7 June 2026 - Second Sunday after Pentecost– Year A

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The Faith Action Programme would like to thank Rev Stephen Miller, Education and Schools Group Co-ordinator for the Church of Scotland's Mission Support Team, for his thoughts on the second Sunday after Pentecost.

Introduction

The work of preparing a sermon can be something of a slow burn. It is also a layering exercise, infused by both inspiration and perspiration. As preachers, we need to be prepared by God as much, if not more, than we need to prepare the sermon. To that end, prayerfully reading Scripture to try to understand what God is saying to us through it, and reading commentaries to listen to what God has said through others, is all part of that layering process. Then finding the words and illustrations, combined with an understanding of the needs and character of the congregation, while doing so in a way that is true to our own personality and gifting, is quite an undertaking. It is a wonderful, time-consuming privilege!

In terms of navigating Scripture, there is one principle and one approach that I try to reflect in sermon preparation.

Firstly, the principle. Preaching from Scripture needs to take seriously the centrality of Christ: otherwise, we echo the words of Mary: "They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him" (John 20:13). Among others, Tim Kellar urges us to see Scripture as: "a unified, narrative plot, resolving and climaxing in Christ," [1] in the same metaphorical way that Spurgeon observed that all roads in England ultimately lead to London!

Secondly, one the many helpful bits of advice I learned during my training for ministry was from the work of Paul Scott Wilson, Professor of Homiletics at Emmanuel College in the University of Toronto. Wilson encouraged finding the tension between what he termed elements of trouble and grace in each biblical text and in the current lived experience of all of us. These he termed the grammar of the Gospel.[2] In other words, how does the grace of God – perfectly revealed through Jesus' life and death – answer the troubles seen in the text and in our lives today? Carefully presenting such an inherent set of tensions gives the sermon elements that not only provide knowledge and background but also elements of drama, resolved tension and contemporary relevance. Of course, this is not new advice: why, after all, did Jesus speak in parables?!

Sermons are also pastoral occasions and opportunities. Great sensitivity is always required. While sermons are mainly thought of as oral occasions; the use of music, drama poetry and other media are also useful if they serve to accompany the main themes of Scripture. We dare not underestimate the power of other forms of presentation to make an impact: neither should we overestimate the ability of hearers to listen!

[1] Tim Kellar, Preaching, (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2017), p.59

[2] Paul Scott Wilson, The Practice of Preaching, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2007), p.160

There is a clear line of sight through this week's Lectionary readings. While our passages span different eras, from 8th century prophecy to the ministry of Jesus, they are woven together by a radical shift in how we are encouraged to see our relationship with God. Each of the readings contributes to a multi-layered picture of the story of God's mercy and God's desire for relationship reflected throughout the meta-narrative of Scripture. Hosea 6:6, which we will cover in its own right, as well a passage quoted by Jesus in the Matthew 9 section, says this: "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings."

All these passages move the focus from external rituals and restrictive attitudes to holiness to a re-defined relationship with Godas the means by which our lives can be redeemed and restored. They all point towards faith in the mercy of God alone. Mercy over sacrifice. Mercy in how righteousness is imputed to us solely through the death of Jesus on the cross, and not through any sacrifice based on our own goodness. Mercy for those who know they are in need rather than the healthy self-sufficient. Mercy shown through healing, even resurrection. The late Pope Francis commented helpfully in one of his last speeches in Rome on 4 March 2024: "Christians should cleanse themselves from a transactional relationship with God by developing an intimacy with Him like that of a family in their home."

Hosea 5:15-6:6

Impending judgement on Israel and Judah and a call to repentance

The passage begins in verse 15 with a startling statement from God: "I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face. In their distress they will beg my favour." We see this mirrored in other places of Scripture: for example, in Exodus 33, when God threatened to depart from a rebellious and faithless people as a result of their fashioning and worshipping of the golden calf and bringing to it their burnt offerings and peace offerings.

In the 8th century BC, although the Northern Kingdom of Israel was thriving economically, it was rotting spiritually. God's people were, essentially, hedging their bets: worshipping Yahweh on the Sabbath but flirting with the Baals (the local fertility gods) during the working week to try to ensure good crops.

In 6:1-3, we hear the people's response. It sounds almost plausible. "Come, let us return to the Lord... after two days he will revive us." But verses 4-6 make clear that this response is more like an unthinking incantation rather than a serious attempt to be, and live as, the distinct People of God. Their words and their lives reveal an almost vending machine mentality of an insincere insertion of one ‘sorry' resulting in the receipt of one automatic ‘healing' without any behaviour change in the middle.

The image of the disappearance of the morning mist that evaporates early at the first touch of sunlight underscores the vapour-thin faith of the people. A faith that looks and feels substantial but evaporates quickly when challenged and tested. The ‘hewing of the prophets' in verse 5 refers to the attempts of the prophets to break through the stubbornness and shallowness of the people.

Verse 6, however, the verse quoted by Jesus Himself in our Matthew passage, gets to the root of what God desires: "For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."

The Hebrew word for ‘steadfast love' is chesed. It's an all-encompassing marathon kind of love and speaks of the absolute commitment and faithfulness of God to God's people – the kind of love expected from them in return. Religious ritual in itself is not being criticised, but the paramountcy of chesed advocates the kind of love that cannot simply be reduced to, or replaced by, a mechanical piety or religiosity based on rituals, burnt offerings or what we can spare in the offering plate. Instead, God is looking for another kind of sacrifice, based on true worship of the heart and a lifestyle of sacrificial kindness and service to others.

Psalm 50:7-15

The acceptable sacrifice

Psalm 50 is attributed to Asaph, one of David's chief musicians. It is a psalm of admonishment and was, in all probability, sung, along with other similar psalms (e.g. Psalms 81 and 95) during festivals of covenant renewal.

In the ancient Near East, people thought of gods as being hungry. If you didn't bring a goat or a bull to the temple, the god would be annoyed and would, for example, withhold the rain. Practices speak of a kind of quid pro quo relationship: you give me what I need and I'll give you a good harvest.

However, one of the mistakes God's people make, today as then, is the tendency to think that God needs us rather than us focussing on our dependency on God. Interestingly, in verse 8 God says: "Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you." Therefore, sacrifices in and of themselves are not being criticised. It is the mindset of our ability to satisfy God by our own efforts, including making sacrifices, that is being criticised.

There is a humorous tinge to the image the Psalmist is painting here. The image of the God who made "the cattle on a thousand hills" and "all the birds of the air" (vv.10-11) being grateful for receiving what is already God's! It would be as crass as walking into a party with a car freshener or a bumper sticker as a gift to a host who owned all the Rolls Royce franchises in the world!

So, if God doesn't need our stuff, what does God want? Verses 14 and 15 consolidate the answer and I hope that another analogy here might be helpful.

Imagine a toddler trying to move a heavy couch, with his dad standing there watching. The toddler huffs and puffs, turns red in the face, and finally gives up and cries: "Daddy, help!" The dad moves the couch with one hand. The toddler then runs to his friends and says: "Look at what my dad did!"

In this analogy, God, of course, is the Dad and we are the toddlers. Our religious practices are akin to us huffing and puffing at the couch, trying to prove how strong we are. Meanwhile, God is just waiting for us to stop and trust instead.

This is an imperfect analogy, but it does demonstrate well the four aspects of our relationship with God outlined in verses 14 and 15.

  • Our need to be thankful in acknowledging that everything we have comes from God anyway.
  • Our dependence on God throughout all our lives, including in the parts where we really struggle.
  • Admitting that it is God who does the heavy lifting for us and rescues or delivers us, ultimately through Christ.
  • Giving the glory to God and telling the world how great God is.

Romans 4:13-25

God's promise realised through faith

A useful way into this passage might be to reflect on the ease with which we can access ‘how to' guides to lead us through a myriad of problems, ranging from how to sew on a button to understanding the properties of jet propulsion.

In a sense, the people to whom Paul was writing were looking to the Law as a ‘how to' guide to get them entry into the Kingdom of God. They thought about the Law as a checklist as well as a performance guide to earn their way into heaven.

Paul was writing to address a specific tension in the Early Church. Jews had been following the Mosaic Law for generations, including those Jews who had become Christians. The Law was like a fence that kept them holy. The problem was that their fellowship now included Gentile (non-Jewish) converts who were uncircumcised. In other words, the newcomers did not have any of the outward and ‘necessary' signs of the traditional people of God. And the Gentiles were claiming family parity with the circumcised Jews who had become Christians. It was as if the Jewish believers were essentially saying: "You can't just ‘believe' your way in. You have to do the work! You have to tick all the necessary, traditional boxes!"

Paul's argument rests on a number of different avenues of thought to try to resolve this debate.

Firstly, he uses the example of Abraham, the undisputed heavyweight champion of their faith, to try to dismantle this mindset. He reminds them that Abraham was declared righteous before the Law was ever given on Mount Sinai and even before he was circumcised.

Secondly, he argues that if the inheritance of faith depended on the Law, faith would be pointless. Paul is saying that trying to earn God's favour through the Law will always bring failure because the Law's primary job is to show us where we broke the rules. In other words, the Law always brings wrath, not a title deed. Elsewhere, in the letter to the Galatians (3:24), you will recall that Paul used the image of the Law as being a ‘disciplinarian' (or schoolmaster) until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith, an image so loved by the great reformer, Martin Luther. Luther's own commentary on Galatians argues: ‘For it is not the Father's intention that his son should be subject to the schoolmaster forever, but that through the instruction and discipline of the schoolmaster, the son may be fit for accession to his inheritance. [...] The law was a custodian until Christ comes, the Justifier and Saviour, so that we may be justified through faith in him, not through works.' [1]

Thirdly, Paul characterises the nature of faith using the language of hoping against hope (v.18) and citing the example of Sarah. Sarah had always been barren and was now well on in years, certainly past child-bearing age. And yet God assures Abraham that it would be through Sarah that Abraham would be made the father of many nations. At this stage, Abraham was no spring chicken either. Verse 19 tells us that he was almost a centenarian, his body "was already as good as dead" and yet, even then, Abraham did not weaken in faith.

Fourthly, Paul speaks of the nature of the author of faith, on whom our hope rests. Verse 20 says that Abraham's faith in God did not waver because he knew the character of the Promiser. The God described in verse 17 and verses 24-25 is the God who calls into being the things that do not exist, and the God who gives life to the dead. This God who specialises in dead things ignores performance and embraces faith. This God took dead hopes for bearing a child (Sarah and Abraham) and made a nation from it; took a dead Saviour (Jesus) and brought about our salvation. And God takes our dead efforts to be perfect – or even just good! – and replaces them with the perfect life of Christ.

And that leads us, fifthly, to an interesting analogy drawn from the world of accounting in verses 22-25. The accounting image used is that of reckoning. From time to time, the media focusses on the impossibility of many former students trying to pay off their student loans, including concerns that, in some cases, the interest payments simply increase the size of the overall debt despite valiant attempts to pay it down. Imagine the relief of such students if someone were to come and cover the whole amount of debt. They couldn't manage to work for it. They didn't earn it. But when the bank looks at the previous statement of debt, it says ‘Paid in Full'.

Paul emphasises that this is what happened on the cross. Our debt of sin was placed on Jesus, and His righteousness was credited or reckoned or re-balanced to our account. To paraphrase Paul, it is as if he is saying: "Stop trying to impress God with your checklist. You'll never be ‘good enough' and the good news is that you don't have to be. You just have to trust the One who performs the impossible."

[1] Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians (London: James Clark, 1961, 3rd Impression, First published in 1535), p.333-334.

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

The call of Matthew, a girl restored to life, and a woman healed

These three inter-linked Gospel stories exemplify the kernel of the Gospel that Paul explained so vividly in Romans. Three different situations that speak of perceptions of unworthiness in different guises meeting the Gospel imperative of redemption, resurrection and deliverance.

Jesus calls Matthew (vv.9-13)

Matthew worked for the Capernaum branch of His Majesty's Revenue and Customs in the Galilee region. His Majesty in this case was Tiberius Caesar. Matthew was despised. He was not just considered to be a cheat – although he certainly was that. The loathing was based on more than that. Matthew was regarded as a traitor to his own Jewish people.

The despised Roman occupiers farmed out the dirty job of collecting taxes. They would set people like Matthew a target of, say, 100 gold pieces to raise from his district. Anything collected above that was his to keep. This became a virtual licence to steal and extort.

For Matthew, it must have been a lucrative business to compensate for all the things he couldn't do. Socially, he was banned from the synagogue. Legally, his testimony was not allowed in court because he was considered to be a compulsive liar. Religiously, he was considered to be perpetually unclean. (As a compare and contrast point, it's interesting that in our next story, in the account of the woman who had suffered bleeding for 12 years, Matthew was considered just as much of an outcast as she was.) All things considered, therefore, Jesus wasn't just picking up a new recruit, he was courting a PR disaster.

The possibility of comparison with media accounts of political PR disaster examples from time to time is obvious. But Jesus didn't plead that excuse – He knew everything about the scandalous lifestyle of Matthew. Jesus knew who and what He was bringing in to His core team. The only scandal Jesus ever seemed interested in was the scandal of grace! Matthew responds positively – and throws a party. The Pharisees, on the other hand, react badly to this. The religious elite were offended by the scandal of association with "tax collectors and sinners." (v.11)

Jesus is ready for this criticism and uses a very simple medical analogy to shut down His critics. In verse 12 we find one of the most liberating and salutary lines in Scripture. "People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who are sick." Imagine the ludicrous situation of a hospital turning people away because they're sick, but who will be accepted for a place when they are better! Hospitals that turn sick people away would be places that have forgotten their purpose. And Jesus is saying here that a Church that rejects sinners is just like a hospital that rejects the sick.

Jesus drives the point home even further with a quote from our earlier passage in Hosea 6:6: "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings." The Pharisees were experts at sacrifice – the correct animals to be burnt, the rituals, the rules – ‘looking the part' – but they missed the essence of what God was all about! They were failing at mercy. Unlike Jesus, they didn't have the heart that breaks for the lost. It is as if Jesus is saying: "I can't fix what you won't admit is broken. I didn't come for the people who have it all together: I came for those who are falling apart."

A girl restored to life and a woman healed (vv.9:18-26)

In these verses we find Jesus sandwiched between two simultaneous, desperate pleas for help from two people at opposite ends of the social spectrum: a powerful and respected synagogue leader whose daughter had just died and a woman marginalised by society on account of her long-term bleeding condition. And yet they are united in their desperation and their audacious faith.

The synagogue leader's unaccustomed posture – kneeling before anyone – illustrates the extent of his desperation. And he was not just asking Jesus for comfort for him and his family at a difficult time: he was asking for nothing short of the resurrection of his daughter, which he believed would happen simply by Jesus laying hands on her.

Parallel accounts in both Mark and Luke offer the additional information that the woman in this dual drama had spent all she had on doctors trying to obtain a cure. Mark indicates that she was actually getting worse, not better. But, unlike the synagogue leader, the suffering woman is not looking for a resurrection: she simply believes that if she can touch the hem of Jesus' cloak she will get better. Miraculously, both get more than they had bargained for.

The synagogue leader, despite the natural scepticism of the gathered mourners and the hired ‘flute players', sees his young daughter restored to health and the woman, who must have been concerned about the wrath of onlookers for contaminating someone like Jesus, receives the kindest of words from him in verse 22: "Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well." She is no longer defined as an outcast: she is directly referred to as someone within the circle of the family of God. With her healed body comes a restored identity.

In all three situations from Matthew 9, the involvement of Jesus through touch, entering into relationship and responding to human need, illustrates the incarnational mercy and grace of God. The God who gets involved. The God who does not erect barriers of holiness to exclude, like some of the Pharisees, but enters into our grief, our mess, our pain, our failures and gives us God's life-giving power and a fresh start.

Sermon Ideas

As we have already identified, consistent themes run through all of today's Lectionary passages, not least of which is the encouragement to understand God not as a transactional deity who needs to be fed with rituals, but as a merciful physician who heals those who know they are vulnerable and who approach God with trust.

I mentioned in the introductory comments how continually useful I find Paul Wilson's suggestion of trying to find the elements of trouble and grace in each biblical text. Whether the Bible passages are mainly ‘delivered' through a sermon and/or as a precursor to some more interactive or discursive activity – such as a mid-week Bible Study or at conversation opportunities during or after the service, perhaps helping your congregation to understand and use this method could be a generally useful tool in helping them read and understand Scripture for themselves? The passages for this week provide very accessible contexts for a try-out.

Our passages also lead quite naturally to critically explore our own experience of faith, worship and fellowship, again whether through a sermon or in various forms of discussion groups and interactions. Some questions suggest themselves. For example:

  • To what extent are we caught up in a performance-based diet of rituals during our worship services, to the detriment of seeking the presence and company of the God who calls us into an unearned relationship?
  • Matthew's party reminds us that the Kingdom of heaven is less like a reserved balcony at the opera and more like a crowded community BBQ where someone just shouted: "Everyone is welcome, and the burgers are free!" How helpful are our experiences of worship and patterns of outreach in fostering acceptance and fellowship, including to ‘outsiders'?
  • With reference to the passage in Psalm 50, and the God "who owns the cattle on a thousand hills", a fun way in might be to think of further examples and illustrations of the problem we all face in wondering what to give as a gift to ‘the person who has everything.'
  • How many times do we see interruptions to our lives as annoying, rather than seeing them as moments when God is trying to turn our attention to something or someone else – as Jesus did on his way to see the dead little girl?
  • The theme of ‘hoping against hope' runs through our passages. Remembering that our faith is based on resurrection-hope, are there situations in our own lives that we have labelled ‘too far gone' or ‘dead' that we, perhaps, need to bring to God?
  • The Hosea passage holds up an uncomfortable mirror to us of our ‘48-hour faith', which disappears as easily as a morning mist. What are the ‘heat factors' in our lives (stress, busyness, social pressure) that tend to make our spiritual lives evaporate?
  • With reference to the haemorrhaging woman, are we always as sensitive as we should be to the ‘twelve-year burdens' that people carry, but remain silent about because they simply want to merge in with the crowd and go away unnoticed?
  • At the time of writing, there are many examples from the current home and world events – of ordinary people right up to world leaders – who are making a serious mess of things. Based on how Jesus dealt with the Matthews of this world – those we would consider outsiders and beyond the pale, how do we apply notions of God's grace and mercy to them? Where does God's grace and mercy speak to and challenge our own, and the world's, behaviour?
  • Psalm 50:14 says: "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you." We often treat prayer as a last resort, the ‘break glass in case of emergency' option. But this psalm reminds us that we are invited to bring our trouble to the God whom we worship. God doesn't see our problems as an annoyance; but as an opportunity to show strength and for us to call on God rather than have it all together. Which troubles are we currently trying to solve in our own strength and resources?

Various media platforms have very useful resources, including videos, discussion starters and games. These include Scripture Union, the Scottish Bible Society, Urban Saints, Energize, Roots, and Spill the Beans. The particular usefulness of Roots and Spill the Beansare that they are Lectionary-based. If you have to prepare a children's input or an all-age talk, you will find some useful material there.

Prayers

Call to worship

I have come to prefer Calls to worship that involve the whole congregation responsively. It provides a useful signal that worship is about participation and response. After all, that is why some of the Psalms were written the way they were!

"Out of the depths, I cry to you, Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who would stand?
But there is forgiveness with you, so that you might be revered." (Psalm 130:1-4)
WE COME TO THIS PLACE, NOT AS PERFECT PEOPLE, BUT AS THOSE INVITED BY GRACE.

We bring our brokenness, our failures, and our hopes to the Great Physician.
WE COME NOT TO PROVE OUR WORTH, BUT TO RECEIVE YOUR MERCY.
LET US WORSHIP THE GOD WHO CALLS US EXACTLY AS WE ARE!

Gathering prayer, including Confession and the Lord's Prayer

Creator and Loving God – We come this morning remembering that You are a faithful God – and thankful that we see Your hand in every detail of the world You have given us.
YOURS IS THE HAND THAT CREATED US IN LOVE.
YOURS IS THE POWER THAT ULTIMATELY GUIDES AND CONTROLS THE NATIONS.
YOURS IS THE RESURRECTION LOVE THAT GIVES HOPE AND REDEEMS ALL THINGS.

We thank You that Your faithfulness can be seen in the pattern and rhythm of the seasons. And yet we remember that in every change You remain unchanging.
In every season of our lives, through all our joys and disappointmentsYou are with us.
In every circumstance we can know Your presence, your healing and Your strengthening.
And yet, Lord, despite our thankfulness,
we confess that we do not always live as thankful people.
So often we are ill-tempered and ungrateful,
acting to deny others the very things we seek from You.
You are a God of mercy, yet, in our pride:

We look at others through eyes of judgement.
We offer You our religious sacrifices and rituals,
yet our hearts are often far from You.
We have remained seated in our old habits
when You have called us to rise and follow You in a new direction.
Yet, despite it all, You remain the God of new beginnings and the God of new hope.
You are ever at work in our lives offering new opportunities to serve.
You forgive us. You undo wrongs and establish right.
You heal and comfort us. You renew our faith and restore us to your side.
And so, thankful for Your grace,
and enabled through the power of Your Holy Spirit,
help us through our time of worship this morning
to re-commit to living more faithfully as Your beloved children –
and to re-commit to following the ways in which You taught us to live and serve, in the words of the Lord's Prayer, saying:

OUR FATHER ….

Prayer of thanksgiving and Intercession

I think it is helpful for this prayer to reflect the context of the Scripture text used in the sermon, e.g. "Lord, some of us come here today like the ruler, facing a crisis we can't control." Or, "We praise You for having the final word. The crowd laughed, but You acted. The flutes played for a funeral, but You prepared a feast." Because of the range of texts specified for this week, it is impossible to do this specifically, but hopefully I have provided sufficiently generalised cues that can be expanded and developed appropriately.

I would also always suggest holding a moment of silence in intercessory prayer so that the congregation can personalise what is, after all, a corporate prayer.

Could I also suggest that, from time to time, a sung response is helpful – sometimes at the beginning and ending of a prayer or throughout it. Short songs (found in CH4 750-805), for example, or other Taizé-based or Wild Goose responsive songs, can be helpful.

Sing: Lord of Life (CH4 782 v1)

Almighty and Everlasting God,
we thank You that You are the source of life and the conqueror of death.
Through Your resurrection we need no longer fear any finality surrounding death or the oppression of hopelessness.
We thank You for Your transforming power.
How often we come to You weighed down with the pressure of our busy schedules – or burdened with worries and doubts.
And yet we know that one word from You can change everything.
You do not remain behind a barrier of untouchable holiness,
but You walk with us through every twist and turn of our lives.
Gracious God, we thank You for the gift of Your unshakable peace.

When the world laughs in mockery or screams in cynicism,
You remain steadfast.
When we feel written off by others,
You remind us that we are uniquely loved by You.
When we feel overwhelmed by circumstances beyond our control,
You silence our fears and help us to see that Your promises are bigger than our problems.

We come, conscious of those who do not know Your peace and who have carried secret burdens for many years:
Burdens about failing health;
the burden of those who feel stuck in lives they never intended to lead;
those struggling with addiction, mental illness, or a deep-seated shame.
The burden of a faith that has become stagnant and a lifestyle that has tried to live up to a standard of goodness that is unattainable.
The burden of those who feel trapped by a monotonous life without meaning.
The rawness of the burden of grief for a loved one who died recently or a long time ago.

In a moment of silence, we name before You those whose needs are uppermost in our mind this morning.

(Hold a moment of silence)

Ever-faithful God, help us to trust that You can transform our desperation
with the fullness of life that You promise to all who seek You.
Help us to fully understand that You see our potential through the lens of grace. Teach us to truly rest only in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
And let Your Church be a place where the stigmatised find a welcome
and the broken find wholeness.

God of Love and Grace,
we remember our world broken by conflict, by greed and by pride.
We ask for Your presence to be in the dust
and in the bewilderment of those directly affected.
For families who have been torn apart and do not know where their loved ones are.
For all who have lost their livelihood and their homes
and who struggle to keep warm and have enough to eat.
We would also pray for those in power –
the generals, the diplomats and the Heads of State –
and we ask that the unthinkable consequences of escalation and retaliation would move them to seek routes to peace that You can bless.
We pray for the downfall of those who deliberately plan evil.
We ask You to grant wisdom to those in positions of influence
who know how to walk the paths of justice over pride,
and restoration over ruin.
And grant courage to Your Church in the world's war zones
that she too may be an agent of Your healing
and help to sustain a vision where the guns of war are transformed into the sounds of rebuilding and laughter.
MAY YOUR PEACE AND JUSTICE PREVAIL OVER VIOLENCE AND HATRED.

On all parts of the world that do not know peace today, we ask all these things in the name of the Prince of Peace.
Sovereign Lord, have mercy on us and make us one.

Sing: Through the days of doubt and toil (CH4 782 v2)

Blessing
Go now into the world with the courage of those who have met the Master.
MAY THE PEACE OF CHRIST, WHICH BRINGS LIFE OUT OF DEATH, GO BEFORE YOU;
MAY YOU WALK WITH THE FAITH THAT REACHES OUT TO OTHERS; AND
MAY YOU KNOW THE HOPE THAT SUSTAINS AND ENCOURAGES YOU.

Go in peace, restored and renewed, to love and serve the Lord.

Benediction
And may the blessing of God Almighty – Father, Son and Holy Spirit –
be with you (us), and those whom you (we) love,
now and forevermore. Amen

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.

I have divided the following songs/hymns list into two main headings

General Songs/Hymns on the nature of God that generates faith

  • GWA 7 – "My soul finds rest in God alone" – based on Psalm 62
  • GWA 15 – "Bless the Lord, O my soul" – based on Psalm103
  • GWA 143 – "God knows everything" – a good all-age song
  • GWA 146 – "You are here" / "Waymaker"
  • CH4 46 – "God is our refuge" – based on Psalm 46
  • CH4 81 – "I to the hills" – based on Psalm 121)
  • CH4 97 – "O God, you search me and you know me" – based on Psalm 139
  • CH4 127 – "O worship the King"
  • CH4 154 – "O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder"
  • CH4 159 – "Lord, for the years"
  • CH4 166 – "Lord of all hopefulness"
  • CH4 192 – "All my hope on God is founded"
  • CMP 1000 – "King of kings, Majesty"
  • CMP 1008 – "The Lord's my Shepherd"

Specific Songs/Hymns that speak of the integrity of faith and engender a faith-based confidence in the future

  • GWA 24 – "Your labour is not in vain"
  • GWA 127 – "Holy Spirit, living breath of God"
  • GWA 129 – "Come, set your rule and reign"
  • GWA 134 – "Called to be saints"
  • GWA 138 – "Hear the call of the kingdom"
  • GWA 164 – "We are the tenants of the King"
  • GWA 175 – "When I wake up in the morning" – a good all-age song
  • GWA 176 – "In my wrestling / My Lighthouse" – a good all-age song
  • GWA 180 – "When the wheel of fate is turning"
  • CH4 237 – "Look forward in faith"
  • CH4 236 – "March on, my soul, with strength"
  • CH4 465 – "Be Thou my vision"
  • CH4 478 – "Behold the amazing gift of love"
  • CH4 604 – "Holy wisdom, lamp of learning
  • CH4 608 – "Spirit of truth and grace"
  • CH4 737 – "Will your anchor hold?"
  • CMP 1072 – "In Christ alone"
  • CMP 1262 – "By faith we see the hand of God"
  • CMP 1267 – "Come, people of the risen King"
  • CMP 1272 – "From the breaking of the dawn"
  • CMP 1350 – "Speak, O Lord"
  • CMP 1358 – "There is a hope"

At the close of the service, both CH4 and GWA have a number of blessings which are very singable. For example: GWA 84 Peace be with you, GWA 85 May the Lord bless you andCH4 798 The peace of the earth be with you.

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?

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.