St James' Church of Scotland, Lossiemouth

For Christ, For You

Lossiemouth Church of Scotland

Prospect Terrace, Lossiemouth, Moray IV31 6JS.

The Union of the former Parishes of St. Gerardine's High Church and St. James' Church

Minister: Rev. Geoff McKee.

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You are here: Home / Archives for Sermons

Fruitfulness in Scripture

February 12, 2015 by 2

The “Fruitfulness on the Frontline” series of Sermons began on 08 February 2015 at St James with the theme “Fruitfulness in Scripture” –

This morning we start on our major theme for the next nine weeks.

We are going to be looking at fruitfulness on the frontline.

What do we mean by “frontline”?

We all have different frontlines.

Your frontline may be an office, a factory floor, a lunch club or a classroom. Your frontline could be the football terraces or the local pub.

In other words your frontline is anywhere that you spend time with other people, and, in particular, other people who are not Christians. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Fruitfulness on the Frontline, Sermons Tagged With: Frontline

8 Things Jesus Never Said

February 1, 2015 by 2

Rev. Graham Crawford’s Sermon for the Morning Service at St James on 01 February 2015:

The problem

On Tuesday morning I sat down at my desk and opened an email from a friend.

He is another minister.

He had been reading a magazine for church leaders and had come across an article from a minister by the name of Jarrid Wilson.

Jarrid, like many of us, is concerned about the rise in the number of sayings, quotes and platitudes that seem to find their way onto websites such as Facebook.

They sound very nice, often; they sound plausible, even; but also they are often just plain wrong.

Whereas it used to be that, to find your way into print, you needed to have some credibility in order for a publisher to commit time and resources to publishing what you had to say, people now can get published on the internet or quoted on websites who have no track record, no authority and – what is more – often no academic qualifications to back up what they are saying. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Sermons Tagged With: Jesus, Jesus Christ

Our Sole Reason for Being

January 27, 2015 by 2

This is the text of Rev. Graham Crawford’s Sermon for the Morning Service at St James on 25 January 2015.

Introduction: “Dream Big”

One of the things I heard often when I was growing up was the phrase: “Dream Big”.

There was this idea that you should never aim at the run-of-the-mill or the ordinary.

You should dream big, test yourself – even test God.

After all, if you are trying to achieve something that you can do perfectly well by yourself and then ask God’s help, what room is there for God to work?

You have to push the boundaries, think big, think beyond your own capabilities for then you leave room for God.

Now, of course, this notion of leaving room for God is something that I have learnt later in life.

It was not obvious to me as a youngster, but has become more and more apparent as I have become older and, I would hope, a little wiser.

Model Railway plan

One arena where this philosophy has taken root for me is in my model railways.

I have a grand plan.

For close to 15 years I have been researching and planning to build a layout representing Dunbar in the late 30’s.

It is a grand plan that I hope to accomplish, but I now realise will also take up a lot of space.

So, in the meantime, I work on smaller projects, honing my skills so that, when the time comes, I will not just have the knowledge but also the skills-base to achieve it.

“Stairway to Heaven” plan

Another grand project I have is Stairway to Heaven.

It is a programme of spiritual development for Christians to help them move from being vaguely interested in Jesus Christ to being in the likeness of Christ.

Whenever I find a little bit of spare office time, I will open up the file and work on it a little more.

It is another project, like Dunbar, that I wonder if I will ever see reach completion – but I do a little here and I do a little there, when I can.

The meaning of Church Membership

One of the things that it has led me to reflect on is the meaning of Church membership.

There is something fundamentally wrong with the common conceptions of membership.

After all, if everyone who was a member was an active member, this church would be “standing room only” on a Sunday morning, which it quite clearly is not.

So what are some of the conceptions of church membership?

Cultural association

There are those who will quite openly claim that St. James is “their church” but who never attend worship, never contribute anything to the life of the church, who may or may not contribute financially to the church but who are adamant that this is their church!

This is often a cultural or historical association, which has absolutely no reflection on their life or their acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

One-day-a-weekers

There are others who come to church to worship, sometimes once a year, or maybe twice – or, for some, really quite frequently.

They have some sympathy with the Christian faith: they quite enjoy being in church, but they have no real desire to get involved.

They are quite simply “one day a week” Christians who do not want to be labelled as religious or have to consider how their lifestyle might be affected by becoming too involved.

These people may or may not have taken the step of formal church membership.

Belonging

The third group are those who really belong.

They attend worship regularly, they contribute financially, they participate in church events and programmes and are very much a part of the church family and are dedicated to this journey of discipleship.

Of course, it is the goal of every minister to encourage and lead his people to make this third kind of commitment, but sometimes this just does not happen.

One of things that every minister struggles with is how to encourage their people to this sort of commitment.

Inheritors

As I have been reflecting on this I have realised that there is another subgroup within this last group of regular people who really belong.

They are, to put not too fine a point on it, the inheritors.

They may or may not have grown up within the particular church they now attend, but they feel very strongly a sense that they have inherited the church from their ancestors and their job is to keep it going until they can pass it on to the next generation.

They love the way things used to be, are suspicious of innovation and, if in positions of control, are very loath to give up control.

They are not very involved in discipleship programmes, or personal development, because they are mainly there because they love their church and want to support it, in order to keep it going.

A continuum of members

Now, of course, this is a very simplistic view.

No one person fits into any category completely but I suspect that we all see ourselves somewhere on that spectrum of membership.

Jonah as an “inheritor”

Jonah would have seen himself as being a part of this inheritance group.

The grace of God was for the people of God and no-one else.

He had no desire, and actively resisted God’s call, to be an evangelist.

The book of the prophet Jonah was written at or after The Exile, as a reaction to the internal ethnic cleansing which marked this period of Israel’s history.

It was believed by the people that Israel’s fall from grace was a result of their apostasy and inter-marriage which had offended God.

The only way to restore the relationship as God’s people was to cleanse, to the tenth generation, the blood lines. In other words, God’s love and compassion were to be peculiar to Israel.

This story is the antidote to such arrogance.

So let us hear what happens when the reluctant Jonah reached the great city (Jonah 3: 1 – 10) –

3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’

3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.’ 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:
‘By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.’

10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

Gentile Nineveh, chosen for its ‘sinfulness’ in folklore becomes the object of God’s mercy and compassion, and Jonah the instrument of the boundlessness of God’s love.

You would think that such repentance would delight Jonah, but instead, in chapter 4 verse 1, we read that this change of plan – God’s decision to grant the city mercy and grace – upset Jonah, and he became very angry.

He became angry that God dared to share his love with non-Israelites.

Jonahs of today

You still hear of that reaction today.

“Have you heard that so-and-so is now attending this church or that church? After all they have done in their life, they now claim to have turned their life around and they are so religious now. If people just knew what they were like!”

It is almost as if some people just do not get the whole idea of genuine repentance and new birth.

And so they become “on the lookout”, hoping against hope to reveal the person to be as hypocritical as Holy Willie in that great poem written by someone whose birthday it is today [Robert Burns, Scotland’s National Bard].

And yet, it is these people, as well as others, that we need to be reaching with the Gospel.

As has been so often said: “The church is to be a hospital for sinners; not a Sunday Club for the healthy”.

Jesus’ message

Listen again to the opening words of Jesus’ ministry (Mark 1: 14 – 20) –

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’

Jesus calls his first disciples

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Let me repeat his words: “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

This is our message.

What our message is (and is not)

Our message is not: “Come to St. James so that we can keep the doors open another few years.”

The message is not: “Come along and meet your friends.”

The message is not: “Come along to see, and be seen.”

It is: “The Kingdom of God has come near, change your mind, change your heart and believe the Good News, the Good News that, if you do truly change your mind and heart, even if you have done the most heinous things in the past, through Christ these sins are forgiven, your slate has been wiped clean and you will then be able to receive that forgiveness he offers.”

Folks, this is our sole raison d’etre, our sole reason for being: to offer to people hope, forgiveness and love.

To let them know that – whatever they have done, whoever they have been – if they are prepared to turn their lives around, God will love them, we will love them and, in that love, they will have the freedom to become what God created them to be: His children, made in His likeness and constantly growing more and more into that likeness through ascending the stairway to heaven.

Jonah quite simply didn’t get it.

He didn’t get that God could love beyond the boundaries of his land.

Others don’t get it either: they don’t get that going to church makes you as much a Christian as sleeping in the garage will make you a car!

But, my prayer this morning is that you get it.

My prayer this morning is that you know God’s love deep in your heart.

That you have turned your life around and – that you are so excited and enthusiastic about your new found relationship – that, like Simon, Andrew, James and John, you are prepared to leave your old life behind, to tell others of God’s great love.

Filed Under: Sermons

God is Speaking – Are You Listening?

January 18, 2015 by 2

This is the text of Rev. Graham Crawford’s Sermon for the Morning Service at St James on 18 January 2015.

Introduction

As I hope you will recognise as this sermon progresses, the readings from the lectionary for today could not be any more apt considering the recent developments within the Church of Scotland.

The situation in Israel at the time of our reading from Samuel was this:

The temple, which was actually little more than a series of tents at this time, was in Shiloh.

There resided the Ark of the covenant and therefore the priests, descendants of Aaron, who served the Lord in the Temple.

The chief among the priests was Eli, who was by this time a fairly old man.

As the priesthood was a hereditary affair, his two sons were also priests.

However, instead of seeing the priestly status as a responsibility, they saw it as a privilege to be used and abused.

When their father was not watching, they would take the best meat from the offerings to God and eat it themselves.

They would sexually harass and abuse young women who came to worship.

They were abusing their position whenever possible, believing that they were untouchable.

As we shall see from our scripture lesson this morning, nothing could have been further from the truth. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Sermons

A Look Ahead

January 11, 2015 by 2

This is the text of Rev. Graham Crawford’s Sermon for the Morning Service at St James on 11 January 2015.

Well, I hope you have all had a good start to your New Year.

We certainly had a great time down in Pitlochry at our house.

2015 has arrived and I have no doubt that the world will be a very different place by the time it leaves.

A searching question

How the world changes, and what will happen in the world, we have very little influence over, but we can still ask a more searching question which is: How will you be different, how will I be different, and how will this church be different by the time 2016 rolls around? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Sermons

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Jesus Ascends to Glory

May 28, 2025 By 2

Sunday 25 May 2025 is Ascension Sunday.

Christians celebrate the time when Jesus ascended to heaven. Ascension Day itself is generally observed on a Thursday, the fortieth day after Easter.

Today’s Main Scripture

Jesus speaks to his disciples, following his resurrection at Easter and shortly before his ascension:

John 14 (from The Message Bible Translation)
The Road
14 1-4 “Don’t let this rattle you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking.”

5 Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?”

6-7 Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”

8 Philip said, “Master, show us the Father; then we’ll be content.”

9-10 “You’ve been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don’t understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, ‘Where is the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren’t mere words. I don’t just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act.

11-14 “Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do.

The Spirit of Truth
15-17 “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!

18-20 “I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming back. In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me because I am alive and you’re about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely that I’m in my Father, and you’re in me, and I’m in you.

21 “The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.”

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said, “Master, why is it that you are about to make yourself plain to us but not to the world?”

23-24 “Because a loveless world,” said Jesus, “is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we’ll move right into the neighborhood! Not loving me means not keeping my words. The message you are hearing isn’t mine. It’s the message of the Father who sent me.

25-27 “I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.

28 “You’ve heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, and I’m coming back.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I’m on my way to the Father because the Father is the goal and purpose of my life.

29-31 “I’ve told you this ahead of time, before it happens, so that when it does happen, the confirmation will deepen your belief in me. I’ll not be talking with you much more like this because the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don’t worry—he has nothing on me, no claim on me. But so the world might know how thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out my Father’s instructions right down to the last detail.

“Get up. Let’s go. It’s time to leave here.”

Sermon by Rev. Anne-Marie Simpson

To get straight to beginning of the sermon, click here.

Sermon Text

For 40 days after Easter morning, Jesus remained on earth.

We know of several occasions when he met with some of his disciples.

Mary Magdalene in the dawn Garden, the two walking the road to Emmaus. appearing more than once to those in the upper room. On the shore at sunrise, and now in this final time of parting.

We can only surmise how Jesus spent the rest of this time before his departure. How many others did he meet with, perhaps, who did not record the fact? How many lives did he touch in those final 40 days on Earth?

Just as it was vital for Jesus to prove his resurrection to his followers, so it was very important that he took his leave properly.

His appearances to them could not just stop suddenly. That would leave too much uncertainty in the minds of his friends. Nor could the story that we’ve heard today of this awesome ascension be omitted from the narrative.

People at the time needed to know this part most fully. Indeed, we need to understand exactly where Jesus has gone.

There have to be witnesses. There is much mystery to this story, ascending into a cloud seems, well, rather vague. We desperately want more detail.

Luke gives us a brief description in his gospel and another in the book of the Acts of the Apostles.

Yet, however brief this story is, it is so important for both the disciples and for us today.

The disciples needed closure for them. This is an ending, the end of their time spent with Jesus – i.e. the end of Jesus amongst them present here in this world.

Yet it is also a beginning. The beginning of a brand new chapter for the disciples.

Now they have been given final instructions. Wait here in Jerusalem and show you are empowered by the Holy Spirit, then go out and preach the good news of repentance and salvation to all the world.

They must continue Jesus’ work of justice and compassion, healing and acceptance, but now they must also preach their testament, make new believers and baptise them in the Holy Spirit, not just the people of Israel, but everyone, right around the world.

They are witnesses. They have a testament to share.

And if this work seems impossibly huge to undertake, so very difficult to achieve, then Jesus has promised them a helper. That will be given power through baptism in the Holy Spirit. And so the disciples are not overwhelmed by the task in hand, or cowed under the weight of their commission. Instead, they go back into Jerusalem filled with joy at what Jesus has promised. Filled with joy at what they have seen.

They know exactly where Jesus has gone. They’ve witnessed him rising to heaven with their very own eyes, and there is no room for doubt. Now they have a friend in heaven, a friend whom we believe presents our prayers at the throne of God and intercedes on our behalf. A friend who has sent them a helper, a friend who has always present with us, always available when we need help.

The human Jesus could only be in one place at any given time, but now as a heavenly being, Jesus transcends the spatial and the temporal qualities of this world.

He can be constantly with his disciples. He is constantly with us.

Furthermore, Jesus has promised them that they will follow where he has gone.

Before the crucifixion he has told them that he goes to prepare a place for them. Those words that we say at every funeral, I go to prepare a place for you. Now they understand what that means. One day they too will be in heaven, where they will see Jesus again and live in the presence of their Heavenly Father. They also know that Jesus is listening to their pleas and prayers. He might be out of sight, but he isn’t out of their hearing.

And Jesus has promised to return, to come back one day when everything will be put right, and the whole of creation will be restored to its original state of balance.

The early church watched patiently and diligently for the coming, believing it to be imminent.

But God’s time is not our time, as we are reminded in the second letter of Peter: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.

But we must keep watch and be prepared for this coming, for this event, so that we are ready to meet with Jesus on his return. Ready for whatever that will mean for us.

Jesus speaks of how his ascension has been written into Hebrew scripture in the laws of Moses, in the writing of the prophets, and in the Psalms, as we’ve heard in Psalm 93, and in Psalm 47.

The signs have always been there, but it would have been impossible for human minds to comprehend what was meant.

The story of death and resurrection and ascension is too full of wonder, too full of awe for us to fully understand. Jesus has ascended to sit enthroned at the right hand of the Father, where, as Paul tells us, he reigns supreme.

In the meantime, the disciples returned to Jerusalem in great joy to spend their time giving thanks in the temple, praying to God, knowing that they are heard, and knowing that whatever happens to them, Jesus awaits them with a place prepared.

And so what does this day of Ascension mean for us?

We’ve been promised everything that the disciples were promised.

We know that God, Jesus has gone before us, and we live in the hope that this and every other promise He has made will be fulfilled. that, through repentance, our sins will be forgiven, and we will go to take up that place, which He has prepared for us in his Father’s house, where we will live forever in the presence of God, reconciled and beloved for eternity.

And the second coming, what will that be like?

The angels in Acts have told us that Jesus will return in the same way as he left, descending from a cloud, perhaps, to the awestruck gaze of the people below.

Will you be there, as generations’-worth of prayers are answered, watching and waiting in joyful expectation, as your Lord and Saviour descends to bring the Kingdom that we pray for to come?

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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