Sunday service for 10 March 2024, fourth Sunday in Lent

Sunday 10 March 2024, Fourth Sunday in Lent, NL2-34
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143 
Email: TPeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Email Charlene, Parish Assistant: CMitchell (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Email Rob, student minister: RThomson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

Prelude Music (praise band)

Welcome & Announcements

*We Gather As God’s Family (As the Bible is brought in, we stand and sing)
A family gathered in love,
striving for justice and joy,
blessing the broken-hearted,
and sharing the hope of God’s kingdom.

Call to Worship
One: Come, bring your whole self to worship —
All: mind and body, heart and soul.
One: Love for God and love for our neighbour come together
All: for we cannot do one without the other.
One: This is the foundation of faith and life:
All: to love with all we have and all we are.

Hymn: In the Light of Your Mercy (Resound) – Praise Band

Prayer
We come to listen, O God,
with delight and anticipation,
not sure what you will say next.
With every word you challenge our expectations,
invite us to your narrow way,
and re-set us in your paths of righteousness.
May your love be our guide this day
bringing us into your kingdom,
for you made us for community and called us to care for one another.
We confess that we often care mostly for ourselves.
We look for ways to score points, to get ahead, to be right, to secure our futures,
and so it is impossible to find common ground.
Forgive us when we cannot see the forest for the trees.
Forgive us when we idolise generosity we have no intention of practicing.
Forgive us when we do not live up to our responsibility to care for each other.
Forgive us when we demand vulnerability from some but refuse to be vulnerable ourselves.
Forgive us when we seek recognition and honour and glory instead of the greater good.
Set us back on your path to real relationship,
where we can see each other as fellow travellers made in your image,
and learn to love one another as you have loved us.
We ask in the name of the One who perfectly embodies your Love, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Sanctuary Hymn: Spirit, Open My Heart (words: Ruth Duck; tune: Wild Mountain Thyme)

Sanctuary Children’s Time

Scripture Reading: Mark 12.28-44 (The Living Bible)
Last week we heard the religious and political leaders confronting Jesus in the Temple while the crowds looked on, and in his parables and teaching he reminded them that they have been acting like bad stewards — using the community, the earth, and their resources as if all of it belonged to them and could just be used to benefit themselves. All that arguing leads us to today’s reading, where we pick up in the second half of the gospel according to Mark, chapter 12, and I am reading from The Living Bible.

One of the teachers of religion who was standing there listening to the discussion realised that Jesus had answered well. So he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the first?”
Jesus replied, “The one that says, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only God. And you must love him with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.’
“The second is: ‘You must love others as much as yourself.’ No other commandments are greater than these.”
The teacher of religion replied, “Sir, you have spoken a true word in saying that there is only one God and no other. And I know it is far more important to love him with all my heart and understanding and strength, and to love others as myself, than to offer all kinds of sacrifices on the altar of the Temple.”
Realising this man’s understanding, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared ask him any more questions.
Later, as Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple area, he asked them this question:
“Why do your religious teachers claim that the Messiah must be a descendant of King David? For David himself said—and the Holy Spirit was speaking through him when he said it—‘God said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.’ Since David called him his Lord, how can he be his son?”
(This sort of reasoning delighted the crowd and they listened to him with great interest.)
Here are some of the other things he taught them at this time:
“Beware of the teachers of religion! For they love to wear the robes of the rich and scholarly, and to have everyone bow to them as they walk through the markets. They love to sit in the best seats in the synagogues and at the places of honour at banquets— but they shamelessly cheat widows out of their homes and then, to cover up the kind of men they really are, they pretend to be pious by praying long prayers in public. Because of this, their punishment will be the greater.”
Then he went over to the collection boxes in the Temple and sat and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Some who were rich put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two pennies.
He called his disciples to him and remarked, “That poor widow has given more than all those rich men put together! For they gave a little of their extra, while she gave up her last penny.”

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: Love Takes Up Space
These are some stories that many of us know so well we can talk about them with shorthand — the greatest commandment, the widows mite — and just assume everyone knows what they’re about. We know that a religious leader wanted to catch Jesus out, we know that the poor widow who gave it all is a model we hold up even though we don’t intend to follow what she did, so we hardly even need to listen because once the story starts, we know how it ends. Which makes them kind of hard to preach about because we all know what they’re about: love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself. As one of the other gospels puts it: on these two hang all the law and the prophets, they are the key for interpreting everything else in God’s word.

The thing is…in Mark’s gospel, which is the first one written, he didn’t actually say that phrase: on these two hang all the law and the prophets. Instead Jesus says “there are no other commandments greater than these.”

When I noticed that, I found myself headed down a bit of a rabbit hole that I had never noticed before because of how English translations have obscured something in the way Mark told the story. Now I know some of you love this and some of you hate it, but you’re coming down this rabbit hole with me.

When the religious leader came to ask Jesus his question, he asked what commandment was first — and the word he uses is prote — you might recognise it as proto, as in prototype. Literally it means which comes first: first in time, first step toward following commandments, that sort of first-and-foremost.

Jesus answered him with the first — quoting the verse from Deuteronomy that’s called the Shema, the most important Jewish prayer and affirmation of faith, the verse that Jews recite and pray several times every day: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One, you shall love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. There is no other possible answer to the question of what comes first, because this is the first prayer Jewish children learn, the first thing said in the morning and the last thing at night, and the first part of it is literally the first of the ten commandments, that God is One.

Then Jesus adds a twist by giving a second, and saying that it is “like” the first — using the word that means “same”, homoia, as in homogenous. He quotes it from Leviticus: Love your neighbour as yourself.

These two together, Jesus says, are GREATER than all the rest. This is where I think our translations let us down, because it turns out that the word for greater is meitzon which is related to “mega” and it often means BIGGER. Larger. Greater in size.

These two commandments, which Jesus says are like each other — to love God and love our neighbour — are bigger than all the rest. They take up more space.

And then the religious leader says to him “yes, you’re right, these two commandments are indeed MORE IMPORTANT than sacrifices.” He actually used yet a third word, pleion, that is about priorities. He says “yes you’re right” but then changes what Jesus actually said, to make it not that these two like-each-other commands are larger and take up more space than others, but that they are a more important priority. Which of course means that he has a list of God’s words that are not priorities, too, or maybe even unimportant enough that they’re safe to ignore.

Jesus’ response is to tell him that he almost got it. You are “not far” from the kingdom of God, he says…not far, but not there either. It’s clear Jesus believes that we could enter the kingdom of God here and now, but this religious leader hasn’t quite gotten there, even though he’s so close!

What does it mean to live a life where the biggest part is about loving God and loving our neighbour as ourselves? A life where the majority of our attention, our energy, our time, our resources, are taken up with love?

We see what it isn’t: when Jesus talks about the people who like to wear the fanciest clothes, have the best seats, and get recognised for their accomplishments, who pray long prayers and act all pious so that everyone thinks well of them, even though behind the scenes they are actually living in ways that contribute to injustice and harm others. Those people — no matter how much they pray or how much they put into the offering — are actually putting all their energy into projecting an image, pretending to be something they’re not so they look good.

And he shows us a glimpse of what it can be: the widow puts in her two pennies, which is nothing compared to the giant cheques from the wealthy, but she gives her all, while they give their extra. They keep the majority for themselves, and she chooses to let love of God and neighbour take up all her resources, trusting that when we all live according to the way God teaches, we will look after each other, rather than only ourselves.

I talk all the time about projecting an image, and how it takes up energy we really don’t have to spare. In this passage I think Jesus is telling us what we are supposed to be doing with the majority of ourselves…what should take up the lion’s share of our time, our attention, our resources…our diaries, our bank books, our conversation, our mental attention. To love God and love our neighbour as ourselves is meant to literally take up space in our lives, not to be first on a checklist of things of diminishing importance. Everything we do should actually be about these two things that are like each other.

So what does that mean? What does it look like to live a life where the main thing is love, where love takes up all the space, and there’s no room for stuff that isn’t about loving God and loving our neighbour? Because if we can learn to let love occupy the most space in our mind, heart, soul, and body, then we may just find ourselves living in the kingdom of God, here and now…not just close to it, but in it.

I think one place to start is to look honestly at ourselves and ask whether love is the main thing we see in our lives. And LOVE here isn’t about feeling warm fuzzies toward God or others, it’s an action in which we consciously choose to treat God and other people as valuable, as worthy and deserving of our loyalty and our care — regardless of how we are actually feeling about them. Looking at our diaries…do the things we give our time to reflect love of God and love of neighbour? Looking at how we spend our money…does our spending further our love of God and love of neighbour? Looking at our words…are they reflections of our love for God and God’s people?

We have to be honest with ourselves if there’s any hope of being honest with God or others. Otherwise the largest share of our lives is actually given over to pretending, which makes it impossible to be transformed — since if everything is fine, nothing needs changing! When we give up pretending — not just for Lent but for good — then we can choose to let love take up the most space. We can make different choices that will show love to neighbours, even the ones we’ll never meet, rather than harming them by, for instance, buying things that contribute to climate change or sweat shops or big corporations that drive small businesses and jobs out of communities… or by using hurtful words that we think are funny but actually communicate to others that we aren’t safe to talk to about hard things… or by holding on to systems that only benefit us while making life harder for others. We can make different choices in how we pray, what we feed our spirits with, and how we give our money and time to serving God and building up the Body of Christ.

Different choices are only possible if we are honest about what is taking up space in us: is it love? Or is it something else? And are we willing to give that something else up, so that love can take up more room?

Because the greatest of these — the biggest, largest, occupying-the-most of us, body, mind, heart, and soul — is love.

May it be so. Amen.

Hymn: The Church of Christ Cannot Be Bound (words: Adam Tice; tune 473 Irish)

Offering

Sanctuary Offering Response 374 v. 4
So let us learn how to serve,
and in our lives enthrone him;
each other’s needs to prefer,
for it is Christ we’re serving.
This is our God, the Servant King,
he calls us now to follow him,
to bring our lives as a daily offering
of worship to the Servant King

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
You loved us first,
before there was a world,
before we took our first breath,
before we had the chance to deserve it.
You loved us first.
And we are grateful—or grace-full, even—
for you continue to love,
with every divine breath
living and active, creating and redeeming and sustaining,
bringing healing, bringing new life, bringing hope.
Now turn our hearts, and our minds, and our strength,
to love as you love,
creating and healing and active.
We bring our praise, O God,
along with our commitment
to live according to your word,
to love you and love our neighbour
and so find ourselves in your kingdom.
We pray that our whole community might be bound together in love,
lifting each other up and journeying hand in hand along your way.
We pray, too, that your world might choose this way of love.
For those who have been taken advantage of, manipulated, or pushed to the margins,
we ask for your care and strength.
For those who are entrenched and cannot see a way to change without losing everything,
we ask for your mind-opening Spirit.
For those who have been abused in the name of love,
we ask for your healing.
For those too afraid to offer their whole self to you or to another,
we ask for your courage.
For those longing for another way,
we ask for your vision.
Give us courage to speak up and speak out,
to offer compassion even when we do not know what to say.
Where there is violence,
emotional or spiritual or physical,
in derisive words or hurtful actions,
give us courage to be peacemakers,
to insist that it is not okay to cause pain,
that your way is a way of compassion and reconciliation,
a way of picking each other up and looking out for each other’s welfare,
not a way of putting down or pulling ahead.
In this world where some give their whole life while others benefit
and where we reach first for weapons,
we need to know your love and your call yet again.
May all we say and do flow from your love for us, and our love for you and your world.

And on this tenth day of the month, we join our hearts as your church family to pray:
*For all who live and work in the Midton and Trumpethill areas.
*For the leaders of St John’s congregation: for the elders, the Kirk Session, the Session Clerk, the Treasurer, the pastoral care team, the flower team, and the many other volunteers.
*For the land, people, and governments of the nations of Libya, Malta, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Western Sahara, and Cape Verde.
May we all act as if we know what it is to be loved,
may we speak words of kindness and act on what we say we believe,
letting our love for you and for our neighbours take up the most space
in our hearts, minds, souls, and strength,
until all come together in your kingdom.

We pray these and all things trusting in your Holy Spirit to empower us,
in the name of Jesus the Christ who taught us to pray together with one voice:
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: Love the Lord (praise band)

Benediction
It is an endless dance — to love God, we must love our neighbour, and to love our neighbour well, we must love God. Go to join that dance, sharing the love of God, the generosity of Christ, and the strength of the Holy Spirit with all whom you meet.
And as you go, may the Spirit of God go above you to watch over you. May the Spirit of God go beside you to be your companion. May the Spirit of God go before you to show you the way, and behind you to push you into places you might not go alone. And may the Spirit of God go within you to remind you that you are loved more deeply than you can possibly imagine. May the fire of God’s love burn brightly in you, and through you into the world. Go in peace. Amen.

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

Postlude Music

Announcements

****** The Easter Code is in St John’s on Monday and Tuesday this week (11-12 March), and in St Margaret’s on Wednesday and Thursday (13-14 March). We are in need of volunteers from about 9-12 each day, if you’d be willing to help please speak to Teri!

* We worship in the sanctuary on Sundays at 11am, and all Sunday worship is also online. 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. If you feel unwell, please worship online, to protect both yourself and others in our community.

* A funeral service celebrating the life of Mrs. Margaret Turner will be held at Greenock Crematorium on Friday, 15 March, at 2pm. Please keep all Margaret’s family in your prayers.

* We are now in the season of Lent, and there are several opportunities over these 40 days to deepen our spiritual lives, to worship and study together, and to prepare our hearts and minds and lives for Easter.
1. There’s a daily devotional booklet available.
2. Each Wednesday at noon there will be a brief CONNECT service held in OGA, followed by a simple lunch together at 1230. Join our CONNECT friends for this time of worship and reflection and fellowship.
3. Wednesday 13 March at 7pm we will have a CONNECT Lent evening, held at Westburn church.

Looking ahead to Holy Week:
Sunday 24 March, 11am: Palm Sunday family service.
Wednesday 27 March, 7pm: CONNECT Holy Week service in St Margaret’s.
Thursday 28 March, 7:30pm: Maundy Thursday communion service in St. John’s.
Friday 29 March, 10am: Gourock cross-walk (TBC), followed by 12 noon Good Friday service in St John’s.
Saturday 30 March, 7:30pm: Easter Eve service in St John’s — a service that takes us through the whole story of salvation and brings us to the new light of resurrection.
Sunday 31 March, Easter Day: 7am service on Tower Hill, followed by breakfast communion in the large hall; 11am family service in the sanctuary.

**If you’d be willing and able to help with the Easter Breakfast, please speak to Anne Love, Charlene, or Graham Bolster. Thanks!

* Greenock Philharmonic Choir’s Spring Concert is on Saturday 23rd March at 7-30pm, in  Lyle Kirk, Union Street, Greenock. They will perform Mozart’s Requiem, plus two of the Handel Coronation Anthems, including ‘Zadok the Priest’, and featuring Glasgow Chamber Orchestra. For information or tickets (£15) – contact Calum on 07847 250529 or email  info@greenockphilharmonic.co.uk.     Tickets are available at the door on the night. Tea, coffee, cakes included. There is further information on the choir’s website and Facebook page.

* Starter Packs are in need of T-Bags, Kitchen Roll, Cleaning Cloths, Soap and Soap Powder, and Easter Eggs. The FoodBank are in need of tinned fruit, coffee, tinned vegetables, instant mash & breakfast cereal. You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!

* Did you know that the ministry we do at St John’s costs about £3000 per week? Everything we do is funded by your generous giving — all our support for young people, older people, bereavement care, community outreach, worship, study, spiritual growth, and community work is because of your offering. If you would like to 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 Teri and she can give you the treasurer’s details. You can also send your envelopes to the church or the manse by post and we will ensure they are received. 
It is also possible to donate to the work of the parish assistant, speak to Anne Love about how to go about directing new donations to that new item in the budget.

* 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!

* Wednesday Evening Bible Study meets in the manse at 7:30pm most weeks — but not this week, as we have the CONNECT Lent event on Wednesday at 7pm at Westburn.

* Bowl & Blether is on Monday the 18th of March, from 11:30-1:30. Why not invite a friend along to join you for some soup, a toast, and some chat in our lovely warm hall? If you’d like to volunteer, you’re always welcome! We make soup at 9:30, do the set up to serve at 11, and clean up from 1:30. Thank you!

* The Contact Group last meeting of the session is on Tuesday, the 19^th of March when they will hold their AGM, followed by a meal at Gourock Golf Club.  If you wish to join them please speak to Anne Armour or Fiona Webster.

* Free period products are available in the church toilets for anyone who might need them, thanks to Hey Girls and Inverclyde Council.

*** Our new evening service begins TONIGHT at 5pm!
Graham Gardiner is doing a placement with us this spring, focused on a project, and we hope everyone will support it!
Excited to explore faith in a new way?
Inspired by Teri’s recent sermon on New Wineskins, we’re launching a new Sunday Evening service starting March 10th at 5 pm.
What’s different?
No traditional sermon! Instead, we’ll dive deeper into the morning message through an engaging interview with the preacher.
Guitar-based music, Bible readings, and prayer will create a relaxed atmosphere for reflection and worship.
Did you miss the morning service? No worries! We’ll get you caught up before the discussion.
Imagine:
Gaining fresh insights from the morning message in a conversational format.
Discovering practical ways to apply the message to your life.
Enjoying a chilled vibe that fosters connection and reflection.
Join us for this exciting new experience!
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Graham
Ps. Spread the word and invite your friends!

Sunday service for 3 March 2024, third Sunday in Lent

Sunday 3 March 2024, Third Sunday in Lent, NL2-33
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143
Email: TPeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Email Charlene, Parish Assistant: CMitchell (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Email Rob, student minister: RThomson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

Prelude Music (praise band)

Welcome & Announcements

*We Gather As God’s Family (As the Bible is brought in, we stand and sing)
A family gathered in love,
striving for justice and joy,
blessing the broken-hearted,
and sharing the hope of God’s kingdom.

Call to Worship
1: The world belongs to God
2: The people belong to God
3: The community belongs to God
All: Everything — even the things we think are ours — belongs to God.
1: We bear God’s image in our own faces
2: We build on God’s Word
3: We are stewards of God’s vineyard
All: And all of it is precious to God.

Sanctuary Hymn: In the Light of Your Mercy (Resound) – Praise Band

Prayer (Rob)

Let us join our hearts in prayer.

Gracious and Merciful God, we come before you with hearts filled with gratitude and awe, for your Word of God, which we gather around and which is to be shared among us today. Before we are fit reflect upon the teachings and parables of Jesus, we must confess, O Lord, that there are times when we, have failed to recognize the significance of your messages. We have turned away from your guidance and mistreated those you have sent to lead us.

Forgive us, loving Father, for the times we have been resistant to your will, and for the moments when we have not respected those you have placed in our lives, to hold us accountable or tell us unflattering truths. We confess we have sometimes tried to replace you with a God that does not demand any response, any self-reflection or self-disciple. We have allowed the ways of the world to dominate our thinking and been greedy, selfish and hard hearted.

Open our hearts, we beg, to receive your Word with humility and obedience.

In adoration, we praise you for the boundless love revealed through your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We marvel at the cornerstone rejected, now the sure foundation of our faith. Your ways, O Lord, are indeed amazing in our eyes. We do not always comprehend them, give us the wisdom to be humble and the courage to apply that wisdom to our lives.

As we approach todays reading from the Gospel of Mark, may your Holy Spirit illuminate our understanding, that we may discern the deeper meanings within todays parables and their significance to us today. Help us to be receptive to your teachings and to respond with hearts that are ready to bear the fruits of righteousness.

We pray for the strength to emulate the example set by Jesus, especially in times of hardship and exhaustion. Grant us discernment over the rightful place of earthly obligations and how they impact spiritual matters.

May our worship be pleasing to you, O God, as we offer ourselves as living sacrifices and make the commitment to follow the path laid out by your Son. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Online Hymn: In the Light of Your Mercy (Resound) 

Sanctuary Children’s Time

Scripture Reading: Mark 12.1-17 (New Revised Standard Version) 
Last week we heard from the end of Mark chapter 10 about Jesus teaching his disciples and healing Bartimaeus as they passed through Jericho on the way to Jerusalem. Jericho is 18 miles downhill from Jerusalem, and as they walked up that hill they would gain half a mile in elevation. On arrival in Jerusalem, Jesus told the disciples to get him a donkey, and the people laid down tree branches and cloaks in the road — the story we know as Palm Sunday, but we’ve skipped reading Mark 11 for now because we’ll pick it up in a few weeks to begin our Holy Week journey. After entering the city, Jesus drove the sellers out of the Temple, and he taught people in the porticoes, and the chief priests and legal experts and elders confronted him there with the crowds looking on. We pick up the story during that confrontation in the gospel according to Mark chapter 12, beginning at verse 1, and I am reading from the New Revised Standard Version.

Then he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went away. When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
    and it is amazing in our eyes’?”
When they realised that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away.
Then they sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap him in what he said. And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it.” And they brought one. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this and whose title?” They answered, “Caesar’s.” Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him.

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.

Sanctuary Hymn 18: The Earth Belongs to God Alone (Psalm 24) (tune: 161 St Anne)

Sermon: New Cornerstone
Did anyone here give up something for Lent? I know people who have given up sweets, or Facebook, or things like that. One year a friend of mine tried to give up single use plastic, and another fossil fuels — both things that feel impossible but forced them to think about changing their habits in more sustainable ways than simply not eating puddings for a few weeks, and that changed the ways they lived after Easter, too. Lots of times there are things given up for Lent that we have no intention of changing permanently, which seems to ignore the purpose of a spiritual discipline. For a few years, many years ago when I could survive such things, I gave up caffeine for Lent and then on Easter morning in between the sunrise and 11:00 services I went to Starbucks twice. Not exactly an inspiring and life-changing spiritual discipline! To get closer to God, I ultimately had to look deeper than that.

On the first Sunday in Lent we heard the story of the man whom Jesus told to give up everything — all his possessions, which also meant giving up his sense of self-sufficiency, learning to be interdependent in community. That’s a pretty significant sacrifice, and for more than a season, it’s a whole new way of living. Last week we heard about James and John being told to give up seeking their own glory, turning their attention away from their preferred seats at Jesus’ right and left hand and toward being a servant to others — again, learning to look at other people in a whole new way. And today we have a story that, at first glance, looks like it could be about giving up paying taxes, or maybe giving up greed. But of course like all parables, there’s more than meets the eye and it is easy to get caught up in asking the wrong question.

The story begins with a man who leases his vineyard to tenants who then refuse to give over the owner’s share of the harvest, which at first seems to invite us to make those allegory equivalencies, where a character in the story equals a person in real life. However, I think it falls apart almost right away when we realise that the owner of the land, who we naturally want to equate with God, is an absentee landlord — he plants the vineyard and then goes away to live in another country. He then appears to have a callous disregard for life as he sends slave upon slave to be beaten or killed, knowing what happened to the one before him. And none of that sounds like God, does it? God doesn’t plant the vineyard and then leave. God doesn’t send people to their abuse or death. So right away we can see that the story isn’t going to be quite as straightforward as we might like!

The prophet Isaiah also told a parable about a vineyard — a parable in which the vineyard was God’s covenant people. In Isaiah’s parable, God is clearly the planter, and takes good care to make sure the vineyard has everything it needs, from nourishment to protection, and yet the vineyard produces bad grapes instead of good. In the explanation, the prophet says that God expected justice and mutual community but got injustice and violence instead.

So the people hearing Jesus tell his parable would have immediately recognised the beginning: a man planted a vineyard. They would hear Isaiah’s version in their minds. But then this parable didn’t go the way they would expect…there’s no one in the parable doing justice, and everyone, from the top down, does violence. The system itself, where someone comes into a community and buys up land, then finds people to work it for him for an exorbitant rent, is unjust in itself, and then the tenants do horrible violence to those sent to them, and the owner seems not to care about anything other than collecting the rent, until it’s his own family line that bears the consequences. The political and religious leaders listening recognised themselves in this story of injustice from top to bottom, and they didn’t like it…but they also couldn’t do anything about that, because the rest of the crowd, normal people, also recognised them in it. Those elites looked around and realised that Jesus had told a story that raised awareness of injustice that they themselves were participating in, either economically as owners or spiritually as leaders, and the people who suffered under it knew it…which made for a pretty volatile situation, because there’s nothing like a crowd who knows the source of their suffering is standing in their midst!

Those religious and political leaders had no choice but to go away and leave Jesus and the crowds to their conversation…and to plot their revenge behind closed doors. Which is how they hit on the idea of sending some others — supporters of king Herod, and some Pharisees who were meticulous about rules and purity — to try to trap him in treason.

Are we to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? Jesus responded by turning the trap on them. Many observant Jews of the day refused to carry Roman coins with them, because they had a literal graven image on them. Jesus didn’t have a coin, neither did any of his disciples. But these supposed leaders of faithfulness and purity…they had one. In one wee question, Jesus has already revealed their hypocrisy, but he drove it home anyway: whose picture is that?

Then he said that famous line: render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And we all know what bears God’s image: human beings. We are made in the image of God, and we are meant to be given over to God’s work the same way that the currency bearing Caesar’s image was out in circulation doing the work of building an empire.

And here we find the key to that vineyard story: the tenants wanted the vineyard for themselves. They wanted to believe they were the owners, that they were in charge, that everything they did was for their own benefit and glory. But the vineyard didn’t belong to them. They didn’t own it. It wasn’t their image on the coin, or their name on the door. Ultimately it just wasn’t theirs. They had a duty, an obligation, a calling to be loyal to the one who had placed them as good stewards. Yet as soon as they thought he wasn’t looking, they used all the tricks and violence they had to get it for themselves.

In Isaiah the vineyard was the people…if that’s still true in this parable, then the vineyard is God’s people who are indeed producing fruit, a bountiful harvest even, but are being let down by leaders who want want what they want rather than giving to God what belongs to God, which includes themselves. Leaders who aren’t re-investing in the community, and aren’t enabling the people to offer themselves to God, but are instead seeking their own glory and doing everything they can to keep the profits for themselves while the people suffer. They’re treating the community of God’s people as their own to do with as they please, to use for their own benefit and forgetting who is actually the head of the Body.

Jesus quotes the psalms to say that if you do that, your entire building, your whole life system, your whole society, is built on a faulty cornerstone. From the first stone in the foundation, it’s so weak it can only be held up by violence and injustice and exploitation.

That’s not something that can be changed by giving up chocolate for a few weeks.

It would require dismantling the whole building and starting again from the cornerstone. This isn’t just a little project where we can tweak a few things, change the paint colour or some new carpets. It’s not the kind of thing you try out for six weeks and then breathe a sigh of relief on Easter morning when you can finally sip that glorious mocha again. It’s a reconstruction, in order to build on a new foundation.

Jesus knows it’s a hard ask: the builders previously rejected the stone. It’s too naive. It’s too difficult. It’s impossible to love your neighbour and to do justice and to seek the good of others ahead of your own. It’s silly to think we can recognise the image of God in every single person, even those people. It’s not in our interest to give to God what is God’s, we have to keep some for ourselves, for a rainy day, for our security.

But the thing is…none of it is ours.

The earth belongs to God alone, and all that it contains. We are made in God’s image. All we are and all we have is a gift, and we are the stewards, meant to use these gifts to do God’s work. And we are the Body of Christ: he’s the head, not us.

To get there, we’ll need to give up our sense of self-sufficiency and having more than we need, and turn toward community, just like the man from two weeks ago. We’ll need to give up our search for personal glory and turn toward servanthood, just like James and John. And perhaps most difficult, actually: we’ll need to give up thinking this is MINE — and remember in the story the vineyard is the people, so this applies especially to the church — give up thinking it’s ours and turn toward being good stewards of the Body of Christ, offering to God the things that belong to God — which is to say, everything, holding nothing back because we want it for ourselves, we think we deserve it, or because we feel like God might be far away and not paying attention so we can get on with doing things the way we think they should be done.

Each time we give up something like this, difficult as it is, we take another wall out of the structures that have been built on the faulty foundation, so that we can rebuild from the cornerstone of Christ. It may take a lifetime of Lents, yes, but we’ll never get there if we change the window dressing for a few weeks and ignore the shifting sand beneath our feet.

It feels impossible, and bigger than us, and that’s true… But nothing is impossible with God. We’ve been given a cornerstone that can withstand any storm, and made in the image of the master builder, and promised the Holy Spirit as our strength and guide. The question is really whether we want to be doing God’s work …or the emperor’s. Whose image do we want to reflect, and what are we willing to give up for it?

Give to God the things that belong to God.
May it be so. Amen.

Hymn 721: We Lay Our Broken World

Sanctuary Offering 

Sanctuary Offering Response 374 v. 4
So let us learn how to serve,
and in our lives enthrone him;
each other’s needs to prefer,
for it is Christ we’re serving.
This is our God, the Servant King,
he calls us now to follow him,
to bring our lives as a daily offering
of worship to the Servant King

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
We are grateful, O God, for your devotion to your creation.
For you do not leave us nor forsake us,
you care deeply about the welfare of the land, sea, animals,
and interdependence of your created community.
Remind us again today that it all belongs to you,
and we are your servants, appointed to care for what you love,
to act on your will, and to do all things for your glory.
We bring to you today our gifts,
returning a portion of what you have given us,
praying you will bless it and use it to further your kingdom.
We also bring to you today our prayers for the earth,
and for those who labour on it.
Especially we lift up those whose work is often overlooked and yet essential,
those who till the soil and bring forth food for others,
those who coax crops out of dry and depleted land,
those who watch the changing climate with firsthand dread.
May there be justice for farm workers,
whose working conditions and health and wages are too often used as collateral in a game of greed.
We bring our prayers today for those who do not have enough to eat,
whose work does not pay enough for them to feed their families,
who feel they must put up with unsafe or unjust systems just to get by.
And we bring our prayers today for those who have bought into the game of exploitation to further their own self-interest,
those who use others so they can get rich with clean hands,
those who manipulate the political and religious and economic institutions to trap others and promote themselves.
May all your people everywhere, Lord, know to whom they belong,
and act on your love, and in the interest of your kingdom.
May justice roll down like waters,
overturning the stones that build other kingdoms,
watering the parched earth,
quenching thirst and washing away greed.
May your people be allowed to flourish,
with leaders who bring out the best in others and nurture the possibilities of the future.

Sometimes your teaching is difficult, Lord.
We hear your story, but we would rather not.
Your truth is there for those who wish to hear,
and we pray today not only for understanding
but also for willingness to change.
May your word enter us and not be forgotten,
but rather take up residence and transform us
pulling down what is built on a faulty cornerstone,
and building up a Body that reflects only your image,
set on the firm foundation of your living Word, Jesus the Christ,
in whose name we pray, as he taught us:
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: We Are Called to be God’s People (words: Thomas A Jackson b. 1931; tune: 338 Ebenezer)

Benediction
Remember you are made in God’s image, to be stewards of God’s grace in community. Go from this place to give to God the things that are God’s.
And as you go, may the Spirit of God go above you to watch over you. May the Spirit of God go beside you to be your companion. May the Spirit of God go before you to show you the way, and behind you to push you into places you might not go alone. And may the Spirit of God go within you to remind you that you are loved more deeply than you can possibly imagine. May the fire of God’s love burn brightly in you, and through you into the world. Go in peace. Amen.

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

Postlude Music

Announcements

* We worship in the sanctuary on Sundays at 11am, and all Sunday worship is also online. 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. If you feel unwell, please worship online, to protect both yourself and others in our community.

* A funeral service celebrating the life of Mrs. Margaret Turner will be held at Greenock Crematorium on Friday, 15 March, at 2pm. Please keep all Margaret’s family in your prayers.

* We are now in the season of Lent, and there are several opportunities over these 40 days to deepen our spiritual lives, to worship and study together, and to prepare our hearts and minds and lives for Easter.
1. There’s a daily devotional booklet available.
2. Each Wednesday at noon there will be a brief CONNECT service held in OGA, followed by a simple lunch together at 1230. Join our CONNECT friends for this time of worship and reflection and fellowship.
3. Wednesday 13 March at 7pm we will have a CONNECT Lent evening, held at Westburn church.

Looking ahead to Holy Week:
Sunday 24 March, 11am: Palm Sunday family service.
Wednesday 27 March, 7pm: CONNECT Holy Week service in St Margaret’s.
Thursday 28 March, 7:30pm: Maundy Thursday communion service in St. John’s.
Friday 29 March, 10am: Gourock cross-walk (TBC), followed by 12 noon Good Friday service in St John’s.
Saturday 30 March, 7:30pm: Easter Eve service in St John’s — a service that takes us through the whole story of salvation and brings us to the new light of resurrection.
Sunday 31 March, Easter Day: 7am service on Tower Hill, followed by breakfast communion in the large hall; 11am family service in the sanctuary.

**If you’d be willing and able to help with the Easter Breakfast, please speak to Anne Love, Charlene, or Graham Bolster. Thanks!

* Starter Packs are in need of T-Bags, Kitchen Roll, Cleaning Cloths, Soap and Soap Powder, and Easter Eggs. The FoodBank are in need of tinned fruit, coffee, tinned vegetables, instant mash & breakfast cereal. You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!

* Did you know that the ministry we do at St John’s costs about £3000 per week? Everything we do is funded by your generous giving — all our support for young people, older people, bereavement care, community outreach, worship, study, spiritual growth, and community work is because of your offering. If you would like to 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 Teri and she can give you the treasurer’s details. You can also send your envelopes to the church or the manse by post and we will ensure they are received. 
It is also possible to donate to the work of the parish assistant, speak to Anne Love about how to go about directing new donations to that new item in the budget.

* 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!

* Wednesday Evening Bible Study meets in the manse at 7:30pm most weeks.

* Bowl & Blether is on tomorrow, Mondays the 4th and 18th of March, from 11:30-1:30. Why not invite a friend along to join you for some soup, a toast, and some chat in our lovely warm hall? If you’d like to volunteer, you’re always welcome! We make soup at 9:30, do the set up to serve at 11, and clean up from 1:30. Thank you!

* The Contact Group on Tuesday, the 5th of March at 2pm in the large hall. The speaker will be Kenny Wilson of the Wherries. Everyone is welcome to this and all fortnightly meetings.

* Free period products are available in the church toilets for anyone who might need them, thanks to Hey Girls and Inverclyde Council.

* Graham Gardiner is doing a placement with us this spring, focused on a project, and we hope everyone will support it!
Excited to explore faith in a new way?
Inspired by Teri’s recent sermon on New Wineskins, we’re launching a new Sunday Evening service starting March 10th at 5 pm.
What’s different?
No traditional sermon! Instead, we’ll dive deeper into the morning message through an engaging interview with the preacher.
Guitar-based music, Bible readings, and prayer will create a relaxed atmosphere for reflection and worship.
Did you miss the morning service? No worries! We’ll get you caught up before the discussion.
Imagine:
Gaining fresh insights from the morning message in a conversational format.
Discovering practical ways to apply the message to your life.
Enjoying a chilled vibe that fosters connection and reflection.
Join us for this exciting new experience!
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Graham
Ps. Spread the word and invite your friends!