behaviour: oppressing people, ignoring problems like poverty and injustice, just doing whatever he wanted and whatever he could get away with while people went hungry, and using violence to get his own way.

The prophet Elijah burst on the scene by basically waltzing into the palace and telling the king that his behaviour had consequences — something that most political leaders think won’t happen to them. The thing is, when Elijah declared that there would be no rain, that’s a consequence that everyone has to bear, not only the king. A drought also means no crops, so people were going to starve if it went on for too long. But king Ahab didn’t care about the people, he only cared about his own wealth and power, so he wasn’t about to pay attention to Elijah or to God.

Unfortunately for Elijah, that also meant he was in danger — both from the king and from the drought! So God told him to go east, away from the palace, to hide out in the wilderness for a while. He could drink from the river for as long as it had water, and the birds would bring him food. But after awhile the river dried up — that pronouncement Elijah made about the drought became super real to him when he got thirsty! God had something else in mind though — now he told Elijah to go west….over to Phoenicia, to a town near the coast. Did you catch that? God told Elijah to leave his own country and go to the neighbouring one, the country where the princess had come from…to the country where this whole problem started.

Once he got there, Elijah found that they also suffered from the drought. There was no water, and no food. He met a widow and asked her for a drink — from her meagre stash of water. And then he asked her for some food — but she was busy preparing her last meal, planning that she and her son would share some toast and that was it, they were going to starve. But Elijah insisted that she bring him some bread first.

Remember: Elijah and this widow came from different countries, and they believed in different gods. They had different political perspectives. And maybe she even knew that it was the Israelites’ fault that this drought was happening. They were on opposite sides of everything, and each thought the other’s people was to blame for all the problems they had.

And yet…he went and begged from her, a starving widow and child, for a piece of bread. And she gave it to him. And a miracle happened because of her sharing: there was enough for them all, and they didn’t run out of flour or oil. And from that first shared meal, they began to build something. Just the smallest little bridge, started by trusting each other just a little bit, to ask for help and to give it.

Elijah seems to have stayed with the widow for a while. They shared many meals together, simple though they were, mostly just bread and water. But every conversation they had, every time they broke bread, the walls that were built up between them because they were so so different got a little smaller. She was a widow, he was a single man. She was Phoenician, he was Israelite. She worshipped a god called Baal, who wasn’t doing a very good job controlling the weather at that moment, and he worshipped God who was in charge of everything everywhere. She was very poor and starving because of something he did, calling God to punish the king. But every day they sat down at that table and shared their meal.

Then suddenly the trust was broken again: her son became ill and died, and you just know that everyone in the neighbourhood was telling her it was because she allowed that foreigner to stay in her house, she shared her bread with him, she talked to him like they were equals, and she should never have become friends with someone like that.

Because that’s what happens, isn’t it? Something bad happens and we look for anyone we can blame. And the easiest to blame is people who are different than we are. It must be their fault — the immigrants, the foreigners, the people with different religions or strange accents or different colour skin, the people who don’t speak our language or share our values.

It’s a pretty short ride from there to treating those people as less than human. Rounding them up into camps. Insisting they wear certain clothes to identify themselves. That they can’t work in certain jobs, or live in certain neighbourhoods. That they can’t move into our country because we don’t want those kind of people here. It’s very easy to say that all the people who live in a place are bad, or all the people who belong to a religion are terrorists, or all the people who disagree with me about politics are evil, or all the people whose skin colour or language is different than mine are less deserving.

That’s what those we remember today fought against. They stood up against those who said that our differences made some people inferior. They gave their lives so that we could live in the kind of peaceful freedom where we can be friends with anyone, where your skin colour or your religion or your accent or your family name didn’t matter to how you would be treated, everyone would have the same opportunity to live and work and raise families and enjoy themselves and participate in their communities.

But that world doesn’t just happen, and it doesn’t just stay that way. Just because they gave their lives so we could have it doesn’t mean we get to just sit back and take it for granted. Because it’s very easy to slip back into blame and fault and division and hate. It’s very easy to laugh off a joke or to stay silent when we don’t know what to say. But the people who fought for the lives we enjoy would be appalled that we aren’t even willing to stand up for what’s right in those small ways. Compared to the risks they took, speaking up and telling a friend that their racist or sexist joke isn’t funny, or that it isn’t okay to call people names, is a pretty small thing. Compared to the risks they took, inviting someone who’s really different than us to share a meal, to build a friendship that tears down those walls, is a pretty small thing.

But put together, millions of small things add up.

Being willing to ask for help rather than always having to be in the position of power.
Sharing what we have with someone else.
Sitting down and eating together.
Talking with each other, telling our stories and listening to theirs.
Day after day. Not just once. Day after day.
Being committed to building relationship, building community, with people that the ruling powers tell us we shouldn’t be friends with.
Ordinary people, just like us, are the ones who will have to make peace.
The rulers and political parties and royalty and wealthy people won’t be able to do it for us.
Peace starts at the dinner table.

Elijah prayed that God would see the community they had been building across the boundaries of politics and religion…and he did. The child was raised back to life — a symbol of the resurrection life that is possible when we put in the work to love our neighbour, even our very different, opposite-in-every-way neighbour. In fact — it’s the only way to live the resurrection life, because it’s the way Jesus gave us.

It might feel like nothing, when we look at Gaza and Ukraine, we see how the powerful people of the world seem to be able to do whatever they want to the people they don’t like.

But we can decide — WE, ORDINARY PEOPLE, CAN CHOOSE — to break down the barriers between us.
We can decide to love instead of hate.
And that decision trickles up. When enough of us are choosing to love our neighbour, it changes the power dynamics at the top, too.
We will never be able to fight our way to real peace.
And we will never be able to convince the rulers of this world that they should lay down their weapons, until all of us are willing to sit at table together, day in and day out, making peace one sandwich at a time.
It’s the only way to resurrection life.

May it be so. Amen.

Sanctuary Hymn: We Bring Our Yearnings, Lord (text: Pat Bennett, tune: Garelochside)

Online Hymn: The World Blessing

Offering and Response: The Doxology (tune: Old Hundredth)
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Christ all creatures here below;
Praise Holy Spirit evermore;
Praise Triune God whom we adore.
Amen.

Announcements
*Evening Service tonight
*Wednesday Bible Study
*Tearfund Quiz Saturday
*Bowl & Blether on the 18th
*Contact Group Tuesday 19th with Jenni Murray from the Bothy
*Family ceilidh for St Andrew’s Day

That’s a lot going on in our community! Please consider yourself invited to participate, and to pray for all the activities, ministry, and mission God is calling us to do together. And now, let us join together in prayer.

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
God our Creator,
your providing sustains us
for the lives you call us to live in this world.
We thank you for the unexpected blessings,
for compassion from surprising quarters,
for abundance when all we saw was scarcity,
for hope that blooms even in the midst of our fear.
From the margins you speak, O God,
and to the vulnerable you send us,
for your people will always be found with the poor.
May we shed our need to solve and control,
and so truly meet you in our neighbour
as we recognise our own need.
Make us open to one another today,
that we may also be open to you.
We thank you that you care for us even when we forget how to care for one another,
and that you guide us into a still more excellent way.
When we are caught up in the moment
and don’t think about the consequences of our words and actions,
forgive us and lead us into reconciling community.
When we are in pain and look for someone to blame,
forgive us and help us to rebuild trust.
When we dig in to our differences, insisting there is nothing good in those on the other side,
forgive us and open our hearts to recognise your image in every face.
Living God, with you all things are possible,
even turning enemies to neighbours,
even hope in the midst of despair,
even strangers coming together to seek your purpose.
May we be changed by your grace,
made new and empowered to bring new life to the world, too,
one loved neighbour at a time.
And so we call to mind those neighbours you call us to love,
those places that are desperate for a glimmer of hope,
for the abundance of enough,
for a breath of compassion.
We wonder where your power of life is
in the midst of war, as innocents die and neighbours turn on one another and supplies run out.
We wonder where your peace beyond understanding is
when we we cannot agree on the humanity of those different from us.
We wonder where your mercy is
when the news goes from bad to worse.
Remember your people, O God,
for we are in need of your presence,
your comfort, your transformation, and your justice.
So many are suffering —
we hardly know how to hold it all before you,
and so we bring what we can and trust you will take notice of it all,
for you are not limited, and it is not a burden to you.

Hear us, we pray,
as we plead for loved ones who struggle in body, mind, and spirit;
for those who are lost in grief, and those doing their best to shine a light in the shadowed valley;
for those who are lonely, and those desperate for some peace and quiet;
for those who don’t know where to turn, and those who need a break from being the strong one.
Send your spirit of strength and comfort, healing and hope.

Hear us, we pray,
as we plead for this world:
for peace for the land and all who live on it;
for love to overcome hate;
for a way forward through the complicated mess we have gotten ourselves into;
for friendships to blossom across the walls we have built as fast as you can tear them down.
Send your spirit of courage and grace, justice and reconciliation.

Hear us, we pray, as we join our hearts as your church family on this 10th day of the month to pray together
*For all who live and work in the Midton and Trumpethill areas.
*For the Contact Group and other fellowship groups at St John’s, that they may learn and deepen friendships together in your presence.
*For the land, people, and governments of the nations of Libya, Malta, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Western Sahara, and Cape Verde.

Hear us, we pray,
O God,
for you are our only hope,
and we put our trust in you,
to bring life out of death and light out of darkness,
to create a future and to give us your vision
that we might play our part in revealing your kingdom.
We bring all our prayers to you
in the name of the One who reconciled the world to you,
and who entrusted us with the ministry of reconciliation,
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 706: For the Healing of the Nations

Sanctuary Hymn 703 National Anthem vv 1 and 3

Benediction
Friends, it is possible to build community across barriers. Not only is it possible, it is a divine directive. So go from this time together, filled with the Holy Spirit, to pursue God’s will that new life will be found in relationship with the other.
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.

Recessional

Postlude Music

Announcements

* We worship in the sanctuary on Sundays at 11am, and Sunday worship is also online. 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.
* The Sunday evening service is TONIGHT, and on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month. We have toasties and sandwiches together from 5:30 and the service will start at the back of 6. All are welcome for this simple meal and time of worship. The Sunday evening service is informal and reflective, with guitar-based music, Bible readings, and prayer for our parish. Come along and discover practical ways to apply the word to your life, in a chilled vibe that fosters connection and reflection.

* The first Sunday of the month at 11am is now an all-age service, with different ways of encountering God’s word without a traditional sermon. All people — young and old, different personalities and learning styles, are welcome! You’ll find a more informal service with a variety of music, a Bible story, prayer, and some more interactive elements. The online service for the first Sunday will therefore also be different — there will still be a reading, prayers, and music, but usually not a sermon.

* Charlene is available for Conversation Corner (Vestry Hour) on THURSDAY MORNINGS in November, from 11am-12noon. Just ring the bell at St John’s Road and she’ll have the kettle on for you! Come in to chat about anything you’d like.

* We are participating in the Tearfund Big Quiz Night this coming Saturday, 16 November. Come with a team or just come yourself and we’ll make teams when you get here! 7pm for a 7:30pm start. You can collect or make donations ahead of time online by clicking here, or just donate on the night. Feel free to share the link! 

* Bowl and Blether is on the first and third Mondays of each month through the winter, the next one is Monday 18 November. Doors open at 11:30am, soup and toasties are served from noon – 1:30. All are welcome to join us for lunch and a chat in our cozy warm hall. Volunteers are also needed and welcome, please speak to Teri or Charlene if you’d like to volunteer for set up, toastie-making, serving, or clean up. 

* The Contact Group meets on Tuesday 19 November when we will hear from Jenni Murray of the Bothy. Our Syllabus of Events is available for £5.

* We are hosting a free family ceilidh for St Andrew’s Day — Saturday 30 September, from 12-1:30. Come along for traditional Scottish fun, with the band Canned Haggis providing music and calling the dances! All are welcome. You can register on Eventbrite here to help us plan snacks!

* Starter Packs are in need of bathroom/kitchen cleaner, shaving foam, shampoo, hand wash.
The FoodBank are in need of diluting juice, long-life juice, tinned ham, and tinned tuna.
You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!

* Did you know that the ministry we do at St John’s costs about £3000 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 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. 

* Wednesday Evening Bible Study is reading the gospel according to Luke on Wednesday evenings at 7:30pm in the manse. All are welcome!

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