Lossiemouth Church of Scotland

This is a virtual service for the 4th Sunday of Easter – 03 May 2020.

Below, you will find audio of Rev. Geoff McKee’s sermon, the Scriptures from the Lectionary for this week (including the reading from John 10 which is the basis of the sermon), prayers and some music (Stuart Townend’s lovely version of The Lord’s My Shepherd – Psalm 23).

Scripture

Acts 2:42-47 (New International Version)
The Fellowship of the Believers
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

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Two of Jesus’ disciples walk from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus in the aftermath of the shattering events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion.

The resurrected Jesus’ joins them on their way but in their despair and fatigue they don’t recognise him. He explains to them how what has just happened has all been foretold in Scripture.

On reaching the village, they persuade Jesus to stay and eat a meal with them.

According to Luke’s gospel (24:30-31): “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he disappeared from their sight.”

(Sorry that is such a small version of Caravaggio’s painting but we’re not sure about the copyright issues. Here is a link to a much larger version of the image, with options to zoom in and out on the details).

In his sermon for the third Sunday of Easter, Rev. Geoff McKee discusses why we need the guidance and encouragement of Jesus – the one who comes along beside. The one who makes sense of our sight.

NOTE: The above audio is in mp3 format and is also downloadable, if you wish to listen at a time when you may not have a reliable internet connection. Other devices are available but, on a PC, for example, if you right-click on the 3 vertical dots at the right side of the audio player, the drop-down menu should offer the option to “Save as…”

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For the Second Sunday of Easter 2020 – 19 April – our virtual service with Rev. Geoff McKee again has text and audio elements.

You’ll find below the Readings and Prayers as text. Geoff’s sermon is presented as audio, which you can listen to via the player below or download (mp3 format) for listening “on the go” if you wish.

Today’s main Bible reading concentrates on one of Jesus’ disciples, Thomas, and the story of how he was only convinced of Jesus’ resurrection by meeting the risen Jesus and examining the wounds in Jesus’ hands and in his side from the crucifixion.

At the time of the story, the disciples were living under lockdown, for fear of reprisals from the authorities now that their leader was apparently dead. The similarities to our current experience in that respect are obvious.

Geoff considers a variety of matters, including:

• Statistics about the effect the social distancing measures are having on personal welfare in the UK and how our closeness to nature in Lossiemouth can be a real blessing just now;
• Why Thomas was not a ‘bad’ disciple;
• Why it’s natural and acceptable for Christians to have doubts about their faith;
• Why doubt and faith are not opposites of each other; and
• How confronting our doubts and bringing them along with us on life’s journey can lead us to a deeper faith.

“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

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Under the continuing social distancing conditions, we cannot meet together to rejoice and greet the Risen Christ on Sunday, 12 April 2020 – Easter Sunday.

Easter reminds us how God has been good to us. He gave His own precious son to save us from our sins.

For us in Lossiemouth, there is a double (or triple?) reason we cannot have our usual East Beach sunrise service for all Lossiemouth churches. The gathering’s not permitted due to the lockdown situation but we could not have got there (easily) anyway because of the bridge closure for structural safety reasons – but then it would have been closed anyway for social-distancing reasons due to its narrowness? (The ‘silver lining’ is that that would probably have been a 6:00am start time for a 6:08am sunrise). We’ve included some sunrise service pictures to add a congregational experience to this webpage.

The resources here for your virtual Easter Sunday Service are:

• Rev. Geoff McKee’s audio sermon, based on John 20: 1-18
• The scripture readings and prayers

For the sick and those in distress, that they may find healing for their pain and be restored to fullness of life. Draw near to those suffering under the Coronavirus. Strengthen our NHS workers as they labour night and day. Protect those who choose to be vulnerable that we may be safe.
God of Resurrection, hear our prayer.

Let your hearts be glad, shout with joy and celebrate this great day. Easter is here and so is new life and hope. Have a blessed Easter.

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In this brief audio sermon, Rev. Geoff McKee reflects on the various meetings Christians would ordinarily have during Holy Week and how these cannot happen this year.

On a visit to Milan in 2019 Geoff viewed Leonardo da Vinci’s late 15th-century mural of The Last Supper, one of the world’s best-known paintings.

He considers a cleverly-manipulated and topical version of that artwork (an image of Jesus alone – socially isolated – at The Last Supper) and the parallels this has for us with other aspects of the Easter story.

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