Sunday Service 27 September 2026

Come and find the quiet centre
in the crowded life we lead,
find the room for hope to enter,
find the frame where we are freed:
clear the chaos and the clutter,
clear our eyes, that we can see
all the things that really matter,
be at peace, and simply be.
 
2 Silence is a friend who claims us,
cools the heat and slows the pace,
God it is who speaks and names us,
knows our being, touches base,
making space within our thinking,
lifting shades to show the sun,
raising courage when we’re shrinking,
finding scope for faith begun.

3 In the Spirit let us travel,
open to each other’s pain,
let our loves and fears unravel,
celebrate the space we gain:
there’s a place for deepest dreaming,
there’s a time for heart to care,
in the Spirit’s lively scheming
there is always room to spare!
 
Opening Prayer
 
God of wonder,
we praise and thank you for the wonderful world we live in,
for sun and moon, stars and seasons,
for earth, water, wind and fire,
for the living creatures including ourselves.
 
God of love,
we praise and thank you for friends and family,
for fellowship and community,
for new love and faithful commitment.
 
God of praise,
we praise and thank you for your love,
Your calling, your forgiveness, your blessing on our lives.
We praise you for all that you are, and all that you call us to be.
 
God of wonder, love and praise, we come to you in worship.
 
Confession and Assurance of Pardon
 
Loving God, we come to you in trust and hope.
We know that we have much to learn,
that our understanding is incomplete
and that we never see the whole picture.
We confess the times when we have fallen short 
of even our own standards,
when we have caused hurt or harm,
when we have failed to act in ways that could help.
 
silence
 
In your loving kindness, forgive the sins and errors of our past,
help us to learn from our mistakes and to keep growing in faith and love.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
 
Jesus said: Your sins are forgiven.
Give us the grace to accept your forgiveness
And to live again to your praise and glory. Amen
 
The Lord’s Prayer
 
Hymn       I have decided to follow Jesus  
attributed to Simon Marak, Public Domain; Mass Choir at St Andrew’s Kirk, Chennai 
used with their kind permission.
 

I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
no turning back; no turning back.
 
2 If no one joins me, still I will follow;
if no one joins me, still I will follow;
if no one joins me, still I will follow;
no turning back; no turning back.

3 The world behind me, the cross before me;
the world behind me, the cross before me;
the world behind me, the cross before me;
no turning back, no turning back.
 
Prayer for Illumination
 
God of Word and Wisdom,
guide our hearts and thoughts as we hear the words of Scripture,
that through them we may hear your living Word. Amen.
 
Reading            Exodus 17:1-7
 
From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarrelled with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’ But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’ So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’ Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarrelled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’
 
Reading   St Matthew 21:23-32
 
When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’  Jesus said to them, ‘I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ And they argued with one another, ‘If we say, “From heaven”, he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?” But if we say, “Of human origin”, we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.’ So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And he said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ‘What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” He answered, “I will not”; but later he changed his mind and went.  The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, “I go, sir”; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax-collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.
 
Sermon
 
We live in a world today with many different voices demanding our attention, online and otherwise. People claim to know ‘the truth’, often at odds with scientific consensus. Others offer easy solutions to complex problems, or seek to blame certain groups for all the ills of society. A particular concern for Christian churches these days is the rise of Christian Nationalism, where people equate faith in Christ with a particular expression of national pride or identity. In the midst of all this cacophony, how do we know who to listen to? When someone claims to speak in the name of God, how can we know if what they say is true? And if we disagree with someone, how can we challenge what they say?
 
I don’t have answers to these questions. But I think there are some pointers in our bible readings today that might help us in our thinking. In particular, we have four examples of leadership in the name of God: we have Moses, the chief priests and elders at the time of Jesus, John the Baptist (who is not present in the story but is mentioned) and Jesus himself. I’m going to look at each of the four in turn, then see what we can draw from them together.
 
The Exodus reading, of people complaining to Moses that they have no water, comes straight after them complaining that they have no food and God giving them manna. In their circumstances – having been led into a desert – their complaint is understandable. Without food or water, they will die. But their grumbling against Moses goes back much further than this. The fact is, the people have never really liked him, never really trusted him. 
 
Moses was born a Hebrew as they were, but was brought up by Pharaoh’s daughter. While they were being worked to exhaustion by the Egyptian slavedrivers, he was living the life of a pampered prince. It doesn’t endear you to people. His attempts at intervention to help the Hebrews went badly wrong and he was met with resentment and suspicion. So when, much later, God called Moses from the burning bush and told him to go back to Egypt to set the people free, and Moses says, ‘but the people will not listen to me’, this is not Moses being falsely modest – this is an accurate assessment of his standing amongst them.
 
Moses needs some authority from God before he will attempt the task. God gives it in two ways: firstly, by name – ‘You shall say that “I AM” has sent you – and then by miraculous acts. These two convince Moses to go, and convince the leaders of the Hebrew people that Moses and Aaron are genuinely from God.
 
But the Hebrew people themselves were not present at that meeting with the leaders. The first they know of Moses’ return is when Pharaoh responds to his demands by doubling down on the harshness, making the Hebrews’ workload even harder. Well, thanks a bunch, Moses; that’s just the kind of help we don’t need. The surprise, to me, is not that they grumble in the desert, but that they followed him out of Egypt at all. They went, I suggest, because by then they had seen Moses effecting the plagues, and knew that, despite what they thought about him personally, that God was with him. 
 
We move on to our reading from Matthew, and our second group of leaders, the chief priests and elders. At this point in the gospel, we are in Jerusalem, at the time of the Passover. Jesus has staged his provocative entry into the city on Palm Sunday, and then caused outrage by driving the traders out of the Temple. The chief priests and elders can’t just let these things go. These are people who have been trained for their vocation, have been assessed and approved and given the authority of the religious establishment to carry out their duties – duties which include upholding the faith and keeping proper order. It is entirely right, and a necessary part of their job, for them to ask Jesus what on earth he thinks he’s doing and on whose orders.
 
The problem with them is not that they challenge Jesus. Their problem is that they have not fully embraced the responsibility of the authority that they have been given. They are fine when they are working within familiar patterns, but they have not understood how to respond when something new happens. Jesus asks them about their response to John the Baptist, and we see that they never reached any conclusion about him. They knew that lots of people were going out to listen to John, and that lots were being baptised, and that for many this was a life-changing experience, but they did not themselves engage with his teaching. And because John was baptising outside the city, and away from their patch, it was easy for them just to turn a blind eye – the ‘ignore him and hope he goes away’ approach. And indeed, thanks to the insecurity of King Herod, John very soon did go away, to prison and then to death. 
 
The third leader to look at is John the Baptist himself. John knew from childhood that he was destined to be the one who prepared the way for the Messiah. When, as an adult, he heard God’s call afresh, he was ready. He went off into the desert and began to preach. He had no certificates, no official status, no recognised authorisation from anyone else. He did, though have the authority of scripture. By dressing like the prophet Elijah, by acting out the prophecies of Isaiah, as the voice calling in the wilderness, he made a connection in the minds of his hearers – this is something rooted in the faith you know – giving them the confidence to listen and be open to his message. 
 
The fourth leader, of course, is Jesus. Like John the Baptist, Jesus knew of his own calling from childhood; like John he had no external authorisation. But Jesus had the advantage of John’s preaching before him, preparing the way for him to start his ministry. Throughout the gospels, including in today’s reading, Jesus talks about John the Baptist and identifies himself as part of the same team. And if John is the one preparing the way, then it’s not hard for people to work out that Jesus is the one who is being prepared for. 
 
Four examples, then of ways of exercising leadership of God’s people. What might we draw from these four, that can help us discern who speaks with authority today? There are many answers to that, but I’m going to suggest three.
 
First: it’s not about popularity and powerful words. These are not a good test of authority. John the Baptist and Jesus drew crowds from far and wide to hear their inspirational preaching; but Moses was not liked, and he was such a poor speaker that he had to get his brother Aaron to do the words on his behalf. 
 
Second: Training and accreditation are good things, and we take them seriously in the URC with our ministers and lay preachers and worship leaders. But training and accreditation can never be an end in themselves. Training should be a starting point for a lifelong engagement with learning, with what is happening in the world, and with new ways in which God might be speaking. And sometimes those with no formal training can see things with great clarity.
 
Third: Leadership is both about protecting people and helping them move on.  We can tell a lot about a leader from the direction they are trying to move in. Moses led the people out of slavery and into the whole new challenge of forming themselves into a community under the guidance of God. John the Baptist led people from seeing themselves as descendants and heirs of that community, and into a deeper relationship and more personal commitment to God. Jesus led them further still, from water to Spirit, from commitment to communion, and this time to a community under God that included people from all nations, all backgrounds and all walks of life. 
 
When we come across somebody who claims to be speaking on behalf of God or on behalf of Christians, we can ask ourselves: is this person following the direction of travel that we see in Jesus? Are they helping people move towards deeper fellowship and greater inclusiveness? Are they bringing people together – are they bringing people closer to God – or are they sowing division? 
 
Those of us who are in positions of leadership, ordained or otherwise, might quietly ask ourselves the same questions. Not to beat ourselves up – because none of us is perfect – but simply to inform and guide our ministry. 
 
And all of us might remember one really important thing from all the leaders we have considered today. Which is that none of them completed the task that they began. Moses got the people together but the working out of their community and their purpose was a project that carried on through generations. Jesus called 12 disciples and left them to hand on what they had received from him, and we are still doing that and still working out what it all means, and we always will be because life doesn’t stand still. So let us be discerning, but let us also be gracious to one another as we work this out together; let us trust in Jesus, and let us keep listening to God. And let’s see where God is leading us next.  Amen.
 
Hymn       Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah  
Arglwydd arwain drwy’r anialwch William Williams (1717-1791), tr Peter Williams (1727-1796) and William Williams (1717-1791) or John Williams (1754-1828) Public Domain BBC Songs of Praise 
 

Guide me, O Thou great Redeemer,
pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but Thou art mighty,
hold me with Thy powerful hand:
bread of heaven,
feed me till I want no more.
 
2 Open now the crystal fountain
whence the healing stream doth flow;
let the fiery and cloudy pillar
lead me all my journey through:
strong deliverer,
be Thou still my strength and shield.

3 When I tread the verge of Jordan bid my anxious fears subside;
death of death, and hell’s destruction, land me safe on Canaan’s side:
songs of praises I will ever give to Thee.
 
Offertory Prayer
 
Generous God, You give us so many good things.
We bring our gifts to you as a way of saying thank you.
Accept and bless all that we bring, and all that we are,
and use us and our gifts to serve you.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
 
Prayers of Concern
 
Loving God, we pray for the world.
We hold in prayer all those in positions of leadership,
and those who influence others online or in print,
we pray especially for those who use their voice to stir up hatred,
or cause division between peoples;
we ask for judgement and wisdom for those who might listen.
 
We pray for the Church.
Guide and strengthen all who exercise leadership in our churches,
especially when difficulties arise.
Encourage congregations that are struggling;
inspire those who are starting new ventures.
Bless our partners in other denominations, faiths and organisations
that we might bear fruit together.
 
We pray for people who find the world a hostile place:
those caught up in armed conflict,
those struggling to find food or shelter,
those facing discrimination and prejudice.
We pray for peace, for compassion,
and for the courage to speak out against injustice.
 
We pray for people we know who are in need of prayer today.
We take a moment of silence to name them in our hearts.
 
Finally, we pray for ourselves, 
that we may live with integrity and serve with love,
Aaways open to your voice.
 
We offer these prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
 
Hymn       At the Name of Jesus
Caroline Maria Noel (1817-1877)  Public Domain, BBC Songs of Praise
 

At the name of Jesus
every knee shall bow,
every tongue confess him
King of Glory now.
‘Tis the Father’s pleasure
we should call him Lord,
who from the beginning
was the mighty Word:
 
2 Humbled for a season,
to receive a name
from the lips of sinners
unto whom he came,
faithfully he bore it
spotless to the last,
brought it back victorious
when from death he passed.

3 Christians, this Lord Jesus shall return again,
with his Father’s glory, with his angel train;
for all wreaths of empire meet upon his brow,
and our hearts confess him King of Glory now.
 
Blessing
 
May the grace of God support you.
May the love of God surround you.
And may the blessing of God be upon you,
Creator, Redeemer and Spirit,
today and always. Amen.