9 August - Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost – Year A

The Faith Action Programme would like to thank the National Stewardship Team writing pool for their thoughts on the eleventh Sunday after Pentecost.

Introduction

Many of the lectionary texts throughout August raise themes of God's generosity and our response to it. In preparing material for this month, the national stewardship team held a series of online conversations to discuss how the texts spoke into these themes. We are grateful to Ken Brown, Janet Dick, Jo Love, Douglas Monaghan, Fiona Penny, Lucy Peppiatt, Darren Philip, Katherine Southern and Pauline Wilson for contributing to these discussions. Each week's themes were explored by reading all four texts aloud and inviting each person to respond to the question, "What stood out to you?" One participant then used these observations as inspiration to produce the worship material for each week. This could offer a model for exploring the texts with a small group in your own context and developing worship collaboratively.

Each week's material stands alone, or the month can be followed together as a series unpacking the generous nature of God and our response to it. Additional resources and support for exploring themes of generosity and stewardship are available by contacting stewardship@churchofscotland.org.uk.

This week, Lucy Peppiatt, President of Westminster Theological Centre, reflects on the generosity of God's presence and God's freely given gifts of righteousness and salvation.

As I approached these texts,I read and re-read them, sometimes on their own and sometimes together to see if I could see some common themes. I like to think about the context in which the passages were written. I always look at the immediate context of the verses – what comes before and after – as well as where it comes in the whole book. I tend to read the Bible from a pastoral point of view – What will it say to me as a person in my life today? What does it say to people I am praying for? What does it say to the Church? Is there anything I can do as a result of reading this passage?

I also like to think about what or who can I pray for as a result of reading these texts. Most of these passages are about connecting with God somehow, hearing God's voice, letting God reach out to us rather than thinking we have to do the finding. What does this mean for us today and how would the idea that God has come to earth to be with us, and as close as possible, change the way we are seeing the world today?

1 Kings 19:9-18

The prophet Elijah is on the run, desperately scared for his life, being chased by the wicked king Ahab and his equally wicked wife, Jezebel. Jezebel, outraged at the killing of Baal's prophets on Mount Carmel has promised to hunt Elijah down and kill him in revenge. He ends up in the wilderness ready to give up on life, ready to lie down and die. God, however, has other plans and sends an angel to tend to Elijah in the desert, to bring him hot food and water and to prepare Elijah for what is next. There is a journey up ahead. He moves on, finds a cave to sleep in for warmth and safety and spends the night there.

In our passage, the word of the Lord comes to Elijah in the cave and asks, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" This is a question that is asked twice, which makes it really significant. Twice Elijah gives the same answer, having been "zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts" but is now alone and in danger for his life. The implication is he thinks God owes him at least something and should be looking after him. Presumably Elijah wants to see God revealed in power again like on Mt Carmel, coming down as a consuming fire to deliver Elijah of his enemies. Where was the power now when Elijah needed it?

Here is the surprise in our passage. Elijah is told to go and stand on the mountain before the Lord because the Lord is about to pass by. Surely, this would be the moment of the manifestation of great power before Elijah's very eyes. And yet, the opposite happens. There is a powerful wind, so powerful that it breaks rocks! But strangely, God is not in that. Next there is an earthquake, but again the Lord is not in that. And finally, a fire. Surely God will be in that, but again, is not.

God is in the sheer and stunning silence which we're told is so quiet that it is in itself a sound. Elijah ‘hears' the silence. In a strange way, it's not nothing but it's palpable, powerful, even though seemingly nothing concrete.

This story tells us that God comes in ways we don't expect and sometimes in ways we don't really want. We might be longing for a powerful manifestation of God's presence and find that this is not really what is on offer today. Elijah is surprised by the form God takes outside the cave in his desperate hour of need, but it is no less powerful than when he was on Mt Carmel. God speaks after the silence, promising a new king who will be anointed by Elijah and defeat of the prophets of Baal. Elijah has to rely on God's word and promise more than any visible sign.

Further reflections on this text can be found in the stewardship team's ‘God': Devotional, available on the Narrative of Generosity Resources page of the Church of Scotland website: (https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/about-us/departments/stewardship/a-narrative-of-generosity) or by request from stewardship@churchofscotland.org.uk.

Psalm 85:8-13

Psalm 85 comes at the end of Book Three of the Psalms, which contains psalms that are full of pleas to God for salvation from enemies, for justice for God's people, and for the restoration of the land. Here, the Psalmist begins by crying out to God to forgive and turn away His anger from them. Whenever things were going badly for people in the ancient world, it was common for them to understand this as God's anger being visited upon them. Although we don't see things like that today, and wouldn't want to express it like that, we can understand how they felt.

After prayers of longing for God to forgive and to show the people steadfast love, the Psalmist turns in verse 8 to say, "Let me hear what the Lord will speak, for he will speak to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts." Like the passage before, we see a longing to encounter and to hear what God has to say.

What strikes us in this passage and in so much of the Old Testament is the view that if things are going well with God's people, then the land too will be blessed. Peace for the people is peace for the land. The Psalmist describes God and the people and the land meeting; a picture of the people and the land below rising up to meet the Lord who comes from above. The steadfast love of God, that never ceases, is poured down from above to meet the faithfulness of the people who wait for God to come. The Psalmist has a beautiful vision of an intimate touch of God and humanity when God dwells with His people: the righteousness of God and the peace given to the people, meeting and kissing.

When this happens, God's people receive good gifts: "The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase." We read in verse 9, "Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him."

The visitation of God to earth brings peace, salvation, righteousness, and fruitfulness. It is not just an individual peace but a cosmic peace. This vision looks forward to the time when the Son comes to earth and those who believe rise up to meet Him. They are greeted with a kiss, just like the story of the Prodigal Son, whose father runs to greets him with a kiss. Those who wait for the Lord will receive God's gifts, for us as individuals and for the whole earth.

Matthew 14:22-33

The story of Jesus walking on the water and Peter's response comes right after the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand and right before the healing of "all" who touch Jesus' cloak in Gennesaret. After the feeding of the five thousand Jesus needs to be alone. He goes up a mountain to pray on His own and instructs the disciples to get in a boat and to go to the other side of the lake. The lake is huge, big enough for destructive storms that could batter a boat and potentially capsize it. By the time it was evening, the disciples had gone far out into the lake and a storm is brewing. Jesus doesn't go to them immediately, however, but waits overnight until the early morning.

In the early morning, Jesus decides to catch them up and walks towards them on the lake. They are terrified and cry out in fear, thinking they have seen a ghost! In our Bibles, Jesus replies, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid." In a more literal translation of the Greek, Jesus replies, "Take courage! I am. Do not fear." It's significant here that Jesus replies, "I am." His disciples would recognise this from Exodus 3:14 when God says to Moses. "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites. ‘I AM has sent me to you.'" Jesus says the same to the disciples when, like Moses, they too are afraid. "I am. Do not fear."

Peter clearly realises that this is probably not a ghost but cannot resist testing the theory. "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." It's a strange request and one that seems typical of Peter – impulsive, hot-headed, risky. Peter starts strong and then falters when things get rough. That is just like Peter pre-Pentecost, full of grand ideas but overcome with fear when things get tougher. It's amazing that it is this man who becomes the foundation of the whole Church and who proclaims Jesus Christ boldly. Perhaps Peter's transformation is somehow linked to this moment when he tries to walk on water, tries literally to do what Jesus is doing. He steps out bravely and then doubts. As he doubts, he sinks. Jesus, full of compassion and strength, reaches out His hand and catches Peter, saving him from all his fear and doubt. And then when they returned to the boat, the wind ceases and all is calm.

The beautiful thing in this story is that Jesus speaks and saves, even when Peter has little faith of his own, but this is precisely the lesson Peter needed to learn. Being able to follow Jesus and do what He does can't possibly come from ourselves. It's in our weakness and crying out for help that Jesus is able to reach out, hold our hands and enable us to do what He does. We don't need faith to be seen and heard by God, who watches over us anyway, and will come to save us, no matter what.

Romans 10:5-15

Here Paul is reflecting on the relationship of his own people, the Jews, to Jesus, the Jewish Messiah. Like the psalm that we have read for today, we see that righteousness comes from God. It is a gift, given to people who don't deserve it and don't have any of their own. It simply comes from God. And if we think we have our own righteousness, we cannot receive God's. The two are mutually incompatible.

We can see the theme here again of God being up in heaven and us being down on earth, but here Paul writes to the Romans that they would be mistaken to think that they have to climb up to heaven to bring God down, or to reach down into the abyss to try and bring Jesus back from the dead, as if it all depended on us. No, it really doesn't. Instead, God is near us, much nearer than we might know. Reminiscent of our 1 Kings passage and the Matthew story, we find that God's presence and word is near: "The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart" (v.8). We don't have to seek and search for the God who will find us and be near us.

What brings us into the presence of God? What brings us near? Paul writes in verse 9, "if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." It is a simple faith, the belief that Jesus is who the Bible tells us He is, is what saves us. And salvation is not for some rather than others. Salvation is for all who call on the name of the Lord. It is not merit based, not based on how good we are or how holy we are, or how much we do for God. It is simply based on our belief that Jesus is Lord and that He has been raised from the dead.

Paul himself knows that faith comes through what is heard and in verses 14-15 exhorts his readers to teach and to preach the good news of Jesus to those around them.

This passage ends with a call to all of us to take the gospel out, to speak out the good news and to proclaim the message that everyone who calls upon God will be saved.

Sermon ideas

To teach or preach from these passages, you can take one or two and focus on them or look at them all together, depending on the time you have or whether you want to encourage participation from the congregation.

The main idea that I would focus on to link these passages is that God loves to come and be with the people, coming in ways we don't expect, and to those who call upon Him. God is ready and willing to save us without any need on our part to be or do anything.

It's hard to preach well from multiple texts, so I would choose a few verses that focus on main messages. Or you may prefer to choose verses that particularly speak to you from each of these passages and that seem to tell the same story about the God who loves to dwell with the people.

Bring out the application of what you are seeing in the text. What difference will that make to us who hear this message? Is there anything we can do as a result?

Acting out or telling a story
There are two stories that are quite dramatic here and could be acted out if it's appropriate to your context.

The story of Elijah is very dramatic and people could play the part of Elijah, the angel who brings him food and water, the voice of God, etc. The story of Peter in the boat is also very visual.

There is a lot of emotion and fear in both these stories that might really speak to people at this time. It's hard to trust God when we're fearful. It's hard to believe God will answer us. Sometimes God answers us in ways we don't expect (or even want!). At other times God literally reaches out and saves us.

Pictures to speak from
The psalm has a beautiful image of righteousness and peace kissing. We tend not to talk much about kissing in church and yet the Bible talks about it quite a lot, even that we as fellow Christians should greet one another with a "holy kiss." It's a picture of what it means to meet God. Do we think about being hugged and kissed by God? You could explore what it feels like to long for God to come to us – and using the picture of the father who runs to meet the son – to see God running towards us, ready to take us up into His arms and kiss us in welcome.

We often shy away from ideas about intimacy with God, but the Bible is full of pictures of God as one who comes very close to us.

Exhortations
The Romans passage is about not needing to do anything to ensure we are saved. All we need to ‘do' is to believe; believe in our hearts and confess with our lips. It seems important to Paul that we speak out what we believe. The word for confess means to say it as it is. It is also a public statement so that people can hear. Paul wants us to speak out about our faith to others so that they can hear the good news.

Some people find this easier than others. This might be a good passage for a discussion if people are able to talk together. How would you explain your faith to someone and what God means to you? What does the idea of proclaiming the gospel look like in our own contexts, our workplaces, our families, our schools? Do we feel fear about this? What might help us? Our readings speak into this as well.

Prayers

I like to take verses from the Bible to pray and to have times when others participate in praying. I think it helps people to focus rather than just hearing prayers from the front. Sometimes people like to write or draw prayers, so some people might like to have some paper and pens in front of them to help them concentrate.

Gathering and Confession
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.
(Psalm 95:6-7, NIV)

As we come to You today, Lord God,
help us to lay aside the many things that are on our minds and in our hearts,
trusting that You know what we need before we ask
and that You are with us in all things.
Help us to turn now towards You,
to be attentive to Your presence,
to listen to Your word and to one another,
and to lift our hearts in love and worship of You.
Lord, hear our prayer.

In a moment of silence,
Let us bring to God those things we have done and said that we regret,
things that have hurt others and ourselves.
Let us bring also those things we wish we had done and said that we failed to do
and ask God to help us turn and follow God.

Take this time of silence to express what you want to God.

[Hold a time of silence]

Thank You God, that Your word says,
"If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
We receive Your cleansing and the gift of Your righteousness today. Amen.

Thanksgiving
Do not worry about anything,
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Depending on how interactive you would like your prayers to be, you can lead people through various aspects of life to be thankful for or encourage them to pray out loud for anything they would like to thank God for.

Intercession
I have suggested some prayer topics here, but you might want to add to these from your own personal experiences.

For the world,
for nations that are being destroyed by conflict,
for leaders,
and for those who are suffering, Lord we pray:
Your kingdom come, Your will be done.

For the Church,
for those who serve You as ministers
and for those who come faithfully, Lord we pray
Your kingdom come, Your will be done.

For our friends and families,
for our loved ones near and far, Lord we pray
Your kingdom come, Your will be done.

For those who don't yet know You Jesus,
for the people we are praying will come to see You,
know You, and love You, Lord we pray
Your kingdom come, Your will be done.

For those who are sick in our community and need Your healing hand,
please come and bless them and heal them in body, mind, and spirit, Lord we pray
Your kingdom come, Your will be done.

Offering
The following offering prayer is provided by the national stewardship team:

God of grace,
You meet us in quietness and in storm,
calling us to trust You and not be afraid.
In that trust, we bring these gifts before You –
offerings of faith in Your goodness and care.

Receive them,
and use them to bring Your peace and justice to the world.
May they serve Your purpose,
so that Your good news is heard,
and all may come to know Your love.

Take all we are and all we have,
and make us faithful in Your service;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Blessing
This blessing can be said by the service leader or all of the congregation over one another.

May the blessing of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be upon you.
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Musical suggestions

God Welcomes All (GWA) is the new supplement to Church Hymnary Fourth Edition. This exciting new collection features over 200 hymns and songs in a wide range of styles by writers from Scotland and around the world.

The full music and words-only versions are now available; and digital resources, including the expansion of the existing Church of Scotland music website, will be published in due course, with streaming functions and further information on each song; backing tracks; and lyric videos. God Welcomes All is available to order from https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781786225573/god-welcomes-all

Our online music resource is on the Church of Scotland website; you can listen to samples of every song in the Church Hymnary 4th edition (CH4) and download a selection of recordings for use in worship. You will also find playlists for this week and liturgical seasons and themes on the Weekly Worship and Inspire Me tabs.

You can find further musical suggestions for this week in a range of styles on the Songs for Sunday blog from Trinity College Glasgow.

• GWA 47 – "Come all you wounded and weary" – links to the Psalm and the image of the father welcoming the Prodigal Son.

• GWA 124 – "Living Hope" – This worship song celebrates God's redeeming mercy which brings hope and light into the darkest places of our lives, leading us into freedom and salvation. It could be used as a reflective response piece, perhaps after prayers of intercession, allowing space to focus on the hope found in Christ.

Brian Johnson and Phil Wickham https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-1fwZtKJSM

For a full list of GWA songs for a Narrative of Generosity, see the Additional Material for this month.

• CH4 553 – "Just as I am, without one plea" – This hymn of devotion and acceptance reflects the themes of the Romans passage: salvation is not earned but freely offered for all who call on the name of the Lord. There are two melodies to choose from in CH4 – Saffron Walden and Misericordia – while the familiar tune Woodworth can be found in Mission Praise 396(i). This hymn would serve well as a response to the sermon or at Communion.

• CH4 555 – "Amazing Grace!" – The story of John Newton's coming to faith during a storm on board a ship resonates with the Gospel reading.

• MP 249/SoGP 45 – "Our God Reigns (How lovely on the mountains)" – (Leonard E Smith Jr[PW1.1]). Drawing on the language of Isaiah echoed in Romans 10, this song celebrates the proclamation of good news: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news". With its accessible refrain, it could work well following the reading from Romans, as a song of praise emphasising our calling to share the good news.

• MP 987 – "Here is Love Vast as the Ocean" – (William Rees, trans. William Edwards). This Welsh revivalist hymn invites the congregation to celebrate the immense love and grace of God, revealed in Christ's sacrifice. The imagery of the ocean resonates naturally with the Gospel reading from Matthew 14. It would be particularly fitting after the Gospel reading or in response to the sermon.

• "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)" – Joel Houston Inspired by Peter's walk on the water, this song encourages us to keep our eyes fixed on Christ amid life's uncertainties, and to call upon the name of Jesus in the deepest waters. Where a live band is not available, a recorded version could be used to create a time of focussed reflection and personal response. https://youtu.be/_teCNEe5PQA?si=lyk9l0f6ieTL7eQE

Reflecting on our worship practice

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, the way we worship has changed and we need to reflect on the changing or newly established patterns that emerged and continue to emerge as a result of the disruption.

We can facilitate worship for all by exploring imaginative approaches to inclusion, participation and our use of technologies in ways that suit our contexts. This is not an exhaustive list, but some things we could consider are:

• Framing various parts of the worship service in accessible language to help worshippers understand the character and purpose of each part. This is essential for creating worship for all (intergenerational worship) that reflects your community of faith.
• Holding spaces for reflection and encouraging prayer to be articulated in verbal and non-verbal ways, individually and in online breakout rooms.
• In online formats the effective use of the chat function and microphone settings encourages active participation in prayer, e.g. saying the Lord's Prayer together unmuted, in a moment of ‘holy chaos'.
• While singing in our congregations is still restricted, we can worship corporately by using antiphonal psalm readings, creeds and participative prayers.
• Using music and the arts as part of the worship encourages the use of imagination in place of sung or spoken words.
• Use of silence, sensory and kinaesthetic practices allow for experience and expression beyond regular audio and visual mediums.

The following questions might help you develop a habit of reflecting on how we create and deliver content and its effectiveness and impact, and then applying what we learn to develop our practice.

• How inclusive was the worship?
  Could the worship delivery and content be described as worship for all/ intergenerational?
  Was it sensitive to different "Spiritual Styles"?
• How was the balance between passive and active participation?
• How were people empowered to connect with or encounter God?
  What helped this?
  What hindered this?
• How cohesive was the worship?
  Did it function well as a whole?
  How effective was each of the individual elements in fulfilling its purpose?
• How balanced was the worship?
  What themes/topics/doctrines/areas of Christian life were included?
• How did the worship connect with your context/contemporary issues?
  Was it relevant in the everyday lives of those attending and in the wider parish/ community?
  How well did the worship connect with local and national issues?
  How well did the worship connect with world events/issues?
• What have I learned that can help me next time I plan and deliver worship?

Useful links

You can listen to samples of every song in the Church Hymnary 4th edition (CH4) and download a selection of recordings for use in worship in our online hymnary.

You are free to download, project, print and circulate multiple copies of any of this material for use in worship services, bible studies, parish magazines, etc., but reproduction for commercial purposes is not permitted.

Please note that the views expressed in these materials are those of the individual writer and not necessarily the official view of the Church of Scotland, which can be laid down only by the General Assembly.