Sunday service for 11 January 2026

Sunday 11 January 2026,
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse phone: 632143 
Email: TPeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Email Charlene, Parish Assistant: CMitchell (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

Apologies for no video today — I’ve been coughing too much to record well! The full manuscript is below for you to read and worship, and there are videos or links to YouTube for the hymns so you can still sing along!

Prelude Music (praise band)

Welcome

God-sightings

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: Listen to the witnesses who tell us what they have seen:
All: The Lamb of God is among us!
One: Listen to the friends who invite us to join in their journey:
All: We have found the Messiah!
One: Listen to the neighbours who want to share their story:
All: The Son of God is here!
One: Listen to the One who invites us:
All: You, yourself, come and see!

Hymn 506: All I Once Held Dear (praise band) (YouTube)

All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now, compared to this
Knowing You, Jesus
Knowing You, there is no greater thing
You’re my all, you’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness
And I love You, Lord

Now my heart’s desire is to know You more
To be found in You and known as Yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All-surpassing gift of righteousness
Knowing You, Jesus
Knowing You, there is no greater thing
You’re my all, you’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness
And I love You, Lord

Oh, to know the power of Your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like You in Your death, my Lord
So with You to live and never die
Knowing You, Jesus
Knowing You, there is no greater thing
You’re my all, you’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness
And I love You, Lord

Knowing You, Jesus
Knowing You, there is no greater thing
You’re my all, nothing less
You’re my joy, my righteousness
And I love You, Lord

Prayer
You see us where we are, O God,
and you know us better than we know ourselves.
You invite us into your life, Lord Jesus,
to see your everyday and recognise the connection you build
between heaven and earth.
We confess that we would rather have information and an instruction manual.
You invite us to come and see
and to grow into a relationship.
We confess that vulnerability makes us nervous,
we don’t know what we are supposed to see and we don’t want you seeing everything about us.
You invite us to come and see,
and then to share what we have seen with others.
We confess that we don’t like to talk about you to others, we don’t want to offend them…
but when we do it’s usually because we think they’re wrong and need correcting.
Forgive us for holding ourselves back from you, O God.
Forgive us for our lack of curiosity, and our lack of grace.
Forgive us when people see no sign of your welcoming arms
when they encounter your Body the Church.
Invite us again into your open heart,
and make us willing to receive and to share.
Inspire our curiosity,
that we may come to know you better
and so to follow and learn from you
day by day.
Amen.

God draws near to us in Christ, and draws us ever nearer through the Spirit at work in us. You are already known and loved, so simply come and see the One who pours out grace upon grace. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Children’s Time
Talk about “witness” — a witness is someone who sees something AND tells others about it. Examples…maybe get round to talking about how we share God-moments at the start of the service and that’s also being a witness…do they have any times they have seen something that made them think of God? … today’s story is about people being witnesses….and our song is also kind of about witness, because when we have experienced God loving us, we will want other people to experience love too…Jesus gives us so much and we want to share it!
(Hymn 611 in case we need instrumental support)
Holy Spirit, fill our hearts
overflowing with love.
May we shine with the light of God,
come, Spirit, come.

Repeat-after-me-prayer

Hymn 501: Take This Moment (YouTube)

Take this moment, sign and space;
take my friends around;
here among us make the place
where your love is found.

Take the time to call my name,
take the time to mend
who I am and what I’ve been,
and I’ve failed to tend.

Take the tiredness of my days,
take my past regret,
letting Your forgiveness touch
all I can’t forget.

Take the little child in me,
scared of growing old;
help me here to find my worth
made in Christ’s own mould.

Take my talents, take my skills,
take what’s yet to be;
let my life be Yours, and yet,
let it still be me.

Scripture Reading: John 1.35-51
Today we finish reading John chapter one, picking up right where we left off last week after John the Baptist had spoken to the questioners sent by the Pharisees, and then pointed his disciples to the Lamb of God. I’m beginning reading at verse 35, in the New Revised Standard Version.

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

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: see more
I think I like this telling of the gathering of the first disciples more than the version in the other gospels, where Jesus calls their names and they abandon their work and family and whatnot to follow him. This is probably the first and last time I’ll say this about John’s gospel, but…this way feels more real to me.

When we read about Jesus walking along the beach and summoning fishermen who just toss down their nets and walk away from their boats, it always feels a little…odd. It feels faraway and impossible for us. But the way John tells it feels exactly like how things really happen.

*A teacher recommends another teacher and the students are curious and go to see for themselves.
*Someone excitedly tells their sibling about the guy they met today and invites him to come meet him too.
*The rabbi meets someone and asks him to come along.
*Someone tells their most skeptical friend and convinces him to just come check it out.

Each one brings one.

None of them really knew what they were looking for when the invitation came. They just trusted the person who invited them, and they were curious enough to come along. And it wasn’t mainly the teacher who called them and gathered a disparate group together, it was friends inviting friends — the group growing organically, not from the top down.

And then there’s the invitation itself: come and see.

Not a lecture or an explanation, not a demand for a particular response, not a telling off about all the ways they’re wrong and should come do this better thing — just a completely open invite. Jesus doesn’t tell them what they’ll see. He doesn’t tell them where to look or what to think. He just invites them to spend time with him, and see what they see.

And what’s fascinating about that to me is that clearly each of them actually sees something a wee bit different. Because then when they go out and invite the next ones, they don’t all say the same thing: look at the Lamb of God, said John. Come and see the Messiah, says Andrew. Come and see the one Moses wrote about, says Philip. Nathanael responds to a few minutes with Jesus by saying “you are the Son of God and King of Israel.” They all start from a different place and a different attitude, and they get a different angle on who Jesus is…and that’s entirely okay. None of them understand the full picture before they go out and invite someone else… and no one is forcing them to one particular view or trying to pin down one box for Jesus to fit into for everyone. They each get their experience, and then they share that experience with someone else and invite them to have their own experience too — like grace that flows out from fullness.

The thing that binds them together is that when they have seen, they want to see more. And they want more to see.

We might wonder what it is that they saw. What could possibly have happened in that couple of hours after 4:00 that would make Andrew run to tell his brother they’d found the Messiah? What was it about the other interactions that made them so sure they wanted to bring their friends?

We can never know, of course, though perhaps we can imagine. But I do have a couple of thoughts…
I think it wasn’t actually about what the new disciples saw, but rather that they felt seen. They discovered that even though they didn’t know Jesus yet, he already knew them, and that sense of relationship and belonging was overwhelming.

Think about it…who do you just invite into your house for hours? Not random strangers. Who do you give a nickname to? Someone you’re close to. Who do you tease about their hometown or their bookworm-nerdy-ways? Someone you have a relationship with.

None of those disciples thought they had a relationship with Jesus yet…but he already had a relationship with them. He could say “come and see where I’m staying, and stay with me” because he saw them. He knew their curiosity and their desire even though they were super awkward. Jesus could say “yeah you’re Simon but I’ll call you Rocky” because he saw the foundational role Simon would play. Jesus could give Nathanael a little sarcasm in response to that can-anything-good-come-from-the-Port business because he saw him — not just mystically saw him talking to Philip but he saw him and knew his studious heart and knew that he wasn’t sly or fake.

Jesus saw them, and he invited them to see him too, by simply spending time together. What they saw was someone who sees and knows and still loves the world enough to pour himself out for them. That was so powerful they couldn’t wait to invite others to see and be seen, too.

Because that’s what disciples do: they make disciples. Each one brings one. They didn’t need to have the right words to say, they didn’t need to know the right information, they didn’t need to prepare anything. They didn’t need to be experts or be good enough. And they also didn’t need to control what that other person would see or experience, they didn’t try to get them to do it exactly the way they did, or to think the same things they had thought. They just had to invite them. Jesus who sees and knows us before we know him did the rest.

So often I think we are hesitant to invite people into Christian community, into places where they will meet Jesus, because we assume that they don’t want to be invited. Or we don’t know what to say or have the answers to all the questions we anticipate they might ask. Or we don’t want to sound judgmental…or sometimes we do judge that they need to change before we would invite them. Or we’re afraid that they might come and have a different experience than we have. But this story shows us people who were skeptical, people who were doing other things and studying other paths, people who already had a teacher and weren’t looking for another one…and all of them simply invited to come and see, without obligation or pressure. Just an invitation to meet the One who knows and loves you already.

What if we tried it? What if we just invited someone to come and see. Come and see what God is doing here. Come and see Jesus reflected in a community that tries its best to serve. Come and see love lived out. Come and see. Not for answers. Not for outcomes. Not to have the exact same experience or belief or understanding as me. Just to encounter God in whatever way God is revealed to you today…just to experience being seen and known and loved, to experience belonging.

Disciples make disciples…we come because we want to see more. Do we also want more to see? If so…let’s show them. Each one bring one — start with next week!

May it be so.
Amen.

Hymn: I Will Follow (praise band) (YouTube)

Where You go I’ll go
Where You stay I’ll stay
When You move I’ll move
I will follow

All Your ways are good
All Your ways are sure
I will trust in You alone
Higher than my sight
High above my life
I will trust in You alone

Where You go I’ll go
Where You stay I’ll stay
When You move I’ll move
I will follow You
Whom You love I’ll love
How You serve I’ll serve
If this life I lose
I will follow (You)
Yeah I will follow You yeah

Light into the world
Light into my life
I will live for You alone
You’re the One I seek
Knowing I will find
All I need in You alone
In You alone

Where You go I’ll go
Where You stay I’ll stay
When You move I’ll move
I will follow You
Whom You love I’ll love
How You serve I’ll serve
If this life I lose
I will follow (You)
Yeah I will follow You yeah

In You there’s life everlasting
In You there’s freedom for my soul
In You there’s joy unending joy
And I will follow

Where You go I’ll go
Where You stay I’ll stay
When You move I’ll move
I will follow You
Whom You love I’ll love
How You serve I’ll serve
If this life I lose
I will follow (You)
Yeah I will follow You yeah

I will follow You yeah
I will follow You yeah

Offering (organ)

Offering Response (tune: 555 Amazing Grace)
When we’ve been there ten thousand years
bright shining as the sun,
we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
than when we’d first begun.

Concerns of the Church
*Wednesday Bible Study
*Readers Rota
*Smalls for all – new pants, children and women any size
*choir rehearsal
*Prayer groups

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Each day you reveal more of yourself, O God,
and we look on in wonder
as earth and heaven come together
in your Word made flesh.
You who know all things and all people
draw us to yourself,
inviting us to see your glory,
showing us how to live as beloved.
We bring our gratitude and praise,
and our awkward questions,
and our longing and desire for a better world,
and we offer them all to you,
a jumble of human thoughts and emotions,
wonderings and hopes and fears,
trusting that you will hold us with grace.
We lift up to you all who are searching,
seeking something they don’t yet know how to describe,
following different ideas to see where they lead.
May they encounter the beauty of your light and turn toward it.
We lift up to you all who are struggling to find the right words to share your good news,
those afraid to tell others about their experience with you,
those skeptical that you could be asking them to speak up.
May they be so excited by your story they can’t help but tell it.
We lift up to you all who live in places others overlook or look down on,
those who persevere in places that have fallen out of the news cycle,
those whose lives are beautiful and interesting yet denigrated or ignored by those in power.
May they know your attention and care for them.
As the pages of the year turn over
and our eyes look forward to new things,
we lift up to you all who struggle with change and newness,
all who have believed they must become different in order to be good enough,
all who are scared of what a new year might hold.
May they know your constant presence lighting the way.

On the 11th day of the month we join our hearts as your St John’s family to pray:
*For all who live and work in the Castle Levan area.
*For the leaders of St John’s congregation: for the elders, the Kirk Session, the Session Clerk and Assistant Session Clerk, and the Treasurer.
*For the land, people, and governments of the nations of Mauritania, Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.

You invite us to dwell with you, O God,
to find ourselves most fully in your Way, Truth, and Life,
so we pray for the grace to come and see where you are, what you are doing, how you are living,
and then to join in with our whole heart.
We ask these and all things in the name of the One who abides with us, day in and day out,
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 533: Will You Come and Follow Me (YouTube)

Will you come and follow me

if I but call your name?

Will you go where you don’t know

and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown
in you and you in me?

Will you leave your self behind

if I but call your name?

Will you care for cruel and kind

and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare
should your life attract or scare,
will you let me answer prayer
in you and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see

if I but call your name?

Will you set the prisoners free

and never be the same?

Will you kiss the leper clean

and do such as this unseen,

and admit to what I mean

in you and you in me?

Will you love the ‘you’ you hide

if I but call your name?

Will you quell the fear inside

and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found
to reshape the world around
through my sight and touch and sound
in you and you in me?

Lord, your summons echoes true

when you but call my name.

Let me turn and follow you

and never be the same.

In your company I’ll go

where your love and footsteps show.

Thus I’ll move and live and grow

in you and you in me.

Sending
Author Madeline L’Engle once said “We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.” Go from this time together to show others that lovely light you have seen, to share the blessing that you have received, to live with the Christ who dwells with us.
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 (organ)

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 first Sunday of the month at 11am is 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.

* Starter Packs are in need of Shaving Foam, Shampoo, Soap, Hand Wash.

The FoodBank are short of everything except pasta, so anything you can donate will be gratefully received!
You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!

* Bowl & Blether is on the first and third Mondays through the winter, with doors open from 11:30-1:30, and lunch served from noon. All are welcome for a bowl of soup, a toastie, a friendly chat in our warm hall! See you a week tomorrow, the 19th of January.

* The Contact Group meets this Tuesday the 13th of January when Teri will be the speaker. The syllabus of events is available from Fiona Webster or Anne Armour. The syllabus donation of £5 will go towards our charity fundraising.

* We are participating in the Rotary Club’s “Smalls for All” collection — if you can donate NEW underpants in any size (especially for women and girls), please bring them to the box by the front door over the next few weeks. Thank you!

* Wednesday Evening Bible Study is at 7:30pm in the manse.

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

* Did you know that the ministry we do at St John’s costs about £3000 per week and we are currently running about £500 short? 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 item in the budget.

* Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Youtube, and to sign up for our email newsletter! 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.