This is the sixth Sunday of Easter and also Christian Aid Sunday. Our readings today highlight the themes of praise, love and joy that are central to the experience of Christian Aid Week. Love for our neighbours near and far inspires us to strive for an abundant life for all and brings us together to raise our voices and money. And from that connection and abundance comes joy.
Call to Worship
You are invited to join in the responses in bold below.
Come and celebrate our common home
we gather with the family of humanity.
The mountains, islands and deserts
we honour the glory of God in creation.
The lakes, rivers and seas
we come to the source of living water.
With the land, its soil, seeds and sustenance
we give thanks for God’s generous provision.
With the forests of great trees, the lungs of the planet
we will sing with joy and clap our hands.
We join with the whole of creation, inspired by those who have gone before and the prophetic voices of today.
we dare to praise and pray for another possible world.
Amen
HYMN 124 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation
Prayer of Approach and Confession
Great God,
Who makes the sun to rise, and opens the heavens,
Hear the cry of the people
Who sow in hope for rain, but reap only despair.
Hear the cry of the people
Seeking shelter from the storm, their hopes and homes submerged.
Hear the cry of the people
When creation is hitting back, with rage and resistance.
For the beauty of the Earth
desecrated by pollution, extinguished by forest fires, choked by plastic waste
Christ, our God, forgive us for our greed.For the urgency of this hour
ignored through apathy or procrastination
delayed by ineffective decisions and denied by economic interests
Christ, our God,
forgive us for our selfish short-term behaviour.
For the joy of human love
fractured by forced migration, crushed by bereavement
lost to typhoons, floods, poverty and starvation.
Christ, our God, bringer of justice, forgive us for our blindness and lack of compassion.Give us hope, grant us salvation,
Give us a new relationship with creation And say once again of the earth and all you created
It is GOOD.
Rejoicing in the love you offer us, we pray as our Saviour taught us:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen
Scripture readings
Psalm 98
Sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvellous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
The Lord has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to Israel;all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
make music to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing together for joy;
let them sing before the Lord,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity.
John 15, 9-17
Jesus said: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
Amen
HYMN 259 Beauty for brokenness
Reflection
Praise, love, joy
Grant, O Lord, that in these words, we may behold the living Word, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Do you miss singing in church? I know that our organist does and I do too. Psalm 98 talks of a new song. Ironically, of course, we cannot sing at worship at the moment but I need you to imagine that we can. If we could sing, what song or hymn would you choose? As you’ll see from the latest issue of Prism, Craigmillar Park’s church newsletter, my favourite hymn is Will your anchor hold in the storms of life?, and I would love to be able to sing that again. Whatever your personal choice, think also about the new song we can sing together this Christian Aid Week, one that that we can sing with the Earth.
Psalm 98 also talks of floods and the roaring sea – one would certainly need a strong anchor in those conditions. To understand flooding and storms as a source of creation’s praise is maybe a bit of a stretch especially when we think of the turbulence and danger of migrant sea crossings and the chaos and loss of life in destructive floods. The psalmist reminds us though that with the coming of God even the danger of the sea and the ruin of floods are to be brought under the just and righteous administration of God’s will. There is nothing in all of creation beyond God’s redemption. Even now, floods can renew soil with nutrients and the sea teems with an abundance of life. This psalm invites us to hope and work with creation for that day when the rightness of God will reign.
Do we have to fear the day when God will return to judge us? How will he judge us, you and me, for our actions in bringing the planet to a state of climate chaos? Are we complicit, caught up, as we all are, in a consumer system that has fuelled ecological destruction and climate breakdown? The world and some of us who live in it might indeed be legitimate objects of God’s judgement.
Perhaps our Gospel reading can help us out here. Jesus’s words were spoken to his disciples just before he was arrested and led off to face Pilate’s judgement. Yet he speaks words of reassurance, of joy and love. “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” Jesus wants his followers to experience complete joy.
To speak of joy when he himself is on the threshold of trial and suffering is an indication of what joy is. It was for the joy set before him that he endured the agony of the cross. Despite the suffering of Good Friday and the silence of Holy Saturday, this is a joy that believes, that knows, that Sunday is coming. This joy does not deny sorrow or suffering but co-exists with them. Jesus’ parting words to his disciples are an encouragement to all of us to abide in the love of God and dig deep into our love for each other. Jesus knows that they and we are going to need each other to get through the challenges that face us as individuals and the challenges that our planet faces. Our love for one another and the sacrifice that we are called to make for our friends will strengthen us, and bring joy.
What could such sacrifice mean for us in our lives today? It will vary for each of us but I think it includes the challenges to daily living that arise from the pandemic. Wearing a mask, staying two metres apart, forgoing the hugs of loved ones, avoiding unnecessary travel – all of these minor sacrifices will help our friends and neighbours, and those unknown friends in countries distant from here. In this Christian Aid week, we ought also to be turning our often vague concerns for the planet into concrete acts of love: avoiding unnecessary plastic, recycling and reusing, buying locally-produced and fairly traded goods. We will all make choices: I urge you to make choices that will help ensure that everyone on our Earth has the same opportunity to experience praise, love, joy: life in all its fullness.
Praise, love and and joy lie at the heart of our experience of Christian Aid Week. It is through our generous giving and sacrificial actions that we know complete joy and that we can look forward to God’s judgement with hope, free to sing in praise. This Christian Aid week, as we witness the challenges to God’s creation, as participants in and with creation, may we bring a better world into view. May we be liberated from guilt and shame, may we be enabled to speak truth to power to bring about the transformation needed for all of creation and all of our fellow human beings to fully flourish, to experience love and joy – life in all its fullness – and to be able to praise God with a new song!
Amen
Prayer of thanksgiving and intercession (based on hymn 259)
God of the poor, friend of the weak, give us compassion, we pray.
As we contemplate a world full of brokenness, a world of uncertainty, disease, despair, suffering, war, hunger and injustice, a world whose very future is at risk from our own greed, we pray to you, our God and our creator, to grant us insight, strength, purpose, compassion and a hunger for your justice and your healing peace.
Melt our cold hearts, let tears fall like rain.
Lord, we ask that you grant bread for the children – in Mozambique, Mali and Zimbabwe and wherever the imbalance of the world’s resources leads to hunger and disease.
Lord, we ask that you grant healing and shelter for fragile lives – for the homeless in our own land, for those displaced by war in the Middle East and for the people of India suffering the ravages of Covid-19.
Lord, we ask that you grant work for the craftspeople and trade for their skills. We remember those who have lost jobs as the result of the pandemic and those who may yet be affected.
Lord, we remember those newly in authority in this country. We pray that they may be motivated only by your compassion and your justice and that they may take the right decisions for the well-being of all in Scotland, in the UK, in Europe and in the world. Let our cities, our hillsides and our islands be sanctuaries for all and let us share our freedoms.
Come, change our love from a spark to a flame.
Lord, we acknowledge our culpability in ravaging our green earth, plundering and poisoning our oceans and streams. Lord, we acknowledge that we are placing at risk the future and the dreams of our children. Be with those very children as they demonstrate in a call for urgent climate change. We pray that the energy and clear voices of the young may be joined with the knowledge and resources of the old to protect the future of the beautiful planet you granted us for home.
Lord, end our madness, carelessness, greed.
Almighty God, we seek light in the darkness – for those who are suffering illness and pain, for those who have lost a loved one and whose lives seem unbearably empty and for those who face others of life’s challenges. We take a moment of silence now to bring before you those who are particularly in our minds this morning.
We remember especially our minister, Alex, as he faces a period of ill health, that he may recover swiftly and rejoin us in health and happiness.
Lord, we also pray for ourselves. You are our refuge and strength from all the storms of life. Grant peace to our souls and joy in our hearts.
God of the poor, friend of the weak, give us compassion, we pray
Melt our cold hearts, let tears fall like rain,
Come, Lord, change our love from a spark to a flame.
We ask these things in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ
Amen.
HYMN 804 You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace
Sending
Born of God,
Born of love,
Born of light.
Abide in God,
Abide in love,
Abide in light.
Go in God,
Go in love,
Go in light.
And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, evermore.
Amen
Acknowledgements:
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Aspects of the prayers and reflection adapted from the Church of Scotland’s Weekly Worship resources, and from Christian Aid resources
If you wish to donate to Christian Aid, to help with their vital work throughout the world, you can do so through their website at https://www.christianaid.org.uk/