This is the text of Rev. Graham Crawford’s Family Service on 28 June 2015:
Jesus took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 ‘Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.
Let us welcome the children into the church and, in so doing, welcome God into our midst, that together we can worship God.
We sing together CH4 185, Come Children join and sing.
For our family service this morning we are using as our theme Matthew 19 Verse 14.
However, we are using the King James Version: “Suffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto me: for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Unfortunately, so many of us grew up on the King James Version – and we seemed to stop half way through the verse. And so worship became “suffer little children”. We were brought to church, made to suffer through a service few of us really understood and, as a result, few of us came to Jesus. Look around and you will see that to be true:
- How many teenagers have we in church?
- How many in their twenties, even thirties and forties?
One reason, I believe, is that we do not really explain to young people the meaning of worship, the importance of worship, or the joy of worship.
So, today’s family service is going to be like a traditional service, except every stage will be carefully explained so that we all know the meaning of worship. Then, in my two talking sections, I will try to explain the importance and joy of worship, so that no-one will have to suffer any more sitting there being bored wondering: “Why on earth is Graham doing that?!”
The 3 sections of the opening prayer
The first thing we do is come to God in prayer. This opening conversation with God begins by us telling God how wonderful he is. Then we recognise that we are not so wonderful and we say sorry to God for messing up and hurting other people as well as God and ourselves. Then, because God promises that if we say sorry and turn our lives to a different direction so that we will try not to do that again he will forgive us for messing up, we thank God and claim that promise and ask him to bless what we do together in his name. So, as we pray, pay attention so that you can hear the 3 sections:
- Praise for who God is,
- The confession, and
- The praise for what he has done for us and the request to bless our worship.
Listen for the three sections. Let us pray:
Father God, we glimpse your beauty
in setting sun, mountain top, eagle’s wing.
We sense your power in thunder crash,
lightning flash and ocean’s roar.
Creator God we praise you
Precious Jesus, we see your love
stretched out upon a cruel cross.
We stand in awe at your sacrifice,
pure love poured out for humankind.
Precious Jesus we praise you
Holy Spirit, we see your power
in lives transformed, hearts on fire.
We listen for your still, small voice,
comforting, guiding, calling.
Holy Spirit we praise you.
Loving heavenly Father,
forgive our moments of ingratitude,
the spiritual blindness that prevents us
from appreciating the wonder that is this world,
the endless cycle of nature,
of life and death and rebirth.
Forgive us for taking without giving,
reaping without sowing.
Open our eyes to see,
our lips to praise,
our hands to share.
May our feet tread lightly on the path we tread,
and our footsteps be worthy of following,
for they lead to you.
Rejoice in the good news, in Jesus Christ you are forgiven, by repenting and confessing of your sins receive that forgiveness and be made new once again. O Lord, bless us in this time, that through our praise of you, we might further reflect your glory and draw others to you as they see your glory reflected in us. Amen
This is what we do every time. Did you recognise the three parts to the prayer? I hope so. Now let us sing the hymns that we hope that you, the young people will particularly enjoy, although I think some of our older people enjoy these hymns almost as much as you do:-
CH4 351 Jesus’ hands were kind hands, doing good to all
JP 417 Lets Praise God together
So why is worship important?
I have a picture to show you all. Who do you recognise in this picture?
There is The Queen and The Spice Girls, exactly. It is taken from a Royal Command Performance. Imagine that. Who are some of your favourite musicians? Okay. Now imagine that you had the power to simply say: “You know, next month, I would really like………………………………… to do a concert for me. Secretary, type a letter: I, your majesty, command you to come to my favourite theatre and perform some of your songs for me.”
Wouldn’t that be great?
Wouldn’t you just love to be able to do that?
Well did you know that every week you and I are asked by royalty to do a performance? You and I are invited every week to a royal command performance, but it is not the Queen who commands it, but the King, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. God commands it. He commands that we worship him to show the world his glory, his transforming glory. His word says “Praise the Lord, all the nations. Praise him, all you people of the earth.”
It doesn’t say: “Praise him all those who can read four part harmony and sing like the larks”. It doesn’t say: “Praise him, all those over forty, or under eighty.” It says: “Praise him, all you people of the earth.”
Worship is about a royal command performance where God commands you to come into his presence and praise him, honour him, show his glory and his grace. In short, it is about glorifying God. That is why it is such a big deal to come to church.
Imagine, if you will, what would have happened if the Queen had had her secretary write to The Spice Girls – or whoever your favourite singer is – and they had said: “You know, I just don’t feel like it today. It is my one chance this week to have a lie in.” Or they had said: “No, it is too pretty a day: we are off to the beach, or the golf course, or to work in the garden.”
Do you think the Queen would be impressed? I think she would be tempted to say: “Throw them in the Tower!”
Or how about if they said: “You know, I just don’t feel like it today because I will not get anything out of it.” I know what would happen. Someone would be round there saying: “I don’t care whether you get anything out of it or not; the Queen has commanded, therefore, you perform. She is the audience, you are the performer, whether you get anything out of it is not the point!”
Worship is important because it is a royal command performance where the King of Kings and Lord of Lords commands us to perform for him in worship, singing to him, thanking him, praising him, for one little moment in our lives focusing not on our own selves and what we want but on the King and only on what he wants. And he wants all of us, from the youngest to the oldest. Jesus was always the most concerned for the marginalised in society: the young, the widowed and the elderly. Indeed, he said of those who prevented children from being able to have faith, who caused these little ones to stray so that they did not join in with this worship, that it would be better that they tied a millstone round their neck and jumped into the sea than they do anything to cause one of these to stumble in their faith.
You know, I used to play the French horn. I have played in orchestras that have performed some of the most beautiful pieces of music. Yet you know what was the worst part? Practising on my own. Have you ever heard just the horn part on some of the great classics? They are often strange, disjointed and unmelodious. They were really hard to practise because, quite simply, they did not make sense.
In many of the other parts of the orchestra, it was the same. I had a friend who played the bassoon and I often heard him practise his seemingly quite bizarre part too. But when we all got together on a Friday evening for school orchestra, what a sound; what a glorious, magnificent sound. I suspect sometimes when God hears the praise of our churches sometimes it sounds like me practising the horn (okay, maybe not that bad, but you get the point), that there are so many parts missing, children, youth, young adults, even some of our older voices are growing silent. If you are not here, or you choose not to sing, your part is silent, the melody is not complete. We all need to contribute, for God commands it and it shall be done.
So let us worship God with the hymns:- You are the vine and Sing of the Lord’s Goodness
The joy of worship
In my family we can always tell when a certain family member is happy. We call it the whistling enigma after a Goon show that was called “The Whistling Spy Enigma”. This family member will go up and down the stairs, round the house doing whatever they are doing just whistling away. They are happy, they are joyful so they cannot help it. The psalmist says: “Make a joyful noise to the Lord.” In other words, as long as it expresses our feelings about God, it really doesn’t matter if we are any good at it.
One author wrote this:
“I was reminded of this when I sat through my son’s third grade end of the year patriotic show. A bunch of 8 and 9 year olds singing America the Beautiful and other songs. It was (how shall I put this) enthusiastic! It was sincere, it was sweet and somewhat on key! Was it a performance, certainly. Did that make it any less sincere an expression of the children’s love for their country? Certainly not. Was it joyful? Most certainly! No you would not see it on TV, or at the West End. It was not professional or even competent. But it was a joyful expression of those young people and that is what our worship needs to be. A joyful expression of young and old where each one can contribute their own little bit without looking around for permission or worrying too much about the key or key signature.”
That is where young people can teach the church so much. That is why Jesus held them up as an example. He said:-
Matthew 18 vv2 – 4
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
Jesus used the children to make a point to his self-centred disciples. They were not to become childish, as unfortunately the disciples and some in the church today can be arguing over petty issues, but child-like having humble, sincere and accepting hearts. This is why a chapter later in verses 13 – 15 of chapter 19 there was this confrontation:-
13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.
14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
Jesus loved the children because they had a trusting heart. He did not mean that heaven was only for children but that all people need to have a childlike faith in God. The receptiveness of the children was such a great contrast to the stubbornness of the religious leaders who let their education and sophistication stand in the way of the simple faith and joy that was needed.
I wonder how many of you remember Tony Campolo’s take on this.
He tells of a little girl boarding a flight with her mother. She was beautifully dressed in a new outfit with her hair all nicely done. And all the while she is bouncing up and down, I’m going to see my daddy, I’m going to see my daddy. They board the flight and Tony looks on with interest as she continues to bounce in her seat. Once at cruising altitude the flight attendants come round and the wee girl tucks into a can of coke and some biscuits, still bouncing and still telling everyone that she was going to see her daddy. There was only one problem, put that much coke and biscuits into a bouncing girl and you are heading for disaster. Sure enough a short time into the flight the coke and biscuits all came up to visit. What were two very sweet smelling things now smelt so very bad and it came up over her nice new dress, and pretty sandals, down her chin and everywhere. The flight attendant tried to help the mother clean the wee girl up but she was still pretty foul as they stepped off the plane. Tony continued to watch as she ran down the concourse only to be swept up in the arms of her daddy. He was in a very smart business suit which then got plastered with the remains of the coke and biscuits, but he did not care as he was seeing his little girl.
That is what we are like in worship, or we should be. We should be bouncing up and down, we’re going to see our daddy, we’re going to see our daddy. That is the joy our worship should convey. And no it doesn’t matter how gross we are because of sin because when we come to God in worship, with the simple joy of a little child he will gather us up in his protective arms.
The hymn we are going to sing now is to an old Scottish tune: We cannot measure how you heal.
The offering
From the earliest days of the Jewish community on which the church is based, it was always considered a way of worshiping God when you took the first ten percent of your harvest or of the meat you had killed and you offered it to God as a way of giving thanks.
It wasn’t ten percent if you had it left over by the end of the month. It wasn’t just whatever you could manage. It was the first ten per cent, no matter how good the harvest, and you did the best you could on what was left. It was called sacrificial giving.
We do that still. We give from our salaries, our pensions, our pocket money, some off the top, a sacrificial amount to show God how much we care about him. That money is called an offering, although biblically speaking the first ten percent is called a tithe and any that give over ten percent is strictly speaking the offering for it was what you offered God over and above what was expected.
This is used to pay for the running of St. James and, if we can raise over £78,000 in a year, we also help to pay for the wider work of the church. Unfortunately, this target for us is some way off and others, in Glasgow, in Inverness, in Edinburgh, in Dunblane, in Elgin even, actually help to keep our church running. So let us offer to God from what he has first given us, our tithes and offerings will now be received.
Prayer of thanksgiving and intercession
And now we pray again.
We thank God for the blessings he gives us. We offer to him the blessings of our money and then we pray for those people, situations and countries where we want God to intervene and help. So let us pray together.
Thanksgiving
Lord of life,
you have called us together
in the name of Jesus Christ:
in him, and through him, we praise you.
For the gift of your Son, our Saviour,
born a child,
growing to maturity,
teaching your truth,
healing the sick,
befriending sinners,
crucified at Calvary,
risen, ascended, and with us forever:
Lord, from our hearts we thank you.
For all that you offer us through Christ,
for the leading and strengthening
of the Holy Spirit,
for our baptism and growing in faith,
for the nourishment of Word and Sacrament,
for the fellowship of others in the Church,
living in this place and across the world:
Lord, from our hearts we thank you.
For those gifts of yours
which make us what we are,
for talents of mind and eye and hand,
for every opportunity to be of service,
for those who love us and cherish us,
for those whom we value
as neighbours and friends:
Lord, from our hearts we thank you.
Give us grace, we pray,
to accept your gifts joyfully
and to use them generously
to your glory and praise;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Intercession
Gracious God,
rejoicing in your blessings,
trusting in your loving care for all,
we bring you our prayers for the world.
We pray for the created world:
for those who rebuild
where things have been destroyed;
for those who fight hunger, poverty, and disease;
for those who have power
to bring change for the better and to renew hope.
[silence]
In the life of our world
your kingdom come, O Lord,
your will be done.
We pray for our country:
for our Queen and her family;
for those who frame our laws
and shape our common life;
for those who keep the peace
and administer justice;
for those who teach,
those who heal,
all who serve the community.
[silence]
In the life of our land
your kingdom come, O Lord,
your will be done.
We pray for people in need:
those for whom life is a bitter struggle;
those whose lives are clouded
by death or loss,
by pain or disability,
by discouragement or fear,
by shame or rejection.
[silence]
In the lives of those in need
your kingdom come, O Lord,
your will be done.
We pray for those
in the circle of friendship and love around us:
children and parents;
sisters and brothers;
friends and neighbours;
and for those especially in our thoughts today.
[silence]
In the lives of those we love
your kingdom come, O Lord,
your will be done.
We pray for the Church
in its stand with the poor,
in its love for the outcast and the ashamed,
in its service to the sick and the neglected,
in its proclamation of the Gospel,
in this land, in this place.
[silence]
In the life of your Church
your kingdom come, O Lord,
your will be done.
Eternal God,
we give thanks to you
for the great community of faith
into which you have brought us:
for those who have kept safe our Scriptures,
gathered our songs,
built our sanctuaries,
and taught us to know and trust you.
Grant us grace in our day
to live as faithfully as they did,
and to provide as generously for our children,
until you bring us with all your people
into the fullness of your eternal joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with you, and the Holy Spirit,
be all praise and glory for ever.
Amen.
Our Father . . .
