Sunday service for 22 May, sixth Sunday of Easter

22 May 2022, Easter 6
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143 
Email: tpeterson@churchofscotland.org.uk

Prelude Music (sanctuary only)

Welcome

Call to Worship
1: We give thanks for you!
2: And we give thanks for you!
1: Seeing you brings joy, for together we share in God’s grace.
2: Seeing you brings hope, for together we share so many stories we can build on.
1: We hold you in our hearts, praying that you may know life in all its fullness.
2: We hold you in our hearts, praying that you may bear fruit for Christ’s kingdom.
All: May you overflow with love more and more, as together we seek God’s face.

Prayer
Glory be to you, O God,
for you bring your work to fruition,
in your time.
We praise you, Lord Jesus Christ,
for you call all people to share in your good news,
in every place.
We rejoice in you, Holy Spirit,
for you give gifts, seen and unseen,
in your wisdom.
Wherever we find ourselves today, and however we arrived at this moment,
lead us through your love to your way.
You call us to share your good news, and to let you handle the rest.
We confess that we are prone to distraction,
comparing ourselves to others,
wondering how to copy them or judging their methods.
We admit that we allow this spirit of comparison
to steal both our joy and our focus,
and so come to believe we are not prepared enough
to join in your kingdom work
when we don’t have everything those other places have.
Forgive us for taking our eyes off you.
Forgive us for our simultaneous jealousy and judgment.
Forgive us for hesitating to follow you because we can’t do it the way others do.
Remind us again that it is your work in us,
your love made known through us,
your word spoken through our voices,
and strengthen our weakness that we may serve you with joy.
We ask in Christ’s name. Amen.

Online Hymn: Hallelujah, Christ is Risen (Resound Worship)
Sanctuary hymn 415: This Joyful Eastertide

Sanctuary: Children’s Time and Song: Hallelujah Christ is Risen

Reading: Philippians 1.1-18a (New Revised Standard Version)

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that on the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ; and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.

Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defence of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I rejoice.

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: overflow with love
I wonder how often we look around our church and give thanks to God for each other? Do we call our fellow Christians to mind and feel joy when we think about each other?

Sometimes it can feel like Christian community is hard work. Being fully present ourselves, being real with each other, can feel vulnerable…and add in doing so with people who have every personality quirk you can imagine and it quickly becomes tricky. It’s easier to stay around the edges and not get involved, because the relationships require energy we may not always feel we have to give.

And yet here is Paul telling a Christian community that they bring him joy. That he is grateful every time he thinks about them. We know that can’t possibly be true — every single time? Every thought brings joy and gratitude? Really? I’m pretty sure I’m the only one lucky enough to have a church where every thought inspires joy. The rest of the letter implies there might be a few moments along the way when his thoughts have been less happy. But still…what if we tried it out? What if every day we thought of someone else in the church, and thanked God for them? Even the people who try our patience?

Perhaps take a moment just now and look around, either around the room or around your mental image of the church family. When your attention is pulled to one person, just close your eyes and thank God for them, and offer a wee prayer for that person. Even if you aren’t sure of their name, just hold their face in your mind and be grateful for them for a moment.

…
…

Imagine how different our experience of the world could be, if we spent time giving thanks for one another. If we spent time praying for each other to overflow with love more and more. If we spent less time wondering about people’s motives, and more time looking for how Christ can be made known even in ways we wouldn’t have personally preferred. If we were intent on participating in the good work that God has started in us, and let God be at work in other people in other ways.

Several months ago I was at a Presbytery Planning committee meeting and as we were trying to prepare for the very hard work ahead, working toward a new way of doing God’s mission in our Presbytery and across the nation, discerning where we need church buildings and ministers and where we need new forms of christian witness and community, I asked “is there any chance that everyone will behave like Christians through this process?” I took it as a bad sign when the rest of the committee laughed. Nonetheless I have decided to pray every day that all our churches may overflow with love more and more, and I invite you to join me in that prayer — for ourselves, for the other churches in our presbytery, and for the whole Body of Christ in Scotland and around the world. That as we face some big changes in the world and the church, as we try to bring the good news of Jesus Christ into a culture that finds church irrelevant at best and harmful at worst, that our love might overflow more and more.

The thing about overflowing, as we saw in the children’s time, is that it’s messy. Most of the time we try to contain things, not let them overflow. When a river overflows its banks, damage occurs. When the sink or bath overflows, there’s a lot to clean up. When we pour too much into the teacup or the pint glass, we waste something delicious, drip everywhere we go, and everything gets sticky. Overflowing makes a mess. That’s why people didn’t want to allow resurrection, too — when life overflows the tomb, it makes a mess of everything we thought we understood, it messes up the boundaries and rules we use to confine ourselves and others, and it costs a lot as it demands we live differently in light of resurrection power.

But Paul prays that our love would overflow more and more. I hope we will all be praying for love that overflows more and more…not just through the process of Presbytery planning, but as we discern how to participate in the work God started among us, right here in our own community. What is the mission God is doing here, and how is God still doing it, and calling us to do it? The promise is that the work will be completed in good time…but that will mean we need to join in with the Spirit’s help to do the task.

Figuring out what God is doing, and then joining in, can sometimes feel daunting. But Paul says that’s what happens when our love overflows more and more. It isn’t just that we feel nice warm fuzzies for people. He prays that love may overflow more and more with knowledge and insight to know what is best to do. Not what is best to think, or best to talk about, or even best to pray — what is best to do, to produce fruit for God’s kingdom.

When we love more, we will also know more. And that knowledge will lead us to more love, or else it isn’t true spiritual knowledge. When we love more, we will understand more, and that understanding will be about how to love more. When we love more, we will recognise what is ours to do, and what we will do is love more. When we love more, God’s mission will become clearer and clearer, and that mission is to bring everyone into the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

So on the one hand, overflowing is messy. But on the other hand, it leads to hope, peace, justice, grace…overflowing love makes the world more beautiful, even if it seems a bit of a mess along the way.

We like things to be orderly, because we’re Presbyterians. But sometimes we can’t plan our way out of the mess. The only way is through — with love. If we try to get through without love, all we get in the end is sarcastic laughter at the thought of Christians behaving like Christ. But with love overflowing more and more, with study that leads to more love for God and love for neighbour, with insight into how God’s love reaches out to us and through us to others…we may just find ourselves producing a harvest for God’s kingdom.

May you overflow with love more and more.
Amen.

Online Hymn 519: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

Sanctuary Hymn: For All the Saints Who Show Your Love (John Bell, tune: Tallis Canon)
For all the saints who show your love
in how they live and where they move,
for mindful women, caring men,
accept our gratitude again.

For all the saints who love your name,
whose faith increased their Saviour’s fame,
who sing your songs and share your word,
accept our gratitude, good Lord.

For all the saints who name your will,
and see your kingdom coming still
through selfless protest, prayer and praise,
accept the gratitude we raise.

Bless all whose will or name or love
reflects the grace of heaven above.
Though unclaimed by earthly powers,
your life through theirs has hallowed ours.

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
With grateful hearts we come, loving God,
offering you our joy for those who have shared this life with us.
For all those who have shown us love and grace,
for all those who have taught us the way of justice and peace,
for all those who have surrounded us with their prayers and hope.
We remember with joy the great cloud of witnesses
whose stories are intertwined with ours,
and we lift them to you — in memory, in prayer, in gratitude.

With longing hearts we come, loving God,
offering you our compassion for those who are struggling in these days.
For those who do not experience love,
for those whose daily lives are marked by pain in body, mind, or spirit,
for those who cannot rest as war rages around them.
We remember with sorrow those whose stories are not deemed newsworthy,
who must simply wait through each day without hope,
and we lift these all to you — for your justice, your courage, your healing.

With confident hearts we come, loving God,
offering you ourselves,
for the work of your kingdom right in front of us,
for the good news our own literal neighbours need to hear,
for the changes that could make the world better in our town.
We remember with a mix of trepidation and trust
that you need us just where we are,
and we lift our eyes to you — that you may reveal your gifts and your calling to us today.

We especially pray today for the work of the General Assembly in the coming week.
May all the elders and ministers and staff
have minds open to discern your Spirit moving in their midst,
hands open to join in the work of your kingdom,
hearts open to let love overflow more and more.

Keep us close, in your loving connection,
with you and all your people, indeed with all creation,
and continue your good work until the world recognises your kingdom on earth as in heaven.
We pray boldly in the name of Christ, and as he taught us to pray:
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 519: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

Benediction
May your love overflow more and more! May the knowledge of God, the work of Christ, and the insight of the Holy Spirit bring the kingdom to fruition in you, here and now. 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 (sanctuary only)

Announcements
* Happy Easter! Easter is a season that lasts for 50 days, so we will be celebrating resurrection for a couple more weeks!

*You are invited to join in reading the Bible in a year for 2022 — immersing ourselves in God’s word throughout the year. Click here to find a reading plan that’s five days a week (leaving a couple of days for catch up each week!). Watch this space for information about a Bible study as we go through the scriptures together!

* Join our team walking for Christian Aid in the month of May! You can sign up here with Christian Aid to join in, and be sure you donate to members of our St John’s fundraising team! If you can’t walk all 300,000 steps yourself, you can do it as a group or a family, too! If online fundraising doesn’t work for you, you can also pick up an envelope at church. 
**You can join Teri for a midweek walk on Tuesday evening this week — meet at the top of Bath Street beside the church at 7:30, or at the cenotaph at 7:35, for a walk-and-talk along the front (nice and flat!). 

* All worship is online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print) and we also meet in person, subject to the usual protocols for distancing, hand hygiene, mask wearing. We can now welcome up to 85-100 people for worship with one-chair-between-households distancing. No booking is required. Masks are required at all times inside the building, including while singing. 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.

* Tonight we will gather for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page, led tonight by David. Log on at 6:58pm to join in.

* The Kirk now has online giving! If you have not already set up a standing order in order to facilitate your spiritual discipline of giving, or if you would like to make an extra gift to support the ministry St. John’s does in our parish, you can give online by clicking here. If you would like to set up a standing order, please contact Peter Bennett, our treasurer, or Teri and she can give you his details. You can also send your envelopes to the church or the manse by post and we will ensure they are received. Remember: no one is coming to your door to collect your envelopes, so please stay safe!

* Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Youtube, and to sign up for our email devotions! Midweek you can watch Wine and the Word on Youtube, pray with video devotions on Facebook, and consider a new angle on something with a devotional email. Feel free to share with your friends, too!

* The Spring Church Notes are now available! You can read them by clicking here.

*Young Adults Bible Study is on Zoom most Sunday afternoons. Contact Teri for the link to join and for a copy of the book they are using.

* The annual meeting of the congregation will take place during sanctuary worship on 12 June. You can find the annual finance report by clicking here. If you have any questions, please let Cameron, Teri, or Peter know by the 6th of June if possible so they can be answered for everyone both in the building and online. (there will still be an opportunity to ask questions during the meeting as well.)

* The Kirk Session will meet after worship on Sunday 12 June, with a light lunch provided.