Sunday 11 October 2026
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Welcome!
Welcome to excerpts from the worship held within the newly formed Westhills Church of Scotland Congregation. We know that not all members of the congregation are able to be in church on Sunday morning; offering these excerpts from the Sunday morning service might help you feel included. Where we can, we offer parts of the service in text and audio, whichever works best for you.
If this post helps you explore what happens within an act of worship then please read on…
The Psalms
Psalm 23
Live recording
Your Weekly Church Notices
Scripture
Philippians 4: 1 – 9
Live recording
Matthew 22: 1 – 14
Live recording
Praise – The King of Love
Prayers
Live recording
God of welcome,
You call us from our homes and the streets on which we live, you call us from out of our families and the embrace of our friends to gather us as Your people, assembled in one place, worshiping the one God, seated so we might share in the banquet you have prepared.
You invite us to meet with You in our joy and in our weariness, in hope and in worry, in plenty and in need. May Your Spirit be in the prayers we offer, in the songs we sing, in our hearing of Scripture and in the silence of listening. So may we know Your presence, receive Your peace, and be made ready to serve Your world.
Merciful God, we confess that we do not always trust Your goodness. When we are afraid, we cling tightly to what we have. When others are in need, we can look away. We have not always welcomed others in the same way You have welcomed us; unconditionally. We have allowed harshness and pride to shape our words and actions.
Forgive us.
Renew us.
Teach us again the way of justice softened with kindness, judgement mellowed with mercy, through Jesus Christ.
Generous God, we thank You for daily bread, for shelter and friendship, for those who care for others in quiet dignified ways, and for every sign that Your love is still at work in the world.
We thank You for the promise of Your kingdom, for the table You spread, for the peace You give, and for the hope that does not fail.
Receive our gratitude, receive our gifts, even though they hardly compare to the generosity of Your gifts. As gratefully as we receive, so gratefully we give.
Hear us as we join in the words of the Lord’s Prayer saying…
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, the Power and the Glory forever. Amen.
Address
Live recording
Last night I had a dream. You see, I’ve been holding off from changing my car. I’ve owned the big estate car for almost 10 years now; she is creeping up on 13 years old and she is showing signs of her advancing years. And yet I’m reluctant to trade her in. Anyway, this was my dream…
I go down to the car show room and as I’m browsing the many cars on display I feel a tap on my shoulder. The sales manager is standing there with a smile on his face.
“Come with me,” he says. “There’s something a bit special I want you to see.”
I follow him round to the parking area at the rear of the workshops. There in the centre of the car park is a gleaming, red, £100,000 Ferrari. It is jaw droppingly beautiful.
The manager reaches into his pocket and brings out the keys. “It’s yours, all yours! It’s free, completely free. Enjoy it,” and pushes the keys into my hand.
And then I woke up!!!!
Still I wondered what I would do if it were not a dream. What do you do? Would you
(a) Leap into the car and roar off down the road before he changes his mind?
(b) Regard him with deep suspicion; edge away, certain he’s gone completely mad.
(c) Tell the Manager that you don’t want to be fobbed off with a cheap Ferrari because you now realise how your neighbour got his brand new Rolls Royce.
And if you do take the car, will you actually enjoy it or will you spend your time worrying about the cost of insuring and running your bright, shiny new sportscar. For there is no such thing as a free lunch, even something that seems to be completely free comes with consequences and responsibilities.
(This story is from: The Parables of Judgement by Robert Farrar Capon, page 127)
We human beings are not used to receiving anything worthwhile for free. Most of us would probably regard an offer such as the one I’ve just described with the utmost suspicion. Most “free” offers aren’t worth having, and “you get what you pay for,” is a common experience.
When the king in Jesus parable threw a sumptuous wedding banquet for his son, none of the invited guests turned up. Perhaps they couldn’t believe such a lavish affair was really going to be free. Perhaps they too were anxious about the hidden costs. What might they be asked to do in exchange for the privilege of being invited?
Not only did those guests refuse to attend the banquet, but were so deeply suspicious of the offer that they beat and murdered the servants whose only crime was to carry the invitation. As if they were bearers of bad news! And so, the King threw open the banquet to all and sundry – the good and the bad, the rich and the poor, the healthy and the sick.
All are invited, not just religious people, not just good people. There is no weighing up of good deeds and bad deeds to decide who gets the invitation. Entry is determined solely by whether or not you accept the invitation. And so the King filled his banqueting hall to overflowing with people who wanted to be there. To say that the King was gracious would be an understatement. Every person in the banqueting hall had received something they didn’t expect and had done nothing to deserve.
But like every good story there is a twist in the tail. One man was dressed in the wrong clothes.
The fact that we enter the kingdom solely by gracious invitation does not mean that there are no standards. Our king does not expect a half-hearted response on our part. The invitation to salvation is open to all, but when we come through that door we must put off our old clothes; our old ways. Jesus calls us to accept the new life of the Kingdom and to live accordingly.
The King asks the guest where his wedding clothes are. When the guest is unable to answer, he is thrown out. It seems curious that this guest can respond to the invitation yet not respond to the King or offer any explanation for his disrespectful dress code or lack of interest in changing his ways . The King is angered by this rather unrepentant disrespectfulness and has him thrown out where he is left to weep and cry and ponder the stupidity of his ways.
This is a parable, which perhaps at first sight might send shivers down the spine. It is certainly a parable of judgment, but as in all Jesus’ parables about the Kingdom, it’s full of grace and acceptance. Good and bad are both welcomed into the kingdom, just as the wheat and weeds were allowed to grow up together, and the prodigal son was welcomed back with open arms. Yet that same gracious invitation comes with life changing consequences and responsibilities that require nothing less than the best from us. When we accept the invitation to the King’s banquet we enter a new world, a new life, new ways. We cannot just remain unchanged.
Where are your wedding clothes?
Many are called but few are chosen.
Praise – Be thou my vision
Prayers for Others
Live recording
The Kingdom of God
Father God, we understand you as a God of compassion. Your very nature is love. Your love for humanity is boundless and eternal. Love can forgive, love is tolerant, love shows mercy; but love also changes us as we freely respond to love by loving you and loving others. Help us then, to see this world as you see it and reach out to it with hearts of compassion. Your Kingdom is present wherever we are invited to love our neighbour. Hasten on the fullness of your kingdom, for your Kingdom is already amongst us, within us. It is within our grasp to see every life lived out in the assurance of your love. This day we come to you dressed in our wedding clothes ready to take part in your celebrations. Show us Lord Jesus what we might do to invite others into your Kingdom. Hear us as we pray…
Our Sense of Worth
Lord Jesus, we believe that you came to reveal the true worth our Heavenly Father places upon us. That you should sacrifice your life for us and all humanity is the greatest and deepest expression of the worth you place upon us. So, we pray for those who have lost their sense of worth, who feel they are unimportant, unloved and without value. Grant them the assurance that, whatever their circumstances, they are precious to you, each one your unique creation. Gracious God, give to all a proper sense of their own value, and a true appreciation of the worth of others. Lord hear us in our prayer for those who have lost their sense of worth…
France – Student Protests
Across France, 100’s of thousands have taken to the streets in an escalating confrontation between students and security forces. Hundreds have been injured; hundreds have been arrested. And we know Father God that young school age students may have a very valid argument to make that their education is being diminished by lack of teaching staff and school buildings that are in a poor state of repair. And we know that their protests have been hi-jacked by those intent on causing disruption, civil disobedience and violence on the streets. So, we pray with concern for those who wished to be heard but whose voice is now silenced by those who bring violence to the streets. Where problems take years to fix, time to train teachers, time to upgrade buildings what good does violence do, how does it answer anything at all? Lord God, we prayerfully place the young, the violent, the negotiators and the security forces into your hands praying, hoping, that a better way will be found…
Praise – All hail the power of Jesus name
The Grace
And now… May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you and all whom you love, now and for evermore. AMEN.