Sunday service for 25 July 2021

Sunday Service for 25 July 2021, 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday school Revisited week 9
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson, Gourock St. John’s
Manse phone: 632143 
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

To hear an audio recording of this service, phone 01475 270037. There is no sermon or intercessions manuscript available today.

This week we welcome guest preacher the Rev. Elana Keppel Levy. Elana is co-pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Bixby, Oklahoma. She introduces herself this way:
“I am a co-pastor with my delightful spouse Rev. Lucus Levy Keppel at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Bixby, Oklahoma. (Given my dreadful technology curse and general computational ineptitude, my website literally could not exist without the snake charming tech skills of Lucus. Thanks, sweetie!)
“I see God’s work inscribed throughout the world. Growing up with a Jewish father and Presbyterian mother, religious conversations were all playful and interfaith. Engaging and appreciating difference meant that exact agreement was not required to cultivate a beautiful life that pleases God.
“From a very young age, I have been drawn to the study of the Holocaust, particularly those who acted with such cruelty. I learned German in school, and received undergraduate degrees in German language and psychology. I spent ten years working as a freelance translator focusing on documents about concentration camp guards (thanks to the ongoing projects and vital work of Dr. Susan Eischeid). I have spent most of my life pursuing questions: How could humans commit such evil acts? Who are we when we stray from our creaturely calling? What can Christians do to cultivate justice? These unanswerable questions prompt me to see people as people first and to try to reach out even when hope seems lost.
“After college, I earned a Masters of Social Work with a special focus on older adults, the bereaved, and those traumatized by sexual assault. God’s presence is most strongly felt when we are present, attentive, and loving to one another. Feeling strongly called to the ministry, I completed my Masters of Divinity and received a call as a Pastoral Care Associate in Roswell, NM (where I ministered to all comers, even aliens!).
“I love movies (and quoting them!); games and puzzles; deep conversations that come out of nowhere; prayer from the heart; and moments of genuine human kindness.”

Prelude Music (in person only)

Welcome/Announcements 

Call to Worship 
One: Come, servants of the Living God!
Bring your prayers to the Lord who delivers and rescues,
who works signs and wonders.
All: With childlike trust, we come with hope,
that we might see God in our midst this day.

Prayer
Holy God, your power is unlike any we know.
You do not coerce or pressure, like human powers.
When we are faced with bad-faith uses of power,
we pray you would give us the good faith to resist,
to continue in your way, for you have never failed us yet.
You are faithful, and you call us to live with hope even when we cannot see hope.
You call us to wait for you, even when we want to see you right now.
You call us to pray, and to be an answer to prayer, even in the midst of opposition.
We confess that we are prone to giving in to the other voices,
the ones offering power and prosperity if only we will turn away from you.
And we admit that we often find it easier to hide our faith instead,
to keep it private so as not to rock the boat.
We give in to those who want us to keep quiet
so they can be comfortable with injustice,
and so we are complicit.
Forgive us, God.
Forgive our easy rejection of your call for our convenience.
Forgive our unwillingness to pray through the night and stand firm in the morning.
Forgive us, and call us out again to live as your people,
witnessing to your power and grace.
We ask in the name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Music
Online: Hymn 600, Spirit of God, unseen as the wind
In person: __________

First Reading: Mark 8.31-38 (New Revised Standard Version) 
Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’

Second Reading: Daniel 6, selected verses (New Revised Standard Version) 
Soon Daniel distinguished himself above all the other presidents and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king planned to appoint him over the whole kingdom. So the presidents and the satraps tried to find grounds for complaint against Daniel in connection with the kingdom. But they could find no grounds for complaint or any corruption, because he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption could be found in him. The men said, ‘We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.’

So the presidents and satraps conspired and came to the king and said to him, ‘O King Darius, live for ever! All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counsellors and the governors, are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an interdict, that whoever prays to anyone, divine or human, for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into a den of lions.

Although Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he continued to go to his house, which had windows in its upper room open towards Jerusalem, and to get down on his knees three times a day to pray to his God and praise him, just as he had done previously. The conspirators came and found Daniel praying and seeking mercy before his God.

Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, ‘May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you!’ A stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, so that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no food was brought to him, and sleep fled from him.

Then, at break of day, the king got up and hurried to the den of lions. When he came near the den where Daniel was, he cried out anxiously to Daniel, ‘O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you faithfully serve been able to deliver you from the lions?’ Daniel then said to the king, ‘O king, live for ever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no wrong.’ Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

Sermon by Rev. Elana Keppel Levy

No manuscript available — please call the tape ministry phone number to hear the full service with sermon

Music
Online: He Never Failed Me Yet
In person: Hymn: How Clear is Our Vocation, Lord (by Fred Pratt Green, tune: Repton)

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer 

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.

In Person: Sung Hymn 513, Courage, brother! do not stumble

Benediction 

SUNG Benediction Response (tune: Gourock St. John’s, words by John L Bell)
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 (in person only)
 

Announcements

* Teri will be off from the 19th – 29th of July. Please contact Cameron or your elder for any pastoral emergencies.

* 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 some limited singing! We can welcome approximately 35 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.

* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page. David is 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!