 The Lord be with you! Welcome, Cheviot churches and also those joining us from elsewhere. This is Colin, and I hope everyone is staying well and keeping safe. Come, people of God, let us worship together on this 2nd Sunday after Epiphany.
Notices:
Call to Worship Before we were born, God knew us. God knit us together in the womb. God searches out our paths and tracks our way. So we praise God, because we are fearfully and wonderfully made. There’s nowhere we can go where God is not with us. How wonderful are all God’s works! Let us worship God together. Hymn 52 – How lovely is thy dwelling place Prayers of Adoration and Confession God ever creating, ever loving, ever leading,You are stillness when we are frantic;You are truth when we are confused and perplexed.You give us freedom when we are paralyzed by fear;You send us light when we stumble in the darkness.You are love when we feel lonely and empty.For all that you are, all that you have been, and all that you will be for us,we praise you, Creator, Christ, Spirit.We turn to you in worship, to listen for your voice and seek your way for us. Merciful God, you call us to fullness of life but we have settled for much less.We have wandered from your ways and wasted your gifts. We ignore the pain of others, and turn our faces from injustice.Forgive us our small faith.Give us courage to listen and respond when you call. There is nothing on earth or beyond death that can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. You are forgiven. You are loved. You are reconciled to God. Go and live with the love of God. Amen. Lord’s Prayer Readings – 1 Samuel 3:1–10 John 1:43–51 Hymn 251 – I, the Lord of sea and sky Weekly Prayer Father God, you spoke to awaken Samuel with Your call, and as we listen to your voice again today help us to believe your message. Unite us with the Church worldwide, as we declare with Nathanael that you are indeed the Son of God. We rejoice in the call to belong to your Church. Send us out into the coming week ready to demonstrate our calling in all that we do and say. Amen Reflection Whenever we went to Edinburgh, when I was a child, we always drove from Ayrshire to Douglas and up what was called the ‘Lang Whang’. We passed a little village called Glespin – just a few houses in the middle of the moor, in what seemed the middle of nowhere. But I always thought that it must be the most dreadful place to live on the planet. I was reminded of it when reading the passage from John today. Philip has met Jesus and is enthusiastic for his friend Nathanael to meet him too. But when he mentions where Jesus comes from, Nathanael is contemptuous, is dismissive, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth’. Nathanael was from the lakeside, and Nazareth was up in the hills, hillbilly country. But to his credit, Philip persists and says, ‘Come and See’. Nathanael did ‘go and see’ and his prejudices immediately disappeared, as he discovered that Jesus truly lived up to Philip’s billing. If I had discovered more about Glespin, I may have found out that it was the most wonderful place where people were incredibly neighbourly. How important it is not to rush into judgements, because of where a person comes from or their background, but to ‘go and see’. Jesus had been baptised and immediately starts to gather around him a group of disciples. Andrew was the first; he had called Jesus ‘Rabbi’, teacher, and asked him where he lived. Jesus replied, Come and See. He did, and they spent the day together, at the end of which Andrew was not calling Jesus ‘rabbi’, but rather ‘Messiah’ and immediately sharing the news with his brother Simon. We see this again and again in John’s gospel – Jesus engages with people, letting them ‘come and see’ and offering them a new way of living. Niocodemus, the Samaritan woman, the man born blind, Martha and Mary. He offered them life in all its fullness. ‘Come and see’ meant discovering who Jesus was, but also who they were themselves, especially in their relationship to God. Our reading from Samuel is also about discovering God. It is one so familiar from Sunday School days, the boy Samuel hearing the voice in the dark and mistaking it for the High Priest Eli. Eli ultimately realises it was God calling to Samuel and tells him to respond. It is a story about discerning the voice of God, of being open to God speaking to us where we don’t expect. But also it was about Samuel taking the first steps in discovering more about God and learning to serve. Often we stop there at verse 10, It is not enough to say "here I am". We need to be ready to follow through as well. If we read on, God’s message to Samuel was actually a condemnation of Eli and his sons, whose shocking abuse of power was damaging the reputation of the priesthood. I suppose it was about accountability, and those in high office are always to be held accountable for their actions, especially when they do abuse power – that is something in the news just now over in the States, and nearer to home too, but equally we have to look at ourselves and ask whether we live up to God’s calling to be light in the world. For Philip, he had something good to share with his friend Nathanael and said Come and see. Jesus told Nathanael that he had seen him sit under the fig tree, and Nathanael was amazed, maybe by the fact that he had been noticed and valued. I am sure Jesus could have muttered under his breathe- ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet’! This is a challenge to us today to share the good news that we have and to invite our friends to come to church / watch the video/ listen to the podcast and let them discover something about this Jesus for themselves. Hymn 602 – Is it spooky, is it weird? Prayers of Dedication, Thanksgiving and Intercession God of new possibilities, receive our gifts. Use them and us to create new possibilities in the world for those who are uncertain about what the future holds. We remember before you today people living face to face with so much economic uncertainty, for those who have lost their jobs or worry what may happen as this year unfolds: God, speak to us a word of reassurance: Embrace us with your love. We remember before you today people living face to face with discrimination and social prejudice, for those who are bullied at school, at work or at home, for those who are made ashamed of who they are: God, speak to us a word of dignity: Embrace us with your love. We remember before you today people living face to face with illness and suffering, for those struggling with disability, made more complex these days, and for those who know grief or anxiety, especially those cut off from comfort or support by months of pandemic isolation: God, speak to us a word of healing: Embrace us with your love. We remember before you today people divided by differences of race or creed, of culture, gender or generation: and we pray for all those who seek to build bridges of understanding and co-operation across differences: God, speak to us a word of reconciliation: Embrace us with your love. We remember before you today your whole creation and its many vulnerable facets and faces. Teach us how to care for the rips and tears in the fabric of the world you love so we may live together wisely: God, speak to us a word of wisdom: Embrace us with your love. Amen Hymn 530 – One more step Benediction God bless us today that we may be a blessing -in our seeing, In our hearing, In our speaking, in our thinking, In our feeling, In our loving: and may God’s blessing from Father Son and Holy Spirit be with you, now and forever Amen
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