St James' Church of Scotland, Lossiemouth

For Christ, For You

Lossiemouth Church of Scotland

Prospect Terrace, Lossiemouth, Moray IV31 6JS.

The Union of the former Parishes of St. Gerardine's High Church and St. James' Church

Minister: Rev. Geoff McKee.

  • Home
  • About
  • How Can We Help?
    • Notices – and Dates for your Diary
    • Baptism or Christening
    • Warm Space for community at St. James’ Church Lossiemouth
    • Good News Club (Sunday School)
    • Summer Holiday Club
    • St James’ Guild
    • Indoor Bowling at St James’ Church
    • Praise Group
  • FAQs
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Contact
  • Find Us
  • Login
You are here: Home / Archives for 2

The gospel of Jesus Christ – for all nations and races

May 6, 2018 by 2

Rev. Geoff McKee has Acts 10:44-48 as his Scripture for the sixth Sunday of Easter (06 May 2018). This passage makes clear that “the unstoppable gospel of Jesus Christ is for all nations and for all races.”

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

Acts 10:44-48 (New International Version)
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptised with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

I read the following recently in a blog article about racism in the Church.

“It isn’t exactly evidence of great insight, though, to say that “racism is wrong”. The more urgent question is: why is racism so persistent in human societies? Why, when we know the devastation that racism can wreak, is prejudice against someone on the basis of race or ethnicity something that is so casually evident?

Let me put it more pointedly: why is it that, even though I know that racism is terrible, I still find within my own heart evidence of racist assumptions? I still assume, pretty much, that white guys should be in charge of most things. And, as the flipside, I do catch myself suspecting the motives of people who are not like me. Typical, I catch myself thinking, they can’t control their kids. They are always stealing. They are all corrupt. They breed like rabbits.”

“Even though I know that racism is terrible…”

The Holy Spirit has been working on humanity for two thousand years, placing within most of humanity a deep-seated unease with racism.

And yet we can do our utmost to quench the Spirit of God. Some have even managed to so grieve the Spirit of God that all that is left is a chasm of darkness. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Sermons

Why Christians must share the Good News of Jesus without partiality or prejudice

April 30, 2018 by 2

Rev. Geoff McKee’s Scripture for the Fifth Sunday of Easter (29 April 2018) is the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, from Acts of the Apostles (Acts 8:26-40). Geoff explains how the central message of this passage is not the “easy” one – about the Gospel spreading out to foreigners and foreign lands – but, instead, that the Good News of Christ is truly for everyone. And Christians must discard any partiality or prejudice in spreading that message.

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

Acts 8:26-40 (New International Version)
Philip and the Ethiopian
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”

34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

36 As they travelled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptised?” [37] 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptised him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and travelled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

The following open letter was published in the lead up to the Southern Baptist Convention in the USA in June 2014, when a motion would be proposed condemning transgender identity.

“Dear Southern Baptist Convention,

I know that you are considering passing a resolution against transgender identity this week at your meeting in Baltimore. In anticipation of this vote, I write to you as a fellow believer in our Lord Jesus Christ, the saviour of the world, the person to whom I have given my heart and soul and whom I spend my life serving.

I was raised Southern Baptist in Stanly County, North Carolina, in a devoted Christian family.

My dad grew up in Nigeria, the son of Southern Baptist missionaries who taught there. The theology and worship of my Southern Baptist church was a core part of my identity as a child, and in many ways, it continues to form the person I am today.

Growing up, I was desperate to be a good Christian and to earnestly give my life, my heart, and my soul to the Lord. I was also trans. I knew I was a girl from a very young age, even though the world saw me as a boy. It wasn’t easy. I fought against this. I fought with every tool I had. I prayed and I prayed and I begged.

I went through the act of being saved over and over, thinking each time that if I was perfectly contrite and sorrowful, Christ would save me from being trans, from being a girl.

When I was about 16, I was on a youth retreat up near Liberty University. My youth group was staying in cabins out in the woods. At one of the evening praise and worship times I fell down on the floor praying that God would fix me. My minister prayed over me. I hoped, I hoped incredibly hard that that would be the moment where I was fixed, but of course it wasn’t.

I couldn’t “fix” being trans because it’s how God created me.

Isn’t it the role of Christians to minister with those who are excluded and marginalised?

I ask you, as fellow believers, to join with us in the Episcopal Church and other traditions as family in standing with trans and gender non-nonconforming people rather than against us.

Don’t make the world harder for trans folks. Instead, let’s explore together the ways that our gender, in all its beautiful diversity, is a blessed gift from God.

Thank you for listening.

Your sister in Christ, Vivian Taylor”

In March this year, the Church of Scotland published a pastoral aid resource entitled: “Diverse Gender Identities and Pastoral Care”.

This was with the intention of offering support to ministers and members of the Church of Scotland, to inform and to assist those offering pastoral care.

Now, you may wonder, in our series of sermons on the Acts of the Apostles texts offered to us by the lectionary at Easter, what this subject has to do with the text before us today.

Well, I would want to emphatically state – everything. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Baptism, Mission, Sermons

How the power of Jesus is not demonstrated in what he did but in what was done to him

April 25, 2018 by 2

For the Fourth Sunday of Easter (22 April 2018), Rev. Geoff McKee’s scripture from Acts of the Apostles is the story of John and Peter’s encounter with the religious authorities after the healing of a cripple, in Jesus’ name. Geoff discusses how crucial it is that the Church should serve – and not stifle – the power of Christ. He also points out the – perhaps surprising to us – fact that the power of Jesus is not demonstrated in what he did but in what was done to him.

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

Acts 4:5-12 (New International Version)
5 The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is

“‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

A Total Solar Eclipse occurs when the Moon moves between the Sun and the Earth, completely covering the disc of the Sun.

When this occurs, the shadow of the Moon is cast onto the Earth along what is called the path of totality. Everyone and everything within that path is plunged into an eerie darkness for a few minutes. You do not see a total eclipse – you experience it.

It is very unwise – and, in fact, dangerous to one’s sight – to look directly at the sun. We don’t do it because it is very uncomfortable and we know the dangers anyway.

So, to see the effects of a solar eclipse safely, we must use something like a camera obscura to help us. A closed box with a pin-hole will project the image and the effect can be viewed safely.

The Jews believed it was very unwise, and even perilous, for any human being to gaze directly upon the being of God.

With very few exceptions in their spiritual history, such an encounter with God brought instant death.

Yet, the people desired to be with their God and to know him. That relationship could not be experienced at a distance.

What were they to do? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Sermons

What it means to believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church

April 9, 2018 by 2

In his sermon for the second Sunday of Easter (08 April 2018), Rev. Geoff McKee contrasts the rose-tinted view of life in the early Church found in Acts 4:32-37 with the daily struggles set out elsewhere in the gospels. “Those were the days, my friend!” He goes on to analyse and explain one of the basic statements of Christian belief – the Nicene Creed – as set out in the title to this post.

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

Acts 4:32-37 (New International Version)
The Believers Share Their Possessions
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Unlike me, some of you will be old enough to remember the summer of 1968.

It’s a wee while ago now, almost fifty years in fact.

If you can remember back that far, then you may remember a song that topped the charts that summer. A song written by Gene Raskin and sung by Mary Hopkin: Those were the days.

Do you remember it? Don’t worry, I’m not going to sing it! But remember the chorus….

Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.

‘Those were the days’ – how often do we say that?

We look back and we will see those days, whenever they were, through rose-tinted spectacles.

This passage in Acts of the Apostles has that kind of rose-tinted glow all around it, doesn’t it?

It’s like that through every generation.

Even for those of you who remember the great years of the 1950s in the Kirk. The old-timers back then would have been waxing lyrical about the years before the War!

So, when we’re looking at a passage like this in Acts of the Apostles, we’ve got to be careful that we don’t place it on a pedestal and admire it as a kind of exhibit.

This is not about idealised Christianity, for that would make it absolutely useless and it would set it against the rest of the New Testament witness which is absolutely grounded in the reality of the daily struggle to witness faithfully. ‘Those were the days my friend’; absolutely, but we live now and what can we learn for now? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Sermons

Photos from the Easter Sunday Sunrise Community Service 2018, East Beach, Lossiemouth

April 2, 2018 by 2

East Beach Bridge, Lossiemouth, Moray

People cross the East Beach Bridge to the Easter Sunday Sunrise Service 2018, Lossiemouth, Moray

The sun begins to rise at the Easter Sunday Sunrise Service 2018, Lossiemouth, Moray

The sun rises a bit higher at the Easter Sunday Sunrise Service, East Beach, Lossiemouth, Moray

The shadows of the congregation at the Easter Sunday Sunrise Service 2018, East Beach, Lossiemouth

Some of the local Ministers at the Easter Sunday Sunrise Service 2018, East Beach, Lossiemouth, Moray

Filed Under: News / Events

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • …
  • 92
  • Next Page »

WELCOME

Rev-Geoff-McKee-Lossiemouth-Church-of-Scotland

Rev. Geoff McKee retires

October 5, 2025 By 2

Geoff McKee is retiring as Minister of Lossiemouth Church of Scotland.

His last day of ministry is 31 October 2025.

He conducted worship for the last time (as its minister) at Lossiemouth Church of Scotland on Sunday 28 September 2025.

There was a “thank you” concert held for Geoff and his wife, Annie, in the Church on Saturday 27 September 2025 at 2pm.

We wish Geoff and Annie a long, happy and healthy retirement. We will miss them terribly but we are grateful for the time we have had together and for their ministry and faithful service in Lossiemouth. Your retirement is well-earned!

Read More

Recent Posts

  • Rev. Geoff McKee retires
  • Proposed Sale of the former St Gerardine’s High Church Buildings – Update: October 2025
  • Jesus Ascends to Glory
  • Holy Week Services in Lossiemouth Area Churches of Scotland 2025
  • What we can learn from Jesus being tested by the devil in the wilderness
  • Recent Church Services and Sermons
  • Why your current role in life is where you should be serving God
  • A Service for Everyone in Lossiemouth – World Day of Prayer 2025
  • Lossiemouth area Church of Scotland Services for Christmas 2024
  • Nine Lessons and Carols – Fourth Sunday of Advent
  • Why no one has hope until we all have hope
  • The numerous prophecies of the coming of Jesus
  • Watch for this – The time is coming
  • Christmas Carol Praise – Lossiemouth – 15 December 2024
  • Lossie Singers Autumn Concert – 06 October 2024

Contact Us

We would be glad to hear from you. Feel free to contact our Minister, Rev. Geoff McKee, or attend one of the events or groups detailed on this website.

Our Minister

Our Minister is Rev. Geoff McKee.

Lossiemouth Church of Scotland is a registered Charity No. SC000880.

The Church of Scotland Logo

Our Mission

Our mission is to be a Christian community sharing the love of Christ, reaching out to the people in this area and encouraging them to worship God and grow in the knowledge of the care and love of Christ.

Search this website

Join Us On Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

© 2025 St James' Church of Scotland, Lossiemouth · Rainmaker Platform