Sunday service for 20 August 2023, season of prayer week 3
Sunday 20 August 2023 — Season of Prayer 3
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Prelude Music (praise band)
Welcome & Announcements
Call to worship: Psalm 25.4-10
One: Make your ways known to us, Lord;
teach us your paths.
All: Lead us in your truth—teach it to us—
because you are the God who saves us.
We put our hope in you all day long.
One: Lord, remember your compassion and faithful love—
they are forever!
All: But don’t remember the sins of our youths or our wrongdoing.
Remember us only according to your faithful love
for the sake of your goodness, Lord.
One: The Lord is good and does the right thing;
teaches sinners which way they should go.
All: God guides the weak to justice,
teaching them his way.
All the Lord’s paths are loving and faithful
for those who keep God’s covenant and laws.
Sanctuary Hymn 123: God is Love (tune: Ode to Joy)
Prayer
Loving and gracious God,
we come trusting that you do hold and guide us when we fall…
that you are the ultimate truth of the world,
that your love always has the last word,
that your grace is the foundation on which the universe is built,
and so we need not fear.
We confess that we have not loved the way you love.
You spoke and light shone,
you created us in your image to reflect your light,
you poured yourself out for the life of the world,
and we have instead obscured your image,
kept your light for ourselves,
and held tightly to what we have rather than share with those we deem unworthy.
We admit that our love is limited,
and we share it sparingly as if there might not be enough.
We hold back while pretending we are giving all we can.
We claim we are loving when in fact we are judging and manipulating.
We proclaim our limited understanding of your word as if it is the whole truth.
Forgive us, Lord.
Forgive us for hiding behind tradition when you are calling us to love more.
Forgive us for grasping at so little
when you are offering something bigger than our imaginations can hold.
Forgive us for constraining you in the boxes we have built
when your vision is for all things to be made new.
Forgive us.
Clear away all that has built up inside us, between us, among us,
and make space for the new thing you are doing, even now,
make space for new light to shine out,
make space for love to take root in us and bear fruit in your world.
We ask in the name of Jesus the Christ,
who with the Holy Spirit is our advocate before you in glory. Amen.
Sanctuary Sung Prayer: Kyrie Eleison (Ukrainian)
Hymn: I Will Wait For You (Psalm 130) (praise band)
Sanctuary Children’s Time
Scripture Reading: 1 John 1.5 – 2.10, 3.1 (New Revised Standard Version)
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
Now by this we know that we have come to know him, if we obey his commandments. Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we know that we are in him: whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk in the same way as he walked.
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister abides in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling.
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are.
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: Drop the Mask
Did you know that the word “hypocrite” comes from Greek, and that in Greek it’s made up of two words so it means someone who speaks from underneath…as in underneath a mask. It’s the word for stage actor, and in ancient Greece stage actors wore full-face masks like those you might associate today with the comedy-tragedy symbols. The masks made it easy to tell who the character was — which is important if an actor is playing more than one character — and it meant no one would have thought that the mask was the person, or the person was the mask. Everyone knew it was play-acting, unlike today when some actors get so associated with the characters they portray that some in the audience forget they are actually not the same person, and are upset to meet them out of character and discover they don’t have the same personality or accent or whatever.
In other words, no one was deceived into thinking the character was the actor. If an actor were to continue to inhabit the character, wearing the mask off stage and feeling like they were really being that character…they would be deceiving only themselves.
Most weeks, the sanctuary service includes these words, very near the beginning: if we say we have no sin, we deceive only ourselves and the truth is not in us…I didn’t make that up, I took it from First John!
To take that time every week in which we drop the mask and allow the truth to be told and seen is really important. Of course, if we then just put the mask back on when we leave here and pretend we don’t make mistakes, we are then acting a part, literally hypokrite, which is a charge often levelled at Christians. But the truth is that we take time every week to admit that we aren’t living up to the vision God has laid out for us, and to ask for help to be better. Hopefully we are engaging in that honesty and truth-telling more than once a week, and so growing in our ability to un-mask more and more because when we model that honesty and truth-telling, it makes space for others to be honest too, so that truth grows in and around us as well.
Confession can take many forms…in some traditions confession is spoken aloud to another person, an act of truth-telling in community that is meant to be a form of accountability. Confessing that we have done something wrong to another person who wasn’t involved in the situation, a third party if you will, can be really difficult but can also give us some support as we commit to doing better.
Confessing to the person who has been harmed or affected by what we did can be even harder…admitting out loud that we know we did wrong and it hurt, without trying to manipulate the person into saying it’s all okay, is one of the most challenging truth-telling conversations out there. That other person may or may not offer the forgiveness we want in that moment, and it is not our place to force it, forgiveness is a gift the person has to decide to give.
The same is true when we are the ones who have been hurt — we are the ones who decide whether to give that gift of forgiveness. And it is a gift, both to the person and to ourselves, to let go of those threads binding us together with guilt and resentment. As we heard in the reading: while we refuse to loosen that grip, we cannot live in the light. When Jesus said that we are forgiven the way we forgive others, and that whatever we bind on earth is bound in heaven, perhaps it’s this very reality he’s pointing toward: when we hold back the gift of forgiveness from others, we also harm ourselves in the process…both in body and spirit. Only when we drop those cords can we have space to hold the love and grace that bind us together in Christ.
And of course we offer our confession to God in prayer. Sometimes it can be tempting just to say to God “I did things that you said not to do, and I didn’t do things you said to do” and then move on. While generically noting that we have not followed through on God’s word can sometimes be helpful, a simple reminder that both what we do and what we don’t do can be a diversion from the Way of Christ, it can also be too big-picture and lets us off the hook a little bit. However, going too far the other direction and numbering our failings in minute detail isn’t the answer either! Our prayers of confession should not be an hourly accounting of the wrongs we think we have done, either.
Hopefully we are able to talk to God freely and honestly about our understanding of God’s vision for us and the world, and how we have missed the mark — which is the root meaning of the Greek word for sin, hamartia, “to miss the mark” as in your arrow flew wide and didn’t hit the target. Sometimes it’s our words that fly everywhere and end up hurting people…sometimes it’s our actions…sometimes it’s because we thought we were headed the right way but actually our vision was distorted.
The systems in which we live distort our vision and it can be difficult to discern what is God’s way in the midst of it all…and so we end up participating in economic systems that hurt people, because we can’t figure out how to do otherwise. We end up continuing to harm the environment because it feels too difficult to change our ways. We end up perpetuating a political culture that keeps the world stuck in the status quo because we can’t imagine anything else. All that distortion means we are constantly missing the mark as we pursue God’s kingdom…and while it may feel like it’s out of our hands, it isn’t really. If more of us were honest about our part in these distortions, and if we were honest more often, then we might just find more clarity and our way would be more true.
That’s what a prayer of confession can do: that little time of honesty grows into more and more honesty, which brings more and more clarity. And if we are all being honest with God, that’s one way we learn how to be honest with each other as well. And as we step out of the shadows of the mask, the whole community sees more clearly because there is more and more light.
I want to be able to stand here and say that when we offer an honest confession, to God only or also to another person, then we will immediately feel a lifting of that burden. Sometimes that will happen, as confession clears away the rubbish that accumulates in our heart, mind, and soul and makes a space that is light and clear. Other times, our honesty and clarity will actually bring more awareness of ongoing challenges that may feel bigger than we can carry, because choosing to be unaware was the sin we needed to let go of. I can say that dishonesty is never a good policy and will always result in being tied down to the old ways and caught in the shadows.
When we pray about our wrongs, the ways we have faltered and failed, and ask for forgiveness, our prayer won’t always be answered in exactly the way we might want — or at least I should say not in the way I most want, which is to be free of the consequences of my actions! But when we inevitably mess up, 1 John says, we have an advocate: Christ stands ready to help, to drop those shackles tying us to our old wrongs and to guide us instead in his way, reminding us of his commandment: which is to love God and love our neighbour, in the same way as he has loved us — which remember is a love that pours out its life for the world. That is the kind of freedom that truth offers us: freedom from repeating the same old lines, again and again…freedom to lay aside the mask, to stop always playing a character…freedom to be who we were created to be.
Therefore there is no fear or shame in admitting we haven’t followed Jesus’ great commandment…in fact, if we pretend that we’ve done it perfectly, we deceive only ourselves and there’s no truth in us. And why do we persist in that play-acting, when the truth would set us free? No matter how many times we have acted the role, no matter how well-worn our script, no matter how tightly we hold those cords of guilt or shame or resentment, when we confess our failings the One who is faithful and just forgives and cleanses, returning us to right relationship with God and making it possible for us to practice that same forgiveness that creates right relationship with each other. When we know Christ, and keep a close and honest conversation with him, he will show us the way to walk in the light. So let’s drop the mask and be real, in prayer and in community, that all may see the truth and so work together toward God’s kingdom.
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are.
May it be so. Amen.
Hymn 187: There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy
Sanctuary Hymn: I Will Wait For You (Psalm 130) (praise band)
Offering
*Sanctuary Offering Response Hymn 497 v. 1 & 5
Almighty Father of all things that be,
our life, our work, we consecrate to thee,
whose heavens declare thy glory from above,
whose earth below is witness to thy love.
Then grant us, Lord, in all things thee to own,
to dwell within the shadow of thy throne,
to speak and work, to think, and live, and move,
reflecting thine own nature, which is love.
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Prayer booklet
What love you have given us, O God,
creating us to be family with you and one another.
We thank you for revealing your image through us,
and we pray for eyes to see you in each face we meet.
We thank you for Jesus, your word made flesh,
showing us your way lived out in human form,
pouring out your love and grace for the whole world.
We pray this day for the world you so love,
the world you came to live in,
the world you call us to steward and care for and reveal your goodness within.
For those places where your love is hard to see,
where selfishness and greed take pride of place,
where violence is the first resort,
where people live in fear and want.
May your grace fall like gentle rain,
nourishing what is good and filling the reserves of peace and justice.
We call to mind those people and places so easily
pushed aside, left out, out of sight out of mind,
where hunger is normal, clean water is a luxury,
and the changing climate is an everyday problem.
May your abundant life become a reality.
We hold in your light the people whose lives are so often lived in the shadows,
those sleeping in doorways,
those waiting endlessly for mental health care,
those forced to sell their bodies,
those trafficked for the service and profit of others,
those hiding their true selves for fear of coming out,
those pretending everything is fine while struggling each day.
May your light shine with comfort and justice and truth and hope.
We long for the clarity of your kingdom, O God,
and so we pray you would give us courage
to practice the honesty and vulnerability that makes clarity possible.
Lift from us the burden of pretence,
and undo the bindings that keep us trapped by the systems and powers of this world,
that we may walk your narrow way of love,
guided by your light,
and so experience your eternal life, even now.
Almighty and Compassionate God,
in your wisdom you create and call and empower and guide,
and though we do not understand the mystery of your grace
we trust your power and presence,
and pray for the courage to pursue your purpose.
As you have made us in your image and hold us in your care,
we pray that your church, the Body of Christ,
may be a living exhibition of your kingdom of justice, peace, and joy.
Make us doers of your word and not only hearers.
Make us good stewards of your creation that future generations may live in your abundance.
As you have blessed us, make us a blessing to others.
We pray for our community to be strengthened and built up in friendship,
on the firm foundation of your love.
On the 20th day of the month we join our hearts together as your church family to pray:
For all who work in our transportation services — the trains, the buses, the ferries, and the taxis. For drivers and conductors and pilots and sailors and behind-the-scenes workers, and for all who travel in and out of our town.
For the youth organisations of St John’s: for the Anchor Boys, Junior Section, and Company & Senior Section of the Boys’ Brigade, for the Smurfs, Brownies, Guides, and Rangers, and for the Exploratorium holiday clubs. For their leaders, volunteers, young people, and families. May they grow in faith, hope, and love together.
For the land, people, and governments of the nations of Myanmar, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei.
We pray these and all 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.
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.
Sanctuary Hymn 187: There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy
Benediction
Friends, make time each day to drop the mask and be real…with God and with yourself and with others. A little more and a little more each day…and the truth will set us free to love as we have been loved.
Know that you do not do this work alone, and you need not fear. As you go about this life of honest faith, 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. 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
* Teri is away during the week this week, and back at work on Friday mid-afternoon. If you have a pastoral need, please contact Cameron or your elder in the first instance.
* We worship in the sanctuary on Sundays at 11am, and all Sunday worship is also online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print). 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.
* Starter Packs are short of Washing up Liquid, Bathroom/Kitchen Cleaner, Kitchen Towels, Ladies Shampoo, Toothpaste, Children’s Shampoo, Baby Bath. The FoodBank are short of biscuits, UHT milk, soup, tinned fish, and tinned meats. You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!
* Did you know that the ministry we do at St John’s costs about £2700 per week? 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 new parish assistant, speak to Anne Love about how to go about directing new donations to that new item in the budget.
*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!
* Wednesday Evening Bible Study is on a summer break and will return on Wednesday 30 August at 7:30pm in the Manse. If you’d like a copy of the study book, or more information, or if you’d like to participate but the stairs of the manse are a problem, please contact Teri!
* Young Adult Bible Study is on a summer break!
* 2023 marks the 125th anniversary of the 2nd Gourock Boys’ Brigade. Our anniversary Grand Charity Ball is fast approaching: Saturday 9th September 6.30 for 7pm in Greenock Town Hall. Tickets priced £50 or £500 for a table of 10 are available now from BB leaders. The benefitting Charities have been selected and will be announced shortly. We are delighted to announce that every penny raised from ticket sales and our charity auction on the evening will go directly to our chosen charities. This event is open to all so please spread the word, book your table, put the date in your diary and look forward to what we are sure will be a Second To None evening of enjoyment and celebration.
Free period products are available in the church toilets for anyone who might need them, thanks to Hey Girls and Inverclyde Council.
* Youth organisations are starting up for the new session! Young people are invited to come along to the Junior Section of the BB on Monday evenings at 7, Anchor Boys on Tuesdays at 5:30, Brownies and Guides on Wednesday evenings at 6pm and 7:30pm respectively, Smurfs on Thursdays at 6pm, and Company Section of the BB on Fridays at 7. For more information on the Boys’ Brigade, email: 2ndgourock@inverclydebb.org.uk , for more information on the Smurfs (pre-Brownies), email Lyn at lyn41185@hotmail.com, and for more information on the Brownies/Guides, visit https://www.girlguidingscotland.org.uk/for-parents/register-your-daughter .
* Flower Fund: If you would like to donate to the Flower Fund in memory of a loved one or loved ones, then please contact Elsie Arthur or place your donation in the box inside the front vestibule. This can be done anonymously if you wish.
* The Church of Scotland has a new online learning platform called Church of Scotland Learning (more info here). The first set of modules is now available, and are designed with members of local congregations in mind and will help to grow faith, stretch minds and explore possibilities. They are set at an introductory level and accessible for all. We hope this will ignite people’s interest in learning more. Currently available topics include Vows for Elders; Vows for Ministers; Conversations in Discipleship, Exploring Discipleship, Talking About Your Faith; New Ways of Being Church; Knowing You Knowing Me (Learning to understand more fully where God is and what God is calling us to do); Theological Reflection for Everyone; Equality Diversity and Inclusion; and Unconscious Bias and Me. More modules will be added periodically, so sign up today by clicking here!
