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…

Worship was abbreviated due to the annual Fire Drill !!

Your Weekly Church Notices

Scripture

Matthew 16: 13 – 20

Live recording

Praise – When we walk with the Lord

Prayers

Live recording

God of all, as we have gathered together in Your house, we turn our hearts and our minds to the worship of You.  We wish to pause, to take a moment to leave behind us the thoughts that tumble over each other, distracting us from You.

We lay at Your feet all that has gone before us in the past week, the things we regret, tasks left undone, words uttered in anger, the things we wish we could forget, mistakes made, moments that made us uncomfortable;

the things that brought us joy, time spent with family, the laughter of friends.

All of this, and so much more, we lay down at Your feet.  Still our troubled minds, renew our tired hearts and give us a spirit of praise.

For we wish to draw closer to You, to offer our songs of worship, to hear Your Word speaking to us, to learn more about You.  Lord, let us enter Your presence,

for there is nowhere on earth that we would rather be.

Loving Lord, we must confess that all too often we have rejected rather than rejoiced. 

We are quick to grumble over what we think we lack rather than give thanks for what we already have. We spot problems before we see potential;

We ask that You will forgive us for all the times that we place ourselves before our neighbour;  when our desires are prioritised and the needs of others ignored;  when greed overrules our conscience and we hoard our blessings instead of sharing freely with those around us.

Father, we pray that You will renew and refresh us; shatter our hearts of stone and fill us with a love for all people;  break our stubborn wills and reshape us into the people You would have us be.  Let us truly be Your people, Your followers.

Following you means learning to love wholeheartedly, to respond graciously and give unreservedly.  May this offering we bring today reflect the presence of Christ in our hearts in its love and grace and generosity. 

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

Let me tell you about Ken.  Ken was a friend of mine way back in the mists of time.  Ken was a little older than me and a married man while I was young free and single.  I can’t for the life of me remember Ken’s wife’s name but for the sake of argument I’ll call her Barbie.  I don’t think Barbie was her name but Ken and Barbie sound familiar in some way.  I don’t recall her having blonde Barbie hair or voluptuous Barbie curves but that’s neither here nor there. 

Ken and Barbie were enormously happy because they had a baby on the way. And like all parents-to-be they had long discussions about what they might call their child.  Names for a girl and names for a boy all of which were kept top secret until the happy day of the baby’s arrival into this world.  But Ken and Barbie had a problem to resolve in naming their child.  Ken came from Paisley and Barbie came from Geneva, Switzerland.  All of Barbie’s family spoke French, so they needed names that would work in both languages and that really limited their choices.  Well the day of labour arrived and with little more than a cough and sneeze Barbie gave birth to her baby boy whom in Paisley speak they named Christopher, which in French translates as Christopher. Barbie was a doting mum; Ken was a proud dad who had achieved the impossible of appeasing his French-speaking mother-in-law.

Now, my rather trifling story does have echoes in the Old Testament right back at the beginning of the Book of Exodus.  Exodus Chapter 1 finds us at the beginning of the foundational story of the nation of Israel and of Judaism.  Yes, we acknowledge that there is nothing in ancient Egyptian records that indicates any kind of exodus of slaves on the scale we read of in the Old Testament but the story’s centrality to Israelite history and identity is beyond debate.

In a move that is as current as it is ancient the leader of the Egyptians begins to build up fear and anxiety about the foreigners and strangers living in their midst. Since the time of Joseph, Israelites had been both welcome and valued in Egyptian society.  Now however, the tide is turned for it is feared that they might unite with the enemies of Egypt to become an internal threat to security.  The fear leads to oppression and slavery, the Israelite people being used to build great cities for the Pharaoh.

When the oppression backfires new methods of limiting the Israelites are found.  Hebrew Midwives are coerced into killing Israelite baby boys but the midwives fear God more than they fear the Pharaoh and choose to ignore the instruction of their oppressors. The Pharaoh realising that Hebrew Midwives have managed to evade his instructions takes a step of insanity commanding his people to kill all infant boys.  It’s not the only time in the bible that the killing of all infant boys takes place.  Thousands of years later in a peculiar twist of fate where “the abused becomes the abuser” King Herod also ordered the killing of the infant boys when he learned of the birth of the Christ.

Into that context of fear and oppression and mindless slaughter, a baby boy is born to Israelite parents of Levite heritage.  When his mother recognises that she can no longer adequately hide him, she forms a basket of reeds made water tight with bitumen and hides her baby son amongst the rushes on the riverbank.  The little boy is watched over by his sister.  The Pharaoh’s daughter happens upon the baby boy in the basket and rescues him.  In time Pharaoh’s daughter adopts the boy and calls him “Moses” a name that is very similar to the Hebrew word for “water” and similar to the Egyptian word for “child”.  He is given a name that has meaning in both languages and both cultures.

Names continue to be significant throughout the development of the Israelite nation.  People and prophets are named and re-named according to how God calls them and what tasks he gives them.  Even into Jesus’ time people’s names retain significant meanings and people are re-named in order to heighten that sense of being under God’s hand and calling.  Who you are, what name you bear becomes a central part of one’s identity and purpose.

In Matthew’s Gospel, following on from debates and discussions with the Pharisees and Sadducees we find Jesus and his disciples near to the city of Caesarea Philippi.  Initially it was the site of a Temple built by King Herod in honour of Caesar Augustus.  Later Herod’s son, Herod Philip, developed the city as a Capital city and in honour of Caesar renamed it Caesarea Philippi.  The city was a centre for government both Roman and local.  It straddled traditions, cultures and languages and religions.  It is in the context of that multiplicity of faiths, gods, powers, languages, meanings, philosophies and outlooks that Jesus challenges his disciples.  Who do people say that the son of man is? asks Jesus. It could almost be an academic question. Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, others Jeremiah – they were all radical prophets announcing the coming of God’s Messiah.  

But then the deeper, more personal question, “Who do you say I am?”  And Simon, called Peter by Jesus, finds something in his spirit that switches on like a light bulb.  A truth that illuminates his mind and sole, “You are the Messiah”

It is then that Simon is given his new name Peter, the Rock, the foundation.  Different traditions interpret these words differently, but on this we can agree, Jesus gives his disciples authority to teach and preach the Good News rejecting the authority of the Scribes and Pharisees and the religion and government so readily portrayed in the complex society of Caesarea Philippi and yet bridging all those traditions, crossing the boundaries, straddling the divisions.

Identity is such a central issue to our understanding of self.  In a complex multi-national, multi-racial world what is our Scottish identity?  Who am I?  Who are you? Does His name Jesus, Emmanuel, The Christ, Messiah, Son of Man, Son of God, still hold meaning across traditions and cultures? What name do you give Him? Who do you say Jesus is? 

Praise – Take my life and let it be

Prayers for Others

Live recording

The gift of faith

Lord God, you have placed within our hearts one of the most precious gifts that we can ever possess, the gift of faith.  Faith that illuminates our soul and lets eternal truth find a home in our heart.  Faith that allows us to call out your name and see who You truly are.  Yet we so often neglect that gift, doing so little to nurture it.  Faith gives us confidence in life and confidence in you.  Faith reassures us that you are in control.   Your word teaches us that all we need is faith, not our labours however good, not our actions however worthy, will ever set us right with you, but faith will open the door to all you have in store for us.  Lord hear us as we thank you for the gift of faith and ask for it to be strengthened within our hearts…

Those in Hospital

Lord Jesus Christ, we can read in the pages of the Gospels how you stretched out your hand in healing to those who were ill.  With authority and power, you forgave sin, restored faith and restored well-being.  It is true that we do not always understand the fragility of our bodies.  Yet, we continue to put our trust in you, believing you are a compassionate God who hears our cries for help and is willing in your greater wisdom to respond to our needs.  We pray to you for those who are in hospital asking you to watch over them restoring their health and well-being.  May they know you are with them giving them peace in their hearts.  Hear us as we pray for those who are in hospital…

Praise – My life flows on in endless song

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.

helping us keep track

of what’s happening within

and around the Presbytery.

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 67

Your Weekly Church Notices

Scripture

Romans 11: 25 – 32

Matthew 15: 21 – 28

Praise – The Lord’s my Shepherd

Prayers

Loving God, we gather here this day in your Church and as your Church. We gather as a family; Your family.  Allow us to be reassured by a sense of your presence amongst us, to feel the ties that bind us to each other and to You, love that is tangible, meaningful, fulfilling.

Father God, we come to offer our praise and our thanks because you have watched over us and though many trials and tribulations befall us in life, you are still there offering your care, your love and your guidance. 

Forgive us, Lord, when we dare to determine who is part of the family and who is not, who is “in” and who is ‘out’. Lord remind us that we do not get to choose our family; Lord you have chosen and called each of us to be a part of your family here and we are all such different people with different wants and desires yet you love us all the same.

Forgive us, Lord, when our words and actions bring discord and tension when the calling upon us is to bring harmony.  Forgive us, Lord, when we put up walls that cause division and pain when we are called to unite and to care.  Inspire us through your word and bless our hearts and voices, which we offer to you this day. 

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

I might have mentioned in the last little while that Lynn and I had family staying with us at the Manse while building work went on at their house.  On Mother’s Day, Graeme, Emma, Freya, Paige, Boris the cat and Annie the dog moved in with us for 3 to 4 weeks, which became 13 weeks!

Now, I thought our wee dog Jet was pretty quick to spot when food was on the go.  Like most dogs he’ll sit and wait to see if he’s getting anything off our dinner plate.  We really don’t indulge him that way but he still waits hopefully on some scrap of food coming his way.

Annie is just a wee King Charles Spaniel, half the size of Jet, our Cocker Spaniel.  Yet Annie could move like lightening when so much as a crumb fell on the floor.  Jet was beaten hands down, every time for 13 weeks. Annie is a wee “grubber” and I told her so to her face, but it changed nothing.

A dog getting the scraps under the table… Now there’s an image we can relate too.  And it’s one that Jesus related to as well when a woman approached him hoping that something good might happen for her daughter who was in a terrible condition, so terrible the woman believed her daughter had a demon.

When a dog gets a scrap that has fallen under the table we think nothing more than the dog is following instinct.  The dog is an opportunist, grabbing what it can while it can. 

If a child sees a discarded lollipop on the ground, we might forgive their naivety for thinking that they might pick it up and enjoy it.  Any parent would tell their child that such a thing is dirty off the ground and is not to be eaten.

If an adult picks up scraps of the ground we can be pretty sure they are in desperate times.  The down and out who rummages through a bin for the remnants of a kebab thrown away by the clubbers and partygoers the night before.  The men, women and children who make a living off of India’s vast refuse tips foraging for food and items that can be salvaged and sold.  Foraging for scraps is an act of desperation.

In the same way that we might veer away from someone raking through a bin for scraps of food, Jesus was trying to veer away from this woman.  And that might surprise us.  Had the woman not been able to convince Jesus that she was somehow deserving of his attentions the outcome might have been very different.  Jesus had been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel; he had no interest in this Canaanite woman.  We have set for ourselves this image of Jesus doing good to all, kind and loving, never offending, never turning anyone away, and we have to question just how accurate that picture is because Jesus also had a mission, a purpose and a calling, he was focussed and that naturally includes some but excludes others.

But two things change the situation for this Canaanite woman and for that matter for Jesus too.  Jesus saw her desperation and he saw her faith.  This woman was prepared to equate herself to a dog looking for scraps under the master’s table.  An opportunist, perhaps but also blessed with a basic instinct to survive.  Desperate, yes, but not without hope.  If she could get even just a little bit of what Jesus was offering she truly believed it would make all the difference in the world.

Jesus could not ignore her desperation or her faith.  He responded to her willingly, prepared in himself to lay aside his own perceptions of where God was calling him to serve, Jesus willingly moved the boundaries for her and more than that; he gave more than just a morsel, a scrap, a crumb.  Jesus gave this desperate woman everything she hoped for.  He set a banqueting table before her by healing her daughter.

Of course any story where people living in desperation are touched by compassion is a beautiful and wonderful story.   The media would call it a “human interest” story.  But I wonder how much this story touches you and me.  Hope and faith are never more vital when there is nothing else but hope and faith to cling to.  The Canaanite woman lived with desperation every day; all she had was hope and faith.  But is that true for us?  Desperation is not part of my existence.  I have a banqueting table set before me every day in life.  I don’t even encourage my dog to pick up scraps from under the dinner table.  Can faith and hope still be a meaningful part of life?  And if you answered that question with a resounding YES then tell someone else why you believe that to be so.

Praise – How deep the Father’s love for us

Prayers for Others

Earthquake Colombia

Where people suffer, where the structures and patterns of life are torn apart by natural disaster, Lord we offer our prayers.  Barley two months ago Venezuela was hit by two massive earthquakes.  Families sill search for loved ones amongst the rubble.  Neighbouring Colombia are now enduring the same tragedy.  The dead and the missing are numbered in their hundreds.  It is something we can barely imagine unless we have experienced living in a war zone.  Times of devastation, with no help to hand other than your neighbour, equally as determined to find their loved ones.  Desperation, hope, resilience, determination, faith.  Lord hear us as we pray for those who know desperation yet cling to hope…

Purpose

Lord Jesus, you knew your purpose.  You were sure of your calling.  You knew the limits of what you were being asked to do.  Lord Jesus, you knew your purpose.  Yet, we come before you wondering, asking, what purpose the church has in the world today.  What purpose does the church serve in Scotland and what is its purpose within this parish?

You created us so that we might enjoy you, to be in fellowship with you, know you as our creator.  Is this our purpose – simply to enjoy you? Just to gather and worship.  Or is there more?  Have you not given us a message to share, a hope to live by, a word of life that is for all your children.

We thank you that we have heard that word and responded to its call; and now you call us to help others hear the word of life too.  You have given us a purpose; we are here for a reason – to shift the boundaries, to take the barriers down, to bring others to faith in Christ.

Lord hear us in our prayers as we seek a renewed sense of purpose, a clearer understanding of what you have called us here to be and to do.  Quietly in your presence we offer our prayers and ask that you rest your hand upon us…

Our Own Prayers

Praise – Longing for light

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.

helping us keep track

of what’s happening within

and around the Presbytery.

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 85: 8 – 13

Live recording

Your Weekly Church Notices

Scripture

Romans 10: 5 – 15

Live recording

Matthew 14: 22 – 33

Live recording

Praise – Lord you have come to the seashore

Prayers

Live recording

As we come to You this day, Lord God, help us to lay aside the many things that are on our minds and in our hearts, trusting that You know our thoughts, you see into our hearts and know what we need before we even ask.  Reassure us that You are with us in all things.

Help us to turn now towards You, to be attentive to Your presence, to listen to Your word and to one another, and in response to lift our hearts in loving worship.

In the comfort of Your presence, we feel able to tell You, our Heavenly Father, of those things we have done and said that we regret, things that have hurt others and ourselves and hurt our relationship with you.

Father in Heaven, we seek your forgiveness for those things we wish we had done or said and failed to do.  When we did not respond with grace, or failed to offer forgiveness, when we did not act with generosity or be the servant.

In the comfort of your presence, we recognise our weaknesses and failings and seek your strength, and ask for mercy, forgiveness, that we might start afresh from this moment.

We do not know Lord how to express the extent of your offering to us.  You gave everything, the whole of yourself, body, mind, spirit so that our joy may be complete, that we might have life in all its abundance.  This is your gift to us, to know the true meaning and value of life through a loving relationship with our Creator.  What we offer to you seems small, unworthy of such sacrifice, but you see beyond the material, the physical, to see the loving heart that beats within us, the spirit that seeks to know You and the body that seeks to serve You.  Receive then, this offering.  As you gave your all to us so we give our all to you.

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

It’s a long time now since Peanuts and Charlie Brown cartoons graced our TV screen.  I was never a big fan of Charlie Brown but I have to acknowledge that the author and creator often used Charlie Brown to reflect upon our human condition.

In one Peanuts cartoon Charlie Brown goes to Lucy for a ha’penny’s worth of psychiatric help. She proceeds to try and pinpoint his particular ‘fear’. Perhaps, she says, you have hypengyophobia, which is the fear of responsibility. Charlie Brown says no. Well, perhaps you have ailurophobia, which is the fear of cats. No. Well, maybe you have climacophobia, which is the fear of staircases. No. Exasperated, Lucy says well, maybe you have pantophobia, which is the fear of everything. Yes, says Charlie, that is the one!  

Fear is part of our human condition.

In the story of creation found in the Book of Genesis, we read that Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, something which had been specifically denied them. Knowing that God is searching for them, they try to hide. It is a scene perhaps reminiscent of many of our childhoods when we had done something that we were not supposed to and we literally hid from our mum and dad.   I can vividly remember times when my sister locked herself in the bathroom because being caught by mum or dad meant certain punishment!  Finally God finds Adam and Eve, as we know He will, for, after all, where can we go to hide from God? And God asks them why they are hiding. Do you remember the response that Adam gave: “Because, I was afraid?” 

I think this very poignant story reminds us that fear is so basic to who we are as humans, it goes all the way back to the beginning of time. To be human is to experience fear.   Sometimes we feel like we are afraid of everything. We are afraid of ourselves. We are afraid of people. We are afraid of the future. We are afraid of the past. We are afraid of living. We are afraid of dying. 

Every person, even those who live by the Christian faith, must fight their fears. Even the Apostle Paul, for all that he was a determined and resolute witness to Christ still had to face his fears. Paul had fallen flat on his face in Athens. Paul had tried to bravely teach the Christian Gospel using the alter to the Unknown God as a way of opening up his audience to his story about Jesus Christ.  But they laughed at his suggestion that someone might rise from the dead.  And that was pretty much an end to his mission in Athens.  Paul did exactly what he intended not to do; in his own eyes he had failed. He wrote of his arrival in Corinth: “For when we came into Macedonia we had no peace, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings; within were fears.” Paul was full of fears, just like you and me–the fear of inadequacy, the fear of failing. 

But perhaps the most surprising fear of many people and one that we do not like to address is the fear of God. It is the fear that God is not really on our side. It is the fear that God will toy with us in some random, unpredictable way; leave us out on a limb unable to cope. 

One of the great fears of the ancient people was that God would fall asleep. Can you imagine such a thing? When the prophets of Baal could not get their Gods to rain down fire on the top of Mount Carmel, Elijah taunted them: Maybe your God is asleep, he said. On the other hand, the Jews took great comfort in the fact that the God of Israel neither dozes nor sleeps. (Psalm 121)

Over and over again the message of the Bible is “fear not”. When Abram took his family to the Promised Land he feared that he was turning his back on everything he knew, giving up his security for the completely unknown. God spoke to him: Fear not Abram, I am your shield and your reward will be great. 

When the Jews stood at the Red Sea and could see Pharaoh’s chariots coming on the horizon, they cried out that they would all be slaughtered. Moses said to them: Stand still, fear not, and see the salvation of the Lord. 

When the angel of the Lord came to Mary and said that she would bear a child, she trembled with fear. What would become of her? And the angel said: Fear not Mary, for you have found favour with God. 

It comes as no surprise then that the disciples screamed with fear when, in the middle of the night, they saw Jesus walking across the water toward their boat.  What else could it be but a ghost?  The sight of someone walking on water is so impossible, so out of place, so far outside of our experiences I can forgive the disciples for being filled with fear.  I would be too and so might you.  Jesus calms the disciples with just a few simple words, “Courage, it is I.  Don’t be afraid.”

If anything Peter is a great example to us of how to deal with our fears.  Peter was willing to confront and test the thing that scared him so much.  If it is you Lord then command me to come out on the waters to you.  And Peter too walked on the surface of the water.  In confronting his fears, he did what previously seemed impossible to him.  

I know someone who is scared to use escalators so they find a nearby lift or walk the long way round.  Living with their fear doesn’t change the quality of their living that much but if they confronted their fear and overcame it I know that they would feel like a different and more confident person inside.  Confronting our fears can allow us to do what previously seemed impossible.

The same is true for churches.  Sometimes we fear words like Mission and Evangelism.  We are fearful of these things because we don’t know what they will ask of us, or we fear failure.  But if we could confront those fears then how much more confident would our church be in its purpose and in its faith?

Peter steps out of the boat and walks on the surface of the water toward Jesus but begins to notice the waves and the wind.  The whole situation begins to get a little surreal for him, he begins to doubt and he begins to sink.

Doubts often go hand in hand with fears.  Doubts force us to live with our fears.  Doubts often cause us to sink rather than swim.  Churches doubt that there is any meaningful way of increasing our membership, we doubt that an unchurched population will ever be interested in what we have to offer, we doubt that we have the means or the expertise or resources to change our situation.  And when we doubt, we sink.  Trouble is we find it easier to sink.  It is easier not to tackle our doubts or face our fears.  It takes real courage, real faith, real effort to challenge our doubts.

We recognise we are human; doubts and fears are part of who and what we are and yet the amazing thing is regardless of what happens our Lord is there to save us.  We cry for help and he catches hold of us.   He helps us find a place of safety, a place where we are restored and in that place we worship Him.

Praise – Beauty for Brokenness

Prayers for Others

Live recording

Fears

Lord God, we pray for those who daily cope with fears and anxieties.  When fears hold us back and prevent life from being lived to the full, when fears cause us to hide away, reclusive and alone, when we can find no relief, now way forward, no help or encouragement, no peace within our souls; Lord be our place of encouragement, and hope, be the one who can lead us gently forward into a place of freedom and fulfilment.  Lord Jesus hear our prayers for those who find themselves enslaved to their fears and anxieties…

Walking on Water

And then they worship you… ‘Truly you are the Son of God”  this is how the disciples reacted to seeing Jesus walking on the water.  Or was it more than that?  Was it the teaching and the miracles of healing? Was it His presence? the sense of there being something ‘different’ about him. Was it all of this and more?  Just what did they see in Jesus that convinced them that he was ‘Truly the Son of God?’  And what Lord convinces us that you are Truly the Son of God?

Help us Lord in quiet moments of prayer to search our thoughts and search our hearts – why do we believe you to be the Son of God? …

Seeing through God’s eyes

Living God, all knowing, all powerful, all-seeing, help us to capture something of your wonder, to glimpse something of your greatness, to see that our small horizons are not the last word.  Living God, teach us to see with your eyes.  Help us to see life from your perspective with all its opportunities, potential, goodness and beauty.  Where we have lost sight of the future remind us that your promises continue.  Where we see only obstacles you have planned a way through, where we see only our limitations you see opportunities.   Where we see division, you work toward reconciliation.  Give us a faith that lets us see life in a new light, a different way, a wider perspective.  Lord hear us in our prayers as we ask to see this gift of life through the eyes of the giver…

Praise – I am weak but thou art strong

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.

helping us keep track

of what’s happening within

and around the Presbytery.

I am writing to inform you of a data security incident involving Beacon, the fundraising database we use to manage supporter contact information.

Your contact details are held in our CRM database, provided by a company called Beacon. On Monday 3^rd August, Beacon informed us that they had experienced a cyber-security incident. Beacon believes that compromised credentials were used to access their systems, and that copies of their database backups were made.

At this stage we don’t know exactly what information may have been affected. Beacon has engaged external cyber-security experts to investigate, and we are following their guidance closely.

The data we hold on Beacon includes the names and contact details of current and previous supporters of CrossReach, and the history of your support and interactions with us, it is this data which may have been compromised.

We do not hold any financial information such as bank account or card details, so these are unaffected.

What we are doing
We are following Beacon’s incident guidance and are working to understand the full extent of the incident and have put measures in place to protect our systems. We have also begun the process of reporting this event to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), as required. 

What you can do
We recommend that you remain vigilant for any unusual or unexpected contact that appears to come from CrossReach, Beacon, or related organisations. If you receive any suspicious emails, calls, or messages asking for personal or financial information, do not respond and please report them to us.

If you would like to read further, Beacon have produced a FAQ.

We can appreciate this is concerning and we’re incredibly sorry that this has happened. We know that thousands of other charities and organisations who use Beacon’s software have also been affected. We are working alongside them to understand the full picture as quickly as possible.

We want to reassure you we take the security of your personal data seriously. We will provide further updates if new information becomes available. This is not a marketing email. If you have unsubscribed from our marketing list, you are still unsubscribed and will not receive any further emails

Thank you for your understanding.

Yours sincerely

Craig Wills
Head of Fundraising at CrossReach

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 145: 13 – 21

Live recording

Your Weekly Church Notices

Scripture

Romans 9: 1 – 5

Live recording

Matthew 14: 13 – 21

Live recording

Praise – Great is thy faithfulness

Prayers

Live recording

God of Life, we come to You.

We gather in this place to taste Your goodness, to lean on Your faithfulness and remember Your kindness. We come To You, our Strength and our Song.

Generous God, brimming with ideas, who worked and created on six days and rested on the seventh You gave us this place of beauty in which to live and move and have our being!

In every corner of creation Your imagination is on show!

You dreamed up a world, a cosmos, that is colourful, dramatic, alive,

full of spirit, Your Spirit. Sculptor of petals and wings, catcher of sighs and tears, 

painter of blue skies and storm clouds, You care about detail; You care about us, a mere speck in this vast universe.

Accept our wonder and gratitude that we are more than just creatures to You; we are Your children and Your friends.

Gracious God, no longer do we live with ease in the Garden of Eden.  Paradise for us has long since evaporated.  As we go walking in the streets, sitting in our homes, concentrating on what needs done, daydreaming for a moment, pondering our woes and troubles – we feel far from you.  Where is our God who sets all things right?  Where is the God who loves with a boundless love?  We feel undeserving of Your love.

Help us in our confusion, release us from whatever is tormenting us, forgive what needs forgiven, understand what needs to be understood. Keep us generous of heart and spirit, just as You are.  Come and help us when we find it hard to forgive; come and console us when we meet with disappointment;

come and brighten us when the colours fade and we feel jaded by life itself; Bring us back to ourselves and to You.

Here now as we present our offering, giving thanks for your many gifts to us, we also find our way back to you.  Here now as we present our offering, we acknowledge that You are always with us, we seek you; we knock at the door and the door is opened to us.  In our giving we receive.

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

My neighbours seemed to have a good holiday if their social media pictures were anything to go by. I’m sure they don’t mind me spying on them from the comfort of my mobile phone!  Two weeks of sunshine and fun were over in the twinkling of an eye.  Half an hour after arriving home the lawnmower was out and the front grass was getting cut.  Then two weeks washing appeared on the line. And less than 12 hours after arriving home they were off to work no doubt to be greeted by the pile of paperwork, the endless emails and phone messages that need answered.

We work hard all year round and yearn for that much needed bit of space and time to yourself.  Trouble is, we also know that terrible feeling that it’s all waiting for you when you get back.  We need to get away from things but we never really escape those things.  And if you think that is a symptom of modern living, then you would be wrong.

Jesus had returned to his hometown of Nazareth and taught in the synagogue.  Sadly, his own people were not overly impressed with the carpenter’s son teaching them about eternal truths.  They rejected him.  The reaction of the people of Nazareth stands somewhat in contrast to the reaction Jesus got from the crowds as he taught them in parables saying The Kingdom of Heaven is like this…  Jesus had gone from the highs to the lows and back again in the twinkling of an eye.

And then news comes to Jesus that Herod had executed his cousin, John the Baptist.  It was a sad and depressing time where all the lows of rejection and grief crushed in upon him.  He needs to get away and does so in a very simple way.  He gets into a boat and sails across the lake to a lonely place, a wilderness place, away from people and the pain of rejection and in that lonely place he wants to grieve for the loss of his cousin John and maybe even ponder the implications of John’s death for his own ministry.  Jesus was trying to get away from things but of course it was all waiting for him, there was no escaping.  Jesus stepped out of the boat to be greeted by crowds of people from the towns and villages who had walked to the other side of the lake.  He wanted to get away to be alone, he wanted time to be by himself but instead everyone was waiting for him.  Graciously he bowed to the situation and seeing the depth of need there was in the crowd he began to heal those who were ill.

The significance of that moment created a dilemma.  The evening wore on and still the crowds were waiting somewhat reluctant to go but also reluctant to stay. They had no shelter, no food, but no desire to travel home at night.  The disciples sensed the un-easiness of the crowds and the awkwardness of what was unfolding.  Knowing that the people would listen to what Jesus told them, the disciples ask Jesus to tell the crowds to go away and buy food for themselves.  The disciples didn’t get the answer they were looking for.  Far from solving their dilemma Jesus gave them an even greater one.  “You yourselves give them something to eat!” said Jesus.

Can you imagine the stunned look of disbelief that must have crossed the disciples’ faces.  Effectively they had nothing to feed the people with.  There’s five thousand men plus women plus children and all they have is five loaves and two fish enough perhaps to feed themselves but that’s all.  In a very practical way Jesus demonstrates what he has been preaching about.  Small things can change situations.   When you feel that you have nothing worthwhile or substantial or meaningful to offer; simply offer what you have.  God can still use it.

Can you imagine that moment when a disciple handed a loaf of bread to a man in the crowd wondering if he was doing something brave or foolish?  Brave enough to follow Jesus instruction.  Foolish enough to think that the whole crowd could be fed this way.   And that is the nature of faith.  Faith sits somewhere between brave and foolish.  But faith produces miracles.  The impossible becomes possible.  

The lesson we learn is this: When we feel that we have nothing worthwhile or substantial or meaningful to offer; in faith we simply offer what we have.  God can still use it.  God can produce miracles from that simple faithful offering.  And if that was true that day on the shores of the lake, then it is true now; an unchanging truth that depends not on you or I but on God Himself.  This is what God can do.

Miracles happen where faith lives.  Faith lives where people hope and doubt and struggle. The story of the feeding of the five thousand isn’t just a story about faith or miracle; it is a story about people.  People like us.  It is not so hard to see ourselves in that lonely place, seated on the grass, waiting, hoping, doubting, anxious, hungry.  Where would you place yourself in the story of the feeding of the five thousand?

Are you in the crowd feeling a little restless and uneasy, wondering if you should stay or if you should go?  You’ve been moved by the preaching and witnessed the miracle of the sick being healed but maybe the show is over for today; its gotten a little quiet a tad boring; every task and responsibility that presses upon you is waiting at home; it’s time to go.

Are you in the crowd feeling hungry, wondering if it is time to head for home yet dare not walk away from the presence of Jesus because you hunger for something more than food to eat?

Are you a disciple hearing Jesus say, “You yourself give them something to eat” and feeling that you face an impossible dilemma?  You feel more than a little overwhelmed by the task that is in front of you. Feeling that you have nothing worthwhile or substantial or meaningful to offer those who are hungry.

Don’t be scared.  In faith offer what you have.  God can still use it.

Praise – Son of God eternal Saviour

Prayers for Others

Live recording

A Reform of Social Welfare System

The words are welcome…  when we live in a world where social welfare is critical yet the system lets so many down, while it remains open to abuse by others.  Just one more broken system that needs to be completely overhauled.  The words of our new Prime Minister are welcome even though he speaks only for the Welfare system in England.  Devolved governments might have the courage to follow suit, reforming, renewing, being bold enough to recognise the struggles of society and the brokenness of support mechanisms, the inequalities that exist, the abuses that are all too common.  Lord God, this is our prayer, that righteousness may prevail, that justice and equality may be upheld, that compassion may be the hallmark of our society and that our many failings might be touched by your grace and mercy.  Lord hear us as we pray…

Wealth and Poverty

We pray for those who have more than enough, not as to judge them for hard work and great rewards, but that they might not take their comfort for granted

or lose touch with neighbours living on less, but choose to follow Your example

in quiet and unadvertised giving.

We thank You for all people who love humanity, who love their neighbour and see their greater resources as an opportunity to help someone else.

We pray for those who do not have enough, who are hungry in body, thirsty for affection or company or hope, anxious because they cannot make ends meet.  Bear them up and give them a voice, and do not let us rest as long as inequality persists.  Lord hear our prayers for those who challenge the great divide of wealth and poverty…

Small Gifts

Lord Jesus, you admired the widow who gave just a mite, one small coin, to the Temple Treasury because she gave from the heart, she gave all that she could.  You admired the offering of five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand and more people; a gift so small as to be almost insignificant, yet the disciples giving all they had, giving from the heart, they witnessed a miracle of love, a miracle of community.  Our gift is never too small if we are giving all we can to feed the hunger and thirst that humanity feels within.  Lord Jesus, we pray from deep within our hearts that when the time comes that we are confronted with the hunger of another we too will give what we have; a crust of bread, a prayer, a seed of faith.  Hear our prayers…

Praise – What a wonderful change

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.

helping us keep track

of what’s happening within

and around the Presbytery.