Sunday service for 16 January 2022
16 January 2022
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse phone: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
To hear the audio recording of this service, please phone 01475 270037. It’s a local landline number so minutes should be included in your phone plan.
Prelude Music
Welcome
Call to Worship
One: This is the day the Lord has made —
All: we will rejoice and be glad in it.
One: This is the day we see God’s presence face to face —
All: not bound in a building or a tradition, but in the flesh.
One: This is the day our relationship with God changes —
All: we will push through our fear to trust God’s goodness.
One: This is the day we have been waiting for —
All: when God’s vision becomes reality in the Body of Christ.
Prayer
What do you see when you come among us today, O God?
We come seeking an experience of your presence,
but we confess that we rarely look at our worship through your eyes.
Show us the truth, and reveal to us your vision —
for we confess there is more of a gap than we would like to admit.
Forgive us when we have reduced our relationship with you to a transaction,
when we turn up and say the words and make our offering
and expect you to bless us in return,
to come when we call and turn away when we don’t want you to look.
Forgive us when we have created barriers to seeking you in our community,
either saying or implying people must be, or look, or speak, or give, a certain way to belong.
Forgive us when we have believed, or even insisted,
that our tradition is the only way to meet you,
that the way we’ve always done it is the way it must always be done,
that what we understand now is all there is to know.
With some trepidation we pray you would come among us again this day,
turn over the tables and drive out our hubris,
that we may see as you see,
and then pursue your vision.
Your Spirit blows where she will, and we are listening, O God,
praying to be ready to move when you call.
We do not know where you are leading,
so we ask for the blessing of curiosity to overcome our fear,
that we may seek you, by day or by night.
When we speak without understanding,
give us also ears to listen for your story in the voices of others,
that we may learn the deeper truth you call us to live.
Bring your kingdom to birth among us, and within us, and through us, we ask,
in the name of the One who embodies your presence,
here and everywhere, Jesus the Christ.
Amen.
Music
(online) hymn 593: She Sits Like a Bird
(in person) Organ by Philip
Children’s Time (in person only)
Reading: John 2.13 – 3.21 (New Revised Standard Version)
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.’
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: new birth
I once attended a worship service where, when we walked in the front doors, the entire church was in disarray. Chairs were overturned and piled everywhere, the hymn books were scattered about, the banners were crooked, the offering plates looked as if they’d just stopped rolling across the floor, it felt as if there’d been a terrible rampage through the place. Nothing had been actually been damaged, it was just all upside down and messy, and everyone who came in was shocked and disoriented. Some felt uncertain, others angry, others sad, others just…bewildered. We looked around without really knowing what to do — should we put it back in order? Should we just each get a chair and sit in it ourselves and let the rest do whatever they were going to do? When a voice came through the microphones, we didn’t even really know where to look as we heard the story of Jesus turning over tables and driving out animals and challenging the very structure of worship at the biggest and busiest holiday of the year.
Jesus’ words sounded different when it was OUR space, OUR traditions, OUR comfort that had been disrupted.
In John’s gospel, Jesus has what I call his Temple Tantrum at the very beginning of his ministry. This is the first time he’s really been out in public, and he definitely made an impression. We might think of it, even, as the first painful push toward a new birth.
It was the big holiday, the time when everyone who could would come. The traditions were important and meaningful, and everyone wanted to get it right. On those big days, people come to experience the best of the way it’s always been, of course.
But the way it has always been doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the way it should be, or the way it always will be.
Jesus pushed on the idea that you have to have enough resources to be able to afford to worship. He pushed on the idea that you had to have the right kind of money or animals. He pushed on the idea that the part of the building that was accessible to newcomers was filled up with things they couldn’t use, leaving no space for them to worship or pray in their way. He pushed, hard, using a whip to drive out the idea that worshipping God is based in transactions. Buying and selling in order to worship God…but also the idea that giving something to God would lead to God answering prayers, forgiving sins, or doing something for us. This kind of transactional worship, transaction-based faith, is really a way for us to control God. If I do this, then God will do that in return.
But Jesus wants us to come out from that narrow place, that box that we put both God and ourselves in, to a bigger, more spacious place where we can grow and move and live abundantly, not simply in a ledger with columns for me and God.
Birth hurts, though. It’s disruptive and difficult and sometimes traumatic. It changes everything we thought we knew, everything about the way it’s always been — starting with some of those things that are most deeply embedded in how we think and what we do and how we see ourselves and how we see God.
It was disturbing enough that Nicodemus felt he needed to ask some more questions…but not where everyone could see, so he went at night. His conversation with Jesus was another painful push toward new birth, as Jesus challenged his insistence on taking everything literally. Nicodemus wanted the teacher to speak plainly and to fit into his preconceived notion of what a rabbi gifted by God would be like…and instead Jesus spoke in stories, metaphors, and poetic images. All of which leave room for interpretation, which is exactly what Nicodemus didn’t want. Wiggle room, space to move about and walk around and explore and experience…that’s what we’re birthed into, but sometimes the old boxes are comfortable and cozy and everything is clear and understandable.
Like the way Nicodemus and many of his fellow Pharisees — and, if we’re honest, the way many Christians still today — understand faith — as a way of life bounded by rules that were meant to keep you out of trouble and on God’s path. Every aspect of life then is carefully regulated so that you don’t step out of line and accidentally upset God…and if you’re careful enough, you might even come close to pleasing God, or maybe even experience God yourself through this careful faithfulness.
If you think of faith as a transaction, then every single action and thought could cause God to respond in kind, so it’s best to be very very careful.
Jesus offers Nicodemus a glimpse of something else — something wider and brighter. But it might hurt, leaving behind that cocoon of safety. Remember back in history, when the Israelites were delivered from slavery to freedom, through the waters of the sea? The delivery was difficult, and when they had come out into the openness and possibility of life with God rather than bondage to Pharaoh’s rules, they sometimes wanted to go back. But a new people had been born, of water and the Spirit, and the only way to go was forward. Now Jesus tells us that is coming again — he is pushing us out into a spacious abundant life, and the Spirit is going to do what she will. Just as we don’t ask to be born, and we don’t control the process, the same will be true for this new birth. All we do is follow the Spirit wherever she goes and trust that, paradoxically, leaving behind the small comfy place for the wideness of God’s mercy will actually bring us closer to God, not farther away as it feels at first.
Because new birth will require leaving behind the old place, the old ways…and it will be a loss. It will feel uncertain, unsafe, and uncomfortable. We’ll wish for the closeness we experienced when we were on the inside…but it’s on the outside where we can know abundant life in all its fullness. It’s on the outside that we can grow. It’s on the outside that we can experience family and community. It’s on the outside that we can see everything God has for us. Even when it seems cold and harsh and bright, God’s desire for us is to be born anew into the light of life.
Jesus gives a third hard push then. He reminds Nicodemus of the time when the Israelites were punished by venomous snakes during their wilderness journey, and Moses made a snake statue so that people who got bitten could look at it and be healed. They had to face their fears, and their sins, and when they looked at them head-on, eyes wide open, they could be healed and move forward. It seems like a random story to tuck in to this midnight conversation, but Jesus goes on to say that those who look at the truth revealed in the Word Made Flesh — even though it may be painful — will find themselves birthed into new life, here and now.
And those who can’t bear to look, who close their ears to the stories of others, who close their hearts and hands and retreat from the community around them, who insist on staying within the four walls of their comfortable box…they miss out on walking in God’s light today. They prefer to hide their brokenness rather than be honest about it, and so they end up groping around in the dark. They insist that the ways they’ve understood God, the ways they’ve worshipped, the ways they’ve lived, the rules they’ve created and the narrow worldviews they’ve built, are the only way to reach God…and as long as they do that, they are condemned to that small dark place. But for the sake of love, God in the flesh labours and pushes, and the Spirit calls and coaxes, because there is a whole new world of a life abundant with love and grace waiting, if we allow those old walls to fall away and face the truth.
Whether we are being confined by the way we’ve always done it, or by our desire to have everything be literal and clear, or by our unwillingness to be honest about our shortcomings, the Spirit is bringing us to new birth. Whether we are trapped in a transactional faith that requires us to be perfect and do certain things a certain way so that God will respond the way we want, or stuck in rules and regulations, or holding on to the hurt that poisons us because we don’t want anyone else to know about it, the Spirit is bringing us to new birth. Whether we have lost sight of the purpose of our traditions and ignored the ways they push others out, or decided to hide our approach to Jesus because we don’t want anyone else to see us talking to him, or find ourselves walking in the dark even after all this time, the Spirit is bringing us to new birth.
It may be scary. It may be painful. It may feel as if everything is turning upside down. But the promise is this: not that we were good and earned or bought our way to relationship, but rather that God so loved the world that he gave his Son, who was born that we too might finally be born, who delivers us through the waters into a good and spacious land, where we can flourish in the family of God’s people, growing up into maturity, into the full stature of Christ. Jesus pushes us out, to a new and abundant life. Come and see.
May it be so. Amen.
(online) Hymn 617: Great and Deep the Spirit’s Purpose
(in person hymn: Come Out of the Darkness (words: Kathy Galloway; tune: Sing of the Lord’s Goodness #157))
Prayer & Lord’s Prayer
We remember your word, Holy One —
we remember what you have said and done,
we remember your promise.
We come today with all our experiences and thoughts,
the trials and joys of the week, and of the past years,
to lift them into the light of your life
that you may reveal new truth we could not see before,
and draw us into deeper faithfulness,
in your name.
Loving God, you come among us
that we may recognise the truth and so live your abundant life, even now.
Your grace opens us to the honesty that allows us to change directions.
Help us to face those things that have hurt us, hurt others, and hurt your creation,
and to tell the truth about them, that we may be healed.
You are Love, O God, and your love brings life to all.
We approach with gratitude and praise
for you make space for our confusion even as you draw us into your heart.
We do not understand how, but your Spirit is at work,
and we give you thanks,
as we pray for your guidance
for those who wander in the shadows,
shadows of grief, despair, or mental illness,
shadows of addiction, loneliness, or fear,
shadows of poverty, violence, or injustice.
Let your light shine with hope and possibility, loving God.
And fill our hearts to overflowing with grace,
that we may be agents of your help,
reaching out, advocating, lifting up, and caring for our neighbours.
Give us ears to hear their stories, and minds open ready to trust them.
Give us hands ready to share our resources and wills ready to act.
Bring your people through the deep that we may be born into new life,
opening out before us with beauty and justice.
We ask these and all things in the name of 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.
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 617: Great and Deep the Spirit’s Purpose
Benediction
Go out into the world — out from the confines of the safe place, letting go of what holds you back from growing into the full stature of Christ, out to be born anew into the light of abundant life. And as you go, may the Spirit of God go above you to watch over you. May the Spirit of God go beside you to be your companion. May the Spirit of God go before you to show you the way, and behind you to push you into places you might not go alone. And may the Spirit of God go within you to remind you that you are loved more deeply than you can possibly imagine. May the fire of God’s love burn brightly in you, and through you into the world. Go in peace. Amen.
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.
Announcements
* This winter our theme is “Seeing Jesus.” Where do you see Jesus? What is he up to in your life, and in our community’s life?
*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!
* Teri will be away from 21 January – 2 February. If you have a pastoral need during this time, please contact Cameron on 630879 and he will connect you with an elder or the minister on call.
* All worship is online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print) and we also meet in person, subject to the usual protocols for distancing, hand hygiene, mask wearing. We can now welcome up to 85-100 people for worship with 1m distancing between households. No booking is required. Masks are required at all times inside the building, including while singing. If you are able, please enter by the front door in Bath street, and only those who need step-free access should use the back door.
* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page, led tonight by Teri. Log on at 6:58pm to join in.
* The Kirk now has online giving! If you have not already set up a standing order in order to facilitate your spiritual discipline of giving, or if you would like to make an extra gift to support the ministry St. John’s does in our parish, you can give online by clicking here. If you would like to set up a standing order, please contact Peter Bennett, our treasurer, or Teri and she can give you his details. You can also send your envelopes to the church or the manse by post and we will ensure they are received. Remember: no one is coming to your door to collect your envelopes, so please stay safe!
* Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Youtube, and to sign up for our email devotions! Midweek you can watch Wine and the Word and/or Westminster Wednesdays 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!
* Update from Venda:
We commenced with the 4th term of school on the 11th of October 2021. The lockdown level fluctuated until the 15 of September 2021, and we are now on Level 1 which means children can do some physical activities like dancing, subject to COVID-19 compliance. It has been very hard to not hug the children, although all staff members got vaccines we don’t want to risk. Children need love and we have missed hugging our children. Now children from the age of 12 years old are also getting vaccines. And there are lots of campaigns encouraging people to get vaccines as most people are still skeptical about it.
