27th. March. 2022. Service.
Service of Worship 27th March 2022
4th Sunday in Lent
Postlude: “Close to Thee”
Bible Introit 35 “O send thy light forth and thy truth
Collect
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Hymn 623 “Here in this place new light is streaming”
Call to Prayer
If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.
We thank God for such great mercy.
Everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new.
We thank God for new beginnings!
God has given us the ministry of reconciliation through Christ Jesus.
Together we will make a new beginning in Him.
Let us worship God with joyful hearts, trusting God to renew us in Christ Jesus.
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
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
The Bible Discussion Group will meet on Tuesday 29th at 7:30pm in North Queensferry.
Coffee mornings will be held at Inverkeithing from 10:00 am on Tuesday and North Queensferry from 10:30 am on Wednesday this week.
Elders are reminded of the joint Session social evening with elders from Dalgety Bay, Aberdour and Rosyth Churches on Wednesday 30th March in Inverkeithing Church at 7 pm. Please contact Joan More by Tuesday if you have not confirmed your attendance already.
The funeral of Mr Jim Cook will take place in Inverkeithing Parish Church on Thursday, 7th April 2022 at Noon and then to Hillend Cemetery for 1:00pm.
Holy Week services will be held on Maundy Thursday, April 14th Communion at 7:00pm in Inverkeithing Parish Church and Good Friday, April 15th at 7:00pm in North Queensferry Church.
Invitation to the Offering
The Apostle Paul declared that in Christ there is a new creation. Everything has become new! What new things can God do with the gifts we offer today?
With expectant hearts, let us place in God’s hands what we have to offer in Christ’s name.
Prayer of Dedication
We place these gifts into your hands, O God. Bless them with your transforming grace
so that they may become seeds springing up with new life in the world you love.
Fill our hearts with that same grace so we can bring hope
to weary and worried lives in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Hymn 135 “O laughing Light!”
Joshua 5: 9-12
9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.’ So, the place has been called Gilgal to this day.10 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. 11 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12 The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan. Amen.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Amen, this is the word of the Lord, to Him be all glory and praise.
Hymn 659 “Put peace into each other’s hands”
Sermon – The Feast of Reconciliation
Whilst checking through the MSN news page on my computer this week I came across an article about some rich and famous people who died and disinherited their children. The actresses Joan Crawford and Bette Davis headed the list which also included Mickey Rooney, Aaron Spelling, Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis, and Steve Jobs, all of whom died unreconciled with their children. I don’t think anyone would disagree that family relationships can be difficult. Very few families escape a fracture that divides parents from children, brothers, or sisters from one another at some point in their lives.
A young man was overheard telling a co-worker about his broken relationship with his sister and of how once betrayed he could never let it go. From what he said, it seemed he was entirely cut off from her now. An older woman was trying to talk him into taking another perspective on it, but she was not making much headway. she had seen enough of life to know that brokenness between siblings early can lead to wounds that, if they heal at all, can leave lifelong scars.
This is something that is occasionally encountered at a funeral. The minister is warned about the family black sheep, who it is hoped will either not attend, or will attend, is to be mentioned only in passing or not mentioned at all. In one case, a brother and sister met with the funeral director and paid for the cremation. But, beyond that, they washed their hands of what remnants of their relationship with their brother remained and neither the man’s brother nor his sister had any part of the funeral service. How sad this is.
The gospel story for today is that of the so-called prodigal son whose story is well known to us all. So well known, that in fact we tend to read it or hear it from the same perspective every time. Jesus tells the story of the man with two sons and that the real focus of the parable is upon the graceless older son who, like the Pharisees is resentful of the love and grace of the father. Modern bibles refer to the story of the “lost” son. The implication is that it is the younger, wasteful or “prodigal” boy who is lost, when it seems that Jesus may have meant to highlight the older son because he remained unreconciled after his younger brother came home.
Thus, the most common interpretation of the story is that the “prodigal” son is the lost sinner who needs to come back to the ever-loving father who is ready to welcome him with prodigal love. That of course was Jesus’ mission: to remind people who had lost their way for whatever reason, of the unwavering love and grace of the Father and to call them to reconciliation. But the Pharisees, like the older son, claimed that such love negated their perceived loyalty and faithfulness and they resented this and thus were just as lost to their father. Both sons needed reconciliation, not just with their father, but with each other.
Let’s look at this story from a different perspective today: that of the younger brother. He is perhaps a more interesting character and like many younger children probably always lived in the shadow of his responsible older brother. First-borns have advantages of seniority, but also have responsibility to lead the way in a family and this can make them feel superior. There is a security in knowing your primacy of place and to have your life planned out before you within your family and community and many are content with this.
The lack of that security can challenge the younger to want to make his own mark on the world in a different way by breaking free and living on his own terms. This son was apparently unafraid to venture into the world on his own terms — even to a far distant place, where the language and customs and culture were very different from anything he had ever experienced before. That can be very exciting.
Freed from the responsibility of family duty there is a big, beautiful world out there to be explored and it comes with both blessing and temptation, good and evil. That world, of course, needs to be navigated wisely, and without the steady wisdom of the parent to guide it can be dangerous. The father knows this but is content to allow his son his freedom.
The younger son was someone who had an appetite for adventure, and he was willing to risk all to indulge it. And he did. And he lost it all and found himself far from home, hungry and alone. He was then just able to begin to imagine himself going home again — even if only as a slave in his father’s house. Here again he was courageous, or desperate enough to take another risk and go back home. It is interesting to note that his hope for what his father’s welcome would give him was almost as limited and paltry as his older brother’s hope, so that the welcome he did receive overwhelmed him. Can we imagine ourselves sharing his very limited imagination of what would be possible should he finally make his way home?
This is the way the story unfolds, but its application can be adapted to many similar scenarios. When you think of it, the current situation in the British Royal Family is a playing out of many elements of this story; the conflict between the duty of position and the freedoms of the younger siblings is to be observed in each of the past four generations. And it is not always a younger one who wants to break free as witness the story of Edward VII. At the heart of their story and that of Jesus’ parable is of the need for, and the paramount importance of reconciliation.
The feast which the Father laid on for his younger son is the feast of reconciliation and it is this which causes the greatest resentment in the older son, and it highlights his tragedy. He cannot enter his father’s joy at the reconciliation, and he cannot share his brother’s relief because he sees only the failure, the sin, the betrayal. All the parable tells us is of the father’s appeal to him and his explanation of his welcome. He is reminded of his place within his father’s love and providence, but is that enough? Will the elder son keep and nurse his resentment, will he spoil what he has? Will he let go of himself enough to be reconciled with his brother? We are not told, any more than we are told that the Pharisees changed their attitudes to Jesus’ ministry to the lost and outcast.
Today the great feast of reconciliation is set out before us and before we come to it, we need to hear what Paul has to say about reconciliation:
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
The first verse is significant. From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. The worldly view is of the sinner to whom we say, as Willie Nelson sang in George T Jones’s song “You done me wrong!” The worldly way is to categorise others as friend or foe, good or evil, right or wrong, and to do so from our own perspective. Even though we know better, we still tend to do this. Today we have taken the story of the younger son from a different perspective. Perhaps we have overdone rehabilitating him, but why not? – his father forgave and restored him. His brother could only see the wastrel. He regarded his wee brother as an undeserving sinner and doing so, he made himself as culpable a sinner.
Paul tells us in today’s Epistle that God, the Sinless One, has reconciled us to himself through Christ not counting people’s sins against them. That is how reconciliation begins and ends, by forgetting the sins, forgetting the past, and by looking at people in an entirely different way, in God’s way. For anyone in Christ, the new creation has come, the old is gone, the new is here!
That is what the feast is meant to celebrate. God’s great reconciliation. Just because we believe someone has done us great wrong in our family or community does not mean that God is on our side rather than theirs. If we are on God’s side then he expects us to be reconciled, just as the father expected grace from his elder boy towards his brother.
For those who have died or who will die unreconciled, the matter is not over, especially because we believe that life is eternal. This is worth thinking about. Do you expect to be seated at the great feast in heaven? That person is as likely to be there as you, for is God going to condemn him and forgive only you? No, in eternity we may be saved by grace, but we also will have to put right what we have not resolved here, and that may determine our joy. We need to practise grace now so that when we are reunited, it may smooth the way. Of course, each party must be ready for it to be effective and there is the possibility that our overture of reconciliation may not be accepted. Then we must leave the matter in God’s hands. We cannot come before God even in this life without an attempt at reconciliation. Remember that Jesus said, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:23-24
Many of us must look the resentment of the older brother square on and recognize how it also diminishes and depletes us even now. But having done that? The story only opens us up if we can see ourselves in that younger one. For it is only then, it seems to me, that our hearts break open enough to see God’s love for the other as well. And we come in from the ‘field’ and join the party, too. J. Hunt.
One final thing. When the children of Israel entered the land of promise, a prototype of the heavenly New Creation: The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12 The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan. The first feast in the Promised Land. Why because God rolled away the reproach of Egypt, which symbolises the land of lostness and death. This was the feast of freedom, and it is still prepared for us today. Amen
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
God of life, we see the beauty and wonder of your creation in springtime 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 and the power of reconciliation.
(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 their lives. We pray for the people of Ukraine and all who have been displaced by the evil of war.
We are all aware the stressful times in which we live and the burdens many are carrying as the pandemic has settled in
Today, we pray for people whose businesses are still struggling as the pandemic stretches on or are feeling the effects of economic upheaval because of rising costs
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 the Cook family as they mourn their father.
(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 662 Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts
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 104 “The Lord of heaven confess”
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”
Video: “I know whom I have believed,”
For Children
Have you ever lost something that was very precious to you? Some schools and churches have a lost and found box full of things people have lost. If you lose something, you can always ask if it has been found.
Have you ever found something you lost? If so, how did you feel when you found it?
In our Bible lesson today, Jesus told a story about a man who lost something that was very precious to him.
Jesus told the story of a man who had two sons. The younger son asked his father to give him his share of the money that would be his when his father died. The father gave it to him, and the boy left home to go out and see the world and do whatever he wanted. The father was broken-hearted. He had lost one of his sons.
It wasn’t long before the boy wasted all his money on wild living. He had no money to buy anything to eat, so he got a job feeding pigs. It was a very smelly, gross job. But the boy was so hungry that even the rotten food he fed the pigs looked good to him.
The boy looked around at the mess he’d gotten into and said to himself, “My father’s servants live better than this! I will return home and beg for the forgiveness of my father and ask him to take me back as a hired servant.” As the boy approached his father’s house, his loving father, who had been watching and hoping for his son’s return, saw him coming and ran to meet him. He threw his arms around the boy and hugged him and kissed him.
The father was so happy his son had returned, that he gave him a robe and placed a ring on his finger. He ordered his servants to prepare a feast. “My son was dead and now he is alive. He was lost, but now he is found,” he said.
Jesus told this story to show the kind of love God has for His children. When one of God’s children strays away, He always welcomes him with open arms when he returns home. Aren’t you glad that you have a Heavenly Father who loves you, even when you may not deserve it? I am!
Dear Father, we thank You for Your unconditional love and unending forgiveness. We are thankful that even when we stray away, You welcome us home with open arms. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Here is a video about the Prodigal Son