22nd. November. 2020 Service.
Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Christ the King
Prelude: O come let us sing to the Lord
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7zRKMiOKnY
Let us worship God
Jubilate, everybody,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nukqkr29DP8
The Collect for today
Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Hymn “You shall go out with joy”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJeTbPoiNm0
You shall to out with joy and be led forth with peace,
And the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you,
There’ll be shouts of jo, and the trees of the field shall clap their hands
And the trees of the field shall clap their hands x3
And you’ll go out with joy.
Call to Prayer
The Lord is the first and the last, our beginning and our end.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord our God, who was and is and is to come!
Blessing and honour, glory and majesty be to our God, now and evermore.
Prayer of Adoration and Confession
God most holy,
You are known to us as the Almighty, Powerful, Eternal, Ruler and Lord.
We call you our Shepherd and Guide.
We praise you with many names, but you are far beyond our knowing and so much greater than our words.
We know you in the stories of Jesus
and in him, we see your love in action, reaching out to the world.
You move in us and through us by your Spirit,
drawing us to you, equipping sending us to live out your Word. God most holy, Three in One and One in Three,
we praise you with our lips and with our lives and gladly offer you honour and love.
Mighty and merciful God,
we come with a sincere desire to walk in your ways and live under your reign but there are temptations and conflicts which pull us under the influence and sway of the world which hinder and obstruct us
Hear us as we confess to you our sins:
We confess that we have failed to love fully, forgive wholly, and to share the joy of your presence day by day. There have been petty sins and annoyances and hurts and betrayals of which we are ashamed.
You offer us freedom, but we settle for the familiar.
You call us to risk showing real love, but we opt for safer choices.
You challenge us to hope and to have faith, but we would rather know what will happen next.
Help us to abandon our selfish ways and cautious service, that we may take the risk offering you our whole lives, committed to following Jesus and building your kingdom here on earth.
Assurance of Pardon
Hear the good news. God’s compassion never fails. God’s grace is new every morning. God’s loving kindness is does not cease. Reassure us then that we are forgiven by the grace of Jesus Christ that we may forgive each other and live in peace and harmony.
Prayer for Understanding
God of mystery and majesty, your thoughts are not our thoughts; your ways are not our ways. Inspire and guide us by your Holy Spirit as we listen for your Word speaking in the scriptures. May we encounter your Living Word and have all our thoughts and ways transformed by your love. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer (in the words most familiar to you)
Hymn: All people that on earth do dwell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmGwHdNtpEw
Invitation to the Offering
God has blessed us in Christ and in creation with all that we need to thrive. Yet Jesus’ story reminds us there are so many in this world who do not have what they need. What we offer to God today helps the Church reach out to touch lives in need and share the love of God in so many ways.
Prayer of Dedication
Generous and Gracious God, you envision a world where the hungry are fed and strangers are welcomed. We bring you our gifts to become part of your vision. Bless them and bless us, so that all our gifts bear fruit in Christ’s name, and honour him as Lord of our lives. Amen.
The Readings
Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 20-24
11 ‘“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. 12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. 13 I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. 14 I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will tend my sheep and make them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. 16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.
20 ‘“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says to them: see, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, 22 I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. 23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. 24 I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken. Amen.
Matthew 25:31-46
31 ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 ‘Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was ill and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
37 ‘Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you ill or in prison and go to visit you?”
40 ‘The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
41 ‘Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was ill and in prison and you did not look after me.”
44 ‘They also will answer, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or ill or in prison, and did not help you?”
45 ‘He will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”
46 ‘Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.’ Amen. This is the Word of the Lord, to Him be all praise and glory.
Jesus Christ is waiting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CSzEviUc_o
Sermon
I have only ever seen the Queen twice in my life. The first was when I was six. We stood in pouring November rain for over an hour in Lochmaben, waving sodden flags in the late afternoon darkness until she flashed by in a matter of seconds, a red blur in a fogged-up Rolls Royce. The other time was in George Square in Glasgow on a sunny morning as a tiny figure in blue walked a short distance from her car into the City Chambers. The highlight of the morning was watching the dignitaries who arrived before her trying to step down from green and yellow-double decker buses with their dignity tucked under their arms. Neither occasion was remotely awe-inspiring and there was no sense of majesty.
Preaching on Matthew 25, a fellow minister imagined a dream scenario in which the king was expected to arrive in a city as the great and the grand assembled to greet him in majesty. The king was late and the dignitaries in the end did not recognise him, because when he arrived, he was an ordinary looking man who focussed all his attention on the poorly dressed, scruffy persons who were outside the official meeting place. He ended his vision with the words:
“I now realise that in my dream-vision thing, maybe I was seeing Christ the King separating the sheep from the goats?”
We name Jesus of Nazareth our Teacher and Master, but he comes not to be served but to serve and give his life for others.
We name him the Judge of the living and the dead, but how can it be that the judge himself ends up in the prisoner’s dock and is sentenced?
We name him our King, but his kind of sovereignty makes nonsense of our elaborate expectations of royal majesty.
We name him Immanuel, God-With-Us, but his Divinity is unlike anything that religious enthusiasts want us to believe in.
This person Jesus breaks all definitions and throws us into a paradox which condemns the worldly wise. Yet he is often intuitively understood by the beggar and the homeless, or by little children, and by sinners who stand at the back of the temple and beat their breasts with shame.
The powerful and the rich, and those who believe they were born to rule others, cannot abide such irreligious nonsense. They have always wanted to give Christ a make-over, change his image into a gorgeously robed Emperor, wearing the imperial signet ring, a jewel-encrusted crown, and looking imperiously down from his throne. They expect him to judge from a lofty height those who will not pull their forelock and be subservient to the important one: They want their own type of Christ an upholder of law and order defending the rights of property and wealth to keep the rest of the world at arms-length because they are not one of their own.
Jesus is himself the quintessential nonconformist. He tells stories about the hungry and thirsty and the stranger and the sick, and those shivering without clothing, and the prisoners in gaol.
He says we will find the King there with them, and that when we respect them, care for them, befriend them, we will have been truly worshipping his true majesty. He says his judgement does not work from a lofty height, but from the lowest point; being with us in the mass of humanity and encouraging us to make the hard choices.
When we read this story I imagine you might hear this as I do today, hearing about Jesus coming into his ‘glory,’ knowing which of Jesus’ hands I hope we will end up on.
Most of us have heard these words for decades by now and with that hearing comes the undeniable understanding of who and what we are called to be and to do.
Indeed, it seem entirely straightforward: it is ours to see the face of Jesus in the most unlikely ones and then to tend them as we would Christ himself. Else our final designation will be more goat than sheep, it’s as simple as that.
Only is it really all that simple?
For here is where we can become stuck this time How easy is it to be entirely caught by the unselfconsciousness of those Jesus welcomes into eternal life. Do you ever suspect that we may not be among the? For isn’t it normally only by intentional effort that we “feed the hungry, sate the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, take care of the sick, and visit those in prison.” We know what we are doing as we do it. We should perhaps hope that it is an outward expression of what we hold closest to our heart. And yet should we not be afraid that we cannot imagine that at the end of our living we would be as innocent as those who said, “When, Lord?” At least not yet.
For this must be so. When we read this parable carefully it seem that those described in this way today have been apparently practising their care for the neediest among us for so long and so deeply that they don’t even regard it as extraordinary. Or at least not in any way connected to Jesus. Indeed, they do not seem to see it as expression of their faith. It is just who they are. It is a bit like when Jesus said with regard to almsgiving that the right hand should not know what the left is doing. It is about emptying ourselves of self and ego. Don’t we so easily congratulate ourselves when we are loving and charitable? Instead the charity Jesus recognised was unconsciously given
- And maybe it does just take a lifetime of being and doing to get there.
- And maybe it all starts by recognizing that the upside-down glory we hear about every year as we celebrate the Reign of Christ has been the story we have been hearing about all along.
- Indeed, maybe it begins by immersing ourselves in this way of seeing and experiencing the and living in the world repeatedly and again, and again until we begin to become ‘one with it.’ Reset our priorities and replace them with Jesus’ priorities.
- Maybe this should be our Christmas and New Year resolution.
For what we hear described in Matthew 25 is not so different than what we learn about Jesus from Matthew’s stories of his birth. Things are never as they first appear. No, in fact, things are continually turned upside down. And maybe this last Sunday of the church year is a good time to step back and walk through the whole story once again:
Right at the very beginning we hear of Jesus’ lineage and among the names we do not recognize are several that we do including:
- Rahab the prostitute.
- Ruth, the foreigner.
- Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, who met a tragic and unjust death.
- Not to mention Joseph, the husband of Mary!
Right from the start we hear that we should be prepared for the unexpected!
- In the next breath we are told that poor shepherds and foreign dignitaries travel to kneel at the foot of the Christ Child.
- Before long we hear Jesus preaching in such a way that reverses all we have ever come to expect in the beatitudes.
- And pretty soon, he is welcoming children.
- Indeed, what kind of royalty comes into town on a donkey and is crucified among thieves?
- And in what respectable story in that time and place would it have been women who were the first to see and tell the news that even death had been reversed?
This is not the first time the face of Christ is seen in unexpected places. And I cannot help but wonder if you and I who are given life and breath by the Holy One whose way of being and doing is captured in these ancient words and images… I can’t help but wonder if as we continue to immerse ourselves in them, they may just become so much a part of us that we actually find ourselves living into that ‘upside down’ glory until we realize that what first appears upside down as actually right side up after all!
A lot of our faith and life has to do with what we think, what we believe, but in fact it should be more than something going on in our heads., It cannot be just that, there has to be some sort of practising which is repeated again and again, and again makes the ‘righteous doing’ described today more ‘muscle memory’ than not. There is no mention of ‘knowing’ in this story of caring for others at all. It is just simply a matter of ‘doing’ until it is fully a part of the one who is living in this way. As I type these words, I don’t have to think where to put my fingers, after learning to touch-type fifty years ago. I just do it. In fact, if I stop and think about it that is most likely when I will make a mistake. We are called to be like Christ, not just to do the Christ thing; to make it so much part of our being that we are unconscious of it most of the time.
Perhaps we cannot help but wonder if as we truly immerse ourselves in these ancient images and stories they somehow strengthen and shape us for exactly this kind of living. The purpose of Jesus parables which involve us losing our sense of self and self-congratulation is that they should open our eyes, our hearts for examples of exactly this ‘upside down glory’ already in the world around us. They should move us further along the way to being and doing all that we are called to be and do by nature rather than by deliberate intent.
This may be specially so in a time like this when such ‘unselfconscious givers’ are so needed now more than ever:
During the pandemic people in the caring profession are just getting on with their jobs. Yet again there was an obituary in the newspaper for a consultant who contracted the disease because he kept working. We hear of nurses too and day after day, week after week, as teachers keep turning up to schools or are found sitting in front of computer screens teaching in a way most have not been equipped to teach, all the while missing their students and worrying about those who are falling behind…
Every single one of these and so many more in their families, their communities, and in their daily work is living out the ‘upside down’ glory Jesus calls us to now. And yes, in many cases by now from all we can tell, the good they are doing simply flows from who they are.
This is who and what we are all called to be and do. How we get there may be as individual as each of us, to be sure. And yet, through it all, we are given images and stories to press our hearts against. And we are given examples and stories all around us to listen to and follow.
I, for one, cannot imagine a more critical time than the one we are in to go deeper in listening to and living out the call Jesus offers now. Can you? The upside-down King is not worried about prestige, power, or the trappings of monarchy. He came to serve his people, and to teach us how to serve.
Jesus us has emphatically told us where the King is to be found in all his glory. “Inasmuch as you do it unto the least of these my sisters and brothers, you do it unto me.” We picture the King with the wounded hands and feet, still carrying his offensive thorn crown with him to remind us who he is, and where he is to be found today. May God help us all. Amen.
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
Lord Jesus Christ, you have proclaimed your Father’s kingdom among us and within us.
In the power of the Spirit, your love is always at work,
bringing good out of evil and life out of death.
We thank you that your love never lets us go,
for you have known the good times and the hard times of this life before us.
You came as one who was hungry and thirsty.
Where people are homeless today, suffer from hunger, or beg for a meal: Your kingdom come your will be done.
You came as a stranger in need of welcome.
Where people live lonely lives or feel like strangers in a strange land; where love is lacking, and people face rejection for the colour of their skin or the language they speak:
Your kingdom come your will be done.
You came as one who was naked.
Where people lack enough clothing, shelter or life’s basic resources; where people live without dignity, exposed to every kind of pain and hardship:
Your kingdom come your will be done.
You came as one who was broken.
Where people feel pain in body, mind or spirit;
where someone grieves the loss of a beloved or the future they planned; in places where the pandemic has done its worst and desperation has moved in:
Your kingdom come your will be done.
You came as a Shepherd.
Where people are led astray, or nations are ruled by corrupt or greedy leaders and there is no peace in the land:
Your kingdom come your will be done.
You came as one who was in prison.
Where people are treated unfairly, targeted or tortured.
where justice has failed, and people are punished with cruelty:
Your kingdom come your will be done.
You came as one proclaiming the kingdom of God.
And so we lift up these prayers in your name, Lord Jesus,
knowing that your kingdom is drawing near
and that we meet you in the face of those who cry out to us.
Hasten the day when God will wipe away our tears
and death will be no more, and we shall see you in your glory in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hymn “At the Name of Jesus”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7w-tDjlpgk
Benediction
May the love of Christ Jesus ever enfold you,
the love of God ever encircle you and the fellowship of the Spirit ever enrich you, now and evermore!
Amen!
May God’s blessing surround you each day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_3O_N49GiU
Postlude: The King of love my shepherd is
https://www.y2mate.com/youtube/iI1OeQfkVyI
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:
O come let us sing to the Lord
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7zRKMiOKnY
Jubilate, everybody,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nukqkr29DP8
You shall go out with joy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJeTbPoiNm0
All people that on earth do dwell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmGwHdNtpEw
Jesus Christ is waiting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CSzEviUc_o
At the Name of Jesus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7w-tDjlpgk
The King of love my shepherd is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcCwUF0s_-Y version 2
For Children
When someone does something nice for you, what do you do? You say, “Thank you,” don’t you? Sometimes that just doesn’t seem to be enough. Has someone ever done something for you that was so nice that you wanted to do more than just say, “Thank You”? I have. When that happens, we sometimes send them a “Thank You” card. Everyone enjoys receiving a “Thank You” card. Think about a time you sent a card or note like this.
Another way you can show your thanks when someone does something really nice for you is by doing something nice for them in return. Like if someone invites you to spend the night and you have a really good time, you return their kindness by inviting them to come and spend the night with you. It’s always important to show we’re thankful when someone does something for us.
I don’t know anyone who has done more for us than God has. God provides food when we’re hungry and water when we’re thirsty. He heals us when we’re sick and He comforts us when we’re sad. The Bible tells us that He is an ever-present helper in times of trouble. Take a moment now to write or draw something you’re thankful to God for.
Because of all God has done for us, we say, “Thank you.” But He’s done so much! I have an idea to do even more to thank God.
Jesus told us how to do it. Jesus said, “Whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you do it for me.” That means when we feed someone who is hungry, it is the same as doing it for Jesus. When we visit someone who is sick, it is the same as doing it for Jesus. When we give clothes to those who are in need, it is the same as doing it for Jesus.
There is a very special name for this way of saying, “Thank you.” I call it “thanks living.” “Thanks-living” is when we show our thanks by the way we live. “Thanks- living” is when we look at the many ways God has blessed us, and we thank Him by sharing His blessings with others.
Make your own cards which you can use the next time you wish to thank someone in a special way
Put them somewhere as a reminder to show your thanks to God in the way you live. Let’s pray and ask God to help us offer our thanksgiving by “thanks-living.”
Dear God, we come into Your presence with thanksgiving. Help us turn our thanksgiving into “thanks-living.” Help us notice people around us who are in need and ways we can care for them like You care for us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Amen.
Thanks-living Video
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 today November 22nd.
Members of North Queensferry participating in the Place for Hope consultation on the Presbytery of Dunfermline Special Commission Report are reminded of the Zoom meeting on Thursday 26th at 7:30 pm. The minister will forward the details as soon as they become available.
Please remember to indicate to Joan More or Chris Duguid if you wish to attend worship on Sunday. Owing to Government regulations, numbers will be restricted to fewer than fifty persons twenty-five in North Queensferry and places will be allocated on a first come first served basis each week. Please call Joan 01383 414515 on Friday or Chris 01383 413372 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.