The Church of Scotland
2022 General Assembly
Morning Service
St Giles’ Cathedral – The High Kirk of Edinburgh
Fifth Sunday after Easter
Sunday 22nd May 2022 at 9.30am
Organ Music
Gordon Jacob Festal Flourish
Albert Alain Scherzo
William Byrd Galliard to the Third Pavan
J.S.Bach Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr BWV 662
Herbert Howells Psalm Prelude Set 2 No 2
Introit
We will rejoice in thy salvation
Music: Bernard Rose 1916-1996
Call to Worship
Leader: In Christ we live and move and have our being
People: Come to us through the Spirit and dwell among us
Leader: In Christ we find our peace and salvation
People: Meet our deepest needs in this hour of worship
Leader: Christ is our hope and our deliverer
People: We worship You, Son of God and Son of Mary
Leader: In Christ alone is love everlasting
People: In loving You may we learn to love one another
Leader: Turn our hearts and minds to you, the Living God
People: and may we the grace of God encircle us and bind us together
All: Let us worship God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Leader: The Peace of Christ be with us all
Hymn
All people that on earth do dwell,
sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.
Him serve with mirth, his praise forth tell,
come ye before him and rejoice.
Know that the Lord is God indeed;
without our aid he did us make:
we are his flock, he doth us feed,
and for his sheep he doth us take.
O enter then his gates with praise,
approach with joy his courts unto:
praise, laud, and bless his name always,
for it is seemly so to do.
For why? the Lord our God is good,
his mercy is for ever sure;
his truth at all times firmly stood,
and shall from age to age endure.
Text: Psalm 100 The Scottish Psalter 1929
Tune: Old 100th CH4 63 Melody from French-Genevan Psalter 1551
Bidding
National Anthem
God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us;
God save the Queen.
Prayer of Approach
Prayer of Confession:
Leader: In your perfect love you lay down your life for us
All: Forgive us our sins and have mercy on us
Leader: We have sinned in our thoughts and imaginations
All: Forgive us our sins and have mercy on us
Leader: We have allowed our emotions to lead us astray
All: Forgive us our sins and have mercy on us
Leader: We have permitted our actions to be living contradictions of your will
All: Forgive us our sins and have mercy on us
Leader: Receive our penitence and transform it into repentance
Metrical Psalm
The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want;
He makes me lie in pastures green.
He leads me by the still, still waters,
His goodness restores my soul.
And I will trust in You alone,
And I will trust in You alone,
For Your endless mercy follows me,
Your goodness will lead me home.
He guides my ways in righteousness,
And He anoints my head with oil,
And my cup, it overflows with joy,
I feast on His pure delights.
And though I walk the darkest path,
I will not fear the evil one,
For You are with me, and Your rod and staff
Are the comfort I need to know.
Text: Psalm 23
Music: Stuart Townend
First Lesson Acts of the Apostles 16: 9-15
Jubilate
O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands serve the Lord with gladness, and come before his presence with a song. Be ye sure that the Lord he is God it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and speak good of his Name. For the Lord is gracious, his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth from generation to generation.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end. Amen.
Music: Collegium Regale Herbert Howells
Second Lesson St John 5: 1-9
Hymn
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrow, heals his wounds,
and drives away his fear.
It makes the wounded spirit whole
and calms the troubled breast;
’tis manna to the hungry soul,
and to the weary, rest.
Dear Name! the Rock on which I build;
my shield and hiding-place;
My never-failing treasury, fill’d
with boundless stores of grace.
Jesus, my Saviour, Shepherd, Friend,
my Prophet, Priest, and King,
my Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
accept the praise I bring.
Weak is the effort of my heart,
and cold my warmest thought;
but when I see Thee as Thou art,
I’ll praise Thee as I ought.
Till then I would Thy love proclaim
with every fleeting breath;
and may the music of Thy name
refresh my soul in death.
Text: John Newton 1725-1807
Music: St Peter CH4 461 Alexander Robert Reinagle 1799-1877
Sermon
The Rt Rev Dr Iain Greenshields
Moderator of the General Assembly
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead, and buried:
He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
The Holy Catholic Church;
The Communion of Saints;
The Forgiveness of sins;
The Resurrection of the body,
And the Life everlasting.
Anthem
Bless the Lord O my soul
Ah, Bless the Lord, O my soul,
who coverest thyself with light as with a garment, who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain,
who layest the beams of his chambers in the waters, who maketh the clouds his chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the wind,
who maketh his angels spirits, his ministers a flaming fire!
Text: Psalm 104: 1-4
Music: Jonathan Dove b.1959
Prayers of Intercession for the Church and for the world
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication
Hymn
O Christ, the healer, we have come
to pray for health, to plead for friends.
How can we fail to be restored
when reached by love that never ends?
From every ailment flesh endures
our bodies clamour to be freed;
yet in our hearts we would confess
that wholeness is our deepest need.
How strong, O Lord, are our desires,
how weak our knowledge of ourselves!
Release in us those healing truths
unconscious pride resists or shelves.
In conflicts that destroy our health
we recognize the world’s disease;
our common life declares our ills.
Is there no cure, O Christ, for these?
Grant that we all, made one in faith,
in your community may find
the wholeness that, enriching us,
shall reach the whole of humankind.
Text: Frederick Pratt Green 1903-2000
Music: O Waly Waly CH4 527 English traditional
Benediction
Organ Voluntary
Charles-Marie Widor Final (Symphonie VI)
Participating in the Service
Rev Calum I MacLeod, Minister of St Giles’ Cathedral
Rev Dr George Whyte – Prayers of Intercession
Rev Monika R W Redman – First Reading
Rev Allan P Morton – Second Reading
The Choir of St Giles’ Cathedral
Mr Jordan English, Assistant Organist, St Giles’ Cathedral
Mr Michael Harris, Master of the Music, St Giles’ Cathedral
CCL Licence No 980930
Streaming Licence 57837