A worship service will be held at 10.30am in the church building on Sunday 18 October.  The service will simultaneously broadcast on the Church Facebook page.  Teas and coffees will be served in the Sanctuary after the service. All very welcome!

Here’s the full text of David’s sermon from last Sunday:

Sermon on Blessing

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved

Let’s take a look at the idea of blessing and what it means for Christians and the church.

We first need to clear up some confusion. Blessing has often come to mean material comfort — getting a new car, a promotion, or a job in Hilton Church. And indeed God is our provider and it’s right to give thanks for material things… but we need to be careful. I remember hearing someone say after a terrible storm down in Lochaber: ‘A tree fell right between our cars and missed the house — God really blessed us!’ Which is worth giving thanks for… the only problem being that another tree completely flattened their neighbour’s new shed. They should probably be careful shouting how blessed they are over the garden fence!

Was that blessing a sign that God loved them more than their neighbour? Probably not — which is a shame, because it would be a great selling point for getting people into church! But seeing blessing as a reward for good behaviour quickly turns God into a celestial lottery machine.

Then there are other blessings… If you sneeze I might look at you disapprovingly, but I’ll also say ‘Bless you’. Historically that was about avoiding the plague or warding off evil spirits. Today it’s pure reflex — zero intentionality, faith, or relationship.

Jesus radically challenges our ideas of blessing in the Sermon on the Mount. He doesn’t say the blessed are the wealthy, the comfortable, those with pension pots, or those whose cars survived storms. No, he says — bizarrely — that the blessed are the poor in spirit, the mourners, the peacemakers. There’s a different idea of blessing here: peace, wholeness, flourishing, and deep alignment with God. The Hebrew word is shalom — the state of affairs God intends for the world.

And there are big implications for us as Christians. Blessing isn’t simply something handed to us; it’s something we’re called to play a part in bringing about.

From Genesis to Revelation there are about three hundred references to blessing in Scripture. Here, we’re going to look at three passages, and unpack what it means to bless in a Christian sense of the word. And it doesn’t involve getting a good parking space.

The first passage is 1st Peter 3, from verse 8. This is a letter written by Peter to Christians across the Roman Empire facing hostility and persecution. And yet Peter writes to them:

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.

They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Isn’t that crazy? Repay evil with blessing! Peter says it’s a calling. He’s echoing Jesus: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Is anyone naturally desperate to bless those who do evil or persecute us? Probably not.

Often our natural instinct is to hit back. If someone takes a swipe at us online, undermines us at work, or treats us with contempt, we want an eye for an eye. Insult for insult. Snark for snark.

In the first century, Christians weren’t facing lions in the Colosseum every Tuesday; it was ordinary, grinding hostility. They were socially sidelined. People whispered about them. Neighbours stopped inviting them over. Employers boycotted their businesses. Friends thought they were strange or subversive. No change there then!!

Now, condemn these people — that I can work with. But Peter said to bless them!

Why? Because when someone treats you badly, the danger is that they start controlling who you become. Does anyone recognise this? The moment you snap back with bitterness or gossip, you’ve let them drag you into their playground. They’ve dictated your character. Peter’s command isn’t about being a doormat. It’s spiritual defiance! It’s saying: ‘You may throw contempt at me, but you don’t get to turn me into someone contemptuous. I belong to a different Kingdom, and my job here is to release blessing, not duplicate your poison.’

Human society works in an endless ping-pong match of insult for insult, slight for slight — in politics, and in technicolour on social media. But Peter tells these beleaguered Christians: Be the circuit breaker. When toxic current comes at you, don’t pass the voltage on. Absorb the blow, stop the cycle, and return something entirely foreign to the situation: blessing.

The second passage is Numbers 6:22–27, the Aaronic or Priestly blessing.

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace (shalom).”’ “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

Notice the fascinating division of labour in verse 27: “So they — the priests — will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

God says: You speak the words, and I will do the blessing. You put my Name on them, and I’ll back it up. The priests didn’t possess grace in their vocal cords; they were authorised heralds of God’s covenant promise.

Imagine a royal messenger walking into Falcon Square reading a proclamation of pardon from King Charles. Does the messenger’s voice possess magical power? Of course not. The power doesn’t reside in their vocal cords; it resides entirely in the King who issued the decree. When a Christian speaks blessing, we aren’t casting spells or ‘manifesting’ energy. We are royal heralds, declaring what the King has promised.

This is where Roy Godwin is so helpful. Godwin makes a crucial distinction:

Biblical blessing is not wishful thinking. Saying “I hope you have a nice week” or “fingers crossed you get the job” is just a friendly human wish.

Biblical blessing is coming into alignment with what God has already declared in heaven, and giving voice to it on earth.

God’s baseline desire for His world — and for human beings — is life, peace, and flourishing: shalom. But on earth that’s often drowned out by cynicism, fear, and brokenness.

When we bless someone in the name of the Lord, we act as priests. A priest doesn’t invent their own message; a priest stands between heaven and earth and says: “I know what God desires for you. He desires that you be kept. He desires that His face would shine on you. He desires to give you peace. And I am going to speak that reality over your life today.”

You are literally putting God’s Name on them — stamping heaven’s barcode onto a situation.

And look at the promise attached to it: God says, “When you speak it, I will bless them.” When we give voice to God’s heart, He honours it. It turns our conversations and prayers from passive wishing into active spiritual partnership.

The third passage is Luke 10:5–6:

“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you.”

When Jesus sends out seventy-two followers to preach the Kingdom of God, He gives them a very specific instruction: ‘When you enter a house, first say: Peace to this house.’

Notice: He doesn’t say, ‘Go into the town, find a quiet corner, and complain about how secular everyone is.’ Nor does He say, ‘Pray secretly that God might send peace.’ He says: Speak it. Declare it over that doorway.

Proverbs 11:11 reads, ‘By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted.’ It is our spoken words that change spiritual atmospheres. When we enter a workplace, a school, a shop, or walk down our street, we carry the Jesus-given authority to speak shalom — actively speaking God’s peace into their world.

There is an invitation here for us as a church. To be people who bless. Not just on Sundays, but right here in our city, in our workplaces, schools, shops, and homes. This is the heart of what 1st Peter 2 calls the ‘priesthood of all believers’: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation… that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness.” It’s not about filling church rotas; it’s a holy calling to actively speak God’s blessings into situations, people, and places. And it’s simple:

[Name of person], I bless you in the name of Jesus. I bless you that you may know you are loved and unique. I bless you that the peace of God may rest upon you.

You don’t need to be a minister or an elder. You just need to be a follower of Jesus willing to open your mouth and speak life.

It’s certainly not a magic wand. It’s not an instant cure-all to the woes of the world. But think of the difference it makes.

When our default reaction to a difficult situation is to complain, gossip, or retreat into cynical silence, nothing changes. Sometimes things get worse. Psalm 129 paints a picture of a field that withers simply because passers-by refuse to speak the blessing of the Lord over it. Withholding blessing leaves a place dry and barren. Is that what’s happening to our streets, schools, and city? Has blessing been withheld by the churches?

When ordinary believers decide to be circuit breakers… When you walk into your college, office, or down your street, and quietly declare, ‘Peace to this place. I bless this street in the name of Jesus. I bless my neighbours with flourishing, with salvation, and with hope’ — you are literally putting God’s Name on that place.

We don’t need to leave this as a nice theological idea. We can put it into practice.

We are called to take up our priestly calling: to stand between heaven and earth, and together speak God’s blessing over our community, over our city, and over the people we love—and even the people we struggle with.

So let’s pray. Let’s bless.

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession

Note: Portions of this prayer of blessing and the concluding Caleb Prayer are adapted from the prayers of Roy Godwin and the Ffald-y-Brenin Trust.

Heavenly Father, thank you that you entrust Your people with the incredible privilege of being conduits of your blessing. We take upon ourselves the mantle of authority that Jesus delegates to us and in His name we speak to every household in the Hilton area and in our own neighbourhoods. We speak to our own families. We say to these communities:

We bless you in the Name of the Lord…

We bless your marriages and partnerships that they may be strong and whole. We bless the relationship between each person that it may be loving, forgiving, merciful and strong. We bless every intergenerational relationship within each household that there may be peace, love and understanding flowing between each one.

We bless parents bringing up kids alone, those who feel lonely, and those who have lost loved ones. We bless you with the knowledge of the presence of God, ever near, to guard, guide and comfort. In Jesus’ name we bless every network of wholesome and supportive friendship.

To all who are carrying illness, chronic pain, or frailty, and to those who care for them: We bless you in the name of Jesus with strength for each day, with patient care, and with the deep comfort of His presence. Where there is weakness, may Christ be your refuge; and where there is sickness, we pray for His healing and peace.

To all who are worried about bills, jobs, and the cost of living: We bless you with daily bread, with honest work, and with freedom from crippling anxiety. We bless the work of your hands that it may be fruitful and good. And we bless our community with such kindness and generosity that no one is left alone in hardship.

We bless our schools, and colleges, and those who are home-schooled. We pray that they are secure safe places for teachers and students alike. We bless the student’s capacity to learn and develop relationships and we bless their trust in Jesus, and ask that their trust may grow and become enriched. We bless the work of Hilton Family Support, Transforming Lives for Good, the Sunday Club and Nitelife.

We bless the hearts of all who live in city that you may be quickened to hear and respond to the voice of the living God. We bless all who live and work here, that the overspill of the blessing of the presence of the Kingdom of God may fall upon you.

We speak to Hilton Church, Greyfriar’s’ Church, Culduthel Christian Centre, St Columba’s Church and other churches in Inverness and we say: we bless you in the name of the Lord that the Holy Spirit and the word of God may flow out from you in power.

O High King of Heaven,
Have mercy on our land.
Revive your church;
Send your Holy Spirit.
For the sake of the children.
May your kingdom come to our Nation.

In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.