14th. August. 2022. Service.
Inverkeithing Parish Church linked with
North Queensferry Church
Worship 14th August 2022
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Prelude “Thanks be to God”
Bible Introit Hymn 425 “All heaven declares the glory”
Collect: Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Hymn 449 “Rejoice, the Lord is King”
God, our Merciful Judge, we exalt you name in prayer and praise.
God, our Shepherd, gather and lead us as your flock.
God, our Gardener, may we be your vineyard bearing fruit to your glory.
We bow before you Lord and offer our worship with glad and thankful hearts.
Prayer
Creator God, from the moment your spirit hovered over the waters of this earth, we were part of a vision held lovingly within your heart. From the moment you spoke and separated darkness from light, you created space where we might one day walk. From the moment your joy spilled out into green and living things, your beauty was revealed for us to taste and see. Creator God, for this world, beauty and majesty, passion and artistry, a green and pleasant place, we praise your mighty name.
As Creator of all things, you are Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, and to us you are Father, Shepherd, Servant, Brother, Priest, and King whose love poured out mends broken hearts whose wounded hands reach out to all. You are the Whose Spirit who waits to enter in. You are the everything that we desire. Be with us now. Bless us that we might be a blessing to others.
You are the God of healing, the God of wholeness to whom
we bring our brokenness, our sinfulness, our fears, and despair,
and lay them at your feet. God of healing, God of wholeness,
we hold out hearts and hands, minds, and souls to feel your touch, and know the peace that only you can bring.
God of healing, God of wholeness, this precious moment in your presence and power grant us faith and confidence that here broken lives are made whole, and we are set free to love and serve you. May your Word guide us, gracious Lord, as we make our way
through this week, your feet revealing safe paths to follow, your calming voice giving confidence to continue, through unfamiliar, challenging and often beautiful places with Jesus Christ our Lord in whom we pray,
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever Amen.
The Intimations
Communion Sunday.
Next Sunday, August 21st we will gather at the Lord’s Table to share Communion in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper during our morning worship.
Christian Aid
Christian Aid Envelopes are now available for the recent East Africa Hunger Crisis Appeal. The war in Ukraine is causing global food prices to rocket. East Africa is facing a crisis on crisis.
Millions of innocent children, women and men in East Africa are taking desperate measures to survive in the face of extreme hunger, caused by failed harvests, livestock deaths and water shortages. Please take an envelope and if you wish, return it with your donation to the offering plate from next Sunday.
https://www.christianaid.org.uk/appeals/emergencies/east-africa-hunger-crisis-appeal
Volunteers
In Inverkeithing we are looking for volunteers to meet and greet people as they come into the church on Sunday. This is to supplement those who are already serving on the rota. There are also members who do not have transport on a Sunday. Please speak to Moira or Joan if you are willing to help with either of these.
The Offering
Thankful for the good gifts God gives us in Christ and in creation, let us present to God the fruit of our labour for God’s work in the church and the world.
Prayer of Dedication
All good gifts come from you, dear Lord, and from these riches we bring this offering. Help us to use it for the furtherance of your purpose in this place, and for the benefit of those in need. Amen.
All Age Talk
Have you ever won a trophy or a medal for something? (Allow time for responses.) When we think of medals, we often think of the Commonwealth Games medals above – gold, silver, and bronze. One of my favourite things to watch in the Olympics are the track races where people run faster than anyone else in the world! Several years ago, when the Olympics were held in Barcelona, Spain, the world saw one of the greatest moments in Olympic history. A young man named Derek Redmond had dreamed all his life of winning a gold medal in the 400-metre race. He had worked hard to get to the Olympics and his dream was within his reach. He was in the semi-finals and was running the race of his life. He could see the finish line just ahead as he rounded the final turn. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his leg, and he fell to the track with a torn muscle in his right leg.
Derek struggled to his feet and started to hop toward the finish line on one foot to finish the race. Suddenly, a large man came out of the stands, pushed aside a security guard, and ran to Derek’s side. It was Derek’s father, Jim Redmond. “You don’t have to do this,” he told his son. “Yes, I do,” said Derek. “Well, then,” said his father, “we’re going to finish this together.”
And they did. They stayed in Derek’s lane all the way to the end. At first, the crowd watched in silence. Then they rose to their feet and cheered — and wept.
Derek Redmond didn’t win the gold medal, but he walked away with the incredible memory of a loving father who, when he saw his son in pain, left his seat in the stands to help him finish the race.
Our Bible lesson today describes a race that you and I are running that is even bigger and more important than the Olympics. In Hebrews we learn that “Since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses, let us run the race that God has set before us. Throw aside anything that will slow you down. Keep your eyes on Jesus.” What is this race that we have before us? It is the race of following the example that Jesus set for us and expects us to follow as one of His disciples. It is a race of obedience to God’s Word and faithfulness to Jesus’ call to “Follow me.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Life is like a race that has been set before us. We may struggle and face many obstacles, but we have a great crowd of witnesses who are cheering us on. We have a Heavenly Father who loves us and will help us when the pain is too great. We have a Saviour, who left His place in heaven and came to earth to show us how to run the race. If we will keep our eyes on Him, how can we help but finish the race?
Dear Jesus, sometimes life is difficult. Help us to keep our eyes on You and to run the race that is before us. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
Hymn 523 “Hands to work and feet to run”
Hands to work and feet to run,
God’s good gifts to me and you.
Hands and feet he gave to us
to help each other the whole day through.
Eyes to see and ears to hear,
God’s good gifts to me and you.
Eyes and ears he gave to us
to help each other the whole day through.
Minds to think and hearts to love,
God’s good gifts to me and you.
Minds and hearts he gave to us
to help each other the whole day through.
Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7
5 I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
my loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.
3 ‘Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?
5 Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
6 I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it.’
7 The vineyard of the Lord Almighty
is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness, but heard cries of distress. Amen.
Hymn 537 “We do not hope to ease our minds
1 We do not hope to ease our minds
by simple answers, shifted blame,
while Christ is homeless, hungry, poor,
and we are rich who bear his name.
As long as justice is a dream
and human dignity denied,
we stand with Christ; disturb us still
till every need is satisfied.
2 We cannot ask to live at peace
in comfort and security
while Christ is tried in Pilate’s hall
and drags his cross to Calvary.
As long as hatred stifles truth
and freedom is betrayed by fear,
we stand with Christ; give us no peace
till his peace reigns in triumph here.
3 We will not pray to be preserved
from any depth of agony
while Christ’s despairing cry rings out:
God, why have you abandoned me?
As long as we have hope to share
of life renewed beyond the pain,
we stand with Christ all through the night
till Easter morning dawns again.
Reading: Luke 12: 49-56
49 ‘I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’
54 He said to the crowd: ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, “It’s going to rain,” and it does. 55 And when the south wind blows, you say, “It’s going to be hot,” and it is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time? Amen, this is the Word of the Lord, to Him be all glory and praise.
Hymn 707 “Healing river of the Spirit”
Sermon
Jesus said some harsh things during the brief, three years of his public life.
It is as if he didn’t even try to be nice. Instead, he used expressions and idioms that left no mistake as to his meaning words like “vipers” and “serpents,” “hypocrites” and “liars,” “weeping” and “gnashing of teeth,” “death” and “destruction.” He referred to his enemies as whitewashed tombs full of rotting dead bodies and said that they – his detractors – were the devil’s spawn. Their destiny, he said in no uncertain terms, was damnation and “eternal fire.”
One could argue, however, that Jesus’ harshest words were reserved for hard-working, earnest families who thought they were living in family bliss and enjoying the best that life could offer – if you were to ignore the Roman soldiers patrolling the streets. “I came to bring fire to the earth,” he roared at astonished families. “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?” Well, yes, that’s exactly what we thought and that is how the gospel was first presented to us. But Jesus went on to explain that, to the contrary, his mission was to bring division and discord; he came to rip clans and tribes apart. Families would be set against families. Relationships would unravel. In Jesus’ apocalyptic vision of the future the earth would be scorched, and not even the bonds of love would withstand the searing heat of the coming conflagration.
This is not the Jesus we know. Who is this person, we ask, and what have you done with the Jesus who said, “let the little children come to me”? Clearly, the Jesus of this text is losing it; Someone put it as “he’s mad enough to drown puppies. He’s not just in a bad mood: he’s like a mule chewing on bumblebees.” The fire of Jesus is coming and there will be terror
These words – if they were perhaps not from Jesus – might have been attributed to the disciples who wanted to rain fire down upon the heads of those who had been hostile towards them. Oddly, Jesus in that case rebuked them. Or, if we didn’t know better, we might assume that Jesus’ words here were lifted from some of the imprecatory psalms, calling down calamity and destruction upon the enemies of Yahweh. “I came to bring fire to the earth,” Jesus said, but the words sound like something that might have come from the mouth of God himself, searing the edges of the Hebrew Bible with evocations of wrath, fire and brimstone: “Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!” is one of the terrible sayings in Psalm 137 as the Jews in exile lamented their fate by the rivers of Babylon Happy, indeed!
But the harsh words of our text do not come from the psalms or from a wrathful Old Testament Yahweh, but from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ himself. So, now what?
The problem we have here is how to reconcile the Jesus who loves all “the little children of the world” with his statement that he wants to set the world on fire.
The easy answer is that this is the human Jesus talking, not the divine Christ. We humans are not unified creatures dominated or motivated by a single driving force, but rather by a complex patchwork of competing desires. Therefore, in one chapter we might see Jesus having compassion on the multitudes and in the next, taking a whip to the backs of the crooks doing business in the courts of the temple.
For example, a mother may be a wonderful, nurturing woman in the household – kind to her children and loving to her husband – while at work, she may be the hard-nosed manager who will hire and fire at will. Likewise, a father can’t wait to join his family in the evening, play games with his children and take the dog for a walk. Yet, during the day in his role as a football coach, he’s a beast who yells and shouts, and makes final decisions on who is on the team and who isn’t.
Humans are singularly unique in this regard. We are Jekyll, but we are also Hyde. The wolf and the lamb coexist. This is who we humans are.
Winston Churchill was arguably the single most compelling reason that Britain was able to survive World War II. Yet, according to his biographer, Churchill resisted the idea that he had transformed the Britons into a fighting machine: “He believed the British race had ‘the lion heart;’ he only supplied the roar. That said, there was nothing more that Churchill loved to do than to be at Chartwell with Clementine, his children, his dog and with his easel, canvas, and oils.
In this text, we hear the roar of Jesus. It would be a mistake to assume that the Jesus who is loving and kind, who wanted to draw the world to himself, who saw himself as the Great Physician and who drew little children to himself is incompatible with the one who stormed into the temple and threw the money changers out on their behinds and who now proclaims that he is coming to bring fire to the earth. Jesus is both one and the other.
But the harder answer is not that this is the human side of Jesus speaking but rather that it might be the divine side! What if the human Jesus is the one who gathers children around his knees, but it is the divine Christ who now channels the wrath of God upon a world not yet ready to receive him?
Perhaps this is what the Protestant apologist C. S. Lewis means when he says, “Not that I am (I think) in much danger of ceasing to believe in God. The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful things about Him. The conclusion I dread is not ‘So there’s no God after all,’ but ‘So this is what God’s really like. Deceive yourself no longer.’” Now that is a thought!
So, to return to the question: How do we reconcile the Jesus who loves all “the little children of the world” with his statement that he wants to set the world on fire? The easy and hard answer is that we reject the need for a reconciliation of natures. Jesus is the lion; he is also the lamb. He is both the roar and the whisper. He is both the fire and the water of baptism.
Let us back the train into the station for a moment. Perhaps we’ve made a false assumption. We’ve assumed that what Jesus says is a bad thing, a terrible thing, something that if we could stop, we certainly would But what if the coming fire is not a bad thing but a good thing? What if destruction is exactly what is needed before a new structure can be erected on the site of the devastation?
What if a purifying fire is precisely the remedy to remove the dross, dirt and degradation that has polluted the hearts and minds of the faithful?
What if only a scorching fire can pop open hitherto lifeless seeds buried in the detritus of indifference, thereby allowing new life to burst and blossom? I have here a pomander made from a Banksia seed pod, it only releases seeds after the heat of a bushfire.
What if Jesus, the Light of the World – or should we say the “Fire of the World”? – is the only way to illuminate the narrow gate that leads to eternal life, and to avoid the broad path that leads to destruction?
Granted, in our anxiety about the severity of Jesus’ language, we’d like to ask Jesus to tone down the rhetoric. Could Jesus please not be so off-putting? We act as though Jesus is the unwelcome relative who always embarrasses us by stating the obvious or by uttering an inconvenient truth at an inconvenient time.
But maybe we’ve got it wrong! A little fire can be a good thing. A big fire as well. The hot flame of the refiner’s fire is maybe what is needed in the church. And the fire of Jesus represents the true nature of Jesus himself as it reminds us of the sacred heart of Jesus which in Catholic art is usually depicted as a blood-red anatomically correct heart with flames and a halo of heavenly light.
There it is! A heart that’s aflame! What we too often interpret as flames of rage and destruction are really the flames of a heart that’s red hot with passion and love for the world.
You might have noticed that those who are passionate about their beliefs are often difficult to live with or are people we generally try to avoid. Doesn’t it matter if their belief is true or false – whether they were going on about alien abductions or a low carb diet. We’ll duck into a hallway or cross the street to evade recognition. We’re not always comfortable with those whom the late social philosopher Eric Hoffer called “true believers,” that is those who have unyielding “faith in a holy cause,” because, by and large, they’ve lost faith in themselves.
Jesus has both the holy cause and faith in himself. This is why his words in today’s reading make us uneasy. He is passionate, and both the level of his emotion and the subject matter makes us queasy. But Jesus didn’t mind making people uncomfortable, and he warned us that those who follow him faithfully could expect to be victims of verbal abuse, culture bias and mocking ridicule: “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. … Because you do not belong to the world … the world hates you. … If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.
The Gospel lesson today challenges us to remember that like Jesus, the prophets, and the saints, we should not be surprised when we are misunderstood and abused for his sake. Even in such suffering, we bring glory to God, and we demonstrate our devotion and adoration to the heart of Jesus who, because of his passion, gave himself for the world.
In sum, this gospel teaching reveals that the business of salvation is for real. There are no guarantees that faith in Christ will make for a trouble- free life. I came across this dialogue which illustrates how false it is to assume that faith ensures a perfect life on earth:
There are some rosy Christians who are convinced that trusting in Christ results in a charmed life. Rosy Christians claim that believers receive good health, good friends, happy families, popularity, and financial prosperity. They will be spared in drought or flood, protected for road accidents, and healed from any diseases. Their church, where the full Gospel is preached, will also be rosy; flourishing and well respected in the community.
If I try to argue with Rosy, to suggest that this superficial optimism is not true for all Christians, the conversation goes something like this:
Ah! But that’s because many so-called Christians are not sincere. Churches have nominal members, not committed to Christ. They are in it for the wrong reasons. That is why some do not receive the full blessings of the Lord.
“That is misguided. I know very dedicated Christians, true believers through and through, who have known nothing but a succession of misfortunes. Some go bankrupt; some are persecuted. What about those Christians in East Timor who put their trust in God but were slaughtered in their church?”
Maybe. But have they prayed enough? If they trusted the Lord and prayed faithfully every day, then their lives would be one long blessing. Prayer is the key that opens all doors.
I cannot agree with you. There are Christian people who do pray, daily and earnestly. But things go badly wrong for them. They get made redundant from work, or a beloved daughter gets pregnant at the age of fourteen, or old friends turn against them, or their spouse runs off with a family friend.
No. Something was not right. Maybe they were more superstitious than true believers. Or maybe they just did not have enough faith. You must really believe, you know. You must have complete faith that God will bless you and care for you. Anything is possible if you have true faith.
But I have known people with tremendous faith. But they were financially ruined when a business partner embezzled the firm’s funds. Another person contracted cancer yet totally believed that God would heal them. They had no doubts at all. She was still telling me she was recovering the day she died.
But were they born again Christians? You must be born again. Those who have been born again will ask Jesus for anything they want, and they will receive it. My cousin Esme was a born again Christian and she recovered from cancer.
I cannot let you say this stuff. It is not true. There many most wonderful, born again, faithful, prayerful, true believers, for whom everything goes wrong. Marriages break, or their children turn out badly, or they get blamed for a crime they did not commit, or their house burns down, or the badly needed rainstorm misses their farm, or they suffer from relentless pain and disease and so on.
So you say. But were they properly baptised? It must be by immersion you know, none of that sprinkling. Or maybe they did not get the second blessing of the Spirit. That could be the reason. God will not let harm come to those who truly trust him.
What is more– I just have to say this– I find you, as a Minister, somewhat…. lacking in faith.
Faith in Jesus Christ guarantees only one thing: “that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28. Love and compassion can include fire and sword as necessary in the providence of God. Amen.
Prayers of intercession
In prayer we are brought into communion with the church of God in all space and time, so let us pray.
We pray for those who need to lay aside the burdens which weigh them down: people who grieve, who are in relentless pain, people ground down by injustice.
Lord who are near, hear us: Lord graciously hear us.
We pray for any to whom sin clings closely:
people who live with guilt and shame, people who are abused, people exploited by greed.
Lord who are near, hear us: Lord graciously hear us.
We pray for people at the start of life’s journey:
for new parents, for people being adopted, for people who help life to flourish. Lord who are near, hear us: Lord graciously hear us
We pray for people who feel the pace of life is hard:
for people who feel there is no time to rest,
for people who feel there is nothing to live for,
for people who feel they cannot pause, even for a moment.
Lord who are near, hear us: Lord graciously hear us
We pray of people at the end of life’s race:
people whose life has been all too short,
who have always struggled,
who cannot wait to reach the finish line –
Lord who are near, hear us: Lord graciously hear us.
We pray for people whose lives are in turmoil because of war, poverty, addiction, persecution, or natural disaster. So much suffering is evident in our world. With compassion and love reach out to restore, heal and bless the lives of people everywhere. May the Spirit of Christ inspire the strong to help the suffering. Lord who are near, hear us, : Lord graciously hear us.
We pray for all who seek to strengthen the lives and the faith of others: or medical professionals, for teachers, for carers –
Lord who are near, hear us: Lord graciously hear us.
Lord Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, receive our prayers, and at the end of our life receive us into your loving arms, we pray. In the grace and mercy of God, three-in-one. Amen.
Hymn 706 “For the healing of the nations”
The Benediction
May the God who fills heaven and earth, fill you with grace, joy, and wholeness, that you may see:
God the Creator at work in this world, God the Son in the faces of all you meet, God the Spirit alive inside and outside the Church,
now and forever more. Amen.
May God’s blessing surround you each day
Postlude “Amazing grace”