- Video: Presbytery of Buchan – some congregational stories:
(Crimond and Lonmay represented by Mr Tim Barker)
Lonmay Newsletter 24
Welcome to this edition of the Lonmay Newsletter.
It is fantastic news to share that, God Willing, next Sunday 30 August, we are able to meet at 12 noon for a service. Your district Elder will be updating you with all the details, so I will not duplicate them here. There are three points to share with you:
- It is quite understandable and acceptable that some people feel unable to attend at this stage due to the continuing impact of the virus.
- It is also understandable and acceptable that some people feel that they would rather wait until ‘normal’ service can be resumed.
- To those who are contemplating coming to church please be assured that the working party have and will continue to do all in their power to follow the government and Church of Scotland regulations and guidelines to provide a safe environment in which to worship the Lord. There will be changes but these have been made to meet the requirements and should not detract from drawing near to the Lord in worship and prayer.
At a recent Kirk Session following the agreement to seek re-opening of the Church the following was raised:
- The ‘Thought for Sunday’ will continue on the same basis.
- The Lonmay News will cease to be weekly but will be used to update people on important news.
Tim will produce the texts and ‘Thought for Sunday’ and will pass to David who will place them on the Lonmay Church Web site.
It has been a very long five months of ‘lockdown’, and your support, prayers and encouragement during this period has been really appreciated. Please continue to pray as we move into the next stage and ask the Lord to continue to lead and guide decisions which have to be made.
Just to let you know that Sunday School will NOT be re-opening on 30 August due to new regulations from the government and Church of Scotland.
Blessings.
Lonmay Thought for Sunday 21 July 2024
‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ – Matthew 4 v 4
A very warm welcome to the latest edition of Thought for Sunday.
Our text today, comes from Jesus, as He was facing temptation in the desert. You will recall that immediately after His baptism in the river Jordan, He went to the desert where He spent forty days being tempted by the Devil. It is worth noting that for many, after a wonderful, uplifting spiritual experience, this is almost certainly followed by a period of testing. It seems that our blessings help us when we face some of the challenging issues in life today.
Following the fact that Jesus was hungry, the Devil challenged Him to turn a stone into bread to meet His physical needs. This verse is Jesus’ response. The Devil was seeking to tempt Jesus to perform a miracle to meet His needs, but Jesus saw through the Devil’s plan. The Devil wanted to demonstrate that in His humanity, Jesus put His own needs before others.
Jesus’ response was to quote Scripture, and confirm that physical needs are important, but it is even more important to ‘eat’ or apply in our lives the truth contained in God’s Word. It is great to read our Bibles on a regular basis – ideally at least once a day – but simply to read and not apply is not enough. James reminds us that faith needs to be put into action. In other words, as we meditate on Scripture, we seek, with the Lord’s help, to live it out, so that others can see the reality of our faith, and it is not wishful thinking, but based on the person of Jesus. Therefore, The Bible provides for us the spiritual food we require, so that we may grow in the knowledge, love and service of Jesus.
As we read and dwell on God’s Word, let us pray that we may implement its truth, so that the people around us may see the beauty of Jesus at work in our lives, and appreciate that our Saviour and Lord loves them too, and wants to enjoy a personal relationship with them.