Sunday Service for 2 May 2021, Fifth Sunday of Easter

Sunday Service for 2 May 2021, Fifth Sunday of Easter
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, please phone 01475 270037.

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Prelude Music (in person only)

Welcome/Announcements

Call to Worship and Opening Prayer
Come, let us celebrate what God is doing!
Listen to the stories of the Spirit changing lives,
through the work and words of others…and in spite of them.
Listen to the stories of the Risen Christ reinterpreting our ancient words,
inviting us to new ways of being together.
Listen to the stories of God’s people past and present,
showing us where God is leading.
Rejoice, for the Living One is here, calling us on!
Come, let us follow in faith.

Let us pray.
You move where you will, O God.
Bring us on board with what you are doing, here and now.
When we are frightened by your freedom,
give us ears to hear the testimony of others
and guide us to joyful new community.
When we are uncertain of what to do next,
give us minds and hearts to discern your presence
and courage to follow your lead.
Now open your word to us and shed its light on our lives,
on our community,
on this world.
Amen.

Music
In person:
Online: Build Your Kingdom Here

Children’s Time (in person only)

Reading: Acts 15.1-23a, Common English Bible
Last week we heard about Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch, when Philip told the story of Jesus and the eunuch was baptised. After that, the book of Acts goes on to tell more stories of the followers of Jesus who had left Jerusalem because of the persecution led by Saul, who is also called Paul. Soon, however, Paul found himself knocked off his horse while he was traveling to Damascus to chase down some Christ-followers, and he had his own personal encounter with the risen Lord that changed everything for him. His heart and mind were changed, and his way of life followed suit. He began to proclaim the good news of Jesus, even to people who were still afraid of him as he had been their persecutor until just a few days ago! Around this same time, Peter was praying on the rooftop when he saw a vision of many animals, and heard the voice of God say “what I have called clean, you must not call unclean.” When his vision ended, a knock on the door brought messengers from a Gentile family asking him to come and speak to them, and while he was telling the story of Jesus to them, the Holy Spirit filled them all just as it had on the first Pentecost morning. Peter then explained to anyone who would listen that God was at work among the Gentiles and he would be following God’s lead in that mission. We pick up the story today in Antioch, where Paul was leading a new church community made up mostly of Gentiles who had come to follow Jesus. This is Acts chapter 15, and I am reading from the Common English Bible.
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Some people came down from Judea teaching the family of believers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom we’ve received from Moses, you can’t be saved.” Paul and Barnabas took sides against these Judeans and argued strongly against their position.
The church at Antioch appointed Paul, Barnabas, and several others from Antioch to go up to Jerusalem to set this question before the apostles and the elders. The church sent this delegation on their way. They traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, telling stories about the conversion of the Gentiles to everyone. Their reports thrilled the brothers and sisters. When they arrived in Jerusalem, the church, the apostles, and the elders all welcomed them. They gave a full report of what God had accomplished through their activity. Some believers from among the Pharisees stood up and claimed, “The Gentiles must be circumcised. They must be required to keep the Law from Moses.”
The apostles and the elders gathered to consider this matter. After much debate, Peter stood and addressed them, “Fellow believers, you know that, early on, God chose me from among you as the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and come to believe. God, who knows people’s deepest thoughts and desires, confirmed this by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, but purified their deepest thoughts and desires through faith. Why then are you now challenging God by placing a burden on the shoulders of these disciples that neither we nor our ancestors could bear? On the contrary, we believe that we and they are saved in the same way, by the grace of the Lord Jesus.”
The entire assembly fell quiet as they listened to Barnabas and Paul describe all the signs and wonders God did among the Gentiles through their activity. When Barnabas and Paul also fell silent, James responded, “Fellow believers, listen to me. Simon reported how, in his kindness, God came to the Gentiles in the first place, to raise up from them a people of God. The prophets’ words agree with this; as it is written,
After this I will return,
        and I will rebuild David’s fallen tent;
        I will rebuild what has been torn down.
            I will restore it
            so that the rest of humanity will seek the Lord,
                even all the Gentiles who belong to me.
The Lord says this, the one who does these things
    known from earliest times.

“Therefore, I conclude that we shouldn’t create problems for Gentiles who turn to God. Instead, we should write a letter, telling them to avoid the pollution associated with idols, sexual immorality, eating meat from strangled animals, and consuming blood. After all, Moses has been proclaimed in every city for a long time, and is read aloud every Sabbath in every synagogue.”
The apostles and the elders, along with the entire church, agreed to send some delegates chosen from among themselves to Antioch, together with Paul and Barnabas. They selected Judas Barsabbas and Silas, who were leaders among the brothers and sisters. They were to carry this letter.

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: Like Us, or Like Christ?

This is one of those passages that always elicits a bit of a blank look from people…and many of you may be wondering whether I just had the session clerk read out the minutes of the first church council meeting and the related correspondence. Yes, yes I did.

It was a meeting convened for the purpose of hearing from missionaries who had been summoned 420 miles back to Jerusalem from Antioch to attend the meeting and report on their activities, especially the part about different kinds of people joining the church. The assembly listened to their report, probably wishing for a powerpoint presentation to keep everything straight. There were two different visions of how inclusive the church should be, and the people on each side both made motions which had to be debated on the floor, probably complete with people who rambled a bit, and those who pretended they were asking a question so they could make a statement, and those who didn’t know how to use the microphone. One of the former moderators stood up and told a personal story. And then Paul and Barnabas, who had made the report, closed the debate with their own closing statement.

After the debate, the assembly took time to pray, hear a scripture from the prophets, and listen to a sermon. And then they voted, and the results of the vote were communicated to the churches via letter. Then they commissioned new missionaries to join those who are returning to Antioch, then adjourned and published the minutes.

I always knew the apostles must have been Presbyterians.

One of the beautiful things about the Presbyterian tradition is that we discern the movement of the spirit in community. Just as God, the three in one, is eternally together in a mysterious equal communal relationship, so we the church are also eternally bound together—and we try very hard to also have equality within our communal relationships, listening to one another, hoping to hear the voice of God through the voices of the church. We truly believe that we can best see where the Spirit is moving when we look and listen together.

That first church council meeting may seem far away now, but the problem they were addressing is surprisingly contemporary. They were trying to decide whether new people who joined the Christian community needed to become like the people who were already members, or whether the point of being in community together was that all of us are seeking to become like Christ.

It was a question of assimilation for some, or transformation for all.

In so many ways, that is still the question we are asking about church. In order to be part of a church community, do people need to become like us, those of us who are already here?

The first church members in Jerusalem were concerned that if non-Jews joined the church, they needed to follow the same rules of life or else there’d be a situation where people in the same community led vastly different everyday lives. The Torah gave structure to their week, and helped them know what to eat and what not to eat, what activities to do when, what to do if they encountered various situations or people, and so much more. It was a spiritual guidebook that organised their lives, giving them a faith lens on every aspect of life. It was a whole worldview that these new people did not have, and the original members insisted they needed to learn. After all, how could they be in community with people whose experience of God in everyday life was different?

It’s sometimes easy to say “change happens” and to forget that with change comes grief. Those original members had a sense of loss — because if new people joined without having to do all the things that they did to come close to God, then they would also be losing that easy shorthand they could do with each other, and the expectations they’d never had to articulate before would now have to be said, and the whole community would no longer have shared story of who they were and how they got here and what they were called to do.

What if people join in online ministry but don’t have any attachment to our church building? What if people participate in youth activities but not in Sunday worship? What if people whose life experience, or accent, or clothes, or family background is really different want to come to church? What if people want to be part of our Christian community but they don’t understand or even care very much about our favourite traditions?

This story of the first church council meeting and the grief that comes with letting go of our desire for assimilation in order that we can receive the gift of all being transformed in Christlikeness together is a story that has played out throughout history. From the beginning, there has been a challenge of continuity — how does our faith evolve, as God continues to do new things in and through the world?

I heard a sermon once by Otis Moss III in which he used the metaphor of a remix—where you take an old song and make it new, maybe with new instrumentation, different voices, or using new technology. He argued that when we see the whole arc of scripture, we see God’s people constantly making remixes—Joshua is a remix of Moses, Paul is a remix of Jesus, and so on. The same is true in the church through the centuries: that we have taken the same essential message and told it in different ways. We can see it already in this first Council meeting, as Peter points out that in all the arguing about whether or not new Christians have to also be physically made into new Jews, points out the core reality: “we will all be saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ”…and then James reminds us that God has been telling this story from the beginning.

This message is the lyrics and basic melody of the song. It’s the unchanging part. All around those lyrics, we might make new chord progressions, use different ways of playing the melody, add in new effects, but the message is the same: all of us are saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In this remix, the council agrees that it is not necessary for people who want to follow Jesus to first be circumcised and follow Moses. They go for a more inclusive option, letting go of some old rules and practices that are not, in and of themselves, the message. It is necessary to hear the stories and to hold fast to the first commandment, and so they lay out the things that means in their time: no engaging in the rituals of the pagan temples and feasts, which included temple prostitution and acting on behalf of idols in consuming offerings made to them.

We hear the admonition to stay away from the rituals of temple prostitution and strangled offerings and blood and think “hey, that’s pretty easy!” It’s worth remembering that just as the gospel message can be remixed through the years, so can the temptations that draw us away from Christ, especially in the area of the first commandment against idolatry. The big issue of society was whether or not one participated in the rituals that made it possible to live safely and prosperously in the empire, and it still is…but now our idolatry seems to take much more insidious forms than whether we attend a pagan feast. Perhaps today the elders would write to the churches to abstain from white supremacy, or militant nationalism, or products made by low wage workers chained to sewing machines. After all, the temple prostitutes and bloody offerings were a part of the way things were, but they were also practices that drew them away from focusing on Christ, no matter what their intentions may have been. Anything that takes precedence over God in our priority list is an idol, including our own desires or security, and the council is clear that we are to abstain from anything polluted by idols. How much of our economy, our political system, our social structures, even our church traditions, are polluted by idols?

In the end, though, there is still the core message: no matter what mistakes we make along the way, nothing can separate us from God’s love—we are all saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. His grace and love crosses lines of generation and ethnicity and politics and length of membership and favourite style of music. And we are all meant to be ever more like him, not demanding that others become ever more like us first. What might happen if we followed the Spirit to yet another remix of the old old story?

The Council sent their message back to the church in Antioch, and the story continued to spread. The followers of Christ didn’t sit in their buildings waiting for people to come to them, they looked for where God was already working, even in places they didn’t think God ought to be. They followed the Spirit’s movement and went out to meet people where they were and joined them in the mission to become like Christ and to transform the world toward the kingdom of God.

May it be so. Amen.

Hymn 522: The Church is Wherever God’s People Are

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Living God,
You are at work, and we give you thanks.
We offer our gratitude for the many ways you reach across our boundaries
and break down the boxes we have built for each other and for you.
We pray for all who have been boxed out of community by our human rules.
We pray for all who have been boxed in by our expectations.
May our community be more like your Body each day.

We pray for a world that has been so fractured and fragmented, as we have made distinctions and divisions between us and them.
We pray for a world that speaks of wholeness, healing, and peace, yet does not pursue it.
May we remember your call, and be re-membered by your love and justice.

We pray for those who are anxious, especially in these times of big change.
We pray for those who are tired of advocating for themselves and wish change would come faster.
May they be upheld by your persistence and comforted by your love.

We pray for places where violence is a first resort instead of last.
We pray for victims who suffer and for perpetrators who have lost sight of our shared humanity.
May your peace that passes all understanding fill our hearts, our homes, our world.

We pray for people who have big stories of your goodness to tell.
We pray for people who are still learning to speak of the grace they have seen.
We pray for people who need to hear, and who want to hear, and who are learning to listen.
May your word echo through this space between us, that we might come to trust.

We ask these and all things in the name of the One
who heals all division, re-members us into his Body, and renews all 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.

Benediction
Friends, go into your week looking for where God is at work, and make it a point to join in the mission that we all might become more like Christ together. 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.

Postlude Music (in person only)

Announcements
* NEXT SUNDAY, the 9th of May, we will welcome the Rt. Rev. Dr. Martin Fair, Moderator of the General Assembly, to lead us in in-person worship. The online/print/telephone service will be slightly different, as it will be the service he curates each week for use across the nation.

* 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, and no singing yet. We can welcome approximately 33 people for worship, so if you would like to come in person, please phone Cameron (630879) on a MONDAY afternoon between 1-3pm or Anne Love (07904 617283) on a Saturday morning between 10-12 to book a place.

* Young Adult Bible Study is on Zoom at 1pm, we are reading through the Gospel According to Mark. Contact Teri for login details.

* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page. Teri and David are leading tonight’s service, 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!

* The theme for worship during the season of Easter is “Re-membering” — being put back together as a community, perhaps in new ways! Easter is a season that lasts 50 days, from Easter Day until Pentecost.

* 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!

* May includes Christian Aid week! While door to door collections, book sales, and coffee mornings are not possible, Christian Aid is encouraging us to undertake a month-long sponsored walk. Can you, or a group/family, commit to walking 300,000 steps during the month of May? It’s around 10,000 steps per day. Get some sponsors and get walking — together we can become more fit and also help people most in need. You can collect your sponsorships in an envelope and send them to the church for forwarding to christian aid, or you can collect donations online. If you need help with that, contact Teri.

Sunday Service for 25 April 2021, fourth Sunday of Easter

Sunday Service for 25 April 2021, Fourth Sunday of Easter
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, please phone 01475 270037.

To hear David Lamotte’s full song “Water”:

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Prelude Music (in person only)

Welcome/Announcements

Call to Worship
The Spirit whispers, calling us to get up and go,
to set out on the road God will show us.
The Spirit whispers, calling us to walk alongside,
to listen and ask questions and listen more.
The Spirit whispers, calling us to tell the story,
sharing the truth we know and discovering new truth together.
The Spirit whispers, calling us to worship.

Let us pray.
God of good news,
in your word we find life in all its fullness…
sometimes embraced and celebrated,
sometimes obscured by our brokenness,
sometimes shining like a beacon,
if only we will turn the next page,
or ask for help understanding,
or listen to the questions.
You meet us with grace just where we are,
whatever our experiences,
the shape of our bodies,
the level of our understanding.
We praise you for your love that leads us into your kingdom
where all are welcome.
Amen.

Music:
In Person: Chia Mai, by Ennio Morricone
Online: Hymn 609, Come Living God When Least Expected

Children’s Time (in person only)

Reading: Acts 8.26-39 (Common English Bible)
Last week we heard about what happened with Stephen, one of the first deacons ordained to serve the church community. After he was killed, Saul — also called Paul — began to persecute followers of Jesus, even dragging them out of their homes to put them in prison. The apostles, deacons, and many other followers scattered out of Jerusalem and began sharing the good news in other towns and across the countryside. Another of those first seven who were ordained to serve was Philip, who left Jerusalem and went to preach and serve in Samaria. We pick up the story there today in the book of Acts, chapter 8, beginning at verse 26. I am reading from the Common English Bible.

An angel from the Lord spoke to Philip, “At noon, take the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) So he did. Meanwhile, an Ethiopian man was on his way home from Jerusalem, where he had come to worship. He was a eunuch and an official responsible for the entire treasury of Candace. (Candace is the title given to the Ethiopian queen.) He was reading the prophet Isaiah while sitting in his carriage. The Spirit told Philip, “Approach this carriage and stay with it.”
Running up to the carriage, Philip heard the man reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you really understand what you are reading?”
The man replied, “Without someone to guide me, how could I?” Then he invited Philip to climb up and sit with him. This was the passage of scripture he was reading:
Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
    and like a lamb before its shearer is silent
    so he didn’t open his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was taken away from him.
    Who can tell the story of his descendants
        because his life was taken from the earth?
The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, about whom does the prophet say this? Is he talking about himself or someone else?” Starting with that passage, Philip proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him. As they went down the road, they came to some water.
The eunuch said, “Look! Water! What would keep me from being baptised?” He ordered that the carriage halt. Both Philip and the eunuch went down to the water, where Philip baptised him. When they came up out of the water, the Lord’s Spirit suddenly took Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing.

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 Water’s Gonna Win

On this day, the 25th of April, 22 years ago, I was attending my fourth ever Sunday morning worship service. I was eighteen years old, and had not been brought up in the church. A few years before, I had read the Bible as a literary pursuit, and realised that it was much more than the other things I was reading in literature courses — that it was True, with a capital T, though I didn’t really understand anything about it or about how it related to life or church or anything like that. Some friends had invited me to church with them for Easter, and I went. And then I went back by myself the next week. Then the day after that I attended an Inquirer’s Class, and then I spent two weeks talking with one of the ministers about what this whole Christianity thing was about, how it was related to the Bible, and what it had to do with me. I had a lot of questions that he patiently discussed with me, until I asked him if it was possible to become a Christian without telling my parents who were, after all 2,000 miles away and maybe didn’t need to know until it was done? He said I probably shouldn’t do that because it wasn’t really the kind of thing that should be a secret, so I called them first and they surprised me with their support.

Then on Sunday the 25th of April, four weeks after I had walked into a church building for the first time, I sat in the front row of the sanctuary, and partway through the service I was called forward to kneel on the marble steps — they did have a cushion, thankfully, since I was wearing a shorter-than-knee-length dress! — and after answering some questions, the minister sprinkled water on my head and declared that I was now a part of this family of Christ followers.

That was a day that changed my life forever.

Which is something I could also easily have said about several of the days that led up to that day! The day my friends invited me to worship with them. The day the Spirit nudged me to get up and go to the service by myself. The day the minister taught the Inquirer’s Class in a way that invited not only those who were lifelong churchgoers just moving their membership, but even those who had no idea what church was about. The day after day that he sat with me and talked through what this all meant. The day he convinced me to phone my parents first.

Or perhaps, farther back, the day I opened the Bible for the first time and started to read, under the covers at night so no one would know.

All of those were life-changing days.

But the one I remember and observe every year is this one, the day the water dripped through my hair and the words “you belong to God” echoed through the sanctuary.

Imagine being that Ethiopian eunuch — a royal official, in charge of all the riches of the Ethiopian empire, yet also an outsider, a sexual minority, given power because he would never have been able to insinuate himself into the royal bloodline. That meant that when he traveled to Jerusalem to worship, even though he may well have been a Jew, he wouldn’t have been allowed into the inner parts of the Temple. He could read scripture and he could pray, but he would never be able to access the full worship life of his community, just because of who he was. And at home, he could walk the halls of power and control the purse strings of the palace, but he would never be able to access the full relational and family life of his community.

Imagine how he felt when a stranger ran up beside his chariot and somehow managed to carry on a conversation while running alongside, starting with “do you really understand?”

This man who was both insider and outsider, both man and not-a-man, welcome and unwelcome, could have pretended to understand. He could have projected the image of the strong and powerful person who has it all together. But instead he took the question sincerely. He was reading a prophet’s words about a man who was cut off from descendants by injustice and humiliation…he had questions.

Imagine being Philip, following the nudge of the Holy Spirit to go for a run on a desert road at high noon, and somehow having the wherewithal to speak! He listened, and then he asked a question. He didn’t interrupt the reading with an explanation or a prepared speech. He listened, asked a question, and then allowed the eunuch to ask his questions. From those questions, he told the story and talked about what a difference this new way of understanding God’s work could make in his life. Philip met him where he was and listened to his questions…and was also not shy about telling the story and speaking truth openly and boldly.

It’s hard for us to imagine being like the eunuch…but I think in some ways it can be harder to imagine being like Philip. Many of us are not practiced at heeding nudges from the Holy Spirit, first of all. We talk ourselves out of them, with pro and con lists or a belief we aren’t ready or educated enough. And when we do follow the nudge, most of us are not very good at starting where the seeker already is. We have a few answers we want to get across, and that’s all we know how to say, even if it isn’t what the person is asking about. Or else we are so uncertain about how to speak about our faith that when someone asks questions, we stay where they are without ever telling the story that goes on from there, without ever speaking the truth we know. Sometimes we accidentally, or on purpose, put up more barriers in front of people who already feel like they don’t belong…and other times we forget to give the person the stepping stones to cross the chasm from where they are to where the Spirit is calling. Too often we assume that people will simply “get it”, that they’ll know what we’re talking about, be familiar with our stories and our traditions, and they’ll just become like us…rather than listening, finding out what God has been doing in their lives, and perhaps adjusting our own ways to be more inclusive, to allow people to be themselves and also part of the Body. But it is possible. The friends who invited me to church, and the minister who patiently discussed my questions and showed me a place in the story, even my parents who accepted and rejoiced so unexpectedly, are an example to us all. We can follow the Holy Spirit nudge just as they did.

When the chariot approached some water — remember, this is a desert road, so who knows what water this was! — the eunuch said “what would keep me from being baptised?”

What would keep him out? His was a life defined by boundaries that kept him out — out of the main worshipping community, out of the centre of the Temple, out of the real power, out of polite society, out of the family. He would never fully belong, even if he could pretend for a little while to try to fit in. There were barriers that no matter how hard he tried, he was never going to be able to overcome, simply because of who he was and what body he lived in. Discussing scripture and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus with Philip, he wanted to know: do I belong in God’s story?

And even though he may not have fully understood it all, and even though maybe he and Philip both still had questions, they went down into the water, and the ritual sealed his belonging. If there’s one thing we can learn from the story of Easter, it’s that there were no barriers that God could not overcome.

The singer-songwriter David Lamotte has a song called “Water” that includes this refrain:
The water’s gonna win
You can’t hold back the tide
You can’t hide from what’s within
The water’s gonna win
Feel it move beneath your skin

The water’s gonna win
It will keep flowing through
All we are and all we’ve been
The water’s gonna win
Forever and amen
The water’s gonna win

The moment they came up from the water, the Spirit took Philip away. The eunuch would continue to learn, and to grow, and to try and fail and try again. He would still have questions. But he wasn’t going to be able to hold on to the teacher, he was going to have to trust that the water was enough to mark him as beloved. The water would win. He was re-membered, put back together, into the Body of Christ. He belonged, to God and to a community, to an us. It was a day that changed his life forever.

When a child is baptised, we say to them, “for you Jesus Christ came into the world, for you he lived and showed God’s love, for you he suffered the darkness of Calvary and cried at the last, “It is accomplished”; for you he triumphed over death and rose in newness of life; for you he ascended to reign at God’s right hand. All this he did for you, though you do not know it yet. And so the word of Scripture is fulfilled: ‘We love because God first loved us.’”

And then after the water, we say: you belong to Jesus Christ forever.

You belong. And it changes your life.

Whatever we think we understand or don’t understand…whatever barriers we see, because of our bodies or minds or hearts, because of our past or because of the expectations we think others have, because of what we look like or who we love or where we live or what job we do…however gifted or inept the person we speak to about our faith questions or doubts or wonderings…whether we’ve read the whole Bible or only ever heard the Nativity story…if our lives seem to be falling apart or if we’re living the best life we can imagine or if we aren’t even sure about any of it…whether we are the one being nudged to speak the truth of God’s story or the one nudged to ask questions…

We belong. You belong. The Body of Christ is not whole without you.

The water’s gonna win.

May it be so. Amen.

Music:
In person: Improvisation on St. Columba, by Philip Norris
Online: The King of Love My Shepherd Is (St. Columba)

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
Living God,
we thank you for the wonders of your ongoing work
in creation, in community, and in us.
We thank you for deconstructing our boxes and crossing the lines that separate,
putting us back together as your Body on earth.
We lift up to your care those who have known rejection or exclusion,
who long for a place at the table yet see only walls.
May they know the truth of your grace that has room for all.
We lift up to your care those whose questions have been met with derision or clichés,
rather than compassion and curiosity.
May they experience your gentle, patient guidance and companionship.
We lift up to your care those who know only one way of doing things,
and cannot imagine taking an open opportunity for love.
May they learn to trust your Spirit, wherever she leads.
And we pray these things for ourselves, too, O God.
May your love open us to newness of life,
that we might be ready to heed your call.
We ask these and all things in the name of the One
who heals all division, re-members us into his Body, and renews all 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.

Benediction
Friends, you belong to Jesus Christ forever. Go into your week ready to follow the Holy Spirit’s nudge, and to meet people where they are with the story of God’s love. 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.

Postlude Music

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 MONDAY afternoon between 1-3pm or Anne Love (07904 617283) on a Saturday morning between 10-12 to book a place.

* Young Adult Bible Study is on Zoom at 1pm, we are reading through the Gospel According to Mark. Contact Teri for login details.

* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page. David is leading tonight’s service, 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!

* The theme for worship during the season of Easter is “Re-membering” — being put back together as a community, perhaps in new ways! Easter is a season that lasts 50 days, from Easter Day until Pentecost.

* 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!

Sunday Service for 18 April 2021, third Sunday of Easter

Sunday Service for 18 April 2021, Third Sunday of Easter
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, please phone 01475 270037.

~~~~

~~~~

Call to Worship
The Risen Christ has made us his Body,
to love, serve, and care for each other.
The Risen Christ has made us his Body,
calling us in every language and from every background.
The Risen Christ has made us his Body,
giving us grace to live his way.
We join with God’s people in every time and place
to seek the Spirit’s purpose.
Come, let us worship.

Let us pray.
God who is Three and yet One,
you call us into community,
to live out your vision together.
Focus our hearts now,
that we may be faithful in a world
that offers us other ways that do not lead to life.
Reveal your majesty,
give us the words to proclaim your story,
and empower us with your Spirit
to serve you with joy in every place.
Amen.

Music: Now the green blade riseth improvisation by Philip

Children’s Time (in person only)

Reading: Acts 6.1 – 7.2a, 44-60 (Common English Bible)

After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples several times before being taken up into heaven — Luke records the ascension both at the very end of the gospel and the very beginning of Acts. Then the whole group of the disciples waited in Jerusalem. They continued to worship in the Temple and to gather together, around 120 of them. They chose Matthias to replace Judas, and they spent time in prayer. After several weeks, the Holy Spirit filled the house and sent them out into the streets sharing the good news, and the church began to grow, by the hundreds and thousands. Still this growing community spent their time praying, worshipping, sharing meals, teaching, and healing the sick. They took care of each other, ensuring that no one was in need among them. Some of their healing and teaching activities caught the attention of the authorities, but one member of the council persuaded the rest to leave them be. That’s where we pick up the story in the book of Acts, chapter 6, beginning at verse 1. I am reading from the Common English Bible.
~~~~
About that time, while the number of disciples continued to increase, a complaint arose. Greek-speaking disciples accused the Aramaic-speaking disciples because their widows were being overlooked in the daily food service. The Twelve called a meeting of all the disciples and said, “It isn’t right for us to set aside proclamation of God’s word in order to serve tables. Brothers and sisters, carefully choose seven well-respected men from among you. They must be well-respected and endowed by the Spirit with exceptional wisdom. We will put them in charge of this concern. As for us, we will devote ourselves to prayer and the service of proclaiming the word.” This proposal pleased the entire community. They selected Stephen, a man endowed by the Holy Spirit with exceptional faith, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. The community presented these seven to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. God’s word continued to grow. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased significantly. Even a large group of priests embraced the faith.
Stephen, who stood out among the believers for the way God’s grace was at work in his life and for his exceptional endowment with divine power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose from some who belonged to the so-called Synagogue of Former Slaves. Members from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia entered into debate with Stephen. However, they couldn’t resist the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. Then they secretly enticed some people to claim, “We heard him insult Moses and God.” They stirred up the people, the elders, and the legal experts. They caught Stephen, dragged him away, and brought him before the Jerusalem Council. Before the council, they presented false witnesses who testified, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and the Law. In fact, we heard him say that this man Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and alter the customary practices Moses gave us.” Everyone seated in the council stared at Stephen, and they saw that his face was radiant, just like an angel’s.
The high priest asked, “Are these accusations true?”
Stephen responded, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. ….

44“The tent of testimony was with our ancestors in the wilderness. Moses built it just as he had been instructed by the one who spoke to him and according to the pattern he had seen. In time, when they had received the tent, our ancestors carried it with them when, under Joshua’s leadership, they took possession of the land from the nations whom God expelled. This tent remained in the land until the time of David. God approved of David, who asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who actually built a house for God. However, the Most High doesn’t live in houses built by human hands. As the prophet says,
Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
‘What kind of house will you build for me,’ says the Lord,
‘or where is my resting place?
Didn’t I make all these things with my own hand?’
“You stubborn people! In your thoughts and hearing, you are like those who have had no part in God’s covenant! You continuously set yourself against the Holy Spirit, just like your ancestors did. Was there a single prophet your ancestors didn’t harass? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one, and you’ve betrayed and murdered him! You received the Law given by angels, but you haven’t kept it.”
Once the council members heard these words, they were enraged and began to grind their teeth at Stephen. But Stephen, enabled by the Holy Spirit, stared into heaven and saw God’s majesty and Jesus standing at God’s right side. He exclaimed, “Look! I can see heaven on display and the Human One standing at God’s right side!” At this, they shrieked and covered their ears. Together, they charged at him, threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses placed their coats in the care of a young man named Saul. As they battered him with stones, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, accept my life!” Falling to his knees, he shouted, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” Then he died.

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.

Music: Steal Away

Sermon: Don’t Want To Hear It
The spiritual Steal Away to Jesus was sung by enslaved people in the USA in the 1800s — both as a reminder that the suffering they were enduring now was not the full truth of their story, an affirmation that God cared for them…and also as a call to come to meetings for worship and organising and a message that underground railroad conductors would be waiting during upcoming stormy weather to help people escape. For nearly 200 years it has been a song of faith and of longing for freedom and hope — in this world and the next.

On Friday morning, I woke up to news headlines and social media stories about 13 year old Adam, who had been shot and killed by Chicago police. The police lied and said he had a gun when he did not, and they just released video showing that in fact had his hands in the air just as they had asked. Having seen a similar video of when they killed 17 year old Laquan four years ago — a boy in his last year of high school, also unarmed though they lied and said he had drugs — I knew not to watch this time, as it’s a sight that will never disappear from my memory.

Earlier in the week the headlines said that Minneapolis police had shot and killed 20 year old Daunte, just a few miles away from where another Minneapolis police officer is currently on trial for killing 46 year old George by kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes.

So many of these things happen that the responses are fairly predictable.

Of course African Americans and other people of colour in the US get yet another gut punch, they seem to come every day — reminders that their very existence inspires fear in so many, and that their lives are expendable.

While some white Americans are outraged or saddened or feel detached from the problem, many will claim that if these people would just comply with police, they would be alive. It’s hard to know where to begin with that, since the facts proclaim it to be untrue — George Floyd was handcuffed and face down on the ground, Breonna Taylor was asleep in her own bed, 13 year old Adam had his hands up…and 12 year old Tamir was killed at the playpark before the police even got out of the car to speak to him…and and and. Not to mention that being unable or unwilling to comply, especially in a split second, should not be an immediate death sentence.

On this side of the Atlantic, white people will read the headline and shake our heads in disbelief at how bad things are over there. The different roots, history, culture, and community understanding of policing make it almost impossible to understand how these things happen. So we’ll be saddened, and confused — especially those of us who live in places where police rarely carry guns. We might comment on how shocking the state of race relations is in the US. And then we’ll move on with our lives until the next incident captures a headline.

Meanwhile, here in our own nation, many people of colour will also be feeling grief and anger and solidarity, and will tell stories of experiencing racism even here where we don’t have so many weapons. They’ll be asking for our attention to our history and to the current realities of living with brown skin in a nation where in everyday conversation “traditional British” means white, and we have a variety of shorthand slurs and stereotypes at the ready for people of Asian descent, where people of colour are suffering more from Covid, where we can’t put our finger why but we just don’t like that Meghan, and we defend our statues of slave traders more than we stand up for our neighbours.

And then I read this line in Acts: “At this, they shrieked and covered their ears.”

The people who picked up their stones and threw them until Stephen’s body was battered to death didn’t want to hear what he had to say. And it didn’t matter to them that what others had said about him were lies. They could not deal with the fact that he was a foreigner who had not only turned from his ancestral Judaism to follow Jesus, but he was so charismatic and so obviously full of the Spirit that his very existence frightened them. At least he got the chance to speak first, though — a chance denied to so many today.

Stephen’s powerful teaching and his grace-filled way brought attention — not because he wanted it or sought it, but simply because some people have such gifts that the rest of us are drawn to them. They shine and we gravitate to their peace, their passion, their spirit. But some didn’t approve. Perhaps they were jealous, or maybe they thought he had risen above his station, or maybe even that this immigrant-Jew-turned-Christian-leader was making their lives complicated as Greek-speaking immigrants to Jerusalem. When their lies about him landed him in court, it says that the council could see his face was shining like an angel. You may remember that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai after speaking to God, his face shone as well, and it scared people so much that he wore a veil. The leaders of the council would certainly have remembered that story. Stephen didn’t cover up though, he stood there just as he was, comfortable in his own skin, and faced their accusation that he wanted to change things from the way Moses did them thousands of years ago.

Stephen spoke about the relationship between their common ancestors and God over a hundred generations, and pointed out that things had already changed. After all, during the time of Moses, God lived in a tent and traveled with the people in the wilderness. When David got everyone settled in peace in the land, God denied him his desire to build a permanent Temple. Eventually Solomon did build that Temple, and that was already a significant change from the way Moses did things! From a traveling God who lived close to the ground among the people, to a massive gold-plated temple with different sections for different people where God would live behind many thick stone walls…and then through the changes of the destruction of that Temple, the exile and discovery that God was with them even in a foreign land, then building a new smaller Temple…and on down to where they sat, in that second Temple, now surrounded and infused by trappings of the Roman Empire, discussing whether God could have taken on flesh in Jesus, whom thousands were now following as the Messiah.

Things had already changed. Stephen was simply inviting the people of God to catch up to what God was already doing. In some ways, it was the macro version of the micro-event that started the chapter, where we heard that the fast-growing church was becoming more diverse and didn’t quite know how to manage everything. They were committed to caring for each other and ensuring that there was no one among them in need — as we talked about in Wine and the Word on YouTube and Facebook on Thursday. But also the leaders all spoke Aramaic and some members spoke only Greek, and that meant that some of the poorer members didn’t have the language or means to speak up for themselves. So new leaders were added, to ensure that everyone would be looked after — Stephen was one of those, called and ordained to minister to people who were being overlooked. And so in the first steps toward an organisational structure, the church tried to follow where God was already at work.

But the council leaders did not want to hear about how God might be doing things that were different from the way they’d always done it. And they especially did not want to hear that from an immigrant who didn’t even speak their native tongue. Stephen called them “stubborn” and said that they set themselves against the Holy Spirit — they insisted that God could not do a new thing, and even if God did, they weren’t having any part of it.

And they didn’t want to hear this truth about themselves, or about God. They covered their ears and shrieked when he described the beauty of God’s kingdom to them….and they picked up their stones and threw them until he was quiet.

Meanwhile, a young man named Saul, who was also called Paul, held their coats and looked on, silently. Whatever he might have thought inwardly, his silence was approval enough. And he learned from them what was possible, and carried that brutality forward in the next chapter.

What is it that we don’t want to hear? Where might God be moving that we don’t want to follow, so we cling instead to our traditions and insist they can’t be changed — forgetting that they, too, were innovations once? What beautiful diversity of God’s kingdom are we missing out on because there’s no room for it in our systems and structures? And are we covering our ears because we don’t want to hear it…or silencing those stories because they disrupt our comforts…or standing by quietly while people assume we approve of their behaviour?

We don’t have to throw the stones in order to participate in the injustice. After all, someone started by lying about Stephen, and others allowed it, listened to it, shared the gossip. And even the rest of the church community seems to have pulled back, leaving Stephen out on his own — they’re nowhere to be seen in the rest of his story, he stands on his own before the council, only Jesus by his side. And no one stopped the council as they dragged Stephen out of the city. And the witnesses taught the young Saul how to handle those who challenge the old ways.

This is a story that is hard to end with “thanks be to God.” Especially when we continue to enact it, day after day. But there is good news hidden here: that God has no intention of being bound by our ways. Whether we are willing to hear it or not, God is moving beyond the structures and traditions of our churches, and our white supremacy, and our culture and language. And the Spirit is calling and gifting people — us, the Body of Christ — to follow where God is already moving and working, to change those systems that kill. Even when we don’t want to give up our conveniences and privileges, even when we don’t want to hear the harm others have suffered, even when we would rather shake our heads in dismay but not rock the boat. Stephen saw the truth: that Jesus was indeed God’s word made flesh, and his resurrection changed everything, including us…so that we can change the world. We don’t only await our chance to steal away into heaven. God offers liberation from things that bind us here — from enslavement to white supremacy, to vision constrained by nostalgia, to a false peace without justice. As the spiritual says, “I haven’t got long to stay here.” Our neighbours and siblings in Christ haven’t got long…they need us to speak up and to be faithful to God’s call now, before any more lies are told, before any more stones are thrown, before silence kills again. May we be willing to break down those ways and follow Jesus into a new way, sooner rather than later.

May it be so. Amen.

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
Gracious God, you have been with us in every time and place.
From age to age you travel beside us,
and we are grateful for your presence and providing.
We come before you with thanks,
and with hope and concern for your world.
We lift up those who have slipped through the cracks,
overlooked, forgotten, not-quite-meeting-the-requirements.
For all who are struggling yet don’t qualify for help,
and those who are too proud to ask,
and those who feel helpless in the face of a system they can’t navigate
due to language barriers, time constraints, disability, fear, or lack of access,
we pray for your help in opening doors and smoothing paths.
We pray, too, that you would make us advocates for those in need.
Show us how our skills and gifts can serve others whom we normally might not even see.
We lift up those who are called to leadership,
in church, community, and nation.
Give them wisdom, compassion, flexibility, and an extra measure of your Spirit,
to guide us in your kingdom ways
rather than simply the way things are.
Let your grace be at work in their lives, and in ours,
visibly and tangibly,
that together we might grow in love for our neighbour and for you.
We lift up those who face violence of any kind,
from within and without.
Especially we pray for those caught in an unjust system of state violence,
facing execution or war or persecution.
May your peace fall like rain on the earth and grow from every place,
that in our homes and hearts, our lives and livelihoods, our policies and practices,
we might become people of peace.
We ask these and all things in the name of the One
who heals all division, re-members us into his Body, and renews all 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.

Music: Hymn 416, Christ Is Alive (Truro)

Benediction
Friends go into your week following where Christ is already working, dismantling oppression and leading us all into abundant 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.

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 MONDAY afternoon between 1-3pm (note this change!), or Anne Love (07904 617283) on a Saturday morning between 10-12 to book a place.

* Young Adult Bible Study is on Zoom at 1pm, we are reading through the Gospel According to Mark. Contact Teri for login details.

* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page. Teri is leading tonight’s service, 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!

* The theme for worship during the season of Easter is “Re-membering” — being put back together as a community, perhaps in new ways! Easter is a season that lasts 50 days, from Easter Day until Pentecost.

* 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 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 send your donations to Rab & Eileen Gowans at 38 Divert Road, PA19 1EE. Or you can contact Rab & Eileen for bank details for donations, phone 634159.

LIFE AND WORK MAY 2021
The Privilege of Democracy
Thomas Baldwin explains why churches have a key role to play in this month’s elections to the Scottish Parliament

‘A Cherished Part of the Church’s Tradition’

The Rt Hon Baron Wallace of Tankerness QC looks ahead to his year as Moderator-Designate to the 2021 General Assembly with Lynne McNeil, as he encourages elders to serve more widely in the Church of Scotland

Assembly 2021
Timetable and reports to this year’s General Assembly, which will be held online

God’s Table

The first in a new series of Bible studies by the Very Rev Dr Derek Browning, focusing on hospitality

Kirk Session Records Launched Online
More than a million pages of local Church of Scotland records have been published online for the first time

New Guild Partner Projects Unveiled
The six new three-year projects adopted by the Church of Scotland Guild

Our Planet is Changing
Val Brown of Christian Aid Scotland introduces the campaign for this year’s Christian Aid Week

Online
Visit www.lifeandwork.org for news and exclusive features, including Coronavirus Diaries from Church of Scotland mission partners across the world. You can also find us at facebook.com/lifeandwork or on Twitter @cofslifeandwork. You can now buy a single issue of Life and Work online. Visit www.lifeandwork.org/subscribe, where you will also find options to subscribe to either the print or digital magazine.