Lossiemouth Church of Scotland

This is Rev. Graham Crawford’s sermon for 24 May 2015 (Pentecost Sunday):

Inevitably, given the debates over the last few years, various groups have formed within the Kirk: some more liberal, some more conservative.

I happen to be part of two of these groups:

• Church of Scotland Evangelical Network, and
• the Covenant Fellowship.

Here is the confession of the Covenant Fellowship:-

“I believe that the Church of Scotland is moving away from its roots in Scripture and the Westminster Confession of Faith. I believe that the time has come for the creation of a ‘Covenant Fellowship’ within the Church. This Covenant Fellowship will draw together those who believe that the Scriptures, in their entirety, are the Word of God and must provide the basis for everything we believe and do. This vision is nothing less than the reformation and renewal of the Church of Scotland, in accordance with the Word of God, and by the empowering of his life-giving Spirit.”

I believe that, on this Pentecost Sunday, this renewal by the empowering of the Holy Spirit is the most crucial thing that we need at this time. [Read more…]

This is the Sunday morning sermon by Rev Graham Crawford for 17 May 2015 (Luke 24: 44 – 53, Ephesians 1: 15 – 23):

Jesus is alive, we claim.

In some traditions, we should have opened every service between Easter and Pentecost with the minister proclaiming: ‘Christ is risen’, with you, the congregation, shouting back (not just murmuring under your breath): ‘Alleliua!’

But on what basis do we make that claim? [Read more…]

The March 31, 1997, edition of Newsweek ran a cover story on prayer. A couple of responses from readers to the story (found in the April 21, 1997, issue) illustrate just how “presuppositions” shape the way that people understand God’s participation, or lack thereof, in the affairs of life. [Read more…]

Have you ever heard a group of musicians play or choristers sing when one person is either out of tune or out of time with the others?

It sounds horrendous. But sometimes we are not in tune with everyone around us. That is what happened to the disciple, Thomas.

All the disciples, in the locked room, saw the risen Jesus, but there was one who did not. He was not there for some reason, which meant that there was always going to be the one who would be different from the others. When they later would go out in groups to tell the story of Jesus, Thomas’ story would never blend in with theirs. So, Jesus came again, especially to see him – and so enable him to be in harmony with the others, when they went out to tell everyone the difference made to the world through Jesus rising from the grave.

A difference just as great as when all musicians play in harmony with each other. We have a story to tell everyone, a story that Jesus is risen, he is alive and is with us today. That is a story we can all tell and we will all be in tune with one another. [Read more…]