St John 6: 22 – 34

The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the lake saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’

Reflection

Where’s Jesus? He was here a moment ago and now he has gone. But where? Jesus later explains that having had their fill of fish and bread, the crowds were no longer focussed on him. It is a salutary warning that when all is well, we lose sight of Jesus. But when the hunger returns they go looking for him again. So with us, when there is need we turn once more to God and we re-engage in prayer.
 
The crowds go looking and find fulfilment of Jesus’ promise that those who seek will find. And yet when they find him it still comes as a surprise ‘When did you come here?’ It is almost as though they weren’t expecting to find him. And yet Jesus shows up. Sometimes Jesus shows up at the most surprising of times and in the most unexpected of places. Oh, we of little faith.
 
The crowds had missed what Jesus was about. Yes, the feeding of the five thousand was in many ways a sign and yet, they had only noticed that they had been fed, not realising who Jesus is and what he had come for. The ever-patient Jesus then explains that God-given bread is what brings life to our world.
 
Being a baby boomer I have lived in a world of relative peace and prosperity. It is a shock then to discover a world of unprecedented uncertainty and fear on many fronts. Where’s Jesus now when we need him? As we go looking for him we should not be surprised to find him in the refugee camps, in foodbanks and warm hubs and even sometimes in the corridors of power as a still small voice witnessing and working for a better way of life and living. And indeed, we can be Jesus’ presence wherever we find ourselves and bring life and light to our dark world.
 
Prayer

Lord where are you?
Open our eyes and ears
to see and hear your presence amongst us.
Open our hearts to believe in you
and that you have come to bring life in all its fullness.
Stir us to go
and be there for those who are looking for you. Amen 

St John 6: 16 – 21

When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, got into a boat, and started across the lake to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.  The lake became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles,  they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming near the boat, and they were terrified.  But he said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’  Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land towards which they were going.

Reflection

Jesus walking on water is a story in all four gospels. Let’s listen to the unique voice of John’s version.  

Jesus, following the feeding of the 5000 plus, has been left behind on his own.  The disciples take off in a boat, but after rowing for sometime a storm arises.  Fear finds its way into the boat.  There is nowhere to hide, nothing to do, but cower in the boat and then…

They see Jesus and hear him say – ‘I am. Don’t be afraid.’  This is the revelation of God in Jesus’ voice.  They see the power of God in their teacher walking on water.  Jesus, as God’s Son, is present with them, and they are safely ashore. 

Most of the time our lives revolve around routine, the same old same old, day after day.  Some of us have the joy of jobs which are full of surprises, but we still have our daily rituals, like reading these daily devotions, creating meals, cleaning our houses, connecting with family and friends.  

Sometimes, however, life becomes unstable; the storms come out of nowhere – and we are afraid.  Our life-boat has lost its stability.  We find ourselves looking beyond our boat to the horizon. Our future is unclear because we do not know what is beyond the storm.  Fears overwhelm us. 
 
These fears – present and future – may prohibit us from hearing the words of Jesus, ‘I’m here.’  They may prohibit us from landing on the stable shore.  

Amidst our fears these verses remind us to listen for the voice of Jesus, to watch for him beside us.  When we are in our boats, tossed about on stormy seas, where is Jesus?  Is he in the staff who delivers treatment, the friend who sits with us in our sorrow, the child who trusts their life to us? Jesus calls to us through the wind and waves, ‘I’m here. Don’t be afraid.’  Our boat doesn’t sink, and we land on the stable shore with Jesus present.

Prayer

Jesus, 
whether we find ourselves in the rocking boat 
or on the stable shore, help us see you today.

Jesus, quiet the voices in our hearts, 
the voices that shout for our attention
 in the world around us, 
so that we can hear your voice, 
promising your presence with us.

Jesus, help us trust you are with us now 
and into our tomorrows. Amen.

 
Today’s service is led by the Revd Fiona Bennett

 
Welcome & Gathering

Hello. My name is Fiona Bennett the minister at  Augustine United Church in Edinburgh.  I am delighted be with you sharing in your worship this morning.  

Call to Worship
 
The Risen Christ is amongst us
breathing new vision into our imaginations;
breathing new hope into our hearts,
breathing new purpose into our actions.
Risen Christ, with all that is in us, we raise our voices to praise you!

Hymn     Womb of Life & Source of Being
Ruth Duck © 1992 GIA Publications, Inc. OneLicence # A-734713. Sung by Heather Price at the St George in the Pines Anglican Church, Banff, Canada

Womb of life, and source of being, 
home of ev’ry restless heart, 
in your arms the worlds awakened;
you have loved us from the start. 
We, your children, gather ’round you,
at the table you prepare.
Sharing stories tears and laughter, 
we are nurtured by your care.

Word in flesh, our brother Jesus,
born to bring us second birth, 
you have come to stand beside us,
knowing weakness, knowing earth.
Priest who shares our human struggles,
Life of Life, and Death of Death,
risen Christ, come stand among us, 
send the Spirit by your breath.

Brooding Spirit, move among us;
be our partner, be our friend.
When our mem’ry fails, remind us 
whose we are, what we intend. 
Labour with us, aid the birthing
of the new world made new,
ever singing, ever praising, 
one with all, and one with you.

Mother, Brother, holy Partner;
Father, Spirit, Only Son:
we would praise your name forever,
one-in-three, and three-in-one.
We would share your life, your passion, 
share your word of world made new, 
ever singing, ever praising,
one with all, and one with you.

Gathering Prayer

From deep within us to the farthest reaches of space 
the Risen Christ is present. 
Resurrection God, as daylight lengthens and buds swell, 
promising greening and hope, we give you thanks for the new life 
you are birthing in our world and our hearts.

God of eternal resurrection,
may your Spirit breathe new life into our lives this day:
to melt with your love that which is frozen in fear or apathy;
to transform with your courage, that which is dead and not life-giving;
to release with your grace, all which ensnares and oppresses;
that in the breath of your Spirit, 
we would awaken to your Realm present amongst us
and live as your disciples and witnesses.

We unite our prayers together in the Jesus’ Prayer or Lord’s Prayer using the form or words which are most worshipful for us…Our Father…

Hymn     Lord of Life We come To You 
Catherine Walker (b1958) © St Mungo Music OneLicence # A-734713. Performed by Aileen Sim, Morven McNeil, and Rebecca Barnard of Macduff Parish Church and used with their kind permission.

Lord of life, we come to you.
Lord of all, our Saviour be,
Come to bless and to heal
With the light of your love.

Through the days of doubt & toil,
in our joy and in our pain,
guide our steps in your way.
Make us one in your love.  
 
Reading     Acts 16:9-15

During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis,  and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days.  On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.  When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.

Hymn     Spirit of the Living God  
Daniel Iverson (1890-1977) 1982 Fred Bock Music Co., Inc. OneLicence # A-734713. Performed by Emmaus Music and used with their kind permission.

Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.
Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.
Melt me, mould me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.

Reading     St John 5:1-9

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”  Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” At once the man was made well, he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath.

Reflection – Changing Direction 

Often around May in Scotland the air temperature seems to warm (a bit) and gardens require more attention as new growth ramps up. I am always in awe at how plants react to warmth, water and soil to grow and become.

If you think about it most growth or change is a response to an encounter… vinegar encounters baking soda and reacts with fizz (releasing carbon dioxide); seeds (if kept dry) lay dormant for a long time, until they encounter water, soil and warmth; a chest infection remains until your immune systems encounters antibiotics and is strengthened; we understand there is only one way of making white sauce, until we live with someone outside our family! On a more serious note we may think there is only one way of living or loving, until we encounter others who live and love differently.

Encounters create the opportunity for change and growth.

Today’s readings are stories of people who encountered Jesus and through those encounters the journeys of their lives changed direction.

I would like to invite us today to reflect on these encounters and through them to hear (through the words of a hymn) the invitation to grow and change the directions of our lives and world through encountering Jesus today.

     Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
     Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?
     Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known?
     Will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

I think this is possibly one of our best known modern hymns. It expresses Jesus’ invitation to understand our lives as a journey in faith with him; a journey to be and become the people and the world God dreams for us to be.

Our readings today offer us stories about people whose journey’s of faith changed direction once they encountered Jesus.

As a Pharisee, Saul was already on a journey with God, but he encountered Jesus and his journey took a very different direction.

     Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?
     Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
     Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare,
     will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?

Paul was committed to spreading the news of Jesus wherever God sent him. The story we heard from the books of Acts is only one episode in a larger set of Pauls’s adventures. 

When they got to the city of Philippi, we are told that Paul & Silas remained for some days. We don’t know what they were doing in those days, but on the Sabbath they headed out of the city to pray by the river. There they met a group of women already gathered to pray. 

I believe if there was no synagogue in a settlement, a river or place of water is what could serve as the place to pray, because it enabled people to ritually wash and cleanse themselves.

Lydia was one of that crowd of women. She came from Thyatira (today that’s in Turkey) and was a seller of purple dye which was considered a luxury item. Purple dye was made from snails, very expensive to produce and extremely popular as the colour of the Roman Emperor.

The Lord opened Lydia’s heart to Paul’s message and there, in the river, she and her household were baptised. Which she follows with offering hospitality.

Like Paul, Lydia had already been on a journey with God, but when she encountered Jesus through the words of Paul, her faith journey took a clear shift in direction.

     Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?
     Will you set the prisoners free and never be the same?
     Will you kiss the leper clean and do such as this unseen,
     and admit to what I mean in you and you in me?

This story fills me with questions of wonder which I would like to offer us to mull on:

Paul & Silas left Troas immediately in response to Paul’s dream. So after that fast action of departing, I wonder what they were thinking as they hung about in Philippi for some days? 

Can we think of times in our lives and in the life of our world, when we have felt a strong sense of call and acted quickly, but when things haven’t fallen into place easily or swiftly, have wondered if we have done the right thing?

The Sabbath came and Paul & Silas followed the familiar ritual of going somewhere to pray. I presume that this was because there was  no synagogue for them to access.

I wonder what the places of water could be for us today? Places outside formal worship spaces where people go to pray? I wonder what opportunities for encounter those places may hold for us and how those encounters could change our direction as individuals, local churches and as a denomination?

I wonder if Paul & Silas expected to meet a group of women? Are we open to being changed by those we least expect today?

I wonder if Lydia, as a foreigner herself and a trader, was more open to listening and to hearing the strange message of these foreign travellers – Paul & Silas?

I wonder if our world is not more open and able to hear Jesus’ Gospel than we believe, if only we dare to encounter it and share?

I wonder what Lydia was like and how she coped with the male dominated world around her as a trader?  (This was a woman who made the decision to have her whole household baptised. She sounds like a powerful figure.)

I wonder at Lydia’s response of hospitality. It is the strong and beautiful response of Middle Eastern culture, (from which we in the western world have much to learn) but I also wonder if in her baptism, Lydia now saw herself and Paul & Silas as part of one family, one kin with the significant commitment of support and help of kinship which we see across the book of Acts? To have the powerful Lydia as your kin, could be perceived as God looking after Paul and Silas in the midst of their vulnerable travels.

I wonder how God cares for us as we journey through life and new encounters?

And finally in response to this story, I wonder, as we journey through life with God, when and how we have encountered Jesus in different ways, through different people and places, and how those encounters have changed the direction of our travel?

     Will you love the ‘you’ you hide if I but call your name?
     Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
     Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around
     through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?

In the story of the Sheep Gate there is a man with an illness who has been beside the pool for 38 years. There was a legend that when an angel stirred up the water, folk could get into it and be healed of illness.
The man in the story has never made it into the pool. This man too was on a journey of faith, but his journey has not involved much distance for a very long time. Faith, perhaps desperation, had brought him to the Sheep Pool but there he stayed for nearly as long as the people wandered through the wilderness with Moses.

Then Jesus wandered into his life; Paul met the risen Jesus, Lydia met Jesus through Pauls’ words, but this man met Jesus face to face.

Jesus knew he had been lying there for a long time and he asked him: Do you want to be healed? …What a question to someone sitting by a pool for healing! The man replied: Sir there is no one to put me into the pool and while I am getting in, another steps in front of me.

There is a frustration in the man’s response that there is no one to support him to move forward on his journey. 

I wonder if you can think of times when we as individuals, churches, as a denomination have felt our journey of faith has stalled and we have been stuck by a pool with no one to help us, for a very long time?

Interestingly Jesus’ response to the man is not to lift him into the pool nor says: I’ll cure you! Instead he gives the man what he says he lacks; the ability to move and get himself to the pool or wherever he needs to go.

‘Stand up, pick up your mat and walk.’

From this encounter with Jesus the life of the man who had sat by the pool had the opportunity to turn in a significantly new direction. 

I wonder if we can think of ways in which encounters with Jesus have given us what we lacked, in order to journey on? 

I wonder what God may be saying to us and giving us (even from very unexpected places) what we need to start out in a new direction on our journey of faith?

     Lord, your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
     Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
     In your company I’ll go where your love and footsteps show.
     Thus I’ll move and live and grow in you and you in me.

Hymn     Will You Come and Follow Me?  
John Bell & Graham Maule ©1987  WGRG, Iona Community, OneLicence # A-734713. Performed by Joy and Ruth Everingham and used with their kind permission.

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown, will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

Will you leave your self behind if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare,
will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean and do such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean in you and you in me?

Will you love the ‘you’ you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around
through my sight & touch & sound in you and you in me?
 
Lord, your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In your company I’ll go where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I’ll move and live and grow in you and you in me.

Prayers of the People

Holy One, Jesus asked the man by the Sheep Pool, 
‘Do you want to be made well?’
We bring to you places in our lives and world 
which are in need of healing.
We pray for courage for humanity, to pick up our mats 
and walk towards the healing you set before us.

We bring to you the earth as temperatures rise and species disappear;
Holy One, grant us the courage to pick up our mats 
and walk together towards healing and justice for the earth.
We bring to you places in the world which are disfigured 
by the violence of war; Holy One, grant us the courage 
to pick up our mats and walk together towards peace and healing 
for war torn lands and societies.

We bring to you people who are suffocating from poverty;
Holy One, grant us the courage to pick up our mats and walk together towards a culture of generosity and systems of equity.

We bring to you people who are ill in body and in mind and all who care for them; Holy One, grant us the courage to pick up our mats
and walk together with all who are ill towards a community of support, shared resources and wholeness for all.

Jesus you ask us: Do we want to be well? Grant us the courage to receive the strength and opportunities you offer  to follow your way, 
that all may be healed and know abundant life.
These prayers we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen

Offering & Dedication

Please sing the doxology and the offering is collected.

     Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
     Praise God all creatures here below! 
     Praise God above you heavenly host!
     Praise Maker, Christ and Holy Ghost.

Prayer of Dedication

Holy One, all that we have and all that we are are gifts of your love.
We thank you and offer ourselves to you 
for the building of your Realm of love and justice 
in our lives and throughout the Earth.

Hymn     I the Lord of Sea and Sky  
© 1981, Daniel L Schutte, New Dawn Music OneLicence # A-734713. Sung by Chris Brunelle and used with his kind permission.

I, the Lord of sea and sky, 
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin 
my hand will save.
I, who made the stars of night, 
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them? 
Whom shall I send?
            
Here I am, Lord.  Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of snow and rain, 
I have borne my people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them.
They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone,
give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my words to them.
Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord.  Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of wind and flame, 
I will send the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them. 
My hand will save.
Finest bread I will provide 
till their hearts be satisfied.
I will give my life to them.
Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord.  Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.
 
Blessing 

May the blessing of God Almighty;
Creator, Christ, and Comforter,
be with us all today and every day. Amen.
 

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.  A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.  Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples.  Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.  When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’  He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.  Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’  One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him,  ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’  Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all.  Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.  When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’  So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.  When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’ When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Reflection

‘Where are we to find food for all these people to eat?’ Well, these days we’d just call Deliveroo, wouldn’t we, and a host of motorbikes bearing pizza would arrive in convoy within the hour. But without the wonders of the internet, the disciples were at a loss. But the generous offering of a small child was the one step needed for a miracle to take place.

The Bible passage talks of a crowd – in other gospels the number of men are mentioned and the women and children just taken for granted as extras, not worth the counting but there none-the-less. It got me thinking, if the women and children were there this time, then they were almost certainly there every time. Try reading those gospel stories again, but this time imagine them from a child’s eye view rather than, as I expect you do, as though you were there as an adult.  Does it change your perspective?

Maybe when we’re looking for the answer to a problem, it might not be the privileged people in the room, the ones who ‘count’, who have the answer. And the answer might not be the one you expect. Are you in the centre, a person who ‘counts’ in your congregation? You may be blessed when you intentionally make space for the contributions of those on the margins. Do you feel yourself on the margins? Perhaps it is time for you to speak out or use the gifts God has given you, however small they may seem, because Jesus might just be waiting for you to help a miracle take place.

Prayer

All-inclusive God,
You call each of us to give what we can,
no matter how small,
and to enable others to give too.
Open our hearts to hear your call,
our eyes and ears to perceive the need around us.
Take whatever we give, whatever we do, whatever we say,
and use it to further your kingdom here on earth. Amen. 

St John 5: 30 – 47

Jesus said:  ‘I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgement is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. ‘If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.  There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true.  You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth.  Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved.  He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.  But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.  And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf.  You have never heard his voice or seen his form,  and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent. ‘You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf.  Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.  I do not accept glory from human beings.  But I know that you do not have the love of God in[f] you.  I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him.  How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God?  Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope.  If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.  But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?’

Reflection

These words – ‘You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; […] Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.’ – are among the saddest words in the Bible.

You have the Bible; you know the Bible; you study the Bible; you even have theological quarrels and wars about the Bible; and yet you are completely missing the point! This is, basically, what Jesus is saying here. It’s not about theology – about what you claim to believe. It’s not about how much I know or how loudly I claim to be ‘orthodox’ or ‘reformed’ or ‘right’. It’s about how faithfully we follow the Lord.
This is where Jesus started – they hated him because he healed a man on the Sabbath. God gave them the Sabbath law for their benefit: don’t work all the time, have a day of rest. But they turned it into doctrine, and doctrine is used to divide people into the ‘in’ and the ‘out’ crowd. The ‘holier-than-thou’ and the not good enough. And in their eyes, being kind on a Sabbath wasn’t good enough. It broke doctrine. It was against tradition.

Of course, we are not as bad as those wretched Pharisees. We are Christians, we don’t follow the Law – we have our own rules and doctrines and traditions and habits and party lines. We use these to hit people with, to criticise, and hurt, and use as excuses for being unkind and divisive and ‘holier-than-thou’. We can even find the right scripture verse to support our lack of kindness.

Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, 
following you is not difficult, complicated, nor hard.
You call us to be good, kind, and loving.
You call us to be human and humane.
It is not your way that is hard – 
it’s my heart that has grown hard and cold.
Forgive me.
Help me to do better; to be better.
I don’t even ask for years of ‘better’ – I only ask for a day: today.
Amen.

St John 5: 10 – 29

Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.’  But he answered them, ‘The man who made me well said to me, “Take up your mat and walk.”’  They asked him, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Take it up and walk”?’  Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there.  Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.’  The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath.  But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working.’  For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.

Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.  Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomsoever he wishes.  The Father judges no one but has given all judgement to the Son,  so that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Anyone who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him.  Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgement, but has passed from death to life.

‘Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.  For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself;  and he has given him authority to execute judgement, because he is the Son of Man.  Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice  and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

Reflection

John’s Gospel used to be my favourite, showing us Jesus as Love itself. God, walking, teaching, healing, prophesying, frightening worried people that their lives fall short.  John now fails for me with quite clear antisemitism and not a little misogyny.  I work at digging out what the writer laid out so that readers would believe that Jesus is the Messiah and that belief in him will bring eternal life.

Bible reading always carries the reminder that, thousands and more years old, it was – and is – edited in very different cultures than our own. In this cultural time some politicians and elite people across the planet are taking us back to historical social injustice. It is our task now, perhaps more than any other time, to name the things which don’t meet 21st Century standards of justice and, at the same time, dig for universal truth wherever we find it. God was there then, is here now, and knows how hard it is for people to love each other.  That’s the biggest Why of Jesus. That perhaps, some time in some millennia, we might just get it, we might just get Jesus, we might just realise that loving each other is what Jesus was trying to get us to do.  To make it easier, Holy Spirit was poured out to give us energy to do it.  Why don’t we?  God alone knows.

In the meantime, we can try to accept that, yes, Jesus was healing on the Sabbath. There we are. Jesus called God his own Father. Yup. Jesus restores life to those who have died. Physical dead bodies reliving, or the living ‘dead’ – people so mentally injured that they have lost all feeling of living?  Jesus definitely meant the latter and in his time, demonstrated a few times that he meant the former as well.  Let’s accept it. And get on with the new life of justice which God showers on us all.

Prayer

Eternal and always present God, help, help, help.
We don’t know our own blocks to belief, but they trip us up.
Expose them by your grace and gift us Spirit energy to accept your eternal life.
It will help us change your world and for that we always pray.
Amen and amen.

inspiration in your inbox Wednesday 21 May 2025    St John 5: 1 – 9 After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes.  In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralysed.  One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’  The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’  At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Reflection In Monty Python’s Life of Brian, among those begging is one man asking for alms for an ex-leper.  When asked what happened he replies: I was hopping along, minding my own business. All of a sudden, up Jesus comes. Cures me. One minute I’m a leper with a trade, next minute my livelihood’s gone. Not so much as a by your leave. ‘You’re cured mate.’ Blooming do-gooder.  Many years ago, whilst training in Clinical Theology, I was introduced to the work of Eric Berne and his book Games People Play (an early ‘pop psychology’ book) which illuminated some unhelpful patterns of communication and relationships that people can get stuck in.  The response Jesus receives in the passage sounds well-worn, as though the man has often repeated his reasons for why he has been there, unchanged, for 38 years – one of a series of answers to why other people’s solutions to his problems won’t work for him.  Being stuck can feel safe; at least it is familiar, however less than ideal.  Whereas change is full of risks, unknowns, and discomfort. In John’s account Jesus asks a telling question that goes to the heart of the matter: Do you want to be made well?  Because Jesus does not compel, but rather invites us into healing, restoration and life in all its fullness.  He has come so that we may have this – not to enforce it upon us.  And this is not to trigger self-help efforts or guilt, but to find ourselves reborn in Christ, living with and for Christ, growing and changing through the work of the Spirit. Of course God longs for us to respond to the gift of life through Christ – and we should long for that for those around us.  But our engagement in the mission of God needs to be in sharing compelling invitation and not through compulsion – just like Jesus.  Prayer   Jesus – gently challenge us. Show us how to become unstuck, how to be open to change, willing to risk the new, with you. Jesus – shift us from being ‘bloody do-gooders’. Help us to listen, to ask respectful, empowering questions, to enable others to respond to your loving invitation into life. Amen.

Today’s writer Dr Sam Richards, serving as Head of Children’s and Youth Work, Messy Church team, St Mary’s Chalgrove New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

St John 4: 43 – 53

When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee  (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honour in the prophet’s own country).  When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival. Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you  see signs and wonders you will not believe.’  The official said to him, ‘Sir, come down before my little boy dies.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way.  As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive.  So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, ‘Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.’  The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he himself believed, along with his whole household.  Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.

Reflection

The Bible stories we remember can sometimes seem a little harsh, but perhaps embellishment and exaggeration is what’s needed to make them memorable. After all, “please heal my boy”, “consider it done” isn’t much of a story even if that’s in effect what happens.

Jesus is a little tense, annoyed because people in his home town didn’t really believe what he told them about God but suddenly when he starts being treated as entertainment, they’re all with him.  Bob Dylan, in his early years, got annoyed, and then rebellious, when people wanted him to stay a folk singer playing only acoustic not electronic music. They wanted him to be what they wanted, not who he really was.

Jesus out of annoyance observed the people would only believe if they saw signs and wonders.  It seems unfair to say this to a man who believes in him and wants healing not for himself but for his dying child. However, the comments are probably aimed at a wider audience (they plural in the Greek) including us.

The man decides to ignore the pointed comment and took Jesus at his word; he had nothing to lose. Walking home he was given a miracle.  Prayers answered but not in a great theatrical stunt.

Jesus we know evokes deep faith that persists in the most adverse of circumstances. He sees through the superficial attachments that fade away when he doesn’t exert power in the way others think he should. Compare Judas – who spent years learning his teaching but despairing when Jesus wasn’t the leader he wanted –  to the thief on the cross who glimpsed the son of God.

This then is the power of the story – we ask, trust,  and receive an answer by acknowledging Jesus to be who he really is. The story may be dramatic but, ironically, it teaches us that while signs and wonders do not need to be conspicuous, if we pay attention they will be there.

Prayer 

Jesus, we know you can perform miracles 
but you are not a performer to be bidden;
help us in our unbelief.
We know you can heal us 
but your idea of wholeness may not be ours;
help us in our unbelief.
We know sometimes you choose 
to speak not in the whirlwind 
but in the still small voice of God;
help us in our unbelief.  Amen

St John 4: 1 – 42

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, ‘Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John’—  although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized—  he left Judea and started back to Galilee.  But he had to go through Samaria.  So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.  A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’.  (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)  The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)  Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’  The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?  Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’  Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,  but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’  The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’

Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’  The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”;  for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’  The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet.  Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’  Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’  The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’  Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’  Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people,  ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’  They left the city and were on their way to him.

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’  But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’  So the disciples said to one another, ‘Surely no one has brought him something to eat?’  Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.  Do you not say, “Four months more, then comes the harvest”? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.  The reaper is already receiving  wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.  For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.”  I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.’

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’  So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days.  And many more believed because of his word.  They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.’

Reflection

Jesus met a lone woman who came to the well alone at noon because she was at the bottom of the social rankings of the day. She had been married 5 times.  Husbands could divorce wives for major things like the inability to bear children or minor things like not making dinner perfectly. Men had the power and could abuse it.  Everytime she was divorced this woman fell down in social standing and maybe the reason she wasn’t married then was because her partner didn’t think he had to marry her because she wasn’t good enough.  He could simply use her until he grew bored or tired.

This woman, however, didn’t feel sorry for herself.  Strong and able to debate history and theology with Jesus, she understood that he was the Messiah and ran to spread the word. Even though she was normally not looked upon with kindness by the people of the city she was excited and clearly communicated the good news in a way that made people sit up and pay attention. They too now wanted to experience what this woman had experienced. 

Yet again the disciples just didn’t get it.  Yet again a “lowly” woman SAW and KNEW exactly who Jesus is. The disciples, called personally by Jesus, still weren’t really grasping the gravity of what they were living and experiencing. Many of the Samaritans believed because they had seen and experienced Jesus for themselves.  It was almost like the woman didn’t matter to them again.  The woman, however, mattered to Jesus.  She knew she mattered now and was still the reason that her fellow Samaritans had the opportunity to encounter the Messiah.

So it doesn’t matter what other people say or if they fluctuate between being nice or cruel.  God always values you, knows your worth,  and wants you to understand your value too.  It is no more or less than others but you still matter.

Prayer

Unexpected God,
we don’t always know when or how 
we are going to encounter you during the day.
Help us know that each encounter 
will be one that leaves us breathless with surprise.
Help us remember that we are loved and valued by you, 
no more or less than any other child of God,
knowing you recognise our unique value and gifts.
Enable us to see them too. Amen.

 
Today’s service is led by the Revd Catherine McFie

 
Introduction

Hello, my name is Catherine McFie and I have the privilege of being a URC minister, serving in Mersey Synod.  Part of my time is dedicated to being minister of two churches within Liverpool.  Part of my time is as a Pastoral Officer for the Liverpool area which enables me to lead worship in different churches throughout the year.  The final portion of my time is currently allocated to being Interim Moderator to two congregations on the Isle of Man.   I am delighted to share worship with you and pray that wherever you are and whenever you are listening, God’s Spirit will bless our time together. So let us worship God. 

Call to Worship

Whether you come to worship regularly or this is your first time, know that you are welcome in this space.  Whether you are certain in your faith  or don’t know what to believe,  know that you are welcome in this space. 

For in this space God meets us where we are, 
taking nothing for granted. 

This is where God’s story and our story meet, 
where our stories mingle together and where change can happen. 

Lord, prepare our hearts and minds as we bring our worship to you. 

Hymn     God is Love: Let Heaven Adore Him
Timothy Rees (1922) public domain. Sung by the choir of St Michael and All Angels, Bassett and used with their kind permission.

God is Love, let heav’n adore him; God is Love, let earth rejoice;
Let creation sing before him and exalt him with one voice.
He who laid the earth’s foundation, He who spread the heav’ns above,
He who breathes through all creation: God is Love, eternal Love.

God is Love; & He enfoldeth us, all the world in one embrace:
with unfailing grasp He holdeth, every child of every race.
And when human hearts are breaking under sorrow’s iron rod,
then they find that selfsame aching deep within the heart of God.
 
God is Love; and though with blindness sin afflicts the souls of all,
God’s eternal loving kindness holds and guides us when we fall.
Sin and death and hell shall never o’er us final triumph gain;
God is Love, so Love for ever o’er the universe must reign.

Prayers of Approach and Confession

Creator God, 
how we marvel at the world you have made
a world full of colour that feeds our imagination,
full of texture that encourages our creativity, 
full of tastes that reminds of meals shared with others, 
a world that shouts to you glory with every spectacular sunrise
and lulls to sleep under a sky that sparkles with stars 
as the moon keeps watch. 
Thank you for all that you have given us in this amazing planet. 

Saviour God, 
how we long to know you better. 
We read the gospels and are challenged
as you heal the outcast, dine with the sinner 
and ask a Samaritan woman for water. 
Your actions encourage us to look beyond what we know
and see God’s image in all people 
and see God at work in the places we least expect.   

Spirit God, in us and around us, 
you know our deepest regrets and our hopeful dreams
We come seeking forgiveness for the times 
     when we have loved ourselves and forgotten our neighbour,
     when we have thought we were right 
     and ignored the reasoned voice
     when we have voiced words of judgement when they 
     should have encouraged
     when we have acted in haste and hurt others.
Forgive us and create in us a clean heart we pray. 
Amen.

Declaration of Forgiveness

Friends hear these words and know them to be true,
by the faith of Christ your sins are forgiven. 
May you delight in the joy of your salvation.  Amen. 

Hymn     Here in This Place, New Light is Streaming
Marty Haugen © 1982, GIA Publications, Inc. OneLicence # A-734713. Sung by Emmaus Music and used with their kind permission.

Here in this place, new light is streaming, 
now is the darkness vanished away. 
See, in this space, our fears and our dreamings, 
brought here to you in the light of this day. 
Gather us in – the lost and forsaken, 
gather us in – the blind and the lame. 
Call to us now, and we shall awaken, 
we shall arise at the sound of our name.  
 
We are the young – our lives are a mystery, 
we are the old – who yearn for your face. 
We have been sung throughout all of history, 
called to be light to the whole human race. 
Gather us in – the rich and the haughty, 
gather us in – the proud and the strong. 
Give us a heart so meek and so lowly, 
give us the courage to enter the song.  
 
Here we will take the wine and the water, 
here we will take the bread of new birth. 
Here you shall call your sons and your daughters, 
call us anew to be salt for the earth. 
Give us to drink the wine of compassion, 
give us to eat the bread that is you. 
Nourish us well, and teach us to fashion 
lives that are holy and hearts that are true.  
 
Not in the dark of buildings confining,
not in some heaven, light years away,
but here in this place, the new light is shining;
now is the Kingdom, now is the day.
Gather us in – and hold us forever,
gather us in – and make us your own.
Gather us in – all peoples together,
fire of love in our flesh and our bone.
 
Prayer for Illumination

Amazing God, we thank for the gift of Scripture, 
sometimes the stories baffles us, sometimes we are inspired, 
other times we are challenged. 
As we prepare to read and meditate on your word
fill us with your Spirit, 
that our minds are open to hear new revelations
and our hearts are eager to follow your will, 
and our actions will reflect your love to those we meet. 
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.  

Reading     Acts 11:1 – 18 

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, ‘Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?’ Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying,  ‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air.  I also heard a voice saying to me, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But I replied, “By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” But a second time the voice answered from heaven, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”  This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were.  The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, “Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter;  he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.” And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning.  And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”  If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?’ 18 When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, ‘Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.’ 

Reflection 

In the statement concerning the Nature, Faith and Order of the United Reformed Church the church states this

     We conduct our life together according to the Basis of Union
     in which we give expression to our faith
     in forms which we believe contain 
     the essential elements of the Church’s life, 
     both catholic and reformed; 
     but we affirm our right and readiness, if the need arises, 
     to change the Basis of Union and to make new statements of faith
     in ever new obedience to the Living Christ.
 
I love the boldness of this – we can change what we say we believe, I also admire the humility of this – we don’t know it all so there may be a time when we think differently. 

As we look at our reading from Acts, I get the impression that this is what is happening as Peter relates his story to those waiting for him in Jerusalem. 

Up until now they have thought they knew what they believed, and this was that all Gentile believers should follow the dietary laws and ritual practices of the Torah and that any Gentile male believer should be circumcised. What we find is that as they listen to Peter, they realise that maybe they have got it wrong. 
 
In the previous chapter we get the full story of Peter’s vision while in Joppa and his encounter with Cornelius at Caesarea. The news of what happened seemed to spread like wildfire so by the time Peter arrives back in Jerusalem people are waiting for answers. His critics are simply referred to as the circumcised believers and they have one simple question for Peter – “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” Doesn’t this sound very similar to the charge that was raised against Jesus when he was accused of eating with sinner?

As Peter gives his answer, he doesn’t give his listeners detailed doctrinal justification or even spiritual evidence to back up what he says, Peter simply and clearly answer the question by telling his story. 

It all began, starts Peter, when I was praying and went into a trance. While in the trance I had a vision in which I saw this cloth coming down from heaven. On the cloth there was all kinds of animals, and I heard a voice telling me to kill and eat. When I look closely, I saw animals that we’re not allowed to eat. I thought I haven’t broken the diet laws, and I wasn’t planning to start now but God had different ideas. When I voiced my concerns, my views were challenged and the voice from heaven said that it was improper to call anything that God had created unclean. The cloth descended three times before it was finally taken up into heaven and disappeared. 

As the cloth disappeared three men from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying. I felt prompted by the Spirit to go with the men and that I wasn’t to make any distinction between them and us. When we arrived in Caesarea, we went to the house of Cornelius, a Roman Centurion. Cornelius told me how he seen an angel who told him to send for me and that I would bring a message through which he and his entire household would be saved. 

I was taken aback, I wasn’t quite sure what to say, so I started talking about Jesus and some of his teaching and I spoke the Holy Spirit fell on everybody in the room. I reminded me of that day in Jerusalem, it was amazing to see, God giving the same gift to the Gentiles that God gave us. I didn’t really have anything to do with what happened, it was God’s work. When Cornelius invited us to stay for a meal, how could I refuse, what excuse I could have given that didn’t sound rude and patronising and what difference did it really make because we were all filled with the same Spirit. As I thought about it a wee while later I thought if God gives Gentiles the same gifts as we received who am, I that I could hinder God. God’s plan is obviously bigger than we first imagined and to be there and witness the Holy Spirit at work, well it has changed my thinking completely.  

Peter finished his story and began to wonder what they would say. There was silence as everyone considered Peter’s words carefully. Before the silence got to uncomfortable stage, everyone began praising God as they accepted the truth of Peter’s story and recognised its implication – God had given the Gentiles was the same Spirit that brought repentance and lead to eternal life. This was certainly something to celebrate. 

It is reassuring to know that some of the things we find difficult to accept, like God’s outrageous grace, was also difficult for the early apostles to accept. However, the phrase that stands out for me the most in this passage is Peter’s words “If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” This phrase today gives us reassurance, but it also brings many challenges to us within the Church. 
I don’t know about you, but I find it tremendously reassuring that no one is excluded when it comes to God’s love, grace and forgiveness. John 3:16 states that “God so loved the world…” and in pouring the Holy Spirit out upon this Gentile household, God was confirming in a very visual way that what Jesus achieved through his death and resurrection was not for some elite group of people in one age but for all people in all ages. I find this reassuring because I know that this means that I am included. I find it reassuring because even though some parts of society would seek to exclude me because I am single or a woman or any other criteria that this world judges us by, God does not exclude but extends loving arms out towards me. 

However, this passage raises challenges for us as Christians, because it forces us to think about how welcoming and accepting of people we are, when it comes to our Church fellowships.  We don’t like to think of ourselves as unwelcoming but being made to feel welcome is not just about people speaking to another person, our lack of welcome can manifests itself other ways, for example, not knowing what to do during a service with regards to standing, sitting etc to the language we use in prayers, the way we gender God or not, the layout of our sanctuary, access to printed materials in a format that is appropriate, or how we advertise our services so people know when we meet. I could keep going but you get the idea. 

This statement is challenging because we also have to confront our own biases and prejudices and admit that sometimes we think that people are just unworthy. Maybe they have done something that we consider unforgiveable, or they live a lifestyle that we find unacceptable. In times like this we can find it hard to understand why God would pour the Holy Spirit into their lives or we find it hard to acknowledge that Jesus died for them just as Jesus died for us. 

This statement is challenging because if we accept that that is the way God loves and works then it has implications for us. If God loves unconditionally, then we are also called to love unconditionally and that can leave us feeling scared and overwhelmed. 

This statement is challenging because like Peter we too have to recognise that we cannot hinder God and God will work in the lives of people, in our lives, whether we want that to happen or not.  At the end of the day our only response is to accept this amazing and outrageous gift from our all too generous and loving God and seek to share a little of what we have received with others. 

I would encourage you to read Acts Chapter 10 and get the full account of what happened with Peter and Cornelius but I would also encourage you to think about Peter’s words “If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” and consider what this means to you as a disciple. Amen. 
 
Hymn     There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy
Frederick William Faber (1862) public domain.  BBC Songs of Praise
 
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea;
there’s a kindness in his justice, which is more than liberty.
There is no place where earth’s sorrows are more felt than in God’s heaven:
there is no place where earth’s failings have such kindly judgment given.

For the love of God is broader than the measure of the mind:
and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.
But we make His love too narrow by false limits of our own;
and we magnify His strictness with a zeal He will not own.

There is plentiful redemption in the blood that has been shed;
there is joy for all the members in the sorrows of the Head.
There is grace  enough for thousands of new worlds as great as this;
there is room for fresh creations in that upper home of bliss.

If our love were but more simple, we should take him at his word;
and our lives be filled with glory from the glory of the Lord.
 
Affirmation of Faith 

We are not alone, 
we live in God’s world. 
We believe in God: 
who has created and is creating, 
who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh, 
to reconcile and make new, 
who works in us and others by the Spirit. 

We trust in God. 

We are called to be the Church: 
to celebrate God’s presence, 
to live with respect in Creation, 
to love and serve others, 
to seek justice and resist evil, 
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope. 
In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. 
We are not alone. Thanks be to God. 

Prayers of Intercession

In our prayers today there will be space to voice your own concerns. We will end each section with Lord in your mercy, if you could reply, hear our prayers.

Faithful God, 
we come before you now with our prayers for others. 
We don’t need to tell you what is going on in our homes, 
communities, country or in the world, 
but there are things that concern us, 
there are things that unset us, 
there are things that we don’t begin to understand, 
and so with reassurance that you hear and answer our prayer
we lift our voices to you. 

Lord in your mercy hear our prayers

We pray for those who have been made to feel rejected by God because of the actions of the Church…

Lord in your mercy hear our prayers

We pray for those who are seeking a welcome in our country because their own country is no longer a place of safety…

Lord in your mercy hear our prayers

We pray for those who will not consider that maybe an alternative point of view….

Lord in your mercy hear our prayers

We pray for those who like Cornelius, are hoping to hear the Good News of the Gospel….

Lord in your mercy hear our prayers

We pray for places of conflict, of political unrest, of danger….

Lord in your mercy hear our prayers

God of hope, we offer up our prayers in the name of Jesus as we pray together the words he taught us saying: Our Father… 

Offertory Prayer

Let us prepare to offer to God the first fruits of our labours that God’s work can be done, and God’s kingdom can be built in our communities. 

Generous and gracious God, 
we thank you for all that you have freely given us.
With thankful hearts we bring you our offering, 
not just of money, but our time and talents. 
Use these gifts to your glory, 
so all may know your love and forgiveness, 
all may know your welcome and acceptance.
Equip us with your Spirit and work in us and through us. 
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. 

Hymn     Through the Love of God Our Saviour
Mary Peters (1847) Public Domain sung by Gareth Moore | Isle of Man Methodist Church

Through the love of God our Saviour, 
all will be well.
Free and changeless is his favour, 
all, all is well.
Precious is the blood that healed us,
perfect is the grace that sealed us,
strong the hand stretched forth to shield us, 
all must be well.

Though we pass through tribulation,
all will be well.
Ours is such a full salvation,
all, all is well.
Happy, still in God confiding,
fruitful, if in Christ abiding,
holy, through the Spirit’s guiding, 
all must be well.
 
We expect a bright tomorrow, 
all will be well.
Faith can sing through days of sorrow, 
‘All, all is well.’
On our Father’s love relying, 
Jesus every need supplying,
in our living, in our dying, 
all must be well.

Blessing 

Lord, you have fed us and challenged us, 
help us to accept the inclusiveness of your gospel. 
Encourage us to see your image in everyone we meet.
Continue to change us with your Spirit 
so we to love others as you love us. 

May the love of God, 
the compassion of Jesus 
and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 
be with you today and always. Amen.