Sunday Service for 8 October 2023

Sunday 8 October 2023 — NL2-5, Conversations With God 5, Youth Sunday
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143 
Email: TPeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Email Charlene, Parish Assistant: CMitchell (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

Sanctuary Prelude Music

Sanctuary: We Gather As God’s Family (As the Bible is brought in, we stand and sing)
A family gathered in love,
striving for justice and joy,
blessing the broken-hearted,
and sharing the hope of God’s kingdom.

Welcome & Announcements

Sanctuary Processional Hymn 198: Let Us Build A House (vv. 1-2, 4-5)

Call to Worship
One: From generation to generation,
All: our God is the Lord.
One: For our ancestors, yes, and also for us, here, today,
All: our God is the Lord.
One: In the stories of old, and the story we are still living,
All: our God is the Lord.
One: Listen — not just with your ears but with your whole self:
All: our God is the Lord,
and we will love God with all our being.

Sanctuary Hymn: What Kind of World Are We Passing On (Fischy)

Prayer
You have offered us a story with thousands of generations of blessing, O God,
and we come today to hear and to join in.
You set us free from the empires of destruction, scarcity, and supremacy
so that we can worship you together in spirit and truth.
The way of the world is
to get as much as we can, think of ourselves first,
and do whatever it takes no matter who gets hurt.
but You call us to another way:
the way of life, lived to the full,
sharing in your goodness and grace.
Help us today to hear you, and to obey, that we may live.

God of all times and places,
you have created a people and made us one with each other and with you.
We confess that we rarely think of ourselves as one human family,
even today let alone across the ages.
We benefit from things our ancestors have done,
without thinking of the cost borne by others in your family or the earth.
We choose not to think of how our choices affect the future we will never see.
Forgive us when we disconnect ourselves from responsibility to both past and future.
Forgive us our self-centredness
and our unwillingness to recognise the gift of being one part of your story.
Forgive us when we see your way of life as only a set of rules
by which we can judge others but not ourselves.
Help us to hear and obey,
learning your care and compassion for all your people and your world.
We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Assurance of Forgiveness
Our God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love — God is a thousand parts compassion for every four parts judgment. Trusting in God’s steadfast love to the thousandth generation, take up your place in this forgiven family, and live in that grace so that all may know the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Hear and believe this good news: in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Online Hymn 727: In the Bulb There is a Flower

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 5.1-21, 6.4-9 (New Living Translation)
Moses called all the people together and said, “Listen carefully. Hear the decrees and regulations I am giving you today, so you may learn them and obey them!
“The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Mount Sinai. The Lord did not make this covenant with our parents and grandparents, but with all of us who are alive today. At the mountain the Lord spoke to you face to face from the heart of the fire. I stood in between you and the Lord, for you were afraid of the fire and did not want to approach the mountain. He spoke to me, and I passed his words on to you. This is what he said:

“I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
“You must not have any other god but me.
“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind, or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.
“You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys and other livestock, and any foreigners living among you. All your male and female servants must rest as you do. Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day.
“Honour your father and mother, as the Lord your God commanded you. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
“You must not murder.
“You must not commit adultery.
“You must not steal.
“You must not testify falsely against your neighbour.
“You must not covet your neighbour’s wife. You must not covet your neighbour’s house or land, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbour.

“Listen! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

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
Have you ever felt like the Bible is just an old story of people who died a long time ago and doesn’t have anything to do with us?
Or like you’re tired of hearing your parents or grandparents talk about stuff they remember from back in the day…sometimes stuff about how hard life was, no one had any money, toilets were on the landing in the close, shipyard work was dangerous, the war was on…or how great life was when everyone went dancing and made friends with other people who ran down the hill for the same bus after work in the factories and you could support a family on one good job that you kept forever?
Or have you ever felt like people older than you are expecting something from you, like somehow we owe it to people who died a long time ago to do some particular thing, or to keep a particular tradition going even though it doesn’t mean anything to you, or to like the things they liked?

It turns out that the people Moses talked to had the same problem. He was super old by the time he said the stuff we heard read today, and he started out by saying to all the young people in front of him that he didn’t want to talk about stuff God used to do, or about stuff their parents used to do, he wanted to talk to them about what God was doing right now, and what they were supposed to do as God’s people right now, not because their parents had done it that way but because it was a legitimately good way to live.

I suspect that some of them rolled their eyes the same way most of us have done when our parents or grandparents tried to tell us something they thought was important. But for him to start out by saying “not with our ancestors but with us”…Moses is trying to get every generation to realise that God is not about the past tense, but about the right now. Because the facts are that the people standing in front of Moses that day were not actually there when he brought the stone tablets down from the mountain forty years before. They weren’t even born. And yet he says that this is important right now, today, for these young people, because the truth is that God is too big for just one generation. God’s story can’t be contained in just one age group or one set of people. So Moses tries to help them see themselves in a story that started before they were born, and will carry on long after they die, generation to generation. Not just to dismiss the old as something irrelevant, but also to take seriously the now as a foundation for the future.

In other words, we are part of a sort of chain…we are connected to the people who came before us, even the ones who came so long before us we can’t imagine why they still matter, and we are also connected to the people who will come after us, even the ones who will live so far into the future we can’t imagine what it will be like or what we have to do with each other. And because even one damaged link in a chain makes the whole thing weak and easy to break apart, it matters that we take seriously our place in the story. That’s why God gives us the rules we often call the Ten Commandments — because they are meant to help us build a community that supports each other, cares for one another, and builds up each other for the good of the whole. And sometimes that’s obvious, like…don’t kill. Well, duh. Clearly killing breaks down community and damages the links in the chain. Same thing with stealing and lying, which damage relationships. And that whole business about coveting — most of us don’t even really know what it means to covet something, but it’s really about wanting and trying to take something that isn’t ours, not in the same way as stealing but more like setting up a system that would manipulate the thing you want so you can have it and others can’t — like stacking the deck of the world so that some people are at a disadvantage so that you can take advantage of it.

But every few sentences there’s another reminder that we’re all connected, not separate individuals or generations that can just do what we want without consequences to others. There’s the bit about honouring our parents so that our own legacy in the land will be long and fruitful…the part about remembering the old stories so that we don’t repeat the mistakes our predecessors have made…the instructions to teach all this stuff to the next generation too, including the reminders we might need along the way, almost like putting an alert on your phone to keep it in front of your eyes all the time…and that scary business about how God’s punishment and God’s blessing extend past us into the generations still to come — a thousand generations of blessing will follow those who live their lives according to these community-minded instructions, and three or four generations of bad consequences follow those who choose a different or more self-centred way.

It sounds so unfair. But we also know the truth of it, because right now we are living with the consequences of the actions of people in the past few generations. The climate emergency was not created by you young people here today, but you and your children are the ones who will suffer most. The economic situation we are in today was not of our making, but we still have to figure out how to live with the choices of those who came before. Social realities like racism and homophobia and sexism and bigotry weren’t our idea, but they are still part of our lives, just hanging on from generation to generation.

You know how whenever there’s a story about time travel, the characters say they have to be super careful because if they do something little that changes things, it could affect the entire outcome of history and change the world in unexpected ways?

Why don’t we ever think that about how we live right now? Like…small changes we make today could affect the entire outcome of the future. Literally change the world. Do you ever think of yourself as changing the world by how you live?

We are supposed to be good ancestors to the people who will come along in another twenty years, a hundred years, a thousand years. What we do today, how we treat each other today, how we build community that cares for each other today…all of that can change everything. We are responsible to and for each other, and for the future.

It isn’t that we’ve always done it this way, therefore we always have to do it this way, and we just keep doing the old ways. It’s that what we do today matters — to us and the people around us, yes…and to people far away who we may never meet but who live with the consequences of our actions, especially when it comes to stuff like climate change or politics or violence…and also it matters to people who will be born a long time after we die. The culture we create now, the way we choose to look out for each other and for the earth, will affect them. So I hope every day we will ask the question: am I being a good ancestor? Am I living, making choices, treating others, in a way that sets up a good foundation for the future? Or am I going to be one of those people that in a hundred years people look back and say “I can’t believe they did that and we have to live with the consequences now”?

Choosing the way of life God sets out — the way of love, the way of community, the way of caring for and looking out for each other instead of only for ourselves — that way of life sets up thousands of generations of blessing. Let’s be those people.

May it be so. Amen.

Online Hymn: What Kind of World Are We Passing On (Fischy)
Sanctuary Hymn 727: In the Bulb There Is A Flower

Offering

Sanctuary Offering Response: God Our Creator, vv. 1 & 4 (tune: Bunessan; words: John L Bell & Graham Maule)
God our Creator, you in love made us
who once were nothing but now have grown.
We bring the best of all our lives offer;
for you we share whatever we own.

And with the people summoned together
to be the Church in which faith is sown,
we make our promise to live for Jesus,
and let the world know all are God’s own.

Sanctuary Youth Dedication / Promises

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
God of love and justice and freedom,
You are personally invested in your creation,
and we give you thanks for your attention and care.
We are grateful that you not only take notice of us,
but you come to be with us,
close by and interested in how we live.
We remember today those who feel alone, as if no one cares,
and we pray that your presence would be made known to them.
We pray for all those who think no one is paying attention,
and so it doesn’t matter what they do or how they feel or whether they’re here.
We ask that you would be visible, and your love so obvious that they can’t help but notice,
and know that they are beloved, wanted, and that they belong.
We remember today all those people who don’t have the luxury of sabbath,
who labour for others’ profit,
who have no choice but to keep working or to go hungry,
who long for a day off but can’t make ends meet.
May your abundance be a reality,
so that all people can experience the freedom of your kingdom.
We remember today those who have been victims of others’ greed,
who have lost lives, livelihoods, family, or friends to violence or jealousy,
and those who are unlucky enough to be at the bottom of the pile
when the system is rigged against them.
May your justice turn this world upside down,
and bring hope to those in despair and a future to those who see no way forward.
We remember today those who are caught in the ways of this world,
who can’t imagine anything other than the way we’ve always done it,
who want to believe that with you, all things are possible, but just don’t see it.
Reveal yourself, and your kingdom of justice and peace,
your way of life that overcomes death,
your truth that changes everything.
And remind us, again and again, of our part in your covenant story.
And on this 8th day of the month we join our hearts together as your church family to pray:
*For all who live and work in the centre of Gourock — for those who are neighbours of our churches, those who own businesses, those who use the library, and those who come into the centre of town for any reason.
**For those who use the building at St John’s — may they encounter your grace in our hospitality — and for the volunteers who keep the building clean and in good repair.
*For the land, people, and governments of the nations of Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, and Greece.
And we pray especially today for the people and land of Afghanistan in the aftermath of an earthquake, and of Ukraine as the war rages on, and of Israel and Palestine as the impossible situation there brings violence, destruction, fear, and grief yet again. May your peace that passes all understanding guard and guide all your people.
Teach us to love you with our whole heart, mind, and strength,
and to live as if your kingdom is coming on earth as it is in heaven.
We ask these and all things in the name of your son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
your living word, who taught us to pray together:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.

Sanctuary Hymn 737: Will Your Anchor Hold

Sanctuary National Anthem vv. 1 & 3

Benediction
Listen! Our God is the Lord, and God is Love. In a world with so many choices about who to serve: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
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. 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. 

EDICT FOR ORDINATION AND ADMISSION OF ELDER
Mr Joseph Heffernan, a member of this congregation, has been elected to be a ruling elder (and the Kirk Session has judged him to be qualified for that office and has sustained his election)*; Joseph Heffernan has accepted office as elder: if anyone has any objections why this member should not be ordained to office, they state their objection at the meeting of the Kirk Session in the small hall of Gourock: St John’s Church on Sunday, 15th of October, 2023, at 10.40am; if no relevant objection regarding life or doctrine is made and substantiated, the Kirk Session will proceed to the ordination.

* We plan to expand Bowl & Blether to add the 3rd Mondays of the month in the winter months, starting on the 16th of October. This will require a team of volunteers to make soup in the church kitchen in the morning, to make toasties, and to serve soup/toasties/tea/coffee, offering hospitality and a warm cheery chat to anyone who wants to come in through the winter. Please contact Teri if you would be willing to volunteer on the 3rd Mondays of the month over the winter.

* A funeral service for Mr Rodger Manson will be held at Old Gourock & Ashton church on Monday the 9th of October at 1pm.

* The Kirk Session will meet on Sunday 15 October at 10:40am.

* Wednesday Evening Bible Study meets in the manse on Wednesday 11 October at 7:30pm.

* A funeral service for Mr Norman Leitch will be held at Greenock Crematorium on Thursday the 12th of October at 1pm.

* On Sunday evening the 15th of October at 7pm we will have a special Songs of Praise, with Philip, the praise band, and the Connect+ singing group leading us. If you have any suggestions you’d like to submit, please send them to Teri by today.

* We worship in the sanctuary on Sundays at 11am, and all Sunday worship is also online. If you are able, please enter by the front door in Bath street, and only those who need step-free access should use the back door. If you feel unwell, please worship online, to protect both yourself and others in our community.

* Starter Packs are short of Shaving Foam, Shampoo and Cleaning cloths. 
The FoodBank are short of biscuits, UHT milk, tinned soup, tinned custard, tinned tomatoes. You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!

* Did you know that the ministry we do at St John’s costs about £3000 per week? Everything we do is funded by your generous giving — all our support for young people, older people, bereavement care, community outreach, worship, study, spiritual growth, and community work is because of your offering. If you would like to 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 Teri and she can give you the treasurer’s details. You can also send your envelopes to the church or the manse by post and we will ensure they are received. 
It is also possible to donate to the work of the new parish assistant, speak to Anne Love about how to go about directing new donations to that new item in the budget.

* 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!

* Free period products are available in the church toilets for anyone who might need them, thanks to Hey Girls and Inverclyde Council.

* Youth organisations are in full swing, and we are especially looking for new members of the Anchor Boys and the Smurfs (P1-P3, boys and girls respectively). Young people are invited to come along to the Junior Section (P4-P6) of the BB on Monday evenings at 7, Anchor Boys (P1-P3) on Tuesdays at 5:30, Brownies and Guides on Wednesday evenings at 6pm and 7:30pm respectively, Smurfs on Thursdays at 6pm, and Company Section (P7-S6) of the BB on Fridays at 7. For more information on the Boys’ Brigade, email: 2ndgourock@inverclydebb.org.uk , for more information on the Smurfs (pre-Brownies), email Lyn at lyn41185@hotmail.com, and for more information on the Brownies/Guides, visit https://www.girlguidingscotland.org.uk/for-parents/register-your-daughter .

* The Church of Scotland has a new online learning platform called Church of Scotland Learning (more info here). The first set of modules is now available, and are designed with members of local congregations in mind and will help to grow faith, stretch minds and explore possibilities. They are set at an introductory level and accessible for all. We hope this will ignite people’s interest in learning more. Currently available topics include Vows for Elders; Vows for Ministers; Conversations in Discipleship, Exploring Discipleship, Talking About Your Faith; New Ways of Being Church; Knowing You Knowing Me (Learning to understand more fully where God is and what God is calling us to do); Theological Reflection for Everyone; Equality Diversity and Inclusion; and Unconscious Bias and Me. More modules will be added periodically, so sign up today by clicking here!

* Trinity College Glasgow and New College Edinburgh also both offer “short courses” for lay people — there are a variety of interesting modules available for online or in-person participation, including courses on Listening In Mission, worship, New Testament, Mission and our response to Presbytery planning, Creative Writing as a Spiritual Practice, and more. Please become a lifelong learner and dig into some of these opportunities that God is putting in front of us to grow in our faith and life together! 

* Would you be able to host two university students from the USA from 8-11 June, 2024? They will each need their own bed, though they can share a room, and you would be providing them breakfast and dinner, bringing them to church on Sunday, and being a welcoming and engaging host as they get a cultural exchange experience. There would be some financial help to cover the food expenses. If you might be interested, please be in touch with Teri or Seonaid Knox, so we have a sense of how many students we can host.