Sunday service for 11 October 2020

11 October 2020
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri C Peterson
Gourock St John’s Church of Scotland
Contact: tpeterson at churchofscotland dot org dot uk

Though we cannot yet be together in person, we can be together in spirit! Please note the following announcements:

* In September, Starter Packs were provided to 33 homes. Within these homes were 21 single people, and 12 families including 20 children. At the moment as donations are reduced some items are in short supply, they are looking urgently for Washing Up Liquid, Cleaning Cloths, Ladies Shampoo, Soap and Face Cloths. Thank you for your support!

* Coffee Fellowship Time will happen today on Zoom! The room will be open from 11:45 – 1 today, for you to drop in for however long you wish, so grab a cup of tea or coffee (or juice or whatever you prefer!) and maybe a biscuit, and come have a chat! We look forward to seeing you!

* 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 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 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!

* We also now have an audio recording of the service available on the phone! Simply dial 01475 270 037 to listen to the most recent service. Please share this number with your neighbours, friends, family, and fellow church goers who don’t have the internet, so they can listen in!

* The theme for worship this autumn is “Becoming God’s People.” We’ll be exploring  who God is and how God’s character informs God’s actions, and how our actions also ought to be informed by that character…by way of stories of God and humanity working out their relationship with one another through the Old Testament.

* Children’s Time happens each Sunday morning at 11am on Zoom. If you would like the login details, please contact Teri. 

* The Young Adult Bible Study (BYOPizza) meets NEXT WEEK via Zoom at 1pm, reading chapter 5 of the Book of Revelation! If you’re aged 15-25 and would like the login details, please contact Teri.

* Churches across Scotland are calling people to join together in prayer on Sunday evenings at 7pm, placing a lit candle in the window and spending time in prayer for others. Our Sunday evening prayer services will be shared across CONNECT. Tonight’s service will be led by Karen Harbison, beginning at 6:57pm on the Connect Facebook page, and be sure to like / follow it while you’re there!

* Feel free to share this with others, with the attribution information at the top. If you know someone who does not have access to the internet and who also does not receive the tape ministry, you can either print this service out and share it with them, or let Teri know via email or phone call and we will be sure they receive a printed copy.

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Hymn 113: God the Father of Creation

Prayers, Reading, Sermon, and hymns:

Hymn: I Will Wait For You

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Call to Worship and Opening Prayer
God calls us —
out of our fear,
out of our complacency,
out of our careful control —
to worship.
What is the worship God desires?
To do justice, love kindness, and live humbly.
To seek the kingdom even when it is not yet visible.
To trust God’s faithfulness.
So come.
Turn your attention away from
all the seductive voices of this world,
and toward the One whose promise endures.
Let us worship God together.

Let us pray.

Holy God, your presence is awe-inspiring and your power is overwhelming. We are quick to praise you for the ways you reveal yourself in our lives, for we are grateful that you lead us, care for us, provide for us. We confess that we have a harder time in the in-between. In between big moments, in between thunderous appearances, in between quiet whispers, we don’t really know what to do. We would prefer a God we can see, a God we can shape and mould…dare we say it? a God we can control, so we know where you are at all times. We admit that those in-between moments, the ones that stretch on, that make up most of our lives, are hard on our faith.
Forgive us, God.
Forgive us for our limited vision and our faltering faithfulness. Forgive us for trying to manage our fear by domesticating your vastness in our ideologies and images. Forgive us for making worship more about what makes us feel good in stressful times, rather than the worship you desire. Turn back to us, and turn us back to you. Renew us in right relationship with you and with ourselves, that we may learn again to live as your people.
We ask in the name of the perfect One who embodied your presence and who promised to be with us always, Jesus the 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,
and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.

Sung Prayer: Blest are the pure in heart

Reading: Exodus 32.1-14 (New Revised Standard Version)
Last week we heard about the Passover meal that the Israelites observed the night before they escaped from Egypt. After that night, they travelled to, and through, the sea, and then into the desert, with God leading them in a pillar of fire to light the way at night and a pillar of cloud to show the way in the daytime. When they arrived at Mount Sinai, Moses made several trips up the mountain to speak with God, receiving the ten commandments and many other laws and instructions for how the people should organise their lives as a religious, social, and economic community. The story we will hear today happens during the fourth trip Moses makes up the mountain, which lasted 40 days and 40 nights as God and Moses spoke. Among the instructions given to Moses on this occasion was the call for the people to make an offering of precious metals and stones and fabrics for the building of a tabernacle—a moveable temple where God could dwell with the people wherever they were—with its furnishings, the ark of the covenant, the priest’s clothes, and the altar. As God is finishing up giving the law and instructions and Moses is preparing to take the tablets down to the people, today’s story takes place. It is from Exodus chapter 32, verses 1-14, and I am reading from the New Revised Standard Version:

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 2 Aaron said to them, ‘Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ 3 So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took the gold from them, formed it in a mould, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.’ 6 They rose early the next day, and offered burnt-offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.
7 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; 8 they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it, and said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”’ 9 The Lord said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10 Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.’
11 But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, ‘O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, “It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth”? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, “I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever.”’ 14 And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

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: In-Between Times

Remember back at the beginning of the book of Exodus, when God first spoke to Moses from the burning bush, and Moses was shy and retiring, and looked for any excuse he could think of to get out of going to confront Pharaoh? He said he didn’t think people would listen to him, he said Pharaoh would just brush him off, he said he stuttered and so couldn’t be a public speaker…

You’d hardly recognise that Moses now! Here he is on top of Mount Sinai, not just talking face to face with God, but actually arguing with God and winning the point—something he was never able to do with Pharaoh. Talk about building confidence!

We don’t know for sure how long it’s been since God called Moses, but it’s been long enough for arguments with the king and the people, plagues, and finally escaping. The Bible tells us that it took three months for the people to get from crossing the sea to the foot of Mount Sinai. During that entire three months, they’ve been able to see God leading them in the pillar of fire and cloud, and God has fed them with manna and quail every single day in the desert. Before that, of course, they saw God split the sea so they could walk through, and protect them from the Egyptian army. Before that, they witnessed the plagues. So it’s been a while — a year? A few years? — of constantly knowing God’s nearness and depending on God for everything, from daily bread to protection from enemies to navigation assistance.

Then Moses went up the mountain to talk to God again, and unlike the first time, when there was smoke and thunder and earthquakes and lightning, this time it was quiet.

When Moses had been gone for 40 days — six weeks! that’s half as long as they’d been traveling — they couldn’t take it anymore. They were so used to God’s constant presence, they didn’t know what to do when it was quiet. Where is God, if we can’t see the pillar of cloud or hear the thunder? When we aren’t having a Big Spiritual Experience, or when we are away from our religious spaces and rituals that remind us of God’s presence, where is God in the everyday boring bits of life?

It can feel as if God has abandoned us, when we come down from one of those spiritual mountaintop experiences and then have to go about regular life. Of course God had not left the Israelites alone, and God does not leave us…but that feeling that maybe God wasn’t paying attention anymore must have been strong, because the quietness was so different than how they had experienced God so far.

Is God allowed to be present differently? Or only in the one way we know and expect, and if God doesn’t show up like that, we’ll decide to abandon the whole enterprise?

The Israelites seem to have chosen the latter. They could not figure out how to be faithful in this time in-between the big revelations. For them, it was all-or-nothing: either God had to be visibly present, displaying power, all the time, or else God wasn’t worth following. So they decided to fill that gap with a god they could see, who would never disappear or be cloaked in mystery or stay silent for too long. This god they create will always be immediately available to them, and would definitely not be free to take a different form or work in any different way. He would be the same forever, predictable, just the way they liked it.

It’s very easy to see how this happens, I think. Sure, we look back now and wonder how they could have fallen so quickly into this trap of making a statue, but if we’re completely honest, we do the same. We’d like God to be predictable, and always immediately available in the ways we prefer, and never silent. And when we’re in those long stretches of life when God’s presence is less obvious, we slip easily into filling the gap with something else instead. It’s like the grown up version of the teenagers who party while the parents are out of town. Sure, we don’t make a golden calf anymore, but the fact that our idols are less tangible doesn’t make them any less dangerous.

The people asked Aaron to create a god who would meet their needs and wants, that would make them happy right now…and isn’t that often what we do, too? The instant gratification we get from, say, our beloved traditions…or our possessions…or our work…or even our relationships…or those conspiracy theories that fill the internet and the headlines…all of those can easily become idols that take the place of the true God, who does not exist merely to serve our every desire.

So many stories of God’s people throughout history are about God making a promise, and then the people faltering in their trust and so taking matters into their own hands, trying to move God’s timeline along. At Mount Sinai we see that they take worship into their own hands, defaulting to the traditions they knew from pagan Egypt, making something that would tide them over until the next big epiphany. Essentially, they were told what God’s love language is, and they ignored that and did what made them feel good instead. It’s an easy trap to fall into — in our human relationships and even more so in our relationship with the Holy.

Part of becoming God’s people is learning how to be faithful to God’s way, to live and worship and speak God’s love language, even when we can’t actually see or even sense God with us, and even if it isn’t the thing that would make us most comfortable. We know that God is everywhere present. We know that God is faithful. The question is how we live as if those things are true in between the big moments when our spirits soar and our hearts are filled with peace. Being faithful when we can see the pillar of cloud and fire in front of us is one thing…but what about when it feels like we’re on our own in the desert?

As we wait in the wilderness of pandemic restrictions right now…
As we wait in the wilderness of political upheaval right now…
As we wait in the wilderness of grief and uncertainty right now…
What idols tempt us?

Perhaps it’s the temptation to find someone to blame — whether it’s another country, or a political leader or party, or the neighbours who don’t follow the rules.

Perhaps it’s the temptation to romanticise “normal” and focus all our energy on getting back to it, forgetting that normal also meant destruction of the environment, overlooking inequality, and shrugging our shoulders at poverty and at underfunding of health and social care.

Perhaps it’s the temptation to insist on the traditions that have formed us, whether or not they lead the next generation toward God.

Perhaps it’s more tangible than that — maybe some of us have given in to overspending on online shopping, or gambling, or drinking, as a way to fill the emptiness of the days.

Whatever idols have crept in to this in-between time, and however seductive they seem, however happy they seem to make us in the moment, I promise they are not up to the ultimate task.

As we join the Israelites in being formed as God’s people, both as individuals and as a community, we would do well to remember that we do not get to control how God appears to us, when or where God acts or doesn’t act, or who God calls. Our job is to keep our eyes and hearts open, to look for God’s presence and action everywhere, not to insist that God will always be one way or in one place. When we begin to believe that God should be predictable and controllable, serving our happiness first, we have made an idol that cannot save us. God cannot be contained in our images or in our ideologies, nor tamed for our consumption or pleasure.

Instead, God asks us to trust. God demands that we do justice and love kindness and walk humbly. God commands us to love our neighbour and our enemy, whether we can see them or not. God asks us to use the gifts and resources we have been given, not to build a monument for our comfort, but to build up the kingdom of God. And God places us in community, calls us the Body of Christ, so we can support each other, remind each other of the stories of God’s power, and encourage each other to look for God’s presence, even in the everyday.

May it be so. Amen.

Hymn #111: Holy, Holy, Holy vv 1 & 4
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty!
early in the morning our song shall rise to thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty!
all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea;
holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity.

Prayer
Remember your people, O God.
In your wisdom and grace,
remember us.
Re – member us — put us back together,
for we have been pulled apart.
In places where people have turned against one another,
bring peace and remind us that we all belong to you.
In places where bodies and minds have turned against themselves,
give your healing and comfort, and a vision of hope in the midst of pain.
In places where fear outweighs love,
enlarge our hearts and open our hands.
In places where the creation is trampled under the weight of our desire for more,
show us the beauty of giving thanks for what we already have.
In places where some have plenty and others starve,
provide your bread of life once again, and show us how to share so that all may have enough.
In places where some use their power to silence minority voices,
lift up new ways of working together and guide us in your compassion.
In places where we have built walls to keep each other out,
renew your work of reconciliation, and bring us together to break bread and share stories.
In places where leaders have left others behind,
give them insight and courage to circle back and work for the good of all.
Remember us, O God.
You are holy, and you call us your holy people —
now reveal yourself once again among us,
that we may be re-made in your image this time.
With gratitude for your love, in praise for your wonders,
trusting in your faithfulness,
we pray through the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name of your son, Jesus the Christ.
Amen.

Benediction
As you go into your week, do not be tempted by those idols that promise comfort and happiness. Instead, continue to trust the promise of God’s presence, love, grace, justice, and peace.
And as you go, may the Spirit of God go above you to watch over you; may the Spirit of God go beside you to be your companion; may the Spirit of God go before you to show you the way and behind you to push you into places you might not go alone; and may the Spirit of God go within you, to remind you that you are loved more deeply than you can possibly imagine. May the fire of God’s love burn brightly in you, and through you into the world. Go in peace. Amen.

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