Sunday Service for 23 May 2021, Pentecost

Sunday Service for 23 May 2021, Pentecost
Prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson, Gourock St. John’s
Manse phone: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

To hear an audio recording of this service, including music, please phone 01475 270037. Let your neighbours and friends who don’t have internet know that they can receive the tape ministry by telephone now!

Prelude Music (in person only)

Welcome and Announcements (in person)

Acts 2.1-13 selected verses (in person: popcorn style, read by 11 voices; online, read by Teri)

1. When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place.

2. Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting!

3. They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them!

4. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak!

5. There were pious Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered.

6. They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in their native languages.

7. They were surprised and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all the people who are speaking Galileans, every one of them? How then can each of us hear them speaking in our native language?

8. We hear them declaring the mighty works of God in our own languages!”

9. They were all surprised and bewildered.

10. Some asked each other, “What does this mean?” Others jeered at them, saying, “They’re full of new wine!”

11. Peter stood up and said “Listen carefully to my words! These people aren’t drunk, as you suspect; after all, it’s only nine o’clock in the morning!”

Music
In person: Fanfare by CS Lang
Online: Enemy of Apathy by John L Bell & Graham Maule, sung by Ferryhill Parish Church Virtual Choir

Welcome (online)

Call to Worship
Come, let us seek the Spirit of God together —
for the Spirit leads us toward one another, and so toward Christ.
Come, God calls us into community
and sends us out to share the good news.
Come, for God is making and re-making the Body of Christ,
as the wind blows, we are created anew, to bear fruit for the kingdom.
Come, let us worship God, together.

Prayer of Confession
Rushing wind and burning flame and a hubbub of good news — You know how to get our attention, God. Your Spirit moves us out from behind our closed doors into the streets, bearing your word into every place. We confess that we are not always ready to follow. For we admit that we may not want to lay aside our selfish motives, and the lucrative fruit they produce. We look to the people you place in our path and we prefer to remain divided from them. We aren’t sure we want to learn to communicate in new and unfamiliar ways, nor to reach out in reconciliation. Looking to our own hearts, we confess that what we want has taken precedence over what you want, and over the needs of others. Forgive us for our part in creating conflict that tears the fabric of community apart, rather than leading toward healing. Forgive us for our tendency to prioritise ourselves at the expense of others. Forgive us for when we have borne bad fruit, and transform us into a community that embodies love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We ask in the name of the Risen Christ, and through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Music (in person only): Hymn 613, Gracious Spirit

Children’s Time (in person only)
—involves fruit! Get yourselves some fruit and give thanks for God’s faithful providing, nourishing us so that we too can bear fruit in our lives.

Reading: Galatians 5.16-26 (Common English Bible)
I say be guided by the Spirit and you won’t carry out your selfish desires. A person’s selfish desires are set against the Spirit, and the Spirit is set against one’s selfish desires. They are opposed to each other, so you shouldn’t do whatever you want to do. But if you are being led by the Spirit, you aren’t under the Law. The actions that are produced by selfish motives are obvious, since they include sexual immorality, moral corruption, doing whatever feels good, idolatry, drug use and casting spells, hate, fighting, obsession, losing your temper, competitive opposition, conflict, selfishness, group rivalry, jealousy, drunkenness, partying, and other things like that. I warn you as I have already warned you, that those who do these kinds of things won’t inherit God’s kingdom.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the self with its passions and its desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit. Let’s not become arrogant, make each other angry, or be jealous of each other.

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: Demonstrably Different
When Pentecost Day arrived — 50 days after Passover, the day when Jews celebrate God giving the Torah on Mount Sinai, thus creating the Israelites as God’s covenant people — the disciples were together. Traditionally, Jewish people get together to study scripture all night long for this particular holiday, so it’s possible that’s what the disciples were doing that day, reading scripture and giving thanks for God revealing the word and bringing them together as a community.

That morning, when perhaps they had been reading scripture all night, and maybe they were a little bit giddy from sleep deprivation and holiday excitement, there was a loud and rushing wind blowing through the house — like the wind that blew over the waters of creation back in Genesis 1. And tongues of fire, like the flames that had danced in the burning bush, and like the pillar of fire that led the Israelites in the wilderness, appeared above them, leading them out of the house, into the street. And they spoke…and people heard. It was a day of new creation, with the wind of God blowing and the fire of the Spirit filling them all, so that they could share stories of God’s amazing works in ways that people would understand, bringing a new community into being.

It’s a community that, of course, seeks to become more like Christ every day. And, according to Paul, the way we do that is by being guided by the Spirit, rather than being guided mainly by the ancient law. Paul says that when we are guided by the Spirit, we will choose to set aside our selfish desires, and choose instead things that build up. He told the Galatians, and still tells us today, that if we are following the Spirit, our community will have a demonstrably different character than those who are not. And then he describes two different and competing visions of what life can be like: life driven by selfish desire, and life driven by the Spirit. If we are following the Spirit, Paul says, it will be obvious to even a casual observer who looks at us or our community.

Listen to the things Paul describes as coming from “selfish motives” — things like sexual immorality, hate, fighting, competitive opposition, group rivalry, jealousy, doing whatever feels good, idolatry. These are things that put myself first — above what’s good for others, above what’s good for my community, even above God. Sometimes it might seem like they serve us — to be competitive, to have rivals, to do what feels right, even to hate people who are different. But in addition to hurting others, they are harmful to ourselves as well. When we dehumanise others, we lose a bit of our own humanity. When we think only of ourselves, we cut ourselves off from support and relationships that could help us grow. When our focus is on me and my security and what I want — when we focus on serving ourselves, or saving ourselves — we paradoxically lose everything, including the chance to experience the kingdom of God.

Now listen to the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Do you notice anything about those things? They are relational things. Love is always received and given, not kept for ourselves. Joy bubbles over and is shared. Peace is known between people. Patience and kindness and gentleness and self-control are how we treat each other and how we interact with the world. Generosity is about giving away. Faithfulness means being focused on Jesus and following him. The fruit of the Spirit draws our eyes away from our self-centredness and pulls us into community. Just as the Spirit blowing through the upper room on Pentecost morning drew the disciples away from studying for their own sake and pulled them out into the street to speak to people who needed to hear the good news in understandable language.

When people look at the church today, do they see a different way of life than anywhere else? Do they see a community that loves, is joyful, works for peace, has patience, is kind and generous, faithful and gentle? In other words, is the Body of Christ demonstrating the relational, outward-looking fruit of the Spirit, in a way that any casual observer could see or experience? Or do they see a community that cares mainly about itself, about keeping the people inside the church happy, arguing amongst ourselves and serving our own comforts and desires and doing what we want regardless of what else is going on around us?

The General Assembly is meeting this week. Lots of people might wonder why that matters…and it’s a good question. Does the Assembly demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit? Does it lead us all, as the church, the Body of Christ, in living a more fruitful faith in the world? Or is it just arguing about how to best keep members happy while ignoring the things affecting real people, like climate change and weapons of war and economic injustice and gender disparity and health problems and cycles of poverty and violence and trauma? Those are big issues, yes, but they are also things that are part of everyday reality for billions of people. They may not seem to immediately be about theology, but they are about how we respond to God’s work in Christ in this world, how we steward the gifts we have been given and live with the compassion, justice, and love of God for all people. And if the Body of Christ can’t do anything about those things because we’re too busy worshipping our buildings or our legislation or our traditions, then we have not followed the Spirit’s lead and we’re not bearing fruit and we are far away from the kingdom of God.

If our faith doesn’t lead us to do things that make other people feel loved, and that work for peace, and that expand generosity, that bring more beauty and goodness into the world, then we’re not being led by the Spirit, Paul says. He would say it’s time to seek the Spirit more, and then follow more closely. The Holy Spirit blew into the upper room and made a new creation — a Body that went out of its comfortable familiar building into the streets, met people, spoke their language, and invited them into God’s deeds of power.

More than just singing happy birthday to the church, perhaps it’s past time for us to celebrate this birthday by doing what the Spirit has always been calling us to do: to go out of our comfortable familiar building into the streets, to meet people where they are rather than insisting they come to us, to speak their language rather than insisting they speak ours, and invite them into God’s deeds of power rather than lamenting that no one wants to join in our personal pet peeves or projects.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are the things God’s law has always been trying to bring forth in us, the things that studying all night for Pentecost are meant to help us learn. These are the things that the Spirit is calling the Body of Christ to live. These are what the world should see and feel and experience from the church. Imagine how delicious that would be, if we could be the ones living so that everyone can taste and see that God is good.

May it be so. Amen.

Music
In person: Fantasia on Leaving Lismore (“Spirit of God, come dwell within me”) by Philip Norris
Online: Thrive, by Casting Crowns (played/sung by Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Cincinnati praise band)

Announcements (online)

Prayer & Lord’s Prayer 

God of all life, you call us to walk in your way,
for every moment to be directed by your grace.
Move among us again this day,
rest your Spirit upon us,
and reveal your will to us and through us.
Open us to receive your word with joy
and to respond with faithful lives.

For the world needs your Body to bear fruit —
we are desperate for more
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
One glance at the news shows us the fruit of the way we humans have chosen to go.
We see how people profit off of pain and destruction,
while those who suffer are either exploited or ignored.
You call us to keep our eyes and our hearts open, Lord,
to see our neighbours in all their glory and their need,
and to respond with love.
Don’t let us look away from our nearby neighbours who are dying
from addictions
from poverty
from despair.
Enfold them in your love,
and show us how we can reach out with gentleness and kindness and patience,
to encircle your people with the support they need to experience true joy in your abundant life.
Don’t let us look away from the tragedies unfolding around the world, in
Palestine and Israel
Colombia
India
South Sudan
and so many other places.
We may not understand the complexities of every situation,
but we know that all human beings are made in your image and beloved,
so we pray for your healing and peace for a world that feels so broken.
Show us how we can act with generosity and self-control,
and how to be peace-makers.

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, ruler of the universe,
and blessed is Jesus Christ your Son, head of the church,
and blessed is your Holy Spirit, breath of life and wind of new creation.
We pray that your blessing would overflow onto the General Assembly as they meet,
and to every Presbytery and Kirk Session,
and to every congregation and parish of this land.
Move among us again, and give us life…
and more importantly, give us courage to seek your leading and to follow,
even out of our comfortable places and into the world you so love.
Make your church fruitful,
feeding the hungry in body and soul,
reaching across barriers to share your good news,
changing the world ever more into your kingdom.

We ask these and all things through the power of the Holy Spirit who guides our prayer and our living, and in the name of Jesus the Christ, Saviour and head of the Church, 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.

Benediction
Go to live your week in a way that is demonstrably different because you are part of the Body of Christ, for those branches connected to the vine bear fruit. So go into community to bear fruit that will last — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 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.

Announcements

* 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, and no singing yet. We can welcome approximately 33 people for worship, so if you would like to come in person, please phone Cameron (630879) on a MONDAY afternoon between 1-3pm or Anne Love (07904 617283) on a Saturday morning between 10-12 to book a place.

* Young Adult Bible Study is on Zoom at 1pm, we are reading through the Gospel According to Mark. Contact Teri for login details.

* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page. All four Connect clergy are leading tonight’s service, 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 theme for worship during the season of Pentecost (30 May – 5 September, also known as Ordinary Time) will be “Sunday School Revisited” — look out for some well-known stories, and maybe even some crafts as we explore in depth the things we learned the basics about long ago.

* May includes Christian Aid week! While door to door collections, book sales, and coffee mornings are not possible, Christian Aid is encouraging us to undertake a month-long sponsored walk. If you would like to sponsor one of the other church members who have committed to this walk — Alison Bolster, Ann Stephenson, Ben MacSwan, Mhairi Gilchrist, or Teri, you can find all their fundraisers linked here. Or you can request a Christian Aid envelope (or go to the Christian Aid website) if you’d prefer to just make a more traditional donation. Don’t forget to GiftAid it!