Kinlochleven Church - the next service is on Sunday 15 March at 10.00 am led by the Rev. Malcolm Kinnear.
Duror Church - the next service is on Sunday 22 March at 10.30 am led by the Rev. Marion Kinnear.
Nether Lochaber Church - the next service is on Sunday 15 March at 11.30 am led by the Rev. Malcolm Kinnear and held in the church hall with tea and coffee to follow.
South Lochaber Parish :
Bible Study - on 17 March at 10.45 in Jeremy's home - continues on "Joseph".
Bible Study - Kinlochleven on Friday 27 March at 11.00 am.
Sunday 8 March 2026 South Lochaber Church - Available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/KY6OUK2vowQ
Opening Verse ‘The river of the water of life from the throne of God’. (Revelation 22:1)
Chorus
Trust and obey,
for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus
but to trust and obey.
Prayer Lord, you are good. I know it’s true. When I think of your love for me, I can sing and shout it, and celebrate, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Bible Reading John 4:5-15 Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” Jews did not share things in common with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Message Rev Alexander Stewart, ‘Nether Lochaber’, was once invited by Allan Macnaughton, the medical officer in Easdale, to go with him to explore two brochs, ancient defensive structures, ruins, on the island of Luing. It was a warm day. They found a supply of clear and cool water, supplied from a crevice in a rock. There they quenched their thirst. Dr Macnaughton named it ‘Nether Lochaber’s Well’.
Jesus conversed with a woman at a well. Jesus was tired out by his journey. He opened the conversation by asking for a drink. Jesus could probably have taken a drink of water without her help, but he sensed that this woman had a need and was ready to hear how her life could be put on a better footing. This was the grace of God reaching out in love and mercy to broken humanity. If we read on in the chapter, we learn that this woman had gone through five failed marriages and was now with another man, who was not her husband. Jesus can touch such a person and bring a person into newness of life. There was no sense of harshness in the words of Jesus. In compassion he offers the waters of life. Here is the answer to the intense longing of the soul for the living God. Before her was a man from God, the Son of God, whose incarnate life could put her sorry life to rights. The words of Jesus and his offer are also for us and people of every generation.
Sometimes people in a zest for life have looked in all the wrong places for fulfilment, and are drawn by money, by the lure of powerful individuals, and by a series of short-lived relationships. This is not where true happiness lies. In Jesus we have a Saviour who can break into our isolation and our self-centredness. He exposes a person’s sinfulness. He invites us to identify the source of the searching love of God. The woman at the well spoke of how she had heard of the one who was coming, called Christ. Jesus answered, telling her that this very person was standing before her.
In dry places water bursts forth from a rock. In scripture this describes the power of God. In God’s overture of friendship, he reaches out in forgiveness and healing, offering joy through the power of God the Holy Spirit. The Spirit renews life and makes us better people. We all have choices. We can drink the salt waters of unhealthy pleasures but far better to drink of the fresh life-giving waters that come from God.
Prayer God of love, free us from whatever holds us back from drinking deeply at the well of salvation, and from following Jesus. Amen.