Sunday service for 23 October 2022

Sunday 23 October 2022, NL1-7 (moving God-ward 4)
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

Call to Worship
One: Gifts of love, creation, relationship, community:
All: All come from God.
One: Gifts of truth and honesty, confession and forgiveness, transformation and justice:
All: All come from God.
One: Gifts that come with responsibilities to use them for others’ good:
All: All come from God.

Sanctuary Hymn: Psalm 51 (David Gambrell, tune: Irish (473))

Prayer
God sometimes we wish your story would be easy and simple.
We long for a straightforward, obvious answer, a checklist, a clear instruction.
We like to boil things down to a nice reduction: good and bad.
Yet in all the complexity of our own hearts and minds and lives,
and in all the nuance of your story — nuance we alternately ignore or exploit —
we see a deeper and bigger picture of your presence and your call.
We thank you for refusing to be reduced, narrowed, contained.
We thank you for your people who have passed on your word to us,
for their fullness and diversity and real-ness.
As we hear of those who led well and also made mistakes,
those who were faithful and also failed,
those who admitted the truth and tried again,
we pray you would keep us from too-easy answers.
Show us how to follow you in all the grey areas and the tangled webs,
in the real world where you call us to live for you.
For your mercy is abundant, Your love is steadfast,
and we come before you ready to look honestly
at ourselves and at you.
We confess, O God, that we have become complacent,
taking for granted the gifts and comforts of our lives
without thinking about our lifestyle’s aefect on others.
We confess that we have what we want, when we want it, believing it’s our right.
We confess that nearly all our thoughts are about ourselves, and only rarely about the common good.
And we admit that we find it easier to confess to you than to those we have harmed.
We have plenty of excuses about why we can’t apologise, or why our apologies admit no wrongdoing.
We have forgotten that when we do not love our neighbour, we are also not loving you.
We have decided it doesn’t matter that hurting a neighbour hurts you.
We have ignored that when our relationships with one another are broken,
so too is our relationship with you.
Forgive us, loving God.
Forgive us for our self-centredness, and our arrogance, and our apathy.
Forgive us for choosing not to see, and for prioritising our comfort over our neighbours’ lives.
Forgive us for thinking your forgiveness is a free pass to continue our hurtful ways.
Reveal your truth to us,
and give us the courage and humility to receive it,
and let that truth transform us not only in our hearts, but in our lives.
Amen.

Sanctuary Special Music: I Will Go in the Strength of the Lord (choir)

Online Hymn 362: Heaven Shall Not Wait

Sanctuary Children’s Time— Song: We will walk with God (Sizohamba Naye)

Prayer of the Season
The whole earth is yours, O God.
From the beginning of the story,
you have been drawing us toward you.
We give you thanks that you have brought us this far
even when we feel like we have to trudge every step.
Though we don’t know how to be your people,
still you coax, call, and carry us forward.
Show us again today what it means to be people who live close to your heart,
not through our own efforts, but yours. Amen.

Reading: 2 Samuel 11.1-5, 26-27, 12.1-9, 13a (NRSV)
Last week we heard about the Israelites choosing to commit their lives to God’s way as they entered and began to live in the promised land. Today we skip forward several generations in the story of God’s people. They lived in the land with each person simply doing what they thought was right, but the society crumbling and many people being marginalised or trampled. God sent judges to help set things back on track, but ultimately the people asked for a king, just as the nations around them had kings. Samuel warned them what kings are like, that they would start out okay and then begin to oppress people, take more than they were meant to have, and put themselves at the top of the heap while everyone else suffered…but the people insisted. Samuel anointed Saul as the first king, but he was not faithful to God in a moment of difficulty, and so Samuel was sent to anoint David, the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons. David became king and united the northern and southern kingdoms, and built his capital at Jerusalem. Today’s story comes when he has settled into a palace with several wives and concubines and children. I am reading from the second book of Samuel, chapters 11 and 12, in the New Revised Standard Version.

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, ‘This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.’ So David sent messengers to fetch her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, ‘I am pregnant.’

When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him. When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son.
But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord,
and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, ‘There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; 3but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meagre fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveller to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.’ Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, ‘As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.’
Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’

For the word of God in scripture,
for the word of God all around us,
for the word of God within us,
thanks be to God.

Online hymn 168: God Weeps at Love Withheld

Sermon: Wrong Turn
Sometimes people say to me that the Bible feels so irrelevant, that the stories are so long ago and so far away that they don’t make any sense in our time and don’t have anything to say to our culture.

And here we are with a story about a political leader who began to enjoy the perks and privileges of his position more than he cared about the responsibilities of serving in that position — the title, the nice house in a good location, the wealth, all more seductive than the actual tasks of governing…a leader who took advantage of his power and privilege to take what he wanted while ignoring the cost paid by other people who lost their lives or their families or their homes or their friends…a leader who did not see the problem with his own bad behaviour but was quick to condemn the same behaviour when told a story about someone else…it feels like this story was lifted from this morning’s newspapers. The only part that feels fantastical and outdated today is the part where the political leader comes to recognise his wrongdoing and confesses, and the advisor who called him out gets to keep his job!

Honestly at this point I’m tempted to sit down and be done because this story feels very close to the news these days, and we are all tired of hearing about people abusing positions of power, hurting other people while getting rich themselves, and apathetic about the responsibility they supposedly bear. It never feels as if there’s any resolution to those stories, the powerful just get away with it while the rest of us suffer the consequences, and in some ways the David story is like that. There are consequences for David’s children, and for the future of the kingdom, but ultimately he is personally remembered as “a man after God’s own heart” and the leader who was most revered, the one from whose line the Messiah would come, and so on. So in one way this is a story of yet another powerful man getting away with literal rape and murder, shielded by wealth and power and privilege. In another way, it’s a story of confession, repentance, forgiveness, and of our lives adding up to more than the sum of our worst actions. In yet another way, it’s a reminder that the stories of women are so easily glossed over and twisted into something they’re not, as a way to justify the actions of men — there’s no evidence here that Bathsheba seduced David, for instance, or that this was in any way a consensual affair, but that is the story we have been taught for generations, so as to preserve his reputation at the expense of hers.

So you can see how there is both a lot to say about this story and also nothing to say about it. It’s almost too timely, as every day is saturated with the chaos caused by leaders who act only in their own self interest, and the consequences we all bear while they enrich themselves.

David clearly enjoyed his life in the palace. So much so that he decided he could simply send people out to do his bidding, rather than lead them himself. While others were standing in his place, David was taking afternoon naps, having parties, strolling about in the breeze on his rooftop, and admiring the view from his giant posh city-centre house.

From his own rooftop view, he could see into the courtyards of many other homes in Jerusalem…and the courtyard was, of course, where the washing tub would be, since they were still millennia away from any indoor plumbing! So when we say David was taking in the view, we don’t only mean that he enjoyed looking out over the hills and valleys, but also that he was using his physical position, which was possible because of his political position, to spy on people in their own homes.

That’s when he saw Bathsheba, who would have had no idea that the king could see into her garden. He saw her when she couldn’t see him, and he wanted her. When he discovered her husband was away fighting the king’s war, being the leader the king was refusing to be, and her father was, too.…meaning all her protectors away doing his work while he stayed home, David took her. And when the consequences of that action threatened to become known, and when Uriah turned out to be more honourable than David, then David simply had Uriah killed to prevent anyone from finding out what he had done.

It’s quite a cover-up, and yet somehow would not feel out of place in an average newspaper these days.

But as I say most weeks: if we say we have no sin, we deceive only ourselves. God is never deceived, and even our neighbours know there’s more to the story than the image we project. The people who had done David’s dirty work, both with Bathsheba and with Uriah, knew the truth. And Nathan, the prophet who worked for the king, knew. And, more importantly, God knew.

For Nathan to go to the king and confront him with the truth was a dangerous move — and he did it anyway. But he knew that it’s hard for us to hear a direct challenge to our integrity, so he chose to tell a story. And David, like so many of us, immediately recognised and raged at the sheer wrong-ness of the man in the story. How dare anyone, especially someone with an abundance of resources, take something away from the neighbour who has so little? How dare that man break his neighbour’s heart and destroy a family just because he didn’t want to use what he already had in the house to satisfy his appetite? It’s easy to see how wrong others are, of course.

In the midst of David’s rage against the man in the story, Nathan turned the tables: you are the man!

David knew he was caught. And he did something that almost no political leader or celebrity ever does, and something that even we “regular people” struggle with: he admitted it. He didn’t continue to try to wiggle out of it, he didn’t protest and lie and pretend. He just said: “I have sinned against the Lord.”

That’s true, of course. He had sinned against the Lord, breaking pretty close to all the commandments in basically one go. He had also sinned against Bathsheba, and Uriah, and their family, but they don’t get a mention. Sometimes we find it much easier to admit to God that we’ve done something wrong than to apologise to the person we have actually hurt, don’t we? Offering a real apology to another person — not just “I’m sorry if you were hurt” or “mistakes were made” — is so difficult. It’s vulnerable, and humbling, to look someone in the eye to receive their pain without making excuses, and say I recognise that my actions hurt you and I’m sorry. It’s easy for us to spot a fake apology when we’re watching a high profile person like James Corden, who this week apologised not to the restaurant staff he abused but to the owner, in order to be allowed back in. It’s harder to recognise it when we feel that desire ourselves to make a joke or point the finger somewhere else. It’s hard work, to apologise truthfully, because in addition to honesty and humility it also involves repentance — to turn around and go a different way, to commit to trying our best not to do it again — rather than simply repeating the hurtful choice again and again.

David heard the truth spoken, and he acknowledged it. He admitted that he was wrong, and he apologised to God. All of that is crucial for him to move Godward. Being reconciled to God, though, then needs to also lead to reconciliation in the community — that’s what Paul wrote to us in 2 Corinthians, that Jesus was among us reconciling us to God AND entrusting to us the ministry of reconciliation — and David never quite managed that step. Instead the story of his family and his descendants and eventually the whole kingdom unravels. The consequences of our unjust and hurtful actions, if we don’t do the hard work of reconciliation within the community, spiral out into the future in ways we could never have anticipated, and we miss the fullness of life God promises.

We all need a Nathan, who can call us back from our wrong turns, whether big or small, and invite us to return to God’s way. Because we may not be breaking all the commandments at once, but we are all complicit at least, and sometimes more, in hurting our neighbours near and far with our own pursuit of self-interest.
And we all also need to be a Nathan for others: to be brave enough, and creative enough, to speak the truth, with love, in ways people can hear — to our friends and family, and also to our leaders. We may be afraid, or we may feel our voice doesn’t matter, but we have more power than we think. Just as God strengthened Nathan to speak the truth in love, God will strengthen us too, because the world needs us to respond to God’s call.

Without Nathans, the world simply gets used to the idea of never holding each other accountable, and then accountability starts to feel like oppression. We grow to accept that some people will take advantage of their power and privilege, and others will suffer, with no consequences. We assume that leaders will take no interest in leading, that they’re just looking for a title, a nice house, and a lifetime salary, and that cynicism makes it hard to imagine a different way forward.

Every time we either turn away from our Nathan, or we refuse to be one ourselves, we find ourselves another wrong turn down the path away from abundant life. And every time we are honest with ourselves, God, and each other, every time we tell the truth and do our best to do justice and love kindness and walk humbly, to heal what we have broken and try not to do it again, the Spirit moves us more and more God-ward, to walk in the light of life.

May it be so. Amen.

Hymn: The Truth That Sets Us Free (John Bell)
When the wheel of fate is turning
and the mills of God ground slow,
when the past seems more attractive
than the future we don’t know,
when our confidence is waning
and we lack security,
comes the timeless word of Jesus
that the truth will set us free.

Is it war or economics,
is it danger or deceit,
is it unforeseen depression,
fear of failure to compete?
Have the times which once were changing
led where no one wants to be?
Shall we live by lies on offer
or the truth that sets us free?

With real faith there will be doubting,
and with loss there will be grief.
No one knows the contradictions
which will exercise belief.
Against conflicts life might bring us,
God provides no guarantee,
just this word of hope and healing:
know that truth will set you free.

So, dear Jesus, make us willing
to unmask convenient lies,
to protest wherever power
closes conscience, ears and eyes;
and release our expectations
of your kingdom yet to be,
born in courage, joy and justice
and the truth that sets us free.

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
God of love and justice, you hold us close in your arms,
nurturing us as part of your family, teaching us to trust you and to follow you.
We give you thanks for your care,
for you feed your people from your own hand and with your own word.
We pray this day for those who are hungry,
whose resources are stretched and they don’t quite have enough.
And for those who have been exploited or abused by neighbours with plenty,
who have watched as the rich get richer, even while their own options dwindle.
May they know your abundance, and your justice.
We pray this day for those who cannot recognise their own unjust ways,
who do not see how their greed, entitlement, or apathy affects others.
And for those who have never been held to account, and find it uncomfortable to face the truth.
May they experience your unsettling, feather-ruffling Spirit, re-orienting them.
We pray this day for those who suffer to serve the whims of the powerful.
And for those who have been used for their body or their talents
without care for their well-being, who are so easily discarded when tastes change.
May they be cared for, by you and by us, and by the whole community calling for change.
We pray this day for those who speak truth to power,
who continually face their fear
to hold governments and corporations and communities to our highest ideals.
And for those who face the consequences of speaking truth that powerful people do not want to hear.
May they be encouraged and strengthened by your Spirit of justice and peace.

We give you thanks that your compassion is greater than our capacity for wrong,
that your passion is for those we too often overlook,
that your grace is in and through and around and over and among all things,
bringing transformation we can barely imagine.
Through your word of truth and justice, re-create us in your image,
that your kingdom may be made visible, even in our days.

We ask these and all things in the name of Christ,
who reconciled us to you and entrusted to us the ministry of reconciliation,
and 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.

Sanctuary Hymn 484: Great God, Your Love Has Called Us Here

Benediction
Go into the world to both speak and hear the Spirit’s truth, to recognise your gifts and use them for God’s purpose, and to keep always before you Christ’s call to caring community. And as you go, may you experience the blessing that is both for you and for you to share. 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. 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 be 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!

* Young Adult Bible Study meets in the manse on the 2nd and 4th Sundays at 7pm for a meal and a study of the gospel according to John. 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.

* The Contact Group is holding a fundraising concert by The Clydeside Singers on Sunday 13th November at 2.30pm. The concert will take place in the sanctuary and will be followed by tea, coffee and cakes. Tickets priced £8 (including refreshments) can be obtained from Contact Group Members from next week. 

* The Kirk Session will meet on Thursday 3 November at 7pm in the sanctuary.

* The next Bowl & Blether in St John’s is on Monday 7 November, and the next one in St Margaret’s is on Saturday 12 November. On both days, doors open at 11:30, and homemade soup is served from 12-1:30. Bring a friend or neighbour for a warm welcome, a delicious meal, and a friendly chat!