Kinlochleven Church - the next service is on Sunday 21 December at 10.00 am led by the Rev. Malcolm Kinnear.
Duror Church - the next service is on Sunday 28 December at 10.30 am led by the Rev. Marion Kinnear.
Nether Lochaber Church - the next service is on Sunday 21 December at 11.30 am led by the Rev. Malcolm Kinnear.
Ballachulish Village Hall - Sunday 14 December at 7.00 pm. Carol Service.
South Lochaber Parish :
Bible Study - on 6 January at 10.45 in Jeremy's home - continuing on "Joseph".
Bible Study - Kinlochleven at 11.00 am. on Friday 19 December at 11.00 am.
Sunday 14 December 2025 South Lochaber Church Advent 3 - available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/W-qDXIzanm0
Opening Verse ‘Your joy will be complete’ (John 16:24)
Hymn
Joy to the world; the Lord is come;
let earth receive her King;
Let ev'ry heart prepare him room,
And heav'n and nature sing.
Joy to the earth, the Saviour reigns;
Our mortal songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains,
Repeat the sounding joy.
Prayer Lord of all, we celebrate our Saviour’s birth, help us experience the joy of the
salvation that he wrought, and pray in his name Amen.
Bible Reading Luke 1:26-31, 39-44 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel said, “Greetings. The Lord is with you.” Mary was troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son. You are to call him Jesus. Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. Elizabeth heard Mary. The baby leaped in her womb. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear! Why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
Message In days past in the Western Isles on Christmas night young men went about from house to house chanting Christmas songs. They were called 'goiseran,' guisers, 'firduan,' song men, 'Gillean Nollaig,' Christmas lads, 'nuillairean,' rejoicers, and other names. One song had these words, ‘let there be joy…this night born is the Son of Mary’.
Joy is associated with the coming of Jesus. The shepherds were told by the angel of news of great joy. Christmas is a happy event. Believers are told to rejoice. This might seem a tall order, when life for us often does not feel very jolly. Even so we can find God’s supernatural gift of joy as we share in the risen life of his Son. Joy is given to us as a gift. It is part of the fruit of the Spirit. It grows from God’s fatherly kindness. It comes from knowing that we are caught up in the hope of the gospel and are called to share in God’s everlasting glory.
The Christmas story involves journeys, Mary to visit Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, shepherds and wise men. If we plan journeys around Christmas, we soon realize that Christmas blessings demand time and effort. If we are using public transport we need to be on time. In 1853 a Glasgow writer John Lyon wrote a collection of poems and hymns, The Harp of Zion. One is ‘Be in time’ with the words: ‘Now the Gospel train's at hand, be in time, be in time; now the Gospel train's at hand, be in time; Crowds at the station stand, with passports in their hand, to start for Zion's land, be in time’. This makes sense. We can come on board, and are bound for a heavenly destination, caught up in the gospel of salvation. Through claiming the salvation won by Jesus we have boarded the gospel train.
Mary and Elizabeth were both certainly caught up in a great move of God. It involved them in a deeply personal way. They were well suited to supporting each other in a shared understanding. Perhaps we are ideally placed to offer support and friendship to someone who is going through a personal challenge.
Christmas music and Christmas carols fill the airways and shopping malls. Joy does not come from singing carols; it comes from the experiences and facts they retell. Even so, familiar carols help to remind us of the joyful message. We should make the most of them.
Elizabeth and Mary did not imagine they were blessed through any claim of their own to God’s favours. We do well when we realize that God prefers humility to an attitude of superiority.
Prayer Give me a servant heart, Lord. Let it be to me according to your Word. Amen.