Lossiemouth Church of Scotland

Following on from a disturbing Gospel passage in last week’s sermon, the first Sunday of Advent 2017 sees Rev. Geoff McKee addressing “The Little Apocalypse” – Mark 13:24-37. He explains the 3 features of apocalyptic writings and why a wake-up call is always needed by Christians at this time of year. There is an ongoing battle between good and evil. We are all caught up in that conflict. We must be active participants.

Click here to download the sermon in PDF format.

Mark 13:24-37 (New International Version)

24 “But in those days, following that distress,

“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
25 the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
26 “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

28 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 29 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

The Day and Hour Unknown
32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”

I lived for almost fifteen years right next to the Glasgow Central to East Kilbride railway line.

When I first moved into the house, I can remember the noise of the trains passing every half hour or so. It was especially noisy when the train was pulling away from Giffnock station up the hill past the house.

But, you know, it wasn’t long before I got so used to it that I didn’t notice it any longer.

How many people have said to you: “How can you live in Lossiemouth, with the sound of the jets?”

“How do you stick it?”

We all know that, after a while, we tend not to notice them most of the time.

Human beings have an incredible capacity to adjust to surroundings to the extent that we can fail to notice something that would be strikingly obvious to a visitor.

Advent is the visitor that comes to us every year to remind us how things really are.

Advent arrives as a wake-up call; a call to get ready for a big event. [Read more…]

For “Christ the King” Sunday (26 November 2017), Rev. Geoff McKee considers the unsettling passage from Matthew’s Gospel (25:31-46), where Jesus talks about the Sheep and the Goats – referring to the final judgement. He explains how the judgement of Christ the King will be with regard to how well we get on with loving others. The measure of a person’s heart is how well they treat their neighbour.

As usual, if you wish, you can download the sermon in PDF format – Click here.

Matthew 25:31-46 (New International Version)

The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Just before the death of actor W.C. Fields, a friend visited Fields’ hospital room and was surprised to find him thumbing through a Bible.

After asking what he was doing with a Bible, Fields replied, “I’m looking for loopholes.”

How do you feel having just heard the Gospel reading today?

Has it diminished your certainty about your future beyond the grave? Has it caused you any concern whatsoever?

I would be very surprised if you are not unsettled today. [Read more…]

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.”

The Gospel text today centres around the asking and the answering of two good sets of questions.

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.

Do you know what an allegory is?

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.”

• The rusted Tin Man, stuck in the same position for a year before Dorothy oils his joints, has parallels with US industry after the depression of 1893;
• The Scarecrow reflects the Kansas farmer as viewed by outsiders, needing a brain to replace the straw in his head;
• The Cowardly Lion is William Jennings Bryan, who campaigned to be US president at the turn of the 20th Century and advocated a standard of both silver and gold to replace the gold standard (in Baum’s book, Dorothy’s slippers are silver, not ruby).

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 issue of allegory is very important as we seek to understand Jesus’ challenge in our Gospel text today.

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…]