9th. January. 2022. Service.

First Sunday after the Epiphany

Prelude “For this God’s Son has appeared ” JS Bach

Bible Introit 769 “Holy, holy, holy”

Opening Prayer

Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Saviour, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Hymn 123 “God is love, let heaven adore him”

Call to Prayer

God is with us always and calls us each by name.
When we pass through difficulties and stress,
God is with us and calls us by name.
When we are discouraged and feel lost and alone,
God is with us and calls us by name and heals us.
Blessed be God who knows us and calls us by name, Amen

Prayer

God our Father, we worship and praise you the God of majesty and awe who lives in unapproachable light. Yet you are the One who in Jesus Christ our Lord knows us each by name and who walks with us in intimate love. We come to reaffirm the blessing we received through our baptism for many of us so long ago. In baptism, we remember your saving work in every generation throughout history, as we today have the opportunity in our worship to respond with love as you, our God, whisper our names. As a community of your people, we gather today at the waters of baptism to reaffirm our commitment to Jesus Christ and to discover anew the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.  Let us confess to God our sins:

Forgiving God, we confess to you the many ways in which we have fallen short of Your expectation of us. Not only against you but against our fellow sisters and brothers in this world.

Often, we have failed to admit to others our faith in you, of our love for you and of your care for us. Often, we have chosen the easy way of talking about everything except our relationship with you. We have denied our vows of discipleship by careless and loveless thoughts and hurtful actions as we have thought of ourselves first and diminished the humanity of other people.

Have mercy upon us and give us grace that by Your Spirit, we may instead be true disciples of our God whose son Jesus Christ, died and rose for the forgiveness of our sins.

Prayer for understanding

Holy Spirit, you blessed Jesus in his baptism, proclaiming him to be beloved of God. As we turn our attention to God’s holy Word, come down us and open its truth to us, we pray. Remind us about God’s love for us and renew our faith and commitment to follow, Jesus Christ the eternal Word in whom we pray,

The Lord’s Prayer (in the words most familiar to you.)

The Intimations

Messy Church
Our next Messy Church will be from 2-4 in the afternoon on Saturday, 15th January in the sanctuary. Everyone is welcome, especially families. All children must be accompanied by an adult.

The C-Word
Following on from Messy Church, the next C-Word will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, 19th January in the Children’s Church room. Continuing our examination of “Creed”, we will be discussing “Jesus Christ…who was born of the Virgin Mary”. All are welcome.

Coffee mornings
Owing to the uncertainty about the numbers from households mingling at tables, it has been decided to await further government and Church of Scotland advice, expected on January 17^th before resuming the Tuesday Coffee Mornings.

Invitation to the Offering

In the season of Epiphany, God’s gift to us in Christ is revealed to the world. Our gifts to God in Christ’s name show our commitment to the love and mercy, the forgiveness and hope we have received. They proclaim that we are loved by God and God is loved by us.

Prayer of Dedication

God our Maker, we bring our offerings to you in thanksgiving for your gifts to us in Christ and in creation. Bless what we bring and who we are, that our offering will  bring blessing to many in Jesus’  name. Amen.

All Age Talk

Selling cheap, fake designer purses, sunglasses, and watches has become a multi-million dollar business. Whether it is on a street corner or an online store, lots of people make money selling things which are not really what they say they are.

Do any of you know what a Rolex is?  A Rolex is a fancy watch brand that is very expensive.  At first glance, a fake Rolex watch might seem like a good deal. After all, a real Rolex would cost thousands of pounds, and a fake one would cost just a few pounds. What’s the big deal? Who will know the difference?

Well, after a few weeks, the imitation Rolex no longer keeps time. Oh well, it still looks good, you can wear it as a bracelet. But soon the finish begins to rub off and it isn’t very pretty. Suddenly, what seemed like a good deal no longer seems like such a good deal after all!

Have you ever seen a fake brand or object that looked like the real thing?

How could you tell the difference between the fake version and the real version of the item you mentioned?

Buying an imitation watch might not be a great loss. After all, it only costs a little money. But when it comes to your relationship with God, it is important to put your faith in the only real Saviour, Jesus. There is much more at stake than money.  That’s because Jesus is the only way to heaven. Many people have claimed to be God or the Messiah, and there are false teachers who claim to know the way to heaven. But Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

In the Bible, many wondered if John the Baptist was God’s Son, but John was quick to correct people, saying there was One who would come who was more powerful than him, and whose sandal straps he wasn’t worthy to untie.

John the Baptist later baptized Jesus, and the Holy Spirit came to Jesus in the form of a dove, as a loud voice said, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Jesus is God’s one-and-only Son, so we must put our faith in Him alone and watch out for fake teachers. We’ll learn more about that today.

Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus as Your one-and-only Son to save us. Please help us to look out for people trying to imitate Him and deceive us. We put our faith in Jesus alone. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Hymn 600 “Spirit of God unseen as the wind”

Reading:

Isaiah 43:1-7
43 But now, this is what the Lord says –
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you.
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you,
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned,
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your stead.
4 Since you are precious and honoured in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you.
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, “Give them up!”
and to the south, “Do not hold them back.”
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth –
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.’ Amen.

Hymn 336 “Christ is our light”

Reading:

Luke 8:15-17; 2-1-22
¹⁵ The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. ¹⁶ John answered them all, ‘I baptise you with^[a] water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’

²¹ When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened ²² and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’ Amen

Acts 8:14-17
¹⁴ When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. ¹⁵ When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, ¹⁶ because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁷ Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Amen, this is the Word of the Lord, to Him be all glory and praise.

Hymn 191 “Do not be afraid for I have redeemed you”

Sermon

On Friday we were compiling data for the annual statistical return for the Presbytery and the Church Offices. It was sad to note for the second year that there were no baptisms in either congregation in 2021. It was a lean year in every respect and there is no need to point out that the ongoing concern about Covid-19 was the reason.

Almost every aspect of our lives has been affected by the pandemic and we are only experiencing what many a generation of humanity has known from time immemorial:  the disruption of life by plague or pestilence, war or famine, earth-quake or drought. In the past the community of the church was stronger and larger as God and faith sustained a greater part of the population in challenging time. We no longer see that, and our statistics show very few active members who are in the child-bearing years so we may wonder who will carry the faith forward.

But it not all gloom. The February edition of Life and Work reports that Motherwell South admitted twenty-four new members before Christmas. The photograph shows that most were older people, though there were a few young folk. Maybe there will be occasion for some baptisms there in the future.

Today we are reflecting on the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan by his cousin, John the Baptist. What is its significance and what should we say about it today? Given our heritage, most of us will not remember our own baptism, instead, a certificate somewhere will attest to it. Our memories are likely to be of our children or grand-children, a younger sibling a nephew or niece. The remember the first baptism I performed, an eighteen month old child who knocked my glasses off in revenge!

The story of Jesus’ baptism may be more familiar to us that that of our own unless we were adults at the time. It was a time of foreign military occupation and political and religious unrest. Thoughts of a Liberator-Messiah sustained some people. Others like Simeon and Anna in the Temple kept faith quietly through prayer and devotion. But many folk were touched by the need for penitence and renewal in their faith, so that when John the Baptist began his preaching ministry by the Jordan they were ready to respond thinking he might be the Messiah.

Matthew and Mark describe Jesus’ baptism focussing on John’s declaration that he was not the awaited Christ. He emphasised that it was a baptism of repentance, a spiritual fresh start, a spring-clean and berated the Pharisees for seeking baptism with their doubtful repentance. Matthew tells how John tried to dissuade Jesus from undergoing the rite and declaring that rather Jesus should baptise John. It is only Luke who records that Jesus simply joined the queue and was baptised along with everyone else.

One minister draws a parallel here folk lining up to receive a coronavirus test:

In spent an hour in a Covid-19 testing line the other day. Only an hour, give or take, because the community where I live is not especially large and we are fortunate to have a couple of such walk-up sites.

Only an hour, although it took that long to find the place for the one I first went to had moved and when I finally found it, the line was far outside. And it was cold.  So, I went in search of another.. and this is what I observed. All ages stood in that line — from an infant who was not standing, of course, but was carried by her parents, to an elderly couple who were able to sit in chairs and wait their turn.  Young and old stood six feet apart — looking feverish and anxious to a person. All of us strangers to one another but bound up together in and by one common reason for being in that place, regardless of where we call home, the shape of our families, what work calls to us, even our vaccination status.

And it struck me then that it was precisely into a group like this that Jesus would have stepped into and with alongside the Jordan River all those years ago.  Oh, not feverish, probably not, but anxious maybe. And searching. And yes, of course, oh so very human and so awfully vulnerable as are we all, not only to a virus gone amuck, but also to everything that comes to us in lives lived fully: joy and heartache, despair and hope, illness, injury, and healing, fear and confidence, doubt and faith. Indeed, even now Jesus could be found standing in a Covid-19 testing line with the rest of us — six feet apart standing on those blue X’s which marked our distance. Only Jesus would probably have stayed in line at the one across town, shivering in the late December wind.

There are differences in the way in which baptisms are performed. Some denominations try to copy Jesus’ baptism as accurately as they imagine it to have been. This important to them, it is a re-enactment of faith meant to honour and reflect what happened in the Jordan. Others broaden the significance by seeing it as an inclusion in God’s Covenant with his people and include their children.

Here is a comment I found on this:

Proponents of adult baptism say: “Show us some incontrovertible evidence in the New Testament that they practised infant baptism. When it is written that whole households were baptised there is no mention that any of them were children.”

Proponents of infant baptism say: “Show us any incontrovertible evidence that the people of the New Testament did not practice infant baptism. Is there any situation where new adult converts were told: “You can be baptised, but your children will have to wait until they are of age.”

Both of these arguments are based on silence, so we are not taken us any closer to understanding.

Arguments also occur over the meaning of the Greek word for baptism. What does the Greek word baptise mean?

Proponents of adult baptism by total immersion assert that the word baptizein meant to immerse under the water. That does indeed appear to be a primary meaning of that word.

But the proponents of infant baptism argue that there are many references in Greek literature where baptizein is used for washing dishes, bathing, the washing of a baby, and the ritual washing of hands before performing sacred rites. Others point out that those pre-Christian desert monks that practised many baptisms (like the people of the Dead Sea Scrolls) used only a small amounts of water for their ritual washing.

Arguments like that are not important unless you want to conclude that someone you disagree with is not truly Christian and needs to repent and be like you. Very gracious indeed!

We should be wary of when the key emphasis is placed on human repentance and vows. The grace of Christ which seeks us, calls us, heals us, should always be the primary focus. Sacraments celebrate God’s free, generous grace, not “correct” human doctrine or even a “proper or worthy” repentance. As St Paul reminds us By grace you are saved, through faith. It is not your doing but the gift of God.

We should also be wary when the key emphasis is placed on the vows of parents and or godparents. It is the prior grace of Christ at work for this child which should be the primary focus. That grace will not be affected by faithless parents who have neglected these vows as is more often the case today. We should recall the words used in the sacrament.

For you Jesus Christ came into the world: for you he lived and showed God’s love; for you he suffered the darkness of Calvary and cried at the last, “It is accomplished”; for you he triumphed over death and rose in newness of life; for you he ascended to reign at God’s right hand. All this he did for you, though you did not know it yet. And so the word of Scripture is fulfilled, “We love God because God loved us first.”

That sums it up for any baptism however performed. Jesus was baptised as an affirmation of his humanity, his oneness with all humankind. We are baptised into Him in his Divinity and become one with Him. The Gospel John does not record the story of Jesus baptism. Instead John speaks of the Son of Man who must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:15-18

Baptism is the sign of a penitent hopeful turning to God. As these last words from John’s Gospel highlight they reflect a decision, a choice. Like Jesus, people had to get up and go to John by the Jordan to receive his baptism. We have choices too, in this pandemic time. I was saddened to learn that yet another vocal QAnon anti-vaxxer died this week denying she had Covid-19. She said it was bacterial pneumonia and her friends claimed it was left-wing plot using anthrax. They all chose to deny the virus. The Gospel presents us with a choice and as this news report shows, choices always have consequences. We have chosen Jesus and His baptism so as we look back to the rite by which we were incorporated in the Church here are some thoughts

We affirm our baptism because we have chosen to be here some of us more that seventy years later. We can renew our vows and penitence as often as we need to because his grace is always with us.

As Jesus was called ‘beloved’ then so were we, so are we, whether we could at first hear it or not.  Simply because we are, whether we can actually sense the heavens breaking open or not.

Here and now, those holding up a little one at the font or standing by a river or tank anywhere in the world Jesus’ baptism is reaffirmed. The words may be spoken through masks and be muffled, but they are just as powerful and eternal as ever.

And like those standing in a Covid testing line, although unknown to one another, each one so preciously and forever owned before God’s eyes, to God’s heart. Each worried, wondering face carefully making our way forward to the front of the line, regardless of where we had just come from and where we hoped to go next.

For Jesus came as one so fully human that he stood in line to be baptized with all the rest, in a way binding us to him and to one another in a way nothing else really can. And which, we are promised, nothing can break apart, so great is the love and sacrifice that made it so in the first place. Not even all that would divide us in the world now.

And because he came as one of us, we trust, don’t we, that he is here in this moment.  Not only in those lines in which so many stand waiting to be tested now, but also in emergency rooms and intensive care units which are overflowing with the suffering… and in those nearby waiting rooms where families are forced to stay … and on the other ends of cell phones where loved ones wait for word … and in all those places were so many isolate now, waiting for symptoms and days to pass…

You may wonder how much a Covid-19 testing line and the line waiting of those waiting for their turn in the Jordan River actually had or have in common. Except for the aching hunger that ran through them. Except for the hope each one still clings to. And except for the fact that because Jesus stood in that first line on that riverbank, we can be sure he still shows up wherever we find ourselves hungry and hurting and hoping even now.

Whether that is around the actual font or standing on bare cement inching forward from one blue X to the next or any number of other places we might name today.

And maybe, maybe if we just pause long enough as Jesus did in prayer, maybe we can also sense the heavens cracking open just a bit and hear the certain truth that each one is so very loved by God that God sent, and God sends God’s Beloved to walk alongside us even now. And that God calls us ‘Beloved,’ too. Amen.

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession

God of time and eternity we affirm and renew our baptism in Jesus Christ and confess our faith with hope and love before you today.

As this new year stretches before us, we thank you for the time you have given us, the days, the months and years in which to know your goodness in the land of the living. We thank you for the possibilities which unfold in our lives for the blessings of each new day and the challenges which strengthen our faith and deepen our knowledge of your love. For the work of the day as for each night, with its rest and reflection. We thank you for words of forgiveness and the opportunities of repentance and new beginnings. Give us determination to finish things leftover from last year and courage to try ways that are new. May your Spirit pull us closer to you in prayer and service each day.
God of moments and memories we bring to you people who are facing difficult days, hoping for relief, healing and peace
We pray for all who are struggling with illness or facing treatment or surgery with uncertain results. Others discovering disease in their bodies, or disruption of their mental well-being.

We pray for those who are grieving the loss of dear ones
and for all who remember what used to be but can no longer be…
O God, we ask you to bless this time of prayer with you

God of hope and encouragement we pray for those whose lives are unfolding in new ways, people looking for positive change and new opportunities in life: young people training for employment and others beginning new jobs o developing new businesses and seeking the right employees; And those who provide services to improve the life of our communities as we adapt to the uncertainty of these days

Give us wisdom and keep us going as we manage the changes taking place in our national church.
As we work together renew our vision of your kingdom and fill us with love and generosity as we navigate the unfolding year. Bless our elders and office bearers and guide every decision through your Holy Spirit

We pray we may make a difference in even the most challenging situations because we are the people of your beloved Son, saved by grace and strong in the faith of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hymn 352 “O for a thousand tongues to sing”

Benediction
People of hope and peace, go into the world. Bring God’s healing love to all whom you meet. Help with ministries, which promote justice and compassion. In Jesus’ Name, go in peace. AMEN.

“May God’s blessing surround you each day”

Postlude: “Eastern Monarchs, Sages three”