Belhelvie Church - Sermons: Recent Episodes
Belhelvie Church
Just four little words, but carrying a world of meaning.Spoken like a breath of fresh air into a locked room where the atmosphere is heavy and sour with fear.
“Peace be with you” Jesus says. And then he shows them the wounds in his hands and his side.
What did that mean for the disciples, and what does it mean for us today in the place of our real-life struggles?
That’s what we’re exploring in this morning’s service.
https://youtu.be/7mcvhevhn-c
Where does God meet us?
On sea shore and mountain top? In the holy stillness of ancient churches and cathedrals? In quiet moments of beauty and contentment in the privacy of our own hearts?
Yes.
But not just there.
Today’s story of the Road to Emmaus, drawn from the work of Fred Buechner, reminds us that, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear, God can also meet us on the rough ground of the uncertain pathways our lives can take. Right in the middle of our loss, doubt and confusion.
The good news for today is that He also walks with us there.
https://youtu.be/ks3FmnL9PsQ
"My God, my God why have you forsaken me?"
We know that Jesus spoke those words from the cross but there's a whole world of meaning, within and beyond them, if you read them in their full context - which is Psalm 22, taken in its entirety.
We're plumbing the depths of that Psalm this evening and finding reasons for an expansive hope, even among the desolation of the cross.
A 90’s pop band, Roger Moore, a huge breed of dog with a wee barrel of brandy around its neck, Southampton Football Club, spoof rock and roll front man David St Hubbins……
Do you see the connection yet?
If not (or even, if yes!) watch on for a St Patrick’s dayspecial!
https://youtu.be/lNTDRVRVV5Y
It’s a gospel story that most of us know, or at least haveheard of – the parable of the prodigal son. It tells the story of a Father whose youngest, having demanded his inheritance, turns his back on his family in pursuit of the high life. But when things go badly wrong there’s only one place he wants to be – back home. But how will he be received by his parents, and his older brother, having treated them so badly?
Today, in the context of Mothers’ Day, we’re enteringimaginatively into the story and hearing from the one person who doesn’t get a mention, but from whom we can learn a lot about the nature of God’s parentallove. The boys’ mother.
Today, she gets to tell us her story.
https://youtu.be/rkp3inyUHls
Join us, and our local uniformed organisations, for our Founder’s Day and Thinking Dayservice.
We’re reflecting on the theme ‘Our World, Our ThrivingFuture’. What does it mean to thrive? Given all that’s going on in our world,is it even realistic to use that word of our collective future? What does Godhave to say about it? What part we might have to play in making a more thrivingfuture?
Lots of questions and maybe even some answers in today’sservice!
https://youtu.be/hvP_oXWXup0
The parable of the Good Samaritan is a 2000 year old story, but the truths it brings are just as relevant now as they were then.
What does God ask of us?
Help people in need, regardless of who they are. Be willing to take a risk. Don’t let unhelpful social conventions get in the way of doing theright thing. Yes. You are your brother’s (and sister’s) keeper.
So much in a few short lines.
Join us as we take a modern look at an old old story this Sunday.
https://youtu.be/u4s_PZjGv4k
Just a short story from Mark’s gospel this morning, but so much in it….
The need to take rest and know when enough is enough (even when you happen to be the Messiah); the hard reality that life rarely goesquite as we plan it; and the fact that whatever storms life throws at us, we don’t have to face them alone because God is with us.
All that, plus a silly action song with the kids to enjoy.
Another good morning at Belhelvie Church of Scotland.
https://youtu.be/Vl-z4XpbhqM
What gives someone authority?
Their job title or position? Their qualities as a person? Their age or seniority?
In today’s reading, the crowds marvelled at Jesus teaching because he taught ‘with authority’. It wasn’t just wise words and good stories. He spoke and things happened; incredible things that pointed back to God as the source of his power.
Today we’re remembering that actions speak louder than words and our profession, as Christians, will only have authenticity if it’s married with appropriate action.
https://youtu.be/ejEHhF11gKE
A wee poetic reflection on the story of the Wise Men for this Epiphany Sunday.
https://youtu.be/jGWjYxVPJpA
Some wee reflections to end the year, featuring the making of a Christmas Cake, a Christmas Song (or is it an anti-Christmas Song?) by Greg Lake, and a couple of seasonal poems by Tennyson.
‘When was it that we first forgot that questions help us grow?’
That’s a line from one of the hymns we sang this morning as we remembered the only story we have of Jesus’ life as a young man. Aged 12, having been to the Passover feast for possibly the first time, he stayed behind in Jerusalem - unbeknown to his parents – so he could hang around the Temple and have discussions with the scholars and priests there.
Our question to the 12 year old Jesus this morning is ‘Why? What made you want to stay so badly that you forgot (or overlooked!) how worried your parents would be when they realised you were missing on the journey home?’
(Clue. It’s something about being in a community where genuine questioners and genuine questions are made welcome).
New year, new beginnings.
What stars are you following as we move into 2023?
Some thoughts on why the Wise Men were wise in our Epiphany Sunday morning service.
From the cradle to the grave, change is an unavoidable facet of life. How do we deal with it? How do we harness it for growth? Where is God in the middle of it? These are some of the themes we’ll be looking at this morning in our three cheeseboard stories.
Happy Christmas!
A wee reflection on why we do Christmas Trees at Christmas, and a story about three particular trees long ago and how their dreams were fulfilled, but not in the way they might have expected.
We had a great time this morning reworking the ’12 Days of Christmas’ song to tell the Nativity Story and remind us why Jesus came to be with us all those years ago.
You can join in with the fun by following the link below.
Christmas? It’s really for the children.
Or is it?
When you actually look at the Christmas story there are far more adults involved than children and if we focus on the baby who was born without remembering the man he became, we rob the incarnation of most of its meaning.
This child who was born is the very same one they sent to the cross for challenging the powers of his day by bringing the message of God’s inclusive, radically forgiving love. That’s why we always celebrate communion during Advent. To help us remember that we can’t separate Christmas from Easter or the child in the manger from the man on the cross.
Our annual service of lessons and carols with the Bon Accord Silver Band leading our worship.
If the gospel is going to make any sense, it has to make sense in our real lives in all their complexity and contingency. That’s why I’m arguing this morning that Matthew’s account of the nativity is especially helpful. Luke gives us the Christmas bling (!) – the shine and the glory; Matthew reminds us that the light comes in the darkness of confusion, trouble and sadness – in other words, in the real world. Today’s sermon is a word for everyone for whom the ‘ideal’ of Christmas feels pretty far from their lived experience. Don’t lose hope. The light has come.
Today, the last day of the church year, is known as ‘Christ the King Sunday’. Today we used the story of The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe to remind us what kind of King was born all those years ago in Bethlehem as we prepare for his coming.
In today’s Remembrance Service we reflected on the generational links that tie us to the story of last century’s great wars, and in the wake of Queen Elizabeth’s passing we remembered the way she and her family shared in the sufferings of their people during World War 2. By staying in London when it would have been safer to leave; encouraging people with their presence and their broadcasts; getting alongside folk and being real with them and rejoicing with them when the fighting had finished, the Royal Family identified with the struggles that the rest of the nation was going through. In the same way, in becoming human in Jesus, God not only identified with his human family, but went even further by paying the ultimate price to secure their future.
Ancient wisdom, not to mention human experience, tells us that body and soul are intimately connected. We’re creatures of sense and we can only experience our world, and indeed God himself, through our senses and our minds. Almost every spiritual practice you can think of begins with the body. So today we’re giving thanks for the ways in which God makes himself known to us through our physicality and remembering that he didn’t consider it beneath himself to join the community of those who wear skin when he came among us in Christ.
We also celebrated the baptism of Lily and Ben East this morning. Congratulations and well done!
Jesus wants us to be selfish, greedy people who only look out for themselves
Read today’s story – the parable of the shrewd manager – and you could be forgiven for thinking that’s what it’s saying. Lots of commentators reckon this is one of the hardest parables to get to the heart of, but at its core it’s saying “if the crooks of this world know how to use resources shrewdly for their own gain, how much more should people of faith use what they have wisely, for better ends?”
In a spell when discussion about tax cuts and tax rises is ubiquitous, maybe it’s not a bad time to be thinking about the good we can do when we’re open handed and learn to share more of what we’ve been blessed with.
It’s just two little words, but their presence can make a big difference, and their absence speaks louder than we might sometimes like it to.
“Thank you.”
Today we’re reflecting on the story of the healing of ten lepers, reflecting on why it was that only one of them came back to thank Jesus, and thinking about how ready we are to offer our thanks to one another, and to our creator.
Today’s is a weird parable. A farmer has his harvest plans sabotaged by an enemy who sneaks in and sows weeds among his wheat when no-one’s looking. Instead of wading in and trying to haul out the weeds then and there, the farmer chooses to wait ‘til they’re fully grown before finally sorting things out.
This little story is flagging up some big truths. The world’s not as we’d like it to be. It’s beautiful and broken at one and the same time. The weeds and the wheat spring up in the same places and the hard truth is, that includes our own hearts and minds. In his patience, God holds off disrupting the good crop to give it the best possible chance of growing; but his promise is that there will come a time when all that mars our growth and fruitfulness will finally be dealt with once and for all. This is our ultimate hope for ourselves and our world – that one day all that’s wrong in it will finally be weeded out, leaving only the good. In the meantime his Spirit give us the help to do a bit of weeding in the only bit of creation we really get to tend, which is our own lives.
Just past Newburgh, over the Ythan and a couple of miles down through the dunes, lies Forvie Kirk – a 12th century church that, along with the whole of the village, was buried by sand in a storm in the middle ages.
Forvie’s old lichen-crusted stones spoke to me the day I first went to see them, more than 15 years ago. They had a few things to say about faithfulness; and that’s what we found ourselves thinking about in this morning’s service.
In this Sunday's all age service we're reflecting on Her Late Majesty's reign, hearing some moving and funny stories about her life, but also thinking about what the foundation of that exceptional life was.
Today, and next Sunday, we’re going to be reflecting on the Queen’s life together as we worship. This morning, the first half of the service will be given over to remembrance, and we’ll have some of Her late Majesty’s favourite hymns as well as videos and prayers to help us reflect on her reign and the foundation of faith it was built upon.
It’s often said that life’s a journey, not a destination, and what’s true of life is equally true of the life of faith.
Discipleship isn’t a destination, it’s a road we choose to travel, whatever stage of the journey we’re on – whether we’re ‘just looking’, beginning to scope out what all of this means for us, or taking steps to grow our faith and work out how we can support the life of a congregation and not just receive from it.
Today, Jesus challenges his hearers not to be hangers on but to commit to the path of discipleship which asks for commitment, intention and no little self-sacrifice. It’s a hard word but a necessary one, and the vitality of any local congregation depends on its members responding to it.
Will you?
Today was a communion service, so if you want to join in please have bread and wine or equivalents ready for the end of the service.
https://youtu.be/lIC16TQxjrU
1200 miles over two and a half months on foot.
That’s what our friend John Gibson, supported by his wife Isobel and other family and friends, has accomplished – walking from Land’s End to John o’ Groats to raise awareness of issues around suicide, after his son Cameron took his own life in October of 2019.
Last Saturday we joined John, and many others whose lives have been touched by suicide, for the Black Isle stretch of his journey. Today’s sermon reflects on that experience and what we can learn from how God drew near to Elijah at the very lowest point of his life.
Whatever the circumstances, we have it in us to help others in inner pain with the simple gift of our presence and our listening.
https://youtu.be/j70SuwjPQTM
It isn’t only bodies that can be crippled. Hearts, souls and minds can be crippled too.
Crippled by stress, loneliness, doubt, loss, sadness, fear…. The list goes on.
In today’s gospel reading Jesus heals a woman who had a crippled back, but the intriguing thing is that he proclaims her healed before there’s any sign that it had actually happened. It’s like he knew what was going to happen to this woman (healing), and was proclaiming as a reality it in the present.
What if that little individual story actually represents the big story of the human race? What if forgiveness, healing and fullness of life is where we’re headed, but we can begin to live into the reality of those things now, through faith? What if everything that holds us back was dealt with at the cross, and all we need to do is claim that wholeness and live in the light of what Christ has already done for us?
Deep waters for an all age service, but that’s where we went swimming today!
A cat kept wandering into the temple as the guru taught his disciples, so he had it tied up so as to avoid distracting everyone. Over time, people forgot the origins of this practice and by the time a century had passed, learned scholars were writing essays on the religious and theological significance of having a cat tethered to a pillar during worship.
Today we’re looking at an argument Jesus had with the religious leaders over handwashing rituals and using that story to think about our traditions in the church. We’re reflecting on the benefits of our traditions – the way they ground us and give us a sense of belonging, but we’re also highlighting two pitfalls: making them too important (and inhibiting change) or getting too familiar with them (and robbing them of their significance).
She was powerless. He was powerful and held her fate in his hands, but didn’t care one thing about her situation. There was nothing in it for him.
The only thing she had going for her was her persistence. So she kept getting in his face – at his work, on the golf course, even at his home. Day after day after day, she finally wore him down to the point where he cracked and promised to give her what she wanted – the justice she deserved.
God isn’t like that, says Jesus in today’s parable.
He doesn’t need his arm twisted to do what’s right; and though our prayers might not always be answered at the time or in the way we hoped for, we can always trust in God’s character. We can know for sure that he cares about what’s right and helping those who have right on their side.
https://youtu.be/yDcZRRH7p4U
Two sisters welcome an important guest and his entourage into their home. One of them thinks the most important thing she can do is sit with him and hear what he’s got to say. The other feels caught up in the business providing hospitality and is soon feeling hassled and harassed in the kitchen. ‘It’s not fair’ she complains to her guest and her sister – and she was probably right! - but the answer she got back wasn’t at all what she was expecting.
This is the story of Mary and Martha as we find it in Luke’s gospel and it’s got a lot to say to us today about how we make our choices and how we prioritise the important things in the midst of all the urgent things that we feel need done.
Hope you can join us.
We know the story of the Good Samaritan and what it teaches, but today we’re going a little deeper and seeing the story in a new way. This isn’t just a story about the need for people to get on and help even those who are their enemies; it’s a story that teaches the amazing truth that God, in Christ, has reached out to the whole human family to bring our ultimate healing and restoration.
A desperate father whose young daughter is dying on the cusp of womanhood. A chronically ill woman whose life has been overshadowed by her condition. Jesus brings healing into both situations in this morning’s reading, but how do we read and understand these stories in the light of our own experiences with illness and death? Does God not heal today, or does our understanding of what makes for healing need to grow?
A word that touches all our lives from the gospel this morning.
She was childless. And in the culture of her day, a childless wife was no wife at all.
Hannah was her name and she was in serious danger of letting her infertility have the last word on her identity.
Today we’re thinking about the tendency we all know to let our hardest, most personal struggles overtake us and become the place we live out of. Grief, loss, illness, sadness. All of us have difficult times and experiences, but it’s never a good idea to pitch our tents there and make them our home. We are more than our present experience, no matter how hard it may be. We are beloved children of God, whatever it is that we happen to be going through, and that realisation helps shed some eternal light on our real, but temporal problems.
Today at Father’s Day All Age worship we spent some time thinking about what makes for a good dad and realised just how many of those things apply to God as well. It’s no accident that when Jesus teaches us about God, his main metaphor is that of a good Father. And in terms of his relationship with us, God’s Fatherhood comes first and modifies everything else:
“He creates as a loving Father, he exercises his power as a loving Father, he oversees and manages things as a loving Father. He bears with us, as a loving Father; he guides and warns and punishes when he has to, as a loving Father; and he’s committed to us from beginning to end, as a loving Father.”
So as well as remembering our human dads, we remembered our heavenly one too and gave thanks that we know we’re part of his family.
This was also our Sunday School prizegiving service, and a big thanks to all the volunteers who help with Sunday School and Kirk Klub during the year.
https://youtu.be/0lItSmVUU3w
This morning was our annual memorial service where we remember the folk who’ve passed on within our church community over the past year. As part of that service we light candles in their memory and we remember the scripture promise that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never overcome it.
https://youtu.be/0JGoskkIPEM
This morning we had our annual elders’ service, led by Francois, Mark and Laura, and the group looked at three themes that coalesced on this particular Sunday – Pentecost, Jubilee and our Presbytery Mission Plan discussions.
Thanks to everyone who took part, and to the Welcome team and the bakers for a very special Jubilee spread afterwards.
https://youtu.be/qtM27-GPzks
What are you wrestling with at the minute?
Relationships; jobs; getting back to normal after the pandemic; money worries; inner demons; an unknown future?
Today’s story from the Old Testament is about a man who finds himself wrestling with God, as he faces up to the harsh reality of what he’s done and who he’s become. The struggle is a real one, and it almost breaks him, but he ends up with a new name and a better path to follow in life.
Tune in today so see how ‘Jacob’, the grasper, becomes ‘Israel’, the one who grapples with God, and what this ancient story has to say to you and me in the middle of our struggles.
Today we're thinking about the fact that we are remembered by God, but also that we have to work at remembering God in the midst of our busy lives. We talk a little about some of the ways that we do that, and we also take leave of the Mackenzie family who are moving away to Australia to be with family after a long involvement with our congregation.
https://youtu.be/LkzofVoyg04
What makes for a hero? Muscles? Smarts? Superpowers?
Today I’m suggesting that the real heart of heroism is, in fact, the heart! When we see selflessness, courage and purpose in someone, that’s what true heroism is about, regardless of who they are or what they happen to look like.
The anointing of David illustrates that point well. He was the smallest and youngest of his brothers, yet David was the one Samuel was told to anoint as King. Remember, God said, people look at the outside, but I look at the heart.
This morning we thought about that with help from the Marvel Comics Universe, Star Wars, and the Lord of the Rings; from Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela and Volodymyr Zelensky. From Janet Zirugo, a 70 year old grandmother from Zimbabwe looking after the orphaned children in her extended family, and of course from Jesus – who is the exemplar of a hero who looked nothing like a hero in his most heroic moment – bleeding out from a hundred wounds on a cross that he chose to bear for us.
Selflessness, courage and purpose. That’s what makes someone a hero.
This Sunday, John the gospel writer chooses to focus on Peter in the last chapter of his telling of Jesus’ story.
Peter got at least as much wrong as he got right in following Jesus. He was the kind of guy who’d act first and think later. Who’d open his mouth to speak and end up putting his foot in it. Nobody’s kind of role model.
And yet, John ends his gospel spelling out what resurrection life – life lived with the risen Christ – looks like, using Peter as his example.
Together life, forgiven life, called life. For all his faults, that’s what we see in Peter’s story. And if there’s hope for him, there’s hope for all of us.
The post-resurrection encounters with Jesus often have this strange feature that he’s not recognised straight away, even by folk who knew him well. Cynics draw any number of conclusions from that. Today, I’m offering some more nuanced reasons – some practical and some spiritual - why this might have been the case, but reminding us that the key thing is that in every case, Jesus draws alongside his friends. And that doesn’t change.
We ended the time with a few minutes of contemplative music and prayer to help us focus on the Christ who is with us now, in the midst of whatever we’re going through in life.
Meditative music from Wilderthorn - please check out his Youtube Channel for some more superb meditative creations.
https://youtu.be/sJXVXfe_or8
This morning in our all-age service we ranged from the joys of ‘Wordle’ all the way back to 6th century depictions of the resurrection from the early church! And those ancient images helped us see the story in a new way. Easter Sunday isn’t just an individual story about Jesus being resurrected. It’s a corporate story about humanity being raised in him. And if that’s true, it means that death isn’t the end for any of us, despite how it seems.
Christ is Risen! And we are raised in him.
Happy Easter!
A picture tells a thousand words, someone once said.
Today we’re looking at a very familiar story, the story of the Prodigal Son, but looking at it in a different way: seeing where our imaginations take us as we try to visualise the story for ourselves. What might the images we conjure tell us about the story, about ourselves and about God?
This way of approaching Scripture is as old as the hills. It’s called ‘imaginative contemplation’ and it breathes new life into passages we know so well that they’ve almost stopped speaking to us.
https://youtu.be/dkCVOtpUTJ4
The story of David and Goliath feels all too real these days, given what’s happening in Ukraine. That situation was very much in mind today as we met for all-age worship, but so too were the giants that many of us are facing in our everyday lives – weariness, fear, apathy and sadness as this pandemic and the fallout from it drags on.
Like David, we need a handful of smooth stones to help take down these enemies. Tune in to find out what they are.
The courage of those who know the danger and yet stay put, refusing to be bullied….
The bullishness of those whose power makes them think they’re invincible and can do whatever they want…
The desire God has to see his human family reconciled to one another and to Him…..
The impossibility of reconciliation while we’re unwilling to recognise the humanity of the other – that they, like us, are made in the image of God.
Didn’t expect to find all of this in Luke 13:31-35, but a timely passage for the days we’re living through.
Lent.
When less is more;
When the wilderness proves fruitful;
When faith gets tested
and that testing builds character.
40 days in your year to take stock,
rethink,
listen,
deepen,
pray.
Lent.
There’s more to it than giving up Crunchies…..
https://youtu.be/ZDppF0U-SaQ
Sometimes in life we need a bit of help to see better.
Magnifying glasses and microscopes help us see things more closely. Binoculars and telescopes help us see things that are far away. All of them help us see well beyond our natural range.
Today, in Luke 6, Jesus says that we must learn to love our enemies, and that’s going to involve seeing them differently – seeing them through the lens of God’s love. That’s a big ask, and we’re going to need help to do it because it’s well beyond what we can manage naturally!
These are the waters we’re paddling in this morning in our All Age worship.
Money, human needs and desires, justice and compassion, being your own person and going against the flow.
All of these are addressed in what Jesus says to us in today’s reading from an ancient book which, according to some, has absolutely nothing to say to modern people like us…
Luke 6 – the sermon on the plain – is where we’re sitting today.
He was a big man; hands like shovels. Gruff outside, but a good heart inside. Practical. Took things at face value. Trusted his senses. Nobody’s fool. Kept his religion, but kept it at arm’s length, maybe. Did the necessary.
And then one day this guy commandeered his fishing boat and sent him out to the deep waters for the most life-changing catch he was ever going to have.
Peter’s story is there to inform ours. Change happens when we get close to Jesus. When we move from being mere observers –watching from the shoreline - to participants and co-workers in the story he’s telling.
I once heard the Irish poet and writer John O’Donohue say that, for each of us, there are probably about six or seven thoughts in our minds that – to a large extent – have determined how our lives play out. Just six or seven thoughts, he says, and they entirely shape your life.
We’re in similar territory in today’s sermon – thinking about the power that words have over us, for good or for ill, and reminding ourselves that God’s prior word to us in Jesus is the one that should order all others. As we make room to listen for what he speaks into our lives, all the other voices find their place, or are shushed to silence, before the truth he brings us.
Today we read the well-known story of the wedding at Cana where Jesus turned water into wine. But how did Jesus feel at a wedding – seeing this young couple commit to one another for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health? Was there a hint of sadness knowing that he’d never know that kind of love?
I don’t think so because the truth is – Jesus has a bride and the New Testament tells us exactly who she is. Tune in for the big reveal and the trumpet fanfare……
https://youtu.be/pktbWEvnlDY
This Sunday, Harry Burns from ‘When Harry Met Sally’ gives us a way in to talking about why Jesus got baptised and what baptism means for us:
SPOILER !!
At the end of the movie Harry races through the streets of New York to catch up with Sally, the woman who’s been his best friend for years and who he finally realises he loves. He bursts into the New Year’s party she’s attending and confronts her on the dance floor with a declaration of his love that begins a whole new phase in their life together. And – as he tells Sally - it’s not because he’s sad, and it’s not because he’s lonely and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. It’s because “when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible!”
For two millennia, baptism has been that beginning for Christians. Not just a Kodak moment in the church, but the beginning of a Way to live from the cradle to the grave. A way that leads to life, as we become who we are in Jesus through cultivating the good and dying to the bad in our lives.
If you’re baptised, what does your baptism mean to you? How are you living it out?
https://youtu.be/qBzfe_hQspo
Welcome to the Cheeseboard!
You know the little bites at the end of a big meal that fill out the corners?
That’s what this service is – a few wee tasty stories to keep you thinking as we enter a New Year together.
There’s a little extra bit after the benediction this week, so please stay tuned for that too.
Every Blessing for 2022!
Paul
This morning in our Bon Accord service we’re thinking about touch. One of the hardest things about the pandemic has been not being able to hug or hold the ones we love as we normally would.
Touch is such an important way of expressing love, and we see that all throughout the Christmas story. Today we’re remembering that one of the reasons God became a human being in Christ is so he could draw close and genuinely touch people with his words, his hands, his kindness and his healing. That’s what Christmas is all about – God drawing close in ways we can understand.
Today we’ve entered the season of Advent, leading up to Christmas. Some will be remembering the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem; some might even remember that the man Jesus promised to return again at the close of the ages to restore all things – the so called ‘second coming’.
But what about the interim time? What about now? Does Jesus just bookend history (and our lives) or does her pervade it?
This morning we’re remembering that Advent is as much about the present as it is the past or the future. We can know God with us now, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.
https://youtu.be/qU6Vkhwwu14
Ever been on the receiving end of a ‘conversation’ that was one-way traffic?
Did you leave feeling like you’d were nothing more than a conveniently receptive pair of ears?
Have you ever wondered how God feels being on the end of all our prayers? All our talk?
What would prayer be like if we spent more time listening and less talking? And how do you even begin to listen for God anyway?
Some practical help with all of this in this morning’s service from Belhelvie.
Poppies are everywhere just now as we commemorate Remembrance. But do you know why they became the symbol for our national mourning? And did you know that growing vegetables and even flowers in gardens was a part of life in the trenches? And did you know that by ‘magic’ you can turn a flower into a mobility scooter?
One or two surprises in this morning’s annual Remembrance Service…..
https://youtu.be/tbK6UFqu6S4
Today, in response to COP26, we're reflecting on the climate crisis in the light of our faith.
Words can carry a lot of power.
Anyone ever notice something you were doing and thank you for it, or commend you for it?
How did that make you feel?
Anyone ever take you apart and leave you in bits because of something they said, or the way they said it? How did that make you feel?
These things stay with us because our words carry a lot of power.
Today we’re thinking about how to bless others with our words; using them to appreciate, encourage and support one another and not being afraid or embarrassed to say what ought to be said.
Counting our blessings is good thing to do. Blessing others through what we say is even better.
That’s this morning’s service in a nutshell. Hope you enjoy it.
What makes for joy?
Psalm 122 shows us that joy in worship is at least as much about ‘horizontal’ relationships as ‘vertical’ ones. Community – real community where we laugh, play, share, confess and open up to one another – is where joy is found, and also where God is found.
So what can we do as church, to foster genuine community, and know more of that kind of joy in our gathering.
I asked the congregation that question this morning. And if you’re reading this, I’m asking you too.
And it’s not just about how you’d answer, theoretically. It’s about what you’re going to do to be the change that you want to see.
Fast food is taking over the world, but don’t our hearts yearn for slow food? Taking time over cooking, eating and meeting together?
Today we’re remembering that the Scriptures have been given to us as food for the soul, and that when we read them slowly, meditatively and prayerfully, they will bring us the nourishment we need for our daily living.
“The dying leaves of a hundred million autumns have formed the soil from which our crops spring. To sink a blade into the ground is to slice through time itself.” (Maria Boulding)
If creation doesn’t make us wonder, we’re probably not looking at it closely enough.
Today in our Harvest Service we’re celebrating creation and allowing our wonder to draw us into thankfulness towards the one who has made it. People have always encountered God through the glory of what’s been made; now, through Christ – God drawing close - we can put a name to that God and know him not just as creator, but also as redeemer and friend.
We hate them. We want them dead. Or if not dead, at least out of our faces and out of our lives.
Enemies.
How do you feel about yours?
And how do you feel when Jesus tells us that the only way to really overcome your enemy is to love them until the enmity breaks down?
A tough teaching from Luke 6 this morning.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. (Rev Dr Martin Luther King).
https://youtu.be/K1FJPrE0TCo
We’ve had it tough the past couple of years, but not as tough as some folk have it all the time.
Today we had a visit from Rachel Johns who works for Compassion UK and who spoke about their work supporting children and their families in the developing world.
For about half the cost of a monthly Sky TV subscription you could sponsor a child and make sure they get the nutrition, support and education that can help lift them out of poverty and have a hopeful future.
Or if that seems like too much, could you consider a one-off donation to help Compassion UK in their work?
To hear more, join us for this morning’s service at
https://youtu.be/j2Iij17s1ko
or check out Compassion UK’s website at
https://www.compassionuk.org/
Ever tried to do a jigsaw without seeing the picture on the box?
Not easy.
Today I’m suggesting that becoming truly human is similar. We’re all just trying to piece together the bits that we can as best we can – but wouldn’t it be great if we knew where it was all going? What the picture on the box actually looks like?
What does it mean to be truly human?
Jesus tells us.
Jesus shows us.
And more than that, Jesus is always working to help us get there, if we’ll let him.
Another good word to chew on from John chapter 5 this morning.
https://youtu.be/LWssdb0nIFA
“Do you want to get well?”
What a stupid question to ask someone who’s had a debilitating illness for 38 years…!
And yet, when it’s Jesus who’s doing the asking, we might rightly suspect that it’s not a stupid question. It might be exactly the one that the man needs to be asked.
What does it mean to be well? What happens when you get locked into a negative way of viewing your life that you can’t escape from?
These are the waters we’re swimming in this morning. Come and join us.
https://youtu.be/MWDEnVYNfx4
“When the restaurant door swung open and John Blanchard stood there in his military uniform, bemusedly scanning the room for the woman in the green suit, she knew all that she needed to know about him. This was a man who was worthy of her trust. This one would be with her, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, through all the thick and thin of living. This one really meant it.”
That’s how the sermon ended today, and the point I was trying to get across – through a lovely human story - is that none of us want to be half-loved, partly known or vaguely appreciated.
We mean everything to God. So when we profess faith, God wants us to mean it just as much in return.
You can catch the service at –
https://youtu.be/3sUe6rwLE6o
One of the best things about Jesus is that he takes people as he finds them rather than going with the herd and accepting the labels that we all-too-readily slap on one another.
He doesn’t judge the woman at the well for her choices, as her neighbours do. ‘Five husbands and now onto her sixth!” they say, scapegoating her. Instead, he helps her begin to see that she’s thirsty for something the world can’t give her. A pure, genuine, unconditional love that wills only the best for her. Knowing that you’re loved that way changes everything. It did for her – and it can for you and me.
Ever been overlooked? Mis-judged? Caricatured? Talked down to?
Then you’ll know how significant a thing it is when someone actually takes the time to treat you as a person, and dignifies you by dealing with you as a fellow human being.
The woman in today’s story was used to being ignored or gossiped about. She wasn’t used to being asked for help – especially not by a male stranger from a different, hostile culture. But that simple, humane request for help opened up possibilities she would never have dreamed of. And we’re still telling her story two thousand years later.
Part two of a series on the Woman at the Well today, using resources from my friend and colleague Paul Grant.
https://youtu.be/eblelWcEQWM
When she moved through the crowd she could feel the weight of people’s eyes on her; judging her. They had her boxed and labelled. ‘Trouble. Wanton. Worthless’. After a while she’d only go out at the times when everyone else wasn’t around.
None of them bothered to see beyond the facts to try and understand the reasons her life had turned out the way it had. None of them made any effort to get to know the person behind the caricature they had of her in their minds.
None, until that day by the well when he gently confronted her with the painful truth of her life, but didn’t condemn her for it. He met her exactly where she was in the mess that life had become, but from there he led her somewhere new. And he wants to do the same for us in the places where we’re finding life hard too.
Lessons from Foetini – the woman at the well – as we read about her in John chapter 4.
If you pay attention to yourself and to the people around you, it isn’t long before you start noticing what seems to be a universal truth about human beings. We’re wistful.
We go on holiday, and we come back a little sad that it’s over and wistful for our next one.
Or we find ourselves reminiscing about the past and being wistful for better times and a more simple life.
Or we find ourselves wondering what our lives might have been if we’d made other choices, or things had turned out differently in our lives. What would that future have looked like, we wonder.
If we allow it to, that wistfulness can tell us something. It tells us that we were made for more than we’ve yet known. And today, in John’s gospel, Jesus puts a name to our longing. He calls it ‘eternal life’. And it’s not about harps and clouds and pearly gates, but about a vital connection to the source of all life – God himself – which can begin now, for anyone.
Part of life in the world is knowing that one day our life is going to end.
How do we deal with that – our ‘perishing’? Is this the natural state of things, or is this not how things are meant to be?
What hope is there in the face of our own mortality?
Some answers, and reasons to hope today, from John 3:16.
https://youtu.be/hzirUDQSPiM
I believe it might rain today.
I believe that the responsible thing to do at the moment is to wear a mask.
I believe in you.
I believe Scotland’s football team are going in the right direction.
I believe in God.
Tricky word, ‘believe’ – it can mean a whole lot of things to a whole lot of people.
What does God mean when he calls us to believe in Jesus?
Just believe that he exists? Believe things about him?
The answer is a whole lot more than either of those, and that’s what we’re getting into this morning.
https://youtu.be/5iWixzah5Uc
On Fathers’ Day we’re thinking about the things that kids can teach us like learning to really listen, practicing what we preach and making sure we prioritise the right things in life.
You can join us at the link below.
https://youtu.be/oPDJKs83aIc
A good gift says something about the heart of the giver.
This is why fridge doors across the world are covered with substandard kids’ artwork (‘this is for you, mum!’) and why the gifts that mean most to us are often not the most valuable ones!
Gifts are about relationships and the most valuable thing a person can give anyone else is themselves. That’s what marriage, parenthood, friendship and service are all about.
In John 3:16, Jesus tells us that God gave the world his only Son. That tells us something – it tells us how much God loves us and how much he wants us to know him.
That’s where we’re heading in this morning’s service.
This Sunday is our annual Elders' service and is led by Carole Winter and Ian and Elizabeth Mackenzie. We also farewell one of our longstanding members Margaret Murison after 61 years living in our parish.
https://youtu.be/mRYOomkY7tg
“For God so loved the world….” Jesus says in John 3:16 – the most famous verse in all the Bible.
But do we really believe him?
Many of us were brought up to think that God only loves the ‘good people’ (whoever they are), or ‘folk like us’, or the ones who are consciously trying to live in step with him.
Jesus pushes us beyond that this morning. He reminds us that it’s the WORLD, not a narrow section of it, which is the object of God’s love. And whatever God has to say to us about how we’ve lived, for good or for ill, he says it in the context of that parental love.
This is the first part in a series on John 3:16. Hope you can join us.
https://youtu.be/-IJH7Wh8h7s
This is normally the time of year we start digging out, or buying, sunglasses. According to John 3 there’s another essential piece of eye-wear we need to get our hands on - God goggles. A way of viewing the world, others and ourselves from God’s perspective, not merely our own.
“No-one can see the Kingdom unless they are born from above” Jesus tells Nicodemus in John chapter 3. In other words, if you want to get in on what God’s doing, you’re going to need to get yourself some God goggles…….
But how.....???
Psalms that talk about enemies, and the need to be delivered from them can leave us a feeling a bit disengaged. Life’s not like that for most of us.
But fear, anxiety, despair, illness and guilt are enemies too – things that can have the power to overtake and stifle our lives. How does God help us when those things cast a shadow on our hearts?
Psalm 59 tell us.
https://youtu.be/MKu9NjfhYEI
This morning marks the start of Christian Aid week.
We’ve all had a difficult year because of the pandemic, but we’re only now beginning to see how much more difficult it is in countries which aren’t blessed with the kind of infrastructure we have in the United Kingdom.
Why should we care and why should we help? The simple answer is that as Christians we’re called to bless the world with the same love we’ve been loved with – God’s agape (unconditional) love. This kind of love is about the heart of the giver, not the merit or deservingness of the one who receives. It’s about generosity and grace, not calculation and reciprocity.
This kind of love, John tells us in today’s reading, is the hallmark of those who are of God’s family.
This kind of love expresses the values of the Kingdom for which we pray, Sunday by Sunday.
Service Link here
https://youtu.be/NhTKrpOVIaI
To support Christian Aid this week – you can:
Follow the link below to Christian Aid’s coronavirus appeal and make a donation:
https://www.christianaid.org.uk/appeals/emergencies/coronavirus-emergency-appeal
Come to church next Sunday ready to make a cash donation
OR Sign up for our Christian Aid Fundraising Quiz on Zoom, this Friday, 14th, at 7:30pm and make a donation in lieu of your entry fee. If you’re interested let me know and I can pass on the details of the Zoom meeting.
Whether we believe or not, all of us will have an ‘image’ of Jesus in our mind.
What are those images actually based on? Do they take full account of his humanity as well as his divinity?
In today’s story, from John chapter 2, we see what happens when God goes to a wedding.
Spoiler alert – it’s both very human and very divine.
Today’s reading from John’s gospel takes us into the world of our assumptions – the views and attitudes we hold without ever questioning them.
“If we assume, we don’t have to get into the messy business of finding out the truth because we think we already know it. If we assume, we don’t have to ask or listen, or have our assumptions challenged because we think we already understand perfectly well. Just like Nathanael knew perfectly well there was no way the Messiah could come from Nazareth.”
The only problem was, Nathanael was 100% wrong.
Ready to have some assumptions questioned? Listen on!
What do you want?" Jesus asks two of John's disciples who start following him one afternoon. On the surface, it's an ordinary question that led to an afternoon of conversation. Looking deeper, it's a profound question that asks us what we're really looking for in life. Love, security, happiness, purpose, and relationships are all good things in and of themselves, but when we make the pursuit of those things our prime goal it's easy to go wrong. Jesus offers us a different pathway - he says "seek first God's kingdom, and all these things will be added unto you".
Paul's on holiday this weekend, so we hope you enjoy this alternative service curated by this year's Moderator, Rev Dr Martin Fair.
Hallelujiah! Christ is risen!
Welcome to our Easter Sunday service where we’ll be thinking about what God likes to do on the first day of the week, what it means that the tomb was empty and why Mary wasn’t far off the mark when she mistook Jesus for a gardener.
We’ll also be looking at some snaps folk have sent in that show new life in our own parish.
Hope you can join us, and Happy Easter!
For kids –
A couple of songs and some craft activities from the ever fabulous Fischy Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1ebYeTjH1M&ab_channel=FischyMusic
A wee cartoon telling the story of Good Friday through to Easter Sunday. Never graphic, but does tell the story as it happened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL8R158Ujp4&ab_channel=SaddlebackKids
We know what glory looks like. It looks like shining, power and triumph. How then, can Christ call the cross his 'glorification' in John's gospel. What kind of strange glory is this?
So it’s Palm Sunday and after the tickertape parade ‘gentle Jesus meek and mild’ throws over the moneychangers’ tables and drives the animals sold for sacrifice out of the Temple Courts. Why was he so angry, and what was he trying to say?
Many of us had big plans keep busy and active in lockdown. I wonder how many of your goals you managed to achieve over the last year? Yet because this has been such a long stretch, a more important question is how lockdown has affected how you are and who you’re becoming in these challenging times.
Today’s reading in John (John 1:10-18) is about change; and the change that Jesus offers us is one that is never forced upon us, but one that we have to choose. It’s in opening our lives to him and his influence that we begin to grow into the people we were always meant to be; the beloved ones God already has in his mind’s eye.
https://youtu.be/OAR2Ca9_GE8
You’re not called to live anyone else’s story. You’re called to let the light shine through YOU – your personality, your character – to God’s glory. John the Baptist, Isaac Newton, a famous album cover and a few signposts are pointing the way this Sunday as we continue our studies in John's gospel.
We know the score here in the North East – 3 days of sun and then the haar rolls in! We love the sunlight when it come, and we miss it when the clouds get in the way. John tells us that light came into the world in Christ – and today we’re thinking about what that actually means. What does Christ do for us as light, and how can we get in on it?
For Kids – Jesus as the light of the world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd-783mpOjs&ab_channel=Children%27sMinistryDeals
Our lack and our longings suggest that what we know of life isn’t all that there is to know. We sense that there’s more, somehow; but we don’t know where to find it.
John tells us where to look - “In him was life” he says, “and the life was the light of all people”.
He’s letting us know that the ‘more’ we’re looking for has a name. And you already know it……
This Sunday –
Overtures and what it takes to say a Word, the Trinity, Stephen King’s Gunslinger, knowing you’re loved and remembering the face of your Father. All this and more from the first few verses of John. Hope to see you there.
Morning folks. This is the second of three services led by the Moderator, Rev Martin Fair. With the feast of the Epiphany just past, we're thinking about the Wise Men and their finding Jesus in the most unlikely of places.
This year's Moderator, Martin Fair, is kindly providing three online services for use throughout the Church of Scotland at the turn of the year. This is the first.
A lighter bite this morning on our last service of 2020. A few tasty story morsels to enjoy.
Happy New Year!
Such a shame we can't be together in the leisure centre as usual, but here's a wee service in the same spirit. Hope you enjoy it! Every blessing for Christmas and the New Year!
Paul
Welcome to our Nativity Service. We hope you enjoy it!
We're also thinking about the O Antiphon 'O Oriens' this morning - where Christ is anticipated as the Morning Star. What were the prophets getting at when they made that connection? Watch on to find out.
Special guest appearances by Emperor Boris Augustus, several sheep, a LITERAL baby in a manger (thanks Lauchlan!), some dubiously/fantastically costumed 'wise' men, dancing angels, staring shepherds, a Potterton Mary and Joseph and a cameo appearance later in the service by U2. It was nice of them to make the time for us.
Remember to join us live or on-line for our Family Service at 4pm on Christmas Eve and Watchnight at 11pm on Christmas Eve.
Happy Christmas!
PS – a big thanks to those online viewers who have reached out over the past few weeks to offer thanks for these service, and support the work of our church financially. It’s been greatly appreciated.
This Sunday’s Antiphon is ‘O Clavis’ – thinking of Jesus as the Key. What does he set us free from? What does he set us free for? This morning we’re looking at the big picture – Christ’s liberation of humankind - but also bringing it down to the level of everyday life: what do we need ‘freed’ from and how do we live well in the world?
This Sunday we’re thinking about the antiphon ‘O Radix’ – which means the Root. Christ was the new shoot from the family line of David and his father Jesse, and sprung up at a time when Israel really lacked hope. Are there new shoots appearing in your life at this time, or do you wish that there could be? If so, today’s service has something in it for you.
This morning is the First Sunday in Advent and over the next few weeks we’re going to be looking at some ancient prayer hymns called the ‘O Antiphons’. Each one is lifted from an Old Testament allusion to the coming Messiah – the King, the Key, the Light, Wisdom and so on. The Old Testament prophets didn’t know the name of the one who was to come, but they knew the character they longed to see in the Messiah.
On the other side of the first Christmas we are blessed to know his name! Jesus, who is the Christ – the Messiah.
Today’s antiphon is ‘O Adonai’, which means ‘O, Lord’. From a couple of stories in Moses’ life I’m arguing that knowing God personally brings us two things – wonder and a way – a way of navigating through life in faithfulness.
I hope you can join us.
Tonight we are also having our Christingle service which can be found on YouTube or the Belhelvie Church website or Facebook Page.
What do Billy Bailey’s dancing, Hermine’s Jelly Cake, Niagara Falls, a newborn baby and 9/11 have in common?
I’m not telling you.
You’re just going to have to tune in to our Sunday service to find out…..
The writer Anne Lamott says that all her praying can be summed up in three words – ‘Help, Thanks and Wow!’.
Today we’re thinking about thankfulness. Sometimes it comes naturally, sometimes (like now?) we have to look hard and dig deep to find things to be thankful for.
Wherever you’re at just now – we’d love you to join us for worship this morning, trusting that the God who is with us will draw near to us as we draw near to him.
https://youtu.be/yG99XloldHU
With Kids –
Craft idea – Make a thankful tree! https://images.app.goo.gl/Fa31XQRaDm4vX77AA
Bible story about thankfulness – the thankful leper: https://sermons4kids.com/thankful_leper.htm
Today we begin with a short Act of Remembrance which we worked on with the local Scout groups and our thanks to the leaders and the young people for pulling this together so effectively. This includes the reading of names on the war memorial and the two minutes silence. Our Remembrance Service follows and we're reflecting on four real-life experiences of war from the perspectives of a child, a young bride left at home, a veteran and a nurse serving in a field hospital. The common thread that runs through them all is how they were blessed by love going out to them in their particular times of need. Christians hold that Jesus is God, perpetually going out to us in love - revealing God's character and drawing close to us in our human need.
Today we're looking at Psalm 40; prayer; asking for help and why it's hard; why the help we want isn't always the help we need and why God's surprisingly ambivalent about the whole sacrifice thing but is passionate about being in relationship with us. Plus a bit of U2 thrown in for good measure.
Think of the 23rd Psalm. What images come into your mind?
Chances are it’s sheep and green fields and still waters, which is all well and good. But those are only the first three verses of a six verse Psalm and they need the context of the whole Psalm if we’re to understand what David’s saying to us about his experience of God: faith isn’t escapism. It’s peace in the midst of troubles. That’s where we’re heading this morning.
https://youtu.be/56jeY1Agi9g
Today’s our Harvest service and we’re thinking about the ways in which good farmers reflect something of the nature and character of God in the way they tend and steward the land. Our text is Isaiah 28:23-29
Also featuring carrots which look like Quasimodo (of which I am deeply ashamed), a new Harvest song and a montage of your most excellent Harvest/nature related photos.
"He himself was not the light. He came as a witness to the light." (John Chapter 1 verse 8)
So too with us - we're called to place ourselves in the light and let God's light shine through us.
God asks no more of us. But he asks no less.
“Help me Obi Wan Kenobi – you’re my only hope.”
“I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?”
Star Wars and Psalm 121. Not as far apart as you might first think.
Why?
Because everybody needs a little help now and again.
Our service this morning focuses on the courage of a young slave girl who helped her master Naaman find healing from leprosy. It reminds us that anyone with the right attitude can be used by God for his glory.
In this morning’s service we’re looking at the importance of speaking up for truth and justice, based on Nathan's rebuke of King David in 2 Samuel 12.
We may not be movers and shakers, but we all have it within us to influence the culture in ways that reflect the character of God and the ways of God's Kingdom. What would it mean for you to be salt and light in the places where you live, work, and re-create?
In this morning’s service, based on Acts 3:1-10. we are thinking about how can we minister grace and love in the places we already are and it boils down to three things – noticing , taking the initiative, and doing what you can to help.
We're thinking about vocation this morning and the fact that you - yes you! - already have one, whatever your age and stage of life. Hope you can join us.
Your life isn't just your own - you're called to live it with and for others to the glory of God.
Mindfulness is great - but Soufulness goes further. Encountering not just silence and calm, but the God who meets us there.
Congregations across Scotland will be joining together-remotely-for a special Pentecost service on 31 May.
Rt Rev Dr Martin Fair will be hosting the service which will include worship, prayers, music, a sermon, Bible readings, and will close with the Moderator’s wife Mrs Elaine Fair singing The Blessing.
The Moderator is encouraging congregations and people of faith across Scotland, and beyond, to join together in worship as a whole church.
“Pentecost Sunday is an opportunity to rejoice in the birth of the church and to celebrate our togetherness as a church family,” Dr Fair said.
“It was the coming of the Spirit upon those first disciples that brought the church to life, with power and passion - and the same Spirit unites us still.”
“Even though we cannot be together in person, we can be together in spirit. We can share in the same worship, pray together using the same words, be inspired together by the same Bible verses and affirm our unity as the body of Christ here on earth.
"Ordinarily, the worship of the Church is offered locally, rightly so. But it seems to me that in these present circumstances there is merit in giving over one Sunday to come together.”
The Moderator will open the service and invite you to worship. Others taking part will include: Rev Fran Henderson, minister in Shetland; Rev William Boyle of Port Glasgow, New Parish Church; Ann Lyall, DCS from Glasgow; and Rev Ruth Morrison, of Clydebank Waterfront.
The musical offerings will feature hymns and songs from across Scotland including:
- Rev Jonathan Fleming of St. John’s Largs and Cumbrae and his family
- the worship team at Fullarton Parish Church
- junior choir members from Aberfeldy
- the worship team at Chryston Church of Scotland
"It is not good for the man to be alone" - (Genesis 2)
Are the black screens helping or hindering us when it comes to loneliness?
Sermon on Matthew 5:1-20, the Gerasene Demoniac. Why were the locals afraid when the man was made well? Because Jesus had rocked the economic boat and exposed them to spiritual power they had no frame of reference for.
Setting the scene for the Path of Renewal process using Ezekiel 37:1-10. 'Can these bones live?'
Matthew 6:19-23.
The synergy between our hearts and our eyes. What we see affects our hearts, and the condition of our hearts determines what we're able to see.
Fixing our eyes on Christ (beholding) increases our ability to see with a more loving eye.