Kinlochleven Church - the next service is on Sunday 22 February at 10.00 am led by the Rev. Malcolm Kinnear.
Duror Church - the next service is on Sunday 22 February at 10.30 am led by the Rev. Marion Kinnear.
Nether Lochaber Church - the next service is on Sunday 15 1 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 February at 10.45 in Jeremy's home - continues on "Joseph".
Bible Study - Kinlochleven on Friday 20 February at 11.00 am.
Sunday 15 February 2026 South Lochaber Church - available on YouTube at -
Opening Verse ‘You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. (Psalm 119:4)
Hymn
I take salvation full and free,
Through Him who gave His life for me,
he undertakes my all to be,
"I take" — "He undertakes."
I take Thee, blessed Lord,
I give myself to Thee,
And Thou, according to Thy word,
dost undertake for me.
Prayer Lord of all kindness, your law is perfect. Help me to live by it, grow in grace and reflect your goodness, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Bible Reading Exodus 24:4-7, 27-28 Moses chiselled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
Message At the anniversary of the Glencoe Massacre, every year on February 13th, people gather around a stone monument that was put up in memory of McIan chief of the MacDonalds of Glencoe. He fell with many of his people on that sad day in 1692. There are on it the words ‘their memory liveth for evermore’, and ‘Nec tempore nec fato’: meaning ‘Neither Time nor Fate’. The rallying call of Clan Donald was ‘Remember Glencoe’. There are black crosses, symbols of the faith, loyalty and beliefs that held the clan together. The stone memorial and the high cross next to it recall that faith and memory.
Moses carried the stone tablets which were to carry words that spoke not simply of the commandments but of God’s covenant love and loyalty to his people. The law God gave to Moses was above all a revelation of the divine character. It spoke of a God abounding in love and mercy. He proved his mercy by forgiving the people of Israel, though after they started worshipping an idol, a golden calf. God remains faithful even when we are not. He pledges himself to us his people. The requirement to live a life that is righteous, in love and purity is really like our response to the divine initiative.
Moses was forty days in the mountain. There he spent time in worship and prayer, and abstaining from food and drink. God came down. The renewing of God’s covenant came at the end of that. Soon we come into the period we call Lent. Forty days which relate to this passage and to the time Jesus fasted in the wilderness. It is an opportunity to renew our faith as we prepare for the Easter celebration of the new covenant arising from Christ’s death and resurrection. The Old Testament is a covenant of promise, it is fulfilled in the New.
Lent is a reminder that we need to get right with God and with those around us. We can’t worship God in a right way if we are harbouring grudges and resentments against others. We are to remember that God in Christ sees into our heart. He can and wants to make us pure and kind within by the power of Jesus and his Spirit. We need to accept the grace and help he gives, opening our minds and praying to receive all that his salvation means. Christ delivers us from the realm of petty resentments and bitterness that disturbs our minds and distract us. Moses had to overcome his anger at the people. He helped them return to right worship and godly living. We too can live as a forgiven and a restored people.
God is abundant in ‘goodness and truth’. That word translated ‘truth’ also has the meaning of faithfulness, trustworthiness, stability. God is all of this and more. He can be relied on to meet us in our greatest need.
Prayer Lord of love, help me to live in the power of the new nature, and live in obedience to your Word, in Jesus’ name, Amen.