Sunday service for 21 November 2021, Christ the King Sunday
21 November 2021, Christ the King Sunday, Uncovered 9 //
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse phone: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
To hear the audio recording of this service, please phone 01475 270037. It’s a local landline number so minutes should be included in your phone plan.
Prelude Music
Welcome and Announcements
Call to Worship
One: In ages past, God was at work,
All: revealing the grace and wonder of the word.
One: In these days, God is at work,
All: empowering us to create communities of justice and peace.
One: In the time still to come, God will be at work,
All: making things right and good, just as in the beginning.
One: Through the gloom, we see light,
All: and the light of our Sovereign God reveals all.
One: So let us come into the light, to worship in spirit and in truth.
Prayer
We stumble along, uncertain and unsteady in these unsettled days,
reaching out for something familiar,
worrying what might be around the next bend.
We cannot see the whole story, Lord.
Yet we trust that you are present in the darkness,
and that your dawn will reveal your work,
bringing your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
Let the zeal of your living word enlighten our way,
that we may live toward your future, even now.
For your counsel is wonderful, O God.
You guide us in your way of loving-kindness with your everlasting care,
and choose to use your power in service of peace.
We confess that we love to talk about peace, but our lives rarely reflect it.
Forgive our tendency toward destructive power.
We confess that we pray for your light to shine,
even as we prefer to keep some things in the shadows.
Forgive our part in obscuring the light of your truth.
We confess that we long for freedom from injustice,
but we are not willing to give up the burden of authority just yet.
Forgive our stubborn insistence that everyone must be like us.
Shed your light on our lives and hearts, our church and nation, this day,
that all that is hidden may be revealed, and so be healed.
Then turn us again to rejoice in your kingdom of justice and peace.
We ask in the name of Christ our King. Amen.
Music
Online: Hymn 455: I Greet Thee, Who My Sure Redeemer Art (tune: Toulon)
In Person: organ by Philip
Children’s Time (in person only)
Reading: Isaiah 9:2-7
Last week we heard from the prophet Amos, who worked in the northern kingdom of Israel in the mid-700s BCE. Today we will hear from the 1st prophet called Isaiah, who worked in the southern kingdom of Judah, mainly in the city of Jerusalem, a few years after Amos. Isaiah was speaking to people who were weathering attacks from the northern kingdom and other surrounding tribes, and were tempted to make political alliances with bigger empires to protect themselves, and Isaiah was insistent that they should rely on God and God’s promise. While the kings in Jerusalem were mostly as corrupt as the northern kings were, there were two who weren’t terrible and who made an effort to turn the people back to God’s way so that they would be able to live faithfully in God’s promise. One of those was Hezekiah, who became king sometime around the time that Isaiah wrote the words we hear today, from chapter 9. I am reading from Robert Alter’s translation.
The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light.
Those dwelling in the land of death’s shadow—
light has beamed on them.
You have made great the nation,
and heightened its joy.
They rejoiced before You
as the joy in the harvest,
as people exalt when they share out the spoils.
For its burdensome yoke,
and the rod on its shoulders,
the club of its oppressor,
You smashed, as on the day of Midian.
For every boot pounding loudly
and every cloak soaked in blood
is consigned to burning, consumed by fire.
For a child has been born to us,
a son has been given to us;
and leadership is on his shoulders.
And his name is called wondrous councillor,
divine warrior, eternal father, prince of peace,
making leadership abound and peace without end
on the throne of David and over his kingdom
to make it firm-founded and stay it up
in justice and righteousness, forever more.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.
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: Light Changes Us
Sometimes there’s a word or phrase in a reading that just stops me in my tracks, calling to mind all sorts of connections or questions that draw me down deep rabbit holes…though at least they are rabbit holes through scripture so even if they don’t lead anywhere in the end, they’re always still worthwhile to explore! After all, spending time with God’s word is never wasted time, whether or not it’s productive.
For the past several weeks as I’ve been working on this reading, I’ve been pondering the word “zeal” from the very last line. You may know that I love the word “zeal” so much — it’s slightly old fashioned but conveys something passionate. Reading that word conjured up memories of the ordination questions we’re asked, about zeal for the glory of God being our chief inducement to take up a ministry. And it also drew me back to the story from a couple of weeks ago, about Elijah on the mountain with God. In that story Elijah described himself as “very zealous for the Lord”…so zealous, in fact, that after God had revealed power that the false gods didn’t have, Elijah had taken the opportunity to kill all the false prophets. That’s certainly one kind of zeal. Perhaps it’s even the kind of zeal we are used to thinking about — passion that finds its outlet in really dramatic ways, often loud and flashy and forward…and maybe violent.
So I had that violent zeal called to mind when I read that the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. But when looking at exactly what the zeal of the Lord will do, it’s a pretty different picture than Elijah’s zeal. Isaiah tells us of endless peace, founded on justice and righteousness, and all the accoutrements of attack — the soldiers’ boots and bloody uniforms — will be burned up. It feels very different to think of being zealous for peace, almost a contradiction in terms. And yet there it is, that’s what God’s zeal is directed towards: peace founded on justice, not on military might, not on oppression of subjects.
It’s hard to imagine, honestly.
It’s the kind of thing we consign to the future, like the afterlife future, or even after the end-of-days. We are so used to a form of leadership that comes from power-over, putting others down to lift ourselves up, conquering and fighting our way to the top. The idea of a leader who breaks the yoke and allows everyone to stand tall, who sets fire to the military supplies because they won’t be needed anymore, who bears the full weight of leadership that does justice, and so leads us in the way of endless peace…it sounds impossible. Which might be why we have made the prophet be talking about Jesus, 700 years before he was born — because it is absolutely true we see this fulfilled in Jesus, but also because it lets human leaders off the hook a bit. If this is only about God’s work in Christ, then it means it doesn’t have to be about God’s work in us, in our systems and structures, in our nation, in our time, in our lives.
But of course prophets give messages that have meanings for their own time and for future times…Isaiah was likely originally speaking about a very human king of his own time, one of the few who did more right than wrong. And we see that his words shone new light when God took on flesh and lived among us, and bore himself the weight of the world that we are not able to carry. And also we are the Body of Christ in the world today, so this poetry, this prophecy, must also be for us.
It’s certainly not unusual to still feel we are walking in darkness. Remember that before electric light, and in many ways still today, to be out in the darkness highlights our vulnerability. When we can’t see what, or who, is around us, we walk differently. Perhaps we walk more hesitantly, feeling our way. Perhaps we walk only on known routes so we can be a bit more confident even when we can’t see. Perhaps we even walk aggressively, determined that anything or anyone we run into we’ll just push past or bowl over. Whatever the case, when it’s dark, we move differently than when the light shines and we can see the way ahead — even though, of course, the light doesn’t actually change the obstacles and the path and the people around us, it only changes us.
The second line, the poetic parallel that intensifies the meaning of the first line, gives us the second rabbit hole of my week:
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.
Those dwelling in the land of death’s shadow—light has beamed on them.
Dwelling in the land of death’s shadow.
That’s not exactly the same as walking in darkness, is it? It feels different — more like the darkness is inside rather than surrounding us. It can be any time of day, any state of sun or moon or even artificial light, and we can still feel the gloom of the shadow of death, almost as if it infuses our very being. It makes our inner landscape feel more threatening and more vulnerable — we never know what feelings or thoughts or memories are going to pop up without warning and cause us to stumble. So it often does feel like the shadow of death is a place we dwell, rather than walk through — it becomes a place we live, a new normal when any old normal feels like a lifetime ago.
And, of course, it’s a phrase that pulls us to new depths of meaning, as it calls to mind the 23rd psalm.
Remember what it says in that line?
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Even when we can’t see, God is there, with all the tools of shepherding that will guide us in the right way.
Some of you will have heard me say about the 23rd psalm that this moment is when the writer changes from talking about God to talking to God, recognising that God is not just far off and theoretical, but close at hand. God is with us, not just as eternal father or prince of peace but also as a counsellor, a guide.
Think how differently we would walk through the world, how differently we would travel this journey of life, if the beam of light cut through the shadow of death and revealed this truth: that God is with us, carrying the load that has burdened us, destroying the weapons of war, calling us to be zealous for peace. Not just for days long ago, but still today.
Today is Christ the King Sunday, which is a feast day that was established in 1925 — when across Europe, fascism and nationalism were on the rise. In the midst of calls to give our allegiance to a nation or a leader, to define our identity by our ethnicity or our language or the place where we were born, and to build structures and systems that would burden most while privileging the few, the Church declared that our primary allegiance is to Christ and his kingdom, not to any of our earthly kingdoms or political leaders or parties. In the dark days of staggering wealth inequality, political turmoil, division, and post-pandemic exhaustion, we were called to turn our attention to the light of Christ, calling us forward. The lay of the land was still the same — the light doesn’t change that — but followers of Christ had a new way of seeing, because the light changes us.
And when we see differently, we can move differently. Whether we feel like we’re groping about in a blind darkness, taking halting steps or aggressively pushing through, fearful of what obstacles or dangers might be out there…or whether we’ve set up camp in the shadow of death, unable to move because our inner landscape is so confusing it’s safer to dig in and stay put in the comfort of the familiar…the true light of the world changes us. In the light we see that we are not alone. Because God is with us, leading us in paths of righteousness and preparing tables that bring enemies and friends together at the feast and putting endless peace into motion, then regardless of what obstacles the world puts in the path, we can move confidently toward Christ’s kingdom. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this!
May it be so. Amen.
Hymn 543: Longing for Light, we wait in darkness
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
You are the God who provides in every place,
bringing us through the difficult days into your gift of plenty,
and we are thankful.
We give you thanks,
and we pray for your strength for those who are vulnerable or afraid.
We give you thanks,
and we pray for your liberation for those who are burdened by an oppressive load.
We give you thanks,
and we pray for your peace for those whose nights are disturbed by the sounds of violence.
We lift up to you our community —
your church, this parish, this town, this nation —
and pray that your light would shine,
revealing the way forward through the obstacles we face.
For our neighbours who are suffering,
whose lives are marked by pain, addiction, grief, or poverty,
and for those who are tasked with leadership,
with helping others,
with serving the good of all,
we ask for your presence to be tangible,
your compassion to overflow,
your justice to be made real.
You are Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
We ask this day for your clarity to meet our obscurity,
that we may know your way and follow it.
We ask for your joy to meet our despair,
that we may trust your constancy.
We ask for your promise to meet our fear,
that we may be empowered to live in your kingdom.
We pray these and all things in the name of Jesus the Christ,
on whose shoulders all authority rests,
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.
In-Person Hymn 455: I Greet Thee, Who My Sure Redeemer Art (verses 2-5) (tune: Toulon)
Benediction
Friends, may the light shine, changing you and the way you live and move in Christ’s kingdom among us now. And as you go, may the Spirit of God go above you to watch over you. May the Spirit of God go beside you to be your companion. May the Spirit of God go before you to show you the way, and behind you to push you into places you might not go alone. And may the Spirit of God go within you to remind you that you are loved more deeply than you can possibly imagine. May the fire of God’s love burn brightly in you, and through you into the world. Go in peace. Amen.
Sung Benediction Response (John L Bell, tune Gourock St John’s)
Now may the Lord of all be blessed,
Now may Christ’s gospel be confessed,
Now may the Spirit when we meet
Bless sanctuary and street.
Postlude Music
Announcements
* 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. We can now welcome up to 85-100 people for worship with 1m distancing between households. No booking is required. Masks are required at all times inside the building, including while singing. 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.
* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation 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!
* During the Harvest season (continuing in Ordinary Time until Advent begins at the end of November), the theme for worship is “Uncovered” — we’ll be looking at things God is calling forth that we didn’t know we had in us.
* Greenock Rotary – Smalls for All 2021 Appeal: The club is appealing for people to buy a pack or single pair of pants for a woman or child. These will be given to vulnerable women, girls and boys in Africa where there is a severe lack of ‘smalls’. Women and girls with no underwear are very vulnerable, it is a health and hygiene problem as well as a matter of human dignity for those affected. Ladies briefs in UK size range 8 to 16 and for children aged from 3 to 15 years will be gratefully accepted. You can place your donation in the box placed in the front vestibule during November.
* Volunteers needed for Bubblegum & Fluff on Monday, 29 November and Friday 3 December. Bubblegum & Fluff happens in the Old Gourock and Ashton church hall, and the time commitment is roughly 9-12. Volunteers will need to be able to sit down (probably on the floor though some choose a chair with the children on the floor) and to stand at a table to help facilitate activities with groups of around 6 children. No public speaking is required, and all instructions will be given to you on the day. All adults must wear masks in the building, but children will not be required to do so. If you are willing to come and help out with P5s learning the Christmas story, please let Teri know.
Sunday Service for 22 November 2020, Christ the King Sunday
22 November 2020, Christ the King Sunday
Worship prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson,
St. John’s Church of Scotland, Gourock
Contact: tpeterson at churchofscotland dot org dot uk
Hymn 449: Rejoice the Lord is King
Prayers, Reading, Sermon:
Hymn: Lord, Reign in Me (lyrics below the video)
Lord, reign in me, reign in Your power
Over all my dreams, in my darkest hour
‘Cause You are the Lord of all I am
So won’t You reign in me again
Lord, reign in me, reign in Your power
Over all my dreams, in my darkest hour
‘Cause You are the Lord of all I am
So won’t You reign in me again
Over all the earth you reign on high
Every mountain stream, every sunset sky
But my one request, Lord my only plea
Is that you’d reign in me again
Lord reign in me, reign in your power
Over all my dreams, in my darkest hour
You are the Lord of all I am
So won’t you reign in me again
Over every thought, over every word
May my life reflect the beauty of my Lord
You mean more to me than any earthly thing
So won’t you reign in me again
Lord, reign in me, reign in Your power
Over all my dreams, in my darkest hour
‘Cause You are the Lord of all I am
So won’t You reign in me again
Lord, reign in me, reign in Your power
Over all my dreams, in my darkest hour
You are the Lord of all I am
So won’t You reign in me again
Teach me how to pray
And teach me what to say
Remind me of your power
Every day and every hour
Lord help me trust in you
Cast all my cares on you
I want to live for you,
Obey in all I do
Lord, reign in me, reign in Your power
Over all my dreams, in my darkest hour
You are the Lord of all I am
So won’t You reign in me again
You are the Lord of all I am
So won’t You reign in me again
~~~~~
Call to Worship and Opening Prayer
God’s word is for us —
wherever we may be.
In our familiar places,
and outside our comfort zones,
in the tangible things of our tradition
and the liminal space of this time,
God’s living word is within us.
So come, let us worship,
seeking an encounter with the One
whose love can never be thwarted,
who calls us God’s people.
Let us pray.
You are a persistent God,
speaking new truth through ancient words,
and putting new songs of eternal truth on our lips.
In your faithfulness, we learn trust.
In your life, we learn love.
For You are our God and we are your people,
and we thank you for your voice, always calling us to your way.
We confess that when we hear your voice alongside the voices of others — leaders, friends, ourselves —
we often cannot decide which to follow.
If we’re honest,
we find it easier and less trouble to be silent in the face of wrong,
allowing misdirection, lies, and hateful words to take root and spread,
because we want to be liked so we don’t speak up.
And we admit that sometimes we join the powers of this world
in believing we can simply ignore
or even cut out the word we don’t want to hear —
both yours and others.
Chisel into our hardened hearts, O God,
with your word of justice and peace.
Forgive us, come close once again,
and write your grace into our very being.
Show us what it means to commit our lives to you
in the midst of this world’s competing voices,
and lead us in your Way, Truth, and Life.
Transform our hearts this day
and give us courage to embody your word,
that your truth might be read from our lives.
Whatever the challenges before us,
and however the powers respond,
may we bear witness to Christ our King,
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,
and 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.
Reading: Jeremiah chapter 36 verses 1-8, 21-23, 27-28, & chapter 31 verses 31-34
King Josiah was the last good king in Jerusalem, presiding over a generation of reforms that took down idols and restored the Temple, pointing the people to God’s presence and commandments. He was killed in battle in 609 BCE, and his son Jehoiakim took his place. He was not like his father. He not only encouraged idol-worship, he also maintained his own lifestyle and his position with the kings of other nations by force, sometimes taking lives, other times taking resources from the people of the land, thus subjugating his own nation for his personal safety and glory. The prophet Jeremiah spoke against this practice, insisting that following God’s law involved not only correct worship—which wasn’t happening—but also actions like caring for the poor, honoring the land, and shepherding the people in peace rather than taking advantage of them. For his preaching, Jeremiah was banished from the Temple, and eventually imprisoned. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign, 605 BCE, the Babylonian army swept through the region and defeated all the other nations, including Egypt and its large army. At that point, Jehoiakim paid Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, to save Jerusalem: he sent gold, furnishings from the Temple, and several members of the royal family as hostages. We pick up the story of Jeremiah and his secretary Baruch in chapter 36, then hear some of what was written on the scroll from chapter 31. I am reading from the New Revised Standard Version.
~~~
In the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today. It may be that when the house of Judah hears of all the disasters that I intend to do to them, all of them may turn from their evil ways, so that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.
Then Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words of the Lord that he had spoken to him. And Jeremiah ordered Baruch, saying, ‘I am prevented from entering the house of the Lord; so you go yourself, and on a fast day in the hearing of the people in the Lord’s house you shall read the words of the Lord from the scroll that you have written at my dictation. You shall read them also in the hearing of all the people of Judah who come up from their towns. It may be that their plea will come before the Lord, and that all of them will turn from their evil ways, for great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.’ And Baruch son of Neriah did all that the prophet Jeremiah ordered him about reading from the scroll the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house. Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary; and Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king. Now the king was sitting in his winter apartment (it was the ninth month), and there was a fire burning in the brazier before him. As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a penknife and throw them into the fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.
Now, after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which King Jehoiakim of Judah has burned.
(31.31-34) The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Sermon: Book Burning (Becoming God’s People 10)
Every time I read this story, my first thought is “poor Baruch.” Writing in those days was painstaking work, and it was still not a terribly common skill outside the priestly class. He spent many years as Jeremiah’s secretary, writing down visions, sermons, diatribes, and stories, taking dictation from a cranky prophet.
When Jeremiah told Baruch to go read the scroll, I wonder if he was surprised that he was told to go to the Temple during a time when lots of regular people would be there, traveling in from the countryside for a ritual. It would be a crowded place, full of everyday peasants and artisans, people who followed rather than led. Jeremiah’s prophecies were only tangentially about them—they could, of course, work to be more faithful themselves, but the real target of Jeremiah’s preaching were the leaders who followed their own self-interest and led people astray.
Baruch took the scroll to the Temple and read it out loud, and the people listened. But we don’t know how they reacted, because the scene shifts to the king’s advisor, who heard Baruch reading and realised the king needed to know about this, ASAP.
It’s probably too strong to say that the advisor was a spy, but it certainly has that feel about it—someone reporting the words spoken at a religious service, knowing that the king won’t like what he hears.
And he didn’t. Jehoiakim sat in his palace, which had different wings for different seasons of the year, in front of his enormous fireplace, and calmly tore up and burned the word of the Lord instead of tearing his garments in grief and repentance. He didn’t even look anxious about it, just taking a piece of scroll every few minutes and throwing it into the fire in one of history’s first recorded book burnings.
But really, it was too late. The days are surely coming, says the Lord…The word had already been read, and heard. It was already out there, wiggling its way into people’s minds and hearts, taking on life throughout the city and the surrounding countryside. Jehoiakim burned page after page that painted him in an unfavourable light, that reminded him of his responsibility as a shepherd to guide the people in faithfulness, to take care of the immigrant, the orphan, and the widow, to protect the poor and to care for the land. He didn’t want to hear it, but the message was burning its way through the hard hearts of the people, and God was at work. The word of God can’t be destroyed, even if it makes us uncomfortable, or reminds us of things and people we purposely put aside. And it certainly won’t be constrained by the desires or policies of the people in power.
Today is Christ the King Sunday, which was instituted in 1925, as many nations in Europe were experiencing increasing militant nationalism. In the midst of a culture that disapproved of difference, and leadership that demanded unwavering loyalty, the church was called to proclaim that our allegiance is not to a nation or a leader, but to Christ. We are citizens of the kingdom of heaven, along with everyone else God chooses to invite to the feast. It’s the same message that Jeremiah and Baruch got when they were called to write the whole scroll a second time: a reminder that the king, or his upper class advisors and friends, are not God. And God has a much bigger picture going, with people from every nation and language, every time and place, youngest to the oldest and the least to the greatest, all knowing the new covenant because it is written on our hearts, not just on paper.
The thing is, a covenant written on paper can be torn up and ignored. We can’t destroy the ideas, of course, but the book can be easily put out of sight, out of mind. A covenant written on our hearts, though…the only way to ignore it is to destroy ourselves. To turn away from the new covenant God has so carefully written inside each and every person is not only to turn away from a world in need, retreating into the winter palace while our sisters and brothers work themselves to the bone for our benefit…it is to turn away from being human, to turn away from our hearts, to put aside our belovedness and seek our own gratification alone, creating our own law along the way. We have to forget who we are, and where our loyalty lies.
We humans have made a pretty good effort at this. But the fact of the word remains: even when we lose our way, or turn away, God is love, Christ is Lord, and the Spirit provides word after word, scroll after scroll, chance after chance for us to remember who we are and who God is, and to re-align our actions and words with the community of Christ’s kingdom — where people come from north and south and east and west to share a feast where there is enough for everyone, no matter what their earthly status might be. The word is already out there, and in here, working its way into us and through us into a world desperate for good news, a word of love and justice that cannot be contained, a word that calls us to live as if it is true, even when it contradicts the powers of nation and economy and culture. The days are surely coming, when we will know and act like we are God’s people, children of the covenant, sealed by the Spirit, belonging only to Jesus Christ, forever.
May it be so. Amen.
Prayer
Faithful God, you give and ask us to use your gifts for your purpose.
You plant your goodness within us:
we bear your word in our minds and hearts,
we carry your life in our bodies,
we breathe your breath,
that we may reveal your love to the world.
We pray you would take our gratitude and turn it into a way of living.
We ask for the blessing of committing ourselves to your call,
not just spiritually but tangibly too,
and we dedicate our resources —
time, energy, money, and attention —
to your kingdom’s truth.
It sometimes feels in this world as if truth is hard to come by,
while all around us people are in need,
the earth groans,
the world stage is more fragile than we realised,
and it’s easy to think there’s nothing we can do.
So we turn to you, our rock, our refuge and strength, our help in every trouble.
We turn to you, creator, redeemer, and sustainer.
We turn to you, ruler of the nations and hope of all creation.
We ask for your help for those who are suffering, in body, mind, or spirit.
May those living with illness know your healing presence.
May those living under restrictions
know your comfort and light in these shadowed days.
May those serving as your hands in
hospitals, homes, research labs, and other essential work
know your strength and compassion.
We ask for your help for people who live each day with fear,
especially in places of violence and war.
May those for whom home is not a safe place find a refuge.
May those who hear guns and bombs
finally experience the deep breath of a quiet night.
May those who choose violence come to know
new ways of living and thriving.
May your peace fill our hearts, our homes, our world.
We ask for your help for our leaders,
that they may seek the good of all, not just some.
May all in positions of power be
thoughtful and courageous in doing what is right.
Send your Spirit of justice and imagination
to those who sit in decision-making places,
in government, in business, in church, in community.
We ask your help for ourselves,
that we may be faithful bearers of your image
here in our parish, in our work and at home and online.
May all who see us recognise your work.
May our community be strengthened,
our hands reach out to help and our hearts to include.
Heal all division and inspire us to love one another,
as you have loved us.
We ask these and all things in the name of Christ.
Amen.
Benediction
Friends, go into your week ready to bear God’s word that is written on your heart, in order that all may read the truth of God’s love from your life. 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.
Benediction Response
Words and tune (Gourock St. John’s): John L Bell
Now may the Lord of all be blessed;
Now may Christ’s gospel be confessed;
Now may the Spirit, when we meet,
Bless sanctuary and street.
Announcements
* Young Adult Bible Study meets on Zoom at 1pm (BYOPizza). We are reading chapters 8-9 of Revelation today! If you’d like login information, contact Teri.
* Today is the last day in our series on Becoming God’s People — next week Advent begins, and worship will be on the theme of “The Blessings of an Impossible Christmas.” You may want to have a candle handy when you worship at home during Advent, so you can join in the Advent Candle Lighting.
* The Gourock churches are sponsoring a Christmas Window competition for those who live in Gourock! The theme is Christmas Carols — so choose a carol, decorate a street-facing window in that theme, and send in your entry form by 10 December! The judging begins on the 11th and prizes will be announced later the following week. We may not be able to sing together at a carol service, but we can have a visual carol service as we walk around our neighbourhoods, so let’s make the whole town festive together! You can enter online here, or you can get a paper entry form and either snap a photo and email it in, or return it to the manse.
* 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!
* If you would like to attend in-person worship in the sanctuary, you will need to book a place as we can only safely accommodate 35 people at a time under current distancing guidelines. Please phone Cameron (630879) on a Friday morning between 10-12 or Anne Love (07904 617283) on a Saturday morning between 10-12 to book in for that Sunday. If we reach our capacity, you’ll be given the first seats the following week.
Inside the church: face coverings must be worn, you may give your offering at the door rather than by passing it through the rows, we will ask you to sit in a particular seat to ensure everyone’s safety as there is a one-way system in place, and the service will be around half an hour with no singing but with instrumental music. Families are welcome, and children should stay in the service for the whole half hour — there will be a children’s time for them though! If you’ve been out of the area in the past 2 weeks, or if you have any symptoms that could be covid, please plan to worship online rather than in person.
If the government Tiers or regulations change, that could affect our services. Should that happen, we will contact everyone who is booked in for a service, and will use all our regular communication channels to advise of any new restrictions or procedures or plans.
Online and audio recording-by-phone (call 01475 270037 to listen to the service) worship will continue, and the print version will continue to be available on request.
* The Boys Brigade is again meeting in the large hall — if you know any boys from P1 – S6 who would like to explore what it’s all about, please contact Alan Aitken: alanandrewaitken at gmail dot com. There are spaces available in all sections (Junior Section on Mondays at 7pm, Anchor Boys on Tuesdays at 5:30pm, Company Section on Fridays at 7:30pm). The Guides are working on their plans and hope to start up after Christmas. For information, contact Gillian Dick: gndick at hotmail dot com.
No other organisations or groups are currently using our halls, so that we have time to adequately clean and ensure the space is safe for everyone. This will be reviewed after Christmas.
* 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. 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 by post or with a neighbour who is coming to in-person worship and we will ensure they are received. Remember: no one is coming to your door to collect your envelopes, so please stay safe!
* Teri is doing the Time For Reflection to open the Scottish Parliament this week on Tuesday at 2pm. You may be able to watch online on the scottishparliament.tv website.
