Sunday service for 28 December 2025, first Sunday of Christmas
Sunday 28 December 2025, Christmas 1
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse phone: 632143
Email: TPeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Email Charlene, Parish Assistant: CMitchell (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
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Sanctuary Prelude Music
Welcome
*We Gather As God’s Family (As the Bible is brought in, we stand and sing)
A family gathered in love,
striving for justice and joy,
blessing the broken-hearted,
and sharing the hope of God’s kingdom.
Call to Worship
One: In the beginning, God said “let there be light”
All: and through the Word, the light shone.
One: Since the beginning, light has been shining,
All: sparks of hope, peace, joy, and love embedded in the world.
One: Even today, the light shines,
All: revealing life in all its fullness, grace upon grace.
Hymn 306: O Come, All Ye Faithful
Prayer
You come to us in the flesh, O God,
living among us,
knowing the fullness of our humanity
and revealing to us the fullness of your glory.
Your word of life shines, O God,
and we confess that we often prefer the shadows.
We don’t actually want to know all that your light might illuminate.
We like the comfort of the darkness where we can hide.
The ways of this world may not be compatible with your kingdom,
but they are the ways we know,
and change is hard.
Forgive us when we want to proclaim your good news but not to let it change things.
Forgive us when we have much to say to others but not to ourselves.
Forgive us when we pray for light and then promptly turn it off.
Forgive us when we look back and get stuck,
rather than looking forward to what you will do in the year ahead.
Come among us again with your power
and re-make us as your children,
ready to reflect your light and life into all the world.
We ask in the name of the One who shines and is never overcome,
Jesus the Christ.
Amen.
Friends hear this good news: from Christ’s fullness we receive grace upon grace. Live now in the light. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Sanctuary Children’s Time
Online Hymn: God With Us by All Sons & Daughters
Sanctuary Hymn 314: Child in the Manger
Scripture Reading: John 1.1-18
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
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: threads
Whenever I read this first bit of John’s gospel, I hear in my mind a sort of low and mysterious music, like deep strings rumbling and waving, with then some flashes of percussion or bright brass…and then the deep mysterious part gives way to like a floatier sort of woodwind melody or something. It’s such a dark atmospheric sort of feel that turns to warm light. Many of you have heard me describe the gospel writers as giving different perspectives on Jesus — Mark giving us the perspective from right next to him, hand in hand almost…Matthew from behind, looking forward through the lens of the Old Testament, Luke from ahead looking back like a historian documenting what he thought was important for people to know….but John…John has a cosmic perspective. He is symbolised by the eagle and I describe that often as because he looks down from a birds-eye view, from a big picture perspective. John sees Jesus from the full universal perspective, like looking down on earth from space and seeing that we are one part of the vastness of everything. That feels like it should be accompanied by that sort of swirling mysterious kind of music, don’t you think?
This part of John’s gospel is usually called the prologue — the part that sets up everything that is to come. I sometimes think of it like an overture: the part of a musical or an opera where you hear the melodies that will appear throughout the show. In these 18 verses, John lays out several themes I think we want to be on the lookout for as we read through the gospel from now to Easter. Among those are that Jesus is the very word of God, the embodiment of that word that created, and we know from that Isaiah reading two weeks ago that God’s word never fails in accomplishing God’s purpose, it waters the earth like rain and brings it to fruitfulness. When you want to see what God looks like, John says you should look at Jesus, because in him, God literally tabernacled with us, camped among us, pitched a tent in human community and lived here for a while. You might recall from our summer series on Exodus that the tabernacle, the place to meet God, was in the middle of the camp, and by the end even the pillar of cloud and fire that held God’s presence never left its place in the middle of the people. If that wasn’t enough, any idea that God is invisible or inaccessible or hidden comes to an end with the incarnation, because now we can see Jesus, we can see God’s glory and grace and truth in the flesh. So when we are reading John’s gospel we should be asking ourselves what it is about God that Jesus is revealing, in his interactions with people, his teaching, and his signs — because John never describes Jesus doing miracles, he says he performs signs: works that point to something else. So we should be always looking at what they are pointing to!
Another thread that John gives us a preview of here that will come up again and again is the idea that people didn’t understand Jesus until after the resurrection. They didn’t know…didn’t accept…in other words, we should not be surprised to experience some confusion when we read through John, and we should not be surprised that things that seem obvious to us as people who know the end of the story were not obvious to people living through it for the first time, because in John’s understanding, we can’t get it until we know the end…and many times he’ll say “after he was raised they remembered he said this” and imply that’s the only way to put the pieces together.
It makes sense that resurrection would be required to see the threads coming together, because a major theme of John is that Jesus is Life — he came to bring Life, not just like oh we go about our business or whatever, but Life with a capital L, life essence, life force, the very concept of life. In a world so shaped by empire, by forces that use life and death as bargaining chips and power plays, that Life shines as light…and those forces of darkness can’t understand it. They try their best to grasp it for themselves, to use it and manipulate it, to cover it up…but they never win. They can’t surround it. They can’t put it out. They can’t overcome it. They never have and they never will, but not for lack of trying.
Which is why the Light always needs witnesses — like John, who spoke up when he saw it, and who kept speaking, insisting it wasn’t about him, it was about pointing to Jesus. He was one of those people who could see something more True with a capital T (John’s gospel has a lot of these capital-letter type things!) than the stuff the powers of this world want us to believe, and he showed it to others. He understood his job in a way I think sometimes many of us fail to do. We are not the messiah, and neither is anyone else around us!…and we need to be careful not to get too attached to the messenger, or even to our own role as the messenger, or to the particular methods we use to share the message. The world needs people who can see the light and point to it without needing to play a starring role themselves. It’s why being in community is so important — because sometimes we lose sight of the light, sometimes we lose sight of resurrection life as a current reality, sometimes we lose sight of the Word. But in community there is always someone who can help us to see and love the light again, maybe in a different way than we have experienced before. So we keep pointing beyond us to the far more lovely truth.
The last of the themes of this overture that I want to pull out today for us to keep in mind over the next weeks and months in our journey through John is this from verse 16: “from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” We should picture something like a cup that overflows and so has to be poured out — there’s no option but to pour. The Word made Flesh is so full of God’s grace and truth that there’s nothing to do but pour it out on us all. Not some of us…we have all received grace upon grace, tumbling over like a waterfall that just keeps coming. Like rain and snow that come down from heaven and water the earth making it fruitful. Like manna that covers the ground every morning. Like streams of living water, and a few loaves that multiply beyond the need. The Word made flesh is not separate from all the ways God has created and redeemed and sustained throughout history. The Word made flesh is not different than the word God has spoken from the beginning or through the law and the prophets. Jesus IS that word, embodied. Jesus is that light, embodied. Jesus IS God’s word — no longer trapped on a page, no longer restricted to those who can read or who can hear the story, no longer able to be put away on a shelf, no longer just an idea we can think about and argue about and then set aside…the word is alive in the world, living with us as a neighbour and friend and teacher and companion on the journey. He lives in the same empire we do, with the same human systems and powers of darkness, the same culture of greed and self-interest, the same failings of human nature…and in his very being and by every action and word, he shines with light, he pours out grace, he brings the essence of Life into reality.
The Word became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth, and we have all received from his fullness grace upon grace…
Grace upon grace…poured out and overflowing so that we can live as light in the darkness, life in the face of the powers that threaten, hope and healing in the midst of hurt, truth in the swirl of lies.
Grace upon grace that gives us the power to become children of God, for that is what we are!
May it be so. Amen.
Silence for Reflection
Online Hymn: Emmanuel by David MacGregor
Sanctuary Hymn 308: Behold the Great Creator Makes
Sanctuary Offering: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus (praise band)
Offering Response: Hymn 324 vv. 4 and 5
Though an infant now we view him,
he will share his Father’s throne,
gather all the nations to him;
every knee shall then bow down:
Come and worship
Christ, the new-born King.
Come and worship,
worship Christ, the new-born King.
All creation, join in praising
God the Father, Spirit, Son,
evermore your voices raising
to the eternal Three in One:
Come and worship
Christ, the new-born King.
Come and worship,
worship Christ, the new-born King.
Concerns of the Church
*Wednesday Bible Study — off now until after new year
*Bowl & Blether back on the 5th
*Prayer groups
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Creator God, Word of Life,
you make yourself known to us
and we give you thanks.
As we celebrate your coming among us,
and as we look ahead to the year to come,
we pray you would bring your kingdom close in these days,
and break through all that keeps us from your abundant living.
We pray today for those who feel alone,
those isolated and lonely,
longing for connection.
You know what it is to feel different,
to walk a difficult road and wonder if anyone understands.
Journey with them today, O God,
and hold them close to your heart.
We pray today for those who love your story, and who love to teach others.
Strengthen their witness.
Set them free from over-attachment to method or outcome,
that they may always point faithfully to you.
We pray today for those who struggle in this life,
those who hear of you making home among us and wish they had a home too,
those who hear of fullness and can only feel their hunger,
those who hear of life but are weighed down with grief,
those who hear of grace and truth but whose days are marked by the lie that war can bring peace.
Come into the dark corners, the empty tables, the hurting hearts
with your comfort and your help
and your peace that passes understanding.
We pray today for those who are caught in the ways of the world,
those who no longer even see a problem with the powers and systems in which we live,
who see only the benefits and ignore the costs.
May they hear your word and desire your life.
We pray for all those places in the world
where it feels like your light is losing ground.
You promised that it will not be overcome,
that the shadows cannot understand, cannot encircle, cannot take hold.
You come in the flesh to live your love among us, O God,
and we ask for the power and courage to embody your love in the flesh in this community, too,
revealing your grace and truth to all,
until the whole creation is transformed
and indeed your light shines on everyone.
On the 28th day of the month we join our hearts as your St John’s family to pray
*For Clydeview Academy — for the young people, the teachers, the staff, and the families. Bless them with bright minds and open hearts and willing spirits, with friendship and laughter and the graciousness it takes to be in community together. May the school have the resources it needs and the families the support they need to ensure the children grow in mind, body, and spirit into the people you are calling them to be.
*For the many volunteers who keep St John’s ministry vibrant: the pastoral care team, the flower team, Bowl & Blether volunteers, sound and powerpoint volunteers, those who count the offering, and so many others.
*For the land, people, and governments of the nations of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Bahamas, Bermuda, Bonaire, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and Cuba
As one year turns to another,
we pray to leave behind all that harms
and move forward in your grace and truth.
We ask these and all things in the name of the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us,
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.
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.
Hymn 320: Joy to the World
Sending
The light shines — go to reflect God’s light into the world desperate to see it!
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.
Sanctuary Postlude Music (organ)
Announcements
* We worship in the sanctuary on Sundays at 11am, and Sunday worship is also online. 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 first Sunday of the month at 11am is an all-age service, with different ways of encountering God’s word without a traditional sermon. All people — young and old, different personalities and learning styles, are welcome! You’ll find a more informal service with a variety of music, a Bible story, prayer, and some more interactive elements. The online service for the first Sunday will therefore also be different — there will still be a reading, prayers, and music, but usually not a sermon.
* Starter Packs are in need of Shaving Foam, Shampoo, Soap, Hand Wash. Also in preparation for Christmas they are collecting hats, scarves and gloves for children and adults, selection boxes, chocolates and biscuits.
The FoodBank are short of everything except pasta, so anything you can donate will be gratefully received!
You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!
* Bowl & Blether is on the first and third Mondays through the winter, with doors open from 11:30-1:30, and lunch served from noon. All are welcome for a bowl of soup, a toastie, a friendly chat in our warm hall! See you in the new year, 5th of January!
* The Contact Group meets on the 13th of January when Teri will be the speaker. The syllabus of events is available from Fiona Webster or Anne Armour. The syllabus donation of £5 will go towards our charity fundraising.
* Did you know that the ministry we do at St John’s costs about £3000 per week and we are currently running about £500 short? Everything we do is funded by your generous giving — all our support for young people, older people, bereavement care, community outreach, worship, study, spiritual growth, and community work is because of your offering. If you would like to 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 Teri and she can give you the treasurer’s details. You can also send your envelopes to the church or the manse by post and we will ensure they are received. It is also possible to donate to the work of the parish assistant, speak to Anne Love about how to go about directing new donations to that item in the budget.
* Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Youtube, and to sign up for our email newsletter! 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.
* Wednesday Evening Bible Study resumes on Wednesday 7 January, at 7:30pm in the manse.
* Free period products are available in the church toilets for anyone who might need them, thanks to Hey Girls and Inverclyde Council.
