Order of Service

ST NINIAN’S CHURCH

Corstorphine

Minister:  Rev. James Aitken

And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’

(Mark 4: 36 – 38)

Order of Service

20^th June 2021

10.30am

Sunday 20^th June 2021                      Sanctuary Sunday   

http://www.corstorphinestninians.org.uk and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stninianschurch/

Good morning and welcome to everyone who has joined us on-line at St. Ninian's this morning.  We hope you will enjoy our worship of God together today. As a congregation our mission is to, 'Worship God together, encourage personal faith and prayer, spread the Good News about Jesus Christ, and love and care for others in our community.'

Services are online from 10:15am on Sundays: on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stninianschurch/and on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW-OUJ0F3JLO9vUD7KYMffA

REFUGEE WEEK & SANCTUARY SUNDAY

‘We Cannot Walk Alone’

Refugees are people just like us except that they have been forced to flee their homes due to conflict, famine or persecution.  Refugee Week is a chance to show our support for refugees around the world and those who have come to Scotland, including many in our own area. 

Sanctuary Sunday is marked at the end of Refugee Week, and aims to promote the Church of Sanctuary programme, building cultures of welcome, hospitality and safety in our churches.  Churches should be welcoming places of safety for all, and proud to offer sanctuary to people fleeing violence and persecution.  Sanctuary is a long-standing prophetic theme of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures and the idea of a Church of Sanctuary has evolved from the City of Sanctuary movement, building cultures of welcome, hospitality and safety.  There were over 100 cities/towns/boroughs/areas in Britain and Ireland working with the City of Sanctuary vision as of June 2017.

THE IMAGE ON THE FRONT 

The image on the front of this Order of Service is titled, The Exiles, by Edinburgh-based artist Lou Davis.  It is simple yet eye-catching, and with a clearly religious theme that evokes the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt (Matthew 2: 13 – 23).

The picture of the person attempting to cross water to reach safety has become imprinted on the general consciousness in Europe over the past five years.  The safety colour of life jackets is often the only brightness in otherwise bleak and forbidding stories.  Yet there is a risk with this image.  It confirms a stereotype that all refugees cross water, all are always in danger, all are victims.  Of course, people forced to flee their homes deserve sympathy and support – but the experience of the Church throughout the world is that migration enriches our common life, both secular and sacred.  Refugees must never be defined by victimhood, but should be recognised as human beings, created in God’s image and with as much chance to flourish and thrive as anybody. 

St. Ninian’s uses the Revised Common Lectionary is an approved week-by-week three-year cycle of biblical readings.  The readings lead us from Advent through the Christian year, the Bible, and Jesus’ life through birth, baptism, his public ministry, his death, resurrection and ascension.

“Minuet” from “Berenice”                        Handel

WELCOME, INTIMATIONS AND SHARING OF THE PEACE

We welcome one another with Christ's words 'Peace be with you'.

APPROACH TO GOD

CALL TO WORSHIP (Matthew 2: 13)

HYMN 198    Let us build a house

Let us build a house where love can dwell
and all can safely live.
A place where saints and children tell
how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions,
rock of faith and vault of grace;
here the love of Christ shall end divisions:

Refrain:    all are welcome

        all are welcome 

        all are welcome in this place. 

Let us build a house where prophets speak,
and words are strong and true.
Where all God's children dare to seek
to dream God's reign anew.
Here the cross shall stand as witness
and as symbol of God's grace;
here as one we claim the faith of Jesus;

Let us build a house where love is found
in water, wine and wheat;
a banquet hall on holy ground,
where peace and justice meet.
Here the love of God, through Jesus,
is revealed in time and space,
as we share in Christ the feast that frees us;

Let us build a house where hands will reach
beyond the wood and stone,
to heal and strengthen, serve and teach,
and live the Word they've known.
Here the outcast and the stranger
bears the image of God's face;
let us bring and end to fear and danger:

Let us build a house where all are named,
their songs and visions heard
and loved and treasured, taught and claimed
as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter,
prayers of faith and songs of grace.
Let this house proclaim from floor to rafter:

PRAYERS OF APPROACH, LAMENT, CONFESSION & LORD'S PRAYER

Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.  Amen

THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

SCRIPTURE:    Mark 4: 35 - 41            (New Revised Standard Version)

³⁵ On that day, when evening had come, he said to them,

‘Let us go across to the other side.’

³⁶ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.  ³⁷ A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.  ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him,

‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’

³⁹ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea,

‘Peace! Be still!’

Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.  ⁴⁰ He said to them,

‘Why are you afraid?  Have you still no faith?’

⁴¹ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another,

‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

CHILDREN’S ADDRESS

HYMN 195    Here to the house of God we come

Here to the house of God we come,

home of the people of the Way,

here to give thanks for all we have,

naming our needs for every day,

we who have roof and rent and bread,

sure of a place to rest our head.

There is a knocking at our door,

sound of the homeless of the world,

voice of the frightened refugee,

cry of the children in the cold,

asking the least that is their right,

safety and shelter for the night.

God who is shelter, who is home,

in borrowed rooms you came to live,

pleaded to save the dispossessed,

crucified, lay in borrowed grave,

these are no strangers in your eyes,

this is your family which cries.

We are all tenants of your love,

gather us round a common fire,

warm us in company with Christ,

give us the heart to feel, to share

table and lodging with free hand,

space in our living, in our land.

SCRIPTURE:    Psalm 107: 1 – 3, 23 - 32    (New revised Standard Version)

¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    for his steadfast love endures for ever.
² Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
    those he redeemed from trouble
³ and gathered in from the lands,
    from the east and from the west,
    from the north and from the south.

²³ Some went down to the sea in ships,
    doing business on the mighty waters;
²⁴ they saw the deeds of the Lord,
    his wondrous works in the deep.
²⁵ For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
    which lifted up the waves of the sea.
²⁶ They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths;
    their courage melted away in their calamity;
²⁷ they reeled and staggered like drunkards,
    and were at their wits’ end.
²⁸ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he brought them out from their distress;
²⁹ he made the storm be still,
    and the waves of the sea were hushed.
³⁰ Then they were glad because they had quiet,
    and he brought them to their desired haven.
³¹ Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wonderful works to humankind.
³² Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
    and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

SERMON

OUR RESPONSE TO GOD 

HYMN 544  When I needed a neighbour, were you there?

When I needed a neighbour, were you there, were you there?
When I needed a neighbour, were you there?
    

And the creed and the colour and the name won’t matter,
were you there?

I was hungry and thirsty, were you there, were you there?
I was hungry and thirsty, were you there?

I was cold, I was naked, were you there, were you there?
I was cold, I was naked, were you there?

When I needed a shelter, were you there, were you there?
When I needed a shelter, were you there?

When I needed a healer, were you there, were you there?
When I needed a healer, were you there?

OFFERING AND PRAYER OF DEDICATION

Freely given, our offering supports the work of Christ's church and symbolises our spiritual dedication to the building-up of the Kingdom of God.

PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING, LAMENT & INTERCESSION

We give thanks for our blessings, and cry out for help for others and ourselves.

SENDING OUT

HYMN 251    I, the Lord of sea and sky    

I, the lord of sea and sky, 

I have heard my people cry, 

All who dwell in dark and sin, 

my hand will save,

I who made the stars of night, 

I will make their darkness bright,

who will bear my light to them? 

whom shall I send? 

CHORUS: 

Here I am lord, is it I, lord?

I have heard you calling in the night.

I will go, lord, if you lead me. 

I will hold your people in my heart. 

I, the Lord of snow and rain, 

I have borne my people's pain.

I have wept for love of them. 

They turn away.

I will break their hearts of stone, 

give them hearts for love alone

I will speak my word to them, 

Whom shall I send?

I, the Lord of wind and flame, 

I will tend the poor and lame.

I will set a feast for them, 

My hand will save.

Finest bread I will provide 

till their hearts be satisfied.

I will give my life to them. 

Whom shall I send?

BENEDICTION

Go now in peace, never be afraid. 

God will go with you each hour of every day.

Go now in faith, steadfast strong and true.

Know He will guide you in all you do.

Go now in love, and show you believe.

Reach out to others, so all the world can see.

God will be there, watching from above. 

Go now in peace, in faith and in love.