Lossiemouth Church of Scotland

On ‘Low Sunday’ (23 April 2017), the second Sunday of Easter, Rev. Geoff McKee’s sermon is based on 1 Peter 1:3-9, a passage which refers to both joy and suffering. He explains how joy and suffering come together to form a genuine faith in Christ; how joy is sown in tears – as the Easter story illustrates. The Scripture is immediately below and then the sermon. If you like, you can download a pdf version of the sermon, which contains references for the various quotations included within the sermon.

1 Peter 1:3-9 (New International Version)

Praise to God for a Living Hope
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

By the time she was 21, Gerda Weissman Klein had spent six years living under Nazi rule — three of them in concentration camps.

• Her parents and brother had been taken away.
• Her best friend had died in her arms, during a 350-mile death march.
• And she weighed only 68 pounds, when she was found by American forces in an abandoned bicycle factory.

But Gerda survived. [Read more…]

Rev. Geoff McKee’s Easter Sunday sermon is based on John 20:1-18 (The Empty Tomb). He discusses the interplay in this ‘breathless’ passage between ideas of Jesus’ resurrection and the ascension of Jesus to the Father. In many ways, it is impossible to separate the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ and expect them to make sense in their own right. The scripture follows immediately below and then the sermon itself.  You can also download a pdf version of the sermon, if you wish.

John 20:1-18 (New International Version)

The Empty Tomb
20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

A good book may be read many times and bring delight to the reader on each occasion because there are new discoveries to be made.

It’s like your favourite walk which always inspires and delights because it’s never the same twice. There are endless new possibilities to discover.

John’s Gospel is a very good read because it is so carefully written.

There are many discoveries to be made as we read it together many times and this beautiful, startling passage in chapter 20 is no exception.

For John, this is where his Gospel has been going. All that has preceded, points forward to the treasures within this text.

There is so much for a preacher to take hold of here and to expound on. In the short time we have together, I need to be very selective. I only want to take hold of one of the strands and to try and explain its significance to you. [Read more…]

09 April 2017 is Palm Sunday and Rev. Geoff McKee analyses the version of Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem from Mark’s Gospel (Mark 11:1-11). Jesus had arrived to liberate the people, but not in the way they imagined. The Scripture is immediately below and the sermon follows after that. You can download the Palm Sunday sermon as a pdf if you wish.

Mark 11:1-11 (New International Version)

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King
11 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”

4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,

“Hosanna”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

[Read more…]

The prophecy of the dry bones from Ezekiel 37:1-14 is Rev. Geoff McKee’s scripture for the 5th Sunday of Lent (02 April 2017).  This Old Testament passage foreshadows Jesus’ resurrection and the great and glorious hope of resurrection for us all. The scripture follows immediately below and, after that, the sermon, which can also be downloaded as a PDF if you wish.

Ezekiel 37:1-14 (New International Version)

The Valley of Dry Bones
37 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

“De Lawd, He thought He’d make a man
Dese bones gwine rise again
Made ‘im outa mud an’ a han’ful o’ san
Dese bones gwine to rise again

(Chorus)

I knowed it, indeed I knowed it, brother
I knowed it, dese bones gwine to rise again”
So goes the well-known African American spiritual song.

The consequences of God’s creation of humanity and humanity’s decision to disobey God would inevitably lead to the bones of humankind returning to the ground and drying out until only dust is left. [Read more…]

19 March 2017 was the third Sunday in Lent and Rev. Geoff McKee’s sermon is based on Exodus 17:1-7 (“Water from the rock”). He considers examples of in-fighting and division within the church (and other relationships) and explains why leadership in the Christian church must always be a team effort. The excerpt from scripture is immediately below and the sermon follows after that.  If you wish, you can download a copy of the sermon as a pdf. [Read more…]