Sunday Service for 25 October 2020
25 October 2020
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri C Peterson
Gourock St John’s Church of Scotland
Contact: tpeterson at churchofscotland dot org dot uk
Though we cannot yet be together in person, we can be together in spirit! Please note the following announcements:
*The building works are finally drawing to a close, we hope! The Kirk Session has requested permission from Clyde Presbytery to open the buildings when the site has been cleared. Watch for more information coming soon!
* Coffee Fellowship Time will happen today on Zoom! The room will be open from 11:45 – 1 today, for you to drop in for however long you wish, so grab a cup of tea or coffee (or juice or whatever you prefer!) and maybe a biscuit, and come have a chat! We look forward to seeing you! Click Here to join!
* 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 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 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!
* We also now have an audio recording of the service available on the phone! Simply dial 01475 270 037 to listen to the most recent service. Please share this number with your neighbours, friends, family, and fellow church goers who don’t have the internet, so they can listen in!
* The theme for worship this autumn is “Becoming God’s People.” We’ll be exploring who God is and how God’s character informs God’s actions, and how our actions also ought to be informed by that character…by way of stories of God and humanity working out their relationship with one another through the Old Testament.
* Children’s Time happens each Sunday morning at 11am on Zoom. If you would like the login details, please contact Teri.
* Churches across Scotland are calling people to join together in prayer on Sunday evenings at 7pm, placing a lit candle in the window and spending time in prayer for others. Our Sunday evening prayer services will be shared across CONNECT. Tonight’s service will be led by David, beginning at 6:57pm on the Connect Facebook page, and be sure to like / follow it while you’re there!
* Feel free to share this with others, with the attribution information at the top. If you know someone who does not have access to the internet and who also does not receive the tape ministry, you can either print this service out and share it with them, or let Teri know via email or phone call and we will be sure they receive a printed copy.
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Hymn: Your Love Never Fails
Prayers, Reading, Sermon:
Hymn 536: May the Mind of Christ My Saviour
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Call to Worship and Opening Prayer
Come to remember what God has done,
come to celebrate what God is doing,
come to seek God’s future.
For it is God’s faithfulness that defines our lives.
Let us pray.
Your promise is sure, O God.
You have led us on our travels,
provided a place for your people,
and planted us by your grace.
In your enduring love,
guide us into alignment with your will,
that we may offer ourselves in worship and living
that is pleasing to you and reflects your glory.
For you know that we can’t keep the covenant perfectly.
Yet still, Almighty God, your generous love calls us to your way.
We confess that our practice of generosity is not always as faithful as yours.
We admit that we are prone to deciding what we think others need,
and imposing our desires on them…
and we often do the same with you.
We confess that we presume to know your mind,
rather than pausing to listen for your will.
Forgive us when our self-centred way of giving
harms the dignity of others and breaks down relationships.
And forgive us for the times we have confined your generosity to our terms,
tying up your love & justice in our systems & stories.
Guide us once again into your truth, and free us by your grace, to live for you.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit,
we ask these things in the name of Jesus the Christ,
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, and 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.
Sung Prayer #113 vv. 1 & 4
(words: Iain D Cunningham, tune: cwm rhondda)
God the Father of Creation,
source of life and energy,
your creative love so shapes us
that we share your liberty.
Teach us how to use this freedom
loving children all to be,
loving children all to be.
Members of our Saviour’s body,
here on earth his life to be,
though we stand as different people,
may we share the unity
of the Father, Son, and Spirit,
perfect love in Trinity,
perfect love in Trinity.
Friends, hear this good news: the love of God will never be taken from us. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is for you, that you may walk in faith and live in peace. Know that you are forgiven, loved, and free. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Reading: 2 Samuel 7.1-17 (New International Version)
Last week we heard about Hannah praying for a son, and then dedicating Samuel to God’s service in the Temple at Shiloh. Samuel grew up and was called by God to guide the people in their faithfulness. Eventually, though, the people decided that they needed to have a human king, so they could be like other nations. Samuel tried to teach them that having a human king rather than simply following God as their king would lead to strife and pain, but they insisted. God led Samuel to anoint Saul as the first king, but then Saul made some choices that led to the very strife that Samuel had warned about, as he overstepped his bounds and took power that belonged to God. So God called Samuel to anoint David as king, while he was still just a child, and Saul still reigned. When David eventually took the throne, after much violence and confusion, he did three things to mark the new era: he married Saul’s daughter, cementing his legitimacy; he built a new capital city, Jerusalem, in between the northern and southern territories, to unite the kingdom; and he built a royal palace in the capital so everyone could see the new stability and power of the king. That is where we pick up the story today, in 2nd Samuel chapter 7, reading verses 1-17, from the New International Version.
After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, ‘Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.’
Nathan replied to the king, ‘Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.’
But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:
‘Go and tell my servant David, “This is what the Lord says: are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’”
‘Now then, tell my servant David, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people shall not oppress them any more, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.
‘“The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: when your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.”’
Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.
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: God goes where the people are (Becoming God’s People 7)
It was my birthday this week, and all day long my doorbell was ringing with people coming to wish me a happy birthday, with gifts and cards and 2-metre-distanced-doorway-chats. It was lovely to feel so special and cared for! I ended the day by opening everything, and it was amazing what fabulous gift-givers people are — every glittery card and every gift revealed that they had put thought into choosing something I would enjoy and that reflected my interests. I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends!
King David was, perhaps, a less thoughtful gift giver than the wonderful people who came to my door this week.
David was grateful for all that he had. He looked around his large fancy house, and gave thanks for the stability and rest that it symbolised, especially after so many years of hiding in caves or sleeping in a tent on the battlefield. That was what he wanted: stability, for himself and for his kingdom. And God gave that to him. So David decided he wanted to give God a gift too — or perhaps he thought he needed to do something for God in return. Either way, his gift-giving skills were not quite on point. He decided to give God the thing that he, David, most wanted, rather than trying to discern what it was that God would want. Since he wanted stability, and that was symbolised by his solidly built, well-appointed house, it made sense that he should build one for God too. Surely God would also desire stability, and would like a sturdy place to settle down?
David seems to have forgotten what God was actually like, and what God wants from us as followers. So that evening, God spoke to the prophet Nathan, so that he could teach David how to listen rather than presume to know God’s mind without actually asking or listening for God’s call.
The thing is, God is the one who did things for David. Look at how many times God says “I did this…I will do this…” when reminding David of his life story. Eighteen times in just eight verses! David’s life story is really a story about God’s activity in every sphere, calling and equipping and caring and providing.
Throughout all of this, and throughout all of the history of God’s people, there was never a time when God asked for a house. Indeed, the house of God was intentionally mobile, a tent that could be moved wherever the people went. God goes where the people are, and provides a place for them — not the other way around. God has never been confined to just one place, and certainly not to a grand building that could easily be mistaken as celebrating the glory of the king at least as much as the glory of God.
How easy it is to fall into the trap of assuming that God wants what we want! And then to confine God to that, rather than accepting God’s freedom to move about, to be anywhere and everywhere, even in the places and among the people that we would prefer to stay away from ourselves. It would be easier if there was a place we could expect God to be…and then if God just stayed there, nice and safe. It would provide even more stability for David if he could be seen to have God’s house beside his own, after all…especially since then, he could control who had access to God’s house.
But God goes where the people are.
What good news that is! Especially now, when we are each in our own places. We are not separated from God, even as we try to keep a safe distance from people outside our households. Whether we gather in person or not, God goes where the people are, and acts in and through our lives right where we are. And then God asks us to be good givers — to take the time to discover what God wants, and to align with God’s will; to allow God to be God and for us to be followers of God’s way rather than insisting God follow our way.
God is aware that we will not always succeed in this. When speaking to Nathan, God even says that David’s descendants will do wrong sometimes, and they will suffer consequences. But those consequences should not be interpreted to mean that God has given up on them. God’s love is forever, unconditional. This is a long-term, permanent relationship — more permanent than anything else in the world, in fact. There may be difficulties along the way, but those difficulties will never be a relationship deal-breaker. Wherever we wander, God goes where the people are.
So then how do we discern God’s desire, and align ourselves with God’s will? How do we become the kind of gift-giver who thoughtfully does exactly what God wants to receive?
Like any good relationship, it starts with listening. Friendships endure when we communicate well. We bring our hearts to God…and we also listen for God’s heart. We can listen through the silence of prayer, through music, and through paying attention to the creation. We can listen through the voices of others when they call out for compassion or help or justice. We can listen through paying attention to how God has gone with us and provided for us throughout our lives, and noticing what that says about who God calls us to be. And we can listen through the word — by spending time with God’s word, reading and praying our way through the scriptures and asking for the Spirit to bring it to life here and now.
In many places today, the last Sunday in October, is celebrated as Reformation Sunday — the day we remember that on the 31st of October, 1517, Martin Luther publicised the discussions he wanted to have about the way the Church understood and taught about God. One of the major tenets of the Reformation was that people ought to be able to access the scriptures in their own native languages, not just hear them read in Latin by the priest. The idea that people would be able to read scripture for themselves was radical and threatening. People lost their lives and livelihoods to make it possible for us to know God’s word for ourselves. When the Reformation came to Scotland later in the 1500s, this insistence on being able to read the word is what led to the system of parish schools and a rapid increase in literacy, because we believed people can and should learn the scripture by reading it.
So on Reformation Sunday especially, I pray we will honour that gift given to us by our ancestors in the faith, by opening up the book, however dusty it might be on the shelf, and listening to what God is saying to us today through the word. Knowing how God has been faithful to our forebears, reading about what God has done in the past and how God has called people, journeyed with them, and what God asked for them to do, can give us a sense of what God is like and how we might apply those same lessons now. Discerning what God wants starts with getting to know God better, just like any friendship does.
David had to be reminded what God is like, and what God had done. We too often need reminding! Jesus knew that too — in John’s gospel, he promised us that he was sending the Holy Spirit “to remind you of all I have taught you.” The Spirit continues to teach us the truth, to remind us of Jesus’ way, and to call us to a life in alignment with God’s will.
May we hear and respond in faith. Amen.
Prayer
Loving God, we thank you for going with us, for leading the way and for sharing this life with us. We are grateful for your presence, and for your promise to never leave us.
We rely on that promise in these days of distancing and uncertainty, and we pray that all those who feel isolated will know your closeness.
We remember today all who are suffering in body, mind, or spirit — those who are currently ill with covid, and those whose recovery is taking longer than expected; those who are waiting on tests or operations or appointments; those whose treatments have been interrupted; those who struggle with the restrictions and the shorter days; those who are grieving alone. Send your comfort to surround them and fill them with your love.
We remember today those who care for others — doctors and nurses and carers, the staff who work behind the scenes in hospitals and homes, parents and teachers, delivery drivers and bin men and supermarket workers. We give you thanks that they are tangible signs of your care for us, serving and helping wherever people are. May they know your protection and your strength as they do your work among us.
We remember those living with violence and longing for peace — in Nigeria, in Syria, in Yemen. And we pray especially for those children whose lives were marked by violence this week, in Afghanistan, in France, in Azerbaijan. May your justice and peace be known, and may we be makers of peace in this world.
We remember today those in positions of power and authority, and we pray that you would grant them your wisdom as they lead us through these challenging days. May they have the courage to work for the good of all, not just some.
We ask your guidance as we seek your will and align with your way. Reveal yourself to us, God, that we may know you and so serve you in the way you desire. We ask in Christ’s name. Amen.
Benediction
As you go into your week, 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.
Benediction Response
Words and tune: 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.
