Sunday service for 18 December 2022, fourth Sunday of Advent

Sunday 18 December 2022, NL1-16, Advent 4
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143 
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

Prelude Music

Welcome and Announcements

*Sanctuary Hymn: Through the line of Joseph, Mary (words: Joanna Harader 2022, tune: Hyfrydol)

Through the line of Joseph, Mary,
Tamar, Judah, Rahab, Ruth,
Comes a saviour for the nations,
born Messiah of humble birth.
God’s eternal presence with us
Through the ages grace imparts.
Holy power in fragile infant
Resting in his parents’ hearts.

Mary welcomes Holy Spirit
In her life and in her womb.
Fear gives way to awe and wonder,
Holding space and making room.
God’s eternal presence with us
In that ancient time and land.
Holy power in fragile infant
Resting there in Mary’s hands.

Joseph, open to the myst’ry
heeds his dream of angel voice,
keeps his promise, holds in honour
Mary his belov’d, his choice.
God’s eternal presence with us
in that home made safe and warm.
Holy power in fragile infant
resting there in Joseph’s arms.

Lighting the Advent Candle
One: In the midst of this world, here and now:
All: God is with us.
One: In the astonishing
and in the impossibly hard;
in the shadows
and in the absolute clarity:
All: God is with us.
One: Take heart, for even now
All: a new thing springs forth!
One: In the midst of this world,
All: God’s word is fulfilled.
One: Because Emmanuel, God is with us:
All: We love as we have been loved, unconditionally.

Sanctuary — All Sing:
As we light the advent candle,
with the light of love burning bright,
faithfully we wait for his coming,
faithfully it shines through the night!
In our humble hearts, a fire burns as well;
hear the prayer these flames would tell:
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel.

All: You are a God of surprises,
and we pray for the openness to receive!
Just when we have figured out what your word meant in the past,
you give it new meaning for the future, too.
Just as we come to terms with an ordinary name
that carries extraordinary weight,
you offer a second as well.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, Emmanuel, for your surprises,
and for all the ways you are both so big and beyond,
yet also right here, with us.
Amen.

Online Hymn 304: O Little Town of Bethlehem
Sanctuary Hymn 316: Love Came Down at Christmas

Prayer
Holy God, you call us to righteousness, to a way of life that reflects your holiness.
We are resolved… to stick to our ways, for we have called them yours.
We confess, though, that we find it difficult to adjust when you speak a new thing.
We have definite ideas about how things should be.
We have plans and expectations.
Forgive us, and make us flexible enough to change course
when your Spirit leads a different direction.
Forgive us, and give us the humility to know our place in your story,
to recognise your ways that are higher than our ways,
to lay aside our expectations in order to take up the task you call us to do.
Bring your new world to birth, O God,
and make us ready to receive it.
We ask in the name of the One who comes among us
revealing your unconditional love in the flesh, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Sanctuary Sung Prayer hymn 304 O Little Town of Bethlehem, verse 3

Sanctuary Children’s Time (O Little Town verse 4)

Reading: Matthew 1.1-25 (New Revised Standard Version)
An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him 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: Making Space
When I was thirteen years old, my younger brother and I, and our parents, stood together in a courtroom as a judge asked us if we wanted to be family together. My mom had married my stepdad two years before, and now we had a chance to make things even more official through adoption…for my brother and I to change our last names, for our birth records to be updated, to make my stepdad into my dad forever. Of course we all said yes, even though I imagine that some days during the next 27 years, my dad might have looked at me and my brother and wondered what on earth he had gotten himself into!

I admit that from my kid perspective I have only some limited memories of the courtroom and at the time my brother and I were super excited about the ice cream cake that we had to celebrate. But the lifetime of knowing we were family together, that my dad had made room for us and we for him — it’s priceless.

Matthew’s telling of the Christmas story is so different from the perspective we normally read in Luke — no traveling for a census, no worries about where to stay, no animals trying to eat their dinner around a baby in their food bowl, no shepherds and choirs of angels. First of all, Matthew starts with that long list of names. He wants to be clear that this is a story that happens within a real family, with real people who have real stories of triumph and failure and everything in between. It’s a story of an ordinary family where unexpected things happen, and they have to figure it out.

Mary and Joseph were betrothed — which means they were already legally bound to each other, but they weren’t yet living together. They live in Bethlehem, and Joseph’s family has a long history. His family includes really amazing and famous people — he’s descended from David and Solomon! — and also some people you might really rather leave out of the story, like later kings who were really terrible. I suspect we all have highs and lows like this in our family trees — people we would prefer to pretend we’re not related to, and people we love so much we’re always looking for a family resemblance between us, and everything in between.

The thing is, this is exactly what God needs for his Son: a family. For God to take on flesh and live among us, being born into our world as a vulnerable baby, being fully human even while being fully divine, means that God-with-us needs people who will protect and nurture him. Jesus needs a place to grow up, people to raise him, and a story to be a part of. He needs someone who will provide him a home, potty train him, teach him to use his cutlery and how to tie his shoes, help him navigate the weird world of teenage friendships, listen to his dramas and dry his tears, give a high-five when he succeeds at something and encourage him when nothing seems to go right. A family where he can learn some life skills, have relationships across generations, maybe even argue with his siblings or shout at his parents and find they all still love each other. God needs for Jesus to have a place where he belongs. And yes, a family in the line of David, too — anchoring him to God’s bigger story, providing a place not just in the now but in the bigger sweep of God’s work among us.

When Joseph found out Mary was pregnant, he wanted to do the right thing, and that meant definitely not bringing this strange baby into his own family. Then, as at many times and places through history, knowing a child’s biological father meant knowing where they belonged and what resources they were entitled to…allowing this unknown-parentage baby in could be dangerous for the rest of the family as their social status and therefore financial well-being might be affected when people started to gossip, and it would disrupt his plans for how his life, career, and family were meant to progress, and it could lead to questions about inheritance. So Joseph decided that he would be as kind as possible to Mary while also doing what was best for himself. I suspect many people understand his mental calculus — how could he possibly make room in his life, in his family, for something so different from his expectations and plans?

Having made up his mind, Joseph turned in for a good night’s sleep, only to find God had another idea. The angel who appeared to him told him not to be afraid…of taking Mary as his wife. Don’t be afraid of the social stigma, don’t be afraid of the gossip, don’t be afraid of whatever you think the economic implications for your inheritance might be. Don’t be afraid of taking on a different responsibility than the one you had planned. Don’t be afraid of opening your home and your family to the unexpected one, sent by God…in fact, who is God with us.

When Joseph woke up, he changed his mind. He decided to lay aside concerns about what others would think, worries about whether he could do this hard thing, and doubts about his fiancée and her faithfulness.He heard the angel, and in light of that new information and that new calling from God, he changed his mind. He decided to move to the side and make space in his plans and vision for God to do a new thing. He opened his heart and his home and his family to something outrageous and life-changing, the consequences of which he could not have imagined himself. Because Emmanuel — God is with us — he decided to act with love that does not require anyone else to meet his conditions to receive it. He just…opened the door and brought Mary into his house and they created a family together.

And so, when the baby was born, Joseph publicly gave him his name, and he took his place in a family line stretching back fourteen times three generations. Those generations can feel at first glance like a closed book, like God’s plan simply unfolded perfectly at every turn to get to this point. But a closer look reveals something a little unusual. There are four women named in the genealogy, and they are all women who had rather unorthodox lives and relationships, and all of them are crucial to God’s story, unexpected agents of God’s plan, who moved God’s vision forward even when the people around them were stuck. They defied social norms, ethnic boundaries, economic rules, and cultural systems to open doors that seemed shut.

Coming from that kind of family line, perhaps it’s no surprise that Joseph could hear the angel saying “don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife” — maybe he recognised that God was placing her in this line of women whose unexpected and unconventional lives brought something new to birth among God’s people. And though we have recently come to regard changing one’s mind as a sign of weakness, Joseph teaches us it’s a sign of strength: strength of connection to God, strength of faith and trust in God’s promise, strength of commitment to following God’s call.

Ultimately, just as in Luke’s story there’s no space in the guest rooms for Mary and Joseph, in Matthew’s story it’s Joseph’s heart and mind and family that didn’t have space…until it did. His response to God speaking to him was to open the door, to stand there and say yes: he wanted to be family despite the risks and the unknowns and the lack of ice cream cake for celebration. He may not have known what he was in for exactly, but he was willing to open himself up to this new life.

This is what unconditional love does: it makes room. Room for being family together with unexpected people. Room for doing things we never thought possible. Room for seeing the risks and opening our hearts and doors anyway. Room for God to be born and change our lives forever.

May it be so. Amen.

Online Hymn 304: O Little Town of Bethlehem

Sanctuary Hymn: Love Has Come (words: Ken Bible b.1950; tune: Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella)
Love has come: a light in the darkness!
Love shines forth in the Bethlehem skies.
See, all heaven has come to proclaim it;
hear how their song of joy arises:
Love! Love! Born unto you, a Saviour!
Love! Love! Glory to God on high.

Love is born! Come, share in the wonder.
Love is God now asleep in the hay.
See the glow in the eyes of his mother;
what is the name her heart is saying?
Love! Love! Love is the name she whispers.
Love! Love! Jesus, Emmanuel.

Love has come and never will leave us!
Love is life everlasting and free.
Love is Jesus within and among us.
Love is the peace our hearts are seeking.
Love! Love! Love is the gift of Christmas.
Love! Love! Praise to you, God on high!

Offering (Sanctuary only) (choir to sing)
Creation began with just a few small words: let there be light. God’s greatest gift to the world started out small, a baby born at the fringes of the empire and the margins of society. God’s gift is the pattern for our own giving — however small in the grand scheme of needs, we trust that God is multiplying our gifts into a blessing for our community. The ministry and mission we do here at St John’s costs just over £10,500 per month and it is because of your generous giving that we are able to serve others in all the different ways that happen here every day. May the gifts we give be a reflection of our gratitude for God’s gifts to us, and may they be dedicated to the work of God’s kingdom in this place. Your morning offering will now be received.

Sanctuary Offering Response Hymn 324, verse 5
All creation, joining praising
God the Father, Spirit, Son,
evermore your voices raising
to the eternal Three-In-One:
come and worship Christ,
the newborn king.
Come and worship,
worship Christ, the newborn king.

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Loving God, we thank you for the gift of family —
families we have grown into, and families we have chosen, and families who have chosen us.
We thank you for placing us into communities that nurture and care for one another,
and even for the challenges of growing together in grace.
And we pray today for those who do not have a family to call their own,
for children in the care system, and elders whose family have all gone on ahead,
for neighbours who are isolated and lonely,
for people who have been abused and abandoned and fallen through the cracks,
for those who have been told they must earn love and they aren’t deserving.
May they know your companionship, guidance, and care.
As you called Joseph to give Jesus a family home and history,
we pray for all who provide that place for others to grow into who you made them to be.
May they be flexible and courageous, compassionate and hopeful.

You come to dwell among us, to save with your presence.
We thank you for your promise to be with us always,
as you have led your people in the past so even now you reveal yourself,
in a tiny baby, in a change of heart, in ordinary life and in extraordinary love.
We pray today for those who are desperate for your saving grace,
those who are trapped in cycles of violence or poverty or grief or illness,
those who have been trafficked or exploited,
those staring at closed doors and longing for options to open.
May they know your healing liberation.
As you bore a common name with uncommon power,
and held that power in relationship to the world you so love,
we pray today for all who reveal you to others,
for those who give their energy to prayer and service,
who radiate welcome and peace,
who work for justice,
who speak your word just where it’s most needed.
May they be refreshed and renewed by your constant presence,
as they reflect your grace and model right relationship with you.

You offer yourself to us, O God,
and we in turn offer what we have,
trusting you will turn it, and us, to your kingdom work
in ways we cannot yet imagine but will join as your people.
May our lives magnify your love, here and now.

We ask these and all things in the name of the One who saves by being with us,
Jesus the Christ, Emmanuel
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.

Online Hymn 316: Love Came Down At Christmas

Sanctuary Hymn 313: See in Yonder Manger Low verses 1, 2, 5

Benediction
Friends, God is love, and God is with us. Live in that ever-present love.
And as you go to live love, 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 service for the Longest Night — like a Quiet Christmas service, on the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, when we are in shadows and yet turn toward the light, will be THIS WEDNESDAY 21 December at 7:30pm in the sanctuary. This contemplative Christmas service is perfect for those who are looking for a reflective opportunity, who need a little space this season, or who just enjoy the less raucous carols.

* Join us for some informal caroling at the Christmas tree in Kempock Place on Thursday the 22nd at 6pm!

* The Choir Brigade Christmas Concert will be in the sanctuary on Friday 23rd December at 730pm. Tickets are £10 and available at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/the-choir-brigade.

* Christmas Eve worship services will be on Saturday 24 December at 7pm in St John’s and 11:30pm in Old Gourock & Ashton.

* Christmas morning worship will be on Sunday 25 December at 10am in the St. John’s sanctuary. Bring a gift you received to share about it during the children’s time!

* New Year’s Day worship will be on Sunday 1 January and will be a New Year Communion shared with Old Gourock & Ashton and St Ninian’s (Larkfield). The service will be at 10:30am in OGA.

* We worship in the sanctuary on Sundays at 11am, and all Sunday worship is also online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print). 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.

* Did you know that it costs us about £10,500 per month to do the ministry we currently do at St. John’s? That includes heating and lighting the building and keeping it in good repair for church and community groups, programming and pastoral care for people of all ages, our contribution to minister’s stipends, and other ministry costs. 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 be safe!

* Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Youtube, and to sign up for our email devotions! Midweek you can watch Wine and the Word on Youtube, pray with video devotions on Facebook, and consider a new angle on something with a devotional email. Feel free to share with your friends, too!

* Would you be interested in joining the readers rota in 2023? Whether you read in the sanctuary or online, or both — whether recording yourself or being recorded by Teri — we’d love to have your voice bringing God’s word to life in our community! There is a wee training to help you feel confident. Let Teri know if you’d like to join in.

* The next Bowl & Blether in St John’s will be on Monday 2 January. Doors will open at 11:30, soup is served from noon. We also now have toasties and board games! The hall will be open into the afternoon for all who wish to stay and enjoy the company, games, chat, and a cuppa. The next B&B in St Margaret’s is on Saturday 14 January, also from 11:30.