Sunday service for 21 August 2022

Sunday 21 August 2022, second Sunday of Season of Creation
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

Prelude Music

Welcome/Announcements

Video: water

Psalm 46.1-4
1: God is our refuge and strength,
always present and ready to help in any trouble.
2: Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth changes,
even though the mountains might shake in the heart of the sea;
3: when the waters roar and foam,
and the mountains tremble through all the tumult, we will take courage.
4: There is a river whose streams bring joy to the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most High.
All: Listen for the voice of creation, calling us.

Online hymn 147: All Creatures of our God and King, v3
Cool flowing water, pure and clear,
make music for your Lord to hear,
alleluia, alleluia!
Fire, with your flames so fierce and bright,
giving to all both warmth and light:
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Sanctuary Hymn: Song of the Waters (words: Norman Habel © 2001, tune 160 Praise My Soul)

Prayer (adapted from Creation Time resources: Ocean and River Sundays)
Deep calls to deep, proclaiming the vastness of your creation, O God. Splashing and shimmering, glassy and choppy, the waters of life reveal you. We give you thanks for your care for all who dwell within the waters — for turtles and toads, starfish and stingray, anemones and angelfish, coral reefs standing firm and jellyfish floating free. You created a world that waters itself, that hosts an astonishing array of life, with beauty spouting up and cutting canyons and nourishing all things. We remember the rivers and burns and seas in which we have played, paddled, swum, washed, and even drunk…where we have felt the caress and nurture of your water of life.
We confess that we have treated the waters of your creation as here only for our pleasure and use, that we have chosen to dominate and manipulate, that we have polluted your rivers with poisons, and treated your streams as waste dumps, and drained your wetlands to expand our empires, and turned living waters into currents of death. We admit that it is our greed that drives global warming, and we confess that we have loved progress more than we love the planet you entrusted to our care.
Forgive us, O God.
Forgive our carelessness and our complicity. Forgive our forgetfulness and arrogance. Help us to recognise your vibrant presence among us and our kin in creation, especially in the rivers, the streams, the oceans, the ice caps. Help us to empathise with your creatures who are suffering and to serve you as agents for healing the waterways of Earth. Teach us to sense you in the tides and currents of the surging seas. Teach us to care.
We pray these things through the power of the Spirit of God who hovered over the waters in the beginning, through the wisdom of God who filled the deeps with amazing designs, through the creating word of God who parted the waters so land appeared…and in the name of the Son of God, source of Living Water, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Online Hymn: If the Fields are Parched (Resound Worship)

Sanctuary Children’s Time— Song: Oh the earth is the Lord’s (chorus)

Readings: Genesis 2.10-14, Robert Alter and Revelation 22.1-2, NRSV
Now a river runs out of Eden to water the garden and from there splits off into four streams. The name of the first is Pishon, the one that winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the name of the second river is Gihon, the one that winds through all the land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Tigris, the one that goes to the east of Ashur. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

Sermon: Between the Rivers
Living here along the Firth of Clyde, we take for granted that the water defines our place. It’s been the primary driver of our economy and our leisure time for centuries, from fishing to shipbuilding to the steamers to yachts to cruise ships to the navy, from swimming to just everyday walks along the front and their attendant amazing photographs. This place exists because of the river, and because of the ways we humans interact with the river. It’s literally just part of the landscape, in the background of everything about life here.

Similarly, the west of Scotland is a stereotypically wet place, and whether it’s statistically true or not it can sometimes feel as if it rains all the time. We look out at more shades of green than most people from elsewhere know exist, because of that wet weather. We can barely imagine what a drought must be like, though we are hearing a lot about them in other parts of the country and world.

The waters that flow through the air and the landscape are at the core of this place, and the core of us as people who live here. The shape of life is outlined by the waters.

In scripture, the landscape of God’s created kingdom is also defined by the waters. At the very beginning of creation, the garden of Eden is home to the source of the rivers that flow out and water the whole earth, shaping the places and people and industries and communities that will grow up there. God built in a way to share the goodness at the centre of God’s creation, rippling out from the garden God planted to give life a home.
And at the very end, the new Jerusalem is home to the source of the stream of living water that nourishes the new creation for the healing of the nations. It’s bright and shimmering, constantly moving, doing what water does: making a way even where it seems like there is no way.
The bookends of the story of the Bible are rivers that flow out — not containing the creation, but feeding it so it can grow and flourish into God’s vision.

The waterways of the world are its lifeblood, defining and shaping the earth, flowing in and through and around and under, gathering into seas and splashing down mountains and spouting up in geysers and collecting in lochs, watering the plants and providing a home for incredibly diverse life from seaweed to whales and everything in between. We who have easy access to clean water, flowing both out of taps in our homes and right outside past our windows, don’t have to think much about it. But perhaps we should think more about the waters. Not only because there are still billions of people who don’t have clean water, and the injustice of that is staggering. But also because taking things for granted, as just the background of everyday life, makes it easier to abuse them. I read yesterday in the news about the large sections of English shoreline where raw sewage is being pumped out, making the water and beach unsafe. There’s the reality that the cruise ships we love to watch sail past are also some of the biggest polluters on the planet. There’s the sea life being choked by our plastic waste, and the chemicals and microplastics that last thousands of years and are poisoning the rivers and seas, and therefore also the land, animals, and people nourished by those waters.

And then there’s the uncomfortable facts about sea level rise…the latest research published just last month predicts that if we do nothing but live as we currently do, then Albert Road, the pool, Battery Park, Lunderston Bay, the train station, and that new cruise terminal set to open later in the year could be below the highest tide level in as little as just 18 years, or maybe even sooner if storms intensify. Ten years on from that and the manse could be essentially waterfront property. (source) And of course there are places in the world where that future is already the present reality — Yesterday the BBC reported that people living on the islands of Panama have to be relocated to the mainland, and last year we saw a film about how the nation of Kiribati has been negotiating with Fiji to become a nation within a nation, in both cases because the tides already come up so high they cannot grow enough food and building foundations are being undermined. As I said to a friend earlier in the week, we need new verses for “Eternal Father Strong to Save” because it’s no longer only those on the sea who are in peril — a large portion of the world’s population is in peril from the sea.

The psalmist wrote that though the earth changes and the waters roar and foam, we will not be afraid because God is our refuge and strength, our help in every trouble. And that is absolutely true…though the psalmist writing 3,000 years ago could never have predicted the extent to which the earth would have changed and the way the waters would rage today. And honestly too much of our recent pop-theology has involved simply saying that God is in control, so we don’t need to worry about things. After all, if God made the world and God is powerful and has a plan, then everything that’s happening must be part of the blueprint that gets us toward that vision of Revelation, where after the end, everything is made new. So we just live on however we want, and wait until God does something. Right?

Unfortunately that view is, first of all, cruel since it essentially says that the suffering of our neighbours is part of God’s plan, and we should just let people and animals suffer and die. And second, that view often falls apart when the consequences affect us personally. It’s an attractive view to hold when the effects are far away and the people suffering are not just unknown to us but also tend to be different — in a different economic situation, or a different skin colour, or a different religion. But as soon as the people suffering are some combination of white, wealthy, and Christian, or worse are us, we suddenly have a different opinion. That is in direct opposition to what scripture commands and what Jesus embodies. We are called to act with love, even toward people we will never meet, and even toward people who are in opposition to us, and even at cost to our own comfort. And, in case this has not occurred to us before, I must say: we are not the only people for whom God is a refuge and strength and help. The people we are too often willing to consign to climate chaos because change is inconvenient for us are also people who cry out for God’s help, they are also people who are seeking God’s refuge and strength, they are also people who are seeking that river whose streams make God’s city glad.

The psalmist’s words are true: God is with us, and we do not need to be afraid — though what I think the Bible really means by that is that we cannot afford the luxury of being paralysed by fear. Not that nothing will ever change. Not that God will handle the problem if we just sit back and wait. But that God is our refuge and strength, ready to help in any trouble: meaning that we can have courage to face the trouble honestly, because we do not face it alone.

We live between the rivers — the ones coming from the first garden of creation to nurture life on the earth and the one flowing down the centre of the new creation to bring new life to all the world. Here in the middle, things are messy, as middles often are. Change and disruption and transformation and reformation are messy. It feels like the earth is shaking beneath our feet, and the waters roar and foam in ways that menace as well as thrill. And the river that makes glad the city of God is, in a way, like any other — you can never step in the same river twice. It always nurtures us toward newness, washing away the old and carrying us into the future. So do not dig in and insist on staying where we are, because that’s fear talking. Instead, trust that God is ready to help in every danger and trouble, and allow the strength of God to encourage us for the work ahead, honouring and tending the waterways that define and shape and encompass and enliven God’s creation and all that is in it.

May it be so. Amen.

Online hymn 36: God is our Refuge and our Strength
Sanctuary Hymn: O God, the Great Wide Seas are Yours (words: Carolyn Winfrey Gillette © 2010, tune: Melita)

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer (Adapted from Creation Time prayers)
We give you thanks, Creator God, for your beautiful gifts —
for rivers and lochs, seas and waterfalls,
for rain that nourishes the earth and for aquifers that provide for us all.
You have given all we need for all creation to flourish, and shown us how to care as you care.
And yet your world, and we your people, are in trouble.
You are our strength and we trust you stand ready to help.
We pray that you would once again pour out your Holy Spirit,
that your grace would fall like rain on every corner of the earth,
that your powerful love would fill us to overflowing.
We remember and lift up those places
*whose reservoirs so low that old ruins have re-appeared in the dried up lakes
*where rubbish continues accumulating into an island
*where sea life is choking on plastic
*where waters are contaminated by waste
*where the land is so thirsty yet unable to absorb the rain
*where people must carry water for miles because there’s no clean source nearby
*where access to water drives people to violence
*where preventable illness results from poor sanitation or drought or pollution.
May all people and creatures have the water they need to live life to the full.

You created the world and called it good,
and you loved the world enough to send your son Jesus to make it his home,
and you taught us to pray for your kingdom to be visible on earth as it is in heaven.
We ask today for the creativity and courage to face the challenges ahead.
We ask for perseverance and courage for all who work for change and for justice.
We ask for wisdom and courage for those in positions of power,
that they may lead us in new ways of conserving and sharing.
We come to be strengthened by your presence and upheld by your power,
to re-learn how to cooperate with creation rather than abuse it.
Your promise is for courage to live your kingdom way,
and we commit ourselves to follow your call.

God our Creator, teach us to empathise with Earth.
Make our spirits sensitive to the cries of creation,
cries for justice from the seas and rivers and all who dwell in their depths.
Lord Jesus Christ, make our faith sensitive to the groaning of creation,
staggering under our weight and begging for relief.
Holy Spirit, make our hearts sensitive to the songs of our kin,
songs of celebration and praise, songs of lament and pleading from
the seals and dolphins, the coral and octopus, the whales and seahorses,
the whole community of life we rarely see beneath the surface.
Christ, teach us to care.
We pray in your holy and loving name, joining in as you taught your family 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: We Were Born Out of the Waters (Carolyn Winfrey Gillette © 2017, tune: Nettleton)

Benediction
Friends, go out into your week paying attention to the waters all around us — not just in the background, but at the forefront of God’s creation. Let their beauty inspire you, yes, and also call you to have courage to change for the sake of the waterways of creation and the people and creatures they nourish, near and far.
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
*You are invited to join in reading the Bible in a year for 2022 — immersing ourselves in God’s word throughout the year. We get together to discuss each week on Wednesday at 7:30pm in the manse at 6 Barrhill Road. All are welcome, no experience necessary! Feel free to invite a friend, too! Anyone who has ever wondered just what the Bible actually says and what it has to do with us is welcome.

* All worship is online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print) and we also meet in the sanctuary at 11am. Hand sanitiser is available at every entrance, and mask-wearing is optional. Masks are available at the door if you would like one. 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 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!

* Youth Organisations are starting the new session. If you or anyone you know is interested in the Boys Brigade (P1 – S6), please contact Alan Aitken or 2ndgourock (at) inverclydebb.org.uk. If you or anyone you know is interested in the Brownies or Girl Guides, please visit the website to register. For the Smurfs, our youngest girls, please contact Teri and ask to be put in touch with the leader.

* Young Adult Bible Study returns next Sunday 28 August at 7pm, with pizza as we begin our study of John’s gospel. If you’d like more information, for yourself, a family member, a friend, or neighbour who is in their 20s, please contact Teri for the dates/times and other information.

* Looking ahead: A Bowl & a Blether on 5 September will also be a Macmillan Coffee Morning! Come along for a cup of tea or coffee and a scone from 10:30, and/or a bowl of soup from noon – 1:30…whether you come for a bit or stay all day, we can guarantee a good fun time, a chat with friends old and new, and a chance to donate to a good cause. Why not invite a neighbour to join you?