Sunday service for 16 August 2020, twelfth Sunday of Pentecost

16 August 2020: 12th Sunday of Pentecost
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri C Peterson,
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Contact: tpeterson@churchofscotland.org.uk

* At this time the St John’s Kirk Session has decided, for a variety of reasons, not to open the building yet. We will continue to worship online and via the telephone recording ministry, with mid-week offerings on video and by email, and through phone calls and zoom gatherings. If you have questions about this, please do contact Teri, or Cameron, or your elder. However, the building works that were suspended during lockdown are again underway. If you see people around the church building, they are likely contractors, and we would ask that you go ahead and say hello but keep a safe distance, and do not enter the building at this time. It’s important that we do everything we can to ensure they have a safe worksite, so that they can continue the work both on the tower and inside the sanctuary as quickly and safely as possible.

Though we cannot be together in person, we can be together in spirit! Please note the following announcements:

* Coffee Fellowship Time will happen today on Zoom! The room will be open from 11:45 – 12:45 for you to drop in for however long you wish, so grab a cup of tea or coffee (or juice or whatever you prefer!) and maybe a biscuit, and come have a chat! We look forward to seeing you!

* The Moderator of the General Assembly has invited us to join him in a week of prayer beginning tomorrow — there will be morning prayers and reflections posted on the Church of Scotland website and social media channels each day at 8am, and then a chance to gather for prayer on Zoom each evening at 8:30pm. If you’d like login details for evening gatherings, contact Teri. More information can be found here.

* 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 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 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!

* We also now have an audio recording of the service available on the phone! Simply dial 01475 270 037 to listen to the most recent service. Please share this number with your neighbours, friends, family, and fellow church goers who don’t have the internet, so they can listen in!

* The theme for worship this summer is “Postcards of Faith” — we’ll be getting some postcards from God’s people throughout scripture, following their journeys with God and each other.

* This summer we are taking a Church Family summer trip! We’ll be journeying together from Shore to Shore — the shores of the Clyde to the shores of the sea of Galilee, to the hometown of St. John the Evangelist. Keep track of how much time you spend in prayer, reading the Bible, serving others, or going for a walk. For every 10 minutes, you move us 1km along the journey! Then each week send Teri a note, text, or phone call saying how far you “traveled” this week. On our return journey, we have now reached Corinth!!

* Children’s Time happens each Sunday morning at 11am on Zoom. If you would like the login details, please contact Teri. 

* The Young Adult Bible Study (BYOPizza) resumes via Zoom at 1pm today, when we begin studying the Book of Revelation! If you’re aged 15-25 and would like the login details, please contact Teri.

* 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. Our Sunday evening prayer services will be shared across our “Fuzzy Parish” (now called CONNECT). Tonight’s service will be led by Teri, and will begin at 6:57pm on the Connect Facebook page, and be sure to like / follow it while you’re there!

* 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.

* Sign up to our YouTube Channel so you never miss a video. Don’t miss “wine and the word” — an occasional series during the 5pm hour that helps us transition from one part of the day to the next, via reflections similar to those that would normally have been in the “God’s Story, Our Story” take home inserts given out each week. 

* Mid-week there is a devotional email, which is also printed and included with the following Sunday’s sermon distribution to those without internet access. You can sign up for the email here.

* 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.

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Hymn 501: Take this moment

Reading, Sermon, Prayers 

Hymn: God of Justice

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Call to Worship and Opening Prayer

As things simultaneously seem to be new and old, strange and familiar,
Whether you long for the old normal or are excited about the new normal,
Jesus words echo through the ages and into our homes,
Through our screens and our hearts:
Come and have breakfast.
Come, whatever work or play you have been doing today.
Come, whatever tasks you have ahead of you.
Come, whoever you are, wherever you are, whenever you hear this invitation.
Come and be fed, for it is Christ himself who provides.
Be nourished, so that from his abundance, you can live to feed others.
Come, let us worship God together.

Let us pray.
You provide beyond our imagining, O God.
With a word, you created,
and even still your mercies are new every morning.
We praise you for your abundant blessing, seen and unseen.
As we turn our hearts to you this day,
we pray you would take from us any thought that does not glorify you.
Give us the imagination and the courage to leave behind the habits and ways
that separate and divide,
that make us rely on ourselves rather than your grace,
that leave some with too much and others with too little,
that turn our eyes backward rather than forward.
Show us again the wonder of your new creation,
form us ever more into your likeness,
and make us ready to inhabit your kingdom, even now.
We come with minds and hearts open to receive your goodness,
and hands ready to serve as you call,
offering ourselves in gratitude for all your grace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, 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,
and 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 #159
(words: Timothy Dudley-Smith, tune: Lord of the Years by Michael Baughen)

Lord, for ourselves; in living power remake us,
self on the cross and Christ upon the throne;
past put behind us, for the future take us,
Lord of our lives, to live for Christ alone.

Friends, hear and believe this good news: if anyone is in Christ the whole creation is made new, the old has gone and the new has come. So know that you are forgiven, believe that you are forgiven, live as if you are forgiven, and be at peace. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Reading: John 21.1-14 (New Revised Standard Version)

After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’ They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the lake. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.
When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Sermon: New Normal (Postcards of Faith 9)

They went back to what they knew.

It’s hardly surprising, after the stress and upheaval and change they’d experienced, between those last few days in Jerusalem, and then those three days of grief, and then the wonder and uncertainty of resurrection…they needed some stability. They couldn’t stay in Jerusalem forever, it wasn’t their home, after all. So they went back to their seaside town, and tried to go back to their normal life.

It’s the thing many of us have been longing for, for months now — to get back to normal. We are definitely not the first to have that desire! Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, and John, and the others wanted to get back to normal too. Except that the normal they used to know, before Jesus, wasn’t really there anymore. How could they simply return to the lives they used to live — having the same conversations with all the same people who had known them their whole lives, doing the same day-in-day-out work of a peasant community in an occupied land? They had seen incredible things, met hundreds of people…and they’d been changed, at least on the inside. While their world seemed the same as it ever was, the reality is that they were different…and the world was different too, now that resurrection had happened, though people didn’t see how just yet.

They made a valiant effort though. They went back to what they knew. They put out from the shore, they let down the nets, just the same way they’d always done it.

But this time, nothing happened.

Despite doing everything the usual way, something about it wasn’t the same.

In the morning, when they heard the stranger calling from the beach, some part of them must have thought he was crazy, even as another part of them recognised something in his instructions. Soon their net was overflowing with an abundance that could only come from the One who promised Abundant Life — the One who had extravagantly fed the crowds of thousands with only a few loaves and fish, the One who had turned hundreds of gallons of water into the best vintage of wine.

The first to realise the truth was the one who had been closest to Jesus during his life — the disciple whom he loved, usually thought to be John. He had been close enough to hear Jesus’ heart at the Last Supper, and even from the boat out on the lake he could hear it still. And then Peter did one of his typical impetuous Peter things — he put ON his clothes and jumped into the water to swim to shore, leaving the others to struggle with the hundreds of fish and the boat! Only after he saw Jesus up close, and after Jesus reminded him to go help did he then rush back and, apparently, singlehandedly, Hulk-style drag the net ashore, teeming with 153 fish. It’s an oddly specific number — not the usual vague, exaggerated style that we hear from fishermen about how it was THIS BIG, their hands getting wider apart even as they speak — and some scholars think it represents all the known countries at the time, a reminder that Jesus’ abundant life reaches to the whole world.

As they sat around the fire, drying out their clothes, exhausted from a long night yet exhilarated by the turnaround of the morning, Jesus did something he had done hundreds of times before: he broke bread and gave it to them. And they didn’t need to ask who it was, because in that moment they knew for certain.

When they get up from this table, Jesus will give them instructions to pass it on, pay it forward: feed my sheep. In other words, take this moment and let it become your new normal, your formative experience that you keep going back to.

The ways we used to know will not be able to sustain us in the new world that is ahead of us. We will need to learn anew the heart of the matter, be formed in that new way, and live from that core story. That breakfast on the beach was not just a welcome respite from a bad night at work, it was a reminder of their life with Christ, that was to continue even when they weren’t physically at the same table.

I think of how, when I was growing up, my family ate dinner together every night. Whatever we might have been eating, whatever we might have talked about, it was probably the most formative aspect of my childhood. It’s where we came together, where our family values were communicated and reinforced, where stories were shared. Even though I no longer sit at the same physical table as my family, who I am today was shaped by those hundreds of family dinners.

The same is true for us as Christians, members of Christ’s family. We sit at the family table, we share the bread and wine, and it forms us, makes us who we are meant to be. It’s where we learn the stories of God doing a new thing among us, and the values of hospitality and justice and love and abundance…and that’s what we draw on when the world is tough and we aren’t sure what to do, and the temptation of going back to what we know is strong.

They went back to what they thought they knew…but Jesus was calling them to a new normal, formed not by their old habits but by his Way, Truth, and Life. That continues to be true, even when we aren’t currently sitting at the same physical table — we will need the new habits of a life formed according to Christ, not the old habits we look back on so fondly…especially when those old habits were not good news for everyone.

For all who are tempted to think this is only about church life in a post-lockdown world, it’s much bigger than that. Jesus reaches into every aspect of our lives, not just our Sunday-morning hour. That time around the table is meant to form us into new habits that stop us going back to the old ways we know when it comes to politics, racism, and sexism, how we spend our money, how we relate to each other, what and who we value, how we spend our time, what we eat and wear, how we talk to each other online and in person, the work we do, which jokes we’ll call out as harmful rather than funny…and also, yes, what it means to be church, what it means to be part of a community, going forward.

Jesus didn’t only call those disciples to experience worship differently, or to teach Sunday school differently, he called them out of their old ways of work and earning, out of their old ways of relating to each other and to the people in their community, out of their old ways of thinking about themselves and the world. This is a big journey we are on. We will need to be nourished by those formative days around the table, hearing the stories and learning the values and carrying them forward into every place we go. That’s what it means to be family with the One who promised Abundant Life: just as we have been nourished by it, we are sent out to ensure others have it as well — and especially those who have been denied, excluded, left behind, or poisoned instead. Feed my sheep, Jesus said, just as you have been fed.

May it be so. Amen.

Prayers: by Fiona Webster
Lord God, our Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Creator of all that we are, Your Grace and Mercy are beyond anything we could hope for.
As we come before You in prayer, we need your help in receiving Your forgiveness. Our lives are in your eternal plans for the Salvation of the World.
There is much in our world’s situation we do not understand.
And it is only when we come before You and learn from past generations that we become aware of all you are doing through Scripture and the witness of those who lead Your Church.
Lord, many of us have had time recently to spend in Your presence. We ask forgiveness for all the times Your Spirit prompts us and we turn away.
Lord God, You sent Christ into this life that we might learn to trust and obey. We continue to need Your guidance as we walk in Your Way.
Thank You Lord God for the life of Christ and for the gift of the Holy Spirit to whom we can turn to at any time.
Lord, thank You for the many blessings that we have. Although we have enjoyed some good weather, it is more clear now how much we need to take care of our planet. Our young people seem to be leading the way in this, May we have the wisdom to listen.
For the health of the seas and the air we have polluted, we thank You for organisations and individuals who make us aware of the action we need.
Our governments have so much to contend with at this time, the Covid virus being uppermost in everyone’s prayers.
Be with them Lord as they guide us through these strange times.
We remember those who have died during this time and those grieving, who cannot share thanksgiving for the lives they have loved and lost.
Thank You for all doctors, nurses and all who bring relief and comfort at this time.
We give thanks for our local communities, for those who have worked and served us to help us through these days.
Local food stores, Health centres and pharmacies among many others.
This week many parts of our country have been battered by storms and flooding. We pray for those affected, that they may be given strength to cope and recover.
Lord our hearts have been touched by the recent train accident, and we think of those grieving here for their loved ones for those dealing with all the consequences of this tragedy.
Lord, we pray for ourselves, our church family, who miss coming together to praise and worship You.
We thank you for all the building work and look forward to the church being restored. We anticipate the new stained glass window to be dedicated in worship to You.
We praise you for our minister Teri and thank You for all that Teri and the Connect team have been doing to keep us together.
Our prayer is that each one of us will turn to You at all times and that our souls will be at peace in You.
Help us to be a comfort when needed in practical and spiritual ways. In all things we ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Benediction
Having been nurtured by the Living Word, and experienced the abundant life of Christ, go to feed his sheep, to share that abundance you have known, to build new habits of grace for the new world that is ahead of us. 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.

Benediction Response
Words and tune (Gourock St. John’s): John L Bell

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.

Sunday Service for 9 August 2020, eleventh Sunday of Pentecost

9 August 2020: 11th Sunday of Pentecost
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri C Peterson,
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Contact: tpeterson@churchofscotland.org.uk

* At this time the St John’s Kirk Session has decided, for a variety of reasons, not to open the building yet. We will continue to worship online and via the telephone recording ministry, with mid-week offerings on video and by email, and through phone calls and zoom gatherings. If you have questions about this, please do contact Teri, or Cameron, or your elder. However, the building works that were suspended during lockdown are resuming. If you see people around the church building, they are likely contractors, and we would ask that you go ahead and say hello but keep a safe distance, and do not enter the building at this time. It’s important that we do everything we can to ensure they have a safe worksite, so that they can continue the work both on the tower and inside the sanctuary as quickly and safely as possible.

Though we cannot be together in person, we can be together in spirit! Please note the following announcements:

* Coffee Fellowship Time will happen today on Zoom! The room will be open from 11:45 – 12:45 for you to drop in for however long you wish, so grab a cup of tea or coffee (or juice or whatever you prefer!) and maybe a biscuit, and come have a chat! We look forward to seeing you! 

* 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 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 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!

* We also now have an audio recording of the service available on the phone! Simply dial 01475 270 037 to listen to the most recent service. Please share this number with your neighbours, friends, family, and fellow church goers who don’t have the internet, so they can listen in!

* The theme for worship this summer is “Postcards of Faith” — we’ll be getting some postcards from God’s people throughout scripture, following their journeys with God and each other.

* This summer we are taking a Church Family summer trip! We’ll be journeying together from Shore to Shore — the shores of the Clyde to the shores of the sea of Galilee, to the hometown of St. John the Evangelist. Keep track of how much time you spend in prayer, reading the Bible, serving others, or going for a walk. For every 10 minutes, you move us 1km along the journey! Then each week send Teri a note, text, or phone call saying how far you “traveled” this week. On our return journey, we have now reached Kusadasi, Turkey — from where we can get the ferry to Samos!

* Children’s Time happens each Sunday morning at 11am on Zoom. If you would like the login details, please contact Teri. 

* The Young Adult Bible Study (BYOPizza) resumes via Zoom at 1pm next Sunday, 9 August. We will be studying the Book of Revelation! If you’re aged 15-25 and would like the login details, please contact Teri.

* 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. Our Sunday evening prayer services will be shared across our “Fuzzy Parish” (now called CONNECT). Tonight’s service will be led by Karen, and will begin at 6:57pm on the Connect Facebook page, and be sure to like / follow it while you’re there!

* 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.

* Sign up to our YouTube Channel so you never miss a video. Don’t miss “wine and the word” — an occasional series during the 5pm hour that helps us transition from one part of the day to the next, via reflections similar to those that would normally have been in the “God’s Story, Our Story” take home inserts given out each week. 

* Mid-week there is a devotional email, which is also printed and included with the following Sunday’s sermon distribution to those without internet access. You can sign up for the email here.

* 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.

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Hymn 543: Longing for light, we wait in darkness

Reading, Prayers, Sermon, and sneak-peek at our new stained glass window!

Song: Jesus Fed Five Thousand Men

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Call to worship

Today, hear the call of Christ,
for we come seeking him, following him,
to the hillside beside the sea;
and even to us he says:
Come.
There is enough.
There is more than enough.
No matter who you are or where you have come from,
no matter what you have laid aside to come to this time,
no matter how busy you have been,
no matter what you already understand or don’t understand,
there is room for you here.
So come, let us worship God together.

(As the introduction to the reading today, we see the journey of our new stained glass window, from the first drawings to what it looks like today — glass waiting for lead!)

Reading: John 6.1-21 (New International Version)
Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing those who were ill. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near.
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming towards him, he said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
Philip answered him, ‘It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’
Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’
Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. But he said to them, ‘It is I; don’t be afraid.’ Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

Sermon: From the Old to the New (Postcards of Faith 8)

Where shall we get food for these people?

Philip didn’t exactly answer the question, did he? The question was where the food will come from…but Philip was first concerned about their lack of means to procure it.

To be sure, most of us would struggle if asked to buy food for 5000 men plus women and children. But in a time and place where the majority of people struggled to feed their own families, let alone anyone else, it was an absurd thought. I can imagine Philip panicking, even as I remember that one of the first things we were taught upon moving to Egypt was that people so valued hospitality that they would go into debt to put on a nice meal if you went to their house.

There are people in the world, and indeed in our own community, who would give anything for even just the taste that Philip’s six months of wages could have bought. Regardless of where it came from, even a bite of food that they didn’t have to agonise over or go into debt for would be a gift.

The way John tells this story, it was Jesus alone who thought of the need to feed this crowd of people, many of whom may not have eaten anything that day as they were walking, following him. The disciples may have assumed that either people packed their lunch for such a journey, or that they would simply go hungry. Indeed, the disciples were likely in the same situation as the crowd, coming from their working class backgrounds in the poorest outpost of an occupied land. Plus it’s easy to overlook hunger when we think we’re more in the business of souls than bodies.

But Jesus didn’t want to meet only the spiritual hunger people obviously had. He knew that their physical hunger was important too, that tangible needs must be met — both because our brains and bodies work better when we’re well-fed, and because pretending that physical hunger didn’t matter would be to perpetuate the injustice of the empire, which required that each person fend for themselves. The kingdom of God insists that if one person suffers, all suffer, and we are to support each other, not leave one another to figure it out or starve.

So Jesus asks — where shall we get this food? He’s hoping that his disciples will understand that there’s something new afoot, that the old empire ways of thinking can’t meet this new challenge, but that he has a kingdom-of-God vision and plan. Unfortunately, they are still trapped in the way they’ve always done it — there’s no money for that, Jesus!

But then Andrew meets someone.

Where will we get the food? From a young person who shares what they have.

That young person was taken seriously, both by Andrew and by Jesus. They affirmed his generosity and his leadership by receiving his gift, and St John affirmed it too, by including him in the story when it was written down. In this moment, Jesus and his disciples, and indeed the whole crowd, were living out the words of the prophet: that a little child shall lead them.

A child, who wasn’t even counted in the crowd that is reported to have been 5,000 men, not including women and children.

A child, who in other stories the disciples tried to shoo away.

A child, so often thought to be the future, not the present, and so is shunted off to another room until they can learn to sit quietly.

Where are we to get food for these people?

From a child who shares his gift.

I wonder if we, too, are willing to be led by young people? Are we willing to learn from the generosity of a child? Are we willing to follow their lead in addressing the crucial tangible needs of this world, like climate change, poverty, hunger, inequality, violence, and racism? There are young people around the world calling out to us about all these issues, doing the work of education and activism, begging the generations who have power and wealth to use them for good. Are we willing to be led if it means giving up our old ways of thinking and following into a new paradigm, a new worldview, a new set of mental categories about how things work?

The crowd couldn’t quite make that shift to the new way that was offered to them. They wanted to make Jesus king — to stuff him back inside the boundaries of the way they understood things. If he was acting like a shepherd, leading them and feeding them, and doing a better job of it than either their king or the emperor, he must be the new king who would also do everything else they wanted a king to do. Perhaps once he was squarely inside their conventional way of doing things, they’d be safe. But Jesus, who had fed them all from the generosity of a child, wasn’t in it for power and might, and he was unwilling to be controlled by their limited imaginations, so he took himself off to the mountains to reconnect with God, while the disciples went down to the boat to prepare for the trip home.

This summer we too have been on a journey — both as a church family, as we combined our walking, running, cycling, praying, and bible reading to travel together from Shore to Shore, and also a journey with people in scripture. Today’s reading actually includes three different physical journeys — to the far shore of the lake, then up the mountain, then onto the lake again, where Jesus walks through the storm to meet his disciples in the boat.

But there is another journey happening here, one that I hope we are all traveling, and that is the journey from the old things to the new, as the hymn puts it. From the ways we have previously understood the world to work, to the way God wants the world to work. From the worldview we have received from our culture and history and society, to the kingdom-oriented worldview that sees God’s purpose, presence, and power everywhere. From the categories and expectations we had of God, ourselves, and each other, to the far more expansive reality of God’s grace. More than bread was broken open and shared on that hillside.

In the story, the turning point in that journey is a young person, taking the lead, and his elders taking him seriously. There are plenty of young people in our midst who have ideas, gifts, and hearts to share — and though they may seem small in the face of the huge issues facing the world, in the hands of Jesus they are more than enough. So let us, now, be the Body of Christ!

May it be so. Amen.

Hymn 258: When the Hungry Who Have Nothing Share With Strangers
(Cuando el Pobre, text by Jose Antonio Olivar and Miguel Manzano, translated by Mary Louise Bringle)

When the hungry who have nothing share with strangers;
when the thirsty give such water as they have;
when in weakness, we lend strength to on another:
God goes with us on the pathways of our lives.
God goes with us on the pathways of our lives.

When the suffering find their comfort in our blessing,
when despair is turned to hope, radiant and bright;
when all hating melts in embers of our loving:
God goes with us on the pathways of our lives.
God goes with us on the pathways of our lives.

When rejoicing overtakes our hearts and gladness;
when the truth is in our lives and on our lips;
when our love for simple things helps conquer sadness:
God goes with us on the pathways of our lives.
God goes with us on the pathways of our lives.

When true goodness makes each home a hallowed shelter;
when our warfare yields to peace, and earth is blest;
when we find Christ’s human face in every neighbour:
God goes with us on the pathways of our lives.
God goes with us on the pathways of our lives.

Prayers

All we have and all we are comes from you, O God—
your generous providing sustains us all our days.
You give and give:
life and breath, creation’s bounty,
communities of care, hope and love.
You ask in return only that we live with gratitude,
extending the grace we have received,
sharing the blessings we have been given.
We confess that grace and gratitude are rarely our starting point,
for we are caught by our fears, our preconceived notions,
our usual ways of thinking and being and doing.
We ask your forgiveness for those times
we have held tightly to what is ours,
forgetting that all things belong to you,
and for those times
we have been unable to imagine a different way,
and sought to hem you in with our ideas.
We also ask your forgiveness and transforming grace
because we are so prone to separating physical and spiritual needs,
believing one is more important,
forgetting that you cared about the whole person
and bringing earthly justice as well as heavenly peace.
So we pray this day for all who are suffering,
in mind, body, or spirit, in home or community or nation.
We lift up our prayers for the people of Lebanon,
grieving and angry and still searching for loved ones.
We lift up our prayers for those dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane,
cleaning up and waiting for electricity to be restored.
We lift up our prayers for those who are ill,
especially at this time when illness isolates even more than usual.
We lift up our prayers for those who are grieving —
the loss of family or friends, the loss of job or home,
the loss of health and well-being through this difficult time in our world.
We lift up our prayers for those young people and families
whose exam results were not what they would have wished,
and for the teachers and staff who will help them discern their next steps,
and we rejoice with those celebrating their achievement.
We lift up our prayers for teachers, staff, and students
preparing to head back to school
with so many new pressures to manage and protocols to learn.
And we pray that you would make the rest of us
ready to receive the leadership of these young people, Lord,
as you are preparing them to share their gifts with the world.
We thank you, God, for your constant care,
for your willingness to meet us where we are and provide what we most need.
We pray that you would form and re-form us into your Body,
loving, serving, and caring for the world.
We ask these and all things
in the name of the One who gave himself for the life of the world,
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.

Benediction
As you go out into your week, whether that involves going out into the world physically or only virtually, or staying in, may you know that Christ himself cares for you, and may you also find a place to follow the lead of the next generation. 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.

Benediction Response
Words and tune (Gourock St. John’s): John L Bell

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.

Sunday Service for 2 August 2020, tenth Sunday of Pentecost

2 August 2020: 10th Sunday of Pentecost
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri C Peterson,
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Contact: tpeterson@churchofscotland.org.uk

* At this time the St John’s Kirk Session has decided, for a variety of reasons, not to open the building yet. We will continue to worship online and via the telephone recording ministry, with mid-week offerings on video and by email, and through phone calls and zoom gatherings. If you have questions about this, please do contact Teri, or Cameron, or your elder. However, the building works that were suspended during lockdown are resuming. If you see people around the church building, they are likely contractors, and we would ask that you go ahead and say hello but keep a safe distance, and do not enter the building at this time. It’s important that we do everything we can to ensure they have a safe worksite, so that they can continue the work both on the tower and inside the sanctuary as quickly and safely as possible.

Though we cannot be together in person, we can be together in spirit! Please note the following announcements:

* Coffee Fellowship Time will happen today on Zoom! The room will be open from 11:45 – 12:45 for you to drop in for however long you wish, so grab a cup of tea or coffee (or juice or whatever you prefer!) and maybe a biscuit, and come have a chat! We look forward to seeing you!

* 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 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 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!

* We also now have an audio recording of the service available on the phone! Simply dial 01475 270 037 to listen to the most recent service. Please share this number with your neighbours, friends, family, and fellow church goers who don’t have the internet, so they can listen in!

* The theme for worship this summer is “Postcards of Faith” — we’ll be getting some postcards from God’s people throughout scripture, following their journeys with God and each other.

* This summer we are taking a Church Family summer trip! We’ll be journeying together from Shore to Shore — the shores of the Clyde to the shores of the sea of Galilee, to the hometown of St. John the Evangelist. Keep track of how much time you spend in prayer, reading the Bible, serving others, or going for a walk. For every 10 minutes, you move us 1km along the journey! Then each week send Teri a note, text, or phone call saying how far you “traveled” this week. On our return journey, we have now reached Antioch — the city where followers of the risen Christ were first called Christians! 

* Children’s Time happens each Sunday morning at 11am on Zoom. If you would like the login details, please contact Teri. 

* Late-night Mayhem Club happens each night this week, Sunday – Friday, at 10pm on Zoom! Contact Teri for login details and a craft packet!

* 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. Our Sunday evening prayer services will be shared across our “Fuzzy Parish” (now called CONNECT). Tonight’s service will be led by all three Connect Clergy, and includes the launch of the Prayer Path that can be found this week at all our area CofS churches. the service will begin at 6:57pm on the Connect Facebook page, and be sure to like / follow it while you’re there!

* 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.

* Sign up to our YouTube Channel so you never miss a video. Don’t miss “wine and the word” — an occasional series during the 5pm hour that helps us transition from one part of the day to the next, via reflections similar to those that would normally have been in the “God’s Story, Our Story” take home inserts given out each week. 

* Mid-week there is a devotional email, which is also printed and included with the following Sunday’s sermon distribution to those without internet access. You can sign up for the email here.

* 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.

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Hymn: Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord

Prayers, Reading, Sermon

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

~~~~

 
Call to Worship and Opening Prayer

Whoever you are,
Wherever you are,
Whenever you are taking this time to worship,
The call is the same.
Jesus says to us: Come and See.
Come and see grace and love, justice and peace, hope and faith.
Come and see.

Let us pray.

In the midst of everything, O God, you are.
You promised to be with us, in joys and sorrows, in times of hard work and times of rest.
While we go about our daily lives, you are there.
When we aren’t even sure what we’re looking for, you are there.
We praise you for your constancy, for your faithfulness, for your persistence.
For we confess that we are not always good at noticing you.
And we admit that often, when we do look for you, it’s with the hope that you will confirm our desires, our biases, our preconceived notions, so that we will feel justified in whatever action we take, even at the expense of others or of the earth.
Today, Lord, we confess that we are tired of those justifications.
We are exhausted from going our own way and massaging things to make it look like your way.
We have glimpsed a more excellent way, and we want to know more.
We have heard your word and we long for an up-close view of what life with you could be.
So we pray that you would forgive our hard-heartedness.
Forgive the blinders we have put on our eyes and our minds.
Take away those things that keep us from coming close to you and seeing your truth.
Take away those things that keep us from living for your glory.
Take away those things that distract us from your way.
And then fill us again with your grace, that we may indeed live as your people, forgiven, loved, and free, and ready to share your story, that all who seek may indeed find — for you are never far from us, filling our lives with your very breath of love.
We pray these things in the name of Jesus the Christ, who continually calls us through all the tumult of this life, 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.

Sung Prayer #159 (words: Timothy Dudley-Smith, tune: Lord of the Years by Michael Baughen)

Lord, for ourselves; in living power remake us,
self on the cross and Christ upon the throne;
past put behind us, for the future take us,
Lord of our lives, to live for Christ alone.

Scripture Reading: John 1.35-46 (Common English Bible)

The next day John was standing again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus walking along he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard what he said, and they followed Jesus.
When Jesus turned and saw them following, he asked, “What are you looking for?”
They said, “Rabbi (which is translated Teacher), where are you staying?”
He replied, “Come and see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.
One of the two disciples who heard what John said and followed Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Christ ). He led him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
The next day Jesus wanted to go into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter.
Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law and the Prophets: Jesus, Joseph’s son, from Nazareth.”
Nathanael responded, “Can anything from Nazareth be good?”
Philip said, “Come and see.”

Sermon: Come and See (Postcards of Faith 7)

I love picturing this first scene like a film — imagine: John the Baptist and some of his disciples are standing around, loitering on the corner. He sees Jesus and points (he wouldn’t be the subtle type to just nod his head and say “don’t look now, but here comes the lamb of God”, he would definitely point). And the two disciples walk away from John, leaving him standing on the corner alone. They follow Jesus at a discreet distance, perhaps, but he senses that he’s being followed and turns around to confront them, and when he asks what they’re looking for, I picture them as a bit tongue-tied. What are they looking for? Do they even know?

We know that John had been teaching that he wasn’t The One, that he was preparing the way for one who would come after him and be greater than he could even imagine. So when he finally pointed to Jesus in the flesh, perhaps it’s no surprise that Andrew and the other disciple with him simply dropped everything and changed schools without a blink. Or perhaps there was a bit more thought involved — I think of how difficult it was to leave behind my hairdresser and my therapist when I was moving here, and how much more difficult it would be to leave behind a spiritual teacher like John the Baptist! Yet off they went. But when Jesus turned around, they suddenly realised there was more to this than they’d thought.

What are you looking for?

When we come to Jesus, what are we looking for?

Are we looking for someone who will comfort us through difficult times?
Someone who will ease our discomfort at changes in the world by offering us a bubble of pious words and pictures?
Someone who looks like us and will help us maintain the status quo?
Are we looking for answers to difficult 21st century questions?
Are we looking for 5 easy steps to a good life?
Are we looking for hope in the midst of the despair of this world?
Are we looking for a friend who will go along with our ideas, or one who will challenge us to be our best selves?
Are we looking for God, creator, redeemer, and sustainer of the universe, in the flesh beside us?
Are we looking for someone who will lead us through green pastures and through the valley off the shadow of death, who will invite us to a feast in the presence of our enemies?
Someone who will open our eyes to see the truth of this world, and who won’t let us shy away from big challenges?
Someone who will steer our steps toward the people who are poor, ill, outcast, foreign, and undesirable? Or who will call us to change the systems that keep people poor, marginalised, and seen as less-than?
Are we looking to have our hearts broken when God’s heart breaks?
Are we looking for love so overwhelming that it spills over to people who don’t deserve it?

What are you looking for?

Andrew and his friend don’t appear to have an answer, so they simply indicate that they want to be close to Jesus — except they do it in the creepiest way possible. Having followed him around town and gotten caught, they then just say “where are you staying?” Luckily, Jesus knows their hearts. He knows they aren’t stalkers or celebrity-obsessed paparazzi. He knows that they are seeking something they don’t yet know how to articulate, and that the best way to find it is to stay close to him. So he issues them an invitation: Come and see.

And those two go, and they see, and then they find their siblings and friends and give them the same invitation: come and see.

Notice there are no answers in the story, no pithy sayings, no clarifying of positions on political issues yet. So far, we’ve got Jesus inviting disciples, and then those disciples inviting more. And for thousands of years, that’s exactly how it has worked. We come to Jesus and see, and then we invite others to come and see with us.

Whatever we think we’re looking for, the answer will be the same: come close to Jesus, and see what he is doing and saying, how he is living and being, where he is going, who he is spending time with, and that will change us, and it will change the world.

When we come close to Jesus, we’ll discover there’s no room for the casual racism that enables a question like “can anything good come from Nazareth?” Those dividing walls are torn down and the kingdom of God encompassing all can be seen, when we join Nathanael in rooting out those internalised prejudices.

When we come close to Jesus, we’ll see that the way our thoughts become actions is more important than just believing the right things.

When we come close to Jesus, we’ll learn that love isn’t just a feeling, and it isn’t just for the people we like. It’s an action that has to be chosen every day, in every situation, toward everyone — because that is how the world will know that we are his followers, by our love.

When we come close to Jesus, what we see will make us want to invite others to come as well, because there is no one else in whom abundant life can be found, and surely we will want to share that when we have found it.

So hear the invitation again today: come and see.

May it be so. Amen.

Hymn 510, Jesus Calls Us Here To Meet Him (vv. 1-3)
(words: John L Bell & Graham Maule, tune: Lewis Folk Melody)

Jesus calls us here to meet him
as, through word and song and prayer,
we affirm God’s promised presence
where his people live and care.
Praise the God who keeps his promise;
praise the Son who calls us friends;
praise the Spirit who, among us,
to our hopes and fears attends.


Jesus calls us to confess him
Word of life and Lord of all,
sharer of our flesh and frailness,
saving all who fail or fall.
Tell his holy human story;
tell his tales that all may hear;
tell the world that Christ in glory
came to earth to meet us here.

Jesus calls us to each other,
vastly different though we are;
creed and colour, class and gender
neither limit nor debar.
Join the hand of friend and stranger;
join the hands of age and youth;
join the faithful and the doubter
in their common search for truth.

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession

Loving God, we thank you for the many ways you reveal yourself to us — through the beauty of your creation, through the laughter of children, through the caring companionship of family and friends. We thank you for the wonders of four seasons in one afternoon, and for the glimpse of grace that we get from seeing our community come together to help each other in the midst of a crisis. We are grateful to feel your breath in the wind, to remember our baptisms when we unexpectedly get caught in the rain, and to hear your call in the voices of our neighbours near and far who cry out for help, for healing, and for justice.
You call us to come and see, to stay close to you and follow your lead. And so we pray for the courage to walk your way, Lord. For the strength to love as you love, to include those you include, and to do the work that you have left for us to do as ambassadors of your kingdom.
We remember this day those who have been left behind, forgotten, or silenced…those on the margins of society, overlooked because their stories are inconvenient for those in power. We pray that they may be heard, and valued, and welcomed.
We remember those who sit in the places of power and decision making, and we pray that they might have the wisdom and compassion to seek your way, to build a more just society where none are expendable.
We remember your creation, groaning under our weight. We pray for the vision and the discipline to be good stewards of this earth you have entrusted to our care, that it may indeed provide for all, as you intend.
We remember your people who are suffering —
with illness of body, mind, or spirit;
with uncertainty, unemployment, or loss;
with grief, pain, or despair;
with violence, hatred, and war.
We pray for your comfort to surround them, your healing to fill them, your justice to roll down like waters.
For all the ways in which the world does not yet look like your kingdom, we ask your help, O God.
Bring us close to you, and let us see your truth.
Guide us in seeking your way, and gift us for the task of being your Body, tearing down dividing walls of hostility and building up a society of love, compassion, and justice.
Then send us out to tell your story, to invite others to come and see, that together we may live always for your glory.
In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Benediction
Wherever you find yourself in days to come, keep your eyes on Jesus, for he will show you the way — the way to abundant living, the way to invite others, the way of love for all. 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.

Benediction Response
Words and tune (Gourock St. John’s): John L Bell


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.