Sunday 14 September 2025
14th Sunday after Pentecost
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
1 Timothy 1: 12 – 17
Luke 15: 1 – 10
Praise – The Lord’s my shepherd
Prayers
God of our ancestors, God of ages past, ever since the dawn of humanity You have wanted to be in a loving relationship with your people. You have reached out in love right from the beginning of our existence.
You are glad to be known as the God of Abraham, and as our God. You want us to know ourselves as Your children, Your people. You are the Ancient of Days and as fresh as the summer rain. Steadfast and spontaneous God, we bow in wonder before you. That You make Yourself known, and call us to You, is a gift beyond price.
If you Lord, are a mystery, then we are too. What a puzzle we are to ourselves when we are offered such a priceless gift yet do all in our power to resist the work of the Holy Spirit within us. When we become disconnected from You
and do not even notice that our lives have become impoverished – Forgive us.
Forgive us when we hurt others because we are hurting.
Forgive us when we sit too long in the certainty we are beyond repair.
Holy Spirit, why is it that we no longer yearn for your fire to burn within us, no longer seek the adventure of faith, no longer desire the journey into unknown lands of promise?
As we reach out to receive Your priceless gift to us, so we offer our gifts to you. To us these gifts may seem simple and their value limited, but in your sight our gifts are priceless because you can see they are offered in love, offered in a desire to see your Church, the Body of Christ, sustained, offered in love for you and all your people. Father God, receive our gifts to the Glory of Your name.
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
On my study wall, to my left hand side as I sit at my computer, hangs two framed certificates. They are both now quite old and the once bright red ink has faded almost to the point of being illegible. One says, Bachelor of Divinity and the other, Diploma in Pastoral Studies and Applied Theology. They are the certificates presented to me at my graduation from Aberdeen University more than 30 years ago. It’s a shame to see them so faded and unloved.
Not to worry though because I have been able to add to my collection of certificates over the years. And it might be anything from the Institute of Advanced Motorists to being a competent pilot of a model aircraft or my Anti-Terrorism certificate that hangs on a church notice board or recognition of my competency from the lovely people at the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland. Health Institute I hear you say… Perhaps I was on some medical course, First Aid for when a blushing bride faints on her wedding day. No sorry. Nothing like that. Maybe you didn’t hear the bit about Environmental Health. Environmental Health, like emptying the wheelie bins and cleaning flats after the squatters move out? Well, no, not quite that either.
My certificate from the REHIS is in Risk Assessment. And it tells me that I have completed a practical course on risk assessment and achieved a satisfactory degree of competence in the assessment exercise. My Risk Assessment skills blend nicely with my Anti-Terrorism skills.
Risk assessment is something we all very naturally do as human beings. Whenever we see a hazard like a busy main road, we assess the situation so as to reduce the risk of getting knocked down. Every time you cross the road you are doing your own Risk Assessment. How busy is the road? How fast is the traffic moving? Where is the next gap in the traffic? Is the gap big enough for me to get across? Will I have to go fast or will I have plenty time to saunter on over? By subconsciously asking questions about what is going on around us we protect ourselves from unnecessary harm, we reduce the risk.
Nowadays, many would argue that we live in a risk averse society. Our kids are wrapped up in cotton wool, given a lift to school and home again so that no harm might come to them should the wind blow or the rain fall. They cannot play games where they might scrape their knee or otherwise experience physical pain. Not like it was even in my youth when I trudged through feet of snow to get to school, played with matches and burnt my fingers, used a hammer and bashed my fingers and generally speaking learned from hard experience.
I wish someone had told Jesus about Risk Assessment. If he knew anything at all about Risk he would never have told the parable of the Lost Sheep. It’s bad enough that this shepherd should lose one of the sheep but I cannot fathom what possessed him to leave the 99 unattended, even abandoned, while he went looking for the one. Didn’t he think for a moment that he was leaving the flock vulnerable to predatory wolves? Didn’t he think for a moment that they all might just wander off in different directions and become lost. Didn’t he realise that he was risking everything for the sake of the one that was lost?
Of course, that just might be the point of the story that sometimes you have to risk everything. And if you do risk everything and succeed then naturally there is great cause for celebration. The parable of the Lost Sheep speaks volumes about the risks God will take for you. To him you are worth risking everything. And he did exactly that when he sent His son into this world, to live and die and rise, not just for all humanity, but for you.
Praise – This is my body
Prayers for Others
Charlie Kirk
Father in Heaven, we understand the tragedy of a life taken. However outspoken Charlie Kirk may have been, however much we may or may not agree with his point of view, taking his life away only brings sadness, darkness and bitterness into the lives of family and bystanders. And yet, this is America and it no longer surprises us when someone is shot, assassinated; to us it appears to be the norm in society as if assassination is the go to, cure all response. Charlie Kirk’s assassination tell us of deep divides, rising intolerance and the increasing risk of civil unrest, battle lines are being drawn. Lord, we pray not only for a grieving family, but for a nation divided…
Israel attack on Doha, Qatar.
A desire to eliminate Hamas that knows no bounds. An airstrike on Doha, Qatar, an allies home land, targeting Hamas negotiators. And the rumours abound and suspicion is created that allies are not so trust worthy. Just more reckless actions that destabilise relations in the Middle East. It just gets worse. Little by little it just gets worse. And we see the suffering. And we hear of genocide and war crimes but it doesn’t stop. Israel is not listening. Blinded by anger and hatred Israel fails to see the pain it is inflicting on others and on itself. Victory will be hollow; celebrations will be short lived. What does it take Lord, for the insanity to stop and humanity to be restored? We offer our prayers Lord as people lost for words, lost for answers yet not devoid of hope. Hear our prayers…
Seeing the Individual
Lord Jesus, by story and by parable, you tell us of the risk you are prepared to take for each and every one of us; to show us the extent of your love, to prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that we matter to You as individuals. Each of us created by your hand, each of us filled with the breath of God. Then help us Lord to see the individual you have made and not to merge your children into faceless groups of lesser importance, second class citizens, people who don’t belong. You made us equal in your sight. Help us to accept the risk of loving the individual…
Praise – When I survey
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.