Sunday service for 30 October 2022

Sunday 30 October 2022, NL1-8 (moving God-ward 5)
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143 
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

Prelude Music

Welcome/Announcements

Call to Worship
1: God speaks — in dreams, in conversation, in prayer.
2: God draws us close — in worship, in service, in community.
3: God reveals truth — in stories, in relationship, in new insights to our old ways.
All: We come seeking God’s wisdom, for the living of this life.

Hymn: God of Grace and God of Glory (Harry Emerson Fosdick, tune: CWM RHONDDA)

God of grace and God of glory,
on thy people pour thy power;
crown thine ancient church’s story;
bring its bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the facing of this hour,
for the facing of this hour.

Lo! the hosts of evil round us
scorn thy Christ, assail his ways!
From the fears that long have bound us
free our hearts to faith and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the living of these days,
for the living of these days.

Cure thy children’s warring madness;
bend our pride to thy control;
shame our wanton, selfish gladness,
rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
lest we miss thy kingdom’s goal,
lest we miss thy kingdom’s goal.

Save us from weak resignation
to the evils we deplore.
Let the gift of thy salvation
be our glory evermore.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
serving thee whom we adore,
serving thee whom we adore.

Prayer
God of wonders, your movement in the world is always a mystery to us.
You go where you will, and we see only glimpses.
We long to get a clearer view, to understand more
and to possess the knowledge of all your works.
We confess that we have often treated you and your word as a puzzle to be solved,
something we can complete if we just get the right pieces.
And then we apply that to life, too —
if we can just solve the puzzle of what happened, what was said,
and where, and when, and how, then we will be good enough.
We admit that we want to solve these puzzles mainly for ourselves and our own power,
so that we can have and hold the answers, as if that makes us worthy or better.
Forgive us for focusing on the wrong thing, O God.
Forgive us for spending so much time trying solve the problem of what you have done
that we never looked forward to where you were leading next.
Forgive us for missing opportunities to live into a new way of justice and peace,
while we were insisting on sticking to the letter of the law in the ways we know.
Move us deeper into your mystery, that we may come into your wisdom,
which is not only in the word on the page,
but also planted in our hearts
and in the community you place us within.
You demonstrate wisdom with empathy and compassion and vision,
and you plant that potential inside us, too.
Teach us how to listen to others, and to find your image there.
Teach us when to change course in light of our neighbours’ stories.
Teach us what is best for your future, and let that override what we thought we knew.
Let your wisdom live in us, that we may live to your glory.
We ask in the name of Christ who is your word in the flesh. Amen.

Sanctuary: Children’s Time— Song: We will walk with God (Sizohamba Naye)

Prayer of the Season
The whole earth is yours, O God.
From the beginning of the story,
you have been drawing us toward you.
We give you thanks that you have brought us this far
even when we feel like we have to trudge every step.
Though we don’t know how to be your people,
still you coax, call, and carry us forward.
Show us again today what it means to be people who live close to your heart,
not through our own efforts, but yours. Amen.

Reading: 1 Kings 3.4-28 (NRSV)
Last week we heard about David taking Bathsheba, and the prophet Nathan confronting David with the truth of his sin, and the consequences it will have for his family and the kingdom. The first son Bathsheba bore David died, the next one was Solomon. He was not the obvious heir, as he had several older half-brothers, but those other brothers were often in turmoil and trouble or even took their rivalry to the death. Bathsheba asked David to appoint Solomon to be his heir, and he did so without telling his older sons. We pick up the story today just at the beginning of Solomon’s reign, after he dealt with his rival brothers but before he built the Temple in Jerusalem. I am reading from First Kings, chapter three, in the New Revised Standard Version.

The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt-offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, ‘Ask what I should give you.’ And Solomon said, ‘You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart towards you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?’
It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, ‘Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honour all your life; no other king shall compare with you. If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.’
Then Solomon awoke; it had been a dream. He came to Jerusalem, where he stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. He offered up burnt-offerings and offerings of well-being, and provided a feast for all his servants.
Later, two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. One woman said, ‘Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together; there was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us were in the house. Then this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant slept. She laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, I saw that he was dead; but when I looked at him closely in the morning, clearly it was not the son I had borne.’ But the other woman said, ‘No, the living son is mine, and the dead son is yours.’ The first said, ‘No, the dead son is yours, and the living son is mine.’ So they argued before the king.
Then the king said, ‘One says, “This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead”; while the other says, “Not so! Your son is dead, and my son is the living one.” ’ So the king said, ‘Bring me a sword’, and they brought a sword before the king. The king said, ‘Divide the living boy in two; then give half to one, and half to the other.’ But the woman whose son was alive said to the king—because compassion for her son burned within her—‘Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him!’ The other said, ‘It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it.’ Then the king responded: ‘Give her the living boy; do not kill him. She is his mother.’ All Israel heard of the judgement that the king had rendered; and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute justice.

For the word of God in scripture,
for the word of God all around us,
for the word of God within us,
thanks be to God.

Sermon: Wisdom for What’s Next
Sometimes when I read this story of Solomon praying for wisdom, what I see in my mind is something like the genie from Aladdin’s lamp. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings — that’s a LOT of animals and grain, and the kind of thing you could only do if you were already pretty outrageously wealthy. And then he dreams of God saying “ask me whatever you want” — almost as if he rubbed the lamp and now he gets his three wishes.

Except of course we know that God speaking in dreams is very real, unlike a magic lamp, and except that Solomon doesn’t ask for the usual wishes! God seemed to expect that Solomon would treat him like a genie in a lamp, wishing for wealth or power or victory or to live forever. But Solomon knew better, he must have already had enough of a relationship with God to recognise what sort of gift would be best. And so with that knowledge Solomon asks for…wisdom. Sometimes we use the words “knowledge” and “wisdom” and even “opinion” interchangeably, but it seems clear that what Solomon asks for is not just knowledge or understanding or informed opinions, but wisdom that is practical and has a purpose in the real world.

It’s easy to get caught up in knowing things — I say this as someone who likes to know things! It’s easy to focus on thinking and believing, to insist on literal facts and figures. The wisdom Solomon asks for, though, is not really about that. Instead, he asks for the ability to discern, to recognise, to see truth behind the facts or stories in a situation. Solomon prays for wisdom that makes it possible to do justice and govern well, not simply to be right but to do right.

Perhaps then it shouldn’t be a surprise when the two prostitutes turn up for an audience with the king. Normally we might think it strange that the most powerful man would entertain an audience with two of the most marginalised people in town — women, who weren’t married and had no men providing for them or protecting them, sex workers whose partners used them and discarded them without interest in any consequences, on their own in that postpartum haze with infants to look after and no support. Remember that in this time and place, as is the case in much of the world today, the vast majority of prostitutes did not choose that life — they were either sold into it because their families needed the money, or they were captives taken in war and kept for the amusement of the elites of the winning city.

Solomon understood that the king was to shepherd and guide as well as rule, and the people had the right to ask their king to sit as judge and guide in a situation. So these women came to him for help — the least of these in society standing before the greatest — and he listened to them. He heard the tragic story they told, and he heard the pain and guilt and fear and love and grief of new mothers.

As the women argued about what had happened, Solomon’s gift of wisdom led him to a different question than the one they appeared to be asking. Instead of simply finding out the facts of what happened, he set a test that would determine what should happen next. Wisdom is about more than figuring out the puzzle of the past, it’s about how to move forward into the future.

When he made the proposal to simply divide the disputed property — in this case, a living baby — between the two claimants, Solomon was taking a pretty big gamble. He had to believe that at least one of the women would be willing to let the child go in order for him to live and flourish. And then, whether or not she was his biological mother, she would prove herself to be the best mother for the child’s future. And that was what Solomon’s gift of wisdom was for — it was for the purpose of discerning the best way forward for the people in the community he led.

It’s a pretty drastic idea — when we see paintings they always show Solomon holding the baby by the feet and someone else lifting a sword, which is of course creative license but also way more dramatic than what I hope actually happened! It’s hard to fathom that anyone would, in that moment, say “yes, cut the baby in half.” What kind of sleep-deprived postpartum mental illness topped up with traumatic grief would cause someone to say that was the right choice? And yet we know that in those moments of living in that kind of fog that clouds our judgment, people say and do terrible things sometimes.

But then…remember last week, when Nathan told David a story that was so outrageous that he immediately condemned the man in the story, only for Nathan to turn around and say “You are the man”?

What if this story is like the one Nathan told?

What if we imagine that the baby is the church, and we are the mothers.

We look in horror at the mother who insisted on her own way even if it meant the death of another baby. What if the story turns around and says to us: look in horror at insisting on your own way even if it means the death of the community you claim to love.

We feel anger and sadness at the circumstances that led to the situation these mothers are in, vulnerable and marginalised, with nowhere else to turn except on each other…and the story turns around and shows us how we have turned on each other as a way to deal with the situation in which we find ourselves, a situation we never imagined the church would be in.

We see the way grief changes what seems acceptable, narrowing vision and shortening fuses…and the story turns around and invites us to recognise how grief at losing what we used to have has changed what we think is acceptable, has narrowed our vision of possibility and shortened our fuse of tolerance.

Which mother are we? The one focused on the future life, even if it isn’t what we hoped and imagined, or the one focused on justifying ourselves and making sure the other doesn’t win?
What are we willing to rip apart or kill so that we can be right or get our way? Are there things we are willing to let go of so they can live and flourish even if not under our control?”

Solomon asked for wisdom that would help him discern what to do, to lead the community into God’s future. We could use that same wisdom, but it takes courage to ask for it because even asking for wisdom implies that we are ready for what God is doing next. We don’t get to sit back and hold tight to our way, nor do we allow our grief at the loss of what was to kill what might be. Instead, we pray with open hands, letting go of our desires in order to be filled with God’s desires, letting go of our human foolishness to be filled with God’s wisdom, letting go of our controlled story so we can walk the path of God’s story, moving God-ward. God has big plans, and is already giving us the gifts we need to carry them out for the sake of God’s world.

May it be so. Amen.

Online Hymn: They’ll Know We Are Christians
Sanctuary Hymn: Because the Saviour Prayed (John Bell, tune: WOODLANDS)

Sanctuary: Communion

Online Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
We stand in awe of you, O God,
and the way you work with what’s already present in us, in our community, and in the world
to further your kingdom.
We are grateful for your love and wisdom planted in us,
for your goodness that underpins all things.
We pray to be wise enough to recognise what we don’t know,
and strong enough to ask for help,
and courageous enough to adapt to whatever situation you call us to face.
Today we are mindful of those times
when blanket equal application of rules has actually been an injustice,
when a system supposedly fair is actually unable to respond to complex reality.
We lift up to you those people who have been hurt
by our focus on what happened without any thought for what happens next.
For all who have been poorly served or oppressed
by the methods and systems we have taken for granted,
we ask your justice, your healing, and your courage to continue in truth.
…
Today we are mindful of our neighbours who have experienced tragedy,
and especially those who have lost a child.
We hear the cries of grief, and we join our tears with theirs.
For all who wonder what they could have done differently,
or long for answers they can never know,
or who have simply to live with a hole that can never be filled,
we lift up our prayers and we ask for your gentle light to shine in the shadows,
a reminder that they are not alone.
Surround them with love and care, with a listening ear and a caring hand,
to know your grace and peace.
…
We bring before you all those places and people in the world who have been divided in two —
those who have been cut apart by disagreement, abuse, violence, or health;
those who receive only divided attention, divided and subdivided resources;
and those who are pushed to the outside when lines are drawn between us and them.
May your wisdom show us a new way forward,
beyond our rules and regulations,
beyond our egos and greed,
beyond possession and power,
into a future with hope for all.
We ask these and all things in the name of 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: Bind us Together (Bob Gillman, Thankyou Music 1977)

Benediction
Friends, go into your week to persevere in faith, knowing that whatever obstacles you face, whatever struggles come your way, you are never alone. 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
*You are invited to join in reading the Bible in a year for 2022 — immersing ourselves in God’s word throughout the year. We get together to discuss each week on Wednesday at 7:30pm in the manse at 6 Barrhill Road. All are welcome, no experience necessary! Feel free to invite a friend, too! Anyone who has ever wondered just what the Bible actually says and what it has to do with us is welcome.

*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.

* 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 be 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!

*Young Adult Bible Study meets in the manse on the 2nd and 4th Sundays at 7pm for a meal and a study of the gospel according to John. If you’d like more information, for yourself, a family member, a friend, or neighbour who is in their 20s, please contact Teri for the dates/times and other information.

*The Contact Group is holding a fundraising concert by The Clydeside Singers on Sunday 13th November at 2.30pm. The concert will take place in the sanctuary and will be followed by tea, coffee and cakes. Tickets priced £8 (including refreshments) can be obtained from Contact Group Members from next week. 

*The Kirk Session will meet on Thursday 3 November at 7pm in the sanctuary.

*The next Bowl & Blether in St John’s is on Monday 7 November, and the next one in St Margaret’s is on Saturday 12 November. On both days, doors open at 11:30, and homemade soup is served from 12-1:30. Bring a friend or neighbour for a warm welcome, a delicious meal, and a friendly chat!

* Old Gourock and Ashton Parish Players Panto is coming up! This year it’s Jack and the Beanstalk and shows are from Wed 30th November to Sat 3rd December. Evening performances start at 7.30 on Wed, Thur and Fri. Tickets for these performance cost £9. The matinee on Saturday starts at 1pm and the early evening performance starts at 5pm. Tickets for these performances cost £6. If anyone is interested please contact Avril on 07713 625750.