Lossiemouth Church of Scotland

The Sermon by Rev. Graham Crawford for Sunday 01 November 2015:

Today is All Saints’ Day.

It is a day that has been underplayed in the Presbyterian church over the centuries because of our desire to downplay canonisation and sainthood.

However, in our desire to downplay that aspect, we have swung the pendulum too far the other way. We have forgotten that the real reason to celebrate this day is to recognise the efforts of our predecessors to live lives of effective discipleship and thus to pass the faith on to the generations that followed them.

I suspect that if I were to ask you about Saints in this church you would mention folks like Joe Edwards, Greta Flett, my predecessor, George Cordiner, and others.

None of them are canonised. You will not find them listed in the Book of Saints. None of them were perfect, either. But they were all faithful stewards of the Gospel, disciples of Jesus Christ and saints of this church.

Today, in the lectionary passages that are suggested, we are being encouraged to ask the question: “What makes a person a saint?” [Read more…]

This is Rev. Graham Crawford’s sermon for 04 October 2015 – World Communion Sunday –

Over the years people have described life in many ways:

• Life is like a box of chocolates, according to Forrest Gump,
• Life is a Fury, slinging flame, according to Tennyson,
• Life is an empty dream, according to Longfellow, and
• Life is a joke that’s just begun, according to Gilbert.

Life is many things to many people but one thing is for sure that  – for many people – life ain’t a bowl of cherries. Or, if it is a bowl of cherries, someone has eaten half of them and left you the stones! [Read more…]

The Evening Communion (last Sunday of each month at 6pm at St James’ Church) Sermon from Rev. Graham Crawford for 27 September 2015:

124 1-5 If God hadn’t been for us
—all together now, Israel, sing out!—
If God hadn’t been for us
when everyone went against us,
We would have been swallowed alive
by their violent anger,
Swept away by the flood of rage,
drowned in the torrent;
We would have lost our lives
in the wild, raging water.
6 Oh, blessed be God!
He didn’t go off and leave us.
He didn’t abandon us defenceless,
helpless as a rabbit in a pack of snarling dogs.
7 We’ve flown free from their fangs,
free of their traps, free as a bird.
Their grip is broken;
we’re free as a bird in flight.
8 God’s strong name is our help,
the same God who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 124 involves a whole catalogue of life events which are, at best, unpleasant.

When bad things happen

They are the things we like to keep hidden. The things that we do not like to talk about, in case they infect us with their unpleasantness. [Read more…]

Rev. Graham Crawford continues his series on Stewardship in this sermon on 20 September 2015:

This morning we are continuing the series that we have been instructed to conduct on stewardship by looking at our stewardship of talents.

In other words, how are you using the gifts God has given you to bring glory to God?

We have addressed this issue many times over the last 12 years as I have encouraged you to examine your SHAPE for ministry.

SHAPE stands for Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality and Experience. By considering these 5 areas, the idea is that you can understand more about –

• who you are,
• how God has made you and
• how he has used life to shape you.

As a result of this examination, many really good things have happened that have blessed you and this town of Lossiemouth. [Read more…]

This is the text of Rev. Graham Crawford’s sermon for 13 September 2015:

One of my favourite quotes is this: “Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so!”

It is of course harking back to a time when executives and directors used to have lavish, all expenses paid, fairly liquid lunches, which would stretch into the afternoon – which would often accomplish an agreement or a contract, but those involved were rarely capable of doing much else afterwards.

You would just pop out for lunch and often simply not come back to the office that day.

And yet, while lunchtime may be an illusion for some, whether because they barely get time to eat or their lunchtime spreads until teatime, time is a very important concept in life and in the Bible. [Read more…]