Welcome to the online service of worship for The Twentieth Sunday After Trinity 2020   

The YouTube playlist may be found here   Or view below.....

 

  

MAYFIELD SALISBURY PARISH CHURCH

EDINBURGH

Sunday Services of Public Worship: 10.00am
Worship Online from 8.00am Every Sunday

Sunday 25 October 2020

 

Twentieth after Trinity

 

From And Is It Not Enough?

And Is it not enough that every year
A richly laden autumn should unfold
And shimmer into being leaf by leaf,
Its scattered ochres mirrored everywhere
In hints and glints of hidden red and gold
Threaded like memory through loss and grief,

When dusk descends, when branches are unveiled,
When roots reach deeper than our minds can feel
And ready us for winter with strange calm,
That I should see the inner tree revealed
And know its beauty as the bright leaves fall
And feel its truth within me as I am?

                                      Malcolm Guite

 

         

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

 

 Welcome  The Revd Helen Alexander 

Good morning to the members and friends of the congregation of Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church and welcome to all who are joining in this worship online for the 20^th Sunday after Trinity.  The Psalm for this Sunday in the Christian Year is Psalm 1 in which the writer likens the inner world of faithful people to a fruitful tree. The Anglican priest Malcolm Guite takes up this image in the autumnal poem that is reproduced on the front of today’s Order of Service:

'And is it not enough…
When dusk descends, when branches are unveiled,
When roots reach deeper than our minds can feel
And ready us for winter with strange calm,
That I should see the inner tree revealed
And know its beauty as the bright leaves fall
And feel its truth within me as I am?'

I invite you to join me now in a short period of silence in preparation for worship.

 

Scripture Sentences

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy….for you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer.

 

Let us pray

Give ear to our prayer, almighty Father, for each of us is needful in some way: perhaps of comfort, hope, the touch of kindness, words of assurance of mercy and grace.

In the quiet of your presence help us to declare our need in silence now…….

As a loving parent is attentive to the worries of a beloved child and offers words of quiet reassurance, help us to know the comfort of your Holy Spirit and the peace of your eternal love.  

In this hour of worship and by your grace, enable us to see ourselves more clearly, to open ourselves to you more truly, and to claim the blessing offered to all that there nothing in all creation that can separate us from your love in Christ Jesus.

Like trees rooted strongly in the earth even when they are battered by wind and rain, help us to remain grounded in that love, that when our lives seem dark and unproductive, we may know the quickening of that light and fire within us that speaks to us of life eternal; though Jesus Christ our Lord.

Help us to be brave, open minded and hospitable of spirit, inspired by the generosity and hospitality of heaven; for your love’s sake. 

 

The Collect 

O God our redeemer, who heard the cry of your people and sent your servant Moses to lead them out of slavery, free us from the tyranny of sin and death, and by the guidance of your Holy Spirit, bring us to our promised land; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

 

Children’s Address  Revd Helen Alexander

Hello to the children and young people this morning!  I’m Helen, the minister at Mayfield Salisbury just now. It’s good to be talking to you again.

Some churches call today Bible Sunday, and so I thought we might think about the Bible together too.  The Bible is special to us in the church as it tells us the story of the Jewish people long ago and about Jesus.

I wonder how many of you have a Bible of your own? Maybe you’ve one that’s written specially for children, like this one that our organist Kate’s little boy Alexander has lent me that’s got lots of pictures in it.  Thank you Alexander!

Here’s one of my Bibles with a cover made of olive wood from the Holy Land where Jesus lived. Mine hasn’t got as good pictures as Alexander’s though.

Did you know that though the Bible looks like a single book, it’s actually made up of many books bound together in the same cover?    I wonder if you know how many books are in the Bible? Guess! How many said 6……16….36….......56? You’ve to go higher still: there are 66 books in the Bible, though some of them are quite short. When I was young I had to learn them off by heart: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges. They’re the first 7. The books that tell us most about Jesus are a bit easier to remember: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

We’ve got lots of Bibles in Mayfield Salisbury. You can see some in the library there and we usually have them on the pews in church so people can read them when they come.

Do you know that our Bible wasn’t written in English first? The first part, our Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the ancient language of the Jews. I hope you can see some of the strange lettering in the picture.  It’s rather beautiful, don’t you think?  We write in our books from left to right, but the Hebrew Bible is written from right to left. Though this may have started when a long time ago when they chiselled letters on stone, the Jews continued this way when they used ink and parchment.  Being left-handed, I think it’s a great way to write. Do you know why? Think about it! 

The second part of the Bible is called the New Testament and it tells us lots about Jesus.

It was first written in Greek which looks a bit more familiar to us compared to Hebrew, but is still a bit different from English. Some of the letters are like ours, but others look a bit odd and have little squiggles above them.

Happily for us, our Bible was translated into English many years ago, and that’s the same for just about every language in the world.

There are lots of different English versions too, some very old. Back in the Middle Ages, long before printing presses and certainly before computers monks wrote copies of the Bible by hand in monasteries. They decorated these with the most wonderful coloured letters and pictures.

Which brings me back to the children’s Bibles we can get these days.

Here’s another Bible for older children with more writing than the one I showed you at the beginning, but still with lots of pictures. Here’s one of Jesus and his friends. I like it that he’s got some young folk around him as well as older people. Jesus came for all of us.

That’s a little bit about the Bible for today.

Now we’ll say a prayer:

Thank you God for the Bible,
and for its stories that tell about your love.
Thank you for everyone we love,
And bless them all.
Bless everyone who is sad and lonely
and help them to feel happier soon; for Jesus’ sake.  Amen

We’re going to have a song now about Jesus and his friends. Bye for now.

 

HYMN 340     When Jesus saw the fishermen    Seven Joys of Mary

When Jesus saw the fishermen
in boats upon the sea,
he called to them, 'Come, leave your nets
and follow, follow me'.
They followed where he healed the sick
and gave the hungry bread,
and others joined them as they went
wherever Jesus led.

And now his friends are everywhere;
the circle once so small
extends around the whole wide world,
for Jesus calls us all.
In this great circle we belong,
wherever we may be,
if we will answer when he calls,
'Come, follow, follow me'.

Edith Agnew (b.1897)
Played by Kate Pearson
Sung by the Chamber Group

 

 

WE LISTEN FOR THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN SCRIPTURE

 

  

Reading   1 Thessalonians 2: 1 – 8    NRSVA    Burry Baxter

  

Reading  St Matthew 22: 34 – 46    NRSVA    Kay McIntosh DCS

 

Reflection   Revd Helen Alexander

The little conundrum with which today’s Gospel ends is hardly going to get 21^st Century Christian people jumping out of bed with anticipation every morning.  It’s typical of the kind of teasing-out of texts beloved by Jewish scholars. I remember visiting a synagogue in Jerusalem a few years ago where young men were noisily and enthusiastically debating Scriptural points with one another: not a scene habitually experienced after most contemporary church services!

Jesus’ question to the Pharisees was how it could be that King David, who was thought to have written the Psalms, could have referred in Psalm 110 to the Messiah (another name for whom was the ‘Son of David’) as ‘my Lord’? In the ancient Near East the descendent would not hold greater authority than his ancestor, especially one as illustrious as the great king.  Matthew, Mark and Luke all record this debate and it seems clear this was important in the early church. It was possibly used to proclaim Christian belief that Jesus was indeed ‘great David’s greater son’ in the face of Jewish antagonism, and additionally perhaps, as an explanation for the delay between the exultation of Jesus and the end of the world since, as seen in the context of the Psalm, Christ was at God’s right hand until his enemies were subdued.

This kind of argumentation leaves most of us pretty cold, in the same way as the medieval discussion on how many angels could dance on the head of a pin has ceased to be the focus of contemporary theological discussion.

We may be on more familiar ground with the earlier section of today’s Gospel: one of the best known and most quoted in the New Testament:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

St Augustine in his Confessions famously asked: ‘What do I love when I love my God?’

Like most of us, perhaps, he didn’t find his question that easy to answer – but at least he asked it and didn’t assume the answer was self-evident. We might be grateful to anyone who challenges assumptions in this way.  

In considering the question ‘What do I love when I love my God?’ Augustine preferred first to say what loving his God WAS NOT:

“Not material beauty or beauty of a temporal order, not the brilliance of earthly light, not the sweet melody of harmony and song; not the fragrance of flowers, perfumes and spices; not manna or honey; not limbs such as the body delights to embrace. It is not these that I love when I love my God.”

In other words, no finite love we may find in this life is to be equated with our love of God – which is not to say that the things of this world can’t speak of God. Augustine himself wrote somewhere of the world’s being like a beautiful poem made by God.

But when it came to being specific about what our loving God might mean, the great Christian saint wisely sought to use the things of this world not literally, but metaphorically like many a good poem does:

“And yet, when I love Him, it is true that I love a light of a certain kind, a voice, a perfume, a food, an embrace; but they are of a kind that I love in my inner self, when my soul is bathed in light that is not bound by space; when it listens to sound that never dies away; when it breathes fragrance that is not borne away on the wind; when it tastes food that is never consumed by the eating; when it clings to an embrace from which it is not severed by fulfilment of desire. This is what I love when I love my God.”

This may seem to us so poetically metaphorical that it hardly helps. Yet we are inevitably in the world of analogy and metaphor when we embark on any sort of God-talk.

What Augustine seems to be suggesting is that anything that we might call our ‘love of God’ comes from what the saint calls our ‘inner self’: that is an inner awareness that reality itself is giving us insight into what reality is, and doing so as blessing and gift, free from dependency on heightened emotion or on anything we might manufacture simply because we would like it that way. As St Paul wrote, it is “God …who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.” (1)

This insight isn’t necessarily constant, like a thermostatically controlled central heating boiler keeps the temperature of our homes constant. We are finite beings and subject to the vagaries and inconsistencies of our human nature. Our inner awareness of God may come and go, even though the light of God shines on. Perhaps that’s why a candle works well as a potent symbol of our love of God and God’s of us:  the flickering candle flame blown about by draughts yet rising upwards, so like our fragile inklings of faith; and the solid and enduring base of the candle that supports the wick, reminding us of the enduring nature of divine love that is the ground and basis of our being. We love, as the Scriptures tell us, because God first loved us.  (2)

And so to part two of what the Revised Standard Version of the Bible entitles ‘The Greatest Commandment’: you shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

Christ’s insight and that of his Jewish forebears was that love of God and love of neighbour are inextricable. In other words, that the more a sense of eternally loving grace imprints itself on our inner awareness like a seal on wax, the more we are prompted to realise, that is make real something of that loving attention to our neighbour in the world, without discrimination or demanding something in return.

Of course, we are can close ourselves to that prompting, and anyway are inconsistent in intention as well as in deed. The candle flame of our love continues to flicker. Yet if the light of God does indeed have the capacity to shine in our hearts, then equally it shines in others’ hearts too, free from of any discrimination we might make for good or ill, and drawing us closer to others in acknowledgement of our mutual need of grace. And if God’s light is Christ-like, as we believe, then paradoxically it may shine all the more truly from those who are weak, despised and most in need. As St Matthew’s Jesus said: “Just as you did it to one of the least of these….. you have done it to me.” (3)

• 2 Corinthians 4. 6
• 1 John 4: 19
• St Matthew 25. 40

 

RESPONSE TO THE SPIRIT OF GOD WITHIN

 

 

Cantate Domino canticum novum; 
laus ejus in ecclesia sanctorum.
Laetetur Israël in eo qui fecit eum,
et filii Sion exsultent in rege suo.

[O sing unto the Lord a new song:
let the congregation of saints praise him. 
Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: a
nd let the children of Sion be joyful in their King.]

From Psalm 149       
Music: Guipeppi Pitoni (1657 to 1743)
Sung by the Mayfield Salisbury Chamber Group

 

Thanksgiving and Intercession   Revd Helen Alexander

That we may see the light of Christ in the eyes of our neighbour, we make our prayer; that we honour that light in those we meet in the street, or across a counter or happen to live beside; that we honour that light in the eyes of people thousands of miles away looking into a camera and wordlessly reminding us that they too belong to a child of God. 

That we may not be so caught up in our own concerns that we ignore the need of the world, we make our prayer; that we may realise even in this land that we cannot be 'an island entire itself'and that the diminishment of any of God’s creation diminishes us too.

That we remember the poor, the outcast, the apparently God-forsaken, in this country and beyond; that justice and the pursuit of liberty and equality may prevail, we make our prayer.  

For the encouragement of hopeful helpful dialogue; for the healing of wounds and the righting of wrongs; for the transformation of deep wells of bitterness into springs of life-giving hope and transformation; and for the opening up of channels of reconciliation, we make our prayer.

For the gift of learning; for the glory of music and art; for all that stretches the human mind and ennobles the imagination; and for the encouragement of these graces, we make our prayer.

For the gift of science and skill we make our prayer, offering our thanksgiving for all who work night and day across the world to help and heal in the pandemic that is dominating our lives.  For all who are beset by fear and helplessness; for the sick and dying; for all who are tragically bereaved by the scourge of disease and the scourge of war: for all such, and for ourselves who aren’t exempt from suffering and grief; for us and all we make our prayer.

For people we love, we make our prayer; for those we would love a little better; for those whose burdens we gladly share as well as those whose need presses upon us; for those who have willingly helped us in dark and difficult times. For those who give us pain, as for those who may have wronged us; for those we remember now with gratitude and pleasure; for those we haven’t thought about for some time and whom we remember now: for all such we make our prayer. 

And in thanksgiving we remember those who have gone before us; those countless souls of generations past; those whose memory we treasure; those whose influence in days gone by has made us the people we are today; those whom we remember now in silence…for all those we make our prayer of gratitude and thanksgiving ; through Jesus Christ our Lord.     

The 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.

 

 HYMN 519  Love divine, all loves excelling   Hyfrydol

Love divine, all loves excelling,
joy of heaven, to earth come down,
fix in us thy humble dwelling,
all thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
pure, unbounded love thou art;
visit us with thy salvation,
enter every trembling heart.

Come, almighty to deliver;
let us all thy life receive;
suddenly return, and never,
never more thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
serve thee as thy hosts above,
pray, and praise thee, without ceasing,
glory in thy perfect love.

Finish then thy new creation:
pure and spotless let us be;
let us see thy great salvation
perfectly restored in thee,
changed from glory into glory,
till in heaven we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before thee,
lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Charles Wesley (1707-1788)
Sung by the Mayfield Salisbury Chamber Group

  

BENEDICTION   Revd Helen Alexander

Deep peace of the running wave to you
Deep peace of the flowing air to you
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you
Deep peace of the Son of peace to you
And the blessing of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with you all.

 

AMEN  Children

   

INTIMATIONS

 

CHANGE TO SERVICE TIMES As a date for the diaries of those who wish to attend worship in the sanctuary,  Session has recently approved a change in the time of worship to 10:15am. This will take effect from Sunday 1 November.  It is something which we will keep under review, but it’s hoped that as we approach the season of shortening daylight hours the extra time will be of benefit. 

 

GIFT SERVICES 2020    During ALL of NOVEMBER, you may bring your donation to the Sunday morning service when a decorated box will be available in the West Vestibule (ie as you enter by the one-way system). In addition, a member of the team will be available on Wednesday mornings throughout November in the Newington Room between 10am - 11am to receive your contribution. 

Two of the recipients of our gifts are Simpson House and Gilmerton’s Early Years’ Centre. 

Simpson House needs art materials such as felt tips, playdoh, paper, plasticine, pencils, sharpeners and rubbers, for its work in the Sunflower Garden and toys for children up to and including 15. Items like lego, toy cars, playmobile, dolls, craft sets (Eg: starting to knit), sports accessories and footballs are welcome. 

Gilmerton Early Years’ Centre sees under-fives. Duplo, play doh, shape sorters, bath toys, floor jigsaws, colouring books with pencils and push-along toys are some suggestions. 

I’m happy to talk to anyone who is still stuck for an idea.    Many thanks,  Anne Graham 667 6331 

 

THANK YOU FOR OUR PRESENCE AT THE SERVICES. Today the online children’s talk and the Scriptural readings at both services are given by members of the Christian Aid Committee. The church will be open at 9.45 on Sunday mornings for those who have booked to come to the service.

Please note that there may be member(s) of the congregation who are exempt on health grounds from wearing a mask. If this applies to you, it would be helpful if you wear a lanyard or badge. If you would like to bring a cushion to place in your pew, please feel free to do so but do take it home with you. There will be a receptacle at the door as you leave the building for those who wish to make an offering.

At the close of the service, please remain in your place until stewards invite you to leave, and maintain social distancing as you leave the church premises. If you wish to speak to Helen Alexander or Kay McIntosh, you are asked to indicate this as you pass them. They will join you on the pavement once everyone else has left.

Booking system

Phone: On Wednesdays, from 11.00am to 1.00pm, you may reserve a space by phoning the Church Office (0131 667 1522).

Internet: We would encourage anyone with internet access to use the Eventbrite booking system, which will be open from 4pm on Wednesdays. The system can be accessed from our website via this link: www.mayfieldsalisbury.org/attend

 

STAFF HOLIDAYS   William Mearns, Church Manager, will be on annual leave 15 to 30 October inclusive. Hillary Leslie, Youth Worker, will be on annual leave 18 to 31 October inclusive.

 

ART SALE IN SUPPORT OF CHRISTIAN AID There will be a sale of pictures at St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church, George Street, on 22 to 24 October. Open from 10am to 5pm on Thursday and Friday; 10am to 3pm on Saturday. Systems will be in place to ensure a safe and welcoming environment, making it easy and pleasant to browse and buy. All proceeds will go to Christian Aid.

 

CHRISTIAN AID AUTUMN APPEAL

Today, as part of our Harvest/Creation Covenant Sunday, we will be thinking about the work of Christian Aid and its Autumn Appeal.

In Nicaragua, the farming community of Santa Rosa has grown coffee for generations. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in Latin America, and many grow coffee as their main source of income. Now, their future looks more and more uncertain. Angela Zelaya is a farmer in Santa Rosa. She explains: ‘With climate change, the coffee suffers and we’re losing more every year.’ At the same time, coffee prices have fallen globally. Angela is worried. ‘It will be a total disaster for us because as farmers, growing crops is how we survive.’ But there is hope. Facing this crisis has brought the community together to work as a local cooperative to share resources and knowledge. The cooperative is supported by Christian Aid’s local partner, Soppexcca. One of the main ways they are helping farmers protect their livelihoods is by shifting from coffee production to climate-resistant cocoa, helping people like Angela to secure a better future. Angela says: ‘With the cocoa project, we received loans and cocoa plants. The technicians visited us and told us what to do. We also received tree saplings to help shade our crops. The income from the cocoa crop means we can buy clothes, medicines and food.’

When ordinary neighbourhoods come together, they can create lasting change. Around the world, many of our global neighbours living in poverty continue to face crisis in its various forms. Love knows no distance. This autumn, Christian Aid is asking supporters to reach out to our global neighbours and help more communities overcome crisis. We are encouraged to:

• Give to help communities around the world come together to overcome the crisis of poverty. 

• Act by calling for the cancellation of debt repayments for low-income countries during the coronavirus crisis.

• Pray for our global neighbours facing crisis in all its forms.

To find out how you can be involved, or to make a donation to the Autumn Appeal, please visit the website at www.christianaid.org.uk. Donations can also be made by telephone on 020 7523 2269.

The Chrisitian Aid Committee would like to thank members of the Mayfield Salisbury congregation for their consistent support and generosity.

ONLINE OFFERING / DONATION The Church is very grateful to all those who give by standing order enabling us to maintain a large portion of our income through these difficult times. We now offer the ability to contribute to our work electronically through the ‘give.net’ facility which appears on the home page of the Church’s website. This provides the possibility of adding Gift Aid to donations. There is also a direct link to the new system which is: www.give.net/20311853                  With best wishes, Hugh Somerville, Free Will Offerings Treasurer

 

E-MAIL INFORMATION LISTS

Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church maintains several email lists to help distribute information throughout the congregation. Stay up-to-date on news, programs, and events at Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church with our email listsThe lists are as follows:

0930 Service list  Information pertaining to the Sunday 0930am All-Age Worship and related events.

Youth Newsletter Hillary Leslie, our Youth Worker, sends out a Youth Newsletter to parents of P6 - S6 youth. This keeps the parents and their kids in the loop about important youthrelated events and activities

Congregational list
General information relevant to the entire congregation. This includes general news, notices of lectures & special events and, importantly, details on the forthcoming ministerial vacancy.

Grapevine list The parish magazine, Grapevine, which is sent out seven times per year in PDF format.

If you sre interested in receiving any of these emails, please email me direct at the address supplied. If, after reflection, you change your mind I can remove your address from the list quickly - just let me know. Your information is secure and will not be shared with any third party. All emails are sent out privately to you only in a bcc’d (address not visible to others) email.  William Mearns Church Manager 0780 801 1234  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Forthcoming Deadlines

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

Next Grapevine: Friday 30 October 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.

 

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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

 

Images – Some courtesy of Pixabay

 

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Youth Instagram: the.msyg

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Scottish Charity Number SC000785