Sunday service for 24 May 2026, Pentecost
Sunday 24 May 2026, Pentecost
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.
Sanctuary Prelude Music (praise band)
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.
Opening Responses
One: Come, Spirit of joy!
All: Fill us and send us out with good news.
One: Come, Spirit of peace!
All: Fill us and make us a blessing across barriers.
One: Come, Spirit of gentleness!
All: Fill us and empower us to live your kingdom way.
Sanctuary Hymn GWA129: Build Your Kingdom Here (praise band)
Prayer
You speak to us in our mother tongue, O God,
and we come running,
wondering and amazed,
as your Spirit pours out
gathering us all
around your good news.
Now let the wind of your Spirit blow through again,
and set us ablaze with your vision
that we may enter the mystery of your grace
and share it with the world.
For you are a God on the move,
your holy wind pushes us out
your holy fire lights the way
your holy breath gives us the words…
and we confess that we are not a people on the move.
We like our cozy house, our gathering of friends, our comfortable rituals.
You are out there,
reaching across barriers,
speaking their language,
making connections.
We admit we want to grow your kingdom
but on our own terms.
Forgive us for standing firm against the wind of your Spirit.
Forgive us for keeping your word to ourselves.
Forgive us for staying well within the box we have built
and lamenting that others won’t come in it with us.
Rush in here again today
and re-create us,
re-form us as your Body,
to live your life anew.
We ask in the name of Christ who breathes the Spirit upon us.
Sanctuary Sung Prayer 619-20 (organ)
Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me;
Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me:
melt me, mould me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.
Spirit of the living God, move among us all;
make us one in heart and mind, make us one in love:
Humble, caring, selfless, sharing.
Spirit of the Living God, fill our lives with love.
Amen.
In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he encourages them:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
May we live today knowing that peace. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Online Hymn: God of Grace and God of Glory
Sanctuary Children’s Time
Sanctuary Hymn 608: Spirit of Truth and Grace (organ)
Scripture Reading: Acts 2.1-21
Our reading today takes us back to Jerusalem and that first Easter. Jesus appeared to the disciples many times over the course of forty days, and then they saw him ascend into heaven…and then they waited, as he had told them to do. They waited ten days, and then during the festival of the 50th day, when the city was full of pilgrims coming to the Temple, something happened. I am reading from the book of Acts, chapter 2, beginning at verse 1, in the New Revised Standard Version.
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit,
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
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: the first gift of the Spirit
When I was at a study group talking about this story a few weeks ago, I told them that in Scotland honestly saying “it’s only 9-o’clock in the morning” wouldn’t be an argument against people being drunk, because of course it was the first day of a holiday, and, well…that’s basically the great Scottish holiday marker, having a pint in the airport!
The Jewish tradition for this holiday instead involves staying up all night to study the Bible, which is quite different than how we start a holiday but could lead to similar results, by way of sleep deprivation and, depending on what part you were studying, the way it can make your head spin!
In any case, when the Holy Spirit arrived — a bit early, if you ask me, before 9am — it was noticeable. This was not a quiet inner peace. This was not a still small voice. This was not a sound of sheer silence. This was disruptive. This was public. The Holy Spirit made a scene. The entire neighbourhood gathered round to see what was going on.
Can you imagine?
Sure, you can hear our organ and praise band from outside, but can you imagine if the Holy Spirit caused us to spill out of the building and draw a crowd?
When we Presbyterians think of the Holy Spirit at all, I think we tend toward Paul’s description, more like the peace that passes all understanding, or a sense of God’s nearness. And that is absolutely true: the Lord is near. Closer than our own hands and feet.
We often miss out the part about rejoicing in the Lord always, though…at least outwardly! Perhaps we are rejoicing on the inside but Scottish Presbyterians in particular seem a wee bit reluctant to let our joy be seen.
And yet when the Church was born on that first Pentecost, that’s exactly what people saw. The holy breath of God literally blew the disciples out of the house — out into the public eye, where they were loud and proud, and you couldn’t miss them.
I wonder what it would look like for us today to be un-missable. To share our joy in the Lord. To speak up about the prayers that have been answered. To live out the peace that passes understanding so that it spreads beyond our own hearts and minds into the world around us. To talk about God’s deeds of power. To point out where we see Christ alive in our midst. To make a scene that set the neighbours talking and wondering what on earth is going on.
For too long our understanding of sharing the good news has been to be welcoming inside our church. And don’t get me wrong, that is absolutely important — we must be welcoming and hospitable, and I think here at St John’s we do that pretty well. We have a place for everyone in this family. But that isn’t all there is to it.
We have inherited a church and a society that just assumed people would perpetuate the church, without much attention to how we grow in faith or how we share with others beyond simply having open doors and open hearts, because there was no need, everything around us just supported Christendom. The thing is, that’s no longer the case…but we have continued to live as if it is, and therefore we have missed out on the very first move the Spirit makes. By sitting back and assuming people would come to us, we have neglected the very way that God intends to grow the Body of Christ, in favour of a passive faith built on birth rates and beautiful buildings.
The first gift of the Spirit is the gift of speaking their language…of being able to reach out and connect with someone on their own terms, not demanding they come to us on our terms.
The Holy Spirit’s first move on creating the church was to push the disciples out of the building to talk to strangers. In their own language. About what they had seen God do in Christ. To rejoice…publicly! I know it isn’t very Scottish but I’m not sure the Holy Spirit cares about that…the Spirit is invested in us going out of these four walls and making a scene that draws people to Christ!
Some in the crowd that gathered responded with curiosity, and some responded with mocking…some were open to the story and some were closed…but the disciples didn’t decide in advance how they thought people would respond, they just did what the Spirit gifted them to do: they went out and told the story, in public, out loud, in a way that drew attention and opened possibilities and started conversations.
And isn’t that how every relationship begins? With a conversation…not one where we decide beforehand how the other person will respond, but where we reach out and make a connection, and see where that takes us.
That’s the gift of the Spirit — to go out and make a connection. That’s the calling to the church today — to go out and make a connection in the name of Christ. That’s our task, if we want this family to grow — to go out and make a connection. To live our faith so publicly that people can’t miss it and it makes them ask questions. To speak their language first, and let the Spirit do the rest. This is not optional, it is what followers of Jesus do when the Holy Spirit is here, so let’s go.
May it be so. Amen.
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 what you would say if someone asked you what difference being a Christian makes to your everyday life. How does a relationship with God change you? Why do you choose to follow Jesus and what is different about your life than it would be if you didn’t? Literally answers on a post-it!
Sanctuary Hymn 584: Like Fireworks In the Night (organ)
Sanctuary Offering and Response: GWA148 chorus
I will sing a song of love
to the one who first loved me,
and I’ll sing it as a child of God,
who is named and known and free.
For the love of God is good,
it is broad and deep and long;
and above all else that matters,
God is worthy of my song.
Introduction to Pentecost 1 Season
Welcome to the celebration of God’s gifts prepared for you by the Pentecost 1 team. The members of our team are Teri, Graham Bolster, Jeanette Peel, Frances and Holly Anderson, Joe Heffernan, Rhona MacKenzie and Alison Ralston. This is the first of the church seasons that will be prepared by a team of elders, members of the congregation and Teri. Our team was given all the readings that will be used on the 8 Sundays starting 24 May and ending on 12 July. Based on our reading and discussion about these we named the theme for this season as RELATIONSHIPS UNMASKED.
Some key points that we discerned in the readings were the honest conversations that took place between God, Christ, his prophets and disciples. Many of the readings show difficult conversations between God and his people. In the reading from Genesis for 12 July, Abraham challenges and questions God, negotiating on behalf of righteous people who might become collateral damage. In the reading from Exodus on 31 May, Moses holds God accountable for being the God he promised to be. In the reading from Matthew on 7 June Jesus is rude towards a Canaanite woman but she stands her ground to demonstrate her faith. All the readings this season involve people who trust their relationship with God enough to be honest and forthright, even when they are frustrated or confused.
We have planned services and other events to help us form better relationships with God, our neighbours and the community. The service on 7 June will be a Cafe Church, during this service we will have a potluck brunch. If you can, please bring a pot of something to share with others.
Prayer is central to our relationship with Christ and on the 14th and 28th of June there will be a prayer meeting in the sanctuary. The focus will be on family, relationship, loss and grief. Please grab a cuppa and come back into the sanctuary after the service for the prayer meeting. Alison will lead this.
We share the love of Jesus with others via service and by showing solidarity with those in need. Members of the church will be manning a water station for walkers and their pets near Gourock Yacht Club. During one service this season, we will hear from a representative of iFit who work with people who are reentering the community after prison.
Helping to prepare this liturgical season has deepened our appreciation and understanding of RELATIONSHIPS UNMASKED. All are welcome to assist with future teams in preparing future seasons of prayer, liturgy, service and celebration. Members of the team welcome sharing our experiences and impressions. Speak to any of us to find out more.
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Your power amazes us, O God,
with its gentleness and peace
and yet strength enough to move mountains
and change lives.
We give you thanks for your Spirit poured out all around us,
for glimpses of your kingdom made real
in young and old,
in creation and church,
in word and deed.
And we pray for your transforming love to continue to work
creating new community where all we see now is division.
We lift up to you all who have been left out,
those who have never seen themselves represented,
those who have been told to change themselves to fit in,
and those who have been taught there’s no place for them.
And we lift up those whose walls isolate them rather than protecting them,
those who are missing out on the beauty of your diverse world,
those who cannot hear your voice because they refuse to listen to others.
Reach across the divide and bring us together, God,
empowered by your Spirit with love and gentleness and joy.
We see the barriers
and we ask you would teach us to reach across with hope,
to tear down dividing walls with grace,
to be living examples of your peace.
In this world where peace feels impossible,
send your Spirit to heal all that harms us
in places of war and manmade disaster.
…
In this world where graciousness feels like a lost art,
send your Spirit to heal all that harms us
in the halls of power and the pages of media,
in broken relationships and places where trust is in short supply.
…
In this world where hope is faint,
send your Spirit to heal all that harms us
in families and communities struggling,
in movements faltering and fractured,
in an economy that leaves most behind.
…
On the 24th day of the month we join our hearts as your St John’s family to pray
*For the nurseries and parent-toddler groups in our area — for the children, the staff, and the young families served. We ask for your blessing and guidance as children grow and learn and make friends, for your strength and protection from harm, and for your patience and grace for those who teach and nurture.
*For the music ministry of St John’s: for the choir, the praise band, the organist, and all who enable our worship and prayer through music.
*For the land, people, and governments of the nations of Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Aruba, and Curaçao.
Set our hearts and lives alight
and send us out as bearers of your good news,
with joy and peace.
We ask in Jesus’ name, and we join in the prayer he taught us:
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: Send Us Out (praise band)
Sending
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The first gift of the Spirit is the gift of speaking their language — go to share the good news in public! To rejoice in public. To let gentleness and peace be seen in public. To reveal the Lord’s presence with us in public. To speak of God’s power in public.
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.
* 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 week on the 1st of June!
* The service on the 7th of June will be our all age cafe church service and for this we decided that for this we will be holding a Brunch Potluck!! We’d love you to bring a dish to share as we feast together. If you are wishing to bring a hot dish can we ask the you bring it hot as we won’t be able to heat it up. We also ask you please to avoid nuts and label things if they are vegetarian/vegan/gluten free or if they contain any typical allergens. Thanks! We cannot wait to come together as a family of God and share a delicious meal with you all!
* 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.
* 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.
Sunday service for 8 June 2025, Pentecost
Sunday 8 June 2025, Pentecost
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143
Email: TPeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Email Charlene, Parish Assistant: CMitchell (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Prelude Music (praise band)
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: Together in this place and time,
All: God’s Spirit creates anew!
One: Word and Breath fill and overflow —
All: God’s Spirit cannot be contained.
One: From this one room out to the ends of the earth
All: God’s Spirit gives us the gift to speak.
Sanctuary Hymn 252: As a Fire is Meant For Burning (organ)
Prayer
We are resurrection people by your power, Living God,
and we have been wondering just what that means in this life.
In awe and praise and hope and a little uncertainty
we have looked for your living word,
we have waited for your promise,
we have counted the days wondering what you will do next.
Move among us again this day and do a new thing.
Come rushing in with gifts we can’t miss,
with a calling we can’t ignore,
with new life re-creating not just us, not just your church,
but the world.
Creating and re-creating God,
you have disrupted the systems of this world
and opened the way of life to all.
We confess we don’t like disruption,
and we are not sure we want to change.
We hear your Holy Spirit blowing against our walls,
rattling the windows and doors,
and we want to be faithful
but we also don’t feel ready.
We like it in here, where we can learn and pray
with our friends and like-minded strangers.
We confess we’d rather you not send us out, O God.
We don’t know how to move from disciples to apostles,
we don’t know how to talk to people out there when they are so different from us,
we don’t know how to put your word into action when the world is what it is today.
Forgive us our fearful hearts, Holy One.
Forgive us when we have barricaded our faith inside our minds and hearts and sanctuary.
Forgive us when we have made study and prayer
an excuse for why we can’t be bearers of your good news.
Take our breath away with your grace,
and fill us again with the wind of your Spirit,
then send us out to play our part in the new thing you are doing, even now.
Amen.
Online Hymn 252: As a Fire is Meant For Burning
Sanctuary Hymn 595 vv. 1 & 4 (organ)
Sanctuary Children’s Time
Sanctuary Hymn: The Lorica (praise band)
(setting of St Patrick’s Breastplate by Steve Bell)
Scripture Reading: Acts 2.1-8, 11b-13 (New Revised Standard Version)
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? … —in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
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: church goes out
It had been 50 days since the horrors of Good Friday and the confusing wonder of Easter morning…50 days of meeting Jesus along the road, in locked rooms, and in the unexpected, learning to look for him and to listen with new ears because things he’d said before started to make a different kind of sense. 50 days of trying to figure out how this new reality could possibly exist, and what it means for living in the world that looks the same even though we know nothing is actually the same. 50 days of huddling together in the upper room, studying, praying, talking to each other, wondering what comes next.
The disciples likely did what many of their friends and neighbours did for the festival of Shavuot: they studied God’s word all night long to celebrate the gift of the Torah, God’s instructions to the people. In a time when most people couldn’t read, that would look different than your average Bible study today…maybe one of the disciples like Matthew the tax collector would have been able to read, but most likely they either had a scribe join them or else they recited the scriptures off by heart. They would have memorised most of the first five books of the Bible by the time they were old enough to go out to work, and some people memorised a lot more than that. So they would perhaps take turns as the night wore on, reciting from memory and talking about what those words and stories meant for them today — especially since Jesus being resurrected from the dead changed everything. They’d be looking for clues in the scriptures, pointing to Jesus and his ministry and life and death and resurrection, and they’d be interpreting their new experience through the old old story.
Night turned to morning and they were still discussing what God was doing, first breathing the world into being, creating with a word, speaking through Moses and the prophets, and now taking on flesh and walking around with them, trying to teach them a new way of reading and a new way of living…when suddenly a wind shook everything. Not just a wind rattling the windows and doors and walls, not even just a wind coming through the cracks like a draft. Not just a wind blowing away cobwebs after a long night of studying God’s word and eating sweet treats to remember that God’s word is sweeter than honey. A wind that filled the entire house…so that they actually couldn’t remain in the room anymore. A wind that physically pushed them out — out of their safe place, out of their study room, out into the street, out into the community.
Like a young bird being pushed out of the nest, it was time for them to fledge…and maybe they’d land with a hard bump on the ground, or maybe they would fly, but how would they know unless they got out and tried?
I am sure they didn’t feel ready. Even with the knowledge and experience they had, they were still in that upper room. Sure, Jesus told them to wait, but he didn’t tell them to wait in hiding. And who ever does feel ready? When God calls, most of us are absolutely certain we don’t have what it takes. But God doesn’t call the equipped, God equips the called. So first order of business: a wind that forces them to leave their beloved upper room, where they’ve been worshipping together for all this time, where they’ve shared their worst and best moments, where they’ve studied together and feasted together. It’s a safe place, a comfortable place, where they know what to expect and who will be there and what’s going to happen. And the violent rushing wind pushes them out.
We like to think of God as giving gentle nudges, speaking in a still small voice, settling in us like a peace that passes all understanding…which all does happen. But today it’s a violent, forceful, loud wind that shakes everything and physically forces the disciples out of their worship space into the street.
And once out there, they are surrounded by…people. People from every background, people with different experiences than them, people who believe in the same God but haven’t met Jesus. And these disciples who had been keeping to themselves in their safe comfortable place suddenly found themselves speaking. Not babbling or mumbling or running away, but speaking about their own experience of God’s power revealed in Jesus. They told about what they had seen God do. And everyone could somehow understand, even though they hadn’t done their Duolingo lessons, they hadn’t learned their script ahead of time, they hadn’t made a strategic plan and SMART goals. They were blown out of the house and opened their mouths and the Spirit did the rest.
In that moment, they were changed: from disciples to apostles. From people who only followed, to people who were sent out to share.
To be clear, apostles are also disciples. It isn’t possible to be sent out by someone we haven’t been learning from…an apostle is someone who bears not just the message but also the presence of the one who sends them. It’s a messenger who has the same authority as the sender. So that requires keeping close in following the One who calls and sends. But it adds a new dimension: no longer only learning for themselves, apostles go out to tell.
The wind and flame of the Spirit’s presence makes possible a transformation, from disciples who gather to be fed, into apostles who go out to feed others.
That day some of the people who heard were amazed, excited, inspired.
And some of the people who heard were skeptical, scoffing, dismissive.
That’s still true, of course. Some who hear our story will be curious and amazed. Some will be mocking and cynical, they might even think we’re drunk even if it’s 9:00 in the morning, they’ll wonder if we’ve lost our minds.
And still the Spirit works: giving us everything we need to get out there and be bearers of good news…including a push when we are tempted to stay in our comfort zones that serve us without making space for people God is trying to reach.
We might wonder why God didn’t just inspire those people out in the street to come into the house and join with the disciples in their study and prayer and praise. It would certainly be possible, God can do anything and God definitely does inspire people to come seek us out. But it isn’t what the story of the birth of the Church says. Instead this story of the church’s birthday, the story that defines our DNA as a Christian Church, is a story of going out, not of coming in. It’s a story of disciples changing their ways, not a story of the whole town suddenly coming looking for them in their current traditions. It’s a story of storytelling…of sharing a personal experience of God’s power and grace, and trusting that the people who are ready to hear will hear, and not worrying about the people who aren’t ready to hear and what they think about us.
Whether the disciples felt ready to become apostles or not, the Holy Spirit was ready. They had followed their teacher. They had studied all night. They had sung their praise and said their prayers for all this time. The only thing they hadn’t yet done was go and tell others. But that’s also the only way the news spreads, the only way the kingdom grows. That’s what makes the church the church, and not just another club or even just another religion’s congregation…the church goes out to tell and invite and share the good news of God’s love in Christ, putting all that prayer and praise and study into action.
It’s past time to leave the nest, trusting that on the wings of the Spirit, we will either find ourselves on solid ground, or be taught to fly.
May it be so. Amen.
Hymn GWA129: Build Your Kingdom Here (praise band)
Sanctuary Offering and Response 247 verse 3 (organ)
Concerns of the Church
Food Bank
Bible Study
Prayer Groups
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Living God,
show us your Holy Spirit at work today!
You are everywhere present,
moving us out into new life in the world you are always re-creating.
We pray you would open us to recognise your work
in those places we would never expect,
in those languages we can’t understand,
in those communities acting on your grace.
As we fill our lungs with your holy breath,
we feel the expansion of your love within us,
and we pray for those people who have not heard your good news,
those who do not know the story of your power and purpose and gift.
We lift up those who know only a small piece or a distortion,
and so believe there is no place for them in your beloved community.
We ask you would give us the words and the courage
to reach out in ways they can receive,
to share the hope of your kingdom.
Make us bearers of your good news in the world today.
As we exhale, we feel the relaxing and emptying,
and we pray for those people who are overfull,
those who can never relax because there’s always more to do, more to acquire, more.
We lift up those who have to hustle without rest just to make ends meet,
who can’t get a break or a moment to themselves,
and also those who have so much that nothing is ever enough.
We ask you would make space, O God.
Teach us to share — to share what you have provided and to share the load —
so that all people might know the abundant life you promise.
Make us bearers of your good news in the world today.
As we feel the warmth of your Spirit upon us and among us,
we pray for your Body of Christ,
gathered together and sent out into the world to share your story.
We pray for our brothers and sisters in places where it is not safe to gather,
where it is illegal to share your good news,
where they face danger simply for following you.
We lift up those churches struggling to discern your calling,
and those in need of more resources to do the ministry you call them to do,
and all your churches that have lost sight of your future as they lament the loss of the past.
Inspire our imaginations, inflame our spirits, ignite our passion,
and make your Church bearers of your good news in the world today.
On the 8th day of the month we join our hearts as your St John’s family to pray
*For all who live and work in the centre of Gourock — for those who are neighbours of our churches, those who own businesses, those who use the library, and those who come into the centre of town for any reason.
*For the music ministry of St John’s: for the choir, the praise band, the organist, and all who enable our worship and prayer through music.
*For the land, people, and governments of the nations of Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, and Greece.
You, Lord, have created and called us for your purpose
and gifted us for your work.
Now set us free once again from all that harms us,
and send your people out into the world with courage and love
to reveal your kingdom here among us already, even now.
We pray these and all things through the amazing power of your Holy Spirit, and in the name of the Risen Lord Jesus 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: Send Us Out (praise band)
Sending
We are never fully ready, but we are fully equipped — God has given us all we need to bear the good news into the world. So ready or not, it’s time to go share the story, empowered by the Holy Spirit who goes above you to watch over you…the Holy Spirit who goes beside you to be your companion…the Holy Spirit who goes before you to show you the way, and behind you to push you into places you might not go if you thought you were alone. And the Holy Spirit goes 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 (organ)
Announcements
* Registration is now open for our Summer Exploratorium: Holy Histories! It’s a week for P1-P7 getting into the messy side of Bible stories and learning how God’s love is for us even when things get messy. It runs every day between 4-8 August, from 9am – 1pm, including lunch, and with an optional breakfast club from 8am. If you’d like to volunteer, or if you know any secondary-aged pupils who’d like to join our junior leader programme, please speak to Teri or Charlene ASAP.
* 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.
* The first Sunday of the month at 11am is now 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 bathroom/kitchen cleaner, handwash, shampoo, deodorant, soap, teabags.
The FoodBank are in need of UHT milk, tins of soup, carrots, and tomatoes, as well as bottles of diluting juice.
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 £3000 per week and our current giving is nearly £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 is at 7:30pm in the Manse and we are reading Luke!
* Free period products are available in the church toilets for anyone who might need them, thanks to Hey Girls and Inverclyde Council.
Sunday service for 19 May 2024, Pentecost
Sunday 19th May 2024, Pentecost
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143
Email: TPeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Email Charlene, Parish Assistant: CMitchell (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
There’s no manuscript for today’s service – please enjoy worshipping via video! Today’s online service includes the reports from our student minister and parish assistant. Due to technological issues it does not include the reports from the Session Clerk or the Treasurer which will be delivered during the sanctuary service. However you can find the annual accounts here.
Announcements
* We worship in the sanctuary on Sundays at 11am, and Sunday worship is also online. We also have an informal evening service on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month at 6pm, with a light meal together at 5:30. 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 in need of Washing up liquid, kitchen & bathroom cleaner and kitchen rolls.
The FoodBank are in need of UHT Milk, tinned tomatoes, tinned hotdogs & pasta sauce. You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!
* TheKirk Session will meet on Thursday 23 May at 7:30pm.
***If you have 2 beds available and a willingness to host two students from Spring Arbor University in Michigan for the 8th – 11th of June, please let Teri know ASAP and she will connect you with the person coordinating the students’ visit to Inverclyde. Costs of feeding the students for the weekend will be covered. Ideally you’d be able to bring them to church, as well as spending time with them on the Saturday evening and Sunday. This is a great opportunity to offer hospitality, to show our wonderful area to visitors, and to meet young people. Please speak to Teri if you have 2 beds available!
* Did you know that the ministry we do at St John’s costs about £3000 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 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 meets in the manse at 7:30pm most weeks.
* Free period products are available in the church toilets for anyone who might need them, thanks to Hey Girls and Inverclyde Council.
* The schedule for the Sunday evening service is changing: after a wee break, it will resume on 9 June and happen on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month. We’ll have toasties and sandwiches together from 5:30 and the service will start at the back of 6. All are welcome for this simple meal and time of worship. The Sunday evening service is informal and reflective, with guitar-based music, Bible readings, and prayer for our parish. Come along and discover practical ways to apply the word to your life, in a chilled vibe that fosters connection and reflection.
* Join us at “God’s Kitchen Table” for the summer exploratorium, the week of the 29th of July! Registration for this holiday club for children entering P1 – P7 is now open on the church website. If you’d like to volunteer please speak to Teri, Charlene, or Graham Bolster.
Sunday service for 5 November 2023
Sunday 5 November 2023 — Martin Fair visiting
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Revs. Martin Fair and Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143
Email: TPeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Email Charlene, Parish Assistant: CMitchell (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Prelude Music (praise band)
*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 & Announcements
Call to Worship
One: You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
All: We thirst for you,
our whole beings longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.
One: I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
All: Because your love is better than life,
our lips will glorify you.
One: I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
All: We will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips our mouths will praise you.
Hymn 510: Jesus calls us here to meet him (tune: Lewis Folk Melody)
Prayer with sung prayer Mungu ni mwema
Mungu ni mwema
You are good, O God, and you have shown us your goodness.
We thank you for teaching us, leading us, parenting us —
you are committed to love and you call us
to commit ourselves wholeheartedly to you, your community, your way of life.
Mungu ni mwema
We confess that we have not committed wholeheartedly.
We have committed part of our hearts, part of the time,
and part of our lives, part of the time,
and part of our minds, part of the time.
We chafe under instruction,
and though we long for your promise we can’t see how it can be true.
So we don’t tell your story,
we don’t talk about you with others,
we don’t teach the next generation,
because we don’t want to rock the boat
and we don’t want to be on the hook for when things don’t work out
and we like to have plenty of options just in case
and there’s so much else going on.
Forgive us, O God, for neglecting your word and your way.
Forgive us for speaking one thing but doing another.
Forgive us for putting your commands into a box
to be dusted off every now and then
but otherwise deemed irrelevant or impossible in our modern world.
Know that God is Good
We know you are good…at least, some part of us knows.
May your forgiveness seep into us so that we know it with our whole selves.
May your goodness reach into our minds
and displace the worry that we must somehow be good enough to earn your love.
May your goodness reach into our hearts
and soften the hardness that has crept in and that keeps us from feeling with and for our neighbours.
May your goodness reach into our souls
and fill us with grace that spills out in word and deed.
May your goodness reach into our bodies
and strengthen us to reach out in love.
You are devoted to loving the world, O God,
and your love transforms us from the inside out,
and we give you thanks for the ways you change the world by changing us.
Halle – hallelujah
Amen.
Sanctuary Children’s Time
Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (NLT) & Acts 2:42-47 (NRSV)
These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. You must obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy, and you and your children and grandchildren must fear the Lord your God as long as you live. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life. Listen closely, Israel, and be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and you will have many children in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
Listen! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
~~
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
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: Growing Up, Growing In, Growing Out – the Very Rev. Dr. Martin Fair
Hymn: Bless the Lord (10,000 Reasons) (praise band)
Sanctuary Offering (choir to sing Colours of Day)
*Sanctuary Offering Response: God Our Creator, vv. 1 & 4 (tune: Bunessan; words: John L Bell & Graham Maule)
God our Creator, you in love made us
who once were nothing but now have grown.
We bring the best of all our lives offer;
for you we share whatever we own.
And with the people summoned together
to be the Church in which faith is sown,
we make our promise to live for Jesus,
and let the world know all are God’s own.
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
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: Send Us Out (praise band)
Benediction
*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
* Next Sunday is Remembrance Sunday and the service begins at the earlier time of 10:45am, followed by a short wreath laying at the anchor, then parading down to the cenotaph for the service at 12:15. The sanctuary service will be livestreamed to our Facebook page, technology permitting.
* We worship in the sanctuary on Sundays at 11am, and all 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.
* Starter Packs are short of Shaving Foam and Shampoo. The FoodBank are short of biscuits, UHT milk, tinned soup, tinned custard, tinned tomatoes. You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!
* Bowl and Blether will be on Monday 6 November and Monday 20 November, with doors opening at 11:30 and soup served from noon – 1:30. Volunteers are needed and welcome, especially at the new third Monday of the month!
* Wednesday Evening Bible Study meets at 7:30pm at the manse.
* The Kirk Session will meet on Thursday 9 November at 7:30pm in the sanctuary.
* The Contact Group next meeting is on Tuesday 14 November at 2pm in the large hall. The speaker will be Alan Aitken MBE, sharing about the 125th anniversary of the 2nd Gourock Boys’ Brigade. All are welcome at this and any of the meetings held fortnightly. The group’s syllabus is now available from Fiona Webster for a donation of £5.
* Inner Visions: Art and Spirituality festival begins with an exhibition opening at Friday 17 November from 6-8pm, and runs for two weeks, closing on Friday 1 December from 5-6pm. This festival brings together local artists, our community, and the church to explore how creativity and spirituality go together, and how creativity can help us connect to our Creator and to one another. We will be looking for people willing to staff the exhibition for an hour or two at a time throughout the two weeks — just to be present in the sanctuary while the doors are open, and to welcome people and be hospitable while they’re in. Please sign up! Thanks!
During the festival, there will be a lecture by Alec Galloway on the history of expressing spiritual themes in artwork, especially in stained glass, on Sunday 19 November at 3pm. There will be a panel discussion with the artists who created the pieces for the exhibition, discussing how they went about creating them, the process and meaning behind each piece, and how artwork is important in feeding and expressing their spiritual lives, on Saturday 25 November at 6pm. There will be a Spirituality Cafe service on St Andrew’s Day, Thursday 30 November at 7:30pm.
* Did you know that the ministry we do at St John’s costs about £3000 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!
* Free period products are available in the church toilets for anyone who might need them, thanks to Hey Girls and Inverclyde Council.
* 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!
* Would you be able to host two university students from the USA from 8-11 June, 2024? They will each need their own bed, though they can share a room, and you would be providing them breakfast and dinner, bringing them to church on Sunday, and being a welcoming and engaging host as they get a cultural exchange experience. There would be some financial help to cover the food expenses. If you might be interested, please be in touch with Teri or Seonaid Knox, so we have a sense of how many students we can host.
Sunday service for 28 May 2023, Pentecost
Sunday 28 May 2023, Pentecost
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Prelude Music
Welcome and Announcements
Call to Worship: Acts 2.1-4
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Teri: God reaches out to bring people in:
1: Spirit-wind blowing in a way we can’t miss,
2: Spirit-flames revealing God’s word to each and every one,
3: Spirit-gifts connecting with our reality to make something new.
Teri: God empowers and expects us to join in reaching out:
1: giving gifts of communicating across barriers,
2: giving gifts of proclaiming good news,
3: giving gifts of creating community out of chaos.
All: The Spirit of God is here, calling us in and sending us out.
Sanctuary Hymn 622: We Sing a Love (words: June Boyce-Tillman; tune: Woodlands)
We sing a love that sets all people free,
that blows like wind, that burns like scorching flame,
enfolds like earth, springs up like water clear:
come, living love, live in our hearts today.
We sing a love that seeks another’s good,
that longs to serve and not to count the cost,
a love that, yielding, finds itself made new:
come, caring love, live in our hearts today.
We sing a love, unflinching, unafraid
to be itself, despite another’s wrath,
a love that stands alone and undismayed:
come, strengthening love, live in our hearts today.
We sing a love that, wandering, will not rest
until it finds its way, its home, its source,
through joy and sadness pressing on refreshed:
come, pilgrim love, live in our hearts today.
We sing a burning, fiery, Holy Ghost
that seeks out scars of ancient bitterness,
transfiguring these, as Christ in every heart:
come, joyful love, live in our hearts today.
Prayer
You call us to remember who we are, O God —
to live as the people you created us to be,
and so to reveal your image in the midst of the world.
You send your Spirit to fill us with your breath,
to lead and guide us into our place in your family,
that all creation may revel in your glory.
We confess that we too often follow other powers instead,
for they pretend to be good for us,
they claim to be ultimate,
they seduce us with their promises.
We admit that we allow those voices to keep us in our small fearful places,
unwilling to take up your call to go speak to those we think of as different.
We admit that we fall into the trap of believing the worst moment is the end,
forgetting that because you raised Jesus, the worst thing is never the last thing.
We admit that we do not always live by your family values,
substituting our own instead.
Forgive us, loving God.
As you promised to be not only with us but for us,
we pray you would conform us ever more to your image,
even today,
that we may live from the truth of your love
that cannot be contained in words or traditions or institutions,
that cannot be thwarted by our weakness,
that cannot be separated from your people and your creation.
Come, Holy Spirit!
Show yourself,
draw us ever more into your truth,
and push us out into your world to reveal your will.
Make us your people by water and word and Spirit,
breathe your life into your Body
and kindle the flame of love that spreads beyond our control.
May we who belong to you follow your Spirit
out into this world you so love.
We ask in the name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Song: Wa Wa Wa Emimimo (Come Holy Spirit)
Experiencing Pentecost
(Song for when it’s time to move: wa wa wa emimimo)
Three circles of chairs we move between, 7 minutes per station:
- Learning some phrases in other languages (Sandra and Teri)
God is good
God is love
Christ is alive
thank you
peace be with you - Writing prayers together as a group, to be used later in the service (Jeanette Peel)
names/descriptions of God, how we address God (Holy God, Gracious and merciful, etc)
We thank you for __________
We ask your help for __________
We pray for your Church, that _________ - Studying Romans 8 (Graham Gardiner)
14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ 16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’ 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8 study questions:
1. Verse 14 says “all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God” — meaning that who or what we follow reveals who we belong to, what family we are part of. Can you think of some other things we might be led by (ie a spirit of greed, selfishness, tradition, etc) and what that would reveal about who we belong to (ie children of capitalism/captives of the past/etc)?
2. What does it mean to you to be led by the Spirit? How do you know when you are being led by the Spirit?
3. Verse 15 says we have received a spirit of adoption — that God is expanding God’s family by choosing to bring more people in and give them God’s own name and family life. And so God’s Spirit helps us and teaches us how to be a part of the family. Having been adopted into God’s family, we are always learning the family values. What do you think are the family values we, who are adopted by God, are supposed to live by and demonstrate to the world?
4. Verse 28 says “all things work together for good…” — does that make sense to you? How have you experienced God making things work together for good even when it didn’t seem very good at the time? (Note: we often only see this when we look back!) Does knowing that “the worst thing is never the last thing” or “the bad news never has the last word” help you or is it not helpful?
5. The end of this passage says that there is nothing in all creation that can separate us from God’s love. Have you ever felt like something has come between you and God? Have you experienced God’s love reaching out across that barrier?
Song: Wa Wa Wa Emimimo
Offering
Offering Response: Hymn 352 verse 1
O for a thousand tongues, to sing
my great Redeemer’s praise,
the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of his grace!
Invitation to the Table
The end of that Romans passage you all studied a wee bit is very famous, a reminder that there is nothing in the whole created world that can come between us and God’s love for us. Love is the ultimate reality, and Paul says that even in the midst of really difficult things happening to us or around us, even when it feels like too much of a gap between the world as it is and the world as God wants it to be, we should reorienting ourselves to the ultimate reality of Love, because that is the only way to persevere. We need the big picture, to recognise that only God is Ultimate, The One, the Truth…and in the biggest possible picture, bigger than we can see, all those other powers and troubles are nothing in the face of God and God’s love. In Jewish tradition the phrase they use is “Ein Od” — there is nothing else.
At this table, we are reminded: there is nothing else but God’s love.
At this table, we are filled with the truth: there is nothing else but God’s love.
At this table, where there is room for everyone and God is constantly expanding the family, we see: there is nothing else but God’s love.
At this table, whatever our background, whatever our troubles, whatever our uncertainties, we can be fed with the reality bigger than all realities: there is nothing else but God’s love.
At this table, Christ is the host, God feeds us, and the Spirit opens our eyes to see the kingdom of God come on earth as it is in heaven, for Ein Od — there is nothing else.
And there is certainly nothing in the whole created universe that can keep you separated from God’s love made known in Christ, who is revealed among us at this table. Whatever else we may think or think we know, this is God’s gift to us: there is nothing else but love.
Communion Hymn 655: For Your Generous Providing (words: Leith Fisher; tune: Holy Manna)
For your generous providing
which sustain us all our days,
for your Spirit here residing,
we proclaim our heartfelt praise.
Through the depths of joy and sorrow,
though the road be smooth or rough,
fearless, we can face tomorrow
for your grace will be enough.
Hush our world’s seductive noises
tempting us to stand alone;
save us from the siren voices
calling us to trust our own.
For those snared by earthly treasure,
lured by false security,
Jesus, true and only measure,
spring the trap to set folk free.
Round your table, through your giving,
show us how to live and pray
till your kingdom’s way of living
is the bread we share each day:
bread for us and for our neighbour,
bread for body, mind, and soul,
bread of heaven and human labour –
broken bread that makes us whole.
Prayer at the Table
(during the sanctuary service, this prayer will be replaced with prayers we’ve written at one of the stations)
Blessed are you, O Lord our God, ruler of the universe,
for You work all things toward your good,
and we marvel at your power.
You extend yourself out into the world,
and we give thanks as your Spirit reaches even us.
You are Alpha and Omega, the ultimate and complete biggest picture,
and we praise your love that creates family, confounding our small boxes.
You are Creator, calling your creation good,
and we stand in awe of your calling to us to be stewards of your gift.
We hear your creation groaning and your Spirit sighing,
and we pray for not only hearts that care but wills strong enough to take up the task,
to live in the vision you reveal.
Remind us who we are created to be,
and strengthen us to step up and act as restorers of the breach,
that all your world may rest in your blessing.
Our spirits join your Holy Spirit in sighs too deep for words
when we see your world in pain.
You have made us family and called us to care,
and so we weep this day with those who weep in ______,
and we rejoice this day with those who rejoice in ________.
We pray for healing this day for those who suffer in body, mind, or spirit,
and we give thanks this day for those whose prayers have been answered
in your time, your wisdom, and your way.
We remember those in the midst of heartache, grief, or pain,
and we offer our comfort along with yours,
praying that you would reveal your goodness in the land of the living.
We remember those caught up by the powers of this world,
unable to see the new thing you are bringing to birth,
and we offer our hope alongside yours,
praying all your children might have courage to follow you.
Help us in our weakness, Loving Spirit.
Blow through our hearts and move us out of our own way, and yours.
In the quiet beyond our inadequate language,
in the simplicity of bread broken and wine shared,
show us a new perspective,
bring us into your mystery,
and give us a glimpse of your glory,
that we may be inspired to push on into your kingdom come on earth as in heaven.
As we come to your table,
may these common things, and we common people,
be set aside for your sacred purpose, your holy mystery,
made one with you and with one another,
filled to overflowing with your love,
for there is nothing else.
We ask in the name of our living Lord, Jesus the Christ,
host at this and every table, 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.
Communion of the People
Affirmation After Communion (from General Assembly worship 25 May 2023)
One: Wherever we wander, whenever we stumble, when the hill ahead is too steep or the valley has laid us low, God holds us, beloved.
All: For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but God’s steadfast love shall not depart from us.
One: When the path is precarious and the crossroads fill us with foreboding and an unsettling fear, God holds us, beloved.
All: For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but God’s steadfast love shall not depart from us.
One: And when we don’t even notice because the sun is shining and the sky is bright and “God’s in heaven and all’s right with our world’, God holds us, beloved.
All: For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but God’s steadfast love shall not depart from us.
One: God’s steadfast love shall not depart from us …
All: And we shall not depart from it.
Hymn: Send Us Out (Resound Worship) (praise band)
Send us out in the power of your Spirit,
to shine your light in the way we live.
Send us out in the power of your Spirit,
as we’ve received, may we freely give.
Send us out,
send us out,
send us out for your glory.
Let all we do
be praise to you;
send us out for your glory
Send us out in the power of your Spirit
to show your love everywhere we go.
Send us out in the power of your Spirit,
Lord, fill us up so we overflow.
Send us out,
send us out,
send us out for your glory.
Let all we do
be praise to you;
send us out for your glory
We’re laying down our lives,
a living sacrifice,
we’re living for your glory and your praise.
We’re taking up our cross,
we’ve counted up the cost,
we’re living for your glory and your praise.
Send us out,
send us out,
send us out for your glory.
Let all we do
be praise to you;
send us out for your glory
Benediction
Nothing in the universe, not even in life or death, can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus — and so there is nothing to stop you from living by the Holy Spirit, here and now. Trusting in God’s ultimate reality, go to be a blessing to community and creation, in Christ’s name. 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. 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
* The Spring 2023 Church Notes are now available, click here! Many thanks to Notes editor, elder Seonaid Knox!
* 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.
* 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.
*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!
* Teri is off from Monday 29th May to Monday 5th June. If you have a pastoral need, please contact your elder or Cameron. Thank you.
* Next Sunday 4 June is Trinity Sunday. Our Sanctuary service will be a service of Trinity Readings and Hymns (like Trinity “Lessons and Carols”!). There will be no online service next Sunday.
* The next Bowl & Blether here in St John’s is Monday the 5th of June, and the next Bowl & Blether in St Margaret’s is Saturday the 10th of June. Doors open at 11:30 and soup is served from noon.
* Wednesday Evening Bible Study DOES NOT MEET this Wednesday, we resume meeting in the manse on 7 June at 7:30pm. All are welcome as we finish our Bible-in-a-year…in 18 months! Once we finish on 21 June the group will decide what to study in more depth.
* Young Adult Bible Study DOES NOT MEET tonight, but normally meets in the manse on the 2nd and 4th Sundays at 7pm for a meal and discussion of the gospel according to John. Everyone in their 20s is welcome!
* Da Capo Alba, a guitar & mandolin orchestra, will present the concert “a night at the movies” at Westburn Parish Church on Saturday 10 June at 7pm. Mandolins, mandolas, classical guitars & bass create a unique sound. Tickets are £10 at the door, and doors open at 6:30pm.
* During the sanctuary service on Sunday 11 June we will hear from Lorna Veal about her recent month spent volunteering in Ghana — she’ll be speaking during the sermon time in worship and will be available after the service to tell more stories as well. And of course there will be pictures!
* The Kirk Session meets on the 15th of June at 7:30pm in the sanctuary.
* Clyde Presbytery will meet on Tuesday 20 June when we expect that the Presbytery Mission Plan to be finally approved so we can move into the implementation phase, which includes pursuing St John’s vision of becoming even more of a community church. If you have questions about that, please feel free to ask Teri!
* A funeral service for Jim Hay will be held on Wednesday 21 June at 12 noon at the crematorium.
* Organist Philip Norris will play a recital in the St John’s sanctuary on Friday 23 June at 7pm. Donations at the door will be for both the church and Starter Packs.
* 2023 marks the 125th anniversary of the 2nd Gourock Boys’ Brigade. Our anniversary Grand Charity Ball will be Saturday 9th September 6.00 for 6.30pm 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.
Sunday service for 5 June 2022, Pentecost
5 June 2022, Pentecost
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse phone: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Prelude Music (sanctuary only)
Welcome
Sanctuary Hymn: Mourning Into Dancing
Call to Worship
One: Rejoice! The Lord is near!
All: We come seeking the way, trusting the Spirit will lead us.
One: Rejoice! The Lord is near!
All: We come carrying our burdens, trusting God will hear us.
One: Rejoice! The Lord is near!
All: We come to be re-created as the Body of Christ, to make him known.
Online hymn 623: Here in This Place
Sanctuary Hymn 594 verses 1, 3, 5, 6: Come, Holy Spirit, Come!
Prayer
If we say we have no sin, we deceive only ourselves, for God knows us inside and out, and even our neighbours know there is more than the image we project.When we are honest about our shortcomings and our failings, the Holy Spirit makes room in us for God to do a new thing, for truth to take root, and for our faith to bear fruit in the world. Before God and with God’s people, let us pray.
Your Spirit sends us out to meet others on their terms, O God, yet we confess that we would rather insist they come to us and learn our ways instead. Your Spirit brings people together as themselves, as equals, yet we confess that we are so used to competition we can’t imagine how to be in community with those who are different. Your Spirit gives all the gifts we need to live in your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, yet we confess that we continue to believe some people are not worthy of your gift and call. Forgive us for believing we can restrict the movement of your Holy Spirit. Forgive us for resisting when the Spirit opens the doors and blows us out of the house into the street. Forgive us for keeping our mouths firmly shut, holding your good news for ourselves rather than participating in your revelation to the world. May your holy wind blow again this day, overcoming our recalcitrance and leading us to the grace of your radical gentleness and generosity of spirit. Amen.
Friends, if anyone is in Christ, the whole creation is made new — the old has gone, and the new has come! Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit, know that you are forgiven, and live as if you are forgiven, loved, and free. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Hymn: Mourning Into Dancing
Children’s Time (sanctuary only)
Song: Wa Wa Wa Emimimo
Readings: Acts 2 (video)
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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: Speaking Their Language
Before it was the birthday of the Christian Church, Pentecost was a Jewish holiday that celebrated the gift of the Torah — the time God spoke to Moses on top of Mt Sinai and told the Israelite people everything they needed to know to live into their identity as God’s chosen people. God didn’t give people all those instructions so that they could become his people…the instructions were given because they were his people.
At the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Pentecost, which in Hebrew is called Shavuot (and this year began last night!) it has long been a tradition to stay up all night studying the scriptures the night before the holiday. So Pentecost eve, if you will, was a time for gathering to read God’s word together all night long, debating and discussing and asking questions and looking to the word for guidance.
Can you imagine, then, first thing in the morning, getting ready for a day of celebration after spending all night at Bible study, and the Holy Spirit comes rushing into the room with so much power that you’re propelled out of your seat, out the door into the street?
In the beginning, the Spirit blew over the waters of the earth and became the breath that sent God’s word out to create the whole spectrum of life: light and dark, land and sea, plants and animals and people. No one was there to hear the Spirit moving, but she was there. At Mount Sinai God spoke and created community out of a giant group of ex-slaves who were traumatised, lost, querulous, and anxious. They stood round the foot of the mountain and saw smoke and heard thunder, but only Moses heard God’s voice and then came down to explain what God had said, and how they could follow God’s way and live out God’s love and justice. On that Pentecost morning, when Jesus was gone and his disciples were unsure what to do next, the Spirit wind blew them out of the house where they were holed up behind a locked door studying scripture, out into the streets where they began to speak, and everyone in Jerusalem heard it, without needing a translator. A new community was created as they heard, in their own mother tongues, the stories of God’s goodness and how they might live new lives as God’s people.
It’s fascinating that throughout history the Holy Spirit appears to be purposely broadening the audience — from no human ears even existing to hear the first breath on the waters, to speaking just to Moses, to sending the disciples out of the house to talk to everyone in their own languages. The first action of a whole community filled with the Spirit was to go out and communicate God’s goodness across the barriers that kept people apart, working across differences without glossing over them. Pentecost isn’t a story of everyone speaking the same language. It’s a story of the Spirit enabling hospitality that creates community from a group of people whose experiences and languages and skin colours and family configurations were different — a community gathered around the good news of God’s powerful resurrection love. In that community, the Spirit doesn’t distinguish between young and old, men and women — the Spirit simply pours out and the people speak. The boundaries between the human and divine break down, and therefore so do the boundaries we have set up between people.
Of course that always sounds crazy, then and now. Some of the people who heard this message in the streets that morning nearly 2000 years ago thought it was bonkers and believed the only way someone could come up with this nonsense was if they were drunk. Now, granted, sleep deprivation, like, say, staying up all night to study, can make people act drunk sometimes! But the truth is that’s just a convenient way of dismissing something they didn’t want to hear. Just as on Easter morning the men had dismissed the women’s idle tales, so too on Pentecost morning people who did not want to imagine a world where God was loose and active and everywhere and empowering everyone to do God’s work found ways to write it off. It’s a threatening idea, that the Spirit might be out there doing things we haven’t sanctioned, with people we haven’t vetted and approved. And it might be an even more threatening idea that the Holy Spirit might be in here, in us, pushing us out of our safe four walls into the streets to do things we don’t understand and could never have imagined with people who don’t even speak the same language. It’s much easier to simply say those people are crazy and we would never do that, we’re Presbyterians for goodness’ sake!
But the early church thought this was cause for rejoicing, not for fear. After all, the gift of the Holy Spirit is a reminder that the Lord is near! So we don’t need to be afraid of following the Spirit out of the house and into the street. We don’t need to be afraid of reaching out to people who are different. We don’t need to be afraid of welcoming people, speaking their language, changing our ways to ensure that they can hear the good news of God’s love better. Instead we can rejoice in the fact that the Spirit enables us to be hospitable and generous, and empowers us to leave our seats and our buildings and create the Church out there, not just in here.
Paul’s letter to the Philippians, reminding them to rejoice always, has this little line in it that I think our translations do a disservice to, and that connects us back to the Acts story of Pentecost morning. Our English translation says that Paul wrote “do not worry about anything” — but in the original Greek the letter says “do not be pulled apart in multiple directions”. It’s the same word that Jesus said to Martha, that she was being pulled apart by trying to focus in too many directions at once when she was trying to get Mary to be like her. I think that’s part of the problem of the scoffers on Pentecost morning. They see and hear something happening, but they also see that it seems to have started with lowly uneducated boorish Galileans, and it’s taking in people of all kinds of backgrounds and statuses. And so they are pulled apart — God calling on the one hand, but their prejudices and their traditions and comfort zones calling on the other hand. In that anxious place of being pulled in multiple directions, they end up in competition instead of cooperation, and that makes it impossible to be generous or to experience or offer hospitality. So they cannot rejoice, as Paul teaches us to do, because they are anxious — not in the sense we think of that English word today, which is not what Paul is talking about, but in the sense of being pulled apart by competing values in themselves, between a desire for the way things were and a desire to see what God is doing now. Because they can’t allow that God would work in people they thought were inferior, or that God would lead a new direction, they also can’t rejoice in God’s nearness, and therefore rob themselves — and their community — of the peace that passes all understanding.
But the Spirit of God is here, now…surrounding us, including going behind us to push us out to places we might not go alone, to be with people we did not choose for ourselves, broadening the message of God’s love wider and wider every time. And we aren’t alone, God is with us, right here, close at hand, giving us the gifts we need to do kingdom work, the words we need to share good news, and the hearts we need to welcome all God’s people into community. The Holy Spirit has been widening the circle since the beginning of time. Still God’s breath fans the flames of Christ’s passion to make us into his body — not to be all the same, and not to be in competition, but to work together across the lines, speaking each others’ languages and adapting to each others’ needs gifts, as equals and neighbours made in God’s image. Where once there was division and distrust, arrogance and apathy, grief and greed, mourning turns to dancing and praying and generosity and hope and peace beyond what our minds can imagine. Now through the gift of the Spirit we can be of one mind, not pulled apart…and so we who are being created into God’s community rejoice in the Lord, who makes all things possible, even for us, even here, even now.
May it be so. Amen.
Online hymn: Send Us Out (Resound Worship)
Sanctuary Hymn 590: Holy Spirit, Gift Bestower
Sanctuary: Concerns of the Church (Announcements)
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
On this jubilee weekend, we give you thanks, O God, for your servant the Queen,
and for her faithfulness in doing her duty and serving her country these past 70 years.
We are grateful for her constancy,
for the example of graciousness and compassion she has set,
and for her willingness to speak of her faith in you.
As we prayed at her coronation, again today we ask that you would
Strengthen her, O Lord, with the Holy Ghost the Comforter;
Confirm and establish her with thy free and princely Spirit,
the Spirit of wisdom and government,
the Spirit of counsel and ghostly strength,
the Spirit of knowledge and true godliness,
that so persevering in good works unto the end,
she may by thy mercy come to thine everlasting kingdom.
National Anthem vv 1, 3 (sanctuary only)
God save our gracious Queen,
long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
happy and glorious,
long to reign over us:
God save the Queen!
Not on this land alone,
but be God’s mercies known
from shore to shore.
Lord, make the nations see
that all should kindred be,
and form one family
the wide world o’er.
(You may be seated as we continue in prayer)
We are not yet one family the wide world o’er, O God.
We thank you for sending your Spirit to enable us to live as your people,
and we pray for your help in fulfilling your call.
Re-create us as makers of peace,
reaching out to those who are different,
making space to welcome those you call into community,
willing to learn and grow with each other.
May your people come together to make peace
in Ukraine, in South Sudan, in Ethiopia, in Palestine, in Colombia, in Sri Lanka, in the USA,
and here in our own homes and neighbourhoods and towns.
May your people come together to share good news
for the people of Yemen, and Afghanistan, and Hong Kong.
May your people come together to work for your kingdom
across divides of
skin colour, accent, sexuality, socio-economic status, education, sectarianism, and age.
Pour out your Spirit of vision and dream,
show us the world you long for,
and give us the courage to live toward your future.
We hear the sound of your rushing wind,
opening us where we have been closed,
clearing our heads and filling our ears with the sound of your Spirit moving,
blowing where she will.
We give you thanks for the privilege of hearing your new creation in progress!
We pray you would speak the language of our hearts to reveal your word again this day,
and loosen our tongues to proclaim your praise.
Trusting in the power of your Spirit, and in the name of our risen Lord Jesus 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 584: Like Fireworks in the Night
Benediction
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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 (sanctuary only)
Announcements
* You are invited to join in reading the Bible in a year for 2022 — immersing ourselves in God’s word throughout the year. Click here to find a reading plan that’s five days a week (leaving a couple of days for catch up each week!). We get together to discuss each week on Wednesday at 7:30pm in the Sanctuary. Please enter via the front door on Bath street — if you can’t manage the stairs, let us know and someone will meet you at the St John’s Road door. 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.
All worship is online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print) and we also meet in the sanctuary at 11am. Hand sanitiser is available at every entrance, and mask-wearing is optional though encouraged. Masks are available at the door if you would like one. 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.
* Tonight we will gather for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page, led tonight by Teri. 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!
* The annual meeting of the congregation will take place during sanctuary worship on 12 June. You can find the annual finance report by clicking here. If you have any questions, please let Cameron, Teri, or Peter know by the 6th of June if possible so they can be answered for everyone both in the building and online. (there will still be an opportunity to ask questions during the meeting as well.)
* The Kirk Session will meet after worship on Sunday 12 June, with a light lunch provided. Kirk Session meetings are always open for those who wish to observe and know what is happening in the leadership of the church. If you’d like to join the session as we look forward at what God has in store for us, please let us know by 6 June of any dietary needs so we can plan properly for lunch.
* Young Adults Bible Study is now meeting together many Sunday afternoons, sometimes in the manse and sometimes on Zoom. Contact Teri for information on how to join and for a copy of the book they are using.
Sunday Service for 23 May 2021, Pentecost
Sunday Service for 23 May 2021, Pentecost
Prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson, Gourock St. John’s
Manse phone: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
To hear an audio recording of this service, including music, please phone 01475 270037. Let your neighbours and friends who don’t have internet know that they can receive the tape ministry by telephone now!
Prelude Music (in person only)
Welcome and Announcements (in person)
Acts 2.1-13 selected verses (in person: popcorn style, read by 11 voices; online, read by Teri)
1. When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place.
2. Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting!
3. They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them!
4. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak!
5. There were pious Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered.
6. They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in their native languages.
7. They were surprised and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all the people who are speaking Galileans, every one of them? How then can each of us hear them speaking in our native language?
8. We hear them declaring the mighty works of God in our own languages!”
9. They were all surprised and bewildered.
10. Some asked each other, “What does this mean?” Others jeered at them, saying, “They’re full of new wine!”
11. Peter stood up and said “Listen carefully to my words! These people aren’t drunk, as you suspect; after all, it’s only nine o’clock in the morning!”
Music
In person: Fanfare by CS Lang
Online: Enemy of Apathy by John L Bell & Graham Maule, sung by Ferryhill Parish Church Virtual Choir
Welcome (online)
Call to Worship
Come, let us seek the Spirit of God together —
for the Spirit leads us toward one another, and so toward Christ.
Come, God calls us into community
and sends us out to share the good news.
Come, for God is making and re-making the Body of Christ,
as the wind blows, we are created anew, to bear fruit for the kingdom.
Come, let us worship God, together.
Prayer of Confession
Rushing wind and burning flame and a hubbub of good news — You know how to get our attention, God. Your Spirit moves us out from behind our closed doors into the streets, bearing your word into every place. We confess that we are not always ready to follow. For we admit that we may not want to lay aside our selfish motives, and the lucrative fruit they produce. We look to the people you place in our path and we prefer to remain divided from them. We aren’t sure we want to learn to communicate in new and unfamiliar ways, nor to reach out in reconciliation. Looking to our own hearts, we confess that what we want has taken precedence over what you want, and over the needs of others. Forgive us for our part in creating conflict that tears the fabric of community apart, rather than leading toward healing. Forgive us for our tendency to prioritise ourselves at the expense of others. Forgive us for when we have borne bad fruit, and transform us into a community that embodies love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We ask in the name of the Risen Christ, and through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Music (in person only): Hymn 613, Gracious Spirit
Children’s Time (in person only)
—involves fruit! Get yourselves some fruit and give thanks for God’s faithful providing, nourishing us so that we too can bear fruit in our lives.
Reading: Galatians 5.16-26 (Common English Bible)
I say be guided by the Spirit and you won’t carry out your selfish desires. A person’s selfish desires are set against the Spirit, and the Spirit is set against one’s selfish desires. They are opposed to each other, so you shouldn’t do whatever you want to do. But if you are being led by the Spirit, you aren’t under the Law. The actions that are produced by selfish motives are obvious, since they include sexual immorality, moral corruption, doing whatever feels good, idolatry, drug use and casting spells, hate, fighting, obsession, losing your temper, competitive opposition, conflict, selfishness, group rivalry, jealousy, drunkenness, partying, and other things like that. I warn you as I have already warned you, that those who do these kinds of things won’t inherit God’s kingdom.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the self with its passions and its desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit. Let’s not become arrogant, make each other angry, or be jealous of each other.
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: Demonstrably Different
When Pentecost Day arrived — 50 days after Passover, the day when Jews celebrate God giving the Torah on Mount Sinai, thus creating the Israelites as God’s covenant people — the disciples were together. Traditionally, Jewish people get together to study scripture all night long for this particular holiday, so it’s possible that’s what the disciples were doing that day, reading scripture and giving thanks for God revealing the word and bringing them together as a community.
That morning, when perhaps they had been reading scripture all night, and maybe they were a little bit giddy from sleep deprivation and holiday excitement, there was a loud and rushing wind blowing through the house — like the wind that blew over the waters of creation back in Genesis 1. And tongues of fire, like the flames that had danced in the burning bush, and like the pillar of fire that led the Israelites in the wilderness, appeared above them, leading them out of the house, into the street. And they spoke…and people heard. It was a day of new creation, with the wind of God blowing and the fire of the Spirit filling them all, so that they could share stories of God’s amazing works in ways that people would understand, bringing a new community into being.
It’s a community that, of course, seeks to become more like Christ every day. And, according to Paul, the way we do that is by being guided by the Spirit, rather than being guided mainly by the ancient law. Paul says that when we are guided by the Spirit, we will choose to set aside our selfish desires, and choose instead things that build up. He told the Galatians, and still tells us today, that if we are following the Spirit, our community will have a demonstrably different character than those who are not. And then he describes two different and competing visions of what life can be like: life driven by selfish desire, and life driven by the Spirit. If we are following the Spirit, Paul says, it will be obvious to even a casual observer who looks at us or our community.
Listen to the things Paul describes as coming from “selfish motives” — things like sexual immorality, hate, fighting, competitive opposition, group rivalry, jealousy, doing whatever feels good, idolatry. These are things that put myself first — above what’s good for others, above what’s good for my community, even above God. Sometimes it might seem like they serve us — to be competitive, to have rivals, to do what feels right, even to hate people who are different. But in addition to hurting others, they are harmful to ourselves as well. When we dehumanise others, we lose a bit of our own humanity. When we think only of ourselves, we cut ourselves off from support and relationships that could help us grow. When our focus is on me and my security and what I want — when we focus on serving ourselves, or saving ourselves — we paradoxically lose everything, including the chance to experience the kingdom of God.
Now listen to the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Do you notice anything about those things? They are relational things. Love is always received and given, not kept for ourselves. Joy bubbles over and is shared. Peace is known between people. Patience and kindness and gentleness and self-control are how we treat each other and how we interact with the world. Generosity is about giving away. Faithfulness means being focused on Jesus and following him. The fruit of the Spirit draws our eyes away from our self-centredness and pulls us into community. Just as the Spirit blowing through the upper room on Pentecost morning drew the disciples away from studying for their own sake and pulled them out into the street to speak to people who needed to hear the good news in understandable language.
When people look at the church today, do they see a different way of life than anywhere else? Do they see a community that loves, is joyful, works for peace, has patience, is kind and generous, faithful and gentle? In other words, is the Body of Christ demonstrating the relational, outward-looking fruit of the Spirit, in a way that any casual observer could see or experience? Or do they see a community that cares mainly about itself, about keeping the people inside the church happy, arguing amongst ourselves and serving our own comforts and desires and doing what we want regardless of what else is going on around us?
The General Assembly is meeting this week. Lots of people might wonder why that matters…and it’s a good question. Does the Assembly demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit? Does it lead us all, as the church, the Body of Christ, in living a more fruitful faith in the world? Or is it just arguing about how to best keep members happy while ignoring the things affecting real people, like climate change and weapons of war and economic injustice and gender disparity and health problems and cycles of poverty and violence and trauma? Those are big issues, yes, but they are also things that are part of everyday reality for billions of people. They may not seem to immediately be about theology, but they are about how we respond to God’s work in Christ in this world, how we steward the gifts we have been given and live with the compassion, justice, and love of God for all people. And if the Body of Christ can’t do anything about those things because we’re too busy worshipping our buildings or our legislation or our traditions, then we have not followed the Spirit’s lead and we’re not bearing fruit and we are far away from the kingdom of God.
If our faith doesn’t lead us to do things that make other people feel loved, and that work for peace, and that expand generosity, that bring more beauty and goodness into the world, then we’re not being led by the Spirit, Paul says. He would say it’s time to seek the Spirit more, and then follow more closely. The Holy Spirit blew into the upper room and made a new creation — a Body that went out of its comfortable familiar building into the streets, met people, spoke their language, and invited them into God’s deeds of power.
More than just singing happy birthday to the church, perhaps it’s past time for us to celebrate this birthday by doing what the Spirit has always been calling us to do: to go out of our comfortable familiar building into the streets, to meet people where they are rather than insisting they come to us, to speak their language rather than insisting they speak ours, and invite them into God’s deeds of power rather than lamenting that no one wants to join in our personal pet peeves or projects.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are the things God’s law has always been trying to bring forth in us, the things that studying all night for Pentecost are meant to help us learn. These are the things that the Spirit is calling the Body of Christ to live. These are what the world should see and feel and experience from the church. Imagine how delicious that would be, if we could be the ones living so that everyone can taste and see that God is good.
May it be so. Amen.
Music
In person: Fantasia on Leaving Lismore (“Spirit of God, come dwell within me”) by Philip Norris
Online: Thrive, by Casting Crowns (played/sung by Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Cincinnati praise band)
Announcements (online)
Prayer & Lord’s Prayer
God of all life, you call us to walk in your way,
for every moment to be directed by your grace.
Move among us again this day,
rest your Spirit upon us,
and reveal your will to us and through us.
Open us to receive your word with joy
and to respond with faithful lives.
For the world needs your Body to bear fruit —
we are desperate for more
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
One glance at the news shows us the fruit of the way we humans have chosen to go.
We see how people profit off of pain and destruction,
while those who suffer are either exploited or ignored.
You call us to keep our eyes and our hearts open, Lord,
to see our neighbours in all their glory and their need,
and to respond with love.
Don’t let us look away from our nearby neighbours who are dying
from addictions
from poverty
from despair.
Enfold them in your love,
and show us how we can reach out with gentleness and kindness and patience,
to encircle your people with the support they need to experience true joy in your abundant life.
Don’t let us look away from the tragedies unfolding around the world, in
Palestine and Israel
Colombia
India
South Sudan
and so many other places.
We may not understand the complexities of every situation,
but we know that all human beings are made in your image and beloved,
so we pray for your healing and peace for a world that feels so broken.
Show us how we can act with generosity and self-control,
and how to be peace-makers.
Blessed are you, O Lord our God, ruler of the universe,
and blessed is Jesus Christ your Son, head of the church,
and blessed is your Holy Spirit, breath of life and wind of new creation.
We pray that your blessing would overflow onto the General Assembly as they meet,
and to every Presbytery and Kirk Session,
and to every congregation and parish of this land.
Move among us again, and give us life…
and more importantly, give us courage to seek your leading and to follow,
even out of our comfortable places and into the world you so love.
Make your church fruitful,
feeding the hungry in body and soul,
reaching across barriers to share your good news,
changing the world ever more into your kingdom.
We ask these and all things through the power of the Holy Spirit who guides our prayer and our living, and in the name of Jesus the Christ, Saviour and head of the Church, 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.
Benediction
Go to live your week in a way that is demonstrably different because you are part of the Body of Christ, for those branches connected to the vine bear fruit. So go into community to bear fruit that will last — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 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.
Announcements
* 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, and no singing yet. We can welcome approximately 33 people for worship, so if you would like to come in person, please phone Cameron (630879) on a MONDAY afternoon between 1-3pm or Anne Love (07904 617283) on a Saturday morning between 10-12 to book a place.
* Young Adult Bible Study is on Zoom at 1pm, we are reading through the Gospel According to Mark. Contact Teri for login details.
* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page. All four Connect clergy are leading tonight’s service, 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!
* The theme for worship during the season of Pentecost (30 May – 5 September, also known as Ordinary Time) will be “Sunday School Revisited” — look out for some well-known stories, and maybe even some crafts as we explore in depth the things we learned the basics about long ago.
* May includes Christian Aid week! While door to door collections, book sales, and coffee mornings are not possible, Christian Aid is encouraging us to undertake a month-long sponsored walk. If you would like to sponsor one of the other church members who have committed to this walk — Alison Bolster, Ann Stephenson, Ben MacSwan, Mhairi Gilchrist, or Teri, you can find all their fundraisers linked here. Or you can request a Christian Aid envelope (or go to the Christian Aid website) if you’d prefer to just make a more traditional donation. Don’t forget to GiftAid it!
