Lossiemouth Church of Scotland

Psalm 150 is the final one in the Book of Psalms. Rev. Geoff McKee considers what lessons we can learn from it, given that there are those who have described it as serving no practical purpose. Why, instead, is it as precise a vision of ultimate reality as we find in all Scripture?

You can download a PDF version of the sermon by clicking here.

Psalm 150  New International Version (NIV)
1 Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.

6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

Sir Thomas Beecham, the English orchestral conductor, once saw a distinguished-looking woman in a hotel foyer.

Believing he knew her, but unable to remember her name, he paused to talk with her.

As the two chatted, he vaguely recollected that she had a brother. Hoping for a clue, he asked how her brother was and whether he was still working at the same job.

“Oh, he’s very well,” she said, “And still king.”

—

The wife of a retiring bishop was impressed when she and her husband left the home of their host, the Episcopal bishop of Panama, and found a crowd waiting near the front of the house.

Having seen these people during a morning church service, she greeted each one present and thanked them for such a warm good-bye.

Her enthusiasm waned, however, when a city bus appeared and the puzzled crowd climbed aboard.

—

I’m sure none of us like to be embarrassed.

The sudden awareness that you’ve said or done something silly before an amused gathering can cause the blood to rush to your cheeks and that just makes it worse, doesn’t it?

I was watching a children’s choir in church recently on television.

They stepped up onto the chancel and lined up ready to begin to lead worship. The pianist began to play and they all, on cue, sang through the first verse beautifully and all went well until they got to the chorus.

You see, there were actions with the chorus and it was clear that some of the children knew the actions better than the others and the others were aware of that. The uncertain ones were hesitant, off-beat and made mistakes as they gazed at one another and their cheeks reddened with embarrassment. The earlier focus on worship degenerated into an awareness of one another and ultimately an awareness of self which hindered their praise…

Imagine if an African choir were to suddenly appear at the front door of the church.

If they were to march down the aisles, praising and dancing and making quite a noise, how would we react? [Read more…]

For the Fourth Sunday in Lent (31 March 2019), Rev. Geoff McKee’s text is Jesus’ Parable of the Prodigal Son from Luke’s gospel. It is an unsettling story with an apparently shifting focus: is it the younger or older son? – or their father? Geoff explains how it can be as dangerous for Christians to follow the path of the older son as that of the younger son, though it is the younger son who appears at first sight to have gone more astray. We need to be learning from both brothers in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

The sermon can be downloaded as a PDF by clicking here.

Luke 15:1-3; 11-32 (New International Version)

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable …

The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

The Property Laws of a Toddler are as follows:

1. If I like it, it’s mine.
2. If it’s in my hand, it’s mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.
5. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
6. If I’m doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine, it’s mine.
8. If I saw it first, it’s mine.
9. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.
10. If it’s broken, it’s yours.

Such is the power of me, me, me!

One of the amazing features of the Parable of the Prodigal Son is its perfect framing:

• It begins with the story of the youngest son who is only interested in himself, and
• It ends with the story of the eldest son who is only interested in himself, and
• In the middle, is the story of the abused Father who behaves scandalously!

What a story it is…

The story has a shifting focus which can throw us.

Who is the principal character? –

• Is it the younger son whom the parable is most commonly named after: the prodigal?
• Or is it the Father who dominated the middle part and who is the fixer of the problem?
• Or is it the older son who annoys us most because we’re most like him?

It’s distinctly unsettling, isn’t it? [Read more…]

This is Rev. Geoff McKee’s sermon for 10 March 2019 – the first Sunday in Lent – considering Luke’s gospel and its story of Jesus being tested in the desert. Of course, Jesus withstands these temptations and Geoff explains how this teaches us – somewhat counter-intuitively – that succumbing to temptation enslaves whilst choosing God’s way brings freedom.

Luke 4:1-13 (New International Version)

Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

In the mid 1990’s the movie, Devil’s Advocate, was released, starring Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino.

Reeves plays Kevin Lomax, a happily married and very successful lawyer in America’s South. Down in the South, he’s a man of integrity who’s focused on what’s important in life.

Then he’s offered a job in the Big Apple, New York, with a worldwide law firm. Kevin and his wife move to New York, only to find Kevin being seduced by the atmosphere of greed, sex and power that surrounds the firm and – more particularly – its owner, John Milton, played by Al Pacino.

But we soon discover that there is more to this movie than the age-old theme of greed versus goodness. The plot is much more sinister. [Read more…]