Lossiemouth Church of Scotland

An enormous crane was involved in lifting the new pedestrian bridge into place to connect the Esplanade at Lossiemouth to the East Beach – in April / May 2022.

It was most impressive.

So much so that it wasn’t so much the bridge that was the attraction as the incredible crane.

It was so tall.

It was noticeable how many triangular shapes there where within the structure of the crane.

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25 September 2022 is the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

The main reading this week is from Paul’s Letter to Timothy in the New Testament (1 Timothy 2:1-7).

Happy Birthday to You, Skye! 🙂

Main reading from Scripture for today

1 Timothy 2:1-7 (from The Message translation of the Bible)
Simple Faith and Plain Truth
2 1-3 The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Saviour God wants us to live.

4-7 He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth.

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The First Sunday in Lent falls on 06 March 2022. Rev. Geoff McKee’s Gospel text is Luke 4:1-13, in which Jesus is tested by the Devil in the desert.

Below, you will find the main scripture for today (taken from The Message translation of the Bible) and the video of today’s service from St James’ Church.

Main Scripture for today

Luke 4:1-13 (The Message)
Tested by the Devil
4 1-2 Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wild. For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by the Devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when the time was up he was hungry.

3 The Devil, playing on his hunger, gave the first test: “Since you’re God’s Son, command this stone to turn into a loaf of bread.”

4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to really live.”

5-7 For the second test he led him up and spread out all the kingdoms of the earth on display at once. Then the Devil said, “They’re yours in all their splendour to serve your pleasure. I’m in charge of them all and can turn them over to whomever I wish. Worship me and they’re yours, the whole works.”

8 Jesus refused, again backing his refusal with Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God and only the Lord your God. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.”

9-11 For the third test the Devil took him to Jerusalem and put him on top of the Temple. He said, “If you are God’s Son, jump. It’s written, isn’t it, that ‘he has placed you in the care of angels to protect you; they will catch you; you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone’?”

12 “Yes,” said Jesus, “and it’s also written, ‘Don’t you dare tempt the Lord your God.’”

13 That completed the testing. The Devil retreated temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity.

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Sunday 09 January 2022 is the First Sunday after the Epiphany.

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica online: Epiphany, also called Feast of the Epiphany, Theophany, or Three Kings’ Day, (from Greek epiphaneia, “manifestation”), is a Christian holiday commemorating the first manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, represented by the Magi, and the manifestation of his divinity, as it occurred at his baptism in the Jordan River and at his first miracle, at Cana in Galilee. Epiphany is one of the three principal and oldest festival days of the Christian church (the other two are Easter and Christmas).

In the Church of Scotland, and many other Western Churches, the feast is observed on 6th January.

The main scripture for today is Acts 8:14-17. The events narrated there are extraordinary because they marked the first moment that non-Jews were baptised after coming to belief in Jesus Christ. This was a major development which challenged the prejudices and hurts resulting from long-standing ethnic tensions between Jews and Samaritans. (See – as a famous example of the general ‘bad blood’ between Jews and Samaritance – the Parable of the Good Samaritan).

God’s healing is communicated through the actions of one to the other. In a divided world, we must risk for relationship and change. Presence and touch are made to overcome the forces of fear and division.

Main scripture for today

Acts 8:14-17 (New International Version)
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

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