 Welcome, Cheviot churches! We worship together on the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany
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O Lord, in you we find refuge; Let us never be put to shame. Turn your ear to us, O God, and save us. For you are our rock and our fortress. We praise God’s steadfast love. We offer God all glory and honour this day and always! Hymn 93 – Let us with a gladsome mind (1,2,5,6) Prayers of Adoration and Confession Almighty and everlasting God, your power is incomparable, your majesty infinite, and your love beyond our imagining. You are hidden in mystery, and yet so present. In a hectic world, you are peace and rest. In a harsh world, you are tenderness and mercy. In the cold and dark of winter, you are light and comfort, and so we bring you our worship, for you are the One who created us, the One who redeems us, and the One who gives us life, our one and only God, to whom we offer all love and loyalty, now and always. God, whose name is love, we confess our faults and failings, knowing you know us through and through. You tell us love is patient and kind, and you know when our patience and kindness falls short. You tell us love is never rude or selfish, and you see the times we insisted on our own way. Forgive us the excuses we make to ourselves when our love falters. Strengthen us by your Spirit so that our love is genuine and reliable. God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is God’s love; as far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our sins. Thanks be to God Lord’s Prayer Readings – 1 Corinthians 13: 1- 13 Luke 4: 21-30 Hymn 550 – As a deer pants for the water Weekly Prayer Lord God, we pray for all who work for peace and unity. We thank you for showing us the most excellent way of living and reminding us that "Love is patient, love is kind, and love never fails." Grant us the wisdom to not only hear your gracious words but to seek to live by them in our daily lives. Amen Reflection I wonder how many of you had haggis for supper this week? The 25th January, last Tuesday, may be the day in the church we remember the conversion of St Paul, but on national terms it is Burn’s Night, and the focus is on the poet, Rabbie Burns. I grew up in Burn’s country, so was used to poetry competitions at school, and there were lots of Burns Supper. My first kilt was bought because I was speaking at one! The last couple of years there have been no Burns suppers that I have been aware of, but I was thinking of Burns. His relationship with the Church could be quite fraught. He would attend church, but also he was brought before the Kirk Session because of his dalliances with the fairer sex. But His poems have a spiritual quality: He was a farmer; he knew the land. So he was able to write ‘Flow gently, sweet Afton’ or describe a mouse as a ‘wee, sleekit, cowering timorous beastie’. But then Jesus used the countryside in his parables, as he talked about mustard seeds, for example, growing into big bushes. Burns talked about the decency and spiritual devotion of folk in the ‘Cottars Saturday Night’, but he railed against hypocrisy of some religious people, like in ‘Holy Wullie’s Prayer’, who put on airs of being better than others, while hiding their own failings. Of course, we think of Jesus challenging the Pharisees. But Burns is perhaps best known for his poems about love: ‘My love is like a red, red rose that’s newly sprung in June’. Today we read Paul’s great hymn to love in 1 Corinthians 13. While we might have faith to move mountains, if we have not love, we are nothing. Love is so essential. Burns may have talked of romantic love, but Paul goes deeper and recognises the love that is patient and kind; the love that never fails. Here, he is talking about love that has a cost. We can look at pictures of a newly-born baby, and it’s a picture of love. But when the baby keeps the parents awake all night, that’s true love. A couple grow older together, but when one becomes more incapacitated and starts to dribble food down their jumper, and the other has to clean up after, that is where true love is. It is when we sacrifice. For Paul, when he talked about love, I always feel he had a picture of love – and that was Jesus hanging on the cross. That was love bearing the cost, ready to sacrifice. Giving and giving and giving, and never counting the cost – so that we might live and enjoy life in its fullness. The cross is a symbol of just how much God loves us. That is what Jesus was saying in Nazareth. He had preached from Isaiah, and it was well -received. People were proud of the local lad. He could have stopped, and all could have been well. But he continued and said that God’s love and grace were so much bigger than could be imagined. So big that it encompassed those who we might feel uncomfortable about, even our enemies. He reminds the congregation of stories of Elijah and Elisha. How one helped a widow in Lebanon, and the other healed a Syrian general. There were people in Israel who were hungry or who needed healing, but the prophets helped foreigners, the enemy. God’s love was for everyone. That’s when the mood in the synagogue turned chilly. They wanted God to be their God and help them, but were not willing to share God’s love with others. Another poet, the American Robert Frost, had two farmers at a wall between their properties. ‘Good walls make good neighbours’, one of them said. The Nazareth people would have agreed. But the poet challenges this, and Jesus would have as well. He was for tearing down the walls that divide. God’s love was for all, including those who make us uncomfortable. The congregation grabbed Jesus and threatened to throw him over the cliff. That is what happens when you give an unpopular message. It is enough to get you killed! In his ministry Jesus lived out the love of God and it ended in the cross, where his arms were outstretches, as if to embrace all the world. May we show God’s love in our lives, even when it hurts. Hymn 527 – Lord, make us servants (1,2,4) Prayers of Intercession The Apostle Paul reminds us that the greatest of gifts is love. The blessings we enjoy in life speak of God’s love for us. So may all that we offer become tangible expressions of your love at work in the world for Christ’s sake. O God, your love is patient. We give you thanks for all those who have been patient with us, teaching us and caring for us in so many ways. We pray for the patience to love others as you have loved us. God of love, Hear our prayer. O God, your love is kind. Thank you for every unexpected gesture of kindness we have received. Give us the courage to be kind to others, serving those who seem unkind, rude, or difficult to love in these difficult days. Remind us that each one we meet is your child, our sister or brother made in your image. God of love, Hear our prayer. O God, your love is not arrogant, nor does it seek its own interests. Thank you for all who work to serve those who cannot fend for themselves. Strengthen those who have lost hope and confidence in their own value. Give us insight to speak the truth in love and to work for change that creates opportunities for those on the margins and respect for any who face discrimination. God of love, Hear our prayer. O God, your love never fails. We pray for all the situations in our world where there is war or hatred, where people are divided and build up walls to divide. We think of the situation in Ukraine. We remember Israel and Palestine, North and South Korea, China and Taiwan. God of love, Hear our prayer. O God, your love bears all things. We thank you for those we have loved in this life and who now dwell in the peace and joy of your presence. Let your comfort settle on those who are bereaved or lonely this day. We remember before you those with heavy burdens, many cares, much stress, and those who find too little comfort and help. Open our eyes to those in need around us and show us how to offer support and companionship, for the sake of Christ, our friend and Saviour, Amen Hymn 519 – Love Divine (all) Benediction Go in peace. And while so much of the road ahead is uncertain, we know some things that are as solid and sureas the ground beneath our feet, and the sky above our heads. We know God is love. May the blessing of God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer be with you this day and forevermore. Recessional Hymn 586 – May the God of peace
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