Kinlochleven Church - the next service is on Sunday, 7 September at 10.00 am led by the Rev. Malcolm Kinnear.
Duror Church - the next service is on Sunday 14 September at 10.30 am led by the Rev. M Kinnear.
Nether Lochaber Church - the next service is on Sunday 7 September at 11.30 am led by the Rev. Malcolm Kinnear.
South Lochaber Parish :
Bible Study - on 9 September at 10.45 in the home of Tony and Freda Walters.
Bible Study - Kinlochleven at 11.00 am. on Friday 5 September at 11.00 am.
Sunday 31 August 2025 South Lochaber Church - available on YouTube at
Hymn 1 Be still and know that I am God. (x 3) 2 I am the Lord who heals you. (x3) 3 In you O Lord I put my trust. (x3)
Prayer Lord Jesus help me be like you, the generous host, loving and caring. Give me the
humility to receive your abundant mercy. Amen.
Bible Reading Luke 14:1-14 One Sabbath Jesus was invited to a prominent Pharisee’s house. He was being carefully watched. There was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” They remained silent. Taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” They had nothing to say. When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honour at the table, he told them this parable: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honour, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honoured before the other guests. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbours; they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.
Message Before the days that running water was piped into houses people relied on public and private wells, some of which had pumps.
We are so used to metal pipes for water. Wooden pipes were in use at one stage in history. Wells are now much a thing of the past. Columba of Iona has a well named after him in Ardnamurchan at Camus nan Geall, he performed a baptism there having travelled from Morven.
Jesus answered critics who objected to him healing on a Sabbath. If his critics saw their child or ox fall into a well on a Sabbath they would have come to the rescue. The Lord’s Day is a day when the Lord delights to come to us. He comes to the rescue. He heals, blesses, he restores. We should approach the Lord’s Day with an expectation that he will do these things for us. It must have been quite disconcerting for Jesus to function when people were watching him, and disapproving. It should make us reflect on how our attitudes affects our demeanour and how this might impact negatively on those around us.
Jesus went on to teach about attitudes surrounding invitations to meals or parties. A person’s motives can be entirely self-seeking, if they invite people in the hope that it will somehow help them advance in the world. Jesus said, invite the poor and those with disabilities. You will be blessed in a different way. We learn to follow Jesus who befriended those who were left out, and rejected. At a party don’t be too keen to be at the place of honour. True dignity is gained through the way that we act as servants to one another.
Jesus used the idea of a feast to tach of his coming kingdom. We are invited to a heavenly banquet. The reality of the Kingdom of God has come to us now. We can enter now into God’s new creation, which has come into this world in Jesus. We can receive its blessings. We are invited into God’s kingdom through Jesus. We can enter now and claim our eternal destiny and have the assurance that we belong to Jesus. The love of God is offered to us, and the heart of God is waiting for us. God is waiting and as we respond and receive from him, he has all the power and the grace and the willingness to meet our every need. He comes willingly in Jesus to bless and to heal, to restore and forgive.
Prayer When others lack love and compassion, help us, Lord. When we hurt others, forgive us, and change us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.