Sunday service for 29 May 2022, seventh Sunday of Easter

29 May 2022, Easter 7
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 (sanctuary only)

Welcome

Call to Worship
One:   We come together in Christ,
All:   one Body, encouraged and comforted by the Spirit.
One:   We come together in Christ,
All:   one Body, loved and challenged to a new way of life.
One:   We come together in Christ,
All:   one Body, re-orienting ourselves to align with God’s mission.
One:   We come together in Christ,
All:   one Body, to seek his mind and live his abundant life.

Prayer
You are at work in us all, O God,
making it possible for us to love as you have loved us,
to serve as you came to serve,
to seek your glory rather than our own.
You open your hands and pour out your life,
that we may know the fullness of your grace.
You reveal your mind to us: in your word, in your world,
and in the life of Jesus among us on earth.
You invite us to look through your eyes,
to orient ourselves in the same direction you’re going,
to share your vision and act on it.
We confess that we have seen only a narrow view and decided it was the whole.
Forgive us for restricting your salvation to the next life
without seeing how it changes us in this life.
Forgive us for hearing of exaltation and assuming it was the goal for us to reach.
Forgive us for turning your blessing into privileges for ourselves and not others.
Forgive us for wilfully misunderstanding “of one mind”
so we can insist on conformity to our own rules.
Forgive us for trapping you in a static once-and-for-all story
that can be carefully contained between the covers of a book,
and forgetting that you are living and active, present even now,
calling us to new life in this world you are still creating.
Whoever we are in this world,
wherever we have been and whatever we have done,
with good hope for all we come to bow down,
taking our place in your company alongside all you have called
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
to praise you and offer ourselves for the work of your kingdom,
in the name of Christ, in whom we find our true selves. Amen.

Hymn 481: Jesus is the Name We Honour

(Sanctuary Hymn 422: Christ is Alive, and the Universe Must Celebrate)

Children’s Time (Sanctuary only)
Song: Hallelujah Christ is Risen

Reading: Philippians 2.1-13 (New Revised Standard Version)

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

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: What Jesus Thinks About
Earlier this week I was asked if there are any lifestyle choices Christians should make so that other people will know they are Christians. Like how do people know we are different? Some traditions insist that Christians must not drink alcohol, or smoke, or dance, or that they must wear a certain style of clothing, or speak a certain way, or think certain things about the issues of the day. Throughout history different branches of the Church have answered the question in different ways — for instance, in the first few hundred years of the church, soldiers of the Roman army were not permitted to be church members until they resigned that job and took up another, because Christians were not to participate in war. In other places in the world, Christians are marked by the ways women are subservient to men and so are rarely seen outside the home. In other times in history, Christians were known for their singing anywhere and everywhere. Today some traditions say you cannot be both a Christian and gay, or a Christian woman and a minister, or that Christians should not get married because Jesus is coming soon and we need to focus on preparing our souls. So what does our Presbyterian Christian tradition say about how we behave that will make clear that we are Christians?

My first reaction to that question is that Jesus already gave us the answer: that the world will know we are his followers by our love. And he told us that the way to interpret everything in scripture, the whole of God’s word to us, is to test whether it brings more love for both God and neighbour — not just one or the other, but both. If the way we understand a verse leads to more love for God and neighbour, it’s a right interpretation. If the way we understand something in God’s word leads us to be less loving, it’s not right and we need to go back again and ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand.

But I was still thinking about this question when I came to read this text from Philippians. How will people know that we follow Christ? If we have the same mind and the same love that he has. Paul even kindly gives us a starter for ten on what that means:
do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,
regard others as better than ourselves,
look to the interests of others and not only our own self interest.

Somewhere along the way the church has come to be known for the opposite of those things instead. Perhaps that’s why Paul had to write this — perhaps it had already started to happen, that Christians were thinking of themselves as God’s favourites, better than others, and looking after their own desires and self-interest rather than putting their energy into caring for others. Or perhaps Paul had a premonition that we who follow Jesus would become precious about our buildings and traditions and status in society, at the expense of the mission of God’s kingdom.

It’s interesting that when Paul goes on to explain how we are to do these things — how do we ensure we keep our priorities in the right order, acting not in selfish ambition but looking to the interests of others — he says, over and over again, “let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”

To have the same mind means, essentially, to think about the same things. To look through the same lens. To have the same attitude or worldview. To approach the world the same way.

Which means we need to stop for a moment and ask ourselves: what is Jesus thinking about? What’s on Jesus’ mind today, when he looks at the world?

I wonder if we can just take a moment to ponder that. What do you think Jesus is thinking about today? What’s on his mind?

…

It always seems to me that when we start asking what Jesus has on his mind, it’s rarely the same things as the typical first answers to how people will know we are Christians, about dancing or swearing or jewellery or whatever. If we are to become more and more like Christ, we need to have more and more time when our minds are set on the same things his are.

Paul then quotes a hymn about what Jesus’ attitude was like, and it says that he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself to not just be human, but to enter human life at the bottom of the socio-economic scale…another translation says that he did not regard divine power as something to be grasped, but rather emptied himself.

He did not grasp for power…did not hold tightly to the status quo where he was in heaven, without regard for what was happening on earth…did not clench his fist round his personal comfort. He wasn’t afraid of loss or change, and he didn’t try to maintain what he had. Instead he opened his hand and emptied himself.

Have the same mind, the same attitude, the same love, as Christ.

What if we opened our hands and emptied ourselves of the fear of letting go? What if we decided to loosen our grasp on the way things have always been? What if we gave up the privileges of cultural christianity in favour of the responsibilities of the kingdom of God? Would we find our hands and hearts were then available for other things — for receiving and for giving and for working and for sharing?

No wonder Paul says to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. It makes us nervous to even ponder letting go of that tight grasp that maintains our favourite things. Our hands shake…with the effort of holding so tightly to things that are already slipping away, and with the thought of opening them to let go and make room for something new. But just as we heard last week at the beginning of the letter, and again today smack in the middle of the letter: it is God who began the good work, and God who is at work in you. It is God who will bring the work to completion. It is God who enables us to will and to work for his pleasure — not just to will it, to think it, to pray it…but to work for God’s good pleasure.

How will people know we are Christians? What behaviours and lifestyle choices are evidence that we follow Christ? Our open hands and hearts that do not grasp after our own desires but seek always to serve others. Our generosity, our hospitality in every place, our gratitude in every circumstance, our constancy in looking after our neighbours. Our work for justice in the systems of this world, so that poverty and hunger and climate change and war and racism and sexism and oppression become history rather than present reality. Our insistence on thinking about what Jesus is thinking about, and doing something about it. Our attitude — based in God’s love for the world.

May it be so. Amen.

Hymn 536: May the Mind of Christ My Saviour

Sanctuary Hymn 520: Ye Who the Name of Jesus Bear

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Your hands are open, O God,
offering yourself to us and holding us gently,
inviting us to loosen our grasp
so that we can receive your goodness.
We pray this day that you would take from us the fear that tightens our fists,
and show us again how to live beyond maintenance mode,
beyond the status quo,
in the wonder of your future of hope.
We have tried so hard to hold on to pleasure and to protect ourselves from pain,
but we see in your life among us another way,
and this world is desperate for another way.
So we pray this day for those caught in their own egos,
for those who seek power for themselves rather than to serve.
May they experience the power of vulnerability and community instead.

We pray this day for those suffering at the hands of others,
those whose bodies are used and discarded when they are no longer profitable,
those whose homes and families and peace are treated as disposable,
those who cannot wait another year for us to change our ways.
Especially we commend to your care those families
whose children were killed at school in Texas this week,
and the families of Ukraine, and South Sudan, and Yemen, and Palestine, and Myanmar,
and so many places where grief and fear mingle into unbearable pain.
With sighs too deep for words, we hold the world in your care.
May they experience your presence, your courage,
and the compassionate action of neighbours near and far.

We pray this day for those who cannot imagine life without the privileges they enjoy over others,
and for those who are cut off from authentic relationship by their own self-interest.
May they experience your care as they learn to open and let go and be real.

We pray this day for ourselves,
that we may commit anew to your incarnation,
and, knowing ourselves as your Body,
may be among the people of our community in the flesh ourselves.
Take us outside our narrow view of holiness,
and plant us in the neighbourhood
with people whose lives and bodies and experiences and worldly positions are different,
that together we may truly share one vision, one attitude, one mind: yours.
It is for your glory, not our own, and in obedience to your will,
that we pray these and all things in the name of 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.

(Sanctuary Hymn 481: Jesus is the Name We Honour (praise band))

Benediction
Friends, knowing how Christ lived, now go do it. Be of one mind with him, sharing his goal and his vision. Following Christ’s example, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and filled with the grace of God, go be the peace, justice, and love this world needs. 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 (sanctuary only)

Announcements
* Happy Easter! Easter is a season that lasts for 50 days, and this is the last Sunday in the season of Easter. Next Sunday is Pentecost — 50th day — when we will celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit!

*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!

* Join our team walking for Christian Aid in the month of May! You can sign up here with Christian Aid to join in, and be sure you donate to members of our St John’s fundraising team! If you can’t walk all 300,000 steps yourself, you can do it as a group or a family, too! If online fundraising doesn’t work for you, you can also pick up an envelope at church. 
**You can join Teri for a midweek walk on Monday lunchtime this week — meet at the top of Bath Street beside the church at 1pm, or at the cenotaph at 1:05, for a walk-and-talk along the front (nice and flat!). 

* All worship is online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print) and we also meet in the sanctuary. We do ask that if you are able to wear a mask, you keep one on as a way to protect the vulnerable members of our community. If you are able, please enter by the front door in Bath street, and only families with children and 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 Jonathan. 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.

*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.

* The annual meeting of the congregation will take place during sanctuary worship on 12 June. You can find the annual finance report by clicking here. If you have any questions, please let Cameron, Teri, or Peter know by the 6th of June if possible so they can be answered for everyone both in the building and online. (there will still be an opportunity to ask questions during the meeting as well.)

* The Kirk Session will meet after worship on Sunday 12 June, with a light lunch provided. Kirk Session meetings are always open for those who wish to observe and know what is happening in the leadership of the church. If you’d like to join the session as we look forward at what God has in store for us, please let us know by 6 June of any dietary needs so we can plan properly for lunch.