St James' Church of Scotland, Lossiemouth
For Christ, For You
Looking for somewhere to go indoor bowling in Lossiemouth?
Why not join the group of friendly folk who meet in the Church every week. It’s every Friday from 2pm – 4pm in the Fellowship Hall.
More details can be obtained from Vernon Carey – directly or via this website – send a Free Enquiry.
Look how much fun they’re having! [Read more…]
This year the Remembrance Sunday service is in St James’ Church on 12 November at 11.30am.
It means there are a couple of points to note in relation to services on that Sunday:
Before the 11.30am service, there will be a short service at Lossiemouth War Memorial, Pitgaveny St, Lossiemouth IV31 6DF. It will begin at about 10.50am.
You are most welcome to attend either or both these services.
Members of the Armed Forces and other uniformed organisations will meet in St James’ Square and march, accompanied by the brass band, to the War Memorial.
Rev. McKee, Rev. Munro and another members of clergy from RAF Lossiemouth will take part in the proceedings at the War Memorial.
At the end of this, those taking part will meet at the Town Hall, regroup, then march, with the brass band, to St James’ Church (i.e. from High Street onto Prospect Terrace, where St James’ Church is located).
Parking may be “difficult” in the vicinity of the church. Please note that – with thanks to our friends and neighbours there – the gated car park at St Gerardine’s High Church (at the junction of Prospect Terrace and St Gerardine’s Road) will be open and available for parking.
The service at St James’ Church will start at 11.30am approximately.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row…Major John McCrae, May 1915
Image: Monica Galentino via Unsplash.com
Rev. Geoff McKee preaches on Matthew 22:34-46, which centres on the asking and answering of two good sets of questions. Jesus gives unequivocal answers about who he claims to be. Who does Jesus say He is? Read on, to find out.
If you would like to download a version of the sermon in PDF format, click here.
Matthew 22:34-46 (New International Version)
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Whose Son Is the Messiah?
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”“The son of David,” they replied.
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.”’
45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
A friend once asked Isidor I. Rabi, a Nobel prize winner in science, how he became a scientist.
Rabi replied that every day after school his mother would talk to him about his school day. She wasn’t so much interested in what he had learned that day, but she always inquired, “Did you ask a good question today?”
“Asking good questions,” Rabi said, “made me become a scientist.”
Jesus had just come into Jerusalem, greeted with wild enthusiasm by the crowds, who had clearly expressed their belief that here was their Messiah arriving at last.
The stakes were now very high. [Read more…]
The Parable of the Tenants (Matthew 21:33-46) forms the scriptural basis of Rev. Geoff McKee’s sermon for 08 October 2017. Geoff explains the allegorical nature of this parable and how God seeks gentle restoration above vengeful justice. We are all given the opportunity to receive forgiveness and restoration.
Click here if you would like to download a PDF version of the sermon.
Matthew 21:33-46 (New International Version)
The Parable of the Tenants
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvellous in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
Historian Henry M Littlefield’s essay on Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published in 1964.
In this reading – snappily entitled a ‘parable on Populism’ – the Yellow Brick Road represents the gold standard, and the Wicked Witch of the East stands for industrialists and bankers on the US east coast who control the people (the Munchkins).
In his essay, Littlefield wrote, “The Wizard of Oz has neither the mature religious appeal of a Pilgrim’s Progress, nor the philosophic depth of a Candide… Yet the original Oz book conceals an unsuspected depth.”
Littlefield sets his reading against the backdrop of the late 19th Century debate over US monetary policy.
In subsequent interpretations, the Emerald City symbolises ‘greenback’ paper money that has no real value, instead obtaining its value from a shared illusion.
While scholars have questioned whether Baum ever intended his story to be satire, historians like Quentin Taylor still find enough parallels to argue that the book is a deliberate work of political symbolism. According to Taylor, “Quite simply, Oz operates on two levels, one literal and puerile, the other symbolic and political.”
The story is introduced as another parable and that’s what it is but not all Jesus’ parables were intended as allegories like this one.
So what makes it an allegory? Well, just like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz example that I began with, an allegory leads us to ask the question of ourselves: ‘What do these characters and places stand for?’ [Read more…]
On 10 September 2017, Rev. Geoff McKee concluded his 3-part sermon series on Stewardship of Time, by looking at the subject of making time for rest.
Click here if you would like to download a version of this sermon in PDF format.
Should you be interested, Geoff’s first sermon in his series on time management is available here. And the second one can be accessed by clicking here.
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 splendour; 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.
“Slow me down, Lord!
Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Give me, amidst the confusion of my day, the calmness of the ever-lasting hills.
Break the tension of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory.
Help me to know the magical, restoring power of sleep.
Teach me the art of taking minute vacations – of slowing down to look at a flower, to pat a dog, or to read a few lines from a good book.
Let me look up into the branches of the towering oak, and know that it grew great and strong, because it grew slowly and well.”
(Wilfred Arlan Peterson)
Last week we reflected on the need to find a good balance in life.
This week, as we conclude our series of reflections on the issue of time in relation to the stewardship of our resources, we are going to look at the subject of rest. [Read more…]
