6th. February. 2022. Service.
Inverkeithing Parish Church linked with North Queensferry Church
Worship 6th February 2o22
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
Prelude “Father we lift our thanks to Thee”
Bible Introit 189 “Be still for the presence of the Lord”
Opening Prayer
Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Hymn 111 “Holy, holy, holy Lord God almighty”
Call to Prayer
Great is the grace and glory of God.
We thank Him with hearts of joy.
Great is the strength and mercy of our creator.
We thank Him with hearts of hope.
Great is the courage and hope of our Lord.
We thank Him with hearts of faith.
Great is the mercy and compassion of the Holy One.
We thank Him with hearts of love.
Prayer
God of grace and goodness, in the presence of your holiness, we remember that you shielded your servants from the full blaze of your glory. We come to a glory that is most fully expressed in the gentler light of the human face of Jesus on whom we can look and not be afraid. We approach with reverence and a deep desire to turn our eyes on him again and look full in his wonderful face, and to delight in the inexpressible gift of your redeeming love in him, to find our hearts deepest desire being met in you. Satisfy our souls with the blessed presence of your Holy Spirit who reveals the Father and the Son to us with love and grace.
Holy God, friend and redeemer of your people, we turn to you from the noise and clamour of this world, with its blaring and desperate songs. Help us to tune in the music of ‘the land of everlasting praises’ and to the songs of the saints through the ages. With “angels and archangels and all the company of heaven” may we join our hearts and voices in the praise which elevates our spirits to new heights of worship and adoration. Through Christ Jesus our Saviour.
Loving God, whenever we call out you answer us, you make our souls strong and resilient. The things of the world offer limited satisfaction and often they bring misery or depression in their wake. You envelop us in peace as we confess our failings, our struggles and the needs of our souls. We surrender the temptations and resentments we battle and give up the fears which hold us back
Loving God, Saviour and Friend, come with your pure light, to restore us to our right minds. Raise us from shame and ineffectiveness to learn once more how walk in the light of Christ, with our heads held high and our hands ready to assist a stumbling neighbour
The Gospel declares: “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We are free from the weight of guilt and self-recrimination and may now take up your salvation and walk with the daring steps of those who are truly free.
Prayer for Understanding
Reveal yourself O Lord in the scriptures we read today and refresh us with your light and love and we continue our pilgrimage 0f faith through Jesus Christ our Lord in whose words we sum our prayers.
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.
The Intimations
Coffee mornings
The Inverkeithing Tuesday Morning Coffee mornings will resume on February 8th.
Kirk Session Meetings
The Inverkeithing Kirk Session will meet on Wednesday 9th February at 7 pm and the North Queensferry Kirk Session on Thursday 10th at 7pm.
Bible Discussion Group will meet on Tuesday 8th February at 7:30pm in North Queensferry.
Invitation to the Offering
God in his holiness, calls us to live in holiness and devote in holiness all we are and have. What we give to Him is holy and for the work of his church and kingdom.
Prayer of Dedication
Generous God, Jesus encouraged his disciples to keep fishing when they thought their nets were empty.
Encourage us to keep giving even when needs seem overwhelming and resources scarce. We entrust our gifts to you with the faith you can bless us and others through all they can accomplish in Jesus’ name. Amen.
All Age Talk
Here is a picture of some unusual fishing gear from Sri Lanka. Have you ever wondered why so many people like to go fishing? Do you know someone who likes to fish? There are many reasons why people go fishing. Some people like to eat fish and catching fish might be less expensive than buying it at the shop. For others, fishing is a fun hobby. It gives them a chance to rest and relax. Some people say they don’t even care if they catch any fish; they just enjoy going fishing. Do you like to go fishing? If you’ve ever caught a fish, how did it make you feel?
The Bible has a lot to say about fishing. The first disciples Jesus became friends with were fishermen. They didn’t fish for fun and relaxation, and it wasn’t a hobby. They fished because that’s how they ate and made money. Do you think they cared whether they caught any fish or not? You’re right—they cared a lot!
Our Bible lesson today is about one of the disciples’ fishing trips. The story begins with Jesus preaching on the shore beside the Sea of Galilee. There was a huge crowd of people gathered around Him and they kept pressing closer so that they could hear Him better. Jesus noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge where the fishermen were washing their nets. Jesus stepped into one of the boats and asked Simon, the boat’s owner, to move it out a little further from the shore. Then Jesus sat down in the boat and preached to the people from there.
When Jesus had finished teaching, He said to Simon, “Move on out into the deep water and let down your nets to catch some fish.”
Simon answered Him, “Master, we have fished all night without catching a thing, but if You say so, I will let down my nets again.” This time the nets came out of the water so full of fish that they began to break. They called for help and their fishing partners brought in another boat, and soon both boats were so full of fish that they were about to sink!
When Simon saw what Jesus did, he was filled with awe and perhaps with fear to be in the presence of someone with so much power. He fell on his knees before Jesus.
Jesus said to him, “There is nothing to fear. From now on you’ll be fishing for men and women.”
When they reached the shore, they pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, nets and all, and followed Jesus.
What did Jesus mean when He told them they would be fishing for men and women? He didn’t mean that they would go out and throw a net over them. What He meant was that just as they had been bringing the fish into their boats, they would now be bringing people into the Kingdom of God. Jesus wants you and me to be fishers of people, too. That means that we will tell the people we meet about Jesus so that they can know Him and become His followers, too.
Heavenly Father, just as Jesus called His early disciples to fish for people, He has called us to tell others about His love so that we might bring them into the Kingdom. Help us to be faithful to become fishers of people. Amen.
Hymn 340 “When Jesus saw the fishermen”
Isaiah 6:1-8
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory.’
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 ‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’
And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’ Amen.
Hymn 466 “Before the throne of God above”
Luke 5:1-11
5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,[a the people were crowding round him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’
5 Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’
6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’ 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.’ 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. Amen, this is the word of the Lord, to Him be all glory and praise.
Hymn 555 “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound”
Sermon
I came across this astonishing assessment of the failings of many familiar characters in the Bible. Adam was a failure. Noah was a drunk. Abraham was too old. Isaac was a daydreamer. Jacob was a liar. Leah was ugly. Joseph was abused. Moses had a stuttering problem. Gideon was afraid. Samson was a womanizer. Rahab was a prostitute. Jeremiah was too young. David had an affair and was a murderer. Elijah was suicidal. Isaiah preached naked. Jonah ran away from God. Naomi was an embittered widow. Job went bankrupt. John the Baptist ate bugs. Peter denied Christ. The disciples all fell asleep while praying. Martha was a resentful worrier. Mary Magdalene was demon possessed. The Samaritan was divorced more than once. Zacchaeus was too small. Paul was a religious bigot. Timothy had an ulcer. – And Lazarus was dead! One thing links them all, they were called by God.
Last week we read about the call of Jeremiah and considered that even Jesus had to overcome sin, not in himself, but in the reaction of many of his hearers, who like Paul were very religious but closed minded. Today we consider what is means to be called by God and why our excuses for ignoring that call don’t carry any weight with God. “Whatever our excuses, God is bigger than any of those reasons. He specializes in taking bruised, soiled, broken, guilty, and miserable vessels and making them whole, forgiven, and useful again”. This is the point of the call, it is not to be a famous preacher or to go off to exotic lands, it is to be remade in the image of God so that we can participate in the restoration of the creation.
I watched a documentary about the restoration of rooms in Versailles in which old plaster work mouldings and gilding were all painstakingly remade using the tools and techniques of the original craftsmen. Stage one was to assess the damage honestly. God’s call to us in Jesus Christ calls us to be honest about who we are so that we can be remade and fitted for his service.
Today we read about two calls. The first was Isaiah and the other was Peter. Both realising that they were in the presence of the divine were overwhelmed by awe and saw themselves as hopeless sinners – a terrifying experience. Both were confronted by God in the ordinary circumstances of their lives which then took a completely new direction.
Isaiah was a young man who lived a long life in tumultuous times. There was fearful a threat to Israel and Judah from the Assyrian Empire. Uzziah, Judah’s king of 52 years had died. It was a time of loss, an experience of grief for Isaiah as his friend had died and this seems to have left Isaiah feeling shocked and hopeless. Everything in Isaiah’s world was in confusion, his king was dead, his nation was in peril, and he could do nothing to help the situation alone.
Like many people living in times of crisis, Isaiah’s earthly circumstances turned his eyes upwards. This is when he had his vision as he worshipped God in the temple and he “saw the Lord” It is interesting that the main part of the vision is of the Lord’s robe which filled the temple. There is no sense that Isaiah saw the face of God, rather he became aware of God’s superlative holiness as he heard the seraphim declare it in triplicate. It was clearly a terrifying experience and it filled Isaiah with an overwhelming sense of sinfulness and inadequacy expressed as being a man of unclean lips.
This is significant in that as Jesus was later to say, “For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come – sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.’
The expression of evil thoughts is what renders us unclean. What we say in particular lies, gossip, false accusations, wrong assumptions, judgment. Our daily lives are defiled by these things. These days we have become so accustomed to them even in public life that we scarcely notice, far less protest.
We are living in a similar age to Isaiah, at the end of one of the longest reigns in European history. The Queen has two years and 111 days to live before she beats Louis xiv of France. We have suffered the pandemic, economic turmoil is set to increase, there is a threat of war from the east and daily we are subjected to lies, deceit and false promises. We are like Isaiah who was a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips. Before there can be a renewal, a proper assessment of the seriousness of the situation has to be made. It came as Isaiah worshipped, and it came to Peter in a similar way before he began to follow Jesus.
In the vision, what was the Lord doing? God was sitting down! Calmly seated on His throne, God totally in charge. God was not wringing His hands, wondering what will he do now Uzziah’s gone. He was not concerned about who would rule over his earthly people, He is not fazed at all by the situation, He knows how history will turn out, but if things were to change it was important that God get Isaiah’s attention and become aware of the true situation.
God’s holiness impresses Isaiah and highlights Isaiah’s sinfulness, his share of the uncleanness and the impurity of God’s own people. Peter after his conversion was to sum this up in his first letter when he wrote: For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? Before society can be reformed the church must be reformed. As in the renewal of the salons of Versailles, the damage must first be exposed and dealt with – rotten wood gouged out and replaced, damaged plaster repaired, tarnished gold leaf replaced, and fresh paint applied as necessary.
In Isaiah’s experience, his lips were cleansed with a coal of fire, burning away the sin. Fire is God’s chosen method of cleansing here. Elsewhere in scripture filthy garments are stripped away or sinners are washed in the waters of baptism, but here fire is used and it serves as a double metaphor.
For example take Moses and the burning bush, and in the pillar of fire which led the freed slaves through their first dark nights in the wilderness. (Exodus 3 and Exodus 13:20-22)
In John’s pointing to Jesus, reminding all within earshot that Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (Luke 3:15-18)
The two disciples travelling to Emmaus on that first Easter evening who, looking back, realized their hearts were burning within them when they walked with Jesus. (Luke 24:13-35)
On Pentecost when tongues like flames rested on each of those first followers of Jesus. (Acts 2)
But also we are to imagine that the hot coal which burned away everything that would keep Isaiah from following this call, would then be planted deep within him urging him along and sustaining him for all that would follow.
Janet Hunt comments a on a poem, “The Prophet” by the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin about the call of the prophet thus:
To be honest, I find Pushkin’s words offer a somewhat disturbing rendition of the scene played out before us in the temple now, but really not much more startling than what we read in the sixth chapter of Isaiah. What has been working on me, though, has been the part near the end where the poet’s imagination has the prophet’s chest split open and the burning coal which was used to cleanse his lips placed where his ‘timid heart’ was before.
This suggests that the fire which burns up the dross of sin is also planted in the heart and is what fuels the mission of the prophet. And what a powerful image this is which then plays out, in all that follows for Isaiah and for anyone who hears the call of God and follows.
We now raise the question, “What do we need to surrender to God for redemption what needs to be burned away and replaced by the fire of enthusiasm?
Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector of England. During his battles with Charles 1st a problem occurred. The Commonwealth Army had run out of silver. Cromwell ordered a search throughout the land for silver. When his soldiers reported back, the news they gave him was bad. “The only silver to be found is in the statues in the churches.” Cromwell replied, “In that case we will melt down the saints and put them into circulation”. There is a sense in which the saints, the holy ones, the people of God need to be melted by fire in order to be useful. Then they need to be fired up with a new sense of mission.
In the parable of the dishonest steward, Jesus said, “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.”
What if the church reached the world the way modern business does? 97% of the world has heard of Coca-Cola. 72% of the world has seen a can of coke-a-cola 51% of the world has tasted a can of Coca-Cola. Coke has only been around 130 years. If God had given the task of world evangelisation to the Coke company it would probably be done by now. God could have done so, yet He chooses to use ordinary people like us. But we still need the fire.
The final point here is that there are times when God expands our vision to make us evaluate our availability to go for Him. Isaiah clearly wanted to serve God, and God got him ready using this frightening vision. He prepared Isaiah by revealing not just his own sin but also that of his people and then God asked the question “Who will go? In effect he says, “This is where I am going, will you come with me?”
Isaiah responded “Yes, I will!” not out of blind obligation or religious duty but because he has seen God discovered his inadequacy and heard the call. He was now looking at life through God’s lens.
When Hudson Taylor was director of the China Inland Mission, he often interviewed candidates for the mission field. On one occasion, he met with a group of applicants to determine their motivations for service. “And why do you wish to go as a foreign missionary?” he asked one. He replied “I want to go because Christ has commanded us to go into all the world…” Another said, “I want to go because millions are perishing without Christ.” Others gave different answers. Then Hudson Taylor said, “All of these motives, however good, will fail you in times of testing, trials, tribulations, and possible death. There is but one motive that will sustain you in trial and testing, namely the love of Christ.”
God’s holiness is the highest expression of his love, and it was most clearly demonstrated by the Cross. We find that frightening because perfect love exposes human lovelessness. There are people who love only themselves and that makes them impervious to the holiness of God and to the command to love him back and to love our neighbours as ourselves. The uncleanness we see today is a manifestation of the godlessness of selfish love and that is what needs to be burned out of our society. And as with all repentance it begins with each of us. Your call may not be to head to a distant mission field, but to let the love of God transform you with its cleansing fire where you are. God’s mission is to s restore his church and his world, this is where he is going, will you go with him? Amen.
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
Loving God our gracious Father, we thank you for this fair earth, which is our home and for our bodies which are temples of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for giving us life and calling us
to be friends of the earth and your children, children of the God of creation.
When we fell far short of the mark, you did not abandon us. Instead, you raised up prophets, saints and martyrs
to call us back to you, our true destiny and delight.
When even this was not enough for our wandering souls,
your gave us Jesus, your eternal son and our true brother.
We praise you for his determined love and for the redeeming power of his suffering and death, and the unexpected glory of the resurrection. We thank you for the church gathering in his name and inspired by his Spirit to serve the world with love.
Today we thank you for the long reign of Elizabeth our Queen, for her life of devotion and serve as well as your blessings upon her.
Keep her and her family in the remaining time of her reign for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Help us to surround other people with our compassion as we lift them up to you in our prayers today.
God of glory, the glory that is found in the saddest and most broken places where Christ Jesus is among his own, enlist us in your mission of love. May our prayers be in accord with your compassion, and what we do reflect something of your beauty.
Hear our prayer
And let our lives declare your glory.
There is a long way to go before your church reflects the splendour of Jesus. Take our church in hand; hammer and bend, weld and shape, smooth and polish, until we reflect more of the grace which brings new hope to all the earth.
Hear our prayer,
And let our lives declare your glory.
There is a long way to go before we can be content with our community, nation and world. We pray for a worldwide intolerance of injustice and greed, arrogance and cruelty, racism and sexism, political hypocrisy and religious bigotry.
Hear our prayer.
And let our lives declare your glory.
There is a long way to go before the warmth of your compassion is made real for the hungry and the hurting people, the diseased and disabled, the awkward and anxious, the sorry and the sad. Speed the feet and strengthen the hands of all whom you have appointed to bring comfort and healing. Impel us to respond to your call to serve and pray for all whom we know to be suffering today.
Hear our prayer.
And let our lives declare your glory.
Loving Friend, keep us faithful and give us precious glimpses of the glory that lies wits for all who are pure in heart.
Hear our prayer.
And let our lives declare your glory.
Hymn 532 “Lord, you have come to the seashore”
Benediction
Great God, Source of true light, love and holy delight, in your divine kindness never leave us nor forsake us. God have mercy.
Jesus our Messiah, Light of the world you have come not to judge or intimidate but to awaken us to the dawn of a bright, new day Christ have mercy.
Holy Spirit, giver of inner light and warmth which illuminate and regenerate all that has withered or grown cold. Spirit have mercy,
May God’s blessing be yours, and well may it befall you Amen.
“May God’s blessing surround you each day”
Postlude: “Two fishermen”