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Sunday Worship from the United Reformed Church for Sunday 2 November 2025
Today’s service is led by the Revd Andy Braunston
Welcome and Introduction
As the strains fade away of Ebenezer Elliott’s The People’s Anthem we gather to worship. The poem, a hymn found in early Methodist hymnbooks, begs the Lord to alleviate the suffering of the working class. It was set in the social and economic conditions of Britain’s industrial revolution and, Psalm like, implores the Lord to do something. It fell out of favour in Methodism but was given a whole new audience, and a rather better tune, as one of the opening numbers in the 1973 musical Godspell. Our reading from Habakkuk asks how long it will be before Lord saves the people and, in our Gospel reading we meet Zaccheaus whose experience of salvation changed both his life and the life of the people he had swindled. Salvation for Zaccheaus wasn’t just a nice cosy feeling but a total change of life. My name is Andy Brauston and I am the URC’s minister for Digital Worship; I live up in Orkney off the far north coast of Scotland and am a member of the Peedie Kirk URC here. So, as a saved people longing to be saved let’s worship God together.
Call to Worship
We come to worship, we come to prayer, we come to find salvation. We come to find God.
We come to listen, we come to understand, we come to follow. We come to find God.
We come to be fed, we come to be surprised, we come to know that here, God finds us.
HymnThe Canticle of the Turning Rory Cooney (1990) GIA Publications OneLicence.Sung by Chris Brunelle and used with his kind permission.
My soul cries out with a joyful shout that the God of my heart is great, and my spirit sings of the wondrous things that you bring to the one who waits. You fixed your sight on the servant’s plight, and my weakness you did not spurn, so from east to west shall my name be blest. Could the world be about to turn?
My heart shall sing of the day you bring. Let the fires of your justice burn. Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near, and the world is about to turn.
Though I am small, my God, my all, you work great things in me. And your mercy will last from the depths of the past to the end of the age to be. Your very name puts the proud to shame, and those who would for you yearn, you will show your might, put the strong to flight, for the world is about to turn.
My heart shall sing of the day you bring. Let the fires of your justice burn. Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near, and the world is about to turn.
From the halls of power to the fortress tower, not a stone will be left on stone. Let the king beware for your justice tears every tyrant from his throne. The hungry poor shall weep no more, for the food they can never earn; there are tables spread, ev’ry mouth be fed, for the world is about to turn.
My heart shall sing of the day you bring. Let the fires of your justice burn. Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near, and the world is about to turn.
Though the nations rage from age to age, we remember who holds us fast: God’s mercy must deliver us from the conqueror’s crushing grasp. This saving word that our forbears heard is the promise that holds us bound, ’til the spear and rod be crushed by God, who is turning the world around.
My heart shall sing of the day you bring. Let the fires of your justice burn. Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near, and the world is about to turn.
Prayers of Approach, Confession, and Grace
We come to seek You, O Most High, crying for justice, longing for peace, yearning for freedom, and ask “where will salvation be found?”
We look at our world, Lord Jesus, and cry for change in the face of wrong-doing, destruction, & violence, and ask “how long before the Kingdom finally comes?”
We look at ourselves, Most Holy Spirit, and see our pride, infidelity, and acceptance of slack law, and ask “will Your justice make us run and hide?”
But we also come, Eternal Trinity, trusting in Your faithfulness, rejoicing in Your steadfast love, determined to live as You intend, and ask “will You forgive us, good Lord, that we might be free!”
And so, O God, we know You are righteous in nature and fair in judgement. In Your great love, You give us time to change, to turn around, and to find salvation. Amen.
Prayer for Illumination
Your promises, O God, are well tried and faithful; Your righteousness is everlasting, Your law is truth. Bless us now with attentive hearts as we hear Your Word read, exposed, proclaimed. May it be a delight to us regardless of the anguish and trouble of life. Amen
ReadingHabakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.
O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So, the law becomes slack, and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous; therefore, judgment comes forth perverted…
…I will stand at my watch post and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me and what he will answer concerning my complaint. Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faithfulness.
ReadingPsalm 119: 137-144
You are righteous, O LORD, and your judgments are right. You have appointed your decrees in righteousness and in all faithfulness. My zeal consumes me because my foes forget your words. Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it. I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts. Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is the truth. Trouble and anguish have come upon me, but your commandments are my delight. Your decrees are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live.
Inspired by love and anger, disturbed by need and pain, informed of God’s own bias, we ask him once again: ‘How long must some folk suffer? How long can few folk mind? How long dare vain self-interest turn prayer and pity blind?’
From those forever victims of heartless human greed, their cruel plight composes a litany of need: ‘Where are the fruits of justice? Where are the signs of peace? When is the day when prisoners and dreams find their release?’
From those forever shackled to what their wealth can buy, the fear of lost advantage provokes the bitter cry, ‘Don’t query our position! Don’t criticise our wealth! Don’t mention those exploited by politics and stealth!’
God asks, ‘Who will go for me? Who will extend my reach? And who, when few will follow, will prophesy and preach? And who, when few bid welcome, will offer all they know? And who, when few dare follow, will walk the road I show?’
ReadingSt Luke 19:1-10
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So, he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”
So, he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.”
Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
Sermon
I’ve often wondered what the reaction would be, when I preach in either a United Reformed Church or a Church of Scotland Kirk here in Orkney, if I started by asking folk if they were saved. Whilst the language of salvation permeates our liturgies and readings, we’re not always comfortable when it comes to talking about personal experiences of salvation. “Are you saved?” is a rather unReformed question and, for some, speaks of church traditions which feel a little uncomfortable. Yet in our reading from Habakkuk we hear of the prophet and people longing for salvation and, in our Gospel reading we hear of Zaccheaus’ response to finding salvation.
The book of Habakkuk dates to the end of the monarchy in Judah when the danger of the new superpower of the Babylonian empire loomed. The prophet rages against lawlessness (both moral and ritual failure) and the slackness of the official response. He cried to God for salvation from corruption and unrighteousness of the nation’s leaders. The people will never see true justice. The leaders in Judah were making unjust decisions and failing to provide right teaching.
God uses the approaching Babylonians as an instrument of justice. Habakkuk seeks answers to, and salvation from, the age-old issues of injustice, evil, and suffering and posits the coming Babylonians as God’s response to the evil in Judah. God is not silent, an answer is coming! An answer which is dreadful and frightening and would end the Jewish state for around 70 years. An answer the prophet is instructed to publish by writing it on tablets. (The line about a runner may read it inverts the Hebrew which really means that those who read it will run in terror of what is to come.) A salvation is coming that is dreadful. The final verse, about the righteous living by their faithfulness can also mean trustworthiness, reliability, and fidelity. Habakkuk contrasts the proud who can’t be relied upon with the righteous who can.
Given Habakkuk’s dreadful context it’s clear that for him faith was not simple blind obedience but a call to discernment and dialogue which, in turn, leads to trust in God. The people weren’t sure if Habakkuk correctly discerned God’s message – after all who would believe that the threat of a foreign army was a message from God? The repetition of “how long?” echoes down the ages as we wonder how long the rich will oppress the poor, how long will the immigrant and refugee be blamed for the failures of capital? How long will people look for easy answers to complex questions? How long until we can cure disease and poverty? How long must we wait for salvation?
The answers might not be comforting, just as God’s answer to Habakkuk and the people of Judah was not easy. In Habakkuk God was to use the invading army as his instrument of justice. An instrument that would overturn Jewish society, remove the leadership, dislocate the people, and leave the land in ruins for generations; a difficult salvation indeed. There were no easy answers as to why the Jewish society was disintegrating, and the cure offered by Habakkuk must have seen worse than the problems needing to be solved.
We live in an age of difficult questions and declining churches. We might be tempted to cling to easy answers, offer solutions to life’s complexity which require authoritarian responses (in politics and faith) or we might run away from the issues as they emerge; instead, we should try and find the courage of Habakkuk to speak God’s awe-full truth into our situations now. Our people need to be sustained by a vision of a better future; a future which has a crisis, a reckoning, where the proud, the selfish, the heartless are sent away with nothing – but the poor, the oppressed, the battered, and the bruised are lifted up.
Turning to our Gospel passage and we need to know a bit about Roman taxation. The Romans collected tax on a franchise basis. Someone would pay to collect tax in a certain area and then reclaim the money they’d paid to the Empire as they collected taxes. Nothing stopped them adding more than they had paid to purchase the franchise. They could also pay a lot of money to collect in a larger area and then subcontract to others who, in turn, paid them. Zaccheaus was a “chief tax collector” meaning he had underlings who collected tax on his behalf (and paid him for the privilege) just as he’d paid the Empire for the right to collect in the first place. Charging more than the actual rate provided a very good living for those who could raise the capital to pay Rome in the first place. John the Baptist instructed repentant tax collectors to collect no more than they’d paid to Rome; if they obeyed they’d have been out of business.
Aside from charging more than the imperial tax rate, tax collectors were, by default, collaborators with the imperial occupying power. Then, as now, those who are occupied end up paying dearly to fund their oppressors. No wonder the people grumbled that Jesus was to be entertained by a sinner – not just a sinner but a collaborator who cheated the poor.
For the religious purists to sit at table and share a meal with someone indicated acceptance and approval of them and their lifestyle. Something religious folk ever since have been rather sniffy about. To dine with this chief tax collector showed, to them, that Jesus had no moral compass. It was guilt by association. The story, however, challenges us too as we live in a tradition which, rightly, emphasises we can’t earn God’s loving kindness. We are so used to believing that there is nothing we can do to deserve grace we are in danger of doing nothing once we realise we have received it. Yet, here in response to Jesus’ welcome comes both belief and action. Zaccheus pledges to give away half his possessions (he was very wealthy) and to repay fourfold anyone he’d defrauded.
Both our passages have folk defying social convention. People could cry out, complain to God, and yearn for salvation but not say that the approaching enemy was an instrument of God’s saving justice. One could chastise the rich for their lack of righteousness but not foretell their doom. One could preach to collaborating tax collectors but not dine with them nor expect them to repent. Children could climb trees but not adults! Zaccheaus was excluded from his community due to being a collaborator and tax collector; maybe his bodily characteristics meant that he was excluded socially for that too. Yet Jesus included. Yet Jesus saved.
In Habakkuk the ruling elite seem not to respond to the prophet’s message; in St Luke Zaccheaus does respond and, more, doesn’t just profess faith but acts to change his life. We come to faith and respond to God’s call upon us, seek forgiveness for failure and sin knowing that we don’t deserve the forgiveness we receive. For many this is salvation, but it doesn’t stop there. In turning to Christ, we are called to change; a dramatic change for Zaccheaus and, no doubt, it would have been a dramatic change for Habakkuk’s elite.
What might this saving change be for us, for our leaders, for our society, and for the earth itself? It might mean a new relationship with money and debt. It definitely means a new relationship with the earth. It means a new relationship with the poor – those we see and the millions we don’t. It means a new relationship with where and how we shop, how we take part in the economic systems of our age as much as it means a new way of treating those we encounter in our everyday lives. Very few of us are called to give away half our possessions nor repay fourfold those we’ve defrauded – but true faith requires deep and lasting change. This is salvation just as much about a change of life now as about our prospects in the hereafter. Jesus saves us
from sin,
from the hell of our own making,
from the behaviours that drag us, and others, down,
from the economic systems that entomb us,
from the empires that seek our collaboration.
Jesus saves. We are saved, and are being saved, through responding to, and co-operating with, Jesus just as Zaccheaus did and Habakkuk’s elite could have done. Let’s pray
We come to you, O God, as saved people being saved, as sinners seeking time to turn around, as grace-filled people seeking to change. So, give us time, O God, not to make lists of petty sins, but to truly see where we need to change, so that we, your people, and the earth might be saved. Amen.
HymnWe Have Heard a Joyful Sound Priscilla J Owens (1829-1907). Sung by John Rogers Acapella Gospel Hymns and used with his kind permission
We have heard the joyful sound: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Spread the tidings all around: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Bear the news to ev’ry land, climb the steeps & cross the waves; onward! ’tis our Lord’s command; Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Waft it on the rolling tide: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Tell to sinners far and wide: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Sing, ye islands of the sea; echo back, ye ocean caves; Earth shall keep her jubilee: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Sing above the battle strife: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! By His death and endless life: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Sing it softly through the gloom, when the heart for mercy craves; sing in triumph o’er the tomb: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Give the winds a mighty voice: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Let the nations now rejoice: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Shout salvation full and free, highest hills and deepest caves; this our song of victory: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Affirmation of Faith
What do you believe about the Church of Christ?
We believe and confess one single catholic or universal church – a holy congregation and gathering of true Christian believers.
What binds the Church together?
We are bound together as we await our entire salvation in Jesus Christ, having been forgiven, sanctified, and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
How is this Church preserved?
The Church is preserved by God against the rage of the whole world, even though for a time it may appear very small in the eyes of humanity — as though it were snuffed out.
How big is this Church?
The Church is not confined, bound, or limited to a certain place or people, but is spread and dispersed throughout the entire world, though still joined and united in heart and will, in one and the same Spirit, by the power of faith. Amen
Offertory
Zacchaeus, in response to finding salvation in Jesus, gave away half his possessions to the poor and resolved to restore fourfold those he had cheated. As a rich tax collector, he would have had to spend a lot of time making restitution for his previous greed. Interestingly, Jesus didn’t need to tell him to change; Zacchaeus knew he had to. So, with us. Jesus accepts us and then gives us the energy and determination to change, to work out our salvation. Giving is always part of that process; giving our time, our talents, and our treasure to God’s service. We give when we volunteer. We give when we spend time with another who needs us. We give as we support both charity and Church. So now we give thanks for all that has been given in this place through the plate and the bank, through time and trouble, through gentle care and listening ears. Let us pray.
How long, O Lord, will the world be unfair? How long, O Lord, will the rich scorn the poor? How long, O Lord, until we learn to share our resources? Teach us, good Lord, to give cheerfully, to be wise stewards of all you’ve given us, and to respond to Your saving love as we give back to You. Amen.
Intercessions
As God’s people we bring to God, and our own minds, the needs which press upon us.
Eternal Majesty, we bring to You the leaders of our world, praying they may respond to Your call to do justice, work for the welfare of all, and uphold just laws.
Bring to judgement, O God, those who flout Your will, loving war not peace, promoting terror not righteousness, and increasing poverty instead of promoting mutual flourishing.
God, in Your mercy…hear our prayer.
Enfleshed Word, we bring to You the frightened peoples of our world, those fleeing war, poverty, oppression, and climate change, that they may find salvation and security, rest and redemption.
Bring to judgment, O God, those who flout Your will, stirring hatred instead of love, hiding their racism behind convenient flags, using free speech to deny others’ freedom, and waging wars to poison our culture.
God, in Your mercy…hear our prayer.
Energising Spirit, we bring to You the very earth itself, magnificent yet fragile, sustaining all life yet threatened by human greed, groaning in pain as weather patterns change and the air itself is poisoned.
Bring to judgement, O God, those who flout Your Will, through pollution, exploitation, greed, and malice, that we may find, again, ways to live in harmony with the rest of creation.
God, in Your mercy…hear our prayer.
Eternal Trinity of Love, we bring to You those we love and worry about…
God, in Your mercy…hear our prayer.
We join all our prayers together, spoken and unspoken, as we pray as Jesus taught, saying… Our Father
For your generous providing which sustains us all our days, for your Spirit here residing, we proclaim our heartfelt praise. Through the depths of joy and sorrow, though the road be smooth or rough, fearless, we can face tomorrow for your grace will be enough.
Hush our world’s seductive voices tempting us to stand alone; save us, then, from siren noises calling us to trust our own. For those snared by earthly treasure, lured by false security, Jesus, true and only measure, spring the trap to set folk free.
Round your table, through your giving, show us how to live and pray till your kingdom’s way of living is the bread we share each day: bread for us and for our neighbour, bread for body, mind, and soul, bread of heaven and human labour – broken bread that makes us whole.
Holy Communion
Invitation
Jesus invites all who long for salvation to meet him in this meal. For, here we are raised to Heaven to commune with Him. For, here we are fed by Christ’s own flesh and blood as we eat and drink these simple things of bread and wine. For, here we have God’s promises confirmed and are given a foretaste of the eternal abundant life that awaits us. For, here we are strengthened in faith and reminded to love our sisters and brothers. For, here, at this table we are nourished in both body and soul. For, here we are united with the Lord and become bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh as we are embodied in Christ.
And so, fed by God’s Word, determined to respond to God’s call, and gathered by God’s own self, let us pray.
Thanksgiving
O Most High we thank You that, before the ages began, You called a people as Your own, led them by cloud and fire from slavery, gave them precious Law, blessed them with judges to for protection, and prophets to call them back to righteousness.
We thank You that, in the fulness of time from them You raised up Jesus of Nazareth, who proclaimed Your coming Kingdom, taught through parable and miracle, healed the sick, raised up the fallen, and welcomed the sinner. Yet He was arrested, suffered an unjust trial, tortured and killed by the state. The powers of evil thought they had won. Yet You did not leave Jesus in the grave but raised Him on high, defeating the powers of sin and death, showing a foretaste of the new risen life that is to come.
Institution
Before he was given over to death, a death he freely accepted, He shared in the simplicity of a meal with his friends. And so we hear again Luke’s account of the Last Supper:
When the hour came, Jesus took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. He said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’ Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Epiclesis
And now, Most Holy Spirit, we bring before you these simple things of bread and wine, that they may be, for us, the communion with the body and blood of Christ, and we may be, for You, Christ’s hands and feet in our world. As You sanctify these simple things, set us apart to Your service, that as we long for justice and peace we may proclaim the coming Kingdom, where every tear is wiped away, every wound healed, and every injustice redeemed.
Doxology
Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honour are Yours, O Most High, for ever and ever, Amen.
Music for Holy CommunionGod Bless to us our Bread OneLicence No. # A-734713
Post Communion Prayer
O amazing God, You come into our ordinary lives and set a holy table among us, filling our plates with the bread of life and our cups with salvation. Send us out, O God, with tender-heartedness to touch an ordinary everyday world, with the promise of Your holiness, Amen.
HymnMine Eyes Have Seen the Glory Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) Public Domain. Recorded by a mass choir from various Church of South India congregations and used with their kind permission
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: he is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; he hath loosed the fatal lightning of his terrible swift sword: his truth is marching on.
Glory, glory, Alleluia, his truth is marching on.
I have seen him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps. They have gilded him an altar in the evening dews and damps. I can read his righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps. His day is marching on.
Glory, glory, Alleluia, his truth is marching on.
He hath sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; he is sifting out all human hearts before his judgment-seat; O, be swift, my soul, to answer him; be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on.
Glory, glory, Alleluia, his truth is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, with a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me: as he died to make us holy, let us live that all be free, while God is marching on.
Glory, glory, Alleluia, his truth is marching on
Blessing
May the One who saves you, the One who calls you to respond, and the One who showers you with loving kindness, give you grace to leave your chains behind, the perseverance to follow, and delight in loving and being loved, and the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with you all, now and always, Amen.
Where words are copyright reproduced and streamed under the terms of ONE LICENSE A-734713 PRS Limited Online Music Licence LE-0019762
