Sunday service for 3 May 2026, fifth Sunday of Easter
Sunday 3 May 2026, Fifth Sunday of Easter
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse phone: 632143
Email: TPeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Email Charlene, Parish Assistant: CMitchell (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
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Sanctuary 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.
Opening Responses
1: Praying together is powerful
2: Singing to God with one voice is powerful
1: Creating a new reality
2: Creating possibility for justice
Leader: Worship is powerful!
So come, let us join in heart, mind, and voice
All: To worship in spirit and truth.
Sanctuary Hymn: Come People of the Risen King (praise band)
Easter Prayer
Liberating God,
You set us free for new life with you,
and we give you thanks and praise
for as you opened the tomb
so also you open the locked doors and the innermost cells
and call us out into your life.
When we are unable or unwilling to live fully in your kingdom way,
when we choose instead self-interest that obscures our view of consequences
and when our frustration overshadows our faith,
still we trust that you are bringing us ever nearer,
drawing us along the path
and growing us into your likeness.
When we find ourselves trapped by our own actions,
give us the opportunity not only to make it right
but also to share your goodness with others.
You give us a new identity in Christ, O God,
and we pray today that you would also give us
power to live from that identity:
to lead lives worthy of our calling,
to love others as we have been loved,
to recognise our shared humanity
and seek the good of our neighbours
as we walk the journey of this life.
When we are in your arms,
we can never be bound by the powers of death,
so teach us again to bear your resurrected life in our bodies
so there is no place for fear or arrogance or injustice within us,
only songs of praise for your grace
and blessings for all whom we meet.
We ask in the name of the One who overcame death
and who raises us to new life with him, even now,
Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Sanctuary Hymn 425: The Saviour Died, but Rose Again (organ)
Online Hymn: God Beyond Knowledge (text: Pat Bennett b. 1957, tune: 500 Slane)
Sanctuary Children’s Time
Scripture Reading: Acts 16.16-40
Since last week when Jesus met Paul and turned his life around on the road to Damascus, Paul has been learning from disciples in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and also beginning his journey teaching about Jesus. He and Silas have begun to travel about, and this week we find them in the Greek city of Philippi, where they have joined a community of God-seekers who meet by the river, led by a local businesswoman named Lydia. I am reading from the book of Acts, chapter 16, beginning at verse 16, in the New Revised Standard Version.
One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men, these Jews, are disturbing our city and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us, being Romans, to adopt or observe.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptised without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.
When morning came, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.” And the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, “The magistrates sent word to let you go; therefore come out now and go in peace.” But Paul replied, “They have beaten us in public, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison, and now are they going to discharge us in secret? Certainly not! Let them come and take us out themselves.” The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens, so they came and apologised to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. After leaving the prison they went to Lydia’s home, and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.
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: it’s messy
This is one of those weeks when I don’t have any cute stories or pithy sayings to get started with because this passage hits basically all my buttons. So we’re going straight in, but I will tell you that this is a sermon in three acts, just as the story is in three acts: the slave girl, the prison, and the empire.
Act 1, the slave girl.
Paul and Silas and their traveling companions, who seem to include Luke who is writing this all down — notice he says “us” — were in Philippi. They had met Lydia and her gathering of god-worshippers, and that wee community had become followers of the Way. Lydia was an independent woman with her own household and business, and she will become the leader of the church in Philippi, which meets at her house. While Paul and Silas and their entourage were in Philippi, staying with Lydia, they went about in the city each day and started to be followed around by a slavegirl.
We don’t know the age of this enslaved girl but the word used for her is a young word, not an adult word. We do know that the spirit possessing her is named using the same word as the oracle at Delphi — so the type of prophesy that was sought after by people seeking the voice of the greek gods. We also know that historians estimate that anywhere between 35 and 50% of girls in the roman empire were enslaved — many sold by their fathers in order to support the rest of the family — and that many of those girls were used for sex work, which is a sad reality that has often accompanied large military occupations throughout history. The average life expectancy of a girl whose owners sold her body in that way was less than 5 years. While the numbers are different today, the horrific life experience of being trafficked is the same — and in actual numbers, more people are enslaved today than at any other time in human history. This is not a long-ago past story for far too many people.
For this slave-girl to have this spirit of telling oracles and predicting the future was a much more lucrative prospect for her owners than other options, and it was also, in many ways, safer for her.
Until she met Paul and Silas. At which point, the spirit within her did what spirits did when they met Jesus, too…started loudly proclaiming the truth at the top of her voice, following them around shouting that these guys are the real deal.
Now you might think — great! She’s telling the truth, people already trust and pay for her oracles, so surely having her pointing to them would be good news, right? They must want everyone to know that they’re proclaiming the true God and the way of salvation, what better way than to have a promoter?
She followed them around for many days.
And Paul got annoyed.
Paul didn’t immediately think “oh my goodness she’s possessed, I should heal her” the first time it happened, like Jesus did when this happened to him. He didn’t make a plan to set her free from bondage to the spirit of the false god or free from the bondage of slavery. In fact, he doesn’t seem to have thought about the girl at all. He was just annoyed, and he snapped.
The girl annoyed the powerful man, and he turned on her.
Now we can absolutely celebrate that she was set free from this spirit, that at last her mind and her voice would be her own.
But her body still belonged to someone else…and they would have to find another way to make money with it now.
And I am 1000% sure that Paul gave no thought to that whatsoever. His motivation was his own annoyance, not her freedom or healing or flourishing. She was just an object causing him grief, not a person who would have to live with the consequences of his actions.
It rubs me the wrong way, to celebrate Paul using the name of Jesus to exorcise a competing spirit out of irritation, and even more so when we then gloss over what happens to the girl next. It wasn’t a considered prayerful action. It wasn’t for her healing. It was because the girl annoyed the men — she was too loud, too persistent, too much truth-telling.
And we know what happens to women who are too loud and too persistent with the truth, because this is a story that plays out far too often, still today. When we see something in the Bible that doesn’t seem right, it should prompt us to look for where we can play a part in transforming it in our world today — because we can’t change what happened to that girl, but we can change the culture we live in where speaking up to a man is still too often dangerous, and we can be part of making God’s kingdom visible in our days.
~~~
Act 2: prison.
The people whose income will be diminished were upset about this situation, but rather than claiming that Paul now owed them a debt — like he could have bought her freedom, presumably, but he didn’t — they dragged Paul and Silas into the town square and accused them of being different. They didn’t accuse them of exorcism without consent, they didn’t accuse them of ruining their business, they accused them of being troublemakers from an occupied people with a different religion. Which sort of makes sense if the spirit possessing the girl was the one who spoke on behalf of the greek gods. But ultimately, this battle of the gods ends up with Paul and Silas publicly beaten in the square, and then locked into the darkest, dankest, interior room of the jail. It was bleak. It was disgusting. It was pitch black. They were bruised and possibly bleeding, yet also shackled in the most uncomfortable positions available.
And they sang hymns.
I’m reminded of protest movements that sing during marches and sit-ins, and what a difference it can make to create a sense of solidarity and to improve morale, to lift our voices and hearts in song together. It really does change reality, even when the physical stuff is the same. They sang hymns all night which I’m sure the other prisoners must have loved…it cracks me up that it says they were listening — like what other choice did they have? But in any case, they heard these two men, battered and bruised, singing and praying about light that shines in the darkness. What a beautiful image of resistance, to sing for what is right and against all that is wrong.
And their songs changed their situation — both spiritually and physically. The doors opened and the chains fell off, and their bodily reality began to reflect their spiritual reality: that in Christ is freedom from bondage and fear and death.
Then when the jailer realised things had changed, his first thought was that he would be held responsible by those who give the orders. He would have to bear the consequences. But this time, Paul intervened.
Then the changed reality began to spread. It started with singing hymns in the innermost darkest room in the prison…and it spread out of there into the jailer’s house, where because he was changed, so was his family. From hymns to midnight hospitality to an entire household from oldest to youngest, patriarch to servant, baptised into the Way of Jesus.
We don’t know what happened next with the jailer and his household, but it’s a fair guess that they likely joined the community of Christ-followers gathering at Lydia’s house, and the story of singing changing things would spread…so that later, one of the first hymns recorded of the early church will be in Paul’s letter to that same church in Philippi! Singing changes reality — both inside and outside.
~~
Act 3: empire.
In the morning, the proverbial stuff hit the fan. The authorities tried to dismiss them quietly — as if Paul and Silas were objects who were annoying, and they could just brush them off.
But Paul, in a twist, refused to be treated as an object. Instead he demanded to be treated according to his rights as a citizen.
Isn’t it fascinating that the complaint made against them was that they were different. They were Jews, not Romans. Except it turns out that they are Jews AND Romans — a possibility that had never crossed the minds of any of the authorities.
A possibility that never crosses many minds, if we’re honest. I have heard people say out loud that you can’t be both black and Scottish, for instance, among many other assumptions about identity that we base on how someone looks or sounds at first glance.
Everyone had just assumed that these people proclaiming the one true God made known in Christ, who was a Jew, would be inferior to real Roman citizens. To discover that they had inadvertently treated a Roman the way they treated non-citizens was a disaster. They could not only lose their positions, they could lose their lives for that kind of mistake, so it’s no wonder they were afraid.
It was kind of a genius move by Paul, to hold onto the fact of their citizenship until after…because it forced the issue of assumptions, it highlighted the poor treatment non-citizens were subjected to, and ultimately, by demanding a public apology for their public flogging, humiliated the empire authorities. It’s a great example of turning the other cheek — nonviolent resistance that forces the other party to recognise your equal humanity or to walk away from the fight. In this case, the authorities were forced to do both!
We don’t need to imagine a system in which noncitizens are treated as less than human, in ways that would never be acceptable if they happened to us — it’s the world we live in. What we do need to imagine is a world in which the apology is public, and the shame is placed where it belongs: on the people who made assumptions and who treated human beings as disposable. Because if we can’t imagine a world where nonviolent resistance works, then we can’t do it either. A better world will always remain out of reach as long as we are willing to accept the status quo. Someone has to stand up and say no, and refuse to go quietly, and Paul gives us a model to follow when the empire is insisting we are required to follow their rules. No we’re not…and challenging them in the name of Jesus is part of our calling as followers of the Way. Even if it doesn’t make things better for us, it may change for those who come after us, and so the kingdom is built, one resistance at a time.
~~
Finale.
If this was an opera or a musical or something, there’d be a wrap up that tied all three acts into a nice little bow. Instead what we have is a flawed human being trying to follow Jesus. I actually think that trying to untangle it into something neat and tidy would be an injustice to the way life actually is. None of us are perfect, most of our life journeys are messy, and our faith is sometimes in the lead and sometimes in the background and so we get things right and we get things wrong, we think we’re doing something good that turns out to have unintended consequences, or we don’t think at all and just act, or we pray and pray, and sometimes get to rejoice. I suppose what I hope we’ll take from all of this is that living out a Jesus-following life in the world of the empire can be complicated, and it takes continual attention and effort to the way of Christ — a way that cares for all, not just some; a way that changes reality and brings freedom; a way that stands up to the empire and makes visible the kingdom of God. And when our attention falters and someone else pays the price, I hope we will have learned to make it right, rather than pretend it’s all fine and move on. When our songs falter, I hope we will pick up each other’s tunes. When we are tempted to put up with the status quo, I hope we will stand up for what is right even if it doesn’t directly benefit us. Following Jesus in the empire is complicated, and we are human and won’t always get it right, but it is worth the effort.
May it be so. Amen.
Silence for Reflection
Sanctuary Hymn: God Beyond Knowledge (text: Pat Bennett b. 1957, tune: 500 Slane)
Online Hymn GWA129: Build Your Kingdom Here
Sanctuary Offering and Response: Response 410 v. 4 (organ)
Sing we to our God above: Alleluia!
Praise eternal as his love: Alleluia!
Praise him, all you heavenly host: Alleluia!
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: Alleluia!
Concerns of the Church
*Bowl & Blether tomorrow
*Bible Study Wednesday 7:30ish in the manse
*youth service off…highland games // Charlene’s last day as paid parish assistant
*could host 2 students 21st-24th?
*Prayer groups
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Holy God,
we rejoice together in your presence
for all the wonders we have seen
and the new life you have given us.
And we also pray together in your presence
for all our neighbours who are not yet free in this life.
We lift up to you all those who are being exploited,
their bodies and their labour used and abused for others’ gain,
their spirits shackled by people or systems who care nothing for their wellbeing.
We especially pray today for all who have been trafficked,
for children and women and men enslaved for pleasure and for profiteering,
so often in plain sight yet invisible to us.
We ask your forgiveness for when we have unknowingly benefitted from their labour,
and we pray for their protection and liberation from all that harms them.
May all people be free from abuse, exploitation, and fear.
…
We lift up to you all whose identity is wrapped up in their position,
those whose work has become who they are,
those who cannot see value beyond productivity.
We ask your forgiveness for when we have unwittingly participated
in commodifying and therefore dehumanising others and ourselves.
May they too be free,
free from seeing themselves or others mainly as a job they can do,
and may they know your love for them simply because they are human beings made in your image.
…
We lift up those, including ourselves,
who allow frustration to get the better of us.
When everything in the world adds weight to our burden
and our tempers run short
we pray you would bless us with a pause before we speak,
with hearts that care for those who annoy us,
with minds that seek a more excellent way.
…
We lift up those around the world and close to home
who live under oppression and violence,
those who have been made to feel “other,”
those who are easy to mistreat because they don’t have the right papers,
those who are wrongfully detained, so easily disappeared,
or caught in a system that cares nothing for their humanity.
We pray for those who long to just take an easy breath of fresh air,
who are afraid to go out the door,
who wait for the next violence and wonder if it will reach them.
May there be justice that leads to peace,
may your courage sustain them
and also call us out to serve.
…
On the 3rd day of the month we join our hearts as your St John’s family to lift up
*your other Churches in Gourock: for St Ninian’s RC Church, Old Gourock & Ashton Parish Church, Gourock Community Baptist Church, Struthers Church, Bethany Hall, the Vineyard Church, and other independent churches.
*the leaders of St John’s congregation: for the elders, the Kirk Session, the Session Clerk, and the Treasurer.
*the land, people, and governments of the nations of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Andorra, Spain, and Portugal.
…
Form and re-form us in your likeness, living God,
that we may reveal your divine presence here and now,
that we may radiate your goodness and care,
that we may gather your people into your new family
and so together be rescued,
saved from all that harms and separates,
holding fast to your resurrection power and life.
We ask these and all things in the name of Christ who was raised
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 GWA129: Build Your Kingdom Here (praise band)
Sending
May you live grounded in the truth of God’s love, grounded in the power of Christ’s resurrection, grounded in the possibility of the Holy Spirit — and so live always as a blessing 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 (organ)
Announcements
* We worship in the sanctuary on Sundays at 11am, and Sunday worship is also online.
* The first Sunday of the month at 11am is normally 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.
* Starter Packs are in need of Shaving Foam, Shampoo, Soap, Hand Wash.
The FoodBank are short of diluting juice, cereal, noodles/microwave rice, jarred sauce, biscuits, UHT milk, and tinned meat/soups/vegetables.
You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!
* Bowl & Blether is on the first Mondays of the month, with doors open from 11:30-1:30, and lunch served from noon. All are welcome for a bowl of soup, a toastie, a friendly chat in our warm hall! See you TOMORROW the 4th of May.
* Registration will be open soon for the summer exploratorium: On Holy Ground, an Inverclyde Staycation, the week of 27 July! We are looking for some volunteers — especially in the kitchen, and in crafts, as well as in shepherding groups. If you would be interested in learning more about volunteering, please speak to Teri or Graham Bolster.
* Free period products are available in the church toilets for anyone who might need them, thanks to Hey Girls and Inverclyde Council.
* Did you know that the ministry we do at St John’s costs about £3000 per week and we are currently running about £500 short? 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.
* 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 and Theology Thursday on Youtube, get snippets of thought or inspiration following Teri on TikTok, and of course keep up with announcements and events on Facebook and our weekly email.
