Sunday service for 11 February 2024, Transfiguration Sunday

11 February 2024, NL2-29, Transfiguration
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse phone: 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 into the Messiah’s bright and dazzling light —
All: the day of God’s kingdom dawns.
One: Come to learn from the Son of Man —
All: the One who makes sense of this human life.
One: Come to follow the Son of God who shines with love and power —
All: who lights our way into a world in need of good news.

Prayer
Gracious God,
we come today seeking a moment of respite,
a chance to rest in your reality where everything works together for good,
to be nourished and renewed by your presence that brings clarity to our confusion.
In this time of worship,
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
we step once again into the light of your love.
You invite us to a new way of life, O God —
based in honesty and trust,
following you into the fullness of life and death and new life,
with all the ups and downs.
We confess that we don’t like to think of the hard parts,
and we prefer to turn away
when we see suffering coming toward us or those we love.
We admit that we have even tried to protect you,
stepping in front and trying to change your way
to fit our own comfort and idea of success.
Forgive us when we impose our limited understanding on you.
Guide us to take our proper place following you,
rather than trying to lead you.
Show us how to orient ourselves to you,
so that all else fits together for your big picture,
and your light shines out through us.
Strengthen us by the whole communion of saints,
energise us by your Holy Spirit,
to go out once again into this world you so love.
Amen.
 

Hymn: Open the Eyes of My Heart (praise band)

Reading: Mark 8.27-9.8 (Common English Bible)
Jesus and his disciples went into the villages near Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”
They told him, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others one of the prophets.”
He asked them, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Christ.” Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Then Jesus began to teach his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and the legal experts, and be killed, and then, after three days, rise from the dead.” He said this plainly. But Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him. Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, then sternly corrected Peter: “Get behind me, Satan. You are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”
After calling the crowd together with his disciples, Jesus said to them, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them. Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he comes in the Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Jesus continued, “I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see God’s kingdom arrive in power.”
Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain where they were alone. He was transformed in front of them, and his clothes were amazingly bright, brighter than if they had been bleached white. Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus. Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s make three shrines—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He said this because he didn’t know how to respond, for the three of them were terrified.
Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice spoke from the cloud, “This is my Son, whom I dearly love. Listen to him!” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

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: Lifelong Learners
On the fourth day of my first year of school, a bunch of years ago now, I arrived home with a note in my backpack from the teacher to my mother, saying, “Teri tried to teach the class again today.”

Again. Like it was not the first time. On the fourth day of school.

I imagine that my teacher was not excited about a five year old correcting her and trying to fix her teaching methods…especially not more than once within the first week!

And that’s a little how I imagine this exchange between Jesus and Peter. Jesus asked a question, and Peter — for the first time in their ministry together — got the answer right! And then Jesus started to explain the next step, what the answer actually meant, and Peter realised that…what, Jesus was an incompetent teacher and explaining it wrong? So he stepped up and CORRECTED JESUS. As if he was the teacher with the red pen, he tried to correct Jesus and pick up teaching the class the right way…apparently completely oblivious to the fact that he was the equivalent of a five year old taking over the classroom.

Jesus’ response at first feels pretty harsh. Get behind me Satan! But much like last week, I think the meaning of that admonishment depends a lot on how we say it. We can hear Jesus’ tone as one that basically says “get out of my sight” — angry, or disappointed that Peter has turned out to be the worst student ever, or like Peter just got on his last nerve. In that case we might hear the word “Satan” as if Jesus meant that Peter was possessed by an evil spirit, even. But the reality is that the word satan means “adversary” and in some ways, that’s what Peter was in that moment — he took hold of Jesus, I imagine him grabbing Jesus by the shoulders and looking him in the eye to try to correct his wrongheaded thinking. But what if Jesus said “get behind me Satan” to mean “stop confronting me and fall in behind me, because you are meant to follow me not to get in front of me.”

That sounds pretty different, when it’s a reminder to Peter that just because he got one question right, that doesn’t make him the teacher. He is supposed to be a follower of Jesus, and that means listening to him and not trying to get his own red pen out, and not trying to take his spot at the front of the classroom. And so Jesus says: get behind me, because you can only follow if I’m in front and you can see where I’m going, and put your footsteps in mine. When you try to take my place, you’re acting like an adversary, not a student.

As the story goes on, we can tell that Jesus must not have meant “get out of my sight” because a week later he takes Peter, along with James and John, up the mountain…and Peter wouldn’t still be in the inner circle if Jesus had really meant to say he was evil. Up on that mountaintop, the three of them see Jesus in all his glory, the full truth of who he is: standing there chatting with Moses and Elijah, who had led God’s people during the major turning points in their history, and suffered the trials and tribulations of leading people who didn’t understand and were always trying to take over and go another direction. It’s like when we get together with colleagues or friends in the same stage of life, so we can talk about things other people just don’t get. Unveiled and with the Spirit of God shining through, Jesus got to be his full-on whole real self with those leaders God had worked through before, and Peter, James, and John got to see.

Of course they had no idea what they were seeing, and Peter opened his big mouth again to show that he understood very little…seeing the big name heroes of his faith all together in one place, he wanted to build a shrine. A church for each one of them — three!! — right there on that one mountaintop. That way people could come and commemorate this moment and admire the buildings built in their honour and then go away again safe in the knowledge that the holy place was there even if they didn’t experience it anywhere else.

But before he could even get the sentence all the way out, God overshadowed them all with a cloud…I always picture it like a cloud cover that enveloped them so they couldn’t see their hands in front of their faces. And they heard it: the voice Jesus heard at his baptism, now audible for all of them: this is my Beloved Son, listen to him. And then the cloud parted and only Jesus was there.

The disciples had to go back down the mountain with God’s voice ringing in their ears: listen to him.

Like a student in your rightful place following behind the leader…listen to him. Follow his directions. Practice what he teaches because otherwise it’ll be in one ear and out the other. Don’t just stay up on the mountain reminiscing about the light you saw once, get down there and do what he tells you, every day. We won’t get it right all the time, but Jesus doesn’t kick us out of the class for that, he just reminds us to take up our rightful place, following him and not trying to teach him to follow us.

In a few minutes we’ll baptise Arthur into this life of following Jesus — we’ll declare that no matter what, he is loved by God and he belongs to Christ, even when he makes mistakes or tries to teach the class again or what. And we’ll promise that we’ll be with him, fellow students on the way, always learning together what it means to be a Christ-follower. None of us has it all figured out, none of us has yet completed our Christian education — we are meant to be lifelong learners. Each and every one of us is supposed to still be a student, a disciple, following behind Jesus and going wherever he goes, doing what he says, day in and day out — not just when we’re in the holy buildings, not just when we’re together, not just when we think we’ve got it right, not giving up when we get it wrong, but every day of the week we are learning how to live in God’s love and listen to God’s son, because that is how we will see his glory shining, even in this world.

May it be so. Amen.

Hymn: Be the God of All My Sundays (words: Martin Leckebush; tune: Ode To Joy)
Be the God of all my Sundays,
be the focus of my praise;
it is you I choose to honour
on this special day of days.
God who made me, God who saved me,
with your people I belong
as we come to hear you speaking
and to join our hearts and song.

Be the God of all my Mondays:
let my lifestyle make you known;
give me courage in confession
when I stand for you alone.
Be my God through work and leisure,
rest and travel, day and night;
let me keep a clear awareness
of a life lived in your sight.

Be the God I serve and worship
day by day, throughout the week,
God whose flawless care sustains me,
God whose guiding word I seek.
Be my God through every moment,
every circumstance I face,
God of life in its completeness,
God of holy, daily grace.

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer

God-with-us,
you refuse to stand apart,
to hover above,
to step back from your beloved creation.
We thank you for your presence in our midst,
and for your insistence that we who bear your name
be present in the midst of all that goes on in the world.
You are here,
walking the journey of life
through the shadowed valleys,
the nights of weeping,
the hurts and disappointments,
with us.
Bless those who suffer with comfort and joy dawning with the morning light.
You are here,
witnessing the power struggles,
the greed and self-centredness,
the brokenness of the systems that shape our thinking
and the seeming impossibility of change.
Bless us with imagination to allow your new thing to spring forth
and the political will to seek the common good.
You are here,
showing us what love looks like in action,
inviting us into relationship,
teaching us how to be in community with one another,
insisting on truth and reconciliation rather than judgment and fear.
Bless those whose relationships struggle, and those who are isolated and lonely,
with the nurturing wholeness of your gracious presence.
We join our hearts as your church family on this 11th day of the month to pray
*For all who live and work in the Castle Levan area.

*We pray for the music ministry of St John’s: for the choir, the praise band, the organist, and all who enable our worship and prayer through music.

*For the land, people, and governments of the nations of Mauritania, Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.

You are here,
and though the ways of the world would rather you weren’t,
though the temptation to sequester ourselves somewhere safe with you is strong,
though the path ahead will not be easy,
we pray you would bring us with you as you head down the mountain again,
into the fray,
bringing your love and peace and justice to all,
revealing your kingdom coming with power among us,
even now.
We ask in the name of the Son who shines as Light of the World,
Jesus the Christwho 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 Offering

Sanctuary Offering Response: God Our Gifts We Lay Before You (words: Leith Fisher; tune: Abbot’s Leigh)
God, our gifts we lay before you,
gifts of hand and heart and mind;
these we offer to adore you;
may you ever in us find
willing hands for costly giving,
spirits faithful, spirits true,
shaping in our daily living
gifts of worth to honour you.

Sanctuary Children’s Time with the Sacrament of Baptism

Sanctuary Hymn 448: Shine, Jesus Shine (praise band)

Benediction
Go from this time of worship to orient yourself to following Jesus, learning from him and letting the light of his love shine out through your 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.

Postlude Music

Announcements

****Please can you fill in a new Gift Aid form as part of your New Year’s resolutions? We want to be sure our records are correct so we maximise our Gift Aid claims, and some of those records are outdated so we are asking everyone to do a new one. You can download it here and send it in! 

** We are working to update our church roll database — it includes your contact details, as well as your birthdate if you’re willing to share it (as we send birthday and Christmas cards to all those 80 and older). If in the past several years you have moved house or changed telephone number or email address (or gotten rid of your landline and use only a mobile, or vice versa!), could you please let us know? You can contact our roll keeper Sheila directly on sheilamumford (at) btinternet.com, or let Teri or Cameron or Charlene know and they will pass the information on. Thank you!

* 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.

* Starter Packs are in need of of bathroom/kitchen cleaner, washing up liquid, dish cloths, scourers and kitchen roll.
The FoodBank are in need of UHT milk, rice pudding, long-life fruit juice & cooking sauces. You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!

* The season of Lent begins next week, and there will be several opportunities to deepen our spiritual lives, to worship and study together, and to prepare our hearts and minds and lives for Easter. Watch for announcements about Wednesday lunchtime services, some evening gatherings, and possibly a devotional booklet to guide you through the season. 

* The school chaplaincy team will be doing Firm Foundations for P7s at Moorfoot on Tuesday 20 February, and we need someone willing to make hot chocolate and deliver it to the school between 10-10:15am. Everything except milk will be provided for you, including flasks and pots and hot chocolate mix. Please speak to Teri if you are willing to volunteer!

* 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.

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

* The next Bowl & Blether is Monday the 19th of February, doors open at 11:30 and soup and toasties are served from 12-1:30. All are welcome! We are looking for volunteers to help make soup at 9:30am, and to help serve from 11:30 onwards.