Sunday 25 May 2025
6th of Easter
Welcome!
We know not everyone who is part of Westwood Church is able to be in church on Sunday morning however, we thought it would be good to offer some excerpts from the Sunday morning service. Where we can, we offer parts of the service in text and audio, whichever works best for you. If you want to plug in headphones to your computer, tablet or mobile phone now is a good time to do it ! If you want to offer some comment or feedback just use the comment box at the end of this post.
Your Weekly Church Notices
Scripture
Praise – Be thou my vision
Prayers
Gracious God, we come before You with hearts open to Your presence.
Across the generations, age after age, you have gathered Your people; so now You gather us into your presence.
We rejoice in Your faithfulness and in the promise of Your kingdom come amongst us. Fill this space and time with Your Spirit, that we may worship You in spirit and in truth.
Almighty and Everlasting God, You are the light that shines in the darkness, the One who dwells among Your people. We praise You for the gift of Your Son, Jesus Christ, the One who is our light and our salvation. You have made Your home with us and promised us your peace; a peace that the world cannot give.
Yet, Lord, we confess that we have often turned from Your ways. We have failed to keep Your word, to love as You have loved, and to trust in Your promises. Forgive us, we pray. Cleanse us by Your Spirit and restore us in Your mercy,
that we may walk in the light of Christ, bringing glory to Your name.
Precious in your sight and cleansed by your Spirit we offer of ourselves to you, to follow you, to be disciples. We offer our service and worship, our praise and prayer, and ask that you might receive the gifts we bring, however imperfect they may be; the most humble of offerings is still acceptable in your sight.
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
99% of the time I’m drawn toward the gospel passage as the basis for the morning address – I hesitate at describing this as a sermon! John’s Gospel presents us with the lovely story of the lame man at the pool but no, I was instead drawn to the passage in Acts. So, like a moth to the flame – here we go!
The verses set for us, for today, begins at verse 9, missing out the opening of the paragraph. It’s not often that a Scripure reading begins half way through a paragraph but today it’s sort of obvious why. To be honest the opening of the paragraph is a bit boring. I don’t mean to bore you but as those verses were not read earlier this is what they say; “ They travelled though the region of Phrygia and Galatia because the Holy Spirit did not let them preach the message in the Province of Asia. When they reached the border of Mysia, they tried to go into the Province of Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, they travelled right through Mysia and went to Troas. That night Paul had a vision…” which is where we picked up the reading earlier on.
I have just confirmed your worst fears… there is nothing interesting in those verses and the address is going to be even more boring than usual.
And yet, I find those verses intriguing; how did they know? Timothy, Paul and Silas are travelling together. The sole purpose of their journey is to preach and teach and share the Good News of Jesus Christ wherever they go. Yet the Spirit did not allow them to preach the message in the province of Asia. Nor to preach in the province of Bithynia. It’s a bit counterintuitive to NOT do the very thing you set out to do. It’s a bit counterintuitive to believe that the Holy Spirit is telling you NOT to preach the Gospel.
They didn’t have a rule book. They didn’t have a guide book on Mission and Evangelism. There was no programme. There was no Alpha course to help them along. So how did they know what it was they had to do (or not do)? What was it they experienced, felt? Were they just ill at ease with the situation, something that didn’t feel right? When the Holy Spirit spoke to them what was it they “heard” how did they know that NOT doing something was the right thing to do and for that matter when Paul had that vision of the Macedonian begging him to ‘Come over and help’ that that was the right thing to do?
Let’s remember that Paul was an outstanding intellectual. He had trained as a Pharisee; he knew the Jewish faith inside out. The way he developed the underpinning theology of the Christian faith is truly astounding. And yet, Paul did not reduce his faith in Christ to a purely intellectual pursuit. Faith was something he experienced. He experienced the Christ on the road to Damascus in what was a quite spectacular conversion to Christianity and Paul never let go of that part of a living faith that is about experiencing the moving of the Holy Spirit; that part of faith that is not about knowledge so much as relationship. Paul didn’t have some kind of monochrome faith. Faith in Christ filled every part of his mind and soul. Everything that made him human; his intellect, his emotions, his intuition became channels through which he heard Christ speak to him. Simply intuitively knowing. And just as importantly, trusting those feelings and intuitions. You really have to trust the still small voice within to be that way because you can’t do the calculations or prove it on paper. It truly is a leap of faith, which means we are back where we began – a completely circular argument; it’s right because we believe it to be right.
Trouble is, I think we’ve lost a lot of that in our faith, that sense of trusting in the still small voice, trusting our intuition, trusting that the things that can’t be proved on paper are still valid, that our living relationship with Christ is valid.
Paul undertook three missionary journeys and, on each journey, he set out into uncharted territory. He had no clue what he was doing other than trust the still small voice within. Even today the call to share the Good News of Jesus Christ is as strong as ever. We may not have a strong tradition of mission and evangelism but we certainly can restore our trust in the leading of the Holy Spirit, strengthening our living relationship with Christ and living in the faith that He knows what He’s doing; even if we don’t.
Praise – Lord you have come to the seashore
Prayers for Others
Prayers for Healing
Father in Heaven, we must be curious about what happened that day at Bethzatha. So many who were sick living in that place between hope and despair. Longing for healing that never comes, watching for that moment when the waters were stirred up, scrambling to the water’s edge only to be beaten to it by so many others. The earnest desire for life to be different, better, joyful.
God of compassion, we bring before You those who need healing; those who, like the man at the pool, long for restoration. Be near to those who endure, the lonely, and the burdened. Touch them with Your peace and bring them wholeness in body, mind, and spirit.
For those who need vision
We pray for those who seek direction, vision, who stand at the crossroads of life, unsure of where to go. Lord, be their guide. Show them that not every decision in life can be made by weighing up the pro’s and con’s. Sometimes we need to follow gut feelings, a sense of calling, the heart’s desire. Sometimes we need to listen to our heart and soul, the still small voice that leads us gently forward. Lord Jesus, we pray for those who need vision and openness to your still small voice…
Prayers for the church
We pray for Your church in all its forms and denominations; we pray especially for the Church of Scotland and for our own church that we may be faithful to our calling to bear the name of Christ, to live for Him, to love as He has loved, and to share faith in Christ with hungry searching hearts. Where the human heart responds to the still small voice may we be there to nurture and encourage. Give to us a sense of mission, purpose, calling within our community. Lord hear us in our prayers…
Praise – When we walk with the Lord
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.