Reflective space 13 21st June 2020

For Father’s Day Psalm 68.4-6

Romans 8.15-23 1 John 2.12-14

Ephesians 6.1-4 Luke 2:41-52

The loving Father Read anew this familiar story from The Message version

Luke 15:11-32

Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’ “So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissi-pated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any. “That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farm-hands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ He got right up and went home to his father. “When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t de-serve to be called your son ever again.’

“But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re go-ing to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a won-derful time. “All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has or-dered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’ “The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and re-fused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’ “His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’” Amen.

Be Aware of God’s Presence

God of the past, who has fathered and mothered me,

I am here to thank you.

God of the future, always ahead of me,

I am here to trust you.

God of the present, enfolding me in love,

I am here to praise you.

a reflection

One of the books I found at my mum’s house is the biography of Val Doonican. Remember him? He provided classic middle-of-the-road entertainment on a Saturday evening for many years when I was younger … I loved O’Rafferty’s Motor Car, Delaney’s Donkey & The Marvellous Toy, while my parents preferred Walk Tall and The Elusive Butterfly. In his rocking chair with those patterned jumpers hard to imagine he could attract around 19 million viewers engaging with both parents and children. However, it is the story Val Doonican told of the death of his own father which resonates with me and appropriate for this weekend.

When his father was close to death and in bed at home he called on his son to have some final words with him and said:

“I know you think I am a great man and you think the world of me,

I want you to know that I have been an old codger” (he didn’t actually use that word, but close enough for this readership)

“So when people say to you in the future, ‘Your dad was an old codger’, you can say,

‘I know, he told me himself’”. It always seemed to be a lovely gift to leave his son. Such honesty, humour and love wrapped up in the reassurance that his father would never be a disappointment to him. Perhaps that is an integrity and honesty which takes a lifetime to discover. We may often be too afraid to reveal such vulnerability. Saving face and putting on a facade of respectability is more the norm. And yet, in being honest with who we are, at least to ourselves – our families know our faults anyway – is surely one step towards authentic living. To be who we are, not to be like someone else or how others perceive us. The wonderful story we know as The Prodigal Son, which should really be known as The Loving Father, is perhaps the finest of Jesus’ stories which expresses the very heart of the God he called ‘Abba’, or ‘Dad’.

We catch glimpses of God’s nature through the love of parents just as we see something of that in the trust and return of our children. However, we know we are and never will be perfect children, just as our parents never were or will be perfect parents. But perfect parenting is not the point of Jesus’ story.

It is about the power of grace, mercy, and forgiveness, which flow from the very heart of God. We can dip our toe in, dive in, or have that poured over us. What Jesus insists is that it requires honesty and humility about who we are and that we simply turn and fall into the Father’s arms. My own father often would say “To thine own self be true”. Shakespeare quoted by the son of a Green-ock postman reveals a man of integrity who left his sons a great gift. The struggle for us is of course living up to it, and showing that grace, mercy, and forgiveness to others.

Walking Away by C Day-Lewis

It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day –

a sunny day with leaves just turning, the touch-lines new-ruled – since I watched you play

your first game of football, then, like a satellite wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away

Behind a scatter of boys. I can see

you walking away from me towards the school with the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free

into a wilderness, the gait of one who finds no path where the path should be.

That hesitant figure, eddying away

like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem, has something I never quite grasp to convey

about nature’s give-and-take – the small, the scorching ordeals which fire one’s irresolute clay.

I have had worse partings, but none that so gnaws at my mind still. Perhaps it is roughly

saying what God alone could perfectly show – how selfhood begins with a walking away,

and love is proved in the letting go.

The origin of Father’s Day—apparently William Jackson Smart was an American Civil War veteran, who lived on a rural farm in eastern Washington. He was widowed when his wife died giving birth to their sixth child. One of his daughters grew up to become Mrs Sonora Dodd, and while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909 at her church in Spokane, she realised all the sacrifices her father had made for her and her brothers and sisters. She approached her minister and some friends about having a church service dedi-cated to fathers on 5 June, the anniversary of her father's death. That date was too soon for her minister to prepare the service, so they spoke a few weeks later on 19 June and, from that first service in Spokane, the state of Washington has cele-brated the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. It was adopted as an official national holiday in the USA in 1972. Since then it has spread across the world as the specific day on which fathers should be honoured by their children. In the Ro-man Catholic tradition, fatherhood is celebrated on 19 March, the feast of St Joseph, and some countries celebrate fathers on different days, but the third Sunday in June is the most widely recognised.

To say or sing CH4. 549 by Stuart Townend

How deep the Father’s love for us,

how vast beyond all measure, that he should give his only Son to make a wretch his treasure.

How great the pain of searing loss; the Father turns his face away,

as wounds which mar the chosen One bring many souls to glory.

Behold the man upon a cross,

my sin upon his shoulders; ashamed, I hear my mocking voice

call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held him there,

my pardon he accomplished; his dying breath has brought me life —

I know that ‘it is finished’.

I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom; but I will boast in Jesus Christ,

his death and resurrection. Why should I gain from all of this?

I cannot give an answer; but this I know with all my heart, his wounds have paid my ransom.

Abba Father by Dave Bilbrough

Abba Father, let me be Yours and Yours alone May my will forever be Ever more Your own

Never let my heart grow cold Never let me go

Abba Father, let me be Yours and Yours alone

© 1997 Kingsway Thankyou Music

A Blessing

Go in peace to seek peace

Go in grace to sow grace

Go in love to share love

wherever and whenever it is needed.

And know

you do not go alone.

Amen.

Your Children Kahil Gibran

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters

of life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you,

and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give then your love

but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit,

not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backwards nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children

as living arrows are sent forth.

a prayer Colin Herd

Dear God,

thank You for your work in our lives and your blessings over us.

Thank you for your love and care in all time and space.

Compassionate God, fill us with your love

that we may see deeply all the needs around us

and help us to care with your loving and caring heart.

We pray today for reconciliation and forgiveness in our own lives,

that peace in the world would begin within us.

We pray for Christians all over the world,

that their love for one another and for their neighbours

would prevail to establish peace in the world.

We bring before you our Church and pray for the manifestation of the Holy

Spirit at work amongst us all. Be with our leaders,

that they would be empowered to fulfil their calling for your glory.

We pray for the suffering and sick,

for those in hospitals, nursing homes and hospices, and those who are housebound.

We pray for refugees

and all those who have been displaced by war or conflict.

We pray for the agencies who seek to bring them relief.

Lord,

prosper their work and protect all those involved in this humanitarian work.

Amen.

Reopening of Churches

A brief update on where we are! As the Scottish Government moves through the stages of reopening the social and business life of our communities, it is a diffi-

cult time. Trickier than moving into Lockdown when Stay Home was fairly straightforward. And that affects church life.

We have been given ‘permissions’ to begin to gradually open our churches.

However, it is along way from opening for a single person to enter to have a few minutes personal prayer, to the full activity of worship, music, communion, children and adult groups meeting in halls, or even a Kirk Session meeting in the same room.

Meanwhile all churches have had a huge loss of income during this which will impact on the future.

Safety is paramount.

All the way through this gradual period there must be Risk Assessments of our spaces How do we keep everyone safe? Who will decontaminate all the buildings and how regularly?

Who will open the church? Which areas to we close off? How much sanitiser or many face coverings will we need? Will everyone keep to the guidelines?

How many people can attend at 2 metres apart?

We have many things to consider.

We have begun that journey with a Zoom meeting of elders on Friday evening. The consensus across the linkage is that of a cautious approach to any reopening.

Why reopen our buildings?

Although a seemingly obvious answer, perhaps not. If we cannot yet sing, or shake hands or hug, if we cannot share communion, have a cuppa together, hold the hand of an upset friend, accommodate everyone, then why rush?

What have we learned through this?

Such things as … we miss physically being in each other’s company. Life has become simpler and we may not need some familiar things.

Church life, worship, priorities, our resources may change.

Communication Meanwhile, your interim minister and elders are keeping as up-to-date as possible and sharing information

through email, Church Websites, Newsletters, Facebook, and word of mouth.

The ultimate responsibility lies with your Kirk Sessions to make decisions based on all the information available and completing a Risk Assessment prior to opening our church buildings, both sanctuaries and halls.

We ask for patience and understanding, knowing that we all rely on clear Guidelines from the

Scottish Government as well as those from the Church of Scotland. All are available for anyone to read!

If you have any questions, please ask an elder or the Interim Minister.

Zoom Communion Sunday 28th June at 11am

One Service for everyone!

Let us come together!

Link will be sent