Sunday Service for 5 September 2021

5 September 2021, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sunday School Revisited 15/final
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse phone: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

To hear an audio recording of this service, including music, phone 01475 270037. Please tell your friends, neighbours, and fellow church members who don’t have internet access!

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Prelude Music

Welcome/Announcements

Call to Worship
1: Through the clouds I see love shine —
Love is all around me!
2: I just called to say I love you —
Take me to your heart, for it’s there that I belong.
1: What’s love but a sweet old fashioned notion?
Two hearts that beat as one.
2: All of me loves all of you…
Everything means nothing if I ain’t got you.
1: I hold you for a million years to make you feel my love.
Love is all you need!
One: Not just a pop song, more than a feeling,
All: God is Love.

Prayer
O Lord we love to sing about love.
The butterflies in the stomach, the warm fuzzy feeling, the companionship and care, the passion.
We confess that sometimes we forget that love
isn’t really about the feelings we feel in any given moment.

We love to talk about things we love.
The stuff that makes us happy, the experiences that fill our diaries, the places we go and things we acquire.
We confess that sometimes we forget that love
doesn’t lead to acquisitiveness or greed.

We love to talk about who we love…and who we don’t.
We confess, O God, that we want your love to be as restricted as ours.

Forgive us, Lord, for the ways in which we do not reflect the fullness of your love for the world.
Renew us in your image and lead us in being your Body, loving, serving, and caring for others.
We ask in the name of Jesus the Christ, who poured himself out in love for all. Amen.

Music
Online: Your Love Never Fails
In-Person: Minuet in A by Boccherini

Children’s Time

Reading: 1 Corinthians 13 New Revised Standard Version
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

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: We Do What We Are
I am often asked about the King James translation of this last verse, which uses the word charity where we now use love — “and the greatest of these is charity.” The difficulty, of course, is that over the past 400 years since the King James Version was translated, the meaning of English words has shifted. So those translators saw that the Greek word agape was translated into Latin as caritas, so they used the similar-sounding English word charity. Over the centuries, though, we have lost some of the depth of the word charity, so now it simply means making donations or helping someone less fortunate. At the same time, we have actually lost some of the depth of the word LOVE, too, so now it is a feeling, an emotion that can come and go, the topic of gushy romantic songs that focus entirely on just two people. Which, paradoxically, means that neither the old nor the new translation gives us the fullness of what Paul was trying to say when he wrote to the Corinthians 2000 years ago.

The church in Corinth was a church divided. The members of the church were constantly arguing with each other about who was the better follower of Jesus, and which spiritual gifts were better than others, and what material things were signs of God’s blessing. Some had decided that speaking in tongues was a requirement, and if others didn’t have that gift then they were inferior to those who did. Some had decided that their wealth and high social status meant they were better than others, and those who were poor didn’t deserve a seat at the table, they were to sit on the floor or at the back. The church was tearing apart over which preachers to listen to and what faithful life looked like in practice.

And so Paul wrote to them: all the gifts of the Spirit — prophecy, knowledge, faith, tongues, giving, even martyrdom — mean nothing at all if they don’t come from love. And without love, then it doesn’t matter whether you can speak to angels or communicate across cultures, it doesn’t matter whether you understand every word of scripture or give away your last penny — without love then none of that is faithful to the God we know in Jesus Christ.

But when Paul talks about love, he isn’t talking about liking people, he’s not talking about being friendly, he’s not even talking about a feeling at all. The emotions don’t really enter into this. There is a Greek word that means love-the-feeling, but it isn’t the word Paul uses. Paul is using the word agape, which literally means to prefer the other, to exhibit goodwill, to give myself away to the other. It’s an action word, not a feeling word.

Elsewhere in scripture we read that “God is love” — and in Jesus, God gave Godself away to us, even when we were behaving in ways that would surely mean God wasn’t feeling particularly fuzzy warm love-hearts about us. Love is an action that doesn’t depend on how we feel about the other person today.

Now let me pause and take a moment to be as clear as I possibly can here. I am not saying, and Paul is not saying, and God is certainly not saying that we are required to endure abuse because that’s the loving thing to do, nor that we are required to do everything that is asked of us simply because someone asked or commanded, nor that we are supposed to give and give and give without ever being filled and nourished and cared for. God does not call us to be burned out, God does not call us to be abused, God does not call us to have to die inside so that others can have their way. This passage has been used that way over the centuries but that is, at best, a misunderstanding, and at worst, an abusive tactic of its own. God’s will is for flourishing abundant life for all creation, including us. And if you, or anyone you know, needs to have a confidential chat about this, or you have questions about it, I am here to listen and talk — don’t hesitate to reach out by message or email or phone.

At the very beginning of this series about stories we learned in Sunday school, we heard Jesus teach that the most important thing is to love God and love our neighbour…even when we might not like them very much, we can still act out love.

All of this brings me to the middle of this passage, where Paul describes what love is like. Again, English lets us down a little bit because we get phrases like “love is patient, love is kind” and it sounds so very….peaceful, in the sense of being still, unmoving, flat. But love is an action word.

Which got me started thinking about that tiny word, “is.”

It’s a form of the verb “to be” — meaning it’s an identity word. When we say “God is love” we are describing God’s identity, the core of God’s being. And it is from our identity that our actions flow. We do what we are. So to say that Love “is” patient means that love shows patience. Love does kindness. And Love does not act rude or arrogant or selfish, because Love is not those things. Because of what Love is, Love does.

Or another way to say that is that we only know what Love is because we see what Love does. We come to know its identity because of its actions. God’s identity is revealed by what God does — Jesus pours out his life for us, and so we recognise God’s love. The same is true for us! Our actions reveal who we are…harsh words reveal a hard heart, generosity reveals a grateful spirit, extending hospitality reveals openness, etc. For individuals and for churches, we can see who we are by what we do. And we decide what to do because of who we are. Which means that, as a church community, we need to be absolutely clear about our identity if we want to have any hope of acting with purpose rather than just simply doing every good idea that comes our way! We want to be able to say “because we are ____, we will do ____”…and also to be able to say “because we are _____, then ____ is not our calling to do.” We do what we are.

Love is an action word, not a feeling word. And we can see what it is when we see it in action — the action of giving itself away.

You can see why the translation “charity” both works and doesn’t work. Because charity is indeed about giving away. But 21st century charity is mostly about occasionally giving away what we have left over, and is often done out of pity or sometimes guilt, though of course it is also often from compassion and empathy and a desire to help others. Caritas, the Latin for Agape, points to the kind of love that consistently puts the well-being of others at the top of the list, that works for the flourishing of others, that understands that we must be in this together, not alone — it’s an identity that informs every action. Basically, Caritas is the opposite of childishness, and Paul wants the Corinthians — and us! — to grow up, and to care more about our neighbour than about getting our own way or being seen as the best or having the most toys. For the church in Corinth, and the church today, the question always has to be, regardless of how we feel about each other or about others around us, regardless of what we think we know and understand or are good at: do our actions reveal Love that gives itself away in service of God and others? Or do they reveal that our identity is actually built on something other than love?

Jesus shows us what it means to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul: it means to love our neighbour as ourselves. Love isn’t a feeling word, it’s an action word. And charity isn’t just an occasional action, it’s a way of being, an attitude toward others and the world. The action of love giving itself away comes from the heart’s attitude of charity. So while Latin and Greek could say all of that in one word, we actually sort of need the deepest and most expansive meaning of both if we want to get the depth of meaning that Paul is trying to convey.

Faith, hope, and love abide…and the greatest of these is the one that acts to give itself away for others.

May it be so. Amen.

Online Hymn 519: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (tune: Hyfrydol)

In Person Hymn: Love is the Welcome (words: Kathy Galloway, tune: Loch Lomond)
Love is the welcome that comes from the heart
and opens its door to the stranger
which makes of its house a resting-place for all,
for the sake of the babe in the manger.

Love is the struggle for justice and peace
that the cause of the weak may inherit,
and*the wretched of the earth,
see a new day brought to birth
in the strength of the gentle in spirit.

Love is the touch that does not draw back
from the maimed and the hurt and the broken,
but*em-braces their pain,
and calls them by their name,
that the word of compassion be spoken.

Love is the journey whose reason is faith,
though its step may be faint*and hesitating,
but though the*march is long
and the courage be not strong
in its end its fulfilment is waiting.

Love is the life that responds to a call
and chooses its truth as its treasures
and walks with the one
who says, “Come and follow me,
for to show you the way is my pleasure.”

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Loving God,
You create, redeem, and sustain all things
in the power of your love.
We thank you this day for being the foundation of our lives,
and of our life together.
We are especially grateful for
your patience,
your kindness,
your willingness to bear with us even when we are not faithful to you.
From age to age, you endure, and your love leads us on.

We come, bearing the burdens of our community,
holding both friend and enemy in your light.
In your mercy, hear our prayers
for those who suffer, in body, mind, and spirit…
for those who care for others so tirelessly, on the front line and behind the scenes…
for those working diligently to guide us into a new way of living…
for those in fear…
for those living in unsafe situations…
for those who feel overlooked or forgotten…
for those who wait in hope for a new dawn…
for your creation groaning…
May your comfort, your peace,
your courage, your justice,
your wonder, your grace,
your hope, your faithfulness,
your love
fill every place,
every heart, every home,
every crack, every hole,
every mind, every body.

Your love never fails.
You never give up,
and we pray that we too would have the fortitude to persevere in loving as you love.
We offer ourselves, body, mind, and spirit, to you,
trusting in your grace and mercy.
We lift these prayers in the name of Jesus the Christ,
your love in the flesh, who taught us to pray together:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.

In-person Hymn 519: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

Benediction
Go into your week to put love into action. And as you go, may the Spirit of God go above you to watch over you. May the Spirit of God go beside you to be your companion. May the Spirit of God go before you to show you the way, and behind you to push you into places you might not go alone. And may the Spirit of God go within you to remind you that you are loved more deeply than you can possibly imagine. May the fire of God’s love burn brightly in you, and through you into the world. Go in peace. Amen.

Sung Benediction Response (John L Bell, tune Gourock St John’s)
Now may the Lord of all be blessed,
Now may Christ’s gospel be confessed,
Now may the Spirit when we meet
Bless sanctuary and street.

Postlude Music

Announcements

* This is the last Sunday in the season of Pentecost (30 May – 5 September, also known as Ordinary Time) so it is our final week of “Sunday School Revisited.” Next week we begin the Harvest season (continuing in Ordinary Time until Advent begins at the end of November), and the theme for worship in this season will be “Uncovered” — we’ll be looking at things God is calling forth that we didn’t know we had in us.

* All worship is online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print) and we also meet in person, subject to the usual protocols for distancing, hand hygiene, mask wearing. We can now welcome up to 85-100 people for worship with 1m distancing between households. No booking will be required. Masks are required at all times inside the building, including while singing. If you are able, please enter by the front door in Bath street, and only those who need step-free access, and families with children, should use the back door.

* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page, led tonight by Jonathan. Log on at 6:58pm to join in.

* The Kirk now has online giving! If you have not already set up a standing order in order to facilitate your spiritual discipline of giving, or if you would like to make an extra gift to support the ministry St. John’s does in our parish, you can give online by clicking here. If you would like to set up a standing order, please contact Peter Bennett, our treasurer, or Teri and she can give you his details. You can also send your envelopes to the church or the manse by post and we will ensure they are received. Remember: no one is coming to your door to collect your envelopes, so please stay safe!

* Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Youtube, and to sign up for our email devotions! Midweek you can watch Wine and the Word on Youtube, pray with video devotions on Facebook, and consider a new angle on something with a devotional email. Feel free to share with your friends, too!

**** Do you know how to work an iPad or other tablet? Would you be willing to help someone else, one-on-one, learn to use theirs for basic things like email, YouTube, Facebook, and Zoom? Contact Teri for more information about volunteering, even just for a few hours a month, to help combat isolation by getting people connected.

** We are looking for someone to organise the coffee rota. We hope to offer tea and coffee after the service again soon, but first we need a coordinator who will keep track of the volunteers and supplies. If you’d be interested in learning more about what’s involved, please Contact Teri, Anne L, or Rab & Eileen G (former coordinators).

Sunday service for 29 August 2021

29 August 2021, 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sunday School Revisited 14
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse phone: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

To hear an audio recording of this service, including music, phone 01475 270037. Please tell your friends, neighbours, and fellow church members who don’t have internet access!

Prelude Music

Welcome/Announcements

Call to Worship (from the Iona Abbey Worship Book)
One: Jesus says, “I am the Way for you.”
All: And so we come to follow Christ.
One: Jesus says, “I am the Truth for you.”
All: And so we come to dwell in the light.
One: Jesus says, “I am the Life for you.”
All: And so we come, leaving behind all else to which we cling.

Prayer
You are the Way that opens before us, making space for a deep breath and calling us to step onto a path that we know and yet cannot fully know.
Forgive us for insisting on our own way.
You are the Truth that supersedes argument and puts an end to strife, casting light that drives out hatred and illuminates the shadowy corners of our minds and hearts.
Forgive us for calling our opinions facts, and insisting our closed minds are the same as your word.
You are the Life that conquers death, laying a feast of abundance we can’t even imagine.
Forgive us for hoarding your goodness for ourselves, while our neighbours around the world starve for food, for water, for safety, for hope, for love, for peace.
Holy God, the news of the world makes us angry and drives us to despair, yet we admit that we cannot see past our own fear and complacency to discern what you would have us do, and so we lament and forget.
Forgive us, and loosen our grip on our own desire for comfort that we may join you in serving the world you so love. Strengthen our hearts, renew our trust in you, and lead us into fullness of life with all your people.
We ask in the name of Jesus the Christ, who lived your life among us in order that we might live with you. Amen.

Music
online: Plenty Good Room (African-American spiritual)

Children’s Time

Reading: John 14.1-10 New Revised Standard Version
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’
Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

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: Roomy
Some of you may know that two new cats came to live in the manse recently. For the past two weeks, it has been a slow process of getting them settled in. We started out with several days spent in my bedroom — anytime I was home, I was in there with them, and the rest of the time they stayed in by themselves, door firmly shut. Then they were allowed out to explore the hallway and stairs to the upper floor…but all the doors to rooms were closed, so they couldn’t get into mischief. After a week, I took them one at a time to the sitting room for an afternoon, then to the study and kitchen for an afternoon — both of those days they were so exhausted that they slept about 9 hours straight overnight! Then we had a little time exploring just the ground floor, and then just the upstairs again, and finally a day when the gate was opened and they could go anywhere in the house, as long as I followed them around. And now they are able to roam freely and unsupervised around the whole house — except the rooms that are always closed for heat-saving purposes!

It’s a big house, so there’s plenty of room for them to run, have adventures, sprawl out on the floor for an impromptu nap, or hide behind the books on the shelf. They have plenty of toys in basically every room, and yet they have stolen cherry tomatoes off the counter, balanced precariously on the bannister on the top floor landing, and hidden under the duvet. They are not kittens, but they’re still fairly small creatures, so this three story house must feel like…well…like their mama’s house has many mansions.

I promise I’m not being sacrilegious, or comparing myself to God and God’s house. Just trying to give a different perspective on a text that many of us are very familiar with — whether from Sunday school and holiday clubs or from funerals. Every day there’s some new place in the house for the cats to discover…and every day there’s something new within God’s house for us to discover.

The thing that makes all that exploration of the house possible is the security of our relationships within it. Before they were out wandering the house, the cats had to get to know and trust me. Each time we went to a new room they knew it was okay because I took them there, and they could always come back to my lap. The same is true within God’s house — especially since, honestly, most of the time scripture uses the word “house” it’s actually about a relationship, a family, not a physical building! Jesus says there are many places to dwell in God…just as he and the Father dwell in each other, and just as he tells us to abide in him as he abides in us. To live in God’s house is to trust the relationship we have with God — a close relationship in which we live our lives together, meaning that we share our lives with God and God shares God’s life with us. When Jesus says he is the way to a relationship with God, this is why — because in Christ, God shared life with us and brought us into the family.

The disciples didn’t really know what was going on when Jesus talked this way. Then, as now, people just can’t really fathom the idea that God’s house, God’s family, is roomy enough for everyone. We’ve usually got quite a list of people we just frankly don’t have time for, but God has all the time in the world, for each of us… and for each of “them.” That’s what it means to have roominess in God’s “house”, God’s family — the relationship is spacious, there’s room to walk around, to learn and grow and change, to ask questions and to explore and to know we can come back to the safety of resting in God’s hand. Because God gave Godself to us, and we give ourselves to God. That’s how committed relationships work.

The disciples, though…they thought they had to understand first in order to commit. They thought they had to have the right words, the right map to follow, before they’d be allowed in. They were so afraid of being left alone, so afraid of the future Jesus was trying to prepare them for, that they couldn’t see what was right in front of them.

In reading their story from the outside, we can see very clearly what they could not when they were in the midst of those last days of Jesus’ earthly life — that fear obscures vision. When all they could think about is how to save themselves and the way of life they had come to love from certain death and destruction…when all we can think about is how to save ourselves and the way of life we have come to love…it’s like having blinders on. We see so narrowly, and so dimly, that the expansive Way of Truth and Life becomes impossible. We miss out on relationship because we’re too afraid to allow the fullness of God to meet our whole selves. So we reduce Jesus to a tool that buys our salvation but locks the gate to others so that we can feel safe.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby once said that “Fear imprisons us and stops us being fully human. Uniquely in all of human history, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the one who as living love liberates holy courage.” Fear imprisons us and stops us being fully human — it locks us up and blocks us from full relationship with God and with others, rather than stopping “them” who we wanted to be kept out…and Jesus lives God’s love so fully that it sets us all free to be courageous, to live this life with God rather than simply waiting for the next.

Courage is actually exactly where Jesus began this teaching: do not let your hearts be troubled. We so often read this at troubling times that I think we have decided to live with only the shallowest meaning of “do not let your hearts be troubled.” Yes, it certainly can be a reminder that Jesus gives us peace beyond all understanding. But deeper down, it’s an instruction to take heart, to not allow the troubles of the world to narrow our vision and weaken our courage to do good and stand up for what is right.

Even when we are afraid.
Even when it looks like the shadows are overtaking the light.
Even when the world is threatening.
Even when it feels like we are drowning in grief.
Even when the problems are bigger than we can solve and all we can see are obstacles.
Even when it’s our lives, or the life of our beloved institutions, at stake.

In fact especially at those times, take heart, and act like the members of Christ’s family that we are. Do not let fear obscure our vision of the roominess of God’s house or tempt us to use Jesus to lock the doors behind us so that we can live in ignorant or apathetic comfort. There’s space to spare, and God has time for refugees, and people who are homeless or hungry, and people who look and sound different, and people who need extra support, and people who work for peace and those who are trying to change their ways, and people who can’t see past the dark cloud of despair, and people suffering from climate change, and people struggling with addictions, and and and…so we, who are made in God’s image and grafted into God’s family tree, had better have time and space for them too. Because it’s when we act like Jesus that we will most likely see him. When we choose, like Philip and Thomas, to focus on ourselves and our fears of the future, we’ll miss God’s presence literally in our midst.

The house is roomy, and Christ has set us free to live life to the full within it — all of us. Take heart.

May it be so. Amen.

In Person Hymn 344: And Jesus said: don’t be afraid (tune 117-1, Mother Julian)
online Hymn: The Love of God Comes Close (by John L Bell, tune Love Unknown)

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer (by the Very Rev Derek Browning, for Life and Work Sunday, interspersed with “Jesus Christ, here among us” by John Bell)

(Refrain)
Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, here among us
Go with us, stay with us, grant us your peace.

Ever-Present God
You are our life.
You are the One Who, from the chaos of creation
Called us into being,
Shaping who and what we are.
You are the artist and the architect.
You are the poet and the musician.
You bring colour and form, words and harmony
Into the world where we live,
And the lives that we live.
(Verse 1 and refrain)
You are the way and the truth and the life;
in you the fullness of God is found.
Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, here among us
Go with us, stay with us, grant us your peace.

Ever-Active God,
With You we work:
To bring peace and justice,
To bring comfort and blessing
Into the world where we live.
In partnership with You and with others,
We shape and reshape our world
To make it a place where all are welcome,
And all find a place to be safe.
(Verse 2 and refrain)
You are the lover and light of the world;
even the darkness is light to you.
Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, here among us
Go with us, stay with us, grant us your peace.

There is life to be lived;
There is work to be done;
For life continues to refresh around us each day,
And work continues to unfold in the vision You give us
And in the dreams we have
For what our world and our communities might yet be.
(Verse 3 and refrain)
You are the shepherd who calls us by name;
none who respond will be turned away.
Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, here among us
Go with us, stay with us, grant us your peace.

God of life, God of work,
Blend these twin realities for us,
That in our living and in our working,
We may honour You,
And follow You,
And change this world,
To Your unending glory.
(Verse 4 and refrain)
You are the vine which is rooted in God;
grafted to you we will bear much fruit.
Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, here among us
Go with us, stay with us, grant us your peace.

We pray these and all things in the name of the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Jesus the Christ, who taught us to pray together…

in-person Hymn: The Love of God Comes Close

Benediction
Take heart! God’s house is roomy and full of light. Go into your week to live with Christ and allow Christ to live through you. And as you go, may the Spirit of God go above you to watch over you. May the Spirit of God go beside you to be your companion. May the Spirit of God go before you to show you the way, and behind you to push you into places you might not go alone. And may the Spirit of God go within you to remind you that you are loved more deeply than you can possibly imagine. May the fire of God’s love burn brightly in you, and through you into the world. Go in peace. Amen.

Sung Benediction Response (John L Bell, tune Gourock St John’s)
Now may the Lord of all be blessed,
Now may Christ’s gospel be confessed,
Now may the Spirit when we meet
Bless sanctuary and street.

Postlude Music

Announcements

* Today is Life and Work Sunday — celebrating the ministry of the magazine of the Church of Scotland. For over 140 years Life and Work has been informing, engaging, educating, sharing news, inspiring, uplifting, and connecting our church together across the nation and world. Learn more about the history of Life and Work, its founder, and some of its highlights over the years — and get a discount on a subscription! — by clicking here,   and also check this out if you’d like to see what’s made the cover over the past 142 years!
— You can also speak to our Life and Work Coordinator, John Reid, anytime with questions or to subscribe!

* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page, led tonight by all four Connect clergy. Log on at 6:58pm to join in.

Sunday Service for 22 August 2021

Sunday Service for 22 August 2021, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday school Revisited week 13
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, phone 01475 270037. Please tell your friends, neighbours, and fellow church members who don’t have internet access!

Prelude Music

Welcome/Announcements

Call to Worship
1: Surely the Lord is in this place —
whether we know it or not, God is present here.
2: God’s promise is true,
and God’s blessing is for the whole earth.
Teri: Sleeping and waking,
at home and abroad,
at work and at school and at play,
together and alone,
All: God is with us.

Prayer
Blessed are you, O Lord our God, for you are everywhere present, and your word is everywhere at work. In every place, you speak to us — in a small small voice, in a cry for help, in scripture, and in silence. You call us to follow where you lead, and we confess that we mostly want you to follow where we lead. Forgive us when we take matters into our own hands, unwilling to make space for your way. We admit that we would prefer your voice to call us into the safety of a sanctuary, not out into the wilderness of the world, and so we hear only what we want to hear and see only what we want to see. Forgive us when we ignore you for our own convenience, looking away from your image reflected in every face and talking over your word calling out in our community. We admit that we are only protecting ourselves from receiving a blessing we do not want, a blessing that asks something of us rather than simply giving to us. Forgive us our selfish ways and create us anew as your image-bearers, made to love, serve, and care for your world. We ask in the name of Jesus the Christ, who was obedient to your way and calls us to follow him. Amen.

Music
Online: You, Lord, Are in This Place (Keith Duke)
In Person: “O Isis und Osiris” from The Magic Flute by Mozart

Children’s Time (in person: back to school blessing)

Reading: Genesis 27-28, selected verses (New Revised Standard Version)
When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called his elder son Esau and said to him, ‘My son’; and he answered, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘See, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me. Then prepare for me savoury food, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.’
Then Rebekah took the best garments of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob; and she put the skins of the kids on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. Then she handed the savoury food, and the bread that she had prepared, to her son Jacob.
So he went in to his father, and said, ‘My father’; and he said, ‘Here I am; who are you, my son?’ Jacob said to his father, ‘I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.’ But Isaac said to his son, ‘How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?’ He answered, ‘Because the Lord your God granted me success.’ Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.’ So Jacob went up to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, ‘The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.’ He did not recognise him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. He said, ‘Are you really my son Esau?’ He answered, ‘I am.’ Then he said, ‘Bring it to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.’ So he brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.Then his father Isaac said to him, ‘Come near and kiss me, my son.’ So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said,
‘Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.
May God give you of the dew of heaven,
and of the fatness of the earth,
and plenty of grain and wine.
Let peoples serve you,
and nations bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
and blessed be everyone who blesses you!’

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went towards Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’ Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!’ And he was afraid, and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’

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: Opposite Blessings

I used to think that my brother and I were pretty bad as far as fighting and sibling rivalry goes. When we were younger we broke things, hurt each other, and shouted ourselves hoarse. I don’t know how our parents put up with us honestly.
And then I read the Bible, and the things that siblings get up to, even just in the book of Genesis, puts our petty squabbles to shame.

Jacob and Esau are a good example. They’re twins, and even in the womb they were already wrestling. While she was pregnant, their mother Rebekah suffered a lot from their constant movement, and when she prayed about it, she received a vision from God to say that she was giving birth to two nations…and that the younger would take precedence over the elder. Now of course they’re twins, so there’s not much room for younger and older, especially since Jacob was born quite literally on the heels of Esau — it says that he was holding on to Esau’s heel with his hand!

From that moment onward, they were rivals in every way. One was their father’s favourite, and one their mother’s favourite. One was skilled in hunting, the other in husbandry. On and on the list goes of how they were polar opposites of each other. And of course there’s the story where we learned that Jacob was a typical Scot as well — he was able to cook a good hearty meal, and his lentil soup was so good that when Esau came in from hunting and was so hungry, he agreed to sell his birthright, his inheritance, to his brother for a bowl of it! A good cook and canny too!

So perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that there’s a twist to the story of their father preparing for his last days, and thinking about his legacy, wanting to give his eldest son a blessing.

Remember Rebekah had been told by God that “the elder will serve the younger.” She simply did, in her mind, what she had to do to ensure that God’s word came true. So she and Jacob worked out a plan to dress Jacob in Esau’s clothes, to cover him in goat hair, and to take in Rebekah’s best cooking. After all, Isaac’s eyesight had failed, and he wasn’t mentally as sharp as he’d once been either, so the plan that Rebekah and Jacob concocted paid off. They were able to manipulate and scheme their way into Jacob getting his father’s blessing.

Esau was murderously angry, of course, which is why Jacob fled towards Haran — the homeland of his grandfather Abraham, running away with only what he could carry. No servants, no livestock, no extra baggage allowance, just what he was wearing and a bag on his back as he headed into the wilderness.

When he laid down that night, exhausted from running, having left his mother with his dying father and his angry brother, the only thing he had to hand was a stone. We always think he used it as a pillow but it’s more likely to have been a large stone that he laid down next to, his back to it, protecting his head and back and hiding him from at least one angle as long as he didn’t stick his legs out. The wilderness is a dangerous place, especially at night, that’s the best he could hope for in terms of protection.

There, in the middle of nowhere, under the stars, his back to a stone, exhausted and sad, Jacob slept.

There’s nothing more vulnerable than a person who is mentally and physically exhausted, exposed to the elements, asleep.

And that is when God appeared.

Not when Jacob was controlling the situation and scripting the conversation, but when he was asleep, outside, far from home, alone.

There he saw the connection between earth and heaven, and how easy it is to move between them for those messengers doing God’s work. He understood that even there, in the wilderness, he was in the house of God, literally sleeping at the gates of heaven…and he had no idea.

Now at this point I could go on for quite some time about the fact that we, like Jacob, so often have absolutely no idea that God is in this place. Right here and now, wherever we find ourselves, is the gate of heaven. God has not left a single square millimetre of the universe without divine presence, it’s just that we choose not to see God all around us, and we choose to treat the creation as if it is not God’s house, but our own to abuse as we wish. Rather than being vulnerable and open to receiving the truth of the interconnectedness of heaven and earth, we have chosen to stay closed in order to manipulate and overpower creation for our own purposes, as if that will have no consequences for us or others or for the kingdom of God.

And that is all true.

But what I most want to notice with you today is slightly different. Related, in a way, but different.

Take a look at the blessing that Jacob and Rebekah worked so hard to get from Isaac. It is about two main things: material prosperity first (the fatness of the earth, plenty of wine), and power second (let peoples serve you, be lord over your brothers).

Those are things that many of us strive for. To have more than enough to satisfy our desires, and to have a higher status than other people. To work our way up the ladder, socially and economically, to be better off than our parents were — isn’t that what we’re culturally conditioned to work for our whole lives, and what our western economies require of us?

Now take a look at the blessing God gives to Jacob while he is sleeping at the gate of God’s house. God says “I am with you and will keep you wherever you go” and promises that this land will be full of his descendants, people who will be a blessing to others.

God blessed him with the knowledge of God’s constant presence everywhere, not just in holy places, and with the gift of being a blessing to others, to all the families of the world.

It’s the opposite of the blessing he’d manipulated his father for, which was about being served while God’s blessing is about being a blessing.

One is what we often think of as blessing, we work for it or we say we’re “so blessed” when we have prosperity and power. And the other is what God thinks of as a blessing: to know God’s presence and share it with others, to spread the news that “surely the Lord is in this place” and to work for a world where all can experience God’s goodness here and now.

In other words, as Jesus put it, to receive a blessing is not to be served, but to serve. To love as we have been loved. To represent God’s image in the world.

This doesn’t only apply to us as individuals, though it is the opposite of the way we use the word “blessed” culturally. It also applies to the church as a whole. A blessed church is not a church that has a lot of people and a lot of money and a high profile in its town or nation or the world. A blessed church is a church that gives itself away as a blessing to others. A blessed church isn’t a church with a beautiful building, a blessed church is a church that knows the people are the church, wherever we are. A blessed church isn’t a church that’s packed to the rafters, standing room only, a blessed church is a church that is reflecting the image of God outside the sanctuary walls, loving its neighbours in every neighbourhood where the church lives. A blessed church isn’t one that controls or manipulates to get what it wants, a blessed church is one that recognises God’s presence everywhere and stands up to say “Surely the Lord is in this place” — in the high street and in the train station and in the dark alleyways and in the deprived empty town centre and in the hospital and in the funeral parlour and in the drugs den and in the beautiful park and in the school and in the eyesore of a building and in the pub and in the fancy restaurant and in the community garden and in the close no one is caring for and in the care home and in the library and in the council offices and in the chippy and in the big fancy yachts and everywhere else.

The blessing we’ve been pursuing so hard for ourselves is actually no blessing at all, and while we’re putting all our energy into that, we can’t see what’s right in front of us. Which means a blessed church has to be one that is full of people who are willing to pause, to let our guard down, to be vulnerable, to stop working so hard for our own institutional survival and the desires of those already inside the walls, and instead make space for God to speak…even if it’s to give us a blessing we aren’t sure we actually want. Because that’s what comes when one sleeps at the gates of heaven.

When we are vulnerable enough to recognise that the Lord is in this place, and that the Lord is calling us to be a blessing to others, then what will we do? How will we give ourselves away to share the good news, to spread the blessing far and wide, to participate in the work that all those messengers of God are doing when they go to and fro between heaven and earth?

When we answer that, we’ll find ourselves in God’s house, wherever we are.

May it be so. Amen.

In-person Hymn 716 Come and Find the Quiet Centre (in person only)
Online hymn: God of Justice

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
Loving God,
you are the giver of every good gift,
the one who bestows blessings,
even on the unworthy.
We give you thanks for your love
that transcends our boundaries,
overflowing our meagre dreams.
You have promised your presence,
walking with us every step of this life,
through pain and suffering as in joy and triumph.
And yet we long to know you,
we often wonder where you’ve gone,
and it seems the world looks in vain.
Where there is suffering, Lord, make your healing Spirit known.
We know you are present and we pray for people to see you in our neighbours
in Afghanistan, in Syria, in Yemen,
in places where the virus rages and vaccines are scarce,
in places fighting fires and reeling from floods,
in homes where tempers boil over and children live in fear,
in hospitals and homes, in schools and churches.
Fill your world with so much grace that we cannot help but love.
Fill your world with so much light that the shadows cannot get a foothold.
Fill your world with so much hope that all may know your abundant life.
We seek your face, O God. Reveal yourself again,
that we may know this and every place as the gate of heaven.
…
God, you created the world and called it good,
you made us in your image,
you called together your church to be your body in the world.
Create us anew this morning that we may reflect your glory,
your compassion, your love, your justice, your grace,
in every word and every action.
Guide us to do what you are blessing, that the world may know blessing through us.
We pray in the name of Jesus the Christ,
who came not to be served but to serve,
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 yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.
Amen.

in-person Hymn: God Be The Love to Search and Keep Me

Benediction
Friends, go out into the world looking for God’s presence and sharing God’s blessing, for it is in so doing that you will be blessed yourself. 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

* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page, led tonight by David. Log on at 6:58pm to join in.

**Vhutshilo Mountain School 3^rd Term Update

All staff received their Covid vaccine on the 9th of July and Vhutshilo Mountain School’s 3rd term began on the 26 of July. To date, staff and children are all healthy and well, as we continue to follow all Covid-19 protocols.

We have 63 students: 38 are sponsored thank you! and 25 fee students. Our multi-grade class has 20 students, pre-school class has 25 students, and toddlers has 18 students. We are busy educating them! We are now receiving assistance from the local department of education with curriculum development and teaching materials. The department liaison, Mr. Savhase, is very knowledgeable and helpful.

Computer lessons are going well. We have applied for improved internet connection, which should be available soon, providing greater access to students. We are very happy about this development and the many ways it will improve student learning.

VMS Outreach program

The vegetable garden is producing plenty of vegetables for both school and family food parcels. We handed out over 800 seedlings to caregivers between April and June. We will continue to offer vegetables and seedlings to our students and members of the community in need of food support.

Youth on A Mission continues to educate local school children through school visits and through a local weekly radio talk show. Flyers were designed and printed that provide information on sexual assault, HIV/AIDS, and teen pregnancy. It had been a challenge to distribute them due to the pandemic. Beginning next week we will again be visiting schools.

A local NGO, The Zwonka Network (Zwonka means beautiful), received funding to educate and train young women and girls in nail technology and education and training on gender-based violence, HIV/AIDS, and positive living skills. Trainees will be prepared to educate their peers in these same areas. Ten girls from VMS’s HIV+ support group were selected and are currently attending the training. They are gaining new skills that better prepare them for life and earning a living. The training began on the 2nd of August for the first ten young women. Another ten girls have been identified and a new training session will start on August 21st.

Ridgeway College, located in Louis Trichardt, recently donated multiple items of clothing, food and 45 blankets to our vulnerable students and support group children. These items were much needed and appreciated by all.

We appreciate your ongoing support! We couldn’t do it without you.

Thank You

Khathu Nemafhohoni.

Sunday service for 15 August 2021

Sunday Service for 15 August 2021, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday school Revisited week 12
Rev. Teri Peterson, Gourock St. John’s
Manse phone: 632143
Email: tpeterson@churchofscotland.org.uk

To hear an audio recording of this service, including music, phone 01475 270037.

Prelude Music

Welcome/Announcements

Call to Worship
One: Some problems are so giant, all we can do is stand and look, talking it over again and again.
All: We feel so small in the face of it all.
One: Some ideas are so out there, all we can do is scoff and laugh, brushing off that naive silliness.
All: We feel so helpless it makes us certain nothing can work.
One: Some encounters are so important, all we can do is take off the armour and be our full selves.
All: We feel so vulnerable, we understand true power.
One: Whatever we see through our eyes, the truth is that God looks on the heart,
All: and nothing is impossible with God.
One: Whether we are quaking in our boots or standing tall in the Spirit’s courage,
All: we trust God’s promise to make small offerings into great things.
One: So let us bring ourselves to worship, and be transformed.

Prayer
God, we thank you that you equip us with all that we need to follow your call.
You love us and welcome us, showing us how to offer hospitality.
You know us and challenge us, showing us what is possible with your power.
You give us gifts of imagination and purpose, generosity and curiosity, showing us that there is a different way.
We confess that we do not often see what you see.
Where you see possibility, we see obstacles.
Where you see beautiful diversity, we see terrifying difference.
Where you see a path to your kingdom, we see difficulties we don’t know how to overcome.
Where you see a world-changing story, we see the impossibly naive.
Forgive us for our narrow vision.
Forgive us for insisting the only way is the way we have comfortably walked before.
Forgive us for huddling in our safe places
and refusing to even try our hand at the new thing you are doing.
Open our eyes, and our minds, and our hearts,
and give us courage to let go
of those things that weigh us down and hold us back
from following you wherever you lead.
We pray in the name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Music
In person:
Online: Voice of Truth (Casting Crowns)

Children’s Time

Reading: 1 Samuel 17.1-51, selected verses (Common English Bible)
The Philistines assembled their troops for war … Saul and the Israelite army assembled and camped in the Elah Valley, where they got organised to fight the Philistines. The Philistines took positions on one hill while Israel took positions on the opposite hill. There was a valley between them.
A champion named Goliath from Gath came out from the Philistine camp. He was more than nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore bronze scale-armor weighing one hundred twenty-five pounds. He had bronze plates on his shins, and a bronze scimitar hung on his back. His spear shaft was as strong as the bar on a weaver’s loom, and its iron head weighed fifteen pounds. His shield-bearer walked in front of him.
He stopped and shouted to the Israelite troops, “Why have you come and taken up battle formations? I am the Philistine champion, and you are Saul’s servants. Isn’t that right? Select one of your men, and let him come down against me. If he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will become your slaves, but if I overcome him and kill him, then you will become our slaves and you will serve us. I insult Israel’s troops today!” The Philistine continued, “Give me an opponent, and we’ll fight!” When Saul and all Israel heard what the Philistine said, they were distressed and terrified.

Now David was Jesse’s son, an Ephraimite from Bethlehem in Judah who had eight sons. By Saul’s time, Jesse was already quite old and far along in age. Jesse’s three oldest sons had gone with Saul to war. Their names were Eliab the oldest, Abinadab the second oldest, and Shammah the third oldest. (David was the youngest.) These three older sons followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul’s side to shepherd his father’s flock in Bethlehem.

For forty days straight the Philistine came out and took his stand, both morning and evening. Jesse said to his son David, “Please take your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread. Deliver them quickly to your brothers in the camp. And here, take these ten wedges of cheese to their unit commander. Find out how your brothers are doing and bring back some sign that they are okay. They are with Saul and all the Israelite troops fighting the Philistines in the Elah Valley.”
So David got up early in the morning, left someone in charge of the flock, and loaded up and left, just as his father Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp right when the army was taking up their battle formations and shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines took up their battle formations opposite each other. David left his things with an attendant and ran to the front line. When he arrived, he asked how his brothers were doing. Right when David was speaking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came forward from the Philistine ranks and said the same things he had said before. David listened. When the Israelites saw Goliath, every one of them ran away terrified of him. …

David asked the soldiers standing by him, “What will be done for the person who kills that Philistine over there and removes this insult from Israel? Who is that uncircumcised Philistine, anyway, that he can get away with insulting the army of the living God?”
Then the troops repeated to him what they had been saying. “So that’s what will be done for the man who kills him,” they said.
When David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him talking to the soldiers, he got very mad at David. “Why did you come down here?” he said. “Who is watching those few sheep for you in the wilderness? I know how arrogant you are and your devious plan: you came down just to see the battle!”
“What did I do wrong this time?” David replied. “It was just a question!”
So David turned to someone else and asked the same thing, and the people said the same thing in reply. The things David had said were overheard and reported to Saul, who sent for him.

“Don’t let anyone lose courage because of this Philistine!” David told Saul. “I, your servant, will go out and fight him!”
“You can’t go out and fight this Philistine,” Saul answered David. “You are still a boy. But he’s been a warrior since he was a boy!”
“Your servant has kept his father’s sheep,” David replied to Saul, “and if ever a lion or a bear came and carried off one of the flock, I would go after it, strike it, and rescue the animal from its mouth. If it turned on me, I would grab it at its jaw, strike it, and kill it. Your servant has fought both lions and bears. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them because he has insulted the army of the living God.
“The Lord,” David added, “who rescued me from the power of both lions and bears, will rescue me from the power of this Philistine.”
“Go!” Saul replied to David. “And may the Lord be with you!”

Then Saul dressed David in his own gear, putting a coat of armour on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David strapped his sword on over the armour, but he couldn’t walk around well because he’d never tried it before. “I can’t walk in this,” David told Saul, “because I’ve never tried it before.” So he took them off. He then grabbed his staff and chose five smooth stones from the streambed. He put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag and with sling in hand went out to the Philistine.

The Philistine got closer and closer to David, and his shield-bearer was in front of him. When the Philistine looked David over, he sneered at David because he was just a boy; reddish brown and good-looking.
The Philistine asked David, “Am I some sort of dog that you come at me with sticks?” And he cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” he said to David, “and I’ll feed your flesh to the wild birds and the wild animals!”
But David told the Philistine, “You are coming against me with sword, spear, and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel’s army, the one you’ve insulted. Today the Lord will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head! Today I will feed your dead body and the dead bodies of the entire Philistine camp to the wild birds and the wild animals. Then the whole world will know that there is a God on Israel’s side. And all those gathered here will know that the Lord doesn’t save by means of sword and spear. The Lord owns this war, and he will hand all of you over to us.”

The Philistine got up and moved closer to attack David, and David ran quickly to the front line to face him. David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone. He slung it, and it hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone penetrated his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. And that’s how David triumphed over the Philistine with just a sling and a stone, striking the Philistine down and killing him—and David didn’t even have a sword! Then David ran and stood over the Philistine. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword, drew it from its sheath, and finished him off. Then David cut off the Philistine’s head with the sword.
When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they fled.

Sermon: Size Doesn’t Matter
It’s a favourite story for many, and popular in children’s bibles and storybooks — the underdog facing the giant and winning. We usually leave off the gruesome ending, of course! And we normally only hear about the big moment, when David slings the stone with perfect aim…but as you can hear, there’s much more to the story!

The Philistine and Israelite armies were encamped across from each other, each on top of hills. Obviously from that position, no one wants to make the first move because it would mean going to low ground and being vulnerable while making their way up the opposite hill. So they just stood there every day and shouted at each other. Finally the Philistines sent out one man, hoping that if they could settle this one-on-one, they could all avoid a bloodbath. But the man they sent out was…huge. He was the tallest person anyone had ever seen, and he was absolutely covered in shining armour.

Notice, though, that he’s got so much armour he can barely see to navigate the path, so he follows his shield bearer up and down the hill, twice each day. He’s so weighed down by all this external stuff, he can’t even carry his own shield! Goliath may be the biggest man ever, and he was no doubt a fearsome sight, but the truth is that he was totally reliant on all that armour and weaponry to give him the courage to fight, whether with words or swords.

On the Israelite side, no one was willing to step forward. They looked between that hulk of armour, lumbering down into the valley twice every day, and their king — Saul, who also stood head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the country, who was handsome and charismatic, and who was trembling in his boots. He had been chosen to be king because he was the biggest and the best-looking…and it turns out that his leadership was nothing of the sort. If the only person who could even sort of match Goliath for height and skill was afraid, what was the Israelite army supposed to think? Of course they followed Saul’s lead…in being terrified and frozen in place.

It was clearly a dire situation, since Jesse was sending provisions for his sons and for the commander too. There wasn’t enough food for them to stand on that hillside for 40 days doing nothing but quaking in fear. When David arrived with food, though, he got to hear firsthand the taunts from the other side and to see with his own eyes the despair of his countrymen. Which is something his brothers didn’t want him to see…and after more than a month of listening to the verbal abuse from Goliath and wallowing in the fear of their own leader, his brothers were desperate for an outlet for their own frustration. So they took it all out on their baby brother — he was an easy target, after all!

But people overheard their sibling dispute, and took David straight to Saul. Once David was finished boasting about his shepherding skills — you can practically hear his brothers’ eyes rolling from outside the tent — Saul dressed David up in his own armour and sent him on his way.

Remember, Saul was a grown man who was head and shoulders taller than anyone else in Israel. And David was probably a young teenager. He was very diplomatic saying “I’ve never worn this before so I can’t do it”…because the truth is it would have been giant on him, he’d be swimming in armour meant for someone twice his size! All that would do is highlight the fact that Saul ought to have been the one serving as champion, but he was too weak a leader, even with armour and weapons.

So David, taking only himself and his sling, went out to face the Philistine champion who was weighed down with the things he thought he needed to protect himself.

A shepherd or a warrior experienced with a sling could throw a stone very nearly at the same speed as a bullet comes out of a gun. So it was no children’s toy. But the contrast must have been immense: the massive Goliath, made even more massive by hundreds of pounds of armour strapped on, a hulk that could not even lift his own shield as he shouted insults at the opposition, and the slight David, in a tunic and sandals and with a bit of fabric he swung round his head as he proclaimed that God could do more than any weapon or armour.

Malcolm Gladwell talks about how we think of this story as about the underdog defeating the giant against all odds, but that isn’t actually the case. The reality is that Goliath and David were equipped for two different fights — Goliath was ready for hand-to-hand combat, he says “come here so I can fight you,” but David could fight from a distance. While the armies on the hillside could only see one way forward, David had the gifts and skills and, perhaps most importantly, the imagination to do something different. He wasn’t weighed down by the old ways, or the expectations of being the biggest and best, or the structures of the institution. He looked at the problem and saw that God had given him exactly what he needed to meet the challenge, and he had faith that despite what everyone else thought was necessary, he was equipped enough. Size doesn’t matter, vision does. And the courage to follow that vision through.

That’s true of the giants we face today too. The big stuff staring at us from the other hillside — climate change, homelessness, poverty, hunger, injustice, violence, political corruption, or even the difficulties facing the church in the modern world — all of it is huge, and we are small, and it all feels impossible to deal with. So we huddle together in fear. We take up positions but never move forward, we just stand there for awhile looking at the problem and then go back into our tents and hope it’ll be different tomorrow. We look to leaders who were, frankly, chosen for the wrong reasons. And we keep doing the same things we’ve always done, even though we know it doesn’t work and nothing ever changes.

But size doesn’t matter, vision does. It doesn’t matter that we feel small in the face of such huge challenges like this week’s climate report, or the situation in Afghanistan, or the refugee crisis, or the number of people addicted to drugs and alcohol. What does matter is that our leaders do not have the imagination to see a different way, and so following their leadership freezes us in place. What does matter is that we keep trying to fit into armour we cannot carry, weighed down by what they think we need rather than trusting the gifts God already gave us.

It is often said that we cannot solve problems with the same kind of thinking that created the problem. Saul and the Israelite army knew perfectly well they could not defeat Goliath and the Philistines on their own terms. David knew that too. But he saw a way to adapt and use the gifts God had given him, simple as they were, to change the game. He thought differently, and that different thinking opened a new solution to an old problem.

Never underestimate God’s gift of imagination — and never forget that that gift is often housed in the youngest among us. Size doesn’t matter, and age doesn’t matter, vision does. Allowing David to pursue God’s vision changed everything on that hillside. What if we trusted God to equip us, and our young people, to face the giant problems of the world in new and surprising ways too?

May it be so. Amen.

Music
In person: Hymn 535, Who Would True Valour See
Online: Hymn 251: I, the Lord of Sea and Sky

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer (adapted from Spill the Beans)

You are the God of the ages, your hand has guided us throughout history.
In every time and place your word creates and re-creates,
calling us to your kingdom way.
You are not trapped in the past,
nor are you far away in some future we cannot imagine.
You do not live high up in the sky or in between the covers of an old book.
You, God, speak in this place, even now.
You, God, live and breathe in us, even now.
You, God are everywhere present, involved in our every moment,
challenging us and equipping us to live as your people, today.
By your power, we pray for the courage to slay giants —
of poverty and hunger,
of prejudice and hatred,
of conflict and bigotry.
By your power, we pray for the will to slay giants —
of environmental destruction,
of apathy and wilful ignorance,
of greed and unwillingness to change.
By your power, we pray for the imagination to slay giants —
to look at things a different way,
to listen to those with new ideas,
to shed the things that constrain us and step forward in faith.
It took David only one stone…and the resourcefulness to use it well.
We trust you have given us all we need to take our stand for your goodness in this world.
We commit ourselves to your work,
to slay the giants we have named,
for with you all things are possible and we need not fear.
We ask in the name of Jesus, who chose a different path and changed the world, 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.

Music:
In Person: Hymn 251: I, the Lord of Sea and Sky
Online: Goodness is Stronger than Evil

Benediction
Friends, go into your week ready to use your God-given imagination in the service of God’s kingdom. However big the problem, remember size doesn’t matter, vision does. 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

* All worship is online (or on the phone at 01475 270037, or in print) and we also meet in person, subject to some continued protocols for distancing, hand hygiene, test-and-protect details, and mask wearing. We are now singing! Beginning next Sunday the 22nd of August, we can welcome approximately 85 people for worship with 1m distancing still in place. No booking will be required, but please arrive early enough to sign in with your test-and-protect details, and please use the front door unless you require step-free access.

* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page, led tonight by Teri. Log on at 6:58pm to join in.

Sunday service for 8 August 2021

Sunday Service for 8 August 2021, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday school Revisited week 11
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, phone 01475 270037.

Prelude Music

Welcome/announcements

Call to Worship
Teri: Come, people of God, and bless God’s holy name!
1: Jesus, who met hate with love,
2: Jesus, who gave himself to us, for us,
1: we bring our gratitude and praise,
2: we bring our hopes and prayers,
All: to the one who took up the cross and changed everything.

Prayer
Holy One, you have taken the weight of the world on your shoulders, borne our brokenness and transformed it into your wholeness. We thank you for your love that encompasses us all, for your grace that surrounds us and brings us close to you. We confess that we have too often projected our own image onto you, rather than reflecting your image into the world. We have asked you to bless our ways, rather than following the way of your blessing. We have chosen words that hurt rather than words that heal, and put others down in order to lift ourselves up. Forgive us for wandering from your path, and for causing suffering for our sisters and brothers. Forgive us for so blithely saying “forgive us” without remembering the cost of our words and actions. In your mercy, Lord, forgive and heal us, and make us once again into your people, sharing your love and justice with the world. We ask in the name of Jesus the Christ, whose arms spread wide in welcome for us all, and whose grace transforms even the hardest of hearts. Amen.

Music:
Online: improvisation on O Sacred Head
In Person: “Herzlich Thut Mich Verlangen” by JS Bach

Children’s Time

Reading: Mark 15.16-47. New Revised Standard Version

Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort. And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. And they began saluting him, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.

It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, ‘The King of the Jews.’ And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!’ In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.’ Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.
When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling for Elijah.’ And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’ Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’

There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.
When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid.

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: Mirror
This is one of those stories that many of us know, and yet if we were pressed to talk about it we may find that we have only the bare basics of it, or that we resort to simply saying “Jesus died for our sins” — which Mark’s gospel doesn’t say explicitly, he simply tells the story and we have come to understand its meaning over the years. It’s one of the central moments of the Christian faith — some might say the moment. There is often a friendly disagreement between those who see Good Friday’s crucifixion as the most important part of the easter story, and those who see Sunday’s resurrection as the most important part. Without death, there can be no resurrection, of course — something we who worry about the loss of certain traditions or institutions should remember. But then again, without resurrection, this is just another execution in an empire that famously crucified hundreds of thousands of people.

Crucifixion was meant to be humiliating torture, the most painful way to execute those who dared to oppose the empire. It was supposed to be a spectacle, and also to be so shameful that those who were crucified would essentially be erased from daily conversation. Friends and family wouldn’t mention them, for fear someone might connect them to the person who had been caught rebelling against Rome and turn them in too. Often bodies were left to the elements and the animals, rather than buried properly. It was intentionally as terrible as anyone could dream up. And it happened nearly every day in the Roman Empire, for about 500 years.

As an aside: you would think that if it was an effective deterrent, they wouldn’t have to do it quite so much. But we know how easily we humans fall into the trap of continuing to do things that don’t work, even harmful things, simply because it’s what we’ve always done. The death penalty and other forms of physical punishment and, indeed, many punishments in general, are no different — they don’t work but we want to believe they do.

Which is why it matters that we tell this story, in all its brutality and horror.

Not because we need or want to glorify gore, or torture, or pain. There’s plenty of that to go around in other places, other stories.

But because we do need to see the truth of what humanity can do, and the truth that it doesn’t work. We want to believe that inflicting pain on others will make us feel better, but it doesn’t. We want to believe that making an example of someone will deter others from working for change, but it doesn’t. We want to believe that punishment works, but it doesn’t. Jesus, on the cross, holds up a mirror to us as human beings and asks if this was really what we believed?

Think of the people who saw him there and looked square into that mirror.

The soldiers who pulled things out of the dress-up box and played out their fantasies of being more powerful than the monarch…as they were beating him and spitting on him, they inadvertently spoke truth by calling him the King of the Jews. In that moment they revealed themselves, who they really were and what really mattered to them, and it was to hold the power of violence in their hands, to put others below them and climb to the top of the heap by any means possible including even throwing dice to divvy up his last possessions. It’s not a flattering picture in their mirror. But could they see it?

Along with passers-by, the others who were crucified beside Jesus also taunted him, calling names and mocking his power to save. Even in the midst of their own agony, even as they bore the same punishment, they still needed to be better than the man next to them. They were likely there for committing acts of treason or violence against the empire, while Jesus was there for speaking in ways that undermined the empire’s power with God’s love…and yet when they looked into the mirror-image of the cross next to them, what they saw was one more chance to prove they were more manly than the next guy.

The women, looking on from a distance…they’d been with him from the beginning, following him through Galilee and Judea and to Jerusalem. They had been providing for him and his followers, making space, making food, sharing their resources, learning at his feet and going out with his good news. They were the only friends who didn’t run away and hide, and even they had to watch from a distance. But they saw every writhe and heard every cry, and at the last they saw the tomb and the stone’s heaviness shuddering into place. They saw their friend, their teacher, their brother, their son…and they saw an end. The end of everything. In that moment it may have felt like their lives were over too.

And the centurion. Mark says he stood facing Jesus, and when he saw everything, the way others treated him, the way Jesus responded, his final breath, he saw truth shining through all the pain and sorrow and horror: truly, this man was God’s Son. Truly.

We couldn’t see it in the thousands of other bodies, made in the image of God, on crosses. But this one was God’s flesh and bone on the cross, God’s blood pouring out, God’s breath that stopped, and we are forced to confront just what cruelty we have chosen. We could not deal with the truth of what God-with-us said and did, the challenge he posed to the way things have always been, and so we killed him instead. And if the world were being honest, we would do it again today.

On the cross, Jesus reflected that truth back to us in a way we cannot ignore, though we have tried to look away, or pretended that when we continue on the wrong path it was okay because those people deserved it — forgetting what he said about “whenever you have done it to them, you did it to me.” The mirror shows uncomfortable truths, and will continue to show them to us every time we read the story and take it to heart, for we cannot stand at the foot of the cross and walk away unchanged. Or rather, we should not, though we often resist the transformation the crucifixion calls for.

When Jesus breathed his last, anguished cry, the curtain of the Temple was torn from top to bottom. The way that grieving people were to tear their clothes and put ashes on their heads, even the holy place grieved. And yet that tearing — from top to bottom, though it was taller than any human being could tear — also opened something. Sometimes we talk about grief as being broken-hearted, broken open, falling to pieces. Perhaps that’s what happened in the Temple that day, too. The curtain separating the holy place where God lived from the rest of the world and all its messiness was torn, from top to bottom.

The word “torn” is a word Mark only uses one other time in his whole gospel — to describe the heavens opening at Jesus’ baptism and the Holy Spirit descending on him. The heavens were torn open and the Spirit flew…and the curtain was torn and holiness was free, unconstrained. God had experienced the depths of human suffering, unmedicated. Mental and emotional and spiritual anguish, betrayal and desertion by all his friends, bullying and taunting and mocking of his very identity and passion and love, physical brutality and torture, the loss of a child…there is nothing in this world that we can go through that God hasn’t already experienced. And the separation between God and us has been torn to pieces by grief and love, so we will never walk the dark valley alone — we always have an experienced guide.

God shows us what really does work, and calls us to a new way. Not torture or punishment or cruelty, but tearing down separation barriers and coming together to walk the journey. If God would not stay separated from us even when we were literally doing the worst we could imagine, why would we insist on separating ourselves from one another?

The curtain was torn from top to bottom, from heaven to earth…and the tomb was open and empty on the third day…and nothing, nothing, nothing can separate us from God’s love, revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

May it be so. Amen.

Hymn 374: From Heaven You Came, Helpless Babe

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer (adapted from Eggs & Ashes page 205)

Lord God, we meet beneath your cross, friends, strangers, mourners, wonderers, grieving the loss of love in the world.
We meet because we want to understand the awful things that happened.
We meet because we want to be with you, alongside you, near you,
seeing the truth you reveal even when it’s hard.
And in our meeting, we keep silence. We keep silence for words fail us.
We keep silence as you kept silence on the cross.
And so we keep silence with those crucified today,
living in darkness, in despair, in pain.

We keep silence with those treated as today’s scapegoats…
refugees, LGBT folks, people who look or sound different, those people…

We keep silence with those robbed of a sense of belonging in our society…
people without homes, people in debt and afraid of money-lenders, young people without a place to go, mothers whose sons have been taken, asylum seekers kept in hotels, workers who are essential yet not worth a living wage, those addicted to drugs or alcohol…

We keep silence with those who live in places of violence, longing for a moment of peace and quiet…

We keep silence with all who mourn a loved one…

We keep silence with those rebuilding their lives after trauma or disaster, after the headlines have passed but the suffering goes on…

We keep silence with those who find it hard to see beyond despair…

In the darkest of valleys, we are not alone.
In the silence, God, we hear your cry,
the language of love that walks with us the road of suffering as well as joy.
Wherever we find ourselves, you are there.
Whatever we experience, you know.
You are nearer to us than our own hands and feet, You are our very breath.
Show us your truth and your goodness out in your world, we pray.
We ask in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray together,
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.
Amen.

Hymn 404: I Danced in the Morning

Benediction
Friends, go into your week transformed by what you have seen from the foot of the cross. Go into your week to reflect God’s image into the world, knowing that there is nothing, in life or in death, can separate us from 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.

Sung Benediction Response
(John L Bell, tune Gourock St John’s)

Now may the Lord of all be blessed,
Now may Christ’s gospel be confessed,
Now may the Spirit when we meet
Bless sanctuary and street.

Postlude Music

Announcements

* 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 some limited singing! We can welcome approximately 50 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.

* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page, led tonight by Karen. Log on at 6:58pm to join in.

Sunday service for 1 August 2021

Sunday Service for 1 August 2021, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday school Revisited week 10
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, phone 01475 270037.

Prelude Music

Welcome/announcements

Call to Worship: Psalm 77, verses 1-4, 11-15
1: I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God that he may hear me.

2: In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.

1: I think of God, and I moan;
I meditate, and my spirit faints.

2: You keep my eyelids from closing,
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

1: I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;
I will remember your wonders of old.

2: I will meditate on all your work,
and muse on your mighty deeds.

1: Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is so great as our God?

2: You are the God who works wonders;
you have displayed your might among the peoples.

All: With your strong arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

Prayer
Holy God, your power is displayed throughout the universe,
right down to our own everyday lives.
For you, all things are possible.
And we know that with you, all things are possible.
You are our refuge and our strength.
We confess, though, that sometimes we prefer refuge to strength.
Our spirits are willing, at least mostly willing —
we know what you call us to do, and we really want to want to do it.
But the flesh is weak.
So we come to you for refuge, but we confess that we’re hiding.
Hiding from the hard path,
hoping you will reveal a different one if we wait long enough.
Forgive us, O God, and fill us again with your strength.
Make us strong and courageous, ready to do your will,
trusting that the words we say about you are actually true:
that you will never leave us nor forsake us,
that with you all things are possible,
that your grace is enough,
that you will lead us into abundant life for all,
if only we will follow you out of the safe place
and into the streets of this world you so love.
May your forgiveness fuel our faith,
and make us anew into your Body on earth.
We ask in the name of Jesus the Christ,
who was obedient even to death on a cross,
and beyond to the empty tomb.
Amen.

Music
Online: What Wondrous Love is This
In Person: Lilting by Philip Norris

Children’s Time

Reading: Mark 14.32-51 (New Revised Standard Version)

They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.’ And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, ‘Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.’ He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him. He came a third time and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.’
Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; and with him there was a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, ‘The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.’ So when he came, he went up to him at once and said, ‘Rabbi!’ and kissed him. Then they laid hands on him and arrested him. But one of those who stood near drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled.’ All of them deserted him and fled.
A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.

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: Yet

I think this might be one of the most heartbreaking moments in all of scripture. The rest of the passion story, and plenty of other stories throughout the Bible, are hard, gruesome, horrifying, or sad…but in the garden of Gethsemane, we see both the difficult events play out and also the feelings. Normally scripture doesn’t give us much about the interior lives or emotions of people involved, which makes it all the more powerful when we see glimpses in the garden.

Jesus took his three closest friends, the three who had witnessed his transfiguration, who had proclaimed their loyalty by insisting they could drink the cup that would guarantee a seat at his right and left hand, who had seen him for who he really was before anyone else. Once the four of them were alone amidst the olive trees, Jesus let them see his distress. Jesus was in pain that night in the garden — his body wasn’t hurting yet, but his spirit was.
His grief became visible on his face and his body…he asked them to watch, and then he threw himself on the ground.

The kind of prayer where you throw yourself on the ground, not just sink down to your knees or find a comfortable spot to sit, but throw your body down, lying face down, begging for help…that’s what the disciples saw.

For a moment, anyway, before sitting in the garden in the darkness on a warm spring evening after a big meal made their eyes get heavy.

Three times he asked them to keep vigil with him. Three times they failed to support their friend, they didn’t know how, and they knew they had failed and had no excuses to offer.

While his friends napped, Jesus was pleading with God. Please please please, can we do this a different way? Please please please, you can do anything, can you take this away from me? Please please please.

I’m sure many of us have pleaded with God for something — whether for ourselves or a loved one, asking for healing, or a new job, or the resources to do something, or help with an exam, or safety in a sticky situation, or any number of other things. We’ve asked God for what we want and what we need, just as we have been taught — to bring our desires to God.

Jesus does that, over and over affirming God’s power to do anything — for you all things are possible. So, God, could you just use that power for a minute, and save me and my friends and family from this terrible pain, this grief, this torture?

And then Jesus used a tiny wee word that makes all the difference in any prayer.

Yet.

Yet not what I want…but what you want.

I think those are probably the hardest words anyone can utter in prayer. To pour out our hearts, to ask and ask for what we want, and then to say: yet not what I want, but what you want.

It sometimes feels like our lives are defined by a combination of our own desires and the expectations of others, and that’s what we pray about. We ask God for help living up to those expectations, or to give us the gifts we need to be and do what we want…and here’s Jesus, knowing what’s coming, begging for another way, saying “yet not what I want, but what you want.”

St Ignatius of Loyola taught about the grace of “detachment” — essentially, of praying this prayer of Jesus. Detachment, or sometimes it’s called “indifference,” doesn’t mean not caring. It means that when we have offered our desires to God, we let go of controlling the outcome. How often do we pray about things and then still try to force them to go the way we want? Detachment or Indifference is a blessing that allows us to pry our fingers off the controls and allow God to answer our prayer however God will, not just the way we want God to answer.

Praying with Jesus for God’s will to take precedence over our own desires, our own pride, our own sense of meeting others’ expectations, may mean that God writes us a story we weren’t expecting. It will almost certainly mean disappointing someone, or letting go of some of the things we want, or things we remember, or things we once thought were important. After all, Jesus is basically begging for his life. And not just his life, but for his friends too — for their lives, for their community, for their place in his life. They were sleeping, and one was at the head of an angry mob on the way to betray him with a kiss, and they were all about to deny him and leave him alone, even abandoning their clothes and dignity to get away and save themselves. He would be bereft of his closest friends as he faced the worst torture humanity could dream up at the time. With his heart breaking into pieces, and that emptiness in his chest and the pit in his stomach, he still prayed “yet not what I want, but what you want.”

And what he got was the courage to be obedient to God’s way even through the darkest of dark valleys, to face down the powers of this world and declare that they are no power at all in the face of God’s love and desire for life, to take on the weight of the world and bear it to the very end, and beyond, changing the story of the world forever.

I imagine he was still wiping away tears, and catching his breath, when Judas arrived. Knowing his three closest friends had slept through his increasingly desperate prayer, he must have felt totally alone in the garden. But he also had the grace of detachment — the strength to trust that God’s will was for the best, and however big the hole in his heart might be, he was not truly abandoned. So when the mob scene turned unruly, he was able to point out how ridiculous they were — coming under cover of darkness when he was openly available all day long, hiding their actions because they knew they were wrong. But — there’s that same word again. Yet. But. Let the scripture be fulfilled. Not what I want, God, but what you want.

And then he was alone. Choosing to give up his own desires, choosing to step away from his friends’ expectations, and going instead with God’s way, meant they all deserted him. They didn’t know how to support him through this journey, or maybe they weren’t sure they wanted to anyway.

That happens sometimes when we pray this prayer. We might find that those who want us to follow their script will simply abandon us when we choose a different one. We might also find others who are laying aside those human expectations in favour of the divine story and want to join us. But either way it won’t be easy. Whether we are praying for the church to grow, and so have to be ready to let go of some things we have loved and even been proud of to make room for God to do a new thing, or praying for direction in our own lives or jobs and have to be prepared to learn something new to make that shift, or praying for the health and safety of friends or family members or ourselves and maybe have to heed the call to a different lifestyle… “yet not what I want but what you want” will require courage. Courage to trust God, and God’s power, and God’s goodness. Courage to keep going even when we have to let go of things that have made us comfortable before. Courage to stand up for what’s right even if others pull away. Courage to actually walk the path God sets before us…not just talk about praying for a new path. Courage to rely on friends who are also walking that path, and courage to be the friends who support others in the hardest times.

It’s not a prayer where we simply hand everything over and sit back and wait for God to fix everything. It’s a prayer in which we commit ourselves, our bodies, minds, and spirits, our resources, our energy, our everything, to God’s will ahead of our own. It isn’t a prayer to be prayed lightly, but it is one that’s necessary — perhaps uttering that little word even at the end of every single prayer we make.

Yet …not what I want, but what you want.

May it be so. Amen.

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
(Including hymn 793 “Stay With Me”)
Stay With Me x 3….

Gracious God, we give you thanks this day for your many blessings. Thank you for bringing us together to pray and to rest in you. Thank you for this space and this community. Thank you for all your incredible gifts.
Here in this place, we offer to you the things we are grateful for.
(…)
Stay With Me x 2

God, we come carrying burdens of worry and anxiety about many things and many people, especially our families and friends. Your children are in need of healing, courage, strength, and love. Pour out your grace and mercy, your healing power, your loving presence, on your people.
Here in this place, we offer to you the people who are in need of your healing, your love, your strength.
(…)
Stay With Me x 2

O Lord, our world is so troubled. War, famine, disease…our nightly news tells stories of destruction. But we know that is not the end of the story, and so we pray for your peace, your abundance, your healing, for your people around the world. Send your Spirit on all your people that they may know your comfort, your grace, your joy.
Here in this place, we offer to you the situations and places in the world in need of your overwhelming peace, healing, love, and fullness of life.
(…)
Stay With Me x 2

God, you hear the prayers of our hearts, and where we cannot form the words your Spirit intercedes for us. We have so much to pray for, Lord, that now, in this place, we offer you the prayers that are in our hearts and minds, the prayer of our souls.
(…)
Stay With Me x 2

O Lord, hear our prayers and have mercy on us and on your whole creation. We pray that you would walk alongside us as we seek you in our everyday lives. Keep us focused on you and your will. Strengthen us as we serve you and your people in the world, and guide us, for we are bold to ask: not what we want, but what you want.
We pray in the name of Jesus, 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
Online: When My Flesh Is Weak (Resound Worship)
In person sung Hymn: O Jesus Christ, in human flesh (words: John L Bell, tune: St. Columba)

Benediction

Go into your week trusting that what God wills is for the best, and so you can have the courage to pray “yet not what I want, but what you want.” And as you go, may the Spirit of God go above you to watch over you; may the Spirit of God go beside you to be your companion; may the Spirit of God go before you to show you the way and behind you to push you into places you might not go alone; and may the Spirit of God go within you, to remind you that you are loved more deeply than you can possibly imagine. May the fire of God’s love burn brightly in you, and through you into the world. Go in peace. Amen.

Sung Benediction Response
(John L Bell, tune Gourock St John’s)

Now may the Lord of all be blessed,
Now may Christ’s gospel be confessed,
Now may the Spirit when we meet
Bless sanctuary and street.

Postlude Music

Announcements

* Teri will be off from the 19th – 29th of July. Please contact Cameron or your elder for any pastoral emergencies.

* 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 some limited singing! We can welcome approximately 35 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.

* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page, led tonight by Jonathan. Log on at 6:58pm to join in.

Sunday service for 25 July 2021

Sunday Service for 25 July 2021, 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday school Revisited week 9
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson, Gourock St. John’s
Manse phone: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

To hear an audio recording of this service, phone 01475 270037. There is no sermon or intercessions manuscript available today.

This week we welcome guest preacher the Rev. Elana Keppel Levy. Elana is co-pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Bixby, Oklahoma. She introduces herself this way:
“I am a co-pastor with my delightful spouse Rev. Lucus Levy Keppel at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Bixby, Oklahoma. (Given my dreadful technology curse and general computational ineptitude, my website literally could not exist without the snake charming tech skills of Lucus. Thanks, sweetie!)
“I see God’s work inscribed throughout the world. Growing up with a Jewish father and Presbyterian mother, religious conversations were all playful and interfaith. Engaging and appreciating difference meant that exact agreement was not required to cultivate a beautiful life that pleases God.
“From a very young age, I have been drawn to the study of the Holocaust, particularly those who acted with such cruelty. I learned German in school, and received undergraduate degrees in German language and psychology. I spent ten years working as a freelance translator focusing on documents about concentration camp guards (thanks to the ongoing projects and vital work of Dr. Susan Eischeid). I have spent most of my life pursuing questions: How could humans commit such evil acts? Who are we when we stray from our creaturely calling? What can Christians do to cultivate justice? These unanswerable questions prompt me to see people as people first and to try to reach out even when hope seems lost.
“After college, I earned a Masters of Social Work with a special focus on older adults, the bereaved, and those traumatized by sexual assault. God’s presence is most strongly felt when we are present, attentive, and loving to one another. Feeling strongly called to the ministry, I completed my Masters of Divinity and received a call as a Pastoral Care Associate in Roswell, NM (where I ministered to all comers, even aliens!).
“I love movies (and quoting them!); games and puzzles; deep conversations that come out of nowhere; prayer from the heart; and moments of genuine human kindness.”

Prelude Music (in person only)

Welcome/Announcements

Call to Worship
One: Come, servants of the Living God!
Bring your prayers to the Lord who delivers and rescues,
who works signs and wonders.
All: With childlike trust, we come with hope,
that we might see God in our midst this day.

Prayer
Holy God, your power is unlike any we know.
You do not coerce or pressure, like human powers.
When we are faced with bad-faith uses of power,
we pray you would give us the good faith to resist,
to continue in your way, for you have never failed us yet.
You are faithful, and you call us to live with hope even when we cannot see hope.
You call us to wait for you, even when we want to see you right now.
You call us to pray, and to be an answer to prayer, even in the midst of opposition.
We confess that we are prone to giving in to the other voices,
the ones offering power and prosperity if only we will turn away from you.
And we admit that we often find it easier to hide our faith instead,
to keep it private so as not to rock the boat.
We give in to those who want us to keep quiet
so they can be comfortable with injustice,
and so we are complicit.
Forgive us, God.
Forgive our easy rejection of your call for our convenience.
Forgive our unwillingness to pray through the night and stand firm in the morning.
Forgive us, and call us out again to live as your people,
witnessing to your power and grace.
We ask in the name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Music
Online: Hymn 600, Spirit of God, unseen as the wind
In person: __________

First Reading: Mark 8.31-38 (New Revised Standard Version)
Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’

Second Reading: Daniel 6, selected verses (New Revised Standard Version)
Soon Daniel distinguished himself above all the other presidents and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king planned to appoint him over the whole kingdom. So the presidents and the satraps tried to find grounds for complaint against Daniel in connection with the kingdom. But they could find no grounds for complaint or any corruption, because he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption could be found in him. The men said, ‘We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.’

So the presidents and satraps conspired and came to the king and said to him, ‘O King Darius, live for ever! All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counsellors and the governors, are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an interdict, that whoever prays to anyone, divine or human, for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into a den of lions.

Although Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he continued to go to his house, which had windows in its upper room open towards Jerusalem, and to get down on his knees three times a day to pray to his God and praise him, just as he had done previously. The conspirators came and found Daniel praying and seeking mercy before his God.

Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, ‘May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you!’ A stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, so that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no food was brought to him, and sleep fled from him.

Then, at break of day, the king got up and hurried to the den of lions. When he came near the den where Daniel was, he cried out anxiously to Daniel, ‘O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you faithfully serve been able to deliver you from the lions?’ Daniel then said to the king, ‘O king, live for ever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no wrong.’ Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

Sermon by Rev. Elana Keppel Levy

No manuscript available — please call the tape ministry phone number to hear the full service with sermon

Music
Online: He Never Failed Me Yet
In person: Hymn: How Clear is Our Vocation, Lord (by Fred Pratt Green, tune: Repton)

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.
Amen.

In Person: Sung Hymn 513, Courage, brother! do not stumble

Benediction

SUNG Benediction Response (tune: Gourock St. John’s, words by 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.

Postlude Music (in person only)

Announcements

* Teri will be off from the 19th – 29th of July. Please contact Cameron or your elder for any pastoral emergencies.

* 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 some limited singing! We can welcome approximately 35 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.

* 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.

Sunday service for 18 July 2021

Sunday Service for 18 July 2021, 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday school Revisited week 8
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson, Gourock St. John’s
Manse phone: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

To hear an audio recording of this service, phone 01475 270037

Prelude Music (in person only)

Welcome/Announcements

Call to Worship
Teri: Come, the shepherd is calling.
All: The sheep know the shepherd’s voice.
1: Come and rest
2: Come and be nourished
1: Come and be comforted
2: Come and be fed
1: Come and be led into righteousness
2: Come and know goodness and mercy
All: The shepherd is calling, and we know his voice.

Prayer
You, Lord, are our guide and protector, our teacher and healer, our creator and sustainer.
You provide for our needs, yet we confess we always want more.
You bring us to the place of plenty,
and yet there are so many who do not have enough.
While we revel in green pastures and use still waters without thinking twice,
your people around the world thirst for clean water,
and the forests and prairies burn.
Restore your creation, O God.
…
You hold us fast through the darkest times,
even when we can’t see through the shadows,
and your presence gives us strength.
For those who are in fear,
those walking in the shadow of death,
those who wander far from the path or the embrace of the flock,
we ask for your protection.
Surround them with your loving embrace,
that they may know help in hard times,
companionship on the journey,
and comfort in the midst of the pain.
Make your presence known to your people, O God.
…
You welcome us to your family,
invite us to your table,
and call us to your work.
For your gifts of plenty, we give you thanks.
And for those who have no table…
those whose tables are bare…
those who have been denied a seat…
those whose enemies block the way…
we pray your grace would indeed overrun,
that your abundance may be shared by all, not just some.
We claim your goodness and mercy, O God,
and ask your forgiveness for the times we have kept it for ourselves.
In your house there’s more than enough room,
so we ask your help for all who long for a place to live,
a meal to nourish,
and a community of celebration and support.
May your persistent grace follow us, follow all people,
teaching us your ways that together we may dwell in your house, forever.
In the name of the good shepherd, Jesus the Christ, we pray. Amen.

Music
Online: The Lord’s My Shepherd (Townend)
In person:

Children’s Time

Reading: Psalm 23 (NKJV)
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

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: Pursued
These are such familiar words to many of us, as we have so often heard or sung them at funerals or recited them in Sunday school while making crafts from cotton balls. They are words that endure in memories that have long since forgotten everything else. And yet because they are so familiar, it can be easy to miss what the psalmist is saying!

In the beginning, the psalmist tells us about God. It’s almost like an affirmation of faith about who God is and what God does: God provides, God leads, God nurtures and restores. God wants what is best for us. We know all these things are true, and they are what God continually promises and fulfils, even though it isn’t always the way we would prefer, or on the timeline we would want. And the translation into English actually obscures some of the power of this affirmation — the line “he restores my soul” would better be translated as “he brings me back to life.” When we are on the brink, when we can’t breathe, God brings us to a place of peace and plenty, and puts God’s own breath of life back into us. And when we are again breathing freely and we’ve been restored to life, God leads us in the pathways of justice, showing us the road to walk into the kingdom of God.

And then, halfway through, something happens — hardship enters the story. Perhaps it was a tragedy, or perhaps the grief of losing someone dear to them, or perhaps the disappointment of dashed expectations or hopes, or perhaps an experience of physical or mental illness. It’s a universal feeling, one we all know: walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

There, in the valley of the shadow of death, when it seems as if the light is fading, when the world seems a bit less hospitable than it did before, when the certainty of God’s goodness is harder to see, the psalmist changes from talking about God to talking to God. No longer is God an abstract concept, an intellectual exercise, something we talk about or think about at a distance…God is up close and personal. YOU are with me, guiding and comforting, feeding and anointing, filling with good things that the valley of the shadow of death threatened to take away.

In the valley of the shadow of death is often where we meet God face to face. It’s where all our ideas about what God is like become ephemeral, because the fullness of true relationship takes over. No longer is this a creed or rote affirmation that God is a guide and help…in the valley of shadows, God’s love can become more tangible. When it seems as if we are alone, when we can’t see and don’t know how to carry on, it turns out God is closer than our own breath. This isn’t just the kind of relationship where we know God’s there somewhere. In the dark valley we may not be able to see anything else, we may not be able to hear anything but the terrible roaring silence of grief or despair or fear, but it is a place where we can see God face to face, as we stare into the mysterious darkness.

And when we come out the other side, that closer relationship makes the feast table—even with enemies present—more glorious than the peaceful green pastures and still waters had been.

The psalm ends with words as beautiful as the beginning — surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…but yet again, the translation softens what is one of the most powerful images you can imagine. In Hebrew it says that goodness and mercy will pursue me. Not just follow, but follow in pursuit, hot on our heels, insistently, not letting us out of their sight. This isn’t a blessing that will just saunter behind us and offer a little continual comfort now and then, this is an almost aggressive goodness and mercy. This is God’s goodness and mercy — persistent and not taking no for an answer. God is good all the time, and that will be true wherever we go. Even if we encounter another valley, even if we struggle on the pathway of justice, even if we feel we can’t catch our breath and need another respite in the green pastures…even if we end up going back to talking about God instead of to God, goodness and mercy will pursue us all the days of our lives, calling us back to dwell in God’s house, forever.

May it be so. Amen.

Hymn 462: The King of Love My Shepherd Is (tune: St. Columba)

Baptism (in person only)
A sacrament is an outward sign of the grace that God has already given us—and this sacrament of baptism is the ultimate sign of grace, the ultimate lesson in hospitality. Before we can receive, before we can respond, before we can ask for forgiveness or change anything about ourselves, God loves us, reaches out to us, and marks us as God’s own people, promising that whatever paths we walk, whatever shadowed valleys we encounter, whatever we learn about God and however we learn to talk to God, God’s goodness and mercy will pursue us all our days.
……
……
……

Let us pray.
God of love, we rejoice again to receive your grace in hearing your word.
We have heard your call, we are made new by your Spirit,
we have committed ourselves to your path.
Guide and guard us all our days.
May your love hold us, your truth guide us, your joy delight us.
Bless our families, community, nation, and world
with wisdom and courage, laughter and peace,
and the love that endures all things.
God of grace and glory, you have called us to your
One Church, proclaiming One Faith, One Baptism, One Lord.
Help us to profess this truth with our lives, not only our words.
Remind us of the love poured on us
and bring us once again to new life with you.
Water the seeds that have been planted this day,
and help us bear fruit for your kingdom, living in your love.
We pray to you, our Creator, with the power of the Holy Spirit, in the name of Christ, who taught us to pray together:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.
Amen.

In Person only: Sung Hymn 511, Your hand, O God, has guided

Benediction
Friends, whether you find yourselves in need of a deep breath in the green pastures, or striding confidently the pathways of justice, or walking the seemingly endless shadowed valley, know this: God is good, all the time, and God’s goodness and mercy pursues us all the days of lives. The Spirit of God will go above you to watch over you. The Spirit of God will go beside you to be your companion. The Spirit of God will go before you to show you the way, and behind you to push you into places you might not go alone. And the Spirit of God will 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

* Teri will be off from the 19th – 29th of July. Please contact Cameron or your elder for any pastoral emergencies.

* 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 some limited singing! We can welcome approximately 35 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.

* 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.

* VENDA UPDATE:
We are in the middle of the winter here in Venda and cold days are very cold with a little bit of rain sometimes and warm days are very hot. The country has moved to Level 4 as of 27 June 2021, no gathering, restaurants only open for takeaway, no sales of alcohol, and all schools will be closing on the 30th of June 2021 until the 19 of July 2021. The minister of Education made the announcement on the 20th of June 2021 that all teachers and all the people working at schools will be getting vaccines starting with government schools and then the private school will follow later as of the 23rd of June 2021. This is great news if all goes well, by the 19 of July 2021 we will all have got the vaccine. Adults from 60+ have been getting vaccines since the 1st of May 2021.

Since the school opens on the 3rd of May 2021, all has been going very well. The 3rd wave of COVID-19 is heating SA very hard especial in Johannesburg and Pretoria, here in Venda High school students and teachers are testing positive every day.

The grade R and grade 1 students are enjoying computer lessons and now they are capable of using the Computer on their own, we are very proud of the progress and the next step will be to introduce the internet. On the 25th of June 2021, we host a birthday celebration for all students born from January to June and was a great ceremony as last year there was no birthday celebration. The covid-19 pandemic has made us aware that we need to be well advanced in technology and educate our children from a younger age. VMS was one of the NGO’S invited by the Global Skills Initiative South Africa to attended training on Basic digital skills. The training just came at the right time for us and we are very excited. Myself and Reason Sithagathaga (member of VMS support group) attended the training and we are receiving ongoing support. This week we are sharing with the Educators and on the 1st of July Reason will be training youth and other community members here at VMS, we can only have 5 people per day due to COVID. We are doing a weekly talk show on Radio, educating the community about HIV/AIDS, bullying at schools, and domestic violence. And the Youth on a Mission is having more likes and follows and we are posting articles weekly. The aim is to reach more adolescents.

VMS was planning to host winter school as additional to our program, as most children from the government school are not attending school daily. We had a plan to help children catch up with their school work during school holiday for primary schools. Now we have cancelled due to country moving to level 4. The office, outreach program and vegetable garden will remain open during level 4.

Regards,
Khathu

Sunday service for 11 July 2021

Sunday Service for 11 July 2021, 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday school Revisited week 7
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson, Gourock St. John’s
Manse phone: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

To hear an audio recording of this service, phone 01475 270037

Today we welcome guest preacher the Rev. Marci Glass, senior pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, California. The Rev. Marci Auld Glass is a graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas and Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. Before becoming Senior Pastor at Calvary, Marci served as Pastor & Head of Staff at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho. Before moving to Boise, she served in Youth Director roles at churches in New Mexico and Washington state.
She is the Co-Moderator of the Board of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, and Moderator of Planned Parenthood’s Clergy Advocacy Board. She also serves on Columbia Theological Seminary’s Alumni Board.
Marci and her husband, Justin have two sons: Alden, who recently graduated from the law school at Duke in North Carolina, and Elliott, a recent graduate of Trinity University, where he majored in Geosciences. Marci also has an older son, Eric, who she placed for adoption when she was in college. He and his wife Ashley live in Dallas, TX and are expecting their first child.
In her free time, she studies the Enneagram, hikes as much as her new bionic knee will allow, and plays the cello. She occasionally blogs at www.marciglass.com.

~~~~~

Prelude Music (in person only)

Welcome/Announcements

Call to Worship
Teri: God is with us! In the flesh, and in the Spirit.
All: We come looking for God…who is everywhere present.
1: God is with us, and will give us both comfort and challenge.
2: God is with us, and will speak truth and call for faith.
1: In the least expected places and moments,
2: in the least expected people and groups,
All: we can see God’s face and serve God’s kingdom.

Prayer
God of love and justice, you created us to be like you. You put your breath of life in us. You called us to live as true reflections of your image, loving, serving, and caring for the world.
We place our hands over our eyes, and confess that more often than not, we have looked away from suffering, choosing to ignore the needs of those around us and around the world, closing our eyes to signs of injustice, poverty, and despair.
We place our hands over our ears, and confess that we are good at covering our ears and blocking out the cries of those in need, those whose tears are their only food, those whose grief threatens to overwhelm.
We place our hands on our legs, and confess that we have often walked our own way, for your way requires more effort than we are willing to make.
We place our hands on our mouths, and confess that sometimes our words hurt others — accidentally or on purpose. And we confess, too, that we often keep silent when we ought to speak up on behalf of those whose voice has been silenced by bullying, by trauma, by injustice.
We place our hands on our hearts, and confess that they are often full of things contrary to your desire for us, and there is no room to love you and our neighbour and ourselves at the same time.
And we lift our hands to you, offering you all our wrongdoing, all our brokenness, and praying you would lift this burden. Take from us any thought that does not glorify you. Fill us instead with your purpose — to love as we are loved, with eyes and ears and hearts and hands open.
We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Music
Online: Hymn 362, Heaven Shall Not Wait
In person: Conchita Reve’ by Turina

Children’s Time

Reading: Matthew 25.31-40 (NRSV)
‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

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 by Marci Glass: Led by the Shepherd
(video only, or print manuscript on request)

Music
In person: hymn 362, Heaven Shall Not Wait
Online: When Our Songs, by Resound Worship

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Your goodness resonates through the world, O God.
We see it rippling out, passed from one to another,
as we share the love you have given us.
In love, you create and sustain all things.
In love, you offer yourself to us.
In love, you call us to follow your way.
And in love, we come before you,
with gratitude and praise
and with fears and prayers.
We give you thanks for your constant care,
for the beauty of your image in every face,
for the hope of spring and the wonder of new life.
We give you thanks for revealing yourself in the world around us,
and even through us and our neighbours.
And we also wonder, Lord,
about those places where love seems absent,
or where faith falters,
or where there is no peace.
And so our prayers arise for our neighbours who live with hunger—
for food and for grace.
We know the needs hidden behind closed doors,
shunted to food banks to be solved,
and we long for the day when there will be enough for everyone
to be nourished and to thrive.
We ask your blessing for those who do not feel they can ever be enough,
and for the grace to offer them comfort and help.
Our prayers arise for our neighbours who live in fear—
for children growing up amidst violence,
for parents longing for an escape,
for nations that cannot make peace.
In a world that chooses war,
where greed and powermongering drive our decisions,
we pray for leaders to have the courage to choose justice,
to work for the common good,
and to provide paths of health, peace, and prosperity for all people.
We ask your blessing on those who work for the flourishing of others,
helping where there is hurt,
and putting others ahead of themselves,
seeking a way forward toward wholeness in a fractured world.
Our prayers arise for our neighbours who suffer with illness,
in body, mind, or spirit,
and for those who care for them.
When bodies betray us,
when minds wander and can’t be brought back,
when spirits feel shrouded in darkness,
we pray for your healing spirit to flow,
bringing comfort and hope,
surrounding your people with healing hands and hearts,
and friendship and compassion even when days grow short.
We ask your blessing on those who spend their days in the care of others,
that they may have open minds and a loving touch,
that they may share in your healing ways.
And, O God, our prayers arise for your church,
for our sense of wonder,
for our faithfulness,
and our ability to tell the truth about ourselves and about you.
Make us your Body,
your hands and feet, your eyes and heart,
reaching out into your world.
We ask your blessing on us,
that we may resonate with your love and grace,
that we may reflect your image,
offering food to the hungry and water to the thirsty,
visiting the sick and imprisoned,
welcoming the stranger and the outcast,
living faithfully in the way, truth, and life you offer.
We pray these and all things in the name of Jesus the Christ,
whose perfect love casts out fear,
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.

In Person only — Sung Hymn 521, Children of God, Reach Out to One Another

Benediction
Friends, go — go be Christ’s body, which means Go to be safety, go to share compassion, go to embody the welcome of Christ that has received and welcomed you your whole life long. Go to feed the hungry, and clothe the naked, and welcome the stranger, and visit the sick and imprisoned. And may the grace of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, and the care and guidance of our shepherd Jesus follow you this day and evermore. Amen. Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord.

SUNG Benediction Response (tune: Gourock St. John’s, words by 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.

Postlude Music (in person only)
Sacro Monte (about a Holy Mound in Granados), by Turina

Announcements

* 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 some limited singing! We can welcome approximately 35 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.

* Tonight we will gather with Christians across the nation for evening prayer on the Connect Facebook Page. Karen is leading tonight’s service, log on at 6:58pm to join in.

Regards,
Khathu

Sunday service for 4 July 2021

Sunday Service for 4 July 2021, 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday school Revisited week 6
Service prepared by the Rev. Teri Peterson, Gourock St. John’s
Manse phone: 632143
Email: tpeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

To hear an audio recording of this service, phone 01475 270037

Prelude Music (in person only)

Welcome/Announcements

Call to Worship
Teri: Lift your eyes and see —
All: God is among us!
Teri: Come with all of who you are:
1: We bring our minds, with our thoughts and questions,
and our hearts, with our joys and longings.
2: We bring our bodies,
whether with sore muscles and aching joints, or energy we can’t hold still,
our strength and our weakness.
1: We bring our stories, past and present, and our hopes for the future.
2: We bring our time, our resources, our gifts, all the stuff of life.
All: We bring it all and offer it to God, who is here, calling us today.

Prayer
Loving God, we thank you for the many ways you reveal yourself to us, and for your love that knows no boundaries. You walk among us, coming to our doors, calling us in the street, sitting beside us on the bus, hoping we will see your face in the crowd. We confess that most of the time, we are not looking. And when we do look, we are afraid of what we see. We close our ears and laugh it off when you call our names. When we are too wrapped up in our own concerns to recognise you, forgive us. When we are too certain, or too attached to our own understanding, leaving no room for your mystery, forgive us. When we have locked our doors, our minds, and our hearts, shackling ourselves to the past, forgive us. Show us your face again, living God. Teach us to see, and to welcome you in. Amen.

In the beginning, God breathed life into being, and every morning God’s mercies are new. Know that you, child of God, made in God’s image, are forgiven, loved and free. Believe and live the good news: God’s goodness is planted more deeply than all that is wrong. Thanks be to God!

Music
Online: hymn 764, God has made laughter

Children’s Time (in person only)

Baptism: Corran Paul Malcolm (in person only)
A sacrament is an outward sign of the grace that God has already given us—and this sacrament of baptism is the ultimate sign of grace. Before we can receive, before we can respond, God loves us and marks us as God’s own people. Before we can ask for forgiveness or change anything about ourselves, God makes us into God’s own people.

In this sacrament we are incorporated into Christ, as we die to what separates us from God and rise to new life. We enter into the community of God’s people throughout history and around the world, who worship one Lord and practice one faith, in response to God’s call in our one baptism. We acknowledge that we cannot do this alone and we make promises to one another, that we will support each other in the life of faith, teaching these new members of Christ’s family to know God’s love and God’s call. Through these waters, we proclaim that we are children of God together, learning and growing in faith together, committed to walking with the Spirit together.

Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything he commanded us. And scripture reminds us that the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls.

Confident of this promise, we baptise those whom God calls, promising to be a true family for one another, traveling the journey of faith together. Let us remember our own baptism as we celebrate with Corran.

Brian and Danielle, in presenting your child for baptism, do you desire that he may be grafted into Christ as a member of his body, the Church, and do you receive the teaching of the Christian faith which we confess in the Apostles Creed? Do you? (I do)

If you’re comfortable doing so, please stand as we affirm our faith together using the ancient words of the apostles creed:
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, died, and was buried;
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
He ascended into heaven,
He is seated at the right hand of the Father,
And he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
The holy catholic Church,
The communion of saints,
The forgiveness of sins,
The resurrection of the body,
And the life everlasting. Amen.

You may be seated.

Let us pray.
We give you thanks, O God, for you nourish and sustain all things by your gift of water. You led your people to freedom by parting the sea, you sent John to the Jordan to baptise and call us to repentance, and in Christ you give us streams of living water. We pray now that you would pour out your Spirit on this water, set it aside from a common to a sacred use. May all who now pass through these waters be buried with Christ, and rise with him to new life, born anew of water and the Spirit and so be delivered from death to life, from bondage to freedom, from sin to righteousness. Bind us together in one family through your Holy Spirit. Strengthen Corran to serve you with joy. We pray in the name of Christ. Amen.

Corran, 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.”

Corran Paul, I baptise you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. You have been sealed by the Spirit in your baptism, and you belong to God forever. May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you, may the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace, both now and forever.
Amen.

This child belongs to God. From this day forward, he is at home in the Christian community, and there will always be a place for him—even when he is loud, or wiggly, or upset, or perfectly well behaved.

Tell him of his baptism. Teach him of the treasure he has received today, and of the further wonders of growing in grace and love within the family of the Church, that he may come in time to make his own response to this gift, and to join in the work of the Holy Spirit in this world. Teach him the story of God’s love and pray with him for the hope of God’s future, that he may bear fruit for Christ’s kingdom.

As you seek to fulfil this responsibility of Christian parenting, the Church offers to you its prayers and its support. In this Bible you will find the word of God written and illustrated for children, and also the well-wishes, blessings, and prayers of your church family, that you may be always reminded of this community that promises to be with you in the joys and the trials of bringing up children in the faith.

So now I ask you, as his parent: do you promise, depending on the grace of God, to teach this child the truths and duties of the Christian faith, and by prayer and example to bring him up in the life and worship of the Church? Do you?

And David and Hannah, as godparents, do you promise to guide and encourage Corran, through prayer and example, through word and deed, teaching him to know and love Christ and his Church? Do you?

Children of the church…do you promise to love Corran as a friend, to help him learn how to love Jesus and to be a part of his church?

And you who are gathered here represent the whole Church.
Word and Sacrament bring you the joy of Christ’s presence in your midst.
They also bring you responsibilities as Christ’s people in this place.
Do you welcome Corran,
and do you renew your commitment, with God’s help,
to live before all God’s children in a kindly and Christian way,
and to share with them the knowledge and love of Christ?
If so, please say “we do.”

All of us are called to plant seeds in all that we do,
whether our interactions are with friends or strangers,
children or peers or elders,
church members or not.
Today we particularly promise to this young family, but the promise extends to all of us.
Will you take up this call to build up Christ’s body,
nurturing one another in faith,
upholding one another in prayer,
and encouraging one another in service?
If so, please say “we will.”

Let us pray.
God of love, we rejoice again to receive your grace in Word and Sacrament.
We have heard your call, we are made new by your Spirit,
we have committed ourselves to your path.
Guide and guard Corran all his days.
May your love hold him, your truth guide him, your joy delight him.
Bless his family, that he may grow up in a secure and happy home.
Give them wisdom and courage, laughter and peace,
and the love that endures all things.
God of grace and glory, you have called us to your
One Church, proclaiming One Faith, One Baptism, One Lord.
Help us to profess this truth with our lives, not only our words.
Remind us of the love poured on us in our baptism,
and bring us once again to new life with you.
Water the seeds that have been planted this day,
and help us bear fruit for your kingdom, living in your love.
We pray to you, our Creator, in the name of Christ and with the power of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Music (in person only)

Reading: Genesis 18.1-15 (NRSV)

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, ‘My lord, if I find favour with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.’ So they said, ‘Do as you have said.’ And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, ‘Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.’ Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

They said to him, ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ And he said, ‘There, in the tent.’ Then one said, ‘I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?’ The Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, and say, “Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?” Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.’ But Sarah denied, saying, ‘I did not laugh’; for she was afraid. He said, ‘Oh yes, you did laugh.’

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: Talking to Strangers
Some of you have heard before about my most notorious children’s talk ever — it was my first year as an ordained minister, and I was sitting on the floor of the sanctuary with a dozen or so children seated on the steps in front of me. We were talking about the story of Jesus’ disciples walking to Emmaus, and being met by Jesus along the way, though they did not recognise him. At some point, as I was talking, I realised that I had painted myself into a corner. Over the edge of the communion table, I saw my colleague realise it at the same time, and his poker face was briefly interrupted by one slightly raised eyebrow. I kept talking, trying desperately to think of a way out, but there was nowhere else to go. The only thing I could say to these children, ranging in age from 3 to 9, was that they should talk to strangers because they might be Jesus.

I rushed the words out and tried to cover with something about how on the first day at a new school, everyone is a stranger, and then I ended as quickly as possible and hoped no one had noticed. Even 15 years and hundreds of children’s moments later, I still get nervous when stories like this one appear in the lectionary.

Because, unlike what we teach our children, scripture is full of stories that essentially say that you absolutely should talk to strangers.

These three strangers arrived at Abraham’s place at just about the most inconvenient time possible—the heat of the day. Midafternoon. The lull time, nap time. The only worse time would be the middle of the night. And yet Abraham runs out to greet them. He runs to Sarah and tells her to get baking—three measures of flour is about 22 pounds, so Abraham seems to expect a full complement of breads and cakes, not just a few finger sandwiches. Then he runs to the field and tells a servant to kill the fatted calf and fire up the grill.

What started as “let me bring you a little bread” has become a feast of epic proportions. Why would Abraham kill the fatted calf—the best and most celebratory meat—for strangers? Why bake so furiously? Why so much running during the hottest part of the day?

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews, reflecting on this story, says it gives a clear lesson: “do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Heb. 13.2)

This seems like an awful lot of hospitality, though. Surely just offering them water and whatever he had handy, easily accessible leftovers, would have done?

Granted, it turns out to be God visiting Abraham and Sarah’s tent. So maybe the welcome is just enough after all.

The text doesn’t say that they knew it was God. Sarah seems to realise, just at the end of the story, but by then they’ve been hanging out in the shade of the oak trees for hours. These were just three guys, dusty from travel. In some neighbourhoods, they would be called a gang. In others, their sitting under the tree might be called loitering. Many would hesitate to open the door to three strange men who come up the front walk. But Abraham rolls out the red carpet and pulls out all the stops. He serves them a feast on the fine china—and he stands by, ready to refill their cups and offer them seconds, to attend to every need.

It seems ridiculous to us. We have become so used to not really looking at people. We are practiced at suspicion-at-first-sight. We like our personal space and the private enjoyment of our things. We’re perfectly willing to give what we have left after we’ve made sure we have enough for ourselves. But in scripture, especially in the desert but also in town, hospitality is the most important practice there is. Any traveler was to be welcomed and cared for, no matter who they were or where they came from.

Every traveler.

Some have entertained angels…or even the Lord himself.

More accurately, everyone who has shown hospitality to a stranger has been in the presence of God—Jesus says whenever we do it to the least of these, we do it to him. Every person is made in God’s image, every breath comes from the Spirit, so everyone, stranger or friend, is a chance to welcome God in our midst.

Part of what makes this difficult, for us and for Sarah and Abraham, is that an important element of hospitality is not just food and water and a place to rest, but also making room for the person and their words to enter our lives. You never know what the strangers might say or how they might touch your heart or change your life.

In this case, the strangers bring news that defies the limits of imagination. After all these years, following a promise and fearing she might never see it fulfilled, all these years waiting and hoping and being disappointed, Sarah will have a son. It is almost cruel, to tell a woman who has tried so hard that she needs to try again. I hear Sarah’s laugh in my mind as that nervous-and-incredulous laugh that is an attempt to defuse tension and mask pain. But the words of the stranger have entered the house, and there’s no shooing them out now. Just as Abraham made every effort to make them comfortable and welcome, now Sarah will have to make every effort to accommodate these words, ponder them in her heart, and make space for Abraham in her bed.

Sometimes the words of a stranger are as disruptive as their physical presence. They demand things of us—expanding and shifting our mental space the way we add leaves and more chairs to the dining room table.

No wonder we prefer to be afraid of strangers.

A few years ago I heard the political leader of a European nation that was refusing to allow refugees in say they could not take them because too many non-Christians would change the Christian character of the culture. The same was once said of the Irish Catholics coming to this country. That same sentiment is often behind the campaigns like “Make America Great Again” or the idea that we somehow need to rebuild Britishness into something like it used to be, without those pesky immigrants or low-skilled workers or people with different skin colours or native languages or religious traditions.

It is true, when we welcome the stranger, we also make room for the ways they are different. When I think about how often our ancestors in the faith migrated for one reason or another—most notably to Egypt to escape famine, and out of Egypt to escape leaders who were needlessly afraid of them—and then I hear this story of Abraham’s family in the midst of migrating and still offering extravagant welcome, and think of the least of these Jesus talks about, and hear the strong words from Hebrews: “Do Not Neglect to show hospitality to strangers”…I can’t help but think that we are replaying this same story. Do we, with Abraham, see the image of God in the face of the stranger? Are we willing to offer our best in welcome? Will we go out of our way to bring them in? Or are we too unwilling to make both mental and physical space for people who are different?

Sarah and Abraham extended themselves, their resources, and their emotional lives to offer hospitality. And ultimately, that changed their lives. They had to then make even more room, this time for a baby…a baby named laughter, to remind them always of that day they talked to strangers, and saw the face of God.

May we follow their faithful example.
Amen.

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Holy God,
you appear in unexpected places
under the trees
on the highway
in the kitchen
and we long for eyes to see you.
We come into this space,
expecting to hear your voice,
praying for a glimpse of your kingdom
making room in our day for you to enter.
We give you thanks for your constant presence
for whether we see you or not,
you are there.
Your Spirit whispers
even when we are too busy talking to listen.
It is your image we see
in the eyes of friend and stranger and enemy,
and even in the mirror.
And so we pray for your people,
especially those who seek refuge and find only fences.
We pray for those who feel overwhelmed
by change, or fear, or despair.
We pray for your world that longs for peace yet continues in war.
We lift up your children who suffer
under the weight of grief, illness, and loneliness.
We carry to you those people who have faced extreme heat,
and those working to slow or reverse climate change,
and we ask for your creative power to make us better stewards of your creation.
We carry to you the people of
Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia, Palestine, Colombia, Venezuela,
and so many places around the world
who live each day with the reality of our human brokenness,
and we ask for your healing Spirit to flow freely.
We carry to you the leaders of our nation, and of all nations,
charged with working for the good of all,
and we ask for your wisdom to infuse their every thought and action.
Shine your light, O God,
and bring a new day to dawn.
As we walk this earthly journey,
give us courage to be extravagant in our welcome,
to live as if your love is real and true,
to lay aside our fear of strangers
and find instead that we are all your people,
one body, together on this one earth.
Make us people of grace,
who offer ourselves to others just as you offer yourself to us.
Help us to make room
in our homes and in our hearts
that we may be ready to receive you
in whatever form you come.
We pray all these things in the name of Christ, who welcomed the sinner and ate with the outcast, 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.

Hymn 694: Brother, Sister, Let Me Serve You

Benediction
Friends, go into your week looking for God, and ready to welcome whoever God sends to cross your path the same way you welcome Christ. 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

* 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 some limited singing! We can welcome approximately 35 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.

* 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.

Sunday Service for 5 September 2021

Sunday service for 29 August 2021

Sunday Service for 22 August 2021

Sunday service for 15 August 2021

Sunday service for 8 August 2021

Sunday service for 1 August 2021

Sunday service for 25 July 2021

Sunday service for 18 July 2021

Sunday service for 11 July 2021

Sunday service for 4 July 2021

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