Make me a channel of your peace
O God of Bethel
How great Thou art
All heaven declares
Glorious things of thee are spoken
19th. July 2020 Service
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Call to Worship
We have come together in the presence of God.
We meet in Spirit to worship and praise Him.
We come with joy and expectation
We seek to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,
Speak, Lord, for your servants are listening.
Declare the Word of life to us, O Lord.
The Collect for today
Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know what we need before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Prayer of Adoration and Confession
Creator God, every moment of our lives depends upon your sustaining grace
You alone have been our help and guide.
You alone give us the strength we need to face the challenges which come our way
You alone will be rest for our bodies and souls.
To you we turn for wisdom.
In our worship enable us to find the peace and comfort we long for and to realise the blessing of your nearer presence with us.
Fill us with your Spirit that our praise may be heartfelt, and our prayers inspired in accordance with your will
Open our minds and hearts, that we may see as you see, love as you love, and follow your ways for the sake of Christ our Lord.
Father, you see and understand our innermost thoughts exactly as they are.
The truth of our lives is that we are often impetuous and do not take note of your wisdom.
We are often stubborn and do not want to extend mercy to others.
We can be arrogant and too easily fail to act with love.
We are frequently anxious and forget to trust you in faith. We acknowledge with shame words and actions which weigh on our conscience.
Forgive our failures and give us grace to change, directing who we shall be that we may serve the Gospel well in the community where we live in the knowledge that we are free from guilt and righteous in your sight.
For the sake of Christ, our Lord.
Assurance of Pardon
Dear friends, remember that God is slow to be angry and quick to forgive; kind and gracious to all. Know that your sins are forgiven through the grace of Jesus Christ and forgive those who have sinned against you as he taught us.
Prayer for Understanding
God of wisdom, your thoughts are not our thoughts, your ways are not our ways. As we read the scriptures for today, help us to understand them. Give us new insights to inspire our daily lives and deepen our commitment to you through Jesus Christ our Lord in Whom we pray,
The Lord’s Prayer (in the words most familiar to you)
The Readings
Genesis 28: 10-19a
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran.
11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’
17 He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.’
18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.
19 He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43
24 Jesus told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
26 When the wheat sprouted and formed ears, then the weeds also appeared.
27 ‘The owner’s servants came to him and said, “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?”
28 ‘“An enemy did this,” he replied.’ The servants asked him, “Do you want us to go and pull them up?”
29 ‘“No,” he answered, “because while you are pulling up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time, I will tell the harvesters: first collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.”’
36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.’
37 He answered, ‘The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.
38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one,
39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 ‘As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.
Romans 8:12-25
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation – but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.
13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?
25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Amen,
This is the Word of the Lord, to Him be all praise and glory.
Sermon
“Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it. How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
The legend of the Stone of Scone is a lovely one first recorded in the 14th Century by Walter Hemingford of Glastonbury. Ancient stories speak of it being brought from Ireland by Scotland’s first king, Fergus Mor Mac Erc who was crowned in Argyll and died in CE 501. Another tradition states that angels transported it from Bethel to Scotland. Geologists tell us that the current stone in Edinburgh Castle is of red sandstone from a quarry near Scone. Yet another story describes how the original, a meteor like stone, was hidden in Dunsinane and that a copy was taken to London by Edward 1st. Like the story of Jacob, the stone may have been involved in deception.
Whatever the truth, the stone has long been associated with the sacred and the holy in Scotland, which is largely the point of the story of Jacob’s dream.
Jacob, the younger twin son of Isaac and Rebekah and grandson of Abraham, was literally a “heel grabber.” He was named Jacob because when he was born, he was holding his brother Esau’s heel. This was prophetic as it turned out because he supplanted his slightly older brother by stealing his birth-right along with its concomitant blessing which he tricked his father into giving him by pretending to be his hairy brother. Esau means “man of hair”. Jacob’s subsequent history showed him to be a deceitful trickster who used his wits to make his way in the world
In this story we find him far from home, on the run from Esau’s anger, heading back to Haran (just inside south eastern Turkey) where his grandfather Abraham had stopped for several years after leaving Ur of the Chaldees.
He was in the middle of nowhere, between his family’s home in Beer Sheva in the south and Haran. He was a non-person at a crossroads in his life, exhausted, looking for a place to rest after the sun had set one evening. It was there that he was transformed and given new direction through an encounter with God in a dream. A non-person in a “place” with no name is changed to someone with a new destiny gathered into the purposes of God in a “place” that was the very house of God, Beth-El. Today Beit El is about 12 miles north of Jerusalem in the Arab West Bank
Beth El in 1894
Does the story of Jacob, sleeping in the open with a stone for his pillow, sound a bit farfetched? How easy do you find it to get to sleep? Could you sleep with a stone for a pillow? Well, he had been moving fast to get away from Esau and his men. He was probably glad of what he found on that stony hillside.
Every Sunday School child knows what happened nest.: the vivid dream with a ladder stretching between earth and heaven; and God speaking to Jacob, promising to be always with him, and that one day he would return home.
When he woke up, Jacob looked around at the rocky place and exclaimed:
“Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it. How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
A few weeks ago, I happened upon a book by a Jewish scholar, Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg called The Hidden Story of Jacob which reveals details of this story we usually miss in English translations. Lizorkin-Eyzenberg suggests that the word used here for “ladder” only occurs once in the Bible and possibly refers to a stone structure like a Ziggurat or stepped temple reaching all the way to heaven. It signified to Jacob that the God of heaven is truly identified with what is happening on earth.”
“Jacob’s eyes were opened to see the traffic moving between heaven and earth, which could not be seen with the natural, naked eye. Angels of God (His obedient servants/ messengers) were ascending and descending to fulfil God’s will on Earth. In Psalm 91:10-11 this heaven/earth connection is stated clearly: “There will no evil befall you, neither will any plague come near to your tent. For he will give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all thy ways.”
Jacob named the place Bethel and like other significant holy places in the Ancient Near East, it was considered to have been chosen by the gods as places where they revealed their will to holy men.
Two things strike me about this story. The first is that God loves even despicable cheats like Jacob. After a bad start to his life, Jacob was followed by God and given a new start. Jacob who had been a cheat, went on to become one of the great heroes of the Jewish people. The promises to Abraham and Isaac became his, and the blessing he stole was replaced by an even greater one.
There is a connection here with the Gospel reading today. The parable of Jesus concerning an enemy who sowed weed seed in a good crop, where it sprouted among the wheat. The workers asked to be allowed to go and pull out the weeds. The owner said no; you will root up some good wheat as well. Let it be until harvest. Then the wheat can be saved, and the weeds stacked up and burned. Tares are a poisonous plant that mimics the real wheat. Tares also known as Bearded Darnel – Lolium temulentum – is a species of ryegrass, the seeds of which are a strong soporific poison. It bears the closest resemblance to wheat till the ear appears, and only then is the difference discovered. It grows plentifully in Syria and Palestine.
In the wheat fields of the church, when we see the weeds, the teachings we reckon are not right, the people we find doctrinally and morally offensive, we might want to rush in and get rid of them. Sometimes we may not get it right; we may not be able to pick the difference good growth and bad growth. We become self-righteous. Clean up the church! Get rid of the heretics and sinners! Rip them out! This is a tendency in many churches which believe that only they have the gospel. But of course, Jesus gives no one permission to judge others.
Jacob seemed like a weed, a disappointment to his grandparents Sarah and Abraham. Wouldn’t it have been better for God to let this young cheat just disappear on his flight from Esau? That is not how God sees us; we are given the chance to make a new start. Jacob is granted the vision at Bethel, receives the promise of God’s presence with him, and he in turn makes his vows to God. Many years later Jacob returned to Bethel and again encountered angels, reinforcing his faith and destiny.
The parable of Jesus tells us to wait until the harvest. Then what is wheat and what is weed will be clearly seen. The owner will know the right time. He knows what really wheat is and what is truly weed. Then the weeds can be destroyed.? Isn’t it likely that at the harvest we will get a big surprise as to which in fact are the weeds and which are the true wheat?
There is also another connection among our readings for today. In Romans 8, Paul writes:
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
All of God’s children are his only by his adoption of them. Paul’s point is that our sinfulness disqualifies our natural inheritance and that God adopts us in Christ Jesus to receive anew the full rights of God’s heirs. No one can claim of him or herself to be “godly” (an expression I hate!) The only merit we have is that God has called us and adopted us and that should be grounds only for gratitude and not the pride by which we may be tempted to judge others. Jacob outcast from his birth family, a sinner and cheat, was adopted by God and reincorporated into the heritage of his fathers.
The second thing that is significant in the story of Jacob is that God came to him in a most unlikely situation: a rocky place.
In later times, the prophet Isaiah would see the glory of God in the golden temple at Jerusalem. In Bethel Jacob found no ornate temple, no chapel or meeting hall, no lofty cathedral of exquisite beauty, no evangelical meeting with emotional choir singing and ecstatic preaching, no parish church with beautiful liturgy. Bethel was an unpromising place for a divine revelation; plenty of stones lying around; not much else. That night, as he dropped his exhausted body to the ground, Jacob would have thought that the God of his people was far away. Yet Jacob found it to be a place where God was closest to him; he called this open place “the house of God”
As much as we appreciate beautiful buildings set aside to the glory of God, do not let us ever imagine that these are the only “houses of God.”
There will be rocky times in life, when we seem on our own (like Jacob) and we may imagine that God has deserted you, but that will not be true.
There will be unfortunate times in life when we (like Jacob) have acted badly towards others and suspect that God might want nothing to do with you. But that will not be true.
God will be there in the rocky place. God will be with us in our shame.
The commitment of God is total. God is a covenant God who remains faithful to the promise agreement to be there for us. God is present in every place and situation. Sometimes we may be aware of the holy Presence. But most often we will have no such awareness.
Our feelings can mislead us. Feelings can be deceitful, completely unreliable as an indicator of God’s Presence. Jesus the living Word of God promises to be with us always, and where Christ is, there is God. That is a covenant we can rely on.
No matter how hard the territory we are in, no matter how alone we feel, no matter how much anguish or grief we suffer: “Surely the Lord is in this place; though I did not know it.”
We should also be alert to the truth that God will be present in others, even with those we may not like, those who discomfort us, irritate us, or appear to be irreligious. Rocky times, rocky situations, rocky people, are no barrier to God. Listen to what your opponents say: somewhere within their words there may be a word from God.
It would be much easier if irksome people were scrubbed off God’s visiting list, enabling us to not care about their opinions. It would be more comfortable to divide people into separate camps of “nice people and nasty people”, with a clear line down the middle. (Isn’t that what is happening in so many parts of the world today?) Then we would only have to take the nice people seriously and listen to them carefully, while consigning the opinions of the other mob to the garbage can. But it is not like that. God loves every person, is present with all, and can speak to us through anyone.
One preacher on this subject asked himself:
What is more, which camp would I be in? There is enough of sneaky Jacob in me to suggest that it would by no means certain that I would be patted on the head and consigned to the “nice people” camp! And which do you reckon you would find yourself in? Thank heaven that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and God’s ways are not our ways.”
Rocky places, rocky predicaments, rocky people. Without experiencing a dream like Jacob, we can take it from Jesus that wherever we are we are in Beth El the house of God.
In your rocky situations
Think about it. Think with faith about it.
Think about it when you are being hassled at work.
Think about it if you are lying on a bed in hospital
Think about it when you feel depressed and useless.
Think about it if you become bored in church.
Think about it when you are feeling badly let down by a friend.
Think about it if you are being verbally attacked.
Think about it when others prosper while you battle on.
Think about it if your whole world seems to be falling apart.
Think about it when you feel stretched to the limit of your endurance.
God is to be found among these rocks.
“Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it. How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” Amen.
Invitation to the Offering
Our God responds with great generosity to our needs and requests. We are much loved. Let us share God’s love with others in the dedication of our gifts and offerings.
Prayer of Dedication
Gracious God, we offer you what we have, thankful for your overflowing generosity towards us. Bless these gifts with your love that their goodness may extend to meet the needs of those who cry out to you whom we can help for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
In your mercy and love we ask, O Lord that you will hear our prayers for the world, for one another, and for ourselves:
For our congregations and for your church around the world: that we may be faithful and courageous in the face of all the challenges which we face day by day;
Lord, have mercy.
Hear our prayer.
For mercy, justice, understanding, and peace in relationships between nations: that in this time of anxiety about the future there may still be generosity towards all in need.
Lord, have mercy.
Hear our prayer.
For those who work in fields and forests, in mines and offices, in hospitals, schools and shops; and for those who cannot find work: that as the economy is reorganised, all who do work may be fairly treated and those seeking work may not lose hope.
Lord, have mercy.
Hear our prayer.
For those who travel by land, air and on water, and for those on holiday taking time to explore your creation: that as we recover from the pandemic we will remember to cherish the earth and treat it wisely.
Lord, have mercy.
Hear our prayer.
For those who are teachers and students, for schools, colleges and universities, who plan for a new season of learning in challenging times: that creativity and commitment may lead to discoveries about the world you love and the truth which is rooted in your wisdom.
Lord, have mercy.
Hear our prayer.
For all those in danger and need: for the sick and the dying, the poor and the oppressed, for those standing up against injustice, and for all still at risk from COVID-19.
Lord, have mercy.
Hear our prayer.
For those who are closest to us, for friendships that have stood the test of many years, and for those who love us enough to tell us the truth about ourselves: that they may know our love and appreciation.
Lord, have mercy.
Hear our prayer.
Benediction
May the love of the Lord Jesus draw us to Himself;
May the power of the Lord Jesus strengthen us in his service;
May the joy of the Lord Jesus fill our souls.
May the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Be among us and remain with us always.
Amen.
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 any marked “listen” do not have the lyrics on the screen.)
For Children
This morning, there is a video for you to watch about the story of Jacob and his dream of a ladder from heaven.
This Jacob’s Ladder got its name from a man in the Bible named Jacob. He had a dream about a ladder that reached up to heaven. Jacob started on a long journey to a town called Haran. When Jacob reached a certain place, he stopped to spend the night. Jacob took a large stone and rested his head on it and went to sleep. Does that sound like a comfortable pillow to you? Not me!
As he slept, Jacob had a dream in which there was a ladder that reached from the ground all the way up to heaven. There were angels running up and down the ladder. Jacob looked and saw God himself standing at the top of the ladder. God spoke to Jacob and told him that He was going to bless him and his people and that He would watch over him and keep him wherever he went.
When Jacob woke up, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place.” Then Jacob took the stone he had used for a pillow and poured oil on it. He named the place Bethel, which means the house of the Lord.
This is a wonderful story of how God blessed Jacob, but it is much more than that. It is also a picture of what Jesus has done for you and me. Jesus came down to earth to make a way for you and me to get to heaven. Jesus is the way, the only way, for us to get to heaven.
Afterwards you may wish to sing along with
Did you know that the Stone of Destiny, on which the kings of Scotland have been crowned is reputed to be the stone which Jacob used as a pillow and later made an altar to God? Here is a picture of it in Edinburgh Castle:
Intimation.
The North Queensferry Kirk Session will be meet using virtual media on Wednesday 22nd and the Inverkeithing Kirk Session on Thursday 23rd July 2020 both at 7.00pm. We hope to have an indication of the process on reopening the Church buildings following the meetings.