St Ninian's Online

We're back in chapter 1 of Mark as we journey with Jesus into the wilderness.  But what could two short sentences possibly have to tell us?

The transfiguration is a strange story that pops up in the middle of Mark's gospel.  But what if it really belongs somewhere else?  And what would that help us to understand about this moment on the mountain?

Have you ever been stuck in one of those moments where there seems no way out?  Or stuck in a moments where you just want to stay forever? Stewart explores a story from Mark's gospel where Jesus gets a whole village unstuck.

What are the things that fill our minds and grasp our attention, diverting us from our focus on God?

From the very beginning Mark's Gospel is revolutionary. As soon as Jesus turns up God breaks down the barriers...

Jesus needs some witnesses, people who will tell others what they have seen and experienced. Could that be you?

Come and see... it sounds so simple.  Come and see... but come and see what?  Come and see who?

Martin Fair, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, helps us to consider the lessons of Epiphany and wonder what God might be like...

Today our guest preacher Right Rev. Dr Martin Fair, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland explores the story of two people who waited a long time for something special.

We wait... 

Our young people lead worship this week, telling us the story of the birth of Jesus... in a lockdown fashion!

'Who are you?', they ask John the Baptist.  But he wants to tell them about someone else... someone greater.  That's his testimony.  What's yours?

Prepare the way! shouts John the Baptist.  That's the work of Advent... to get ready.  But what does it mean for us to prepare the way?  Where should we begin?

In this first week of Advent we explore the long wait... and wonder what exactly we are waiting for?

At the end, the questions that faces all of us is perhaps one that we didn't really expect... what did you do?

The parable of the talents is a story about... what happens when we have the wrong idea about who God is and what God is like...

Amos gives the people a stark warning... maybe the day of the Lord isn't what you expect it to be!  But why?  What is that they, and we, are getting wrong?

When Jesus calls out the leaders he also gives a pretty stark warning to his followers... do as they say, not as they do.  Which begs the question... how can you help?

When Jesus is posed one last trick question his answer is pretty straightforward... Love God, love your neighbour and love yourself.  But it can't be that simple, can it?

Should we pay tax to Caesar? It's the million dollar question, but perhaps not for the reasons we think. This week Stewart Cutler explores a question Jesus' enemies ask him about taxation from the Empire and Jesus' surprising response...

Invitations almost always come with a catch. A present to buy, or dress code to follow. But what happens when it's God who is doing the inviting?

Leadership is tough. That's why we often leave it to other people. But what is our part in keeping them honest? And what leadership roles do we find ourselves in?

Today Stewart Cutler explores Matthew 21:23-32 where Jesus tells a story about two brothers to call out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders... and us.

Kingdom economics... What does justice look like when it comes to pay day?  Stewart Cutler explores the parable of the workers in the vineyard from Matthew 20:1-16.

77 times. That's a lot of chances. Some might say too many. But nobody ever said forgiveness was easy...

We all argue and disagree, and we all need help to resolve those conflicts. This week we look at some good advice Jesus gives on how to sort things out and where that advice comes from...

It doesn't take Peter long to come crashing back down to earth with a bump!  Join us as we explore Matthew 16:21-17:8 and celebrate communion together. Hymns: Ye gates recorded at the general assembly of the Church of Scotland, Words: Psalm 24, the Scottish Psalter 1929, Music Andrew Mitchell Thomson (1778-1831)  Lord of life, we come to you performed by the Scottish Festival Singers, conducted by Ian McCorie. Words: Catherine Walker / St Mungo Music, Presbytery of St Leo the Great, Glasgow. Tune: Scottish folk melody CCLI: 632609

Who do you say I am? It might be one of the most important questions of all.  Why?  Because it's a question about identity... our identity!  Stewart Cutler explorer Matthew 16:13-20 in this week's service from St Ninian's Church in Stonehouse, Scotland.

What you say comes from your heart. How often do our words betray our feelings, our prejudices and our real thoughts? In today's reading from Matthew's gospel at chapter 15:10-28 we find Jesus talking about watching your language then the very next story had him calling a foreign woman a dog... so what's going on? Stewart Cutler explores this difficult encounter and sheds some new light on it.

Stewart Cutler considers the story of Jesus walking on the water and Peter getting out of the boat was really about.

Stewart Cutler explores the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew 14: 13-21 and discovers it might tell us much more about ourselves than we imagine.

Jillian Storrie explore some of Jesus parables in Matthew chapter 13.

Wheat, weeds and lots of waiting.  What's that all about? This week Stewart explores Matthew 13: 24-30, 36,42, the parable of the weeds and Jesus' explanation.

Stewart explores a parable about seeds, weeds, rocks, paths and good ground and wonders where we fit in this story?

Stewart wonders what we might need to lay down

Stewart Cutler explores Matthew 10:40-42 and wonders what it is like to be on either side of a welcome...

Jesus has what seem like pretty harsh words for us in Matthew's gospel this week, but perhaps they are not all they seem... Yvonne Hamilton helps us explore.

The service for 14th June 2020 from St Ninian's Church in Stonehouse, Scotland, led by Stewart Cutler. 

Go... yes you!  Go!  Go and make disciples.  Everywhere!

Just who is this Jesus?  This passage from John's gospel tells us all we need to know!

A gift... a gift of presence. Someone to be there with you though everything. That's what Jesus promises.

What does it mean to abide in God?  When Jesus says 'I am the way, the truth and the life' what is he talking about?  And what does that have to do with us?

Jesus said 'I am the gate', but what does that even mean? And should I go in?

It's late on Easter Day but so far only Mary has seen the risen Christ. The disciples are locked in the upper room, scared and wondering what happens now... apart from Thomas...

They had had enough. It was all too dangerous. So Cleopas and whoever was with him were heading home. As they walked along full of questions and grief and wondering what had happened and why they were joined by a stranger... who turned out to be Jesus.

It's Easter Sunday!  The darkness has gone.  Love wins!  Resurrection is real!

The king is coming on a donkey. The people are shouting Hosanna! But do they know what they are asking for?

A valley of dry bones and a dead man walking... stories of hope in dark times.

Jesus encounter with a blind man is more than a story about mud and spit and even sight.  It's about who we are and who Jesus is and why that matters to all of us.

A chance encounter at a well in the heat of the midday sun brings an unexpected revelation and a opportunity for mission for a most unlikely disciple, a Samaritan woman...

Nicodemus comes looking for illumination and gets more than he bargained for.  Being born from above... what does that mean?  And what does the story of Abram have to do with it?

The moment it all goes wrong.  It's an ancient story of a man, a woman, a snake and some forbidden fruit, but mostly it's about shame.

On the mountain with the transfigured Jesus, and Moses and Elijah, God speaks to three disciples, Peter, James and John. Then Jesus tells them to 'get up, and don't be afraid!'  Is that our response when we encounter God?

Where do you end up when you start pulling on the thread of an idea or an issue? Where does something really start? Today we consider some threads that Jesus unravels for us in the Sermon on the Mount.

After the beatitudes comes salt and light and the law... and a challenge to the people... it's up to you!

The beatitudes... that list of the blessed that we would never want to join; the poor in spirit, the meek and those who mourn.  So where is the blessing?  And why is this teaching so central to Jesus' message?

Repent means 'to see things in a new way, as they really are'.  So when Jesus asks some fishermen to follow him he is helping them to repent, to see the kingdom of God which is close by. Following Jesus is an invitation to live into that new way of being.

Jesus invites us into a relationship with him and asks us to invite others into that relationship... come and see...

In the season of Epiphany, what does Jesus' baptism tell us about who he is and what God's mission is?

Words matter, especially when we are talking about God. The prologue of John's Gospel paints an amazing picture of Christ, who was there at the beginning of all things but who chose to become like us.  Christmas... in just one sentence.

Christmas is a dangerous business!

Joseph is often overlooked, but Matthew's Gospel puts him centre stage in the story of the birth of Jesus.  But why? What's so important about a man who played no part in the birth?

When the night is darkest the questions come. As John the Baptist sits in his cell he begins to wonder... Are you really the one?  It's a question for all of us this Advent.

Judgement is about recognising the parts of ourselves that aren’t right and stripping them out. That's the preparing that John the Baptist asks of us as he tells us to prepare the way.

Welcome to Advent, to the waiting season, where the light prepares and the angels stir and the stars shift and the word begins to put on flesh, waiting to move among us… But that’s not quite what we are presented with in our readings from scripture this morning... or is it?

Wellbeing matters to Jesus.  We explore the story of Jairus and the bleeding woman to discover how Jesus is interested in much more than physical healing, but also our mental and spiritual health, as individuals and as communities.

On Remembrance Sunday we explore James's advice to listen more than to speak and to be doers, not just hearers,

Revelation 21 paints a beautiful vision of a new world.  A world of peace and harmony.  A world as it was meant to be, where God and people live together and all suffering and pain is ended.  But is it all just a fantasy?

Part 2 of our series on Revelation explores more of the letters to the seven churches in Asia. 

Revelation 1/4.  That book we often avoid because it seems so strange and difficult... so, what's it all about?

Jephthah made a promise, a promise that was ill-conceived and cost him and his daughter dearly.  And we still make the same kind of promises for the same kinds of reasons... our own greed, our own ambition, our own insecurities.

When Naaman, the commander of the army of the Amarites, comes to Elisha to find a cure for his leprosy he doesn't get what he was expecting... but he got what he needed!

Taking on the mantle, being the next in line, the new person, the successor is never easy.  Elisha had some big shoes to fill when Elijah was gone.

The parable of the sower in Matthew 13:18-23 is one of the few parables Jesus explains.  But that doesn't mean that it's not worth talking about!

When the people returned from exile they rebuilt... but things were not the same as they had been.  A new community needed new foundations, just like the new Temple would.  Some of the people who remembered how things had been before wept while those who didn't remember shouted for joy.  Such is the way of change.

Jillian helps us discover through that Jesus' new commandment that love is actually all around.

As we gathered around the Lord's Table we heard the words Jesus spoke after the Last Supper in John 14:1-27.  They were words of comfort, words of trust, and words of peace.

At the end of John's Gospel, Jesus' reinstatement and renewal of Peter after he had denied even knowing Jesus 3 times is a painful conversation, but a conversation full of hope for all of us.  Jesus' instructions to Peter; feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep, and the renewal of the invitation to 'follow me', are a manifesto for the church and for each and every one of us.

After a long and unsuccessful night fishing a man on the shore suggests the disciples throw their nets out the other side.  It turns out the man is Jesus, but he's different.  He's changed.  What would our equivalent be?  Where might we try something different?  Where might we cast our nets?  And where do we still meet the Risen Christ in our lives?

It's Resurrection Sunday!!! Easter Day.  The Lord is risen!!!  The tomb is empty... Love has won.  It's a story of faith.  Their faith and ours.  Where will you encounter the risen Christ?

On Palm Sunday at St Ninian's we join the crowd and the religious leaders as they all wonder who on earth this Jesus really is.  We read from John 10:22-39 and John 12:12-16.

Love... Agape.  The kind of love God has for us and wants us to have for each other.  Compassionate, tender and unconditional.  And really hard to live out!

Romans 12 tells us what it look likes to live a life of love.  But it's hard... really hard.  And that's what makes it so important that we try our hardest and perhaps consider just how loveable we are.

Philia, the love between friends.  As we continue our journey through Lent Yvonne Hamilton helps us to reflect on what it means to love our friends by reflecting on how the friends of the paralysed man act in their quest to help their friend see Jesus.

Eros... erotic love... sex... one of the four Greek words for love, and part of the gift of love that God has given to us all.  So why don't we talk positively about it?

Susan Brown, Moderator of The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, is this week's guest preacher.  In the first week of Lent she considers the temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness, the same temptations we still face today.

We continue from where we left off last week... in John 7:32-52.  Jesus tells the crowd that they can drink from him and never be thirsty again.  But what is he talking about?  And why don't some of them believe him?

John's gospel is all about the universal Christ and that's what we explore this week through John 7:1-31, a strange story where Jesus visits Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles.

What does the space shuttle have to do with John 6?  Listen in and find out!

Prayer isn't always easy. We get so caught asking for what we want that we forget that prayer is about our attitude and orientation... always trying to seek God's will.

This week we go back into the archive to a sermon preached at St Ninian's Stonehouse on 18th November 2018 by Stewart Cutler on Numbers 11:16-35 and Luke 10:1-17.

A sermon preached by Stewart Cutler at St Ninian's Church in Stonehouse, Scotland, exploring Luke 6:46-49, the wise and foolish builders.