Sunday Service for 10 April 2022, Passion Sunday
10 April 2022, sixth Sunday in Lent / Passion Sunday
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse phone: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Prelude Music
Welcome
Call to Worship
All: We come out to meet him —
1: The one we have high hopes for!
2: The one we are a little bit afraid of…
3: The one we have been praying will come?
All: Hosanna! Save us!
Teri: Outside, loud demands and chaos.
Inside, questions and confusion,
fear and cruel instinct,
desire for calm, imposed through power.
Outside, accusations and increasing tension,
desire for security, imposed through power.
Around us and within us,
the swirling forces of this world
compete with the power of Truth and Life,
to which we cling.
All: Save us and set us free —
1: free from our oppressors,
2: free from our too-narrow expectations,
3: free from the status quo.
All: Hosanna! Save us!
Prayer with Hymn 776: Ukrainian Kyrie:
Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison
You have the situation in hand, Lord Jesus,
walking into the city, and out of it again, on your terms.
With every step, you show us the truth of your Way.
This isn’t power the way we think of it, O God.
We want your power to be big and flashy and forceful,
and instead you offer us love that carries its own cross.
We confess that our vision of power is coercive,
and yours is self-giving,
and we are not sure how to manage that chasm between your way and ours.
Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison
Forgive us when we seek positions of advantage
and manipulate our way to a better deal,
while you speak unpopular truth with great love.
Forgive us when we feel hopeless and helpless,
watching you shoulder the weight of the world in search of reconciliation.
Forgive us when we see only failure
while you are on the way to unrecognisable glory.
Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison
You are indeed the King who saves us,
and we come asking for mercy,
that we may be made ready to walk your way of Life.
While we do not understand, and it all feels so messy,
we pray to recognise the story you are writing,
that we too may take up our part.
Give us the courage — today, even right now —
to follow your way of self-giving love,
even though we know how the empires of this world respond.
Give us the hope — today, even right now —
to withstand this pain and to keep watch for signs of new life.
Give us the faith — today, even right now —
to trust the truth and to live it.
We ask in your holy, loving name. Amen.
Music
Online: What Wondrous Love Is This (piano meditation by Shawn Kirchner)
In person: Andante by J. Fiocco
Children’s Time: Palm Sunday
(Listen to the word that God has spoken) — round
Reading: John 19.1-22 (NRSV)
Last week we left off in the middle of Jesus’ trial before Pilate, with the religious leaders asking for the release of Barabbas, an insurrectionist, as their Passover favour. We pick up today in the next verse, in the gospel according to John, chapter 19, beginning at verse 1. I am reading from the New Revised Standard Version.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and striking him on the face. Pilate went out again and said to them, ‘Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.’ So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’ When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.’ The chief priests and the police answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.’
Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore said to him, ‘Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.’ From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the religious leaders cried out, ‘If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.’
When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Judean leaders, ‘Here is your King!’ They cried out, ‘Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!’ Pilate asked them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but the emperor.’ Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’ Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. Then the chief priests said to Pilate, ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews”, but, “This man said, I am King of the Jews.” ’ Pilate answered, ‘What I have written I have written.’
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: The Voice of Power
Years ago there was a television show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer — it was about a young woman who was supernaturally chosen to fight evil in the world, in the form of vampires and demons. She had superhuman strength and recovery powers, and she was constantly in training. The catch is that there’s only one Slayer alive in the world at any given time, but of course the evils of the world seem to multiply faster all the time. Near the end of the series, Buffy decided to train other girls and young women to help to the best of their ability, and she started with her own younger sister. One night they went out and waited for a vampire to rise from a grave, and when he did, Buffy said to her sister Dawn: it’s not about right and wrong, it’s about power, who has it and who wants it. Then she looked at Dawn, who was looking at the vampire, and asked, “who has the power?” And Dawn said, “well, I have the stake.” — because of course the way one kills a vampire is with a wooden stake through the heart!
Buffy’s response was: “the stake is not the power.”
Someone should have told Pilate that, too. He believed himself to have all the power — he said to Jesus, do you not know that I have power to release you and power to crucify you? In Pilate’s mind, the ability to put someone to death was the same thing as having ultimate power. That is, after all, the empire’s only real weapon — and they use it to frighten people into submission.
But the stake is not the power. The ability to nail someone onto a cross is not the same thing as having power. Striking fear into people is not power.
Pilate thought he was the one with the power in this situation. And he used his power over the religious leaders, for sure. They also thought they had some measure of power, perhaps even believed they were forcing Pilate to do their dirty work for them. But in the end, Pilate manipulated them just as he does everyone else, until they, the religious leaders of an occupied people, whose faith is built on there being only One God who is ruler of heaven and earth, ended up having to affirm an idolatry, that they have no king but the emperor who was also considered a god. In getting what they wanted when it came to Jesus, they had to lay aside some of their deepest held beliefs and give up their own autonomy.
Because the kind of power they thought they wanted is a lie. And power built on lies requires us to buy in to the lie in order to project an image we want other people to believe.
But that’s not real power. On the contrary, that’s weakness. We may think all the weapons and all the money and all the status symbols and all the ability to coerce other people into doing our will is power, but it’s actually a mask, something to hide behind, so no one will see just how shallow that all is, so no one will see the lie at the heart of it all.
Meanwhile, Jesus is the truth, the bringer of life. And not just life, but life abundant. While Pilate proclaimed his ability to kill, Jesus demonstrated his ability to overcome death, thus revealing just how weak both the religious and political leaders were. Pilate may hold the stake, ready to drive it into the heart of love and truth embodied in human form…but Jesus is the one who carries his own cross, in control of the situation, giving himself away for the sake of those who cannot fathom that self-giving could be greater than their power of forceful taking.
In his self-giving, Jesus reveals just how weak and broken our power structures are, just how shaky the false foundation is, and how we cling to them despite all that. He holds up a mirror to the systems of this world, to us and our complicity in them — for they are not as different now as we would like to think.
We see how an innocent man can be condemned by the insistence of a few.
We see how inevitably the wheels of the justice system can turn toward a particular outcome, regardless of whether the person caught up in it is guilty or not.
We see how easily we are manipulated by those in positions of power in government or media, to think what they tell us to think even when it isn’t what we actually believe.
We see how quickly things change from seemingly harmless name-calling to dehumanising and brutalising another human being, believing them to be beneath us and deserving of abuse.
We see how easily abuse comes to our lips and then to our hands.
We see the lengths to which we will go to maintain the status quo.
It is not comfortable to look in that mirror, but it’s the one Jesus holds up to the world, to see that though we may feel powerful in the moment we do those things, in the moment we call someone a derogatory name or the moment we force someone else to do something or the moment we decide to abandon our principles for a quick win…that feeling of power is fleeting. And then too often we end up seduced by that tiny taste of power, and we do it again and again, like a drug we can’t let go of. But the truth is that these all-too-common behaviours are rooted in weakness and fear and lies, not in the source of light and life and truth.
And we all do it. There’s no point pretending we don’t. All of us have chosen, at one time or another, to try to tear down someone else and get that feeling of power over them. We’ve looked at people in positions of authority, people we don’t even know, and called them names to our friends. We’ve sat behind our screens and said things we’d never dare to say to someone’s face. We’ve laid aside our faith or our values to get something we wanted for less, pretending we don’t know the effect it has on others. We have all been seduced by the lies of power in one way or another.
The only way to change that is to be honest about it, to tell the truth, to look into that mirror Jesus holds up and admit our complicity in these systems of domination and abuse and exploitation and dehumanisation, to admit we have believed the stake is the power. And to then look to Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life, who is love in the flesh, carrying the cross by himself.
On his own shoulders, he bears the weight of all those destructive ways of humankind. The means of his own torture and death are his burden, and he takes it up without a moment’s hesitation — in John’s gospel there’s no pleading in Gethsemane, no sense of struggle, this is his to do, because God so loved the world.
In this is love — not that we loved God, but that while we were yet sinners, unable to recognise the truth, unwilling to look in the mirror and acknowledge reality, God loved us. While we were listening to all those other voices that call — voices of grief, self-sufficiency, fear, competing expectations, and power, and so many others — the voice of truth and love has always been calling us out of those destructive ways and into abundant life. While we were clinging desperately to any shred of control we could find, betraying love to save our own skin, the good shepherd was laying down his life for the sheep.
And that kind of love is true power.
May it be so. Amen.
Online hymn 385: Here Hangs a Man Discarded (tune: Passion Chorale)
(in person Hymn 391: This is Your Coronation, tune passion chorale)
Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
We give you thanks, O God, for you so love the world —
your love created and is still creating,
your love saved and is still bringing wholeness,
your love sustains us all our days.
We praise you for your goodness
and we ask that we might reflect your image more clearly
into the world where you have placed us to live as your people.
You speak truth to power, Lord Jesus,
and we pray today for the grace to do the same.
As you stood firm,
revealing what is right even to those who could not choose the right,
we pray you would give us the courage to trust your word
and follow your way.
Give us eyes to see the truth,
and to change our ways to walk more closely with you.
And for those in positions of earthly authority, we pray the same:
eyes to see truth, and the will and courage
to align with your kingdom instead of their own power.
May all of us together be makers of peace and justice,
following the voice of the good shepherd who leads us into life.
You, Lord Jesus, are clear who you are, sure of your place in the story,
and we pray today for the grace to be the same.
As you stayed true to your purpose,
even in the midst of so many competing voices,
we pray you would clarify our self-understanding,
that we might recognise your call to be transformed,
and so to transform the ways of this world.
When we are tempted to give in to the voice of false power just this once,
speak your loving truth ever more clearly,
that we may echo your voice and find ourselves in abundant life instead.
We hear your call to reflect on our part in the brokenness
that sees some people as disposable or less than human.
You expose the workings we would rather ignore,
so we don’t have to know the truth of how people are treated in our name.
We pray this day for those who have been caught up in a justice system
that does not recognise their humanity,
and for those who simply write off others as irredeemable.
We pray this day for those whose work requires them to see others as less-than,
and for the harm that does to their own souls.
We pray this day for those who have been victims and still find retribution brings no justice.
May all people know the truth of their belovedness,
and may we all act from love, with love, for love.
Give us the imagination to see another way,
valuing all people and restoring one another to wholeness.
Loving God, this world feels so caught up in the power of death,
the shadow is long and we aren’t sure how to escape it.
We ask your companionship as we walk this valley,
and especially for those who suffer at the hands of another.
For people living in the midst of war or occupation,
for those fleeing for their lives,
for those seeking a future of hope,
for those whose homes are places of violence instead of refuge,
for those who have been taught that love hurts,
for those who have lost sight of possibility and see only despair,
we offer our prayers and our hearts…
and we hear you asking us to be an answer to prayer, too,
with hands and homes and resources open.
May your spirit of healing flow over your world, Lord.
Show us the truth this day,
and give us the steadfast courage to do what is right,
even if the cost is great.
We pray in the name of the Lamb of God
who protects us from the power of death and saves us all for abundant life,
Jesus the Christ, 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.
(In person Hymn 385: Here hangs a man discarded (tune: Salley Gardens))
Benediction
Friends go forth under the power and protection of the Lamb of God, to lay aside the lies of power and choose instead the love that is the way of truth and 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
* Today is the last Sunday in the season of Lent, a season of preparing for Easter. During Lent we are invited to be particularly attentive to our spiritual practices, to remove things from our lives that are hindering our relationship with God, and to be diligent in pursuing faithful ways. This season is meant to get us ready to meet the risen Christ on the other side of the tomb, and to follow him wherever he will lead. The theme for worship during this Lenten season will be “Who’s Calling?” — thinking about how we incline our ear to the voice of Jesus through the cacophony of the world around us.
We are now entering Holy Week:
10 April:
11am, Passion Sunday service in St. John’s
4pm, CONNECT Palm Sunday event at OGA, with a light dinner served
11 – 15 April: self-guided prayer stations available in the St John’s sanctuary, to experience the Holy Week story in different ways. The Stations will be open on:
Monday, 10:30am – noon
Tuesday, 5-6:30pm
Wednesday, 10am – noon and 6-7:15pm
Thursday, 5-6:30pm,
Friday, 11:30am – 1pm
Saturday, 2-4pm
11-15 April:
7pm, Holy Week Services: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at OGA; Tuesday and Thursday at St. John’s (Thursday includes Communion)
16 April:
2-3pm, Easter Trail on Tower Hill
8:30pm, Easter Eve service in St. John’s
17 April:
7am, Easter service on Tower Hill
8am, Easter breakfast with communion in St. John’s large hall
11am, Easter service in St John’s sanctuary
*You are invited to join in reading the Bible in a year for 2022 — immersing ourselves in God’s word throughout the year. Click here to find a reading plan that’s five days a week (leaving a couple of days for catch up each week!). Watch this space for information about a Bible study as we go through the scriptures together!
* All worship is online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print) and we also meet in person, subject to the usual protocols for distancing, hand hygiene, mask wearing. We can now welcome up to 85-100 people for worship with one-chair-between-households distancing. No booking is required. Masks are required at all times inside the building, including while singing. 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.
* Tonight we will gather for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page, led tonight by Karen. Log on at 6:58pm to join in.
* 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 stay 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!
* The Spring Church Notes are now available! You can read them by clicking here.
* The Lower Clyde Mission Group (of which St. John’s is a part) is hosting an Easter Trail on Saturday 16 April, on Tower Hill, from 2-3pm. All are welcome!
*Young Adults Bible Study is on Zoom most Sunday afternoons. Contact Teri for the link to join and for a copy of the book they are using.
Sunday Service for 28 March 2021, Palm Sunday
Sunday Service for 28 March 2021, Palm Sunday
Prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson, Gourock St. John’s
Manse phone: 632143, Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
To hear an audio recording of this service, including music, call 01475 270037. Minutes should be included in your phone plan for landline numbers.
Young adult bible study is on Zoom at 1. If you or someone you know would like login details, please contact Teri.
The last session of our Lent Study will be online this Wednesday. Each day throughout the week we are learning about various people of faith through the ages on Lent Madness, and then on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 we will gather on Zoom to go more in depth about them and what we can learn from their faithfulness to help us on our own journeys with Christ. If you know someone who needs the details to join by audio only (by phone) please contact Teri for the details.
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Call to Worship and Recognition
All creation reverberates with the Truth —
the very stones would shout!
Not just for one nation, but for every nation,
God’s promise comes to fruition,
even now.
Come, tune your life to the praise
of mountain and colt and stone,
preparing for the One who changes everything:
The King is coming!
Will we recognise him?
Recognise —
To see or understand something we have known before
A place we have been
A person we have met
A word we have heard
Sometimes we forget, sometimes we’ve been away for a while,
sometimes it was crowded out, sometimes we didn’t want to recall
but when the moment of recognition comes, it is just that:
Re – cognition. Knowing again.
In the beginning, God made humankind in God’s image.
In the beginning, God breathed into dust and ashes, and we came to life.
Along the way, God spoke, filling our ears with promise.
Along the way, God wrote the word on our hearts.
Yet we have forgotten, we’ve turned away for a while, we got busy, we didn’t want to recall.
We went our own way —
the way of the to-do list that can’t be set aside
the way of easy judgmental answers that put some out while we’re in
the way of accepting that wholeness, shalom, is an impossible, naive dream
the way of overlooking things that make us uncomfortable
the way of silencing those who do not fit our ideal
the way of self-sufficiency and self-preservation
The whole time, You have been here.
The whole time, You have been speaking, calling to us.
In the word, in the flesh, in our neighbour, in the stranger, in our hearts, in our communities,
you have been here all along,
and we have not recognised you.
Show us your way again, Lord.
Remind us of what we have forgotten, turned away from, crowded out, ignored.
Give us hearts and minds to recognise you,
wherever you reveal yourself today
We ask in the name of Jesus the Christ, 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.
Hymn: Hosanna (Praise is Rising) by Paul Baloche
Luke 19:29-48, NRSV
When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just say this: “The Lord needs it.”’ So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’ Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,
‘Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!’
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’
As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognised on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognise the time of your visitation from God.’
Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, ‘It is written,
“My house shall be a house of prayer”;
but you have made it a den of robbers.’
Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.
Let us pray.
The crowds shout with joy,
and we are caught up in the moment,
singing and praising,
for we have indeed seen wondrous powerful things.
We bless you, O God,
for coming among us and drawing us to yourself.
We bless you for the truth of your story —
as you promised, so it has been and will be.
We bless you for the closeness of our connection with you,
and we pray for that same care and love within your Body,
as we learn again how to live in your different kind of kingdom.
Amen.
Sermon: Disruption
Today is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week, the week that leads up to Good Friday and then on to Easter. This is the week when the conflict comes to a head between who Jesus is, what he does, what he represents — the kingdom of God come near, in the flesh — and the powers of the world who want to maintain the status quo, to do everything according to their version of normal.
Luke’s version of Palm Sunday is a bit different than the other gospels — first of all, there are no palms! And second, no one shouts “Hosanna”!
Instead Luke tells us about people laying their cloaks down to line the road, and the crowd shouting “peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”
Does that sound familiar?
Remember way back, in the fields on Christmas night, the message the angels gave to the shepherds? Glory and peace. Peace to those who were frightened by the reality of God in their midst — there in the occupied territory, among the poor, in the midst of an oppressive regime. Glory to God, and peace.
That night the angels sang their song to terrified shepherds, who then ran into town to see if it was true, to see if there really was a baby wrapped in old clothes lying in a manger, who would change the world.
Today, some of the Pharisees tried to stop the joyful noise of the disciples who echoed the angels, proclaiming God’s glory and peace to a people living under occupation, longing for a different way yet unable to see how it could be.
And then Jesus looked at the city, at the Temple, at the centre of his people’s world, and wept, for they did not recognise the things that make for peace.
They did not recognise the things that make for peace.
They did not recognise the presence of God in their midst.
They did not recognise that the way they’d always done things was obscuring God’s new call.
They did not recognise the kingdom of God was at hand, and it was different. It wasn’t a nationalistic military power with waving palms and titles and flags and a bigger arsenal. It wasn’t business as usual where those who participated in injustice the rest of the week could simply pretend the hour they spent in the Temple made it alright, as if it was the robbers’ safe haven. It wasn’t going to be possible to live in God’s new kingdom with only the old ways of seeing, and being, and doing that the leaders used to uphold their position in the institution.
At Christmas we proclaimed that God was with us, the prince of peace. Throughout Jesus’ ministry we have seen him show us what it means that the kingdom of God is here, now, being fulfilled in him: the blind see, the sick are healed, the poor get good news, the hungry are fed, and jubilee makes justice possible. When he entered the Temple he removed those who made a place of prayer into a marketplace. Yet when the angels song echoed through the voices of the disciples, all the leaders could hear was disruption. Disruption of their good life, their ease and normality, their comfort and position. And they tried to silence it, because they would rather live with the evil they know and that benefits them, than to step into the unknown even if it is toward the kingdom of God.
That’s the challenge, isn’t it? That so often we are constrained by the ways we’ve been taught, the way things have always been. We want “normal” so badly that we forget that it doesn’t actually work — it doesn’t work for the environment, it doesn’t work for those who are kept poor, it doesn’t work for those who are excluded, it doesn’t work for those who happen to be born in different coloured skin or differently abled bodies or in other parts of the world from here. We have tried to address some of that injustice but the reality is that we are caught in the trap of thinking we can change things with the same methods that got us where we are. The system is designed for the results it is getting…and the only way change happens is to disrupt the way things are.
If only we recognised the things that make for peace. And when we won’t learn the ways of peace, Jesus tells us that war and suffering and destruction is the inevitable result.
What if disruption is the thing that makes for peace? Not just any disruption, but the disruption of Jesus. He stepped into this world and insisted that power could look different, that justice was possible, that feeding each other and touching the outcast and creating a community from all sorts of people from all walks of life was what God’s kingdom would look like. He stretched out his arms and gave his life because God is love, and he invited us to abide in love and so to abide in God. His way is a different economic set-up, his life is a deeper relationship with God and each other, his truth that God is with us will set us free.
If only we recognised that God is in our midst. If only we saw the image of God. If only we cared enough about it to serve rather than be served.
It’s no wonder the people were spellbound by his teaching, and no wonder his disciples shouted with joy when he came into the city, proclaiming all the incredible things they had seen. Jesus painted a compelling picture of what abundant life in God’s kingdom is like — and he didn’t just talk about it, he embodied it, the Word made flesh. He offered a truth our hearts recognise even if our minds refuse.
So it’s no wonder the leaders wanted to silence them.
But God’s good news cannot be silenced. The voice that said “let there be light” is the voice that said “love your neighbour” is the voice that said “I will write my word on their hearts” is the voice that said “this is my Son, the beloved” is the voice that said “today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” is the voice that said “you give them something to eat” is the voice that said “the first shall be last and the last shall be first” is the voice that calmed the sea saying “peace, be still” is the voice that said “this person is a child of Abraham” is the voice that said “the greatest among you must be your servant” is the voice that said “the stones would shout.”
This is the voice that will say “this is my body, given for you.” And the one that will say “into your hands I commend my spirit.” And the one that will meet us on the road to tell us stories we thought we knew.
Even the stones underfoot, the stones of the city walls, the stone in front of the tomb, proclaim the unfathomable grace of God.
Surely even hearts of stone can recognise this voice, can recognise the things that make for peace, can recognise God in our midst…and allow his disruption to change us, and so to change the world.
May it be so. Amen.
Musical Reflection: What Wondrous Love Is This
The Stones Shout Out
Take your stone in your hand. Look at it, turn it over, feel its contours, its weight, its shape.
If these stones could speak…
Would they tell us tales of being washed by the waves,
of being skipped over the surface of the water by children,
of being sniffed by dogs and serving as a perch for seagulls?
Would they tell us tales of being tumbled in the sea,
or of being pressed and pressed some more in the depths of the earth,
hot and cold,
bearing more than we can imagine?
Would they tell us tales of their past as sand or lime or lava?
Would they reveal the words God spoke in the beginning,
to bring them forth from the depths and fashion them into these colours and shapes?
Would we hear about the boulders they once were part of,
moving through the mountains and valleys to where we find them today?
If these stones could speak…
we might hear of times long past
we might hear of places far and near
we might get a different perspective…
Stones have been building blocks for buildings,
housing the joys and sorrows of everyday life,
the complexities of governing,
the mysteries of faith,
soaking up words and sounds and smells,
being carved by artists and visitors and children.
Stones have been the building blocks for roads,
carrying people here and there —
merchants and kings and fishermen and teachers,
women and men and children and animals and carts and cars.
Stones have been the building blocks of both war and peace,
thrown in anger,
stacked into walls,
built into sanctuaries for human and animal alike,
painted to share joy.
What stories these stones could tell!
Listen.
Hold your stone and listen —
Jesus says that when our voices are silent, the stones will shout.
The whole of creation reverberates with his good news:
The kingdom of God is among you!
The stones have seen kingdoms come and go,
yet still they hold the truth of the very beginning:
God’s word that created all things still runs through the heart of creation.
Listen to the stories the stone will tell,
the gospel it holds:
Jesus the Christ brings God’s kingdom here.
Let us join in welcoming him.
During this week, decorate your stone with an Easter message — perhaps a picture of an empty tomb, or an empty cross, or perhaps simply “christ is risen” or “alleluia”, or whatever message you think the stone wants to shout out today! When your stone is ready, take it on a walk and put it somewhere for someone else to find for Easter — the stones shout out the good news even when we can’t sing aloud!
You can use a Sharpie marker to decorate your stone, or paint. If you would like to use paint pens (very easy to use!), there are paint pens behind the door of the manse. Feel free to borrow a couple and then return them to the “used” cup, and I will disinfect them to be used by others.
Hymn 370: Ride On by John L Bell & Graham Maule
Benediction
Friends, listen for the good news of this Holy Week — that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends, and Jesus not only shows us the way but is the way. As you proclaim that good news with your decorated stone and with your life, 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.
Announcements
* All worship is online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print) and we have also begun to meet in person, subject to the usual protocols for distancing, hand hygiene, mask wearing, and no singing yet. We can welcome 33 people for worship, so if you would like to come in person, please phone Cameron (630879) on a Friday morning between 10-12, or Anne Love (07904 617283) on a Saturday morning between 10-12 to book a place.
***Easter weekend will have two services: An Easter Vigil on Saturday evening at 8:30pm, and Easter Sunday morning at 11am. The same booking procedure applies to both services. An Easter service will also be available on our recording ministry by phoning 01475 270037 anytime after 11am on Easter morning.
* 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 stay safe!
* The theme for worship during the season of Lent is “Recognition” — a word which means “understanding something we previously knew/have seen before.” God has written the covenant in our hearts, and we have heard Jesus’ teaching before…where do we recognise him in our daily lives, what lessons is he reminding us about when he tells his parables, and how do we return our way to the way he has faithfully laid out for us, time and again?
* Each day of Lent — 40 days not including Sundays — I will be posting a video on our Facebook page about “Faith in 40 Objects” — household things that can inform our faith journey, depending on how we look at them!
* 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!
* Evening Prayer with Connect will be led by David this evening. Join us on the Connect Facebook Page at 6:58pm.
***The coffee money that we normally send on to the school in Venda has been exhausted. If you would like to contribute to keep our donations to the school going, please contact Rab & Eileen for bank details for donations, phone 634159.
Sunday service for 5 April 2020 — Palm Sunday
5 April 2020: Palm Sunday
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri C Peterson,
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Contact: tpeterson@churchofscotland.org.uk,
Welcome and Announcements
Though we cannot be together in person, we can be together in spirit! Please note the following announcements:
1. Today is Palm Sunday! If you would like to join our palm parade, you can download and print your very own palm branch by clicking here. Colour it in and hang it in your window, so we can all join in welcoming Jesus together!
2. Churches across Scotland are calling people to join together in prayer on Sunday evenings at 7pm, placing a lit candle in the window and spending time in prayer for others. We will have a prayer service Live on our Facebook page at 7pm. In addition, the moderator of our Presbytery has asked us to pause each day at 11am to pray for healing, health care workers, and our community.
3. During Holy Week, there will be a Facebook Live devotion each day at some point during the day (some will be morning, afternoon, evening…). In addition, Holy Week At Home activities have been sent to families with young children — if you would like an emailed activity pack for P1 and younger, please email Teri and she’ll send it to you!
4. Feel free to share this with others, with the attribution information at the top. If you know someone who does not have access to the internet and who also does not receive the tape ministry, you can either print this service out and share it with them, or let Teri know via email or phone call and we will be sure they receive a printed copy.
5. Mid-week there is a devotional email that goes out, it will be printed and included with the following Sunday’s sermon distribution. You can subscribe to the email here.
6. Also mid-week there is a facebook live video devotional on the St. John’s Gourock Facebook page.
7. If you or a church member you know is in need of friendly phone calls or help with anything while they self-isolate, please contact Teri. Elders are already in contact with people in their districts as well, and you can pass information to them! We are hoping to continue and even deepen our connections to one another, building up the Body of Christ even when we can’t be in the building.
Call to Worship: Psalm 118.19-29 (NRSV)
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!
O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God,
and he has given us light.
Bind the festal procession with branches,
up to the horns of the altar.
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God, I will extol you.
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures for ever.
Song: Hosanna / Praise is Rising
Prayer and The Lord’s Prayer
Holy God, we come with hosannas and palms,
seeking your passion.
We seek to know your heart,
and to follow your way.
And yet we enter this week with trembling,
for we know it holds things we would rather avoid.
But you have promised never to leave us nor forsake us—
so walk this journey with us, Lord.
Or rather, guide us to walk with you.
For we confess that often we would prefer you to walk our way,
not the other way round.
We confess that we find it difficult to understand your intentions,
and sometimes your symbols are lost on us.
And we admit that we use our opinions as if they are your facts,
to keep others out and to silence other voices.
We come with hosannas and palms,
seeking your passion…
forgive us when we seek our own passion rather than yours,
when we turn our eyes from the cross
and, through our silence,
give power back to the violent status quo.
May your forgiveness take root in us,
that we may turn and re-turn
until we are transformed into your people of love.
Open our lips, O God, that we may declare your praise.
We pray in the name of Jesus the Christ, Love Incarnate, 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.
Sung prayer 382, verses 2-3
(tune: Passion Chorale, O Sacred Head Now Wounded)
O Lord of life and glory,
what bliss till now was thine!
I read the wondrous story;
I joy to call thee mine.
Thy grief and bitter Passion
were all for sinners’ gain;
mine, mine was the transgression,
but thine the deadly pain.
What language shall I borrow
to praise thee, heavenly Friend,
for this thy dying sorrow,
thy pity without end?
O make me thine for ever,
and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never,
never outlive my love to thee.
Scripture Reading: Mark chapter 11, verses 1-11 (NIV)
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you doing this?” say, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.”’
They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, ‘What are you doing, untying that colt?’ They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
‘Hosanna!’
‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’
‘Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!’
‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!’
Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
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: The story is in the details
I have some friends who have said that in these days of “distancing” and “lockdown” and “isolation”, they notice more than ever when there are crowds of people in, for instance, television shows. It has already been so drilled into us to stay two metres apart, even after just a few weeks, that it’s startling to see crowds jostling each other on screen. It feels almost like a different world.
This story of Jesus entering Jerusalem feels a bit like that, as it’s full of things we can’t do right now….there are people moving about, going from town to town, and then lining the streets like a crowd at a parade, shaking out clothes and laying them down, handing out branches, shouting near each other without face masks….it’s startling how quickly something like this starts to feel unusual.
Of course, that day was unusual. Not because of the parade aspect — that may actually have been the most normal part of the day. At Passover there would be throngs of people coming to Jerusalem, making their pilgrimage to the holy city for the holy festival. And often those already in the city, whether residents or pilgrims who arrived earlier, would line the streets and welcome them. Normally they would do so by singing psalms, and the pilgrims would respond…and there are several psalms set aside for just this purpose, for going up to Jerusalem and for welcoming others in. Notice in our opening psalm today, Psalm 118, there is a line for those who are in the city already: “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord.” And there is a response from those who are entering: “The Lord is God, and he has given us light.” The psalm even mentions the branches!
But the details of the day…they were unusual. Mark’s gospel is renowned for its details, things that you wouldn’t expect to hear, as when he notes that during the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus had people sit down on the green grass, or when Jesus was asleep on the boat during a storm, he had a pillow. So I want to just explore a few of the little details Mark gives us in this story, details that we might usually gloss over. Why do these little details matter? Mark is a good storyteller, and he is the most concise of the gospel writers. He never wastes a word in conveying the point he wants to get across, so he would not have included them if he didn’t think they were important for some reason. Each of these seemingly insignificant details must tell us something about Jesus, and about the drama that is unfolding in Jerusalem.
- Bethany was about 2 miles from Jerusalem. There Jesus sent his disciples to look for a donkey — which would have been the normal mode of transport, of course, aside from walking. But this wasn’t just any donkey, it was a young, unbroken, never-been-ridden-before donkey. Why does it matter that the donkey is, shall we say, new?
In the prophets of the Old Testament we read that God’s anointed one will come, not on a warhorse, but on a donkey, a humble everyday pack animal. In contrast to the Roman emperor and his officials, Jesus enters God’s city in God’s way, and anyone who knew of his teaching and healing and then saw this entry would understand the reference. But why a young donkey that had never been ridden? Even the most humble person shouldn’t need to subject themselves to an unbroken colt. Then again, in the prophets we hear God saying “behold, I am doing a new thing…”. Could there be some symbolism here, of a new thing entering the holy city? Completely new, and maybe a little awkward to watch….. Not just a new king, but a completely new way of living, of understanding the world, of knowing God.
- Most homes at the time had a space at the front of the ground floor for animals to live. But this donkey was tied up in the doorway….not inside the house, not somewhere separate outside either. It was in in-between space, public and private at the same time. Why does it matter that the donkey was tied up in a doorway?
This week, Jesus is in and out of Jerusalem every day. The whole week feels a bit like the city and the disciples and even Jesus holding their breath. We are at the threshold of something big, but it isn’t all the way out in the open just yet. Each moment of the week takes us in and out…big public moments in the Temple, private moments in back rooms, and in-between in dining rooms with friends. There’s a lot of coming and going, as if we need reminding that Jesus and the ways he is changing the world affect every arena, not just public life, not just private life, but all of life.
- When the disciples untied the donkey from its doorway parking space, people questioned them, and the next unusual detail emerges: they said the teacher needed it, and would bring it back shortly. When exactly was Jesus planning to return the donkey?
I confess that there is a part of me that wonders if that detail is actually answered in the next bit:
- Jesus entered the city, and went up to the outer court of the Temple, and looked around…. “but since it was already late” he turned right around and went back to Bethany for the night. Why was it late? Did they get a late start? Did the unbroken donkey colt take longer to ride than he anticipated? Was there a big crowd and they couldn’t move fast enough? And why simply look and then turn around and go two miles back up the Mount of Olives to the very place they’d just left?
…was he late returning the donkey?
It does seem as if Mark is trying to tell us that the procession into the city took a very long time, not just the 45 minutes or so you would expect if you were making the journey in normal circumstances. Sadly, I think this might be one detail whose background we will never know for certain, but it is interesting to think about why it might have taken such a long time to go two miles! Perhaps it’s a reminder that we cannot control God’s timing.
- And one last detail, which all the gospel writers give us, and which is even in the Psalm if we know what to look for, but which often escapes us as modern readers in English translation. The crowd was shouting Hosanna — which we sometimes use as if it’s interchangeable with Hallelujah, but it isn’t really. Hosanna means “save us” — did you see it in the psalm? “Save us, we beseech you, O Lord” the psalmist wrote. Though, interestingly, in the responsive use of the psalm, those are the words said by the people approaching Jerusalem, and in the gospel story of Palm Sunday they are the words said by the crowd welcoming him into Jerusalem. And, of course, the name Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) has the same root as Hosanna….Jesus means “God saves”. So there is no one better for them to shout “Hosanna — save us!” to than the one whose very name is salvation.
It’s probably obvious why the order of the psalm response would be reversed. Of course it is the crowd that needs saving, and Jesus that can deliver. There would be no need for Jesus to be the pilgrim chanting those words, of course, when he embodies God’s salvation in himself.
I wonder, if we were to join the crowd, welcoming Jesus into the city, what would we be asking of him? When we call out “save us, we beseech you!” what are we asking for? Right now, of course many of us would ask for saving from pandemic viruses. But when we take all these details into account — the threshold at which we stand, the new thing that Jesus is doing, which is all-encompassing of every aspect of our private and public lives, the fact that God’s time is not always aligned with ours — what are we asking when we pray for The One Who Saves to rescue us?
The crowds that day were likely asking God “save us from Rome!”
Perhaps some of us today are praying “save us from ourselves!” as we become uncomfortably aware of things within us that are normally masked by our activities and relationships and busyness.
Or maybe “save us from each other!” if being cooped up together is starting to get to us!
Save us from illness…..save us from death…..save us from grief….save us from despair….
Some might be praying to save our economy, save our NHS, save our planet…
Whatever you are praying for today, know this: Jesus is salvation. Not just his name, but his life, his presence, his Way, his Truth. And he turns everything around, from the order of the psalm response, to the order of the world. He is doing a new thing that no one else can accomplish, and it will involve all of us—heart, soul, mind, and strength—in his love.
May it be so. Amen.
Offering Prayer
Lord, you call us to match our giving to our gratitude.
It feels impossible, for all we have is a gift from you,
and we cannot hope to fully express our thanks.
But with you, all things are possible.
Teach us again that in giving, we are able to receive,
and in practicing generosity, we become more like you.
Bless these gifts, the fruits of our labour,
that they may in turn bless others, bringing glory to you
and a glimpse of your kingdom on earth.
We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
You are invited to place your offering envelope in a safe place until we can meet again. Or, if you haven’t already, to consider setting up a standing order so that your spiritual practice of giving can continue. Please remember: no one will come to your door to collect your offering while the church building is closed! Stay safe.
Offering Response Hymn 392, verse 4
(tune: Rockingham, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross)
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were an offering far too small;
love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
We call out, O God…
We call out in praise and gratitude, for all your gifts to us.
For your love and mercy,
for the gift of your Son living among us,
for the gift of your Spirit living within us,
for the gift of your creation sustaining our life,
for the gift of minds and hearts that seek to serve.
We call out to you, offering our thanks
for those who are
tirelessly researching;
processing tests and scans;
working behind the scenes;
keeping shelves stocked and rooms clean;
tending the sick and dying;
assisting neighbours;
phoning friends.
May they know that they are your hands and feet,
and may they sense your presence with them,
and working through them.
…
We call out to you, O God, for you are the one who saves us.
We call out in fear, in anxiety, in grief…
We call out in hope, in trust, in love…
For those who are
ill, at home or in hospital or in care;
bereaved, and unable to grieve with friends;
anxious or depressed, and missing their coping strategies;
lonely, and feeling forgotten;
living amidst violence, and wondering how to find safety.
Send your healing, comforting Spirit to fill them,
and bring peace and hope like a light in the shadows.
…
We call out to you, O God, for you are the one who saves us.
We call out, because injustice depends on our silence.
We call out on behalf of those whose voices have been muted.
For those places and peoples in the midst of war, famine, violence, and unrest:
May your peace transform all things, in homes and streets and halls of power.
For those who are counting on our attention being diverted:
May your goodness be stronger than evil.
For those who have lost jobs, or homes, or independence, or hope:
May your kindness be evident in the hands of friend and stranger.
For all of us, in the midst of this upheaval:
May we remember that you turned things upside down,
and may your courage sustain us as we seek to do your will even now.
…
We call out to you, O God: Hosanna, Jesus.
Amen.
Song: Hosanna to the King
Benediction
Whatever is on your heart when you cry out “Hosanna, save us”, know that the Spirit of God goes above you to watch over you; the Spirit of God goes beside you to be your companion; the Spirit of God goes before you to show you the way, and behind you — to push you into places you might not go alone; and the Spirit of God goes 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 Response (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.
