Kinlochleven Church - the next service is on Sunday 23 November at 10.00 am led by the Rev. Malcolm Kinnear.
Duror Church - the next service is on Sunday 14 December at 10.30 am led by the Rev. Marion Kinnear.
Nether Lochaber Church - the next service is on Sunday 23 November at 11.30 am led by the Rev. Malcolm Kinnear combined with Duror and a visit of the Mission Partners, Keith and Ida Waddell.
South Lochaber Parish :
Bible Study - on 25 November at 10.45 in Jeremy's home - starting on "Joseph".
Bible Study - Kinlochleven at 11.00 am. on Friday 28 November at 11.00 am.
Sunday 16 November 2025 South Lochaber Church - available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/d2E0mxYwTP0
Opening Verse ‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us’ (John 1:14)
Paraphrase 67 From heaven the new Jerus'lem came,
for Christ, as bride prepared.
A voice resounding from the throne
these wondrous things declared:
"Now God has come to dwell with men,
and moved his blest abode.
His people they shall be at last,
and he shall be their God.
Prayer God of love and mercy, you alone are the source of our hope and the author of happiness, for Christ’s sake renew our joy, Amen.
Bible Reading Revelation 21:2-5 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”
Message One early translation of the New Testament into Scottish Gaelic was begun by Ewen MacEachen from Arisaig, and completed by 1875 by two later Gaelic scholars. One was Donald Macpherson, a Lochaber man, who also compiled Gaelic poetry, drawing for this on various local contacts, including Alex Macintosh of Invercoe House.
A key word in this passage is ‘new’, which in the Gaelic is ùr, which has the sense of ‘new, recent, made fresh’. The original Greek word behind it, ‘kainos’ means new not in the sense of something entirely different, but of something transformed, has become gloriously different, but in continuity with what has been. The whole passage speaks of a blessed reality that can be experienced now through faith.
Its fuller unveiling, however, will not be until the end of time. This is about the presence of God with us. He is God with us, which is the very meaning of the name given to Jesus at his birth, ‘Emmanuel’. At the end of Matthew’s gospel we are told that Jesus reassured his disciples, ‘Lo, I am with you to the end of the age’. We worship a God who dwells with us, who wants to maintain fellowship with us. Here we see something of God’s loving nature. He has overturned the results of the fall that led to Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden. The way back has been made possible. The long reign of darkness and the grave is overturned. God has come to comfort his people. This is not just a general feeling, but a plan to pardon and set free, to guide us gently by his loving hand, and to uphold us. God comes to discouraged people with his word of grace.
He makes things new. Jesus teaches a new commandment, ‘that you love another, as I have loved you’. It is new because Christ’s way of loving us gives fresh insight into what brotherly love is, and challenges us to turn self-concern into concern for others.
The church is summoned to sing ‘a new song’ in honour of the Saviour (Revelation 5:9). Our worship rightly draws on old and new, because the Spirit of God refreshes us and inspires song as the work of God takes different shape in each generation.
Christian life is based on a new self, a new identity, a fresh way of life through a daily process of renewal, through the power of Jesus and in the power of the Spirit. It is allowing God to do his work of making things new as we offer ourselves to him. ‘If any man is in Christ he is a new creation, all things are become new’ (2 Corinthians 5:17). That new identity is to be celebrated. There is continuity with the past, but something much better is coming into shape. The result is living in community with God and with one another. The long silence has ended, and we are discovering true fellowship. The picture of a bride ready for her husband suggests the joy of happy marriage; joy is to replace our sorrow.
Prayer Lord Jesus, ever old and ever new, from the old things to the new, keep me travelling along with you. Amen.