Sunday service for 2 February 2025 (All Age Sunday)

Sunday 2 February 2025
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

Prelude Music (praise band)

Welcome

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: There is always good to do
2: There is always need of mercy
1: There is always more to learn
2: There is always risk when God’s truth meets the ways of the world.
All: And Jesus has called us and sent us to bear his light into the world.
Let us come in the power of the Spirit to be refreshed and prepared for his work.

Sanctuary Hymn 600: Spirit of God Unseen as the Wind

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ,
your presence changes things,
brings up questions we thought we’d settled,
provokes those who think they have it all figured out,
invites us to look anew at everything
through the lens of mercy first.
Stretch us today
toward healing and possibility
in your name.
Creator God,
the first day humans experienced in Creation was a day of rest,
and from that joy of being within your created order we are meant to grow.
We confess we have turned that around,
as if we are the creator who worked first and rested at the end,
as if we must earn our rest,
and mostly we don’t.
We miss out on the blessing of growing from gift and joy,
instead making everything about being right, following rules, earning our way.
At the same time we admit we are prone to casual, even absent-minded, lives —
just going through our everyday tasks without much thought,
only rarely pondering how to better orient toward you in between Sundays.
And so we confess that we’re defensive about sabbath rest,
swinging between declaring it outdated and being desperate for respite from endless work,
between judging those who take days off and wishing we could do it ourselves,
between naming service as spirituality and longing for the refreshment of a quiet mountaintop moment.
Forgive us, loving God.
Forgive us for distorting your story and then trying to fit our lives to it.
Show us once again your more excellent way,
and heal us that we may reflect your image clearly into a world longing for grace.
We ask in the name of the One who is Lord of the Sabbath,
Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Hymn GWA173: Goodness of God (praise band)

Bible Story and Reflection: Luke 6.6-16

On another sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see whether he would cure on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him. Even though he knew what they were thinking, he said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Come and stand here.’ He got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, ‘I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?’ After looking around at all of them, he said to him, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Hymn: Thrive (praise band)

Sanctuary Offering and Response GWA148, chorus
I will sing a song of love
to the One who first loved me,
and I’ll sing it as a child of God,
who is named and known and free.
For the love of God is good,
it is broad and deep and long;
and above all else that matters,
God is worthy of my song.

Prayer

You, Lord, went up to the mountain to pray,
and so here in this place we make some space for quiet,
and we turn our ears to you in the silence.
Speak, Lord, for your servants are listening.
…
We seek your presence and your peace, O God,
in this world that so often feels frantic, overwhelming, and unstable.
In a deep breath…
we call upon your Spirit filling all creation,
breathing in mercy and grace,
breathing out mercy and grace,
trusting you will make us ready to go down the mountain into the world again,
bearing your good news,
reflecting your image and light,
speaking with your voice.
And we pray for your help when the task is too much,
when our vulnerability tempts us to retreat,
when the risk grows and our confidence fades.
Keep us connected to you,
breath in and breath out.
…
We pray this day for those who live with illness, injury, or disability,
those whose calendars are filled with appointments and treatments,
those who long for someone to take them seriously and help,
those who wait and those who can’t afford to wait,
those who have become known only for their diagnoses rather than their humanity.
Restore them with your healing power, O God,
that they might feel themselves
and know the comfort of your loving care.
We pray this day for those who care for others,
for doctors and nurses and carers,
for social workers and first responders and clergy,
for teachers and parents and childcare workers,
for all who give their energy and time to those in need,
nurturing and healing and teaching and helping.
Encourage them by your Spirit,
strengthen their hands and hearts,
and show them what a difference they make,
that they might know the blessing they are as they share your tangible love.
We pray this day for those who are hungry and thirsty,
those struggling to put nutritious food on the table,
those living through drought and in places where clean water is hard to come by,
and also those who hunger for justice, longing for a new day to dawn.
Fill them with good things,
set their tables with a feast with cups overflowing,
and turn things around that no one might go hungry again.
Set your mercy loose in the world, loving God,
to be always at work,
in every heart and hand,
that all might be made whole
and your kingdom made visible,
even in our days.
We ask in the name of the One who embodies your goodness
and who calls us to follow and to share his grace,
Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Sanctuary Hymn 468: Son of God, Eternal Saviour

Benediction
In the name of Christ and the power of the Spirit, go out to do mercy at all times, for in mercy, God’s love is visible to the world. 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 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.
The Sunday evening service is on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month. We have toasties and sandwiches together from 5:30 and the service will start at the back of 6. All are welcome for this simple meal and time of worship. The Sunday evening service is informal and reflective, with guitar-based music, Bible readings, and prayer for our parish. Come along and discover practical ways to apply the word to your life, in a chilled vibe that fosters connection and reflection.

* The first Sunday of the month at 11am is now an all-age service, with different ways of encountering God’s word without a traditional sermon. All people — young and old, different personalities and learning styles, are welcome! You’ll find a more informal service with a variety of music, a Bible story, prayer, and some more interactive elements. The online service for the first Sunday will therefore also be different — there will still be a reading, prayers, and music, but usually not a sermon.

* There’s no Conversation Corner with Charlene this week — watch this space for information about future dates.

* The Contact Group has a fundraising concert with special guests the Wherries on Sunday 23 February, tickets available now!

* Bowl and Blether is on the first and third Mondays of each month through the winter, the next one is TOMORROW, Monday 3 February. Doors open at 11:30am, soup and sandwiches are served from noon – 1:30. All are welcome to join us for lunch and a chat in our cozy warm hall. Volunteers are also needed and welcome, please speak to Teri, Graham Bolster, or Charlene if you’d like to volunteer for soup making (9-11:30am), toastie-making (11:30-1:30), serving (11:15-1:45), or clean up (1:15-2:30).

* Starter Packs are in need of washing up liquid, kitchen and bathroom cleaner, cloths and tea towels.
The FoodBank are in need of diluting and long life juice, tinned meats, UHT milk.
You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!

* We are helping Greenock Rotary with their Smalls For All collection.  Pants must be new and they are particularly asking for ladies size 8 to 14 and children ages 3 to 15.

* Our Advent Gift Day has raised £2,500.00 (including the Gift Aid) for the ministry of St John’s so far. Thank you so much for your generosity! If you would like to contribute a gift, it isn’t too late! Please be sure your name is on your envelope or your bank transfer, so that we can claim Gift Aid. If you haven’t filled in a Gift Aid form at some point since this time last year, please do so — we have all new forms to update our records. 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 item in the budget.

* Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Youtube, and to sign up for our email newsletter! 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. 

* Wednesday Evening Bible Study is at 7:30pm in the Manse and we are reading Luke!

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