Sunday service for 7 June 2026

Sunday 7 June 2026, Relationships Unmasked 3
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse phone: 632143 
Email: TPeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

If the video doesn’t play, please click here to view it on our YouTube channel!

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.

Welcome 

Call to Worship
One: Whoever we are and wherever we have been,
All: we come together as God’s people.
One: Seeking and asking, hoping and praying,
All: we come together as God’s people.
One: Trusting that God’s grace and power and compassion are for us,
All: we come together as God’s people.

Online Prayer
We come seeking refuge, O God,
a place we can escape the debates and the drama,
a respite from the world.
You meet us here,
offering a change rather than an escape.
Forgive us when we’re looking for a way to hide from the people you call us to love.
You speak,
even when we would rather just rest.
Forgive us when we want a day off from you.
You redirect us to your mission,
even when we like the path we’re on just fine.
Forgive us when we limit your love to those like us.
We come to you, living God,
for you are the One who can heal,
you are the One who transforms lives,
you are the One whose grace is enough.
Even a glimpse of your glory,
even a taste of your goodness,
even a crumb of your bread of life
is enough to change lives.
Give us that taste today,
that we may rise and be healed.
Renew us and re-orient us to your way, and broaden our compassion, our love, our grace.
We ask in the name of the One whose mission expanded to the whole world,
Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Hear and believe this good news: the grace of God is for you. Trust God’s gracious mercy, and persist in living from that truth. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Online Hymn 167: Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah
Sanctuary Hymns during serving of brunch: 167 Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah, Blessed Be Your Name (band), Jesus Loves Me (band), 182 Now Thank We All Our God

Scripture Reading: Matthew 15.21-28
Today’s reading is from the gospel according to Matthew, chapter 15. Up to this point, Jesus had been busy teaching, healing, feeding people, and answering questions and challenges from authority figures, carrying out his whole ministry among Jewish communities in Galilee. I am beginning the reading at Matthew 15, verse 21, in the New Revised Standard Version.

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that moment.

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.

Table Talk
Why do you think Jesus first ignored the woman who came asking him for mercy?
Why do you think the disciples want to send her away?
The woman kneels in front of Jesus, almost like in the posture of a dog at his feet, so he cannot look away or ignore her. Have you ever ignored or tried to get rid of someone who was trying to get your attention or help? If you did make eye contact or interact with them, what happened?
What do you think it means when Jesus says “it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs”?
(Does Jesus have a finite amount of power, or healing, or grace, and so has to choose who gets it and who doesn’t? )
The woman is so persistent, even when Jesus was rude to her! Have you ever felt like God was ignoring you? Have you ever been persistent like this in asking God for something? How did it feel?
The woman says that even the dogs eat the crumbs, the scraps, the bits that fall from the table. What does that mean to you?
Have crumbs ever been enough for you?

Online Hymn GWA216: Build a Longer Table

Sanctuary: choir to sing “He Put a New Song in My Heart”

Silence for Reflection
During this season we will be inviting you to consider a question during our silent reflection, and to put a few words in answer to that question onto the post-it note you’ll find on the back of your seat. There are pencils in the book rack at the back of your seat as well. Today as we reflect on what the Spirit is saying to the church, we’re wondering if God has ever spoken to you through another person — maybe showing you something about yourself or your own calling, or teaching you something about Christian life, or revealing something you never thought about before but now is really important to you…but it came through the voice or actions of a regular person you have actually met in real life. Just pop that person onto the post-it note, and maybe a few words about what God taught you through them?

Sanctuary Communion and Offering

Online Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
God of endless grace,
we come today trusting your goodness extends beyond our imagination,
your love reaches across the barriers we raise,
your healing is for the nations.
And we bring your our prayers for others —
for those we know and love who are struggling,
those whose health is not what they would wish,
those whose bodies or minds need more care.
We lift up to you those who are doing the best they can yet feel it isn’t good enough,
and those who don’t know how to ask for help.
We lay at your feet our worries for our friends and family.
May your healing, your comfort, and your compassion reach out to them.
…
We bring you our prayers for the Body of Christ around the world,
for those places where our sisters and brothers in Christ are persecuted,
for those churches that are struggling to fulfil your mission,
for those churches whose hearts are bigger than their budgets allow.
We lift up to you those who have been dismissed or ignored or hurt by your church,
and those who still seek you despite their treatment by your followers.
We lay at your feet our hopes and desires for our church,
and pray you would carry those and give us instead your desires for your church.
May your healing, your power, and your purpose fill us all as your people.
…
We bring you our prayers for a feast —
for all who would love even a crumb,
for those who have feasted on things that do not satisfy,
for those wondering if they could ever be invited.
We lift up to you those places where hunger is more common than fullness,
where famine has been manufactured
and where climate change affects crops and water.
We lay at your feet our unequal world,
praying for the will to be changed into a global community that shares the bounty of your creation.
May your justice, your grace, and your providing be visible even in our days.
…
Even when we don’t see you at work, O God,
we know you are present and active,
building your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven,
and we pray you would make us persistent in pursuing your vision,
make us agents of your healing grace,
tearing down barriers and mending relationships,
that our faith may grow and bear fruit for your world.
We ask these and all things in the name of Jesus,
whose grace is enough for us all,
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.

Hymn: Your Grace is Enough

Sending
Go from this time together ready to have your heart and mind stretched by God calling to you in the voices of unexpected people, that you may know the blessing of expansive grace.
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.

Announcements

* We worship in the sanctuary on Sundays at 11am, and Sunday worship is also online.

* 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.

* Bowl & Blether is on the first Mondays of the month, 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 next month on the 6th of July.

* There will be a time of prayer and reflection following the service on Sunday June 14th and 28th. The focus will be on family, relationships, loss and grief. It will include short readings to focus our thoughts and some time for silent, personal prayer. Please pick up a coffee and come back into the sanctuary after the service.

* the singing for wellbeing choir at Gateway is having a concert on the 13th of June — see their advert below for tickets!

* Starter Packs are in need of Shampoo, Deodorant, Shaving Foam, Bathroom/Kitchen Cleaner.
The FoodBank are short of tinned meat/soups/veg, diluting juice, cereal, noodles, microwave rice, jarred sauce, biscuits, and UHT milk.
You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!

* Registration is now open for the summer exploratorium: On Holy Ground, an Inverclyde Staycation, the week of 27 July! We are looking for some volunteers — especially in the kitchen, and in crafts, as well as in shepherding groups. If you would be interested in learning more about volunteering, please speak to Teri or Graham Bolster.

* Free period products are available in the church toilets for anyone who might need them, thanks to Hey Girls and Inverclyde Council.

* 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.

* 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 and Theology Thursday on Youtube, get snippets of thought or inspiration following Teri on TikTok, and of course keep up with announcements and events on Facebook and our weekly email.