Sunday Service for 9 June 2024

Sunday 9 June 2024
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

Welcome & Announcements

*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: from Psalm 147 and our mission statement
All: Praise the Lord!
1: How good it is to sing praises to our God;
who heals the broken-hearted,
and binds up their wounds.
2: God determines the number of the stars;
gives to all of them their names.
3: Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
God’s understanding is beyond measure.
The Lord lifts up the downtrodden.
All: God has called us the Body of Christ,
a family gathered in love,
striving for justice and joy,
blessing the broken-hearted:
1: walking alongside each other,
2: holding one another’s stories with grace,
3: sharing comfort and practical support,
All: with compassion and prayer.

*Sanctuary Hymn GWA198: Let’s Walk Together

Prayer
We come before you singing praise, O God.
for you gather us in, all of us,
to know your grace together in community,
to share your love and be built up as your Body on earth.
You know each and every story in the universe,
from the farthest stars you have named
to the smallest child in our midst,
and you hold us in your hand.
We confess that we are not as good at holding those stories with grace.
You call us to live together with compassion,
and we admit that we find judgment easier.
When people are different to us,
rather than listening to their experience,
we wonder why they won’t just do what we would do in their shoes.
When people are struggling,
we tell them how we would fix it.
We confess that while your understanding is beyond measure,
ours is more limited than you would like.
We pray that your word and Spirit would heal our hearts, Lord.
Make us gracious and kind and teachable,
expand our capacity for understanding and love,
strengthen our hands to lift one another up,
and give us perspective that allows each person’s story to flourish
even if it is different from ours.
In your forgiveness may we find new life together.
We ask in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

Online Hymn GWA198: Let’s Walk Together

Sanctuary Children’s Time

Scripture Reading: Job 2.11-13 (New Revised Standard Version)
Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognise him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. They sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

Scripture Reading: James 5.13-16 (New Revised Standard Version)
Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

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: Blessing the Broken-hearted

When I meet someone and they find out what I do, normally a couple of things happen. The first is that they immediately apologise for any swearing they have done, as if I’m going to report them to God or something, which I think is hilarious because even the atheists do it, and because I have been known to use some colourful language now and then myself! The second thing that happens is that they say “I could never do what you do.”

When I ask why, sometimes people say they couldn’t do it because they can’t imagine that much public speaking. And sometimes people say it’s because they couldn’t visit people who are sick or dying or bereaved, because they wouldn’t know what to say.

The truth is that no one knows what to say in the face of suffering. And in fact, that the best thing to say is…basically nothing. Job’s friends started out getting it right: they showed up, they sat down, and they stayed quiet. All the real trouble in the story of Job starts when the friends decide to try to explain away what has happened, telling stories about God that aren’t true, making up reasons why Job brought this suffering on himself, or offering platitudes and cliches that may have made them feel better but certainly didn’t help Job. When they were just present, just listening, just sharing the lament, they were exactly the model for all of us who want to be a blessing to the broken-hearted: just be there and listen. Walk alongside and hold the stories with grace, not explaining them away. That’s when we best reflect the image of God who holds us in the palm of God’s hand. God doesn’t fix everything or explain it away, but God is present in the hard times, and asks us to be too.

So the truth is, it doesn’t take a minister to do that. Anyone can do it. And indeed, because we are the Body of Christ, we are called to do it. It may well be uncomfortable but the more we learn to just be present and listen, the more we will recognise the blessing God gives in those moments of community, the ways God lifts up the downtrodden and binds up the wounds we thought might never heal…all through the prayerful presence of a friend who doesn’t try to fix or explain.

By the time James writes about this very thing, he assumes that it will be other members of the Body who will be that prayerful presence for each other. Notice he doesn’t say to call the minister, he says to call other members of the church, because every Christian has the ability to offer God’s blessing to others. He says we are all supposed to be confessing our brokenness to each other, admitting the ways we have messed up, asking each other for prayer, and praying for one another in all these circumstances — sickness, joy, suffering, brokenness. Whatever the situation, reach out and pray for each other.

James is clear that we have to reach out to each other — if anyone is sick, they should call the elders to pray for them. If anyone is feeling burdened, they should ask for another member of the Body to pray for them. Not assume others will know or figure it out, not hope that someone will magically read their mind or hear the gossip or see the Facebook post…but to reach out. And when we get those calls, our job as the Body of Christ is to hold the story with grace. To be present. To pray. Not to fix it ourselves, but to bring it to God whose healing is beyond our understanding.

This week with the 80th anniversary of D-Day there have of course been many stories of those who never came home from the war…but there’s also been a lot of talk about the people who went to war and came back but never told their stories. I’ve seen dozens of friends speak of grandfathers who never said a single word about their experience on those beaches, or on the continent, out at sea, or liberating camps. They came home and tried to just pick up their lives where they left off. Many of those people were never the same, though. They lived with flashbacks, nightmares, what we would now call PTSD, they struggled to show emotion, to be in healthy relationships, to be fully present to their experiences. They held the burden their own stories close and never shared them — perhaps because they didn’t think talking about it would help anything, perhaps because they didn’t want to relive them, perhaps because it was too painful to speak of those they had lost, the horrors they had witnessed. But also perhaps those stories weren’t often told because they were afraid of how they would be received. War is terrible, and the choices people make in war are terrible. There’s even a name for it now: Moral Injury, when you have to do something that is against your values because there are no other options, and military personnel often speak of essentially watching themselves from outside as they do unspeakable things they would never dream of in other circumstances. That moral injury may not be physical but it is just as painful, and often harder to talk about.

Because the thing is, sometimes we don’t hold stories with grace. Whether it’s a story from war or a story of more everyday challenges, sometimes we hear and then share when we shouldn’t. Sometimes we hear and then find reasons to blame the person for their own suffering, even unintentionally with phrases like “you should have been more careful” or “if you just prayed more or believed more…” Sometimes we tell lies about God in the process with those platitudes like “God needed him in heaven” or “God never gives us more than we can handle” or even “everything happens for a reason.” To hold a story with grace, no matter the circumstance, is to listen….and sometimes to listen over and over again. To be a prayerful presence. To give a hug if it’s wanted, or to let tears flow together, or to be a safe person to say the hard things to. Sometimes holding a story with grace involves laughing and crying in the same conversation, and having that be okay.

James says the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective — in part because when we have been in this kind of gracious listening, we are better able to offer it all to God without needing to explain anything away. And in part, I think, because prayer includes listening for how God wants to answer. Sometimes God’s answer to prayer is as simple as the mere presence of a friend, or the practical help we can give each other — we can be the blessing God is giving. Turning up to drop off a dinner that can easily go into the oven or microwave can be an answer to prayer when someone isn’t well enough to plan, prepare, and cook. Offering to help with housework, to pick up shopping, to drive to appointments, to take the kids to the park for an hour — not just saying “let me know if I can help” but actually offering a thing you can do — is an answer to prayer for someone who feels too ashamed to ask for help, or too overwhelmed to manage the details.

I wonder how often we think of ourselves as an answer to prayer.

It’s clear that we are supposed to pray for each other — hopefully that’s part of what Job’s friends were doing during those days, it’s certainly what James commands, and the psalm we said together at the start of the service promises that God hears our prayers and cares for us and understands and lifts us up.

But how often do we think of walking alongside each other, holding each other’s stories with grace, sharing comfort and practical support, with compassion and prayer….how often do we think of all that as being a part of God’s answer to prayer too?

Perhaps if we can learn to do this — to both offer God’s blessing and also to BE God’s blessing to the broken-hearted — then there won’t need to be any more people who feel they have to carry their burdens alone for a lifetime, people who think they must be too weak for God or too broken to be part of a Christian family, people who pull away rather than reach out because they are afraid of what others will say.

With compassion and prayer, we become the Body of Christ. May it be so. Amen.

Hymn 694: Brother, Sister, Let Me Serve You

Sanctuary Offering

*Sanctuary Offering Response: We Are An Offering
We lift our voices; we lift our hands;
we lift our lives up to you:
we are an offering.
Lord, use our voices; Lord, use our hands;
Lord, use our lives; they are yours:
we are an offering.
All that we have, all that we are,
all that we hope to be,
we give to you, we give to you.
We lift our voices; we lift our hands;
we lift our lives up to you:
we are an offering;
we are an offering.

Sanctuary: This Time Tomorrow: Fiona Webster
Where will you be this time tomorrow?
What do you do there?
What are your challenges and joys?
How can we pray for you?

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer

Healing God, we give you thanks for all the ways you care for us and for your whole world,
for your presence, your creating breath, your compassion, your providing.
We are grateful for the people you surround us with,
for the privilege of being community and family together,
and for the ways you answer prayer through the love and care of others.
We ask your particular blessing today for those who are suffering —
those whose bodies, minds, or spirits are in pain,
those who feel alone,
those who do not know where to turn for help.
And for those who grieve, losses big and small, loved ones and opportunities and familiar comforts.
May they be comforted,
and may they find the strength you have planted within and around them,
to face the day and to receive your healing.
We ask your blessing on those who are feeling heartbroken,
those who have been downtrodden and oppressed,
those who feel the weight of the world and the burden of stories unshared.
May they be surrounded by help and hope,
listening ears and compassionate hands.
We ask your blessing on those who reach out to serve,
those who listen, who weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice,
and especially on the elders and other members of the Body of Christ
who are here to offer your support to those in need.
May they be encouraged in their service, strengthened in their love,
and empowered in their prayer.
And we ask your blessing on those who are cheerful,
that their joy may be contagious as they share your good news,
that they may recognise your grace and care
and give thanks.
On this 9th day of the month, we join our hearts as your church family to pray
*For all who live and work in the Ashton area, along the waterfront of Gourock. For families, tourists, those who take their exercise and who sit to admire the view.
*For the Bible Study groups at St John’s, and for the Intercessory Prayer Group, that they may encounter you, Living God, in word and prayer.
*For the land, people, and governments of the nations of Türkiye, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, Egypt, and Cyprus.

May your peace that passes all understanding guard all hearts and minds in Christ,
in whose name we pray and who taught us to pray together:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.

*Sanctuary Hymn 521: Children of God, Reach Out to One Another (tune: 159 Lord of the years)

Benediction
Go from this time together to offer and to be a blessing the broken-hearted: walking alongside each other, holding one another’s stories with grace, sharing comfort and practical support, with compassion and prayer.
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 Go, go before you to show you the way and behind you to push you into places you might not go alone; may the Spirit of God go within you, to remind you that you are loved more deeply than you can possibly imagine. May the fire of God’s love burn brightly in you, and through you into the world. Go in peace. Amen.

*Sung Benediction Response (John L Bell, tune Gourock St John’s)
Now may the Lord of all be blessed,
Now may Christ’s gospel be confessed,
Now may the Spirit when we meet
Bless sanctuary and street.

Postlude Music

Announcements

* 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. If you feel unwell, please worship online, to protect both yourself and others in our community.

* Starter Packs are in need of Shampoo, Soap, Shaving Foam, Cleaning Cloths, Teabags and Soap Powder.
The FoodBank are in need of Shampoo, Soap, Shaving Foam, Cleaning Cloths, Teabags and Soap Powder. 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? 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.

* A funeral service to celebrate the life of Mr Mitchell Thomson will be held on Tuesday, 18th June at 1pm, at Greenock Crematorium.

* The Kirk Session will meet on Tuesday, 9th July at 7.30pm, to continue its discussions on our 2024 Vision.

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

* 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.

* The schedule for the Sunday evening service is changing: beginning TONIGHT, 9 June, it will 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.