15th. November. 2020 Service.
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Prelude: Son of God eternal Saviour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClJHSR8Dsqs
Let us worship God
When I receive the peace of Christ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTYczFkWW4g
The Collect for today
Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Judge eternal throned in splendour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iprlaDyHoM
We lift our eyes to the Lord.
To God who created the heavens and the earth
We raise our voices in song and speech
We raise our voices in prayer and praise.
Lord, hear our prayers, accept our praise.
Open our hearts to receive your blessings and peace. Amen.
Prayer of Adoration and Confession
Transforming God, you take the night and give us day.
You take our strife and give us peace.
You take our sadness and give us joy.
You take our fear and give us courage.
You take death and give us new life.
You give us grace beyond all expectation and
you give love that is deeper and wider than we can comprehend. You give richly and generously all that we need.
It is right and fitting that we praise and adore you as our Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit, One God, Three in One, now and evermore Amen.
Compassionate and loving God,
we confess we do not always live in ways that are consistent with our calling to be your people.
We fill our days with so many things that do not matter in the light of eternity. We are careless in the ways that we treat one another causing hurt and offence too easily
We look for simple answers to complex issues and are lazy in our attempts to understand your purposes.
We are weighed down by many tasks, yet we cannot sort out our priorities. We fail to hear your call on our lives.
Hear our silent confession and forgive us, merciful God,
In Jesus’ name.
Assurance of Pardon
Friends remember the promise St. Paul declared: Neither death nor life, nor things present nor things to come can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Let us rejoice that, no matter what is happening around us, no matter what we have done, God’s deep love will never let us go.
Prayer for Understanding
Eternal God, may we hear your voice in the reading of scriptures, and in our reflections on your Word, let us know your will.
Then, as we live our lives during this coming week remind us to show your love and compassion to each other. We pray in the name of Jesus, your Living Word, and in the prayer which he gave us,
The Lord’s Prayer (in the words most familiar to you)
Praise, I will praise you Lord
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWuTvpiVEmY&list=RDSWuTvpiVEmY&start_radio=1
Invitation to the Offering
Each week we pray for the coming of God’s kingdom. Though we do not know exactly what this will look like, we offer our gifts and our talents to God for the work of the kingdom here and now.
Prayer of Dedication
Mighty and merciful God, we celebrate your goodness to us every day. What we offer to you now has come from you. Bless our gifts and bless our actions so that your goodness will touch other lives in the name of Jesus Christ, our friend and saviour. Amen.
The Readings
Psalm 90:1-12
A prayer of Moses the man of God.
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling-place
throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the whole world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn people back to dust,
saying, ‘Return to dust, you mortals.’
4 A thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.
5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death –
they are like the new grass of the morning:
6 In the morning it springs up new,
but by evening it is dry and withered.
7 We are consumed by your anger
and terrified by your indignation.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan.
10 Our days may come to seventy years,
or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
11 If only we knew the power of your anger!
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
12 Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Amen
3 Relent, Lord! How long will it be?
Have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
your splendour to their children.
17 May the favour of the Lord our God rest on us;
establish the work of our hands for us –
yes, establish the work of our hands. Amen.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety’, destruction will come on them suddenly, as labour pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. Amen.
O God our help in ages past
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssr-Ga3Mz6Q
Sermon
In a tradition going back beyond the coming of Christianity to Scotland November is the month of Remembrance, beginning with the festival of Samhain which evolved into All Saints and All Souls and culminating in Armistice and Remembrance in the past one hundred years or so. We are continuing this motif with our reading from Psalm 90 which is paraphrased in the hymn O God our help in ages past which we include in our worship this morning.
Psalm 90 in the Greek and Latin translations is listed as no 89 and it is purported to be the oldest Psalm in the Scripture as it is attributed to Moses. It is also one of the most frequently used Psalms in Jewish worship It is a prayer that is recited every Shabbat and major festival in the Jewish year.
I like to think of Psalm 90 as a cosmic Psalm because it puts our human life and experience into the context of the eternity of God. It has four main elements which bring us face to face with the brevity of our life on earth,
Moses who witnessed much mortality in the one hundred and twenty years of his life was qualified to muse upon this subject and he reminds us of these four truths:
A thousand years are like one day to God.
A thousand years are like a watch in the night (three hours). The implication of these comparisons is simple: if a thousand years to God are like a day or a night watch, man’s life is like a vapour.
Your life is like a particle swept away by a flood.
Your life is like a blade of grass that sprouts, fades, withers, and dies in a day.
These are stark facts that no one alive can dispute, and on their own they appear to indicate how insignificant and indeed vulnerable our lives on this planet are. That vulnerability begins the moment we are born and continues with us every day we live. This Psalm does not deny the fact, but also shows us that it is in many ways an illusion.
Do not worry that this is going to be a depressing sermon, it is in fact a very comforting message because it also assures us that in the midst of the eternity of God, we are safe with him in that same eternity. It is for that reason that this Psalm is often quoted at funerals. Moses reminds us that our life is lived against the backdrop of eternity is firmly embedded in it. So it is that at times of national mourning and remembrance, we turn to his prayer.
Perhaps we may imagine Moses towards the end of his life, out among the rugged mountains and sandy wastes of the Sinai desert, an old man still young at heart, looking back over who knows how many years, to his gilded youth in Egypt, his years as a shepherd in the desert and then as a national liberator venturing out with a small nation, at once dependent and rebellious, by turns rusting and disobedient, towards the promise of a place to belong, a promised land. All this is a metaphor for the stages of our own lives
In that stark rugged place Moses realised that He is the God who exists from before these ancient mountains, or indeed the whole world existed. We can put this back a lot farther than Moses could. Out of four billion years of earth’s existence, we are only separated from Moses by three and a half thousand years. These mountains Moses stood among were ancient in his day and his faith grasped that God is “From everlasting to everlasting”: God’s nature is without beginning or end, free from all succession of time, and contains in itself the cause of time. God made it all. He is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Everlasting One. Thus he composed this wonderful prayer>
All men and women of God depend heavily upon prayer. Moses was known to be very meek. He depended entirely upon God. His people were in the wilderness when Moses wrote this, but for a fact they were securely in the LORD’s hands every step of the way. As we go through our wilderness on the way to our Promised Land, we had better be living in the hands of the Lord, if we plan to make heaven. Just as the Lord provided all of their needs in their journey, He will provide our needs if we fix our faith in Him. He truly was Jehovah Jireh, their provider. We must learn a lesson from this. God is our shelter from the storm, He is our protector, He is our comfort. He loves us as no other one ever has. He loves us like He loved these Israelites, in spite of our faults. He loved us so much, that He sent us our Saviour who is now our provider.
Reflecting on the timeless mountains we are reminded that our lives are so very temporary. “You turn people back to dust, 5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death – they are like the new grass of the morning: 6 In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered. saying, ‘Return to dust, you mortals.’ We don’t always like to be reminded of this truth, but it does us no harm.
As you look back over the years what do you see? When I look back, I see the decades as steps receding into the distance below me. Each year has a marker, say 1950 when I was born, or 1953 1944 1940 1938 1936 1935 1909 1908 when others in my family were born. We can fly in our mind to historical events on this ladder of time as well as the ones in our own lives the year you graduated, were married, your children and grandchildren came along when you went somewhere special, retired, something significant happened. As we get older the time scales expand and we have more of a perspective on eternity. Moses in his long life could glimpse God’s perspective when he said 4 A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
Next, we may look at the middle section of the Psalm and think of the experience of hundreds of millions who lived and died through wars, famines, pestilences and disaster and would agree with Moses complaint that this is also a vale of tears: 7 We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation.8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.9 All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. Whilst we do not see these experiences as judgment, they are usually consequences of human sin, evil and greed and we are all liable to be caught up in them. It is part of this human lot.
And then comes the verse for which this Psalm is most famous: 10 Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. Moses is said to have lived to a hundred and twenty. Nowadays we might revise this to fourscore years and fourscore years and ten becoming more normal. But nonetheless we know of many who do not get as far as we do. Carpe diem, seize the day? Why not? We are people of faith and as God’s people why should we complain, or be depressed, have we not in the gospel the promise of God’s nearer presence, love, grace, strength and peace?
Here is one comment on this
“I have listened to many people aged in their eighties and nineties speak about their wartime experience. They are owed respect and honour for what they have done. They speak with pride and authority because of their longevity. We listen with respect as we notice the fragility of their age, many in wheelchairs. They have lived a long generation, over ninety years, it is hard to imagine the changes they have seen. Yet with God that longevity has lasted the duration of a puff of smoke, a day that has already gone by, a night-time moment when we awoke and thought we had been asleep for moments only to discover that the dawn is about to be ushered in. We all will soon be swept away by the sleep of death, just like the new grass in a hot climate – watered by the dew of the morning it springs to life only to be withered by evening. If the span of our years is not significant, then how can any event be especially significant. We ought to treasure every little moment – the smell of coffee freshly brewed, the smell of freshly baked bread – as God has invested a lot to ensure we get that coffee and bread. We cannot rank the events in our lives, every moment is precious as it is ordained by God. It is the presence of God with us that makes these moments special.”
We didn’t read it for reasons of time, but here is how the Psalm ends:
13 Relent, Lord! How long will it be?
Have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
your splendour to their children.
17 May the favour of the Lord our God rest on us;
establish the work of our hands for us –
yes, establish the work of our hands.
Let us return to what God did in creation. He shaped the mountains and brought forth the whole earth. God provided the arena for us to live out our daily routine. The eternal God created an interesting place for us to live. God cared enough to make this world so interesting. Even in this fallen world, if we care to look up and look at what God has created. Because time is gliding swiftly by, we have not a moment to lose. Out there in God’s creation there is life and more life to be explored. Take a walk in the garden, or a walk in the park, view the stall at the local grocer and number the fruit and vegetables, watch a documentary on nature and see that ‘Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.’ Yes that reminds me, look also at the stars. Yes, time is short, but every moment is lived in the presence of God, in my generation and your generation. Our generations coincide, therefore let us encourage one another because time is short.
Though Moses did not see it, the land of promise lay ahead of his people, and from it came the Saviour who promised “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:20 and “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:2-3 Wherever you are on the ladder of your years, hold onto these promises and enjoy your time on earth. Amen.
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
Infinite One, we live within you.
We are little bits of your infinite life.
You form us from handfuls of mud,
and we, your handfuls, return to mud.
Life is changing and transitory:
we will not outlive the grass in our yards.
When we set our little lives
against your infinite desire for us
it is fearsome.
We can try to erect monuments
as artificial extensions of our life span,
but who are we fooling?
Teach us to be present in this moment,
to find wisdom in loving presence.
Accepting that our life is passing,
each morning we meditate on your steady love;
we embed the day in mindfulness.
Even in the drudgery we endure,
even in the evil we see and do,
you are present,
and opening the eyes of our hearts,
we find joy.
Open our awareness to your loving companionship
and your miraculous presence in all things.
Our hope is not for lives that are long but deep,
deeply rooted in your presence.
We do not seek immortality, or greatness,
or influence that outlives us,
but to belong in your life.
Our accomplishments are not ours to measure
but belong in your hands.
May all that we do
be in your hands.
We thank you, God of all life and each life,
that you are with us every day, in each challenge and opportunity. We thank you for every sign of your grace, your providence and your love as for the peace which you minister within our hearts and minds.
In our weakness, you are strength.
In our darkness, you are light on the journey.
In our questions, you are wisdom for our choices.
Stay with us in these days when so much seems uncertain, and help us to serve you faithfully, when, and as we are able.
God of loving kindness, we thank you for moments of joy and celebration in our lives even during this ongoing pandemic, for love given and received, for friendships which bring us meaning and happiness, even at a distance, and for family members who show us their unconditional love.
In all our relationships and interactions, keep us mindful of your call to see you in one another.
God of the nations, we pray for our country and the countries of this world as we all struggle to face the choices COVID-19 lays before us.
Guide those who frame laws and shape policy,
and those who keep the peace and administer justice.
There are so many new challenges to meet and overcome and we pray that your wisdom may inform and guide our leaders’ decisions as they try to find the way forward and develop policies that will save lives and restore the health of our communities.
God of peace, we remember with sadness the dangerous divisions between nations
and the games leaders play to get the better of each other.
By your Holy Spirit, move in places torn by war and violence, to protect the vulnerable and help those who advocate for justice to prevail.
Show us how to be peacemakers in troubled times.
God of healing: we pray for those who are suffering because of the pandemic’s disruption of health and wholeness especially for those who mourn the loss of someone or something dear.
Draw close to all who fear the future.
Surround each one with your love and show us how we may bring comfort and support to those who are suffering in our fellowship and community.
God of life, you hold all souls in your loving care, the dead as well as the living.
We thank you for your saints of every age who continue to inspire us, and for all who have meant the world to us and now live with you. Keep us in communion with them and, at the last, gather us all in the Kingdom of Light through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen
Hymn “Glorious things of thee are spoken”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_CHF4gRyfI
Benediction
There is no difficulty that God has not foreseen,
no error or sin that God cannot ultimately correct,
no suffering where God will make you go on all alone,
and no joy that cannot be enriched by God’s happiness within you.
We can do all things, through Christ who strengthens us.
The love of Christ Jesus, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be
with you today and forevermore! Amen!
May God’s blessing surround you each day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_3O_N49GiU
Postlude: Amazing Grace from Fifty Countries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA7pdABvpnc
Hymns
Here are some hymn suggestions to check on YouTube if you wish to sing along. Some may not be as familiar as their titles suggest and the ones marked “listen” do not have the lyrics on the screen:
Judge eternal throned in splendour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iprlaDyHoM
Son of God eternal Saviour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClJHSR8Dsqs
When I receive the peace of Christ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTYczFkWW4g
Praise, I will praise you Lord
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWuTvpiVEmY&list=RDSWuTvpiVEmY&start_radio=1
O God our help in ages past
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssr-Ga3Mz6Q
Restore, O Lord, the honour of your Name
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g4p3v06lhk
Glorious things of thee are spoken
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_CHF4gRyfI
May God’s blessing surround you each day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_3O_N49GiU
Amazing Grace from Fifty Countries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA7pdABvpnc
For Children
Think about some of the special abilities or talents God has given you. Maybe God has gifted you with a musical talent like singing or playing an instrument. Some of you may have been given athletic skills which make you particularly good at playing a sport. Maybe you have intellectual gifts and you do very well in school. Some of you may have artistic talents and can paint, draw, or sculpt. Some of you may be good at dancing or acting. Tale a moment to thing about what your talent may be. No matter what gifts God gave you, I know He’s given each and every one of you at least one special gift or talent.
When God gives you a gift, He expects you to use it. Do you think he would like the gift to go to waste? Wouldn’t God prefer you to take that gift and use it to show others how great He is. That’s what our Bible lesson is about today.
In the Bible, Jesus tells many parables. Parables are stories that teach a lesson. Today we Jesus’ parable called “The Parable of the Talents.”
Jesus’ story starts with a man who went off on a long trip. Before he left, he called his servants together and gave each of them a part of his wealth to take care of while he was gone. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to a third he gave one bag. Then he left on his journey.
While he was gone, the servant who had five bags of gold worked hard and doubled his five bags, so he ended up with ten bags of gold. The man with two bags also doubled his and he had four. But the servant with one bag dug a hole and buried his boss’s money.
When the boss returned, he asked his servants to share what they did with the gifts he gave them. The boss told the two who doubled their bags, “Well done! Because you have used what I gave you well, I will give you much more.”
Then the third servant told the boss, “I was afraid, so I took what you gave me and hid it in the ground so that it would be safe.”
“Lazy servant!” the boss answered. “You could have at least put the gold in the bank so that I could have earned a little interest on it.” The boss took the gold from the servant and gave it to the one who already had the most. He explained, “To those who make what they have been given better will be given more. But from those who do nothing, theirs will be taken away.”
Sometimes we might think God hasn’t given us very much talent. We might even be tempted to hide our talent. But when we use our God-given talent to be all that God planned for us to be, He will give us even more!
Dear God, we thank You for the gifts You ‘ve given each of us. We pray that we will be faithful in using these gifts to show others how wonderful You are. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Here is the story on video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ1WZjQZDW4
Intimations
The Kirk Session will meet via Zoom on Wednesday 25th November at 7:00pm.
Following the recent letter of appeal, please remember the Gift Day next Sunday November 22nd.
The Bible Discussion Group will meet via Zoom on Tuesday 17th at 7:30 pm. If you wish to join this group, please let the minister know via calston@churchofscotland.org.uk for the Zoom details.
Please remember to indicate to Joan More if you wish to attend worship in Inverkeithing. Owing to Government regulations, numbers will be restricted to fewer than fifty persons and places will be allocated on a first come first served basis each week. Please call Joan 01383 414515 on Friday to indicate that you wish to attend. Please do not come without first ensuring your place each week as we do not wish to turn anyone away on the day.