Information

Morning service at 10.15am - Creche available every Sunday.

There is tea and fellowship in the Church Hall after Sunday service and a soup lunch once a month except during the summer months.

Next soup lunch will be September 5th.

Sunday Club for school age children each Sunday during term time.

Shared Holy Communion at Killearnan on Sunday 5th of September.

Sunday Club proper starts on the 5th of September when our leaders begin a 4 week look at some of the parables that Jesus told and were recorded in Luke's Gospel.

There will be a meeting to pray for the young people from the Black Isle and those in contact with them on Tuesday 7th September at 7pm in Fortrose Academy.

CrossReach, the social care arm of the Church of Scotland, have just added internet shopping to their list of services. The 2010 Christmas calalogue will be on line very soon and other gifts are already available. Just follow the link below or type CrossReach into your search engine for more information.

http://shop.crossreach.org.uk/acatalog/home.html

Check out the Events page for dates and times of forthcoming attractions.

 This weeks lectionary readings are featured below from the 'Message' Bible.
Please take some time to read them through, specially if you are not attending
this weeks service. This Bible translation is very contemporary but it can offer a
different perspective to verses that we know well from the NIV.

This weeks reader is Bob Tilford.

Over the next four weeks we explore the parables recorded in Luke 14 to 16. They all seem to highlight in some way the risky nature of discipleship. This week Jesus begins by outlining some priorities for discipleship and outlines some of the considerations required before embarking on the route of becoming his disciple.



Deuteronomy 30.15-20; Psalm 1; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14.25-33

Deuteronomy 30.15-20

 15 Look at what I've done for you today: I've placed in front of you
      Life and Good
      Death and Evil.

 16 And I command you today: Love God, your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess.

 17-18 But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods, you will most certainly die. You won't last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

 19-20 I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Psalm 1
 How well God must like you— you don't hang out at Sin Saloon, you don't slink along Dead-End Road,
   you don't go to Smart-Mouth College.

 2-3 Instead you thrill to God's Word,
      you chew on Scripture day and night.
   You're a tree replanted in Eden,
      bearing fresh fruit every month,
   Never dropping a leaf,
      always in blossom.

 4-5 You're not at all like the wicked,
      who are mere windblown dust—
   Without defense in court,
      unfit company for innocent people.

 6 God charts the road you take.
   The road they take is Skid Row.

Philemon 1-21
1-3I, Paul, am a prisoner for the sake of Christ, here with my brother Timothy. I write this letter to you, Philemon, my good friend and companion in this work—also to our sister Apphia, to Archippus, a real trooper, and to the church that meets in your house. God's best to you! Christ's blessings on you!

 4-7Every time your name comes up in my prayers, I say, "Oh, thank you, God!" I keep hearing of the love and faith you have for the Master Jesus, which brims over to other believers. And I keep praying that this faith we hold in common keeps showing up in the good things we do, and that people recognize Christ in all of it. Friend, you have no idea how good your love makes me feel, doubly so when I see your hospitality to fellow believers.

To Call the Slave Your Friend

 10-14While here in jail, I've fathered a child, so to speak. And here he is, hand-carrying this letter—Onesimus! He was useless to you before; now he's useful to both of us. I'm sending him back to you, but it feels like I'm cutting off my right arm in doing so. I wanted in the worst way to keep him here as your stand-in to help out while I'm in jail for the Message. But I didn't want to do anything behind your back, make you do a good deed that you hadn't willingly agreed to.

 15-16Maybe it's all for the best that you lost him for a while. You're getting him back now for good—and no mere slave this time, but a true Christian brother! That's what he was to me—he'll be even more than that to you.

 17-20So if you still consider me a comrade-in-arms, welcome him back as you would me. If he damaged anything or owes you anything, chalk it up to my account. This is my personal signature—Paul—and I stand behind it. (I don't need to remind you, do I, that you owe your very life to me?) Do me this big favor, friend. You'll be doing it for Christ, but it will also do my heart good.

 21-22I know you well enough to know you will. You'll probably go far beyond what I've written. And by the way, get a room ready for me. Because of your prayers, I fully expect to be your guest again.

 23-25Epaphras, my cellmate in the cause of Christ, says hello. Also my coworkers Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke. All the best to you from the Master, Jesus Christ!

Luke 14.25-33
25-27One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, "Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one's own self!—can't be my disciple. Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple.

 28-30"Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn't first sit down and figure the cost so you'll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you're going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: 'He started something he couldn't finish.'

 31-32"Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can't, won't he send an emissary and work out a truce?

 33"Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can't be my disciple.

You can check out these readings and other translations at http://www.biblegateway.com/

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