Cheviot Churches
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Groups >
      • Guild
      • Coffee & Craft
    • Church Life
    • Hiring the Church
    • Magazine
    • Parish Profile
  • People
  • Children
  • Pilgrims
  • What's On
  • News
  • Podcasts
  • Video
  • Links
  • Contact
NEWS

pentecost 16+

23/9/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
  • We welcome all visitors to our services this Sunday at Yetholm (10am) and Morebattle (11.15), where it is Guild Sunday. Please take sign the visitors’ book.
  • The podcast of this service can be accessed HERE 
  • An informal communion service will be held at Linton tonight (25th) at 6pm.
  • A funeral service for Moira Breeze will be held in Yetholm Kirk on Monday 26th September at 2pm.
  • The weekly coffee morning at Yetholm is from 10.30-12noon on Tuesday mornings.
  • The Craft Group will meet at 2pm on Tuesday this week. Yetholm Kirk.
  • The Prayer Group meet at Linton on Tuesdays at 6.30pm. All welcome.
  • Kelso Churches Together meeting on Tuesday 27th September at Kelso North.
  • Cheviot churches will have a stall at the Yetholm Show on Saturday 1st October. We are also hoping to sell jams and chutneys.
  • Morebattle Guild meets on Thursday 6th October at 2pm, when Rev Colin will be the speaker.
  • The Harvest Lunch will take place on Sunday 9th October at 11am and is a joint service in Yetholm Church. If anyone is willing and able to help with catering either in advance or on the day please speak to Susan Stewart re any help you can offer.
  • Toast Club will resume in Yetholm School on Tuesday 18th October and will run twice weekly on a Tuesday and Thursday morning. If anyone would like to volunteer to help, please speak to Susan Stewart for further information.
  • Many, many thanks to all who have contributed towards Colin’s Kiltwalk. He hopes to raise over £2,000. Donations can still me made online till Tuesday 28th September. He can be sponsored on his Justgiving page HERE
  • Next Sunday the services will be at Yetholm (10am) and the Linton Harvest at 11.15am.
 
Call to Worship
Creator God, of Justice
You are with us now
Bright God of Change
You will walk beside us
Rainbow God of life
We will follow you!
 
Hymn 200 – Christ is made the sure foundation
 
Prayers of adoration and confession
Creating God,
beauty and harmony mark your creation.
As the seasons change,
we see you are still at work in the world,
transforming hearts and situations.
We praise you for all you do to repair injustice,
to bring peace to places of war,
working for goodness to prevail in all nations.
You offer us new possibilities day by day,
and so we place our trust in your redeeming power.
Renew our energy to reach out in love this autumn
and open our eyes to new opportunities in Jesus’ name.
Through the power of the Spirit, make us participants in your work, bringing justice and joy into the world you love.
 
Compassionate God,
you open your heart to those in need,
and to your aching creation.
We confess we often turn away
so that we do not have to see pain, suffering or injustice, right before our eyes.
We don’t like to feel uncomfortable
or pressed into service.
Forgive us and give us courage to love others as you love.
The prophet Micah declared that God requires of us three things: to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.
To all who repent, who act for justice and seek to serve God and neighbour in kindness,
God offers forgiveness and peace.
The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
 
Lord’s Prayer
 
Readings – 1 Timothy 6: 6- 19
                    Luke 16:19-31

 
Hymn 517- Fight the good fight
 
Prayer of Illumination
God, whose name is not honoured
Where the needy are not served,
And the powerless are treated with contempt:
May we embrace our neighbour
With the same tenderness
That we ourselves require;
So your justice may be fulfilled in love,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
 

Reflection
I studied at St Andrew’s, and tourists would come and rave about being at the home of golf. I was caught by surprise, because after the first week, I never noticed the golf, I never noticed the golf courses.
 
This week I was speaking to some visitors at Yetholm Church, and they were raving about the thatched cottages and the village greens and even the house in the Morebattle Road with the gnomes in the garden. I realized that I have grown used to these now; I accept that they are there and don’t see them as different.
 
Some things become so familiar that we don’t notice any more. We have to look with the eyes of a stranger to see how beautiful a part of the world we live in or even to see what needs done about the house - that we do need to change the wallpaper or give the door a lick of paint.
 
The parable we read this morning is about failing to notice. There are two main characters, and there is a chasm between them – because one is outrageously rich and the other dirt poor. There is a chasm between them in the afterlife, as one is in heaven and the other in the torments of Hades, of Hell.
 
There is a rich man. Sometimes we call him Dives, but that simply means rich man. And there is the poor man, a destitute, with sores all over his body that the dogs lick. He is called Lazarus, and in all Jesus’ parables, Lazarus is the only one Jesus gives a name to. The prodigal son isn’t Aaron, woman looking for her lost coin isn’t Rebecca; the sower isn’t Zack. Only Lazarus is given a name, the lowest of the low. And the name Lazarus means ‘God helps’.
 
There is a painting of this parable by the Italian artist Veronese, and the rich man is sitting at his table, eating the sumptuous fare, drinking the finest wine, while musicians play for his enjoyment. He is dressed in the latest fashion. He has everything money can buy. But Lazarus is lying by a pillar, dogs licking his wounds. The rich man would have passed Lazarus every day, but never noticed – or chose not to notice. He had become just part of the scenery.
 
But then the scene shifts to the afterlife. Jesus is talking with some Pharisees, and they believed in the afterlife. Jesus isn’t giving a model of what heaven is like, but is rather using a folklore version of heaven and hell. On death, Lazarus is whisked away by angels to heaven, but the rich man ends up in hell, where he suffers. This time, for the first time, he does notice Lazarus seated beside Abraham, but a chasm lies inbetween. The rich man was used to giving orders and he begins to instruct both Abraham and Lazarus, telling Lazarus to warn his brothers to mend their ways. They will believe, he thinks, someone who comes from the dead. But the parable finished with Abraham saying that if they hadn’t listened to the teaching of Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen to someone coming from the dead.
 
Wealth plays a part in this parable, though Jesus doesn’t dwell on it. But in our reading from Timothy, we hear the famous verse about the love of money being the root of all evil and how destructive it can be. Yet the rich can also help – the Hunter Foundation matches by 50% every pound raised for charity in the Kiltwalk for example. He gets some kudos out of it and can probably well afford it, but even so, he has done a good thing. It is the abuse of money that is the problem. Paul encourages the young Timothy to concentrate on living his life in a good and compassionate way, fighting the good fight and pursuing love and faith and gentleness.
 
The was a challenge to the Pharisees with whom Jesus was conversing, for did they notice the downtrodden? Or did their learning blind them? But it is also a challenge to us. We are privileged in so many different ways, with education, lifestyle, technology. But what – of whom- do we pass by, with eyes closed? Some are obvious – the widows, orphans, refugees that the Old Testament prophets keep mentioning, but others of our neighbours can have hidden needs and anxieties. We need to keep our eyes – and our ears – open.
And as a Church we are tasked to build bridges over the chasms that divide and tackle the prejudices that create these chasms in the first place. Jesus called Lazarus by name. Let us give everybody their dignity- by noticing them and not walking past.
 
Prayers of Dedication
Loving God, we bring you our gifts, grateful that we have something to share, and glad to be part of a network of mission and mercy which circles the earth. Bless the various good works supported by our Church of Scotland as well as the mission of our congregation. Use our gifts to multiply their impact in the world you love through Christ our Lord. Amen.
 
Hymn 544 – When I needed a neighbour
 
Prayers of Thanksgiving & Intercession
God of mystery and wonder,
We look around at the beauty of this world
and the worlds beyond us,
and sense that you have given each precious thing its place and a way to sustain itself.
Thank you for the care you hold for your whole creation.
We also look around at the aching of the world
and sense that many precious things are under threat.
Too many pieces of your creation have fallen out of balance with each other.
Show us how we can help restore that balance
and protect what is at risk for the health of your whole creation. God of all creatures great and small,
Make us stewards of what is precious to you.
 
God of energy and life,
We look around at the peoples of this world
and see your image and dignity in every variety of face and culture.
Thank you for the care you hold for all humankind.
Yet we look around at the people of this world
and see the aching of the hungry and hurting;
we hear the groans of parents whose children die in their arms and feel the tears of children whose parents die too soon.
We know neighbours who are suffering
and hear of strangers who can’t imagine how to make it through tomorrow.
Awaken our generosity to offer what healing and hope we can
to the lives you cherish in every neighbourhood and nation. God of all creatures great and small,
Make us stewards of what is precious to you.
 
God of promise and possibility,
We look around at places where people collide with each other. We hear the grumbling of nations locked into old rivalries and grievances.
We watch the jousting of leaders impressed more by polls than effective policies.
We worry about the future of our communities and our children. We hear your call to do justice and live generously. Guide us as citizens to act for justice that brings peace and well being to communities near and far. Bless the Church as she engages with causes both in this country and abroad. God of all creatures great and small,
Make us stewards of what is precious to you.
 
God of faithfulness and surprise,
We look at ourselves and sometimes doubt we can make a difference or have an impact.
Challenge us to recognise the kinds of power we do have: The love and compassion, the courage and commitment, the laughter and friendship, the generosity and mercy You inspire within us.
In all these gifts we know your power.
Through all these gifts, our lives have been changed.
Using these gifts in our lives, bring Christ’s love and mercy to the world you love,
Silence
Amen
 
 Hymn 737 – Will your anchor hold
 
Benediction
Go in joy, knowing God rejoices over you; And care for others, knowing God rejoices over them, too!
May the blessing of the God who made us,
the Christ who mends us,
and the Spirit who gives us life
be with you now and always. Amen

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Groups >
      • Guild
      • Coffee & Craft
    • Church Life
    • Hiring the Church
    • Magazine
    • Parish Profile
  • People
  • Children
  • Pilgrims
  • What's On
  • News
  • Podcasts
  • Video
  • Links
  • Contact