Sunday service for 8 May 2022, fourth Sunday of Easter

8 May 2022, 4th Sunday of Easter
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

Prelude Music (in person)

Welcome

Call to Worship
One: To those who are zealous for their way of knowing God, Christ says:
All: Stop for a moment and listen.
One: To those who are sure they know how God sees others, Christ says:
All: Stop for a moment and listen.
One: To those of us who aren’t sure whose voice is calling, Christ says:
All: I am Jesus, so come, for we are all one Body together.
One: To those of us who know and easily respond “here I am”, Christ says:
All: Go where I send you, for we are all one Body together.
One: Let us pause and turn our attention to
the One whose surprising Love has called us here.

Prayer
Living God, you call us to one another, and we confess that sometimes we are only interested in community with those who are like us. Though we may not personally go as far as Saul, using other authorities to impose our way, we admit that we don’t argue when those authorities benefit us at the expense of others. And while we are proud that we don’t explicitly argue with you in our prayers, we admit that’s partly because we choose not to listen when you call us to reach out to “them.” Yet you invite us into relationship, not only with you but also with the rest of your people. Forgive us when we have chosen power-over rather than openness and reciprocity. Forgive us when we have chosen prejudice over welcome. Forgive us when we have chosen to remain enemies rather than being willing to see your image in others’ faces. Forgive us when we have seen only one dimension in others or ourselves, rather than embracing the whole person you created and called. Convert us again this day, from our narrow ways of violence, exclusion, and pride to your expansive way of justice, love, and peace. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Music
Online: Thrive (Casting Crowns)
In Person:

Children’s Time (in person)
Song: Hallelujah Christ is Risen

Reading: Acts 9.1-19 (New Revised Standard Version)
After the risen Christ appeared to the disciples over a period of 40 days, he ascended into heaven, and his followers were empowered by the Holy Spirit to create community, share good news, and heal. The community of Christ followers was growing by leaps and bounds, and there began to be some conflicts both within the community and with both religious and political authorities. Just before today’s reading, Stephen, one of the first deacons, gave a testimony that led to him being stoned to death. After that, the community scattered to many other towns, both for their own safety and to continue to spread the word about Christ’s resurrection. We pick up the story today in the book of Acts, chapter 9, beginning at verse 1. I am reading from the New Revised Standard Version.
~~~~

Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ He asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’ The men who were travelling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, ‘Ananias.’ He answered, ‘Here I am, Lord.’ The Lord said to him, ‘Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.’ But Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.’ So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptised, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

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: What We Will Be 

When I was training for ministry, in one course we were assigned the task of going to read scripture in unusual places, rather than just in our rooms or the library where we might normally study. The professors wanted us to practice what they called “Dislocation”—reading God’s word in a place where we normally wouldn’t. My classmates and I went all over the city, reading the Bible on busses and trains, in parks and stores, on street corners and in shelters. My friend Amy and I put on our rumpled gardening clothes and went to the fanciest hotel in the city just in time for their posh afternoon tea, and we sat just at the entrance to the restaurant and read out loud to each other the story from Mark 5, of the woman who had been sick for 12 years and finally managed to sneak up and touch Jesus’ cloak. We felt awkward, and then we felt bold, and then we were asked to leave. The whole time, though, we definitely felt conspicuous, out of place, and everything we saw and heard and read seemed intensified.

It can be hard to focus when we’re disoriented. Or it can cause us to be hyper-focused, to use all our senses in a different way, to pay closer attention to what is happening.

Everyone in this story is disoriented. Saul, who is also called Paul, is the most noticeably so, as he has literally had his perspective changed, through falling from his high horse down into the dust, going blind, and being hungry. But Ananias, who was asked to go lay hands on the very man who has been harassing people like him? He was disoriented enough to argue with Jesus. And the people to whom Paul preached could hardly believe their eyes or ears, since this man who had used all the power of tradition, all his own powers of rhetoric and status…was now using that power to bring people to Jesus.

It was a very disorienting time. Maybe not quite on the level of moving the chairs, but a dramatic shift of perspective nonetheless.

And God uses that shift, that new perspective, to offer a vision of the kingdom of God.

That vision begins with Jesus saying to Saul: “Why are you harassing me?” Notice he didn’t say “why are you harassing my followers”…because remember that whatever we do to the least of these, to those we think deserve it, or to each other, we do to Jesus. There is no separation between Christ and those whom he loves. How we treat other beloved children of God is how we treat God. Loving God and loving our neighbour are two sides of the same thing, for we — and they — are the Body of Christ.

Talk about a shift in perspective. What if we thought we were talking to God every time we spoke to another person? What if we thought it was God we shouted at, God we insulted, God we gossiped about, God we patronised, God we pushed until we got our way? What if we really thought that God was alive in the world, not trapped in a dusty book or a sanctuary? It would change our vision, and probably our behaviour too.

And Saul looked up from the dust, unable to see with his eyes. This kind of vision comes from the heart, and it takes time to learn to see this way—time that may not be pleasant, because no transformation is easy.

And yet it is how God is building the kingdom of heaven on earth, one transformed life at a time. One meeting with Jesus—in the form of his followers, in the form of the living word proclaimed, in a song or a tv show or a beautiful moment in creation, around the table during a Bowl and a Blether, or out walking for Christian Aid —one meeting with Jesus can kick off this transformation…but that meeting is not the end, it’s just the beginning. The process of being changed into who God created us to be will take some time and even more perspective shifts. We will have to allow something new to emerge from the patterns we have built.

You’re probably tired of hearing me bring up my favourite podcast episode ever…but I’m going to do it again. It was an episode of Radiolab, and a story about caterpillars and butterflies. When the time is right, a caterpillar’s skin essentially moults and becomes a chrysalis…and then once that little pod is built and sealed, everything inside essentially turns to goo. If you opened up a chrysalis — please don’t — you’d find just primordial ooze inside. The whole thing just…dissolves…and then morphs and reforms into something new. There is no caterpillar inside a chrysalis, and for the majority of the time there’s no butterfly there either. It’s just gooey, until something new is made.

There are two further amazing things about this process. One is that researchers have found that butterflies remember things that caterpillars learned — they tested this with scents, the butterflies reacted to scents the caterpillars had been exposed to. So some part of who the caterpillar was is still a part of the butterfly, even though there was that bit in between when everything was dissolved and messy. And the second is that caterpillars carry the faint beginnings of butterfly wing structure in their skin, so when it sheds that to become the chrysalis, that skeletal structure is embedded there, waiting. What the caterpillar will be in future is already there…even though that messy middle bit is still to come.

There’s a lot of change going on in the world and in the church just now. It feels like we’re in the goo stage — not much recognisable from the past, and not much hint of the future. It’s disorienting and confusing and…well…goeey. Like Saul being blinded for three days, fasting and praying, wondering what had happened and what was coming next, unsure about who he was or who he would be…he was in the goo stage. And maybe Ananias was too — he’d heard Christ’s call to go welcome this dangerous person, but maybe it took a few days to really grow into it. The goo stage, the time of groping around in the dark, the time of wondering what on earth is going on and how do we get through it, that disorientation and dislocation that can be the source of new perspective…the goo stage is when the magic happens. Or rather when the spirit of resurrection happens.

Like a caterpillar and a butterfly, what will be will probably bear absolutely no resemblance to what used to be. We’ll have memories to draw on, of course, though they could be guides or they could be distractions. And the seed of what will be is already present, even in the goo stage, if we look carefully and closely enough. But the form of the caterpillar is no more when it emerges as a butterfly. A butterfly would look at pictures of its past and find them unrecognisable. Saul too, would look at his past self and shake his head. A few things carry forward — zeal and persistence and skills for bold proclamation. But the way he uses them changes completely, and the places he uses them changes completely, and the purpose and goal of those gifts changes completely.

What will we carry forward through the goo and into whatever new resurrection life God has in store for the church? How will we use those things not to return to caterpillars but to spread our wings and fly?

It can be hard to see how to do it, but one thing is for sure: when we’re so focused on the way we think things ought to be, we have trouble hearing when God is calling — Saul and Ananias both experienced that! We’ll need some disorientation, some new perspective, an encounter with Christ the Living Word, in order to see the new thing God is creating—a new thing that both already exists and is not quite visible.

Remember way back in Exodus, when Moses comes to the burning bush, meets God there, and hears that God’s name is “I am who I am”? Well, that word that’s usually translated “I am who I am” is a tricky one, because it is a verb that seems to be in multiple tenses at the same time. One translation is “I am who I will be.”

And we, my friends, are created in the image of that God.

May it be so.
Amen.

Online hymn: In the Bulb There Is a Flower
(In person Hymn 566: When I Receive the Peace of Christ)

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
Interrupt us this day, O God.
Interrupt our usual routines,
interrupt our self-centred ways,
interrupt our projection of our own values onto you,
interrupt our use of force to make others think like us.
Stop us in our tracks and re-orient us
toward your will, your way, your call, your community.
Open our eyes to see you at work in one another,
open our minds to receive your word of peace,
open our lives to be instruments of your invitation to another way.

In this world where some believe themselves better than others,
we pray for your spirit of humility, compassion, and understanding.
Help us all to listen to one another’s stories,
to care for one another as equals, to make space for those who are different.
In this world where suffering feels the norm,
where bodies betray us, where pain and illness are everyday,
where bombs fall and peace feels impossible and destruction is all the news,
we pray for your spirit of healing, wisdom, and courage.
May the leaders of nations pursue the common good for all people and all creation.
May doctors and nurses and carers and researchers be strengthened to be your hands and heart.
May those whose burdens are heavy know the joy of friendship that lightens the load.
In this world where everything seems gooey,
where your Church is disoriented and not sure what comes next,
we pray for your Holy Spirit to be our guide and comfort,
to remind us of all you have taught us and also to direct us in your new way.
Give us the grace to trust that your future is better than anything we remember of the past,
and lead us forward, wings outstretched,
to be bearers of your beauty, truth, justice, and love.

We ask in the name of Christ,
who has disrupted the power of violence and death,
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 416: Christ is Alive! (Tune: Truro)

Benediction
Friends, however much the world feels like that gooey stage of disorientation and uncertainty, go into your week trusting that what God is creating us to be is more beautiful than anything we could have ever imagined. Spread your wings of love, justice, and joy, to share good news with the world.
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 (in person)
 

Announcements
* Happy Easter! Easter is a season that lasts for 50 days, so we will be celebrating resurrection for the next several weeks.

*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!). Watch this space for information about a Bible study as we go through the scriptures together!

* Join our team walking for Christian Aid in the month of May! You can sign up here with Christian Aid to join in, and be sure you join our St John’s fundraising team! If you can’t walk all 300,000 steps yourself, you can do it as a group or a family, too! If online fundraising doesn’t work for you, you can also pick up an envelope at church. 
**You can join Teri for a midweek walk on Wednesday at lunchtime this week — meet at the top of Bath Street beside the church at noon, or at the cenotaph at 12:05, for a walk-and-talk along the front (nice and flat!). 

* 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 one-chair-between-households distancing. 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 for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page, led tonight by Karen. 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 Spring Church Notes are now available! You can read them by clicking here.

*Young Adults Bible Study is on Zoom most Sunday afternoons. Contact Teri for the link to join and for a copy of the book they are using.