Communion 1 Sept.

Quarterly Communion Service:

Our next formal Communion Service will be:
10.30am Sun 1st September, in the parish church at Abington.

"This is the table, not of the Church, but of the Lord. 
It is to be made ready for those who love God
and for those who hope to love God more. 
So, come, you who have faith 
and you who have doubts. 
Come if you have been here often, 
and come if you have not been here long. 
Come if you have followed, 
and come if you have stumbled. 
Come, because it is the Lord who invites you. 
It is Christ’s will that those who seek him 
will meet him here at his table. 
Come!"

We practice an open table:
all who are baptised, regardless of denomination, are welcome to share in bread and wine.
Children and communion:
children may receive communion at the discretion of their accompanying adult.

Sunday worship: Majoring on the Minors - Joel's harvest of hope

SERMON
Let’s pray: may the words of my mouth
and the thoughts of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

The long-running cartoon series, ‘Peanuts’, features as the main character a boy named Charlie Brown and his dog, a beagle named ‘Snoopy’.
How many of you are familiar with this?

Well, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Charlie’s school friends were a real fixture of my childhood –
both the comic strip, and the T.V. shows:
no Christmas was complete without ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’.

Charlie Brown – and he’s never just ‘Charlie’,
it’s always his full name apart from one character who calls him ‘Chuck’ –
Charlie Brown is one of those people in life who never seems to catch a break;
life is never straightforward,
made even less so because of some of his friends,
and even his dog, Snoopy, run rings around him.
He’s never chosen for the sports team,
he’s often accidentally overlooked when it comes to party invitations...
he’s a blend-in kind of boy who seems to live a life of quiet desperation.
No matter what he does to be noticed,
no matter what challenge,
no matter what great plan he has...
it seems like the whole universe just conspires against poor Charlie Brown.
He bemoans his fate to friends and dog, and different friends have different solutions:
just play more sport...
learn to play music...
keep your comfort blanket with you at all times.
They listen to him,
they offer advice,
they try to be kind and helpful.
His friends, in their own ways, have found their coping mechanisms for life.
Meanwhile, Charlie Brown valiantly keeps putting one foot
in front of the other, just trying to get on with life.
He also sighs quite a lot.

In among all of his school friends, there is one character who isn’t particularly helpful,
and that’s a girl called Lucy.
Lucy is pretty street smart and savvy:
nobody will ever pull the wool over her eyes,
and in fact, it’s often Lucy who enjoys getting one over on everyone else,
especially poor old Charlie Brown:
she sees him as an easy target.
And these two, over the years that the comic strip ran,
were involved in one particular oft-repeated gag which all revolved around a football –
as in an American-style football.
You see, all Charlie Brown ever wants to do is to try to see if he can kick that football...
The first time the gag happens, you see him standing on a grassy pitch with the football.
Lucy then turns up.
Charlie Brown explains to Lucy that all she has to do is to hold the ball –
basically, to keep it from falling down while he walks back and prepares to take a run at it.
‘All you have to do is hold the ball, then I come running and kick it.’ he says.
Lucy’s reluctant at first, and really doesn’t think it’s a good idea,
but... she eventually gives in.
Charlie Brown backs up, and then comes charging down the pitch.
At the very last moment, Lucy grabs the football and pulls it away out from under him.
Charlie Brown, already committed to kicking the ball, ends up flat on his back.
‘Aaargh’ goes Charlie Brown, ‘why did you do that?’
Lucy, thinking it’s a great prank, makes an excuse:
‘It’s a new ball, and I was afraid your shoes might be dirty. 
I don’t want anyone with dirty shoes kicking my new football.’
He tells her:
‘Don’t you ever do that again! 
Do you want to kill me? 
This time, hold it tight!’
And so he tries again.
She does hold the ball tight:
so tightly, that he kicks a ball which doesn’t move, and again ends up flat on his back.
He sighs and says:
‘I’m not going to get up. I’m just going to lie here for the rest of the day.’
But actually, over the fifty years that the cartoon ran,
Charlie Brown does get back up, does try again –
and a variation of the football prank features every year from 1952 through to 1999,
with poor Charlie Brown never managing to to kick that football,
due to Lucy doing something to foil him right at the last minute.
Somewhere deep down, he knows what she’s like,
he knows she almost can’t help herself...
yet, nevertheless, he persists:
he tries and tries again –
always hoping that this will be that one time when, against all the overwhelming odds,
he’ll kick that ball.

The very last time this gag appears, in 1999,
right at the last minute, Lucy is called away,
so she gets her brother to hold the ball,
and to pull the same old prank on Charlie Brown.
Later, back at home, she catches up with her brother and eagerly asks him what happened.
Did he pull the ball away?
Did Charlie Brown kick the ball?
Did Charlie Brown land on his back yet again?
What happened?
And her brother turns the tables on her replying:
‘You’ll never know.’
And of course, neither do we,
but in all those many times of trying,
in all those many years of hoping against hope that he can kick that darned ball
we’re left with a flicker of hope ourselves –
maybe, just maybe, Charlie Brown did actually kick that ball...
maybe his years of hoping
did    finally    pay off.
When the whole world seems to be telling Charlie Brown to just give up,
hope is the thing that whispers
‘try one more time,’ 
and it’s hope that keeps him going.

And hope is central to the message we hear in the Book of Joel.
In a message which begins by using the image of plagues of locusts covering the land
and leaving utter devastation in their wake,
Joel’s message can seem anything but hopeful.
The locusts are likened to an invading army laying waste to the land:
all that was blossoming and flourishing
is now withering, perishing.
‘Weep and wail,’ says Joel –
‘the wine has been snatched from your lips,
the fig trees are withered,
the fields are ruined, 
the ground dried up,
the wheat and barley are no more...
the pomegranate, the palm, 
and the apple tree are gone;
surely the joy of the people is withered away.’

If Amos was preaching a message of justice to a people grown
too comfortable and too complacent
from living off the fat of the land at the expense of others,
then the message of Joel is to a people who appear to have nothing left –
the fat of the land has been eaten away before their eyes.
All seems lost.
In such a time, what do you do?

The first thing, is to acknowledge it.
To ‘weep and wail’ is perfectly right:
to name what has been lost,
to remember what was,
to have a season of taking stock and grieving
helps to eventually find a way forward in this new, changed world.
Joel calls the people to a time of mourning and a time of repentance –
refocusing themselves upon God;
turning to God.
It’s only as they take time to do so that they can begin to see that
while all seems lost,
not all is lost.
While the going is hard, they don’t journey through this strange new landscape on their own:
‘the Lord will take pity on his people...’
Beyond the loss, there will be a time of restoration, renewal, even:
out of the battered and withered land, green shoots of recovery will grow –
there will be new grain, new wine, new oil.
God will provide enough that they will be fully satisfied.

I’m very conscious at the moment of the fires racing through the Amazon –
experts estimate that an area the size of a football pitch is being lost each minute.
Over the course of our time of worship this morning, that’s roughly 60 football fields.
Horrifying.
Even more horrifying to think about, if the rumours are true,
that some of the fires were deliberately lit.
Growing up in a land that is no stranger to bushfires, however, what I do know is this:
after a forest fire has been through an area burning everything in its path,
when you look around at the remains,
you feel that nothing will ever grow in such a place again –
all is blackened,
all seems dead.
And yet, at some point, small green shoots come bursting through the blackened soil,
until, over time, you see the place begin to heal, to recover...
loss giving way to growth,
darkness giving way to hope
as life seems to begin again.
This is what God, through Joel, is saying:
‘courage, have hope, dear ones,
there will be restoration,
life will begin again even though you struggle to see it now.’
We hear God saying:
‘the open pastures are becoming green;
trees are bearing fruit,
the fig-tree and the vine yield their riches.’

After the time of mourning, has passed,
there will be time when the people will once again be able to rejoice.
And there’s more –
in what’s possibly the most well-known passage from this book,
because it’s referred to in the New Testament on the Day of Pentecost,
Joel speaks of the coming of the Spirit of God –
not just falling upon selected people as in the days of old,
but upon all people –
young men and old men,
upon women,
upon all social classes –
free and slave...
Where all seemed lost,
where even dreams seemed to have been ravaged by the locusts,
new dreams,
new visions,
will burst forth from the human imagination –
the fruit born from the seed of hope
and of God’s eternal faithfulness.
The Spirit of God will bring life and vision to all people.

Scholars are not sure when Joel gave this particular prophecy –
but, there’s a universality and a timelessness to his message.
It’s a message that reminds us that,
even in the seasons of darkness and despair,
when all seems lost,
all is not:
it’s a message that reminds us
that God walks with us,
that God has compassion upon us,
that while there will seasons in life
that will be hard,
there will also be seasons in which to rejoice.

Joel tells us that we are God’s people,
and as we turn to God,
we find, in him, a place of hope,
and, if we pause a moment to catch our breath,
we may just catch brief glimpses of green and growing shoots breaking through –
for no matter how bad,
no matter what plagues our lives,
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Let’s pray:
Holy and Gracious God
We give you thanks for the gift of life
for the gift of your Son
for the gift of the Holy Spirit
Lead us through the trials
the suffering and sorrow
the challenges and struggles
the tired times and dark places
Lead us
with grace
with love
with peace
Fill us
with hope
with patience
with stamina
Transform us
in your image
in your Son
in your Name
Transform us
to grow
to understand
to see
Transform us
that we
can be
made whole
And in wholeness
may we be
the hands and heart of Christ.
Amen*
      *prayer by Terri C-P

News, events, info. wk beg. 18 Aug

Sun 25 Aug. 10.30am: Morning worship... Majoring on the Minor: Joel
The second in our series exploring those last books of the Old Testament collectively called the Minor Prophets.
Who were they?
What did they have to say about God and about the life of faith?
Do they still have anything to say to us in the 21st century?
Let’s explore them together over the next eight weeks and see if there's more to them than being just old men with long beards.
Last week we heard from Amos, whose name means 'burden bearer', and listened to the uncomfortable message he was called to proclaim to the comfortable.
This week, we're dreaming dreams, having visions, and thinking about 'hope' as we explore the prophet Joel.
and at 6.30pm: Evening worship in Leadhills Village Hall.
We continue our series looking at the lives of Celtic ‘heroes’ of the faith. This week, we'll find out a wee bit about the life of Ita of Ireland, described as 'foster mother of the saints.'
Morag Black will be leading us.
All are welcome to this shorter, more informal time of worship, which will be followed by refreshments and a chance to have a chat.

Don’t forget: save your stamps!
Check out our shiny new postbox in the vestibule! We'd be delighted if you used it to pop in any used stamps you may have. The stamps are sent off, bagged up, and sold to collectors, and the funds raised go to the work of both World Mission and Crossreach.

Looking further ahead:
Sun 1 Sept., 10.30am: Communion.
This will be our next quarterly Communion service.
All are welcome to share in the bread and wine at Christ’s table for he invites us all to the feast. Please do let friends and neighbours know.

The Clydesdale Food Bank box will also return over the Sundays of September.
Thanks for your generous support of this community project.

Sunday worship: Majoring on the Minors series wk1/ Amos on God's justice

Over the next eight weeks we'll be exploring the Minor Prophets.
Today we begin with Amos...

READINGS: Amos 1:1 and 5:1-27; Amos 8:1-14; Amos 9:11-15

SERMON
Let’s pray: May the words of my mouth, and the thoughts of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer, Amen.

A few year’s back, a movie came out which was
a modern-day, comic take on Noah.
Now, I know we’re thinking about prophets this morning,
but indulge me a wee moment.
The underlying question of the movie was:
‘what might it look like, if God called a modern day Noah to build an ark?’
It was a ridiculous movie – and also great fun.
The modern-day Noah begins the movie with a clean-shaven, square jaw.
Over the course of the movie, as he begins to accept this strange calling,
the clean-shaven look gradually begins to disappear, and facial hair begins to sprout.
He becomes very pre-occupied with the weather
incessantly talking to friends, neighbours, and colleagues about rain –
and warning them to be prepared.
Animals begin appearing at his doorstep.
The facial hair continues to grow until he ends up with quite an impressive beard.
And it’s the beard that provides the movie’s best description of our modern-day Noah:
he ends up being referred to as:
‘the weirdo with the beard-o.’

I love that description –
and here’s the link between Noah and the prophets:
I have a strong hunch, that, when it comes to thinking about prophets in the Bible,
who, as part of delivering God’s message
are sometimes called to say and do some very strange things...
well, I wonder if we might occasionally think of them a little like
our chap in the movie - as weirdos with beardos?
But there’s more to the prophets than just the possibility of all of them
having very long beards which, by the by, are very trendy at the moment.
So, who were these prophets –
and in particular, these ones called the ‘Minor Prophets?’

As I said at the beginning of the service, they’re not called ‘minor’
because they’re young;
nor because they’re unimportant –
rather, it’s because the length of each of the writings of our Minor Prophets
is quite short when compared to guys like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel –
who are known collectively by another name –
the Major Prophets because their writings can run up to 60 odd chapters in some cases.
So, Minor Prophets – shorter books.

By way of giving you a little context, of setting the scene,
if you look at your order of service, you’ll see a wee table –
giving you the names of each of the prophets that we’re going to be looking at,
an approximate date for when they were exercising their prophetic ministries,
and a key word, by way of trying to sum up, in a nutshell,
the heart of the message each of these prophets is delivering.
So today, you see that scholars would have Amos working around
the late to mid-8th century before Christ, and this minor prophet’s major theme is justice.

The work of a prophet is to be a messenger: God’s messenger, to be precise.
And throughout the centuries,God callS different people – men and women –
to tell his people certain things, such as:
• God is the ruler of all history;
• of the need to get right with God;
• of religion and right living
• of judgement and hope
• and of the coming Messiah
This last, very much the message of Malachi, who is the last of the Minor Prophets
and who stands at the door of the New Testament.
So, prophets are called by God;
they have a message from God;
and they also, at times, speak to God on behalf of the people;
And Amos is a prophet.

Amos lives well after the reign of Solomon,
after the kingdom has been split into two –
Judah in the south,
and Israel in the north.
These two kingdoms have an uncomfortable relationship with one another.
And Amos is called to move out of his comfort zone,
to leave his home in the Southern kingdom –
in place called Tekoa, 12 miles south of Jerusalem –
and to travel to the Northern kingdom, where he will proclaim God’s message.
So Amos, who is a shepherd, obeys God’s command and does just that.
But being a prophet is no easy thing – especially in Amos’ time.

The major power players of the time are the Assyrians –
but their focus is elsewhere as another powerful nation decides to test
its strength and have a go at them.
With the eyes of the Assyrians in another direction,
things in the Northern Kingdom seem to be going well:
with no great super-power breathing down their neck,
it’s a time of relative prosperity and comfort.
The king, Jeroboam the 2nd,
has taken the chance to expand his territory,
he’s been able to broker some excellent trade deals -
which is always better than no deals -
and which have given the economy a boost.
If you’re one of the upper class, the living is easy, and all seems right with the world –
everything is shiny, happy.
But scratch the shiny, happy surface, and you’d see a very different story:
the kingdom is rotten to the core.
While the wealthy luxuriate in opulence, there’s been no ‘trickle-down’ effect
for those not so well off:
the divide between rich and poor has become even wider.
Some of those struggling to make ends meet have had to sell their land,
their goods, and sometimes sell themselves into slavery in order to survive.
Everything in that society has been measured and weighted in favour of the ‘haves’,
who’ve profited off the backs of a growing number of ‘have-nots’,
even the law is against the most vulnerable:
there is ...     no  ...    justice.
It’s into this mix, that God calls Amos to deliver some hard truths.
And it doesn’t make for becoming most popular person around.

‘Seek good, not evil,’ is a recurring phrase throughout
God’s message through Amos to those in the Northern Kingdom –
‘seek good, not evil... so you may live.’
But what is ‘good’?
The Northern elite would cheerfully say that living in the lap of luxury
is a jolly good thing, thanks very much:
a case of ‘I’m alright, Jack.’
But their ‘good’ lifestyle is gained at the expense of others.
To maintain their wealth,
to keep the comforts they’ve grown accustomed to,
means that others have to suffer.
If the nation’s resources were a pie cut into twelve pieces,
the minority elite would have eleven pieces,
while the majority of the population would have to make do with just one piece
to fill their hungry bellies.
Now, there’s nothing necessarily bad about being well-off – enjoy what you’ve got.
But the problem comes when that wealth is gained to the cost of others:
that’s not good,
that’s ...exploitation.

What is ‘good’, then as seen through God’s eyes?
God calls his people to be witnesses to the world, to demonstrate what God’s kingdom looks like.
Amos is telling those in the Northern Kingdom that they’re doing a pretty bad job of it.
Instead of their modelling a ‘me first’ attitude, God, through Amos,
is saying they can do better:
for goodness, as seen in God’s kingdom, is when there is justice for all:
not just the elite, but for the helpless –
the ones cast down,
the ones who never seem to get a break,
the ones who struggle just to find crumbs under the table to survive.
Goodness is a fair go for all;
goodness is lifting people up
not pushing people down;
goodness is seeing the God-ness in others, and seeing their dignity and worth.
To seek good, not evil,
is to seek God,
and in that seeking,
to find life.
Amos’ message is one of justice:
God’s justice.
And so, Amos is called to call out
the corruption,
the self-interest,
the lack of compassion
that God has seen in the North.
The behaviour of those in power is not good enough...
is not... God enough.
‘Seek good, not evil, and you will live.’
About 30 or so years after Amos had proclaimed this message and seen it rejected,
and had even been told to go home by one of the Northern prophets,
the Northern Kingdom caught the attention of the Assyrians and ceased to exist as a nation.
Sobering stuff.
So focused upon themselves, that they perished.
And yet, that’s not the end of Amos’ message:
in chapter nine, there’s hope –
the promise of restoration...
God’s justice is always about reconciliation, and restoration, and wholeness –
for God’s justice is about life.

In a world where goodness seems to be defined once again as ‘me first’,
God’s message through Amos is as fresh as it was in the 8th century before Christ.
There’s more than enough food in the world to feed everyone well –
none need starve;
and yet more people than ever live in hunger.
There’s more than enough resources in the world to ensure a decent quality of life for all –
but we in the Western wealthy nations have spent several centuries
effectively asset-stripping the wealth of other nations –
pulling out the rug from under them.
Empires are only ‘good’ for those who create them, after all...
less good for the conquered. ...

What is good?
The heart of the message of Amos can be found in Chapter 5:24 -
in God’s 'justice, rolling like a river,
righteousness, like a never-failing stream':
powerful words from Amos to those used to living in semi-desert lands with unreliable water sources.
These powerful words from Amos were picked up by the late Martin Luther King Jr
and were used to call out the injustice of racism in his famous ‘I have a dream’ speech,
and used again in his ‘I’ve been to the mountaintop’ speech,
which he gave the night before he was assassinated:
a man proclaiming God’s word,
calling for God’s justice in an unjust world...
calling for the right for his people
to be seen as those created and made with goodness,
because they were made in God’s image.

‘Let justice roll on like a river...’
rolling alongside the growing food banks with longer and longer queues;
rolling alongside the places where human traffickers ply their trade;
rolling alongside corporations who use zero hour contracts and who don’t pay their fair share of tax –
taking, taking, and never giving back;
‘Let justice roll on like a river...’
rolling alongside those in positions of power who ensure their own houses are in order
but ignore the plight of the homeless.
God sees them all,
and still God calls:
‘Seek good, not evil, and you will live.’
And calls us to speak of God’s justice in an unjust world,
and to say that we can do better,
that we can be better than this:
that true goodness is seen when all have the chance to blossom and flourish.
Working for God’s justice might begin by showing compassion to others by
making donations to the food bank...
but it doesn’t stop there:
the work of proclaiming God’s justice continues by asking questions of a system
so broken that food banks are actually needed in the first place.

We are God’s people –
God’s witnesses,
tasked to proclaim God’s message to the world.
Be seekers of good...
be seekers...   of God:
speak God’s justice in the face of evil,
be bringers of life in this odd, and strange,
and frightening and beautiful world
that is currently crushing the life out of the many for the few.
What might it look like,
if God called a modern-day Amos to proclaim God’s message of justice to the world?
Friends, God calls us, whether or not we’ve got long flowing beards...
and God’s message, through Amos, could not be more relevant for today. Amen.

Food for the journey: bite-sized, mid-week nourishment

Given it was our Songs of Praise service on Sunday...
The great philosopher and theologian, Augustine of Hippo, allegedly proclaimed: 'to sing is to pray twice'.
As we make our way through life, how do we travel - with a song in our step, or snipe at our circumstances? Rather than seeing what we don't have, what we can't do, or muttering at the state of our world without doing anything about it, I wonder if a more positive approach would be to try to intentionally develop an attitude of gratitude? It doesn't mean we don't see and acknowledge the hard stuff of life, but it just might help us get through it... and even become the ones who effect change.
This week, what songs of gratitude will you sing?

News, events, info wk. beg. 11 Aug

Sun 18 Aug. 10.30am: Morning worship... Majoring on the Minor

This coming Sunday, we begin a new series, exploring those last books of the Old Testament, collectively called the Minor Prophets
Who were they?
What did they have to say about God and about the life of faith?
Do they still have anything to say to us in the 21st century?
Let’s explore them together over the next eight weeks and see if there's more to them than being just old men with long beards.

Sun 25 Aug. at 6.30pm: Evening worship in Leadhills Village Hall.
We continue our series looking at the lives of Celtic ‘heroes’ of the faith. All are welcome to this shorter, more informal time of worship, which will be followed by refreshments and a chance to have a chat.

Don’t forget: save your stamps!
Check out our shiny new postbox in the vestibule! We'd be delighted if you used it to pop in any used stamps you may have. The stamps are sent off, bagged up, and sold to collectors, and the funds raised go to the work of both World Mission and Crossreach.

Looking further ahead:
Sun 1 Sept., 10.30am: Communion.
This will be our next quarterly Communion service.
All are welcome to share in the bread and wine at Christ’s table for he invites us all to the feast. Please do let friends and neighbours know.

The Clydesdale Food Bank box will also return over the Sundays of September.
Thanks for your generous support of this community project.

Sunday worship, 11 August: Songs of Praise service

A really lovely time of worship this morning, as it was our annual Songs of Praise service. Over the previous weeks, the congregation has been nominating hymns for potential inclusion in worship - with nine hymn 'slots' available.
This year, an unusually wide-ranging variety of nominations.
The basic rule of thumb used to whittle down nominations to the nine are:
number of times nominated;
how recently it's been sung;
how soon it will be sung;
and...it's never been sung at all, so now's the chance!

Our nine, with readings and reflections, in order:
Morning has broken
Ps 96
short reflection: 'Songs of praise and freedom' on Ps 96 and John Greenleaf Whittier
Dear Lord and Father of mankind - John Greenleaf Whittier
Ps 103
short reflection: 'Songs of praise and remembering' on Ps 103 and Henry Francis Lyte
Praise my soul, the King of Heaven - Henry Francis Lyte
Ps 47
short reflection 'Songs of praise and awesomeness' on Ps 47 and William Cowper
O, for a closer walk with God - William Cowper
Ps 33:1-11
short reflection 'Songs of praise and justice' on Ps 33:1-11 and John Newton
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds - John Newton
How great Thou art
By cool Siloam's shady rill
I waited for the Lord my God
Shine, Jesus, shine

On exploring the writers of the selected hymns, four [Whittier, Lyte, Cowper, and Newton] had a common link, they were all abolitionists: actively involved in some way or other in the growing anti-slavery movement both within the British Empire, and, in Whittier's case, the United States. Underpinning their work to end slavery was their faith, and the basic understanding that those held in chains were both neighbours and brothers [and sisters]; to work to free their neighbour was the practical outworking of the command to love their neighbour. So weaving in the psalms, discussing the lives of these four writers of hymns, and reflecting on their faith, formed the underlying theme of our service this morning - how do we praise God when our brothers and sisters are still in chains? The psalmists show us how: recalling God's liberating acts, proclaiming that God's justice be made known throughout the world, remembering God's greatness. We proclaim the spiritual freedom found in God, and work for the physical liberation of all who are oppressed/ in physical captivity. To praise God and sing the psalms is what grounds us, helps to keep us focused, and is the sweetness that helps us keep at bay the bitter, as we work together to build God's kingdom

Songs of Praise service

SUNDAY 11 AUGUST, 10.30AM:
It's our Annual Songs of Praise Service

Come along, bring some friends, and get ready for a good sing...

Morning tea will be in the hall after our time of worship.