Sunday Service for 22 January 2023

Sunday 22 January 2023
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

Call to Worship
Teri: What is a blessing?
1: More than just a good thing that makes us happy,
2: not exactly a sign that we’re God’s favourite,
All: a blessing reveals God’s priorities and God’s presence.
Teri: Who is blessed?
1: Not only people with plenty, and more than enough,
2: not just people who have it all together, photo-ready,
All: blessed are those this world looks down upon, overlooks, and tramples over.
Teri: What does it mean to be blessed?
1: To see the kingdom of heaven,
2: to choose to live in it, risks and all,
All: and to know God is with us, come what may.
Teri: Blessed are we when we recognise God’s presence and live for God’s glory.
Let us worship God together.

Prayer
Blessed are you, O Lord our God,
for you pour out your grace
and bring forth a people to reveal your love for the world.
Fulfil your word, even now,
that even the familiar may lead us to unexpected blessing,
and we may find ourselves
living in your kingdom on earth.

Every word you speak
can be sustenance for those who would live today in your kingdom, O God.
We confess that we would prefer to skim over some, though.
Every blessing your pour out
brings light into the shadows of this world, that all may see.
We confess that when we see what comes along with some blessings, though, we would rather not.
Every person you call into your way of life
changes the flavour of the world, until everyone can taste and see that you are good.
We confess that we feel too small to make much difference,
so we’d rather just be more palatable and blend in, please.
Forgive us, Holy One, when we choose to opt out of your kingdom of heaven come on earth.
Forgive us when we choose the world’s shallow blessing instead of your deep grace.
Forgive us when we ignore the little things in your word, even as they add up.
Re-light our lamps and re-salt our lives
that we may recognise ourselves in your image
and join again in revealing your presence and purpose.
Amen.

Hymn 543: Longing for Light

Sanctuary: Children’s Time (song: This Little Light)

Reading: Matthew 5.1-20 (New Revised Standard Version)
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

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: structure of blessing
Many of us love these words — the beatitudes often seem to sum up what makes Jesus’ teaching different than the world we live in. The way most people talk about blessing is as a good thing that happens to us, while Jesus seems to be saying that people who are experiencing difficult things, and those who are doing difficult things, are the ones who live in the state of blessing — not exactly something happening to them, but rather their state of being. Blessed are…the poor in spirit, whose poverty has led them to the brink of despair, those who recognise the world is not as it should be and grieve that gap between God’s vision and our current reality, those who have power and choose not to use it to force their way, those whose bodies cry out, grumbling and gasping for righteousness. Blessed are those who put compassion into action, those who focus on God’s way, who work to create peace, whose way of life following God’s commands brings about judgment or nastiness from others.

Those things don’t sound that much like blessings, when we put it that way. But in saying these things that may well have been as surprising then as they are now, Jesus both described current reality that we couldn’t yet see, and also spoke that blessing into being. Those he blessed that day on the hillside were given a promise that he was already fulfilling — to them belongs the kingdom of heaven, which is embodied right there in front of them.

It’s from this foundation that Jesus gives the whole rest of the sermon on the mount. These nine statements underpin everything else that will follow. Just as the ten commandments begin with “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt” — claiming the people as God’s treasured possession, declaring God’s care for them, before getting into how we are supposed to live in response to God’s liberating love — so too the beatitudes give us the introduction before launching in to how we are to live because they are true. Not so that we can earn those blessings, but because these blessings are.

Somewhere along the way, though, especially as the usage of the English language has shifted a bit, we have gotten into a wee bit of trouble with one word in particular, and it has coloured our understanding of the beatitudes and of the rest of the story, too. And that word is “righteous.” When we hear Jesus talk about those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, or those who are persecuted for righteousness, or having righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, we 21st century English speakers almost always default to what is better called “self-righteousness.”

The very fact that it has that modifier on the front should tell us what we need to know about the real meaning of the word “righteous”, which is that it is not about self, it’s a relationship word. Righteousness is about how we are in relationship — to God, to others, and to ourselves. Self-righteousness puts the focus on us and on what we think and on getting what we want or think we deserve. We might also describe someone who’s self-righteous as arrogant, self-centred, and absolutely certain they are right and everyone else is wrong. The difficulty with the way we have conflated the English word “righteous”, which comes from the Hebrew word “tsedeqah”, with attributes of self-righteousness, is that it makes people think that they’re being persecuted for righteousness when in fact they’re being held accountable by the community for self-righteousness. Because true righteousness, tsedeqah, is a relationship word. It’s a communal word. It is not in any way a personal piety or personal perfection word, it’s about how we are in community. Which means that in this context of talking about blessing, it’s both about the blessing we receive and the blessing we give, the blessing we are to the people and the world around us.

I think that’s why Jesus’ first examples of how to live as God’s people, once he lays the foundation of the beatitudes, is to say “you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.” We’ve talked before about how salt’s purpose is to enhance other flavours, not really to be tasted or eaten for itself. And similarly light’s purpose is to reveal other things, not to be looked at for itself. They are relational things — the goodness of salt and light is found primarily in their relationship to other things around them, not in and of themselves. And when that relationship is out of order, then things go wrong. Lots of salt overpowers and makes things inedible. Overly bright light makes it hard to focus and can cause pain. Too little and things are bland and indistinct. When the relationship between the salt or the light and the things around it is just right, then it all just pops into focus and flavour and colour and life. And it might actually take less than you think.

Sometimes I hear people bemoaning the ways the world has changed. Our communities feel less cohesive than they used to, and we lament that we don’t know our neighbours the same way we used to, or people don’t look out for each other anymore, or there just feels like a breakdown of society. We can see it in rates of addiction and of loneliness, along with homelessness, all of which are symptoms of a bigger issue: a lack of connection. The social web that had held us together, and which was sticky enough to catch most people and bind them together in one way or another, has been unravelling, and so we have people who are sitting alone in their homes for days on end with no human interaction, people who end up homeless because they don’t have anyone they can lean on for help or support, people who fall into addiction because it’s the only way to numb that isolation or to feel connected to something, anything. And the problems grow and we feel smaller and smaller in the face of them.

You know what else is really small?

Salt.

And it doesn’t take all that much of it to make a difference.

A couple of weeks ago I was with the Contact Group, making bread, and I talked about how salt is a crucial ingredient in bread baking. It isn’t only about the flavour, though that does matter. Salt helps to tighten up the strands of gluten when you’re kneading the dough, which makes the structure of the dough hold together so that it can rise properly. Without salt, the gluten will usually stretch too much so it will rise fast and then collapse, unable to hold its weight. Salt is necessary for a cohesive loaf to form and to keep its shape.

You are the salt of the earth.

Imagine if we decided to enact the kind of community we want to see. If we reached out to our neighbours, even the ones who’ve never spoken to us. If we made it our business to care for our neighbourhood. If we dreamed up ways to bring people together. If we shared our own lives in a way that invited other people to share theirs, so they didn’t feel so alone. If we spoke and lived a blessing into being right here, where people least expect it, and strengthened the connections that bind us together, building up the kingdom of heaven in this place. We could be the ones who live from a structure of blessing that allows community to flourish and expand.

It only takes a dash of salt to change everything. Maybe it also only takes a handful of Christ-followers to change the flavour of a community, and to hold it together so it can grow into something beautiful and nourishing. And if we have decided not to do that role anymore, if we have lost our saltiness, then no wonder the community collapses. Or if we have decided that it needs to be about us instead of about others, if our righteousness is self- rather than relational, then we inhibit the yeast from growing and leave a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth.

Jesus declared blessings as the foundation, the structure, of community in God’s kingdom…and then called us the salt and light who are meant to make those blessings visible and flavourful in our relationships, to strengthen the bonds that hold our community together in that structure of blessing. To those who live the truth of the blessing, the kingdom of heaven belongs.

The world is desperate to taste and see that God is good. We have received that blessing, and we have been given as that blessing, set as a beacon on the hill — it’s time to let it shine, that all may see the kingdom of God embodied in our community.

May it be so. Amen.

*Hymn: Salt and Light (praise band)

Sanctuary: Offering 
God pours out every good gift and shows us how to use those gifts to be a blessing to others.
When we are generous as God is generous, when we give from our own resources as a way of giving glory to God, the kingdom of heaven is revealed here and now. Your morning offering will now be received.

Sanctuary Offering Response (text: hymn 808; tune: Old Hundredth)
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
praise God all creatures here below;
praise God, the Trinity of love,
before, beneath, around, above.
Amen

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Source of all blessing,
Giver of every good gift,
we bring before you today our neighbours
who are having a hard time seeing your goodness in the land of the living.
We lift up those who mourn, with comfort far off,
those who hunger and thirst even in this world of abundance,
those who long for peace yet are surrounded by the violence of hate, abuse, war, and oppression.
We pray your peace and hope and providing may surround and enfold and protect.
May your blessing be made tangible for them —
and may we become bearers of that blessing for others in our community.
We lift up those who have set themselves aside to serve, and lost themselves in the process,
those who have worked so hard for purity they’ve lost sight of your grace,
those who find themselves in the wilderness, feeling lost and alone, unable to recognise your light.
We pray your love and truth and call may reach out and take them by the hand.
May your blessing be made tangible for them —
and may we become bearers of that blessing for others in our community.
We lift up your church,
meant to be salt that calls attention to your flavour,
yet so often caught between fear of being an irritant
and desire to be the main dish.
We pray you would re-season your church, O God, to fulfil your purpose.
May your blessing be made tangible for us —
and may we become bearers of your blessing for the world.
We ask these and all things in the name of Christ,
who bears the kingdom of heaven in the flesh,
and 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.

Sanctuary Hymn 683: Go to the World! (Tune: Sine Nomine)

Benediction
Go into the world, people of God:
Go bearing God’s blessing, counterintuitive though it may be in this world.
Go to be salt and light, small but significant, making Christ visible.
Go strengthened by the Spirit to choose the kingdom life, here and now.
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 (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.

* The choir rehearses immediately after worship, in the sanctuary.

* 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. Even if you have previously been on the rota, please reply as this is a brand new list for the new year.

* Young Adult Bible Study meets in the manse on the 2nd and 4th Sundays at 7pm for a meal and discussion of the gospel according to John. Everyone in their 20s is welcome!

* The Contact Group meets on Tuesday the 24th at 2pm with guest Peter Hempsey talking about Inverclyde League of Hospital Friends, a group of volunteers who raise money for IRH with Teabar at hospital.

* The Kirk Session will meet on Sunday 5 February at 10:15 for two items of business: attesting the records in advance of the Presbytery’s inspection of records, and receiving a new member.

* Smalls for All: During January and February the Contact Group is facilitating this year’s Smalls For All appeal, and everyone is invited to contribute packs of pants for ladies, girls and boys. There is a box for contributions at the Bath Street entrance to the church building. Thank you for your generosity.

* Wednesday Evening Bible Study meets in the manse at 7:30pm. All are welcome as we continue reading through the Bible in slightly more than a year!

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