Sunday service for 17 August 2025

Sunday 17 August 2025
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

Sanctuary Prelude Music (praise band)

Welcome

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: In the big flashy moments and in the everyday little things,
All: God provides.
One: Whether we have done more than enough or next to nothing,
All: God provides, and God calls.
One: When we’re looking back longingly, lamenting what we’ve lost, or looking around us now,
All: God provides, God calls, and God teaches us to trust.
One: We come to worship the One who shows us a new way.

Sanctuary Hymn 167: Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah

Prayer
God of the miraculous and the mundane,
we praise you for your care —
in daily bread and in liberation from all that harms.
We encounter your gifts of mercy new every morning,
and we give you thanks,
for we admit we have a tendency to hold on, save up,
worried there won’t be enough for tomorrow.
We confess that we are a people prone to mistrust,
certain our neighbours are getting things at our expense,
quick to complain that things have gone downhill,
always believing we just need a little more than we have.
We cannot free ourselves of our habits of hoarding or fear,
we cannot turn ourselves away from worry about what we lack,
we cannot reconcile ourselves to our dependence on you.
But you are the God who delivers us,
who sets your people free.
You are the God who provides,
not only for our needs but for the needs of all.
You are the God who knows us better than we know ourselves,
and still you call us and set us on your way, walking beside us in every land.
When we misuse your gifts, so that there is not enough to go around, forgive us.
When we insist on instant gratification so some never get a day of rest, forgive us.
When we see only scarcity and teach others to see it too, forgive us.
With you there is always enough,
even when we do not know how to name it.
Restore us to the joy of your providing,
and help us today to practice your abundance,
that we may be good stewards of your ordinary miracles each day,
for we trust that with you,
there is always enough.
We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hymn GWA 173: Goodness of God (praise band)

Children’s Time and Bible Story: Exodus 15.22-17.7
When last we left the the Israelites, they had crossed through the Red Sea on a dry path, with walls of water on either side…and when they all got through safely, the walls of water collapsed and washed away the entire Egyptian army as the sea returned to normal. Miriam and all the women led the people in singing and dancing a new song to the Lord who had set them free. We pick up today in the very next verse, reading from Exodus chapter 15, starting at verse 22 and carrying on through chapter 17 verse 7.

The people journeyed away from the sea, following the pillar of cloud and fire. They traveled for three days but never came to any water…finally after three days they arrived at a place called Marah. That’s a Hebrew word that in English means “bitter.” There was water there but it was…marah. It was bitter and not drinkable. The people cried out “what will we drink?” They were so thirsty and starting to get scared. Moses prayed to God, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood and told him to throw it into the water. Moses did, and the water became sweet and drinkable, and the people and animals drank their fill.

They continued their journey and soon arrived at an oasis called Elim, where there were 12 springs of fresh water, and 70 palm trees bearing fruit. The Israelites camped there at Elim.

When it was time to go, the pillar of cloud and fire again led them, stage by stage, out into the wilderness we now call the Sinai desert. As they traveled, they started reminiscing together — remember when we were in Egypt, and we sat by the pots of meat cooking over the fire? Remember when we had so much bread we couldn’t eat it all? And as they remembered those days of having more food than they needed, they started to turn from hungry to hangry. They shouted at Moses — it would be better if we had died during those plagues in Egypt! At least then we had plenty to eat, we wouldn’t be dying of starvation! Did you bring us out here in the wilderness just to kill us slowly with hunger instead of letting God kill us instantly in a plague?

And God heard them, and said to Moses: go and tell the people what I will do. They’ll soon know that I am the Lord who rescued them from slavery and set them free, and I am the Lord who provides for them in their new life as free people too.
So Moses went and told the people: God has heard you, and in the evening you will have meat and in the morning you will have bread and you will know that God doesn’t just save you, he loves and provides for you too. And they looked out to the edge of the camp and saw the glory of the Lord in the cloud, and they listened for God spoke to Moses.
That night quails came up and covered the camp, and they were so easy to catch that every family feasted in the evening. And in the morning when they woke up, the ground was covered with dew — even out in the desert! When the dew lifted, there was a fine white stuff covering everything, and they said to each other “what is it?” In English that’s three words but in Hebrew it’s just one word to say “what is it” and that word is “manna.” Moses told them it’s the flour God has given them, so they were to go and collect it and use it to make bread. Everyone went out to collect as much as they needed for each household, and when they had finished, those who had collected loads more and those who had not collected enough each had exactly what they needed — no one had more or less. Moses told them to prepare it and eat it the same day, not to leave any until tomorrow, because God would provide again tomorrow. So they went and ate their fill of bread, just as God said. But some people did try to save some, just in case…and in the morning it had gone bad, rotted and grown worms overnight! Moses was upset, because he had told them not to try to store it up! Each day they went out to collect it, and they started just calling it “manna” — it tasted like wafers made with honey. They collected it every morning and made their bread, and by afternoon anything that was left lying melted away in the sun.

Then on the sixth day when they collected the manna, they got home and it was twice as much as normal! They asked Moses what to do and he told them: God has provided two days’ worth, because tomorrow is the seventh day, it’s a Sabbath when no work will be done. Prepare your bread for today and tomorrow, and it won’t go bad overnight. Tomorrow we will all rest from our labours. So the people prepared two days worth, but the next morning some people still tried to go out just like they did every other day…and there was nothing there. God was upset that people were struggling to follow the instructions, and Moses said: stay in your places and rest! This is a day for no work, it’s a day for enjoying God’s providing, enjoying God’s creation, enjoying each other’s company, and just resting — something a slave never gets to do, but you’re free now, so relax a bit!

So they went on like this, stage by stage, collecting manna every day for six days, enjoying quail in the evening, and resting on the seventh day.

A month after that night when the angel of death passed through Egypt, and they had to flee in the middle of the night, the people arrived near Horeb, the area where God had spoken to Moses from the burning bush. But they looked around and all they could see was that there was no water! They shouted at Moses again — did you bring us out here just to kill us with thirst? Moses prayed to God and said “what will I do? these people are ready to stone me to death!” God spoke to Moses and said “take some of the elders with you and go to the rock at Horeb. Take your staff too, the one you used to strike the Nile when you were speaking to Pharaoh.” Moses took his staff, and some of the elders, and they went ahead to the big rock, and God stood there on the rock and said “hit the rock with your staff.” Moses hit the rock and water flowed out, for all the people to drink — and the elders saw what had happened. And so God provided for them in the wilderness. But Moses named the place Massah and Meribah, which means quarrel and test — because they had argued about whether God was in their midst or not, and tested God’s faithfulness.

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: good old days
I wonder if any of you have ever wished that things could just go back to the way they used to be? Or wished that you could go back to some time or place from your own past? What are some of the times or things we wish we could have again?

I think it’s fascinating what we are nostalgic for, what we lament losing. We all do it, in one way or another…longing for people that have gone ahead or moved away, or for moments or places that are no longer part of our everyday lives. Communities do it too. I see all the time people longing for the Bay Hotel, or Cragburn, or the days when everyone went doon-the-watter on a steamer for their holiday. And of course in church we long for those days when it seemed everyone went to church, when there were so many children in Sunday school we didn’t have room for them all, when it felt like the Church had a voice in the nation and culture.

We look around at life, or the world, or the church, and sometimes it feels like all we can see is what we used to have and don’t have anymore.

The Israelites in the wilderness looked around and all they could see was that they used to have as much food as they wanted. There was always a stew or a roast on the fire, bread in the oven, water flowing freely for themselves and their flocks. Now they were out in the literal middle of nowhere, with none of the comforts of home.

Nevermind that that home was as enslaved people, that they were worked to the bone by a Pharaoh and his people who saw them as inferior, or that their children were constantly under threat of genocide. That all faded into the rose-tinted background as they longed for the thing they remembered.

A bit like how many of our good-old-days memories have blurry backgrounds of awful working conditions, poverty, women not being allowed to work after they got pregnant or not allowed to have a credit card in her own name, racism that we just understood as normal, church culture that required suits and ties and only allowed men in authority…often when we zoom out from the one thing we’re focused on and longing for, we see a bigger picture of many things that we wouldn’t usually want to actually bring back.

The Israelites were hungry and thirsty, yes. And they longed for the good old days of having plenty…but surely they weren’t longing for the good old days of slavery? Of serving Pharaoh who believed himself a godly power who could control everything from their workload to their childbearing? Of living alongside neighbours who thought they were dangerous and didn’t belong?

I know we’ll all say “well I didn’t mean I wanted to go back to that” but…do we? That old saying about the devil you know comes to mind. The Israelites knew what to expect from Pharaoh and his enslavers. They knew what each day would bring. Out in the wilderness as free people, following a God they were still becoming re-acquainted with, every day was an uncertainty. Would they be on the move today, or staying in camp? Would there be water? Would there be food? Would their feet hurt before they got to stop? Would they get anywhere, or would it feel like an endless slog through an unchanging landscape? Where were they going? Is this what freedom is, or is there more to it?

And God said: look at this.

Look at this wood that will detoxify the water.

Look at this flock of quail that has started following your camp.

Look at this sweet flour that has settled all around you every morning.

Look at this rock where you think nothing can happen…yet water gushes forth.

Look at this.

Right here, right now, God is in our midst…providing, leading, listening, caring.

If our eyes and hearts are full of what we used to have and don’t have anymore, will we be able to look around and see what God is doing right now?

I’ll be the first to say the world doesn’t seem full of goodness just now. Pharaoh’s kingdom is far more visible than God’s. Many of us are struggling, there doesn’t seem to be enough to go around, even though we know the earth produces plenty for all. We look around and we see not-enough. Cost of living crisis, people who still don’t have access to clean water in 2025, famine, war, health service stretched to the breaking point, not enough not enough not enough. While we thought that the world would just keep getting better generation after generation, now it seems we’re moving backward, but not to the things we wished would come back! And we can’t understand how it happened, or what to do about it.

The Israelites looked around and they saw not-enough and they didn’t understand how that could change…but God provided literally every day their daily bread. God stood on the rock and broke it open to provide water. God opened Moses’ eyes and mind to recognise how to solve a problem. God went in front of them day in and day out, glory shining even when they couldn’t actually see the path ahead.

Every single day, God provided. Look at this! And look at this! See what I’m doing for you, so that you can be my people?

Every single day, God provides. Calls us to turn our attention: look at this! Look at this! See what I’m doing for you, so that you can make my kingdom visible on earth?

It’s so tempting to hold on to our grief that things are not the way they used to be. But when we do…we miss the amazing thing God is doing to provide for right now. So I invite us all to acknowledge what we miss…and then to look at this, look at this! God is trying to get our attention today. God is providing exactly what we need for where we are today — not providing for where we used to be, or even for where we might be in 40 years time, but for where we are today. God is providing exactly what we need to be God’s people…not for the good old days, but for today, and for today’s challenges. We can never understand how God does it, or exactly how it’s precisely enough for what each of us needs, no more and no less. If we try to save it or hoard it, we can’t. If we look only for what we always knew, we’ll miss it and it will melt away. A feast beyond our understanding — we may well join the Israelites in saying “what is it?”
Manna — daily bread for today, which feeds our hope for tomorrow.

May it be so. Amen.

Online Hymn 153: Great is Thy Faithfulness

Sanctuary Offering and Response 809 (tune: Old Hundredth)
Praise God, the Source of life and birth;
praise God the Word, who came to earth;
praise God the Spirit, holy flame:
all glory, honour to God’s name.
Amen

Sanctuary: Invitation to the Table

Sanctuary Communion Hymn 655: For Your Generous Providing

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer (Helen H)
Lord, we thank you for your mercy and love. Let us always be aware of Your blessings around us. For those of us who are blessed help others to see Your reflection in our blessings. When we feel that life is hard help us to recognise Your work in our trials. We thank you for the basic things in life we take for granted like clean water, sanitation, food and friendship. On an individual basis we thank you for all that has been good in our life.

We pray for Inverclyde Royal Hospital, the Larkfield Unit, and Orchard View — for the doctors, nurses, and all the staff, and for the patients and families who are served there. May your Spirit of Healing be in that place.

We pray for our St. John’s community. Remember those in Inverclyde who struggle and give them hope. For those praying for others, hear their prayers and provide healing. We pray for the Bible Study groups at St John’s, for the Intercessory Prayer Group, that they may encounter you, Living God, in word and prayer.

God, look after those in need. Provide for food, water and security to Gaza and we pray that the leaders involved will see that continued fighting will not lead to a just peace. We pray for peace wherever there is war and suffering. Help us and our leaders to recognise that You will provide and the hoarding of wealth, food, water and our way of life will not lead to world that reflects your love. We pray for the land, people, and governments of the nations of Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, and Iran.

We ask that one day all people will have access to a good diet, safe water and sanitation so that they may thrive. Remind us to be generous to those who are less fortunate and to share our bounty with the Food Bank, Starter Packs and international charities that bring your love into the world. Help us to be generous in assisting those in need wherever that may be.

We finish this prayer with Your words:
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: Communion
**with hymn 153: Great is Thy Faithfulness

Prayer After Communion

Peace

Sanctuary Hymn 237: Look Forward in Faith

Sending

Go from this time of worship to look around at what God is doing now — God who is faithful, God who provides, day in and day out — so that we can be a part of making God’s kingdom visible on earth here and now. And as you go, may the Spirit of God go above you to watch over you…and 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 if you thought you were 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

* Did you hear the Holy Histories theme song written by our very own Graham G? It’s pretty catchy, so you can give it a listen here! 

* 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 Bathroom/Kitchen Cleaner, Washing up Liquid, Cleaning Cloths and Hand Wash.

The FoodBank are running low on diluting juice, tinned mince & onions, tinned stew, tinned ravioli, tinned macaroni, tinned fruit, and pasta sauce.
You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!

* The Kirk Session will meet on Thursday 28 August at 7pm.

* The next Bowl & Blether is on Monday 1 September. Doors open at 11:30, and soup & toasties are served from 12 noon – 1:30pm. All are welcome! If you’d like to volunteer we have three shifts available: 9:45-12 for preparation and set-up; 11:30-1:30 for serving; or 12:45-2pm for clean up. Speak to Teri, Graham Bolster, or Charlene!

* 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. 

* Wednesday Evening Bible Study is at 7:30pm in the Manse and we are reading Luke! 

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