Sunday Service for 5 September 2021

5 September 2021, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sunday School Revisited 15/final
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse phone: 632143 
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

To hear an audio recording of this service, including music, phone 01475 270037. Please tell your friends, neighbours, and fellow church members who don’t have internet access!

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Prelude Music

Welcome/Announcements

Call to Worship
1: Through the clouds I see love shine —
Love is all around me!
2: I just called to say I love you —
Take me to your heart, for it’s there that I belong.
1: What’s love but a sweet old fashioned notion?
Two hearts that beat as one.
2: All of me loves all of you…
Everything means nothing if I ain’t got you.
1: I hold you for a million years to make you feel my love.
Love is all you need!
One: Not just a pop song, more than a feeling,
All: God is Love.

Prayer
O Lord we love to sing about love.
The butterflies in the stomach, the warm fuzzy feeling, the companionship and care, the passion.
We confess that sometimes we forget that love
isn’t really about the feelings we feel in any given moment.

We love to talk about things we love.
The stuff that makes us happy, the experiences that fill our diaries, the places we go and things we acquire.
We confess that sometimes we forget that love
doesn’t lead to acquisitiveness or greed.

We love to talk about who we love…and who we don’t.
We confess, O God, that we want your love to be as restricted as ours.

Forgive us, Lord, for the ways in which we do not reflect the fullness of your love for the world.
Renew us in your image and lead us in being your Body, loving, serving, and caring for others.
We ask in the name of Jesus the Christ, who poured himself out in love for all. Amen.

Music
Online: Your Love Never Fails
In-Person: Minuet in A by Boccherini

Children’s Time

Reading: 1 Corinthians 13 New Revised Standard Version
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

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: We Do What We Are
I am often asked about the King James translation of this last verse, which uses the word charity where we now use love — “and the greatest of these is charity.” The difficulty, of course, is that over the past 400 years since the King James Version was translated, the meaning of English words has shifted. So those translators saw that the Greek word agape was translated into Latin as caritas, so they used the similar-sounding English word charity. Over the centuries, though, we have lost some of the depth of the word charity, so now it simply means making donations or helping someone less fortunate. At the same time, we have actually lost some of the depth of the word LOVE, too, so now it is a feeling, an emotion that can come and go, the topic of gushy romantic songs that focus entirely on just two people. Which, paradoxically, means that neither the old nor the new translation gives us the fullness of what Paul was trying to say when he wrote to the Corinthians 2000 years ago.

The church in Corinth was a church divided. The members of the church were constantly arguing with each other about who was the better follower of Jesus, and which spiritual gifts were better than others, and what material things were signs of God’s blessing. Some had decided that speaking in tongues was a requirement, and if others didn’t have that gift then they were inferior to those who did. Some had decided that their wealth and high social status meant they were better than others, and those who were poor didn’t deserve a seat at the table, they were to sit on the floor or at the back. The church was tearing apart over which preachers to listen to and what faithful life looked like in practice.

And so Paul wrote to them: all the gifts of the Spirit — prophecy, knowledge, faith, tongues, giving, even martyrdom — mean nothing at all if they don’t come from love. And without love, then it doesn’t matter whether you can speak to angels or communicate across cultures, it doesn’t matter whether you understand every word of scripture or give away your last penny — without love then none of that is faithful to the God we know in Jesus Christ.

But when Paul talks about love, he isn’t talking about liking people, he’s not talking about being friendly, he’s not even talking about a feeling at all. The emotions don’t really enter into this. There is a Greek word that means love-the-feeling, but it isn’t the word Paul uses. Paul is using the word agape, which literally means to prefer the other, to exhibit goodwill, to give myself away to the other. It’s an action word, not a feeling word.

Elsewhere in scripture we read that “God is love” — and in Jesus, God gave Godself away to us, even when we were behaving in ways that would surely mean God wasn’t feeling particularly fuzzy warm love-hearts about us. Love is an action that doesn’t depend on how we feel about the other person today.

Now let me pause and take a moment to be as clear as I possibly can here. I am not saying, and Paul is not saying, and God is certainly not saying that we are required to endure abuse because that’s the loving thing to do, nor that we are required to do everything that is asked of us simply because someone asked or commanded, nor that we are supposed to give and give and give without ever being filled and nourished and cared for. God does not call us to be burned out, God does not call us to be abused, God does not call us to have to die inside so that others can have their way. This passage has been used that way over the centuries but that is, at best, a misunderstanding, and at worst, an abusive tactic of its own. God’s will is for flourishing abundant life for all creation, including us. And if you, or anyone you know, needs to have a confidential chat about this, or you have questions about it, I am here to listen and talk — don’t hesitate to reach out by message or email or phone.

At the very beginning of this series about stories we learned in Sunday school, we heard Jesus teach that the most important thing is to love God and love our neighbour…even when we might not like them very much, we can still act out love.

All of this brings me to the middle of this passage, where Paul describes what love is like. Again, English lets us down a little bit because we get phrases like “love is patient, love is kind” and it sounds so very….peaceful, in the sense of being still, unmoving, flat. But love is an action word.

Which got me started thinking about that tiny word, “is.”

It’s a form of the verb “to be” — meaning it’s an identity word. When we say “God is love” we are describing God’s identity, the core of God’s being. And it is from our identity that our actions flow. We do what we are. So to say that Love “is” patient means that love shows patience. Love does kindness. And Love does not act rude or arrogant or selfish, because Love is not those things. Because of what Love is, Love does.

Or another way to say that is that we only know what Love is because we see what Love does. We come to know its identity because of its actions. God’s identity is revealed by what God does — Jesus pours out his life for us, and so we recognise God’s love. The same is true for us! Our actions reveal who we are…harsh words reveal a hard heart, generosity reveals a grateful spirit, extending hospitality reveals openness, etc. For individuals and for churches, we can see who we are by what we do. And we decide what to do because of who we are. Which means that, as a church community, we need to be absolutely clear about our identity if we want to have any hope of acting with purpose rather than just simply doing every good idea that comes our way! We want to be able to say “because we are ____, we will do ____”…and also to be able to say “because we are _____, then ____ is not our calling to do.” We do what we are.

Love is an action word, not a feeling word. And we can see what it is when we see it in action — the action of giving itself away.

You can see why the translation “charity” both works and doesn’t work. Because charity is indeed about giving away. But 21st century charity is mostly about occasionally giving away what we have left over, and is often done out of pity or sometimes guilt, though of course it is also often from compassion and empathy and a desire to help others. Caritas, the Latin for Agape, points to the kind of love that consistently puts the well-being of others at the top of the list, that works for the flourishing of others, that understands that we must be in this together, not alone — it’s an identity that informs every action. Basically, Caritas is the opposite of childishness, and Paul wants the Corinthians — and us! — to grow up, and to care more about our neighbour than about getting our own way or being seen as the best or having the most toys. For the church in Corinth, and the church today, the question always has to be, regardless of how we feel about each other or about others around us, regardless of what we think we know and understand or are good at: do our actions reveal Love that gives itself away in service of God and others? Or do they reveal that our identity is actually built on something other than love?

Jesus shows us what it means to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul: it means to love our neighbour as ourselves. Love isn’t a feeling word, it’s an action word. And charity isn’t just an occasional action, it’s a way of being, an attitude toward others and the world. The action of love giving itself away comes from the heart’s attitude of charity. So while Latin and Greek could say all of that in one word, we actually sort of need the deepest and most expansive meaning of both if we want to get the depth of meaning that Paul is trying to convey.

Faith, hope, and love abide…and the greatest of these is the one that acts to give itself away for others.

May it be so. Amen.

Online Hymn 519: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (tune: Hyfrydol)

In Person Hymn: Love is the Welcome (words: Kathy Galloway, tune: Loch Lomond)
Love is the welcome that comes from the heart
and opens its door to the stranger
which makes of its house a resting-place for all,
for the sake of the babe in the manger.

Love is the struggle for justice and peace
that the cause of the weak may inherit,
and*the wretched of the earth,
see a new day brought to birth
in the strength of the gentle in spirit.

Love is the touch that does not draw back
from the maimed and the hurt and the broken,
but*em-braces their pain,
and calls them by their name,
that the word of compassion be spoken.

Love is the journey whose reason is faith,
though its step may be faint*and hesitating,
but though the*march is long
and the courage be not strong
in its end its fulfilment is waiting.

Love is the life that responds to a call
and chooses its truth as its treasures
and walks with the one
who says, “Come and follow me,
for to show you the way is my pleasure.”

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Loving God,
You create, redeem, and sustain all things
in the power of your love.
We thank you this day for being the foundation of our lives,
and of our life together.
We are especially grateful for
your patience,
your kindness,
your willingness to bear with us even when we are not faithful to you.
From age to age, you endure, and your love leads us on.

We come, bearing the burdens of our community,
holding both friend and enemy in your light.
In your mercy, hear our prayers
for those who suffer, in body, mind, and spirit…
for those who care for others so tirelessly, on the front line and behind the scenes…
for those working diligently to guide us into a new way of living…
for those in fear…
for those living in unsafe situations…
for those who feel overlooked or forgotten…
for those who wait in hope for a new dawn…
for your creation groaning…
May your comfort, your peace,
your courage, your justice,
your wonder, your grace,
your hope, your faithfulness,
your love
fill every place,
every heart, every home,
every crack, every hole,
every mind, every body.

Your love never fails.
You never give up,
and we pray that we too would have the fortitude to persevere in loving as you love.
We offer ourselves, body, mind, and spirit, to you,
trusting in your grace and mercy.
We lift these prayers in the name of Jesus the Christ,
your love in the flesh, 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.

In-person Hymn 519: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

Benediction
Go into your week to put love into action. 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.

Postlude Music

Announcements

* This is the last Sunday in the season of Pentecost (30 May – 5 September, also known as Ordinary Time) so it is our final week of “Sunday School Revisited.” Next week we begin the Harvest season (continuing in Ordinary Time until Advent begins at the end of November), and the theme for worship in this season will be “Uncovered” — we’ll be looking at things God is calling forth that we didn’t know we had in us.

* 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. We can now welcome up to 85-100 people for worship with 1m distancing between households. No booking will be required. Masks are required at all times inside the building, including while singing. If you are able, please enter by the front door in Bath street, and only those who need step-free access, and families with children, should use the back door.

* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page, led tonight by Jonathan. 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!

**** Do you know how to work an iPad or other tablet? Would you be willing to help someone else, one-on-one, learn to use theirs for basic things like email, YouTube, Facebook, and Zoom? Contact Teri for more information about volunteering, even just for a few hours a month, to help combat isolation by getting people connected.

** We are looking for someone to organise the coffee rota. We hope to offer tea and coffee after the service again soon, but first we need a coordinator who will keep track of the volunteers and supplies. If you’d be interested in learning more about what’s involved, please Contact Teri, Anne L, or Rab & Eileen G (former coordinators).