Sunday service for 29 May 2022, seventh Sunday of Easter
29 May 2022, Easter 7
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
Call to Worship
One: We come together in Christ,
All: one Body, encouraged and comforted by the Spirit.
One: We come together in Christ,
All: one Body, loved and challenged to a new way of life.
One: We come together in Christ,
All: one Body, re-orienting ourselves to align with God’s mission.
One: We come together in Christ,
All: one Body, to seek his mind and live his abundant life.
Prayer
You are at work in us all, O God,
making it possible for us to love as you have loved us,
to serve as you came to serve,
to seek your glory rather than our own.
You open your hands and pour out your life,
that we may know the fullness of your grace.
You reveal your mind to us: in your word, in your world,
and in the life of Jesus among us on earth.
You invite us to look through your eyes,
to orient ourselves in the same direction you’re going,
to share your vision and act on it.
We confess that we have seen only a narrow view and decided it was the whole.
Forgive us for restricting your salvation to the next life
without seeing how it changes us in this life.
Forgive us for hearing of exaltation and assuming it was the goal for us to reach.
Forgive us for turning your blessing into privileges for ourselves and not others.
Forgive us for wilfully misunderstanding “of one mind”
so we can insist on conformity to our own rules.
Forgive us for trapping you in a static once-and-for-all story
that can be carefully contained between the covers of a book,
and forgetting that you are living and active, present even now,
calling us to new life in this world you are still creating.
Whoever we are in this world,
wherever we have been and whatever we have done,
with good hope for all we come to bow down,
taking our place in your company alongside all you have called
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
to praise you and offer ourselves for the work of your kingdom,
in the name of Christ, in whom we find our true selves. Amen.
Hymn 481: Jesus is the Name We Honour
(Sanctuary Hymn 422: Christ is Alive, and the Universe Must Celebrate)
Children’s Time (Sanctuary only)
Song: Hallelujah Christ is Risen
Reading: Philippians 2.1-13 (New Revised Standard Version)
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
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 Jesus Thinks About
Earlier this week I was asked if there are any lifestyle choices Christians should make so that other people will know they are Christians. Like how do people know we are different? Some traditions insist that Christians must not drink alcohol, or smoke, or dance, or that they must wear a certain style of clothing, or speak a certain way, or think certain things about the issues of the day. Throughout history different branches of the Church have answered the question in different ways — for instance, in the first few hundred years of the church, soldiers of the Roman army were not permitted to be church members until they resigned that job and took up another, because Christians were not to participate in war. In other places in the world, Christians are marked by the ways women are subservient to men and so are rarely seen outside the home. In other times in history, Christians were known for their singing anywhere and everywhere. Today some traditions say you cannot be both a Christian and gay, or a Christian woman and a minister, or that Christians should not get married because Jesus is coming soon and we need to focus on preparing our souls. So what does our Presbyterian Christian tradition say about how we behave that will make clear that we are Christians?
My first reaction to that question is that Jesus already gave us the answer: that the world will know we are his followers by our love. And he told us that the way to interpret everything in scripture, the whole of God’s word to us, is to test whether it brings more love for both God and neighbour — not just one or the other, but both. If the way we understand a verse leads to more love for God and neighbour, it’s a right interpretation. If the way we understand something in God’s word leads us to be less loving, it’s not right and we need to go back again and ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand.
But I was still thinking about this question when I came to read this text from Philippians. How will people know that we follow Christ? If we have the same mind and the same love that he has. Paul even kindly gives us a starter for ten on what that means:
do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,
regard others as better than ourselves,
look to the interests of others and not only our own self interest.
Somewhere along the way the church has come to be known for the opposite of those things instead. Perhaps that’s why Paul had to write this — perhaps it had already started to happen, that Christians were thinking of themselves as God’s favourites, better than others, and looking after their own desires and self-interest rather than putting their energy into caring for others. Or perhaps Paul had a premonition that we who follow Jesus would become precious about our buildings and traditions and status in society, at the expense of the mission of God’s kingdom.
It’s interesting that when Paul goes on to explain how we are to do these things — how do we ensure we keep our priorities in the right order, acting not in selfish ambition but looking to the interests of others — he says, over and over again, “let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”
To have the same mind means, essentially, to think about the same things. To look through the same lens. To have the same attitude or worldview. To approach the world the same way.
Which means we need to stop for a moment and ask ourselves: what is Jesus thinking about? What’s on Jesus’ mind today, when he looks at the world?
I wonder if we can just take a moment to ponder that. What do you think Jesus is thinking about today? What’s on his mind?
…
It always seems to me that when we start asking what Jesus has on his mind, it’s rarely the same things as the typical first answers to how people will know we are Christians, about dancing or swearing or jewellery or whatever. If we are to become more and more like Christ, we need to have more and more time when our minds are set on the same things his are.
Paul then quotes a hymn about what Jesus’ attitude was like, and it says that he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself to not just be human, but to enter human life at the bottom of the socio-economic scale…another translation says that he did not regard divine power as something to be grasped, but rather emptied himself.
He did not grasp for power…did not hold tightly to the status quo where he was in heaven, without regard for what was happening on earth…did not clench his fist round his personal comfort. He wasn’t afraid of loss or change, and he didn’t try to maintain what he had. Instead he opened his hand and emptied himself.
Have the same mind, the same attitude, the same love, as Christ.
What if we opened our hands and emptied ourselves of the fear of letting go? What if we decided to loosen our grasp on the way things have always been? What if we gave up the privileges of cultural christianity in favour of the responsibilities of the kingdom of God? Would we find our hands and hearts were then available for other things — for receiving and for giving and for working and for sharing?
No wonder Paul says to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. It makes us nervous to even ponder letting go of that tight grasp that maintains our favourite things. Our hands shake…with the effort of holding so tightly to things that are already slipping away, and with the thought of opening them to let go and make room for something new. But just as we heard last week at the beginning of the letter, and again today smack in the middle of the letter: it is God who began the good work, and God who is at work in you. It is God who will bring the work to completion. It is God who enables us to will and to work for his pleasure — not just to will it, to think it, to pray it…but to work for God’s good pleasure.
How will people know we are Christians? What behaviours and lifestyle choices are evidence that we follow Christ? Our open hands and hearts that do not grasp after our own desires but seek always to serve others. Our generosity, our hospitality in every place, our gratitude in every circumstance, our constancy in looking after our neighbours. Our work for justice in the systems of this world, so that poverty and hunger and climate change and war and racism and sexism and oppression become history rather than present reality. Our insistence on thinking about what Jesus is thinking about, and doing something about it. Our attitude — based in God’s love for the world.
May it be so. Amen.
Hymn 536: May the Mind of Christ My Saviour
Sanctuary Hymn 520: Ye Who the Name of Jesus Bear
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Your hands are open, O God,
offering yourself to us and holding us gently,
inviting us to loosen our grasp
so that we can receive your goodness.
We pray this day that you would take from us the fear that tightens our fists,
and show us again how to live beyond maintenance mode,
beyond the status quo,
in the wonder of your future of hope.
We have tried so hard to hold on to pleasure and to protect ourselves from pain,
but we see in your life among us another way,
and this world is desperate for another way.
So we pray this day for those caught in their own egos,
for those who seek power for themselves rather than to serve.
May they experience the power of vulnerability and community instead.
We pray this day for those suffering at the hands of others,
those whose bodies are used and discarded when they are no longer profitable,
those whose homes and families and peace are treated as disposable,
those who cannot wait another year for us to change our ways.
Especially we commend to your care those families
whose children were killed at school in Texas this week,
and the families of Ukraine, and South Sudan, and Yemen, and Palestine, and Myanmar,
and so many places where grief and fear mingle into unbearable pain.
With sighs too deep for words, we hold the world in your care.
May they experience your presence, your courage,
and the compassionate action of neighbours near and far.
We pray this day for those who cannot imagine life without the privileges they enjoy over others,
and for those who are cut off from authentic relationship by their own self-interest.
May they experience your care as they learn to open and let go and be real.
We pray this day for ourselves,
that we may commit anew to your incarnation,
and, knowing ourselves as your Body,
may be among the people of our community in the flesh ourselves.
Take us outside our narrow view of holiness,
and plant us in the neighbourhood
with people whose lives and bodies and experiences and worldly positions are different,
that together we may truly share one vision, one attitude, one mind: yours.
It is for your glory, not our own, and in obedience to your will,
that we pray these and all things in the name of Christ,
who taught us to pray together:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.
(Sanctuary Hymn 481: Jesus is the Name We Honour (praise band))
Benediction
Friends, knowing how Christ lived, now go do it. Be of one mind with him, sharing his goal and his vision. Following Christ’s example, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and filled with the grace of God, go be the peace, justice, and love this world needs. 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
* Happy Easter! Easter is a season that lasts for 50 days, and this is the last Sunday in the season of Easter. Next Sunday is Pentecost — 50th day — when we will celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit!
*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 donate to members of 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 Monday lunchtime this week — meet at the top of Bath Street beside the church at 1pm, or at the cenotaph at 1:05, 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 the sanctuary. We do ask that if you are able to wear a mask, you keep one on as a way to protect the vulnerable members of our community. If you are able, please enter by the front door in Bath street, and only families with children and 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 Jonathan. 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.
* 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.
Sunday service for 22 May, sixth Sunday of Easter
22 May 2022, Easter 6
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143
Email: tpeterson@churchofscotland.org.uk
Prelude Music (sanctuary only)
Welcome
Call to Worship
1: We give thanks for you!
2: And we give thanks for you!
1: Seeing you brings joy, for together we share in God’s grace.
2: Seeing you brings hope, for together we share so many stories we can build on.
1: We hold you in our hearts, praying that you may know life in all its fullness.
2: We hold you in our hearts, praying that you may bear fruit for Christ’s kingdom.
All: May you overflow with love more and more, as together we seek God’s face.
Prayer
Glory be to you, O God,
for you bring your work to fruition,
in your time.
We praise you, Lord Jesus Christ,
for you call all people to share in your good news,
in every place.
We rejoice in you, Holy Spirit,
for you give gifts, seen and unseen,
in your wisdom.
Wherever we find ourselves today, and however we arrived at this moment,
lead us through your love to your way.
You call us to share your good news, and to let you handle the rest.
We confess that we are prone to distraction,
comparing ourselves to others,
wondering how to copy them or judging their methods.
We admit that we allow this spirit of comparison
to steal both our joy and our focus,
and so come to believe we are not prepared enough
to join in your kingdom work
when we don’t have everything those other places have.
Forgive us for taking our eyes off you.
Forgive us for our simultaneous jealousy and judgment.
Forgive us for hesitating to follow you because we can’t do it the way others do.
Remind us again that it is your work in us,
your love made known through us,
your word spoken through our voices,
and strengthen our weakness that we may serve you with joy.
We ask in Christ’s name. Amen.
Online Hymn: Hallelujah, Christ is Risen (Resound Worship)
Sanctuary hymn 415: This Joyful Eastertide
Sanctuary: Children’s Time and Song: Hallelujah Christ is Risen
Reading: Philippians 1.1-18a (New Revised Standard Version)
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that on the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ; and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.
Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defence of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I rejoice.
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: overflow with love
I wonder how often we look around our church and give thanks to God for each other? Do we call our fellow Christians to mind and feel joy when we think about each other?
Sometimes it can feel like Christian community is hard work. Being fully present ourselves, being real with each other, can feel vulnerable…and add in doing so with people who have every personality quirk you can imagine and it quickly becomes tricky. It’s easier to stay around the edges and not get involved, because the relationships require energy we may not always feel we have to give.
And yet here is Paul telling a Christian community that they bring him joy. That he is grateful every time he thinks about them. We know that can’t possibly be true — every single time? Every thought brings joy and gratitude? Really? I’m pretty sure I’m the only one lucky enough to have a church where every thought inspires joy. The rest of the letter implies there might be a few moments along the way when his thoughts have been less happy. But still…what if we tried it out? What if every day we thought of someone else in the church, and thanked God for them? Even the people who try our patience?
Perhaps take a moment just now and look around, either around the room or around your mental image of the church family. When your attention is pulled to one person, just close your eyes and thank God for them, and offer a wee prayer for that person. Even if you aren’t sure of their name, just hold their face in your mind and be grateful for them for a moment.
…
…
Imagine how different our experience of the world could be, if we spent time giving thanks for one another. If we spent time praying for each other to overflow with love more and more. If we spent less time wondering about people’s motives, and more time looking for how Christ can be made known even in ways we wouldn’t have personally preferred. If we were intent on participating in the good work that God has started in us, and let God be at work in other people in other ways.
Several months ago I was at a Presbytery Planning committee meeting and as we were trying to prepare for the very hard work ahead, working toward a new way of doing God’s mission in our Presbytery and across the nation, discerning where we need church buildings and ministers and where we need new forms of christian witness and community, I asked “is there any chance that everyone will behave like Christians through this process?” I took it as a bad sign when the rest of the committee laughed. Nonetheless I have decided to pray every day that all our churches may overflow with love more and more, and I invite you to join me in that prayer — for ourselves, for the other churches in our presbytery, and for the whole Body of Christ in Scotland and around the world. That as we face some big changes in the world and the church, as we try to bring the good news of Jesus Christ into a culture that finds church irrelevant at best and harmful at worst, that our love might overflow more and more.
The thing about overflowing, as we saw in the children’s time, is that it’s messy. Most of the time we try to contain things, not let them overflow. When a river overflows its banks, damage occurs. When the sink or bath overflows, there’s a lot to clean up. When we pour too much into the teacup or the pint glass, we waste something delicious, drip everywhere we go, and everything gets sticky. Overflowing makes a mess. That’s why people didn’t want to allow resurrection, too — when life overflows the tomb, it makes a mess of everything we thought we understood, it messes up the boundaries and rules we use to confine ourselves and others, and it costs a lot as it demands we live differently in light of resurrection power.
But Paul prays that our love would overflow more and more. I hope we will all be praying for love that overflows more and more…not just through the process of Presbytery planning, but as we discern how to participate in the work God started among us, right here in our own community. What is the mission God is doing here, and how is God still doing it, and calling us to do it? The promise is that the work will be completed in good time…but that will mean we need to join in with the Spirit’s help to do the task.
Figuring out what God is doing, and then joining in, can sometimes feel daunting. But Paul says that’s what happens when our love overflows more and more. It isn’t just that we feel nice warm fuzzies for people. He prays that love may overflow more and more with knowledge and insight to know what is best to do. Not what is best to think, or best to talk about, or even best to pray — what is best to do, to produce fruit for God’s kingdom.
When we love more, we will also know more. And that knowledge will lead us to more love, or else it isn’t true spiritual knowledge. When we love more, we will understand more, and that understanding will be about how to love more. When we love more, we will recognise what is ours to do, and what we will do is love more. When we love more, God’s mission will become clearer and clearer, and that mission is to bring everyone into the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
So on the one hand, overflowing is messy. But on the other hand, it leads to hope, peace, justice, grace…overflowing love makes the world more beautiful, even if it seems a bit of a mess along the way.
We like things to be orderly, because we’re Presbyterians. But sometimes we can’t plan our way out of the mess. The only way is through — with love. If we try to get through without love, all we get in the end is sarcastic laughter at the thought of Christians behaving like Christ. But with love overflowing more and more, with study that leads to more love for God and love for neighbour, with insight into how God’s love reaches out to us and through us to others…we may just find ourselves producing a harvest for God’s kingdom.
May you overflow with love more and more.
Amen.
Online Hymn 519: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Sanctuary Hymn: For All the Saints Who Show Your Love (John Bell, tune: Tallis Canon)
For all the saints who show your love
in how they live and where they move,
for mindful women, caring men,
accept our gratitude again.
For all the saints who love your name,
whose faith increased their Saviour’s fame,
who sing your songs and share your word,
accept our gratitude, good Lord.
For all the saints who name your will,
and see your kingdom coming still
through selfless protest, prayer and praise,
accept the gratitude we raise.
Bless all whose will or name or love
reflects the grace of heaven above.
Though unclaimed by earthly powers,
your life through theirs has hallowed ours.
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
With grateful hearts we come, loving God,
offering you our joy for those who have shared this life with us.
For all those who have shown us love and grace,
for all those who have taught us the way of justice and peace,
for all those who have surrounded us with their prayers and hope.
We remember with joy the great cloud of witnesses
whose stories are intertwined with ours,
and we lift them to you — in memory, in prayer, in gratitude.
With longing hearts we come, loving God,
offering you our compassion for those who are struggling in these days.
For those who do not experience love,
for those whose daily lives are marked by pain in body, mind, or spirit,
for those who cannot rest as war rages around them.
We remember with sorrow those whose stories are not deemed newsworthy,
who must simply wait through each day without hope,
and we lift these all to you — for your justice, your courage, your healing.
With confident hearts we come, loving God,
offering you ourselves,
for the work of your kingdom right in front of us,
for the good news our own literal neighbours need to hear,
for the changes that could make the world better in our town.
We remember with a mix of trepidation and trust
that you need us just where we are,
and we lift our eyes to you — that you may reveal your gifts and your calling to us today.
We especially pray today for the work of the General Assembly in the coming week.
May all the elders and ministers and staff
have minds open to discern your Spirit moving in their midst,
hands open to join in the work of your kingdom,
hearts open to let love overflow more and more.
Keep us close, in your loving connection,
with you and all your people, indeed with all creation,
and continue your good work until the world recognises your kingdom on earth as in heaven.
We pray boldly in the name of Christ, and as he taught us to pray:
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 519: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Benediction
May your love overflow more and more! May the knowledge of God, the work of Christ, and the insight of the Holy Spirit bring the kingdom to fruition in you, here and 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 (sanctuary only)
Announcements
* Happy Easter! Easter is a season that lasts for 50 days, so we will be celebrating resurrection for a couple more 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 donate to members of 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 Tuesday evening this week — meet at the top of Bath Street beside the church at 7:30, or at the cenotaph at 7:35, 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 David. 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.
* 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.
Sunday Service for 15 May 2022, fifth Sunday of Easter
15 May 2022, 5th 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 (sanctuary only)
Welcome
Call to Worship
One: Come from your familiar and comfortable places,
to look for God in new ways.
All: We join our minds and hearts in seeking a glimpse of the One
in whom we live and move and have our being.
One: Come with your faith and your curiosity,
to meet others of God’s people.
All: We take the time to observe and learn,
trusting the Spirit will lead us to common ground.
One: Come to be present to all Christ places in your path.
All: We come, open to meet God, even here.
Prayer
In the marketplace of ideas, there’s always something new, O God. We confess that we are torn between our attachment to tradition and our belief that the latest fad will solve our problems, and so we trust the market to sort it out. We admit that when we contribute to public discourse, it is often either with judgment of others or demands for society to centre our feelings and desires. And we confess we are uncertain and anxious about sharing our faith story, worried we will get it wrong or offend. Forgive us, God, for our misplaced trust, for our misdirected speech, for our self-centering ways. Remind us that you are near, and give us confidence to allow your grace to take the lead, that we may be witnesses to the power of your love. Amen.
Online Hymn: You, Lord, Are In This Place, by Keith Duke
(Sanctuary Hymn 510: Jesus Calls Us Here To Meet Him)
(Sanctuary only Children’s Time and Song: Hallelujah Christ is Risen)
Reading: Acts 17.16-34 (New Revised Standard Version)
Last week we heard about Paul encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus, and having his perspective changed and his life transformed as a result. He then went to various places to proclaim the good news and invite people into communities that follow Jesus together. Along with Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy he traveled from Antioch to Cyprus and many cities of modern day Turkey in between, including Thessalonica and Philippi. In many places, they encountered opposition from those who did not wish to receive the message about Jesus as God’s messiah, and they had to leave quickly and go to the next town. We pick up the story today in Acts chapter 17, beginning at verse 16, just as they have escaped a riot, with Paul, Silas, and Timothy leaving town separately to meet up again in the next city. I am reading from the New Revised Standard Version.
~~~~
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the market-place every day with those who happened to be there. Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, ‘What does this babbler want to say?’ Others said, ‘He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.’ (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, ‘May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.’ Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.
Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said,
“For we too are his offspring.”
Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.’
When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’ At that point Paul left them. But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
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: Good New Days
Once upon a time, Athens had been the centre of everything. It had been well known as the place for intellectuals in every field, brimming with ideas about mathematics, philosophy, government, and the arts. People came from all around to experience it.
By the time Paul arrived in Athens, those bright days had dimmed into the past. The centre of power had shifted to Rome, and Athenians were left trying to recapture what once was. They filled their city with statues and shrines, and filled their time with ideas and debates, hoping desperately that something would bring them back to the days when they were bursting at the seams with young people, money, power, and vitality.
The people of Athens tried everything that used to work, and the things they saw other people doing too. They made statues and sacrifices and offerings in every place and to every god they could think of. They worshipped at the altar of memory, of success, of fashion, of the latest trends and the oldest mysteries. They covered all their bases, hedging their bets even with an altar to an unknown god—just in case they might have missed one along the way.
It was a strategy of desperation, full of activities, bound by extremes, and longing for something they couldn’t quite put their finger on. While the Epicurean and the Stoic philosophers—as far apart on opposite ends of the spectrum of philosophy as you can get—debated in the marketplace, the people gorged themselves on any crumb that might bring back the good old days.
Paul walked in and said “I see how religious you are,” and that can sound sarcastic to us, because of course in hindsight we can see that they’d missed the point. Religion isn’t about doing things that look religious, it’s about connection and relationship and experience between God and human, which can’t be bought. But in the moment, Paul was simply acknowledging the hope the Athenians held, that they might be able to do what they’d always done and find it returned them to the glory days they remembered.
Paul started where they were, and then built on that hope—he started with a bright spot: an altar to a god unknown, a desire for more, a longing for a new story—and he combined it with their own familiar words in order to offer them The Truth: God, who created all things, cannot be controlled by us, no matter how many statues and sacrifices we make. God, who created all things, is so close to us that it is impossible to know ourselves apart from the divine. And God, who created all things, is doing a new thing even right now, even while we are busy trying to recreate the past. He took their old story and showed them how it could be the beginning of a new story, rather than simply re-treading the old ways that no longer worked. He used their own poets, their own storytellers, their own words, to give them a way in to seeing their part in God’s story.
It’s so interesting that the Athenians, for all their seeking, could not see God already in their midst. Their own poets said “he is not far from each one of us.” Their own altars had a sense of mystery. It was clear that their attempts to get their way by controlling the gods were ineffective. It had to be obvious to them that the past was never coming back—I mean, even their public discourse had descended into arguments between polar opposites.
And yet it had not occurred to them that maybe God, in whom we live and move and have our being, was also dynamic, not static. It had not occurred to them to look around and see what God was doing, or if there might be a future just as bright as the past. They spent so much time looking at yesterday that there was no room for tomorrow.
It makes you wonder: what can’t we see? What has never occurred to us? Are there ways we are like the Athenians? How have we trapped God in a static set of ideas and missed out on God’s dynamic, ever-moving ways? Have we also crowded out tomorrow by clinging to yesterday? And what next chapter could be written from the seeds of our well-known stories?
The next chapter will feel ridiculous, of course. Because raising someone from the dead is, frankly, ridiculous. If God does things like resurrection—things so completely uncontrollable and unbound—then what does that mean for those who want to be in relationship with God? If God can’t be bought, or appeased, then how are we supposed to relate? If God is God—loving, just, and faithful—no matter what we do, then what exactly are we supposed to do? It seems that if the relationship with God is not a transaction, where we control at least a portion of the situation, then it’s not worth it. If it’s true that our life, movement, and existence is held by God, is in God — a God who can do anything, even overcome the power of sin and death — then we cannot be separated, we cannot be cut off, we cannot truly be lost, and there is nothing to earn.
The implications were too much to handle for many of the people who heard — just as they still are today, if we’re being honest. Ever since that day they met Paul, people across time and place have heard this story and decided to turn away—sometimes we have turned away by constructing elaborate theological systems that allow us to feel like we have some control, and sometimes we have turned away by simply insisting it doesn’t make sense, or even by simply glossing over the power and shock of resurrection and acting as if it’s so normal it makes no difference. Sometimes we have turned away by believing the church is a building we visit now and then, like a shrine to an idol, and sometimes we have turned away by using the words of scripture to pretend that God’s grace is only available to some. There are many ways to scoff at what God offers, because we cannot comprehend unconditional love.
But a few people followed the Way. And a few people said “we want to hear more.” It wasn’t a giant crowd that converted that day, but it was enough. Those few changed lives, and those few curious hearts, were enough to set a new story in motion:
a story that didn’t look sideways at what others are doing,
or backwards at where we used to be,
a story that helps us learn to see God right in the midst of
where we are right now, who we are right now,
to discover that God is as close as our own breath—
and is always leading us forward into the kingdom,
into the good new days God has planned.
May it be so.
Amen.
Hymn 506: All I Once Held Dear by Graham Kendrick
Mission Focus: Inverclyde Youth For Christ
In sanctuary worship today, we are commissioning Charlene for her role as youth worker with Inverclyde Youth For Christ. She will reaffirm her faith, and answer questions about her commitment to reaching young people with the grace of God. We as a congregation will also answer questions about our commitment to support her ministry in whatever way we can, including prayer and financially. We will pray for her and give her a blessing, too: “may you know the blessing of being present, the blessing of making space for others, and the blessing of the right words at the right time, as you bear the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit into the lives of young people. Amen.”
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
You came to live among us, Lord,
knowing the fullness of human experience,
starting where we are yet revealing the way to your kingdom.
We give you thanks for your incarnate Word,
and for your resurrection power bringing us into community with you.
And we pray that you would move us along the journey,
for this world feels so stuck.
We are divided, and unwilling to loosen our grip on our rightness.
We are captured by nostalgia and can’t imagine a future.
We insist on doing what we’ve always done, hoping for a different outcome.
And so we cannot find our way to a story of peace, or justice, or hope.
We see news of violence in Palestine, in Sri Lanka, in Afghanistan, in Ukraine, in South Sudan,
and we feel helpless to change anything,
yet we pray that people may be comforted in grief,
strengthened in resilience,
encouraged in adversity,
and challenged to turn away from hatred and oppression and injustice.
And when they must flee, seeking refuge or a better life,
when desperation drives them to dangerous crossings of sea and desert,
we pray that people may be met with warmth and hospitality,
with compassion and practical help,
for we remember that whatever we do to the least of these, we do to you.
Just as you taught us to do to others as we would have done to us,
grant us the courage to treat our neighbours of other nations
with the same love and care we have received from you and would expect for ourselves.
We give thanks for our ability to participate in our community and government,
and we pray for our councils as they organise for a new session of serving the common good,
and we ask for your spirit of grace and wisdom to be their constant guide.
We pray today especially for the situation in Northern Ireland as they seek a way forward,
and also hold in our hearts the people of Lebanon as they vote today.
May all who find themselves in positions of power or influence be faithful
in pursuing truth, justice, and a future with hope.
You are a God who meets us where we are
yet does not leave us there but calls us forward into your kingdom.
Show us how to follow you this day,
to be fully here, wherever you have planted us,
to listen well and value whatever glimpses of you others show us,
to speak the truth we know without needing to control the outcome.
We ask in the name of the risen Christ, who taught us to pray together…
(Sanctuary Hymn 252: As a Fire is Meant for Burning)
Benediction
Go from the familiar and comfortable, with curiosity and faith, to look for God in unexpected places, to hear Christ’s word through unexpected voices, to follow the Spirit leading you to unexpected opportunities. 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
* 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.
* To learn more about Inverclyde Youth For Christ, and to support the ministry Charlene is doing with young people in our community, click here to visit their website.
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.
