24th. April. 2022. Service.
Inverkeithing Parish Church linked with North Queensferry Church
Worship April 24th 2o22
Second Sunday of Easter
Prelude “Sing out an Easter Song
Bible Introït 426 “All heaven declares the glory”
Opening Prayer
Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Hymn 124 “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”
Call to Prayer
In life, in death, and in life beyond death,
The Risen Christ is Lord.
In success failure, in fear and in hope,
The Risen Christ is Lord.
For the poor and broken, of the sinner and the sinned against,
The Risen Christ is Lord.
In Church and community, in our hearts and our homes,
The Risen Christ is Lord.
Prayer of Adoration and Confession
Holy God receive us your people meeting
We bring you all thanks and praise, O God, for you meet us in our doubts and fill us with life and peace.
You are the one who was and is and is to come — the beginning and the end — who breathed life into the earth and its creatures.
Our ancestors put their trust in you and celebrated your mighty acts of salvation and we are committed to follow them in the way of righteousness.
You sent your child, Jesus, as a faithful witness to your goodness and love. He was killed by the powerful, but you raised him, as the firstborn from the dead. Appearing behind the locked doors of our fear he breathed Holy Spirit into us and commissioned us to carry his words of peace and mercy to the world. Seated at your right hand as Leader and Saviour, he frees us from sin and makes us a kingdom of priests to serve you forever.
Make us then pure and holy in our living, remove, as you have promised, our sins far from us and give us a spirit of penitence as we remember anything which accuses our conscience. Breathe into us your Holy Spirit that we may be filled with the love of Christ for one another in your church and for everyone we meet in the pathways of our lives. Let your Word be a lamp for our feet, a light on our path today and always
Therefore, with our hearts lifted high, we always offer you thanks and praise through Jesus Christ our Lord, in Whom we pray,
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
Coffee mornings will be held in Inverkeithing each Tuesday at 10:00am and in North Queensferry on Wednesday 27th April at 10:30am. In Inverkeithing, the coffee morning on May 3rd will be in aid of Christian Aid and the “New for You” stall has been set up in the side room.
The Bible Discussion Group will meet in North Queensferry on Tuesday 26th April at 7:30pm.
The funeral of our member, Mrs Bunty Geddes, will be held in Inverkeithing Parish church on Thursday 28th April at 1:45pm then at Dunfermline Crematorium at 2:45pm. Please remember her family in your prayers.
Presbytery Mission Plan
There has been speculation in the press about proposed changes to ministry and church closures in the proposed new Presbytery Plan. These are far from confirmed at this point and the Presbytery consultations will be ongoing for some time. Designated elders and cluster group members from our congregations will be meeting with the Mission Strategy Committee in the first week of May. Please avoid entering speculative discussions about this until definite decisions have been reached.
Invitation to the Offering
In this season of Easter, we celebrate God’s most precious gift to us in Christ’s dying and rising. As we present our offering today, let us give with thankful hearts, trusting that God can do amazing things through the gifts we offer in Jesus’ name.
Prayer of Dedication
Generous God,
Along with our gifts we offer you our thanks for your unfailing love, our foundation when life seems uncertain. Bless these gifts and the ministry of our congregation; and bless the mission we undertake as part of your church in Scotland. May what we offer extend the blessings we know to others, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord. Amen.
All Age Talk
Have you ever had to see something with your own eyes before you were willing to believe it? Suppose your mom came in and told you there was a puppy waiting for you at home. You might have a hard time believing it was true until you got home and saw the puppy with your own eyes, right? The same is true for many of us. We often must see something to believe it.
Let’s try something together. If I put this paperclip in water, do you think it will sink or float? Let’s see. Drop the paperclip in the clear bowl of water. It will sink.
Now, what if I told you that you could make this paperclip float? Would you believe me? Or would it feel so impossible you would have to see it to believe it?
Let’s try it now. Put a small paper towel about the size of a Post-It Note on the surface of the water and then carefully place the paper clip on the piece of paper towel. When the paper towel becomes saturated, it will sink, leaving the paper clip floating on the surface of the water. Wow! That’s amazing! The paper clip is floating! We wouldn’t believe it if we hadn’t seen it with our own two eyes.
Our Bible lesson today is about believing what we cannot see.
On the evening of the first Sunday after Jesus was crucified, His disciples were together in a locked room. They were afraid that those who had crucified Jesus would also want to put them to death. Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the locked room with the disciples. It was hard for the disciples to believe, but they saw Him with their eyes. Jesus showed them the wounds in His hands and His side, so they knew it was Him.
One of the disciples, whose name was Thomas, was not with the others when Jesus appeared to them. When they told Thomas they had seen Jesus, he did not believe them. He had seen Jesus crucified and buried; how could He be alive? Thomas said, “Unless I see the wound in His side and put my finger in the holes where the nails were in His hands, I will not believe it!”
A week later, the disciples were in the locked room again and this time Thomas was with them. Again, Jesus came and stood among the disciples. Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas fell on his knees and answered Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
You and I have never seen Jesus with our own eyes. The question is, will we be a doubter like Thomas? Or will we be blessed because we believe, even though we have not seen?
Dear Father, help us to believe in our heart those truths we find in Your Holy Word, even though we have not seen them with our eyes. Amen.
Chorus: Hévénu shalom aléchem
Psalm 150
1 Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord. Amen
Hymn 417 “Now the green blade rises”
John 20:19-31
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.’
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’
But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ 27 Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’
28 Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’
29 Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’ Amen, this is the word of the Lord, to Him be all glory and praise.
Hymn 645 “I’m not ashamed to own my Lord”
Sermon
A volunteer at a homeless shelter had been bringing clothes and toys and special books and games to a woman with two young boys in the shelter. The woman was quiet and grateful but not effusive about her thanks. She never had a lot of conversation with the volunteer, but nevertheless the volunteer continued to bring her things she thought the family would enjoy. Sometimes it was food, or maybe a new blanket, always they were items that seemed to meet a specific need or an interest.
Several weeks into their strange relationship, the woman with the young boys was going through a rough time. She had responded in heated anger to another person at the shelter and was issued a warning. The director of the program told the volunteer that despite this outward burst of anger, the woman had expressed great love for the volunteer who visited her routinely. This was a relationship she looked forward to and didn’t want the consequence of her anger to be the loss of these regular visits.
This really took the volunteer’s breath away. Her face changed and her eyebrows furrowed with surprise and intrigue. “Why? She never really talks to me. We don’t have a real relationship.” The director said, “She may not speak much, but she has never been loved before. And you keep coming back. You bring her things she needs, you always remember to include her children, and you come when you say you will come. No one has ever done that for her before. This is the first time anyone has loved her.”
There are things in life that are truly unbelievable until we see them. Some things just must be experienced before we can really know them, and love is one of them.
When the disciples saw Jesus for the first time after his crucifixion, they rejoiced! We can imagine their surprise — their beloved teacher who was horrifically killed and is alive again. The return of a loved one from the dead seems like one of those things you must see to believe. And Jesus came back with another important teaching: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
All the disciples needed Jesus’ forgiveness for all had failed him. Without an experience of forgiveness, can anyone believe this is true? Without seeing the risen Christ, can we know that he is alive?
Thomas gets a bad reputation for his doubts. Imagine the grief he must have felt. His friend has died in a terrifying display of public violence. It must have seemed like a cruel joke that the other disciples saw him alive again, but not Thomas. It is not hard to imagine him feeling many things at once, as people often do when life takes a hard, traumatic turn. He probably felt anger, sadness, maybe even hatred toward those who killed Jesus. All those feelings became even more acute when he missed Jesus’s visit with the other disciples, and he may even have felt jealousy on top of all of it — jealousy that the other disciples were able to see Jesus and receive another teaching from him and he didn’t.
For Thomas, seeing the wounds would mean more than knowing for certain that Jesus had died and rose from the dead. It would confirm what was done to Jesus. It would justify the magnitude of Thomas’s feelings — of everything from despair and sadness to jealousy and hatred.
The way the volunteer treated the woman in the homeless shelter was confirmation for the woman that love was real and that other people had not treated her with love or respect. Perhaps she had known that, but sometimes it is hard to see pain for what it is. Seeing a stranger treat her with love proved to her that friends and family really had wronged her. That’s why she responded in anger to others in the shelter. She was angry. She was angry that it took a strange, kind woman to prove to her the pain of her past. Sometimes seeing really is believing.
Thomas isn’t exactly breathless when he finally sees Jesus and is invited to touch the wounds, but his words are laced with genuine surprise, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas can finally exhale. He can let go of the magnitude of his feelings and know that Jesus is alive. Not terrorism, not death, not even hatred could sweep Jesus away.
Letting go — forgiving If you have ever experienced a yoga class you will probably know that much of the practice is about breathing. Yoga teachers demonstrate ways to breathe that they claim energize the body, ways to heat the body up or cool the body down and ways to de-stress with breath. Instructors often talk about gaining control over our breath and how that can help regulate other autonomic body functions like heart rate or blood pressure and can even slow brain waves or change the way the body releases hormones. Breathing is a powerful thing. At a moment when people around the world are literally struggling to breathe, whether due to coronavirus or oppressive systems or climate change, it is heartening to hear that our breath is our own.
Upon exhaling the Holy Spirit onto the disciples, Jesus tells them that they have control over who they forgive or from who they withhold forgiveness.
Have you wondered by whom or what or where the sin is retained? On thinking about this in relation to Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit on the disciples, and their breath-catching response to seeing him again, could forgiving or retaining sin be like breathing? When you let go of your breath, air exits taking with it the carbon dioxide and particulates your body doesn’t need. Your body will keep doing this for as long as you are alive, whether you give it much thought or not, but the more thought you give it and the more control you have over it, the greater the benefit to you.
If you choose not to exhale, your muscles will fatigue, your body will fill with carbonic acid. Eventually, you will lose consciousness, and your autonomic nervous system will regain control over your respiratory system forcing you to exhale.
Retaining sin is something like holding your breath. If you hold it long enough it will just build within you until you are forced to let it go. Or, you could let it go bit by bit with every exhalation. If you can gain control over how and when you forgive, then like gaining control over your breath, you will have more control over how you live your life.
You may have noticed that this verse seems to imply that the disciples were given authority to forgive sins or to withhold forgiveness from people. This causes a massive theological problem because the rest of the gospel states clearly that God forgives all who seek him and he makes our forgiveness of others a condition of receiving forgiveess Jesus says something similar in Matthew’s gospel. 18:15-18
15 ‘If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that “every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18 ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loosen on earth will be loosed in heaven.
To understand this, we must look carefully at the context. This passage is a code for discipline within the community of the disciples. If Christians disagree there is a process for reconciliation which starts personally and then involves others and finally the church as a body. The assumption is that the Holy Spirit will be in and among the community and will be guiding everyone. If a person is recalcitrant within the church, then the disciples have this authority to withhold forgiveness. See verse 17.
There is an example of this in 1 Corinthians. Paul determined that church members in Corinth shouldn’t have tolerated a man who was involved in sexual immorality with his stepmother: “Your glorying is not good” (1 Corinthians 5:1-6). However, about a year later, Paul told them that the man’s punishment and repentance were “sufficient” for them to “forgive and comfort him” in 2 Corinthians 2:6-7). We can conclude this is not a right that individual Christians have ever had, rather it is a part of the Spirit’s guidance in dealing with deliberate sin within the Church community.
The other thing is that the use of the perfect tense in Greek implies that the forgiveness is already given or withheld, not by the disciples, but by the Holy Spirit who is surely inspiring his disciples and apostles. By their faith and the Spirit’s inspiration they are conveying God’s forgiveness or condemnation. They are channels of forgiveness or otherwise, not its originators. What this implies is that forgiveness is not automatic in some situations. A person who is impenitent cannot receive forgiveness for he is denying the Holy Spirit who is appealing to him.
We all know that a person who does not want to be forgiven and so is unwilling and unable accept forgiveness. In that case there is nothing anyone else, including God can do. A person who won’t accept God’s forgiveness cannot receive it and therefore will not be forgiven. That is an aspect of the gospel that is often forgotten nowadays.
But sometimes there is injustice among Christians as they misuse the very human power to withhold in forgiveness. Consider this story
A friend of mine, a truly lovely older brother named Allan, was touring in England. Among his delights was visiting not just cathedrals, but village churches which were steeped in generations of the joy and sorrow of ordinary Christians. Arriving in one village, he headed for the parish Church, opened the door, and stepped into its secluded beauty.
Near the back of the building, a man was kneeling and weeping. Without saying a word, my friend went and kneeled a few paces away. When with a heavy sigh the villager sat up, Allan put his hand gently on the man’s shoulder and said: “My friend, you seem to be doing it tough. Can I be of any assistance?” The stranger, recognising genuine compassion, blurted out his story. Ten years earlier when he was in his late teens, he had committed a crime, was arrested, tried, and sentenced. He had been free for nine months. But he still felt terribly ashamed and came (not on Sunday with others) but alone during each week, to pray for the Lord’s help.
Allan said: “But God forgives you. Forgives you utterly. You know that don’t you? You don’t need to pray alone; you should be here on Sunday with other Christians.”
The stranger started to sob again, and then whispered: “Yes, I know God forgives me, but the people in my church and village do not. Until they do, I am trapped with a feeling of ongoing disgrace. I cannot face them on Sunday. That is why I come here alone to pray during the week.”
With that poignant story in our minds, let us again hear the words of Jesus: If you forgive people’s sins, they stand forgiven. But if you withhold forgiveness, they will remain unforgiven. And that may be an injustice. B.P.
As the representatives of Christ Jesus, those on whom he breathes his Spirit, we are all in the business of either forgiving or binding sins. We are not talking about a legal right to blot out or retain black marks in some judgement book in heaven. We are talking about the nitty gritty of what is happening here and now. What really happens in our relationships. As the only visible body that Christ now has on earth, the churches are constantly offering forgiveness or withholding it, loosing, or binding. We either make real the forgiveness of Christ to each other or we tie up each other more tightly in the bonds of guilt. So, we see that the wisdom of the Holy Spirit is necessary to guide the Christian community as well as individuals.
The biblical text doesn’t tell us for sure how Thomas or the disciples felt about Jesus’ death and resurrection. We don’t know if they were able to forgive those who crucified Jesus. We don’t know if Thomas was able to forgive himself for his doubts. But the collective exhalation of Thomas and the disciples was almost palpable when the sight of Jesus nearly took their breath away.
We don’t know where life took the woman and her children from the homeless shelter. We don’t know if she was able to forgive those that broke her trust or mistreated her or did not love her in the ways she deserved. But knowing that she did experience love brings a joy that can take our breath away.
It has been a trying year. We have managed shutdowns, social distancing, quarantine, illness and even death. There have been economic losses, the loss of homes, jobs, education and even the loss of a sense of normalcy. Some of us have had major losses of mental and physical health, relapses in progress we’d made toward goals. There is plenty to bring anger, tears, rage or even hate.
The resurrected Christ offers us a way out of these labyrinthian feelings. Simply exhale. Breathe out forgiveness always aware that whatever you retain will be retained. Whatever you loosen your grip on will go. What would it take for you to exhale and let go of the magnitude of your feelings? What would take your breath away? Amen.
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
We thank you, O Lord, for you are good,
Your steadfast love endures forever.
We thank you for the many ways you provide for our needs:
for air and water, for food and shelter, for work to do and rest to sustain us. We pray for your creation, too often at risk because of the choices humans have made. Help us care for the earth and all its creatures and natural ecosystems. Show us how to cherish the world you have entrusted to us to protect it for future generations.
We thank you O Lord, for you are good,
Your steadfast love endures forever.
We thank you, God, for family: the families we were born or adopted into, the families we married into, and other families who welcomed us into their circle as friends and neighbours.
We pray for those who have lost family members and relationships, and for people who have experienced abuse and pain within the family circle.
God, we also thank you for friendship: for friends who have supported us through months of pandemic restrictions and for people who bring us joy and wise counsel.
Help us extend the gift of friendship to people who are experiencing isolation, loneliness, or grief.
We thank you, O Lord, for you are good,
Your steadfast love endures forever.
We thank you, God, for the peace and freedom we enjoy in Scotland. Help us to find the grace we need to defend our peace and freedom and pray that we may deepen our love and compassion for others especially any who disturb our peace with different opinions and priorities.
We thank you, O Lord, for you are good,
Your steadfast love endures forever.
We pray for people in places where there is neither freedom nor peace: people living under oppressive regimes or in conflict zones, and others who have fled their homelands, in search of safety. May they find a welcome among us.
Give us courage to stand up for people who cannot stand up for themselves, that they too may know peace and freedom.
We thank you, O Lord, for you are good,
Your steadfast love endures forever.
We thank you for your Church, for our congregation and its leaders, and for everyone who volunteers their time, talent, and energy to the work of the gospel of Jesus our Lord.
Guide By your Spirit us as we regroup after the months of pandemic and inspire afresh our mission and ministry.
We pray for other churches in our community and in our presbytery, and the sense of mission that guides each one. Show us the way forward as we look to an uncertain future.
Create in us a deeper sense of unity and model our relationships in a way that transcends our differences in this divided world. Inspire us to extend your love and forgiveness to each other and to leave all judgment to you.
We thank you, O Lord, for you are good,
Your steadfast love endures forever.
O God, thank you for the gift of your Son, whose resurrection empowers us to look to the future with hope.
Thank you for the gift of your Spirit who draws us into unity with you and one another, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hymn 436 “Christ triumphant ever reigning”
Benediction
Let the trumpet sound! Let your voices be raised in celebration! Go into God’s world with joy, knowing that God’s love goes with you. And be at peace! Amen.
“May God’s blessing surround you each day”
Postlude: Come people of the Risen King