A downloadable PDF order of service is available here

‘The God who made the world and everything in it…
does not live in shrines made by human hands’
Acts 17:24

‘Separate text from context and all that remains is a con’
Stewart Stafford

Led by Revd Dr Sandy Forsyth, Hillary Leslie, 
the Chamber Group and the congregation in church and online

***

AS A DIVERSE PEOPLE, THE CHURCH GATHERS TO WORSHIP ALMIGHTY GOD

Organ Voluntary

Welcome & Church News

The Grace

Preparatory Silence for Worship

Call to Worship

Leader: We meet here
All: with every doubter and every questioner.
Leader: We meet here
All: with those who celebrate and those who mourn.
Leader: We meet here
All: with those who wait and those who long.
Leader: We meet here All: with the lost and the lonely.
Leader: We meet here
All: with those in abundance and those who lack.
Leader: We meet here
All: with all your people, just as we are, ready to worship…

Hymn 198   Let Us Build a House
(t. Two Oaks)

Let us build a house where love can dwell
and all can safely live,
a place where saints and children
tell how hearts learn to forgive;
built of hopes and dreams and visions,
rock of faith and vault of grace;
here the love of Christ shall end divisions:

All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where prophets speak,
and words are strong and true,
where all God's children dare to seek
to dream God's reign anew.
Here the cross shall stand as witness
and as symbol of God's grace;
here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:

Let us build a house where love is found in water,
wine and wheat:
a banquet hall on holy ground,
where peace and justice meet.
Here the love of God, through Jesus,
is revealed in time and space,
as we share in Christ the feast that frees us:

Let us build a house where hands will reach
beyond the wood and stone
to heal and strengthen, serve and teach,
and live the Word they've known.
Here the outcast and the stranger
bear the image of God's face;
let us bring an end to fear and danger:

Let us build a house where all are named,
their songs and visions heard
and loved and treasured,
taught and claimed as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter,
prayers of faith and songs of grace,
let this house proclaim from floor to rafter:

Marty Haugen (b.1950)

Prayer of Approach, Praise and Confession & Lord’s Prayer
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, and the
power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Reflection
Training for the Race
Hillary Leslie

Reading Acts 17:16-34
Read by Craig Kennedy

Paul in Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for [Silas and Timothy] in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.
18 Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.” (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) 19 So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.

22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23 For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26 From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28 For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’

29 Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30 While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

32 When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 At that point Paul left them. 34 But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Anthem:   From the Rising of the Sun
Words: Malachi 1: v11
Music: Frederick Gore-Ouseley (1825 to 1889)

From the rising of the sun unto the going
down of the same my Name shall be great
among the Gentiles; and in every place
incense shall be offered up unto my name:
for my name shall be great among the heathen,
thus saith the Lord!

Reading 2 Timothy 4: 1 - 7
Read by Craig Kennedy

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: 2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. 5 As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

6 As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Hymn 517    Fight the Good Fight
(t. Duke Street)

Fight the good fight with all your might!
Christ is your strength, and Christ your right;
Lay hold on life, and it shall be Your joy and crown eternally.

Run the straight race, through God’s good grace,
Lift up your eyes, and seek His face;
Life with its path before us lies,
Christ is the way, and Christ the prize.

Cast care aside, lean on your Guide;
His boundless mercy will provide;
Trust, and your trusting soul shall prove Christ is its life,
and Christ its love.

Faint not nor fear, His arm is near,
He does not change, and you are dear;
Only believe, and Christ shall be Your all in all eternally.

Sermon – Paul in Athens
Seeing Faith Through Another’s Eyes
Revd Dr Sandy Forsyth

Prayer for Others

Hymn 419 Thine Be the Glory
(t. Maccabaeus)

Thine is the glory, risen, conquering Son;
Endless is the victory Thou o’er death hast won;
angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
kept the folded grave-clothes, where Thy body lay.

Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son;
endless is the victory Thou o’er death hast won.

Lo, Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb.
Lovingly He greets us, scatters fear and gloom;
let His church with gladness hymns of triumph sing,
for her Lord now liveth; death hath lost its sting.

No more we doubt Thee, glorious Prince of life,
Life is nought without Thee; aid us in our strife;
make us more than conquerors,
through Thy deathless love;
bring us safe through Jordan to Thy home above.

Closing Responses
From Words of Nigel Robb

Leader: Let us go out in the world,
to reflect God's love with others,
be the love God is,
and let the light shine.

All: We will go, we will reflect God's love,
letting its light shine wherever we are.

Benediction
Three-fold Choral Amen

Organ Voluntary

***

THIS MORNING’S ANTHEM Sir Frederick Gore Ouseley the second baronet, his father having been a distinguished diplomat, showed an extraordinary precocity for music at an early age, writing an opera when he was eight. Rather than concentrate on a musical life he entered the Church being ordained in 1849. Having served as a priest for some time he became professor of music at Oxford from 1855 until his death. He is renowned as the founder, and funder from his own resources, of a Choir School in Tenbury Wells to serve as a model for Anglican Church music. The anthem in a typical early Victorian style is solid, vigorous and foursquare

NEWS AND INTIMATIONS

SEE: PRISONERS WEEK SCOTLAND      www.prisonersweek.org.uk

Also: The Sycamore Course at HMP Low Moss      www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nxRFZmj3mM

YOUTH NEWS   Sunday 15 August 7.00pm - Before Youth Group is back up-and-running in person, we will be having a game night on Zoom to catch up before everyone is back at school! All ages (P6 - S6) are welcome to join. For Zoom log-in, please contact Hillary.

PLEASE NOTE   Kay McIntosh is on holiday this week until Saturday 13 August. For any urgent pastoral matters in her absence, please contact the minister on 0131 667 1286 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

FORTHCOMING SERVICES   Continuing throughout August, there will be one Sunday service at 10.15am. Next week we welcome an old friend of the congregation, Very Rev. Dr Andrew McLellan, to lead worship.

MIDWEEK PRAYERS   You’d be very welcome for prayers and a time for peace and reflection in the church, this Tuesday at 10.00am, led this week by Sandy Forsyth.

CONGREGATIONAL PILGRIMAGE – 11 SEPTEMBER  You are warmly invited to be take part in a one-day congregational pilgrimage on Saturday 11 September, walking from North Queensferry to Dunfermline Abbey, the first leg of the Fife Pilgrim Way to St Andrews. The full distance is 8.5 miles, but a smaller section is possible of 2 miles from North Queensferry to Inverkeithing with a train then to Dunfermline, as is simply joining at the Abbey for worship, food and fellowship. All ages and stages are welcome, as would be friends from outwith Mayfield Salisbury. Full details to follow in early August. If you would like to register now to be a part of the day, please mail David Booth of the Fellowship Committee, indicating too whether you would anticipate walking the full distance, or the shorter two-mile stretch, or joining at the Abbey without walking – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

PASTORAL CARE & PRAYER CHAIN Would you now like to be allocated a visitor or someone to phone you regularly? Are you going into hospital or know of someone who is ill? Do you have anything you would like to be prayed for, or included in the Prayer Chain? Contact Kay: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / 07903 266307.

SUPPORT MAYFIELD SALISBURY CHURCH  Regular and one-off donations, now possible through:  www.give.net/20311853 

WOULD YOU LIKE TO WELCOME STUDENTS NEW TO EDINBURGH? If you would like to (1) be involved in a welcome event at Mayfield Salisbury for new postgraduate students from abroad at the School of Divinity at New College, provisionally on Thursday 16^th September, and/or (2) potentially become a ‘welcome host’, please contact Alastair MacGilchrist (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 07931 730 805 or in person), preferably by Monday 19^th July. This is simply a ‘note of interest’ rather than a definite commitment at this stage.

CHRISTIAN AID  We recently received from Christian Aid the shocking news that over 30 million people in 20 countries are teetering on the brink of famine.  This is a global hunger emergency. The Covid-19 pandemic, violent conflict and the climate crisis have all increased global hunger. People in countries including South Sudan, Afghanistan and Burkina Faso are facing the very real threat of starvation.  If we act now, we can save lives.  Donations can be made via the Christian Aid website at www.christianaid.org.uk or by phone on 020 7523 2269.

Books for the Journey

Steve Aisthorpe, Re-Wilding the Church (2020)

Richard Frazer, Travels With a Stick: A Pilgrim's Journey to Santiago de Compostela (2019)

Walter Brueggemann, Virus as a Summons to Faith (2020)

Forthcoming Deadlines

Order of service for next week: Thursday at 6.00pm.

Next Grapevine:  Friday 27 August at 6.00pm.

Please send submissions to the Church Manager, William Mearns.

Phone: 0780 801 1234 or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Copyright Notices

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church holds a CCLI Streaming License: #88916

Some images from Pixabay / MotionWorship under licence.

Ecotip: End Food Waste

Social Media

www.facebook.com/MayfieldSalisbury

www.youtube.com/user/MayfieldSalisbChurch

www.flickr.com/photos/98063709@N06/

Youth Instagram: the.msyg

 www.mayfieldsalisbury.org

Scottish Charity Number SC000785