24th. October. 2021. Service.
Service of Worship 24h October 2021
22nd Sunday after Pentecost
Prelude: The Lord’s my Shepherd
Bible Introit 755 “Be still and know that I am God”
Collect
Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Hymn 127 “O worship the King all glorious above”
Call to Prayer
Bless the Lord at all times.
Let everyone bless God.
Praise the Lord continually.
Let everyone praise Christ.
Our souls boast in the Lord.
We boast in the Spirit’s greatness.
With one voice we magnify and exalt the Lord,
for God has delivered us and made us whole.
Exalt our God, the Lord of life.
Prayers of Adoration and Confession
O Lord our God, thrice holy, full of majesty power and glory it is our joy to worship you today and to meet around the holy table which declares your love, your mercy, and your peace to us.
You hear the voice of everyone who cries out to you, and you respond with grace and healing according to our needs.
You reach out to us when others have turned away from us and we are bereft of help. You offer us compassion when others dismiss our worth. You have given us a new dignity as your children by adoption into Jesus Christ your eternal and holy Son.
How often your tender love transforms our lives, and we are given a chance to try yet again to live with grace and dignity. It is only right that as we come to your table today, we offer you our humble praise in the name of Jesus, the Love of God made flesh.
Receive our gratitude in this time of worship as we join with your whole creation in praising and glorifying your holy name in our time of worship and fellowship together.
Lord of love and mercy, we worship you, the source of every good and perfect gift, while we confess that our gifts to you are often less than perfect.
We honour you when it fits into our earthly plans but not so much when we have other things to do.
We forget that your love should determine our priorities,
and often prioritise own desires instead.
In your loving-kindness, forgive our wandering hearts and reawaken our commitment to you in Jesus Christ our Lord
Assurance of Pardon
God has promised that those who abide in love abide in Him, and God abides in them.
We claim our hope in this good news: God’s perfect love abides in us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thanks be to God for such great mercy.
Prayer for Understanding
O God, as we hear your Word, show us clearly the way which you have set before us and help us to walk in it.
Let your Word, heard in faith, make us whole and holy that we may be able to follow your Son, Jesus, our Saviour and Friend praying as he taught us…
The Lord’s Prayer in the version most familiar to you.
North Queensferry
Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in 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.
Intimations
Our National Giving Day will be held on Sunday 31st October during our morning worship. Congregations are being encouraged to participate in this venture which will provide people of all ages an opportunity to reflect on God’s presence with us through these challenging times and to offer gifts of thanksgiving back to God.
Money received through this initiative will remain with participating congregations who will choose how to use these gifts. This money may be used to fund specific work, to launch a new project or simply to offset deficits, taking into account the challenging financial circumstances faced by many of our churches over the last year. Congregations can use the money locally or direct it towards projects at home or overseas, provided that it will be used in line with the charitable objectives of the Church.
Here is a message from the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Right Honourable Lord Wallace of Tankerness.
The Inverkeithing Kirk Session will meet on Thursday November 4th at 7:00pm in the Church Sanctuary.
It is with deep sadness that we record the death of our member, Martin Stevens and convey our condolences and love to Pat and her family with the assurance of our prayers for them in their loss. I also learned that Mrs Muriel McPherson died on Saturday morning. Please remember her husband David, and their son Derek in the same way.
Invitation to the Offering
The scriptures today speak of God’s mercy reversing the suffering of those who turn to God. As we give our gifts to God today, let us remember times when God has given us strength in the face of our challenges, and know that our generosity will help others face theirs, as we reach out in Jesus’ name.
Prayer of Dedication
Good and gracious God, we bring our offering in gratitude for all that makes our lives good, even in uncertain times. Bless these gifts with your Spirit and use them through the ministry and mission of our church to touch lives in need of your goodness, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Hymn 155 “Son of God, eternal Saviour”
Psalm 34 1-8,19-22
Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.
1 I will extol the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
2 I will glory in the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the Lord with me:
let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
19 The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord will rescue his servants;
no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned. Amen.
Mark 10:35-45
46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means ‘son of Timaeus’), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ 48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ 49 Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him.’ So they called to the blind man, ‘Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.’ 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51 ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ Jesus asked him. The blind man said, ‘Rabbi, I want to see.’ 52 ‘Go,’ said Jesus, ‘your faith has healed you.’ Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. Amen, this is the Word of the Lord, to Him be all glory and praise.
Hymn 467 “All my days I will sing (Beautiful Saviour)”
Sermon
“Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” Psalm 34:8
I wish to link these words with this well-known verse in the Book of Revelation,
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20
Both verses seem to me to be appropriate for our communion meditation today. For they invites us to think about intimate fellowship with the one who is our host today.
As we begin, let us think about our closest personal relationships. What conditions have to be met before you we can get to know a person? When you analyse our relationships with them, it may shed light on how we grow in our knowledge of God.
Here are five that we might think about:
The first condition is that both people are willing to get to know each other. We can only know someone to the extent that he or she is willing to be known. One-sided relationships are always dead-ends. Scripture tells us that God, the most significant person in the universe, has a great desire for us to know Him. He is the initiator of the relationship, and He waits for our response. When we accept Christ’s gift of new life by trusting in Him, that is when the relationship begins.
A second condition for a personal relationship is that both people gain a knowledge of each other, not merely about each other. We can know a great deal about another person and yet hardly know the person at all. Similarly, we can be well-acquainted with sound theology and have no acquaintance with the living God. It is only as we get to know God as a person that we will grow in our love for Him.
A third condition for a growing relationship is openness, acceptance, and forgiveness. People are often afraid that if others know them as they really are, they will be rejected. God tells us that in Christ we have been given the gift of acceptance and forgiveness of sins. He knows us completely, and we do not need to be afraid of being open with Him in our thoughts and feelings.
A fourth condition is time spent in communication. No relationship can become intimate without the regular expenditure of time in talking, listening, and caring. In the same way, we cannot become intimate with God unless we talk with Him and listen to His voice in Scripture on a daily basis.
Fifthly, a quality relationship is developed in action; it is nourished through a series of responses to the needs and desires of one another. To know God is to love Him, and to love Him is to want to respond to His desires for our lives. Faith in God is simply trusting Him as a person, and trust is manifested in action.
Today we are here because we have faith in God, and because as His people we are called to remember Him in the person of his Son Jesus Christ and to celebrate in remembrance his last fellowship meal with his disciples. We will re-enact that meal in response to the command to do these things in remembrance of him.
In this sacrament Jesus transforms an ancient transaction of faith the belonged to God’s people, when God invited them to prepare a fellowship meal on the eve of their emancipation from slavery in Egypt.
Like many today, those ancient people lived in desperate times, of bitter endurance, loss of status, among a nation which would happily have obliterated them from history.
Through Moses, God called his people to prepare for deliverance by participating in fellowship around a table. They were to take time to shelter in the safety of their homes and to be a family around a table together, as families have done from time immemorial. It was to be an act of faith, obedience and fellowship as they waited for God.
They symbolism of a fellowship meal was to become the central tenet of faith for these people for all time. Throughout the history of the Jewish people this has been maintained as year upon year the Passover Seder has been celebrated, not just once a year but echoed in the weekly Shabbat meal held on Friday evenings in homes around the world. This is a tradition that is still reflected in Christian Sunday lunches or dinners, even among non-Christian families as they gather for fellowship on one day a week when most if not all of a family can gather. It is in our table fellowship that we get to know one another most intimately. Think of people whom you have met over dinner at home or in a friend’s house.
We find the idea of table fellowship reflected in more than one Psalm “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies my cup overflows” is a powerful image which suggests a place of safety peace and fellowship even in the presence of hostility and danger.
So we have a similar idea in Psalm 34 today. “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”
These psalms both speak of faith which engenders security and assures peace to the heart.
We have a great advantage over the people who wrote these words, we have a deeper understanding of the scope of the Gospel of salvation than they did, yet they experienced grace and faith just as richly as we do. They had less to work with but experienced an irrepressible joy in their faith.
If we stop to think of a world without Jesus, where would we be? A religion without the life teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth? How much faith would you and I have? If we had lived in the same world as those Hebrews during those turbulent centuries before Christ, would we have been able to create psalms of praise as they did?
We have the vine that is our Christ; son of man, Son of God; our brother and our Lord; our teacher and our Saviour. The vine that holds us safe is the combined witness of all he was and did. It steadies us and keeps me climbing when other the life of this world threatens our safety.
Or putting it another way, when troubles afflict, clouds thicken, or fears nag, Christ gives us a view into the reliable truth of God. Not just a view, he gives us direct access to the warmth of God’s light and love.
This faith engendered by Christ Jesus, enables us to recognise the hand of God in the world around us. Having seen God in Jesus, we glimpse him in nature.
But would we dare to believe like that without Christ as our view finder?
Yet those Psalm writers believed perhaps as strongly as we do, and they believed without the benefit of “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” They believed they saw God in their history, and in the busy world of nature. Even without the window of Christ into the mind of God, those Hebrews managed to have faith in their God whose mercies were renewed every morning.
Isn’t that exceptional? They had so little to go on, only a few clues to follow, yet they gave their lives for their God with a faith which they would not surrender.
We should honour them and thank God for those Old Testament Hebrews as people of a brave and irrepressible faith. How did they do it? God alone knows. Their faith challenges ours to exercise itself and stretch out more boldly in trust and joy.
It is a wonder, is it not, that about two and half long millennia after Jewish psalm writer lived and died, we Christians still find his words resonating with our experience. So much so that we can happily employ them to sing out our love and praise for the God of Christ Jesus.:
I will bless the Lord at all times.
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord.
Let the afflicted hear and be glad.
O magnify the Lord with me
and let us exalt in his name together.
We should also notice the down-to-earth faith of these people. Their faith was not and intellectual exercise, nor was it only exercised in the good times. It was integral to their lives; how they spent each day in a real world where things could go well one day yet be a disaster the next.
Psalm 34 is grounded reality; its composer does not expect believers to escape hardship. He admits the unpleasant truth:
Many are the afflictions of the righteous.
Afflictions, sickness, loss and sorrow, natural calamity? Yes, these can happen to the most saintly Jew or Christian. However, those who trust the Lord do not have to fight their way out of trouble on their own. God will be with them and will be there for them.
The Lord is near to the broken hearted,
and heals those whose spirits are crushed.
The Lord redeems the life of his servants,
no one who trusts God will be condemned
How did this ancient Jew know this? No doubt he saw how others of his people had found spiritual resources in their times of affliction. But there it more to it than that.
We do not know the particular nature of his own troubles. But his faith is grounded in reality of them as expressed in his plaintive cry,
This poor fellow cried out and the Lord heard him,
and saved him from all his troubles.
It is as if he is saying: “It’s not just the very strong people, or the very resourceful, or the very good. Even I, unimpressive as I am, have found the truth of God’s faithful love.
This poor fellow cried out and the Lord heard him,
and saved him from all his troubles.
And again:
I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.
He delivered me from all my fears.
Like any sick person who has found good medicine, like any beggar who has found good wholesome bread, he recommends what he has found to others. They should find out for themselves how real God is to those who trust.
O taste and see that the Lord is good.
Happy are those who take refuge in God.”
Taste and see. If religion does not get down to such basis, it is mere window dressing.
This is thee down-to-earth nature of this Hebrew person’s trust in God.
Our real world has Covid-19, lockdowns, economic uncertainty moral and spiritual confusion, extreme political division, global warming and a church that has to change to survive. With a hope that has been gloriously enlarged by Christ Jesus, we can still become inspired by one ancient anonymous Jew as the call still goes out,
“O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.” Also, “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
Today we break bread together in Jesus Name, opening our doors in response to his knock. In our time together His Spirit ministers the truths of the gospel to us, feeds our souls and brings us peace. We are God’s people, symbolically sheltering for a while over a meal in the safety of our heavenly home, gathered with all who love each other as a family should. As we break bread may we also break out in praise; a praise magnified by the grace of our Lord Jesus: I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and be glad O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt in his name together. Amen.
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
God of life, we see the beauty and wonder of your creation in autumn changes taking place around us and we experience many
gifts of love and compassion offered by friend and stranger throughout our daily lives.
For these and many expressions of your love toward us we thank you.
We pray for people who cannot recognize blessing in their lives
and find themselves lost and alone because they are closed to grace and love.
(Keep a brief silence)
Help us to look for opportunities to reach out with understanding towards them and make them aware of your presence through the companionship we offer in Jesus’ Name.
God, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God of justice,
This can be a harsh world for many as they face struggle and conflict during the course of their lives.
We are all aware the stressful times in which we live and the burdens many are carrying.
Today, we pray for people whose businesses are still struggling as the pandemic stretches on or are feeling the effects of economic upheaval
For farmers and producers unsure their harvests will be sufficient this season. For all who are battling to keep going because of supply issues
For workers uncertain about their jobs or looking for new work.
And for families struggling with the stress of economic uncertainty.
(Keep a brief silence)
Show us all the way forward and provide for our needs as we try to help each other.
God, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God of compassion,
As cases of Covid-19 continue to rise we are aware of the challenges for health care across our country and around the world.
We pray for nurses, doctors, hospital staff and home-care workers, often weary and worried; for those who facing acute or chronic illness, and delays in necessary treatment. We pray for
For individuals and families struggling with mental health challenges and ask your mercy on all our people. Give strength and compassion to people who offer treatment and bring courage and hope to all who wait for healing. Comfort the bereaved and grieving especially today we pray for Pat Stevens and her family as they mourn Martin.
(Keep a brief silence)
God, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God of wisdom, give us wisdom in our prayers for our world as every day we hear of the dangers of climate change, natural disaster, conflict and war political polarisation and other threats to our human race on earth. Change our attitudes as necessary and help us to find solutions to the many problems humanity faces. Banish fear and bolster our courage as we go forward with faith in your power and love and with peace guarding our hearts and minds.
(Keep a brief silence)
God of hope, we offer you our prayers, longing for your peace and promise to break into the lives of all whom we care about, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Hymn 655 For your generous providing
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his 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.
The Communion
Invitation to the lord’s table
Friends, this is the joyful feast of the people of God! They will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God. According to Luke,
when our risen Lord was at table with his disciples, he took the bread, and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.
This is the Lord’s table.
Our Saviour invites those who trust him to share the feast which he has prepared.
Great thanksgiving
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is truly right and our greatest joy to give you thanks and praise, eternal God, our creator.
You have given us life and second birth in your Spirit.
Once we were no people, but now we are your people. You claimed Israel as your chosen nation
and raised up the church as a witness to the resurrection, breathing into it your life and power.
From worlds apart, you gathered us together.
When we go astray, you welcome us home. Always, your love has been steadfast.
Therefore, we praise you, joining our voices with the choirs of heaven and with all the faithful of every time and place who forever sing to the glory of your name:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
You are holy, O God of majesty,
and blessed is Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.
In love with you and in compassion for all,
Jesus healed and taught, challenged and comforted, welcomed and saved.
He formed a community,
promising to be with his disciples wherever two or three were gathered and sending them on his mission of hope and healing in the world. Jesus trusted his life to you, and went freely to his death, so the world might be set free from suffering and sin.
You raised him from death and raise us also to live a new life with him. In the power of the Holy Spirit, you send us out to make disciples as he commanded.
Remembering all your mighty and merciful acts,
we take this bread and this wine from the gifts you have given us and celebrate with joy the redemption won for us in Jesus Christ. Accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving as a living and holy offering of ourselves, that our lives may proclaim the One crucified and risen.
Great is the mystery of faith.
Christ has died,
Christ is risen,
Christ will come again.
Gracious God, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these your gifts of bread and wine, that the bread we break and the cup we bless may be the communion of the body and blood of Christ. By your Spirit unite us with the living Christ and with all who are baptized in his name, that we may be one in ministry in every place. As this bread is Christ’s body for us, send us out to be the body of Christ in the world.
O God, today you have called us together to be the church.
Unite us now at your table, and in one loaf and a common cup, make us one in Christ Jesus.
Let your Spirit empower the life we share and ignite our witness in the world.
With all who have gone before us, keep us faithful to the gospel teachings and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Give us strength to serve you until the promised day of the resurrection, when with the redeemed of all the ages we will feast with you at your table in glory.
Through Christ, all glory and honour are yours, almighty God, with the Holy Spirit in the holy church, now and forever. Amen.
Breaking of the bread
The Lord Jesus, on the night of his arrest, took bread, and after giving thanks to God, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take, eat.
This is my body, given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
In the same way he took the cup, saying: This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.
Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the saving death of the risen Lord, until he comes.
Prayer
Gracious God, Father of all, we give you thanks and praise that, when we were still far off, you met us in your Son and brought us home. Dying and living, he declared your love, gave us grace and opened the gate of glory. May we who share Christ’s body live his risen life; we who drink his cup bring life to others; we whom the Spirit lights give light to the world. may we who have received this sacrament live in the unity of your Holy Spirit, that we may show forth your gifts to all the world. Keep us firm in the hope you have set before us so we and all your children shall be free and the whole earth live to praise you name, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hymn 167 “Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah”
Sending out and Benediction
Beloved, as we depart this holy space nourished and renewed, let us live into our dreams and expand our circle of justice to encompass all of creation. Let us love one another and the earth, for as a body is animated through the relationships among its many parts, so God is made manifest among us through our love. Remember your promise, live in hope, and go in Peace.
“May God’s blessing surround you each day”
Postlude: “Close to Thee”
For Children
Have any of you seen a baby recently? Do you remember when you were a baby? One thing I know about babies is that they’re not shy when it comes to letting you know when they want something. They’ll let you know when they’re hungry, thirsty, sick, tired, or need a nappy change. Since little babies don’t know how to talk, how can they tell you what they need?
Babies let you know what they need by crying. Babies don’t care if you’re in church, at a movie, or eating dinner in a fine restaurant; if they need something, they’ll tell you. As we get older, we learn to be more reserved about making our wants and wishes known. Or do we?
The Bible talks about a man who wasn’t scared to let Jesus know he needed something. As Jesus and His disciples were leaving a town called Jericho, a blind man named Bartimaeus was sitting beside the road. When he heard that Jesus was approaching, he began to cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
His crying out disturbed the people around him. “Be quiet!” they yelled at him. But he only shouted louder.
When Jesus heard Bartimaeus crying out, He stopped and said, “Tell him to come to me.”
Bartimaeus jumped up, threw aside his coat, and went to Jesus.
“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked.
“I want to see,” Bartimaeus answered.
“Go,” Jesus said. “Your faith has healed you.” Instantly, Bartimaeus could see, and he followed Jesus down the road.
Like a mother who does whatever she can to find out what her baby wants or needs, God knows we have needs and wants what’s best for us. The Bible says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” (Philippians 4:6)
When you have a need in your life, don’t be shy. Speak up! Remember Jesus wants you to come to Him.
Heavenly Father, we know that You love Your children and want what’s best for them. Help us remember we don’t need to worry about anything. All we need to do is to speak up and ask You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Here is a video about Bartimaeus