I’ve been away from my desk for a few days, I took some time off this week to continue working on a new album of songs.We escaped to the Highlands to record and we think the results have been worthwhile It was great to meet up with iain Jamieson and start developing some of the ideas for the album. I was also a great joy to have my son Stephen join us as he put some tracks down as one of the latest recruits to the band. Take a listen and see what you think.Iain has had this idea of podcasting the progress of the album being recorded, by releasing little excepts from the songs along with a discussion about the material. He hopes that it will generate interest in the material and the album when it is released. We’ve made a start with the podcasting, but we’re not going to start broadcasting till I take delivery of my new iBook. There’s some software I need to upload and it seems best to wait till the new baby arrives. Here’s a picture of the new member of the family. A few weeks ago I thought it had arrived only to discover the wrong model had been sent . Anyway its quite exciting waiting for the parcel to arrive. I hoping that having a laptop will prove beneficial in all kinds of ways. for a start it will give me more freedom when and were i can work. It will be interesting to see if it makes life a bit easier.

Preachers today live in a highly competitive world. The art of communication is being developed and honed in so many ways. The preacher needs to become more aware of these skills and become conversant with them. This is a huge task that faces the church as we seek to communicate with a world that has become focused on the visual image and an interactive form of communication. here is a little film we produced a last Christmas based on the theme ” Missing You” let’s hear what you think.

Even the very term preaching has been devalued to mean something different in our currency. It means to harp on, it means to be an irritant it means something quite derogatory to preach at someone it to harangue them.

let me for the next few sentences share with you what I call the theology of entertainment. First and foremost I want to suggest that all successful preaching or should I say public speaking or communication should be in its very nature entertaining.

Now to use such a word in the context of proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ may seem to some a little flippant. Entertainment for some has an association with “the world the flesh and the devil” To talk about preaching in an entertaining way for some is to talk in a light hearted manner. It is to be frivolous. Can I suggest that entertainment is a most devalued word and requires to be rethought when we talk about preaching and teaching. Can I suggest another definition of entertainment.

It is to allow one’s self and others to enter into or engage with an idea or a command or a notion, in such a way that they enter into the concept and are detained by it. Thus they have been “entertained”

All good preaching to my mind should have first and foremost an element of surprise to it. We need to find ideas, and illustrations that grab the attention of the listener. Too often those who listen are switched off in the first two sentences. The prophets knew all about this and they were able to engage with people in an astounding way. Take for instance the story in the Bible about God calling Moses to be a freedom fighter. Let us take this story and see how It is an excellent example of good communication.

The first thing to notice is that the burning bush was not a surprise to Moses. He had seen many a burning bush in the desert. It happened regularly. The point to this story is that God used a very regular occurrence in a “surprising way”. The Bush kept on burning. Now that was the surprise that drew Moses toward the bush. The Bush caught his attention. Good communication will seek to catch your attention often in a surprising way.

Secondly the “entering in” to the idea is what I call being detained. That experience of engaging,reflecting and making connections. This is the aspect of communication that seeks to nurture the listener in such a way that they are encouraged challenged and developed and even distrurbed. Thus Moses takes on board the whole call to go to Egypt and be a freedom fighter. Good communication must engage and bring about a result or action.

The third thing is a message may be received but it is often received to be passed on. Good communication creates a passion or reason or a cause in the listener to enable and empower them to pass on the message. Part of this is in the receiving there has to be a believing. The believing causes a stirring within the individual to pass on the message. Moses was stirred by God yet he gave reasons why he couldn’t do it. He felt he didn’t have the eloquence necessary. The point here is that Moses was the connector. He knew the palace. He knew the Pharaoh but above all he knew Aaron. He was the key to making the next part of the communication work. All this teaches me that, when we communicate ideas we need to do so in a way that makes connections happen in the head of the listener. Thus Moses finds himself leading a people in a partnership with his brother Aaron. Maybe we should be asking who has God lined up to be our spiritual partner.

After journeying together for nearly ten weeks the Apha Course at the Inchyra Grange came to an end tonight. I must say that I have really enjoyed sharing the teaching with Jerome and Maggie. Jerome is the Presbytery Clerk and Minister at Polmont Old. We really worked well together. This was the first time our congregations had worked together this way.

I believe everyone has had an excellent experience and I pray that all of us have been drawn closer to God. It would be great to hear from some of you who have been on Alpha. How did it measure up to your expectations? has your faith been strengthened. Are there any questions to which you are looking for answers? maybe you’d like to share your story out lining your faith journey.

One interesting thing that has come out of this Alpha is that we hope to organise an Alpha Ceilidh hopefully towards the end of February. This will be an opportunity for anyone who is interested to come along and have an enjoyable evening and discover what Alpha is all about.

Every year we make a Christmas movie.Here is one we made a few years ago. I hope you enjoy it. It has quite a lot of good points that could be raised in a sermon, or as part of a youth discussion group.

What follows now is part 2 of of Comfort and Joy. We had such a laugh making this. We included all age groups in the making of the movie. This year we are starting work on a take off of the Apprentice. the script has been written by Alec Shuttleworth. It looks very good. This is Christmas 2004.

I’m looking forward to preparing the Advent sermons around the theme. “Your Kingdom Come” It is of course a phrase from the Lord’s Prayer.I think it is a phrase full of anguish and hope. During Advent I hope to focus the congregation on the importance of prayer. I’m hoping to make the Christmon tree into prayer tree. Our Christmas Tree will arrive early this year on the 30th November, I hope to get it up for the first Sunday in Advent but leave it absolutely bare. This will give me the opportunity to invite the congregation to think of what they believe is God’s vision is for the work here in Bo’ness and then to write it on a label and attach it to the tree. So the tree will bear all the hopes and dreams of the Kingdom.

Every year we try to make something of Christmas. I especially like to do something at Advent to help everyone start to prepare for Christmas. This year is no exception. We’ve got a group together who call themselves the Advent Angels. They have been working on a number of ideas. The above design is going to be the focus of our Christmas Card Invitation to the Parish. Its been designed by one of our Elders Beatty Long. I hope that we might even have a larger version of this design produced as a hanging in the church.

I thought some of our videos that we made last year for Advent might be a resource for some of my fellow bloggers in the ministry. Now I don’t know if I can do this but here is a powerpoint that I put together for a seminar that I gave to some students at St Andrew’s University last August. I’ve entitled it “Advent Encountered Through A theology of Entertainment’.

Well I asked you all for a big bag of money to buy blankets for the Leprosy Colony. In just over a week I’ve received well in excess of £1300.00. The money is now in India and the blankets are being purchased. A big thank you to those people who sent in their contributions. It got me thinking that we can make a difference in the world when we work together. We can bring about change. The power of ordinary people is quite extra - ordinary. We need to remind ourselves that the first Christians were not powerful or even rich but they changed the world. It was said of them that they “turned the world upside down” Now there is a thought. What do we need to do to start the same rumours?

We had a very interesting few hours in Polmont Young Offenders Prison on Wednesday. Over 80% of all young adults in the prison were there due to alcohol related crimes. So why does our government allow shops to sell cheap alcohol to young people. Another interesting statistic was that many of the crimes were related to feelings connected with loss and abandonment. I began to realise that it is not simply in places like peru that young boys feel abandoned. So many children today are trying to deal with the feelings of loss and hurt due to marital breakdown. The chaplain pointed out that a considerable number of young people inside were struggling with issues of bereavement. He felt that more parish ministers should be aware of the opportunities to support such young people.

He also spoke about the concerns that haunt many of the prisoners when they are preparing for their release date. He pointed out that often prisoners are concerned that they will let their families down if they fail to deliver on the promises they make to go straight when they are released. Donald continued to share that he was in the business of helping prisoners in the following areas;
Spiritual well being
Coping with prison
Preparing for release
Guilt and forgiveness
Healing.

When I heard Donald speak about these issues I started to think that many of these prisoners are no different from those of us who are on the outside. We too have the same issues with which to contend. Perhaps the only difference between us is that they have been caught breaking the law that many of us have also broken.

I also started to think is prison the right place for many of these boys. It was also disturbing to discovered that some of the prisoners have learning difficulties and are inside because of their inability to make rational decisions and judgments. Then there are those who are in prison for drug related crimes. In all I was told that around 50,000 people pass through our prisons each year.

Here is an issues for us as a congregation. We all live less than 20 minutes away from the prison, should we be praying for he prisoners and their victims? Should we be seeking to support and help the work of the chaplain in the prison. Let me hear what you think. I believe there are opportunities to go visiting and also to take part in Bible Studies in prison.

You’ll never guess where I’m going tomorrow? Polmont Young Offenders Institute! A few years ago I did a “Johnny Cash”, I took my guitar and sang in the prison. A riot nearly broke out. I think the song lyrics were an invitation to violence. Anyway thought I’d get you thinking about prisons, but before you do I hope you enjoy this clip.

The central committee of the Mission and Discipleship Council sometimes take their meetings out of 121 George Street. Its an opportunity to think about issues of discipleship and mission in different settings. It is a valuable excercise. Maybe this is something all Kirk Session should do? You know, hold a meeting in another venue away from the church buildings? I think more elders might turn up. What you think? Anyway,this time we will be making history. I think it will be the first time such a committee of the General Assembly, has met in a prison.

Donald Scott the Senior Chaplain of the prison will be hosting the committee. I hope he finds it an encouraging day. So often prison Chaplaincy is overlooked and those who send their lives working with prisoners are seldom given the support and the recognition they deserve. I think next week might be “Prisoners’ Week”. This is a week when some of the issues that surround prisoners is brought to the public domain. I wonder if some of the issues that Dr Andrew McLellan, the Chief Prison Inspector, has raised in the past about Polmont have been addressed? I think i’ll raise the question tomorrow.

Dr Andrew MacLellan is reported to have said, “the situation in the young offenders’ institution drives me to despair.” Writing in the Sunday Herald in February 2006 ,McLellan says: “What should worry us most about Polmont is that every day it is becoming more and more overcrowded. I rejoiced when I saw the fine new accommodation block opened three years ago; I now despair when I see these good conditions being spoiled by ever-increasing numbers of young men being crammed into them.” He continues, “If we want our jails to be safe then we need to make it possible for prison staff to do their jobs. Overcrowding makes everything worse for everyone.”

These comments were made in 2006, only a week after the Sunday newspapers highlighted the escalating levels of violence and indiscipline in Polmont, the country’s national centre for criminals aged 16 to 21. Previously unreleased figures showed that despite having only 9-per cent of the total prison population, Polmont’s inmates committed 16-per cent of all crimes behind bars.

As I write this article the Conservatives Social Justice think tank have appointed ex prisoner and cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken to head up an Inquiry into the state of prisons in the UK today. I don’t know about you, but I know people in Bo’ness who have family in prison. They worry about them, especially those who have young adults serving time. They hope that they’ll come through the other end unscathed. A tall order.

If it were possible to make jail a place where people get the opportunity to make amends and change don’t you think that would be a good thing? Instead of it being the training ground for further criminal activity. Let me know what you think. Should we as a congregation being so near the prison get more involved with prisoners? Should we be offering to help Donald in his work? If your interested in prison work get in touch.

Today is Remembrance Sunday I think it is one of the most important services in the church calendar. War is such a horrific experience, it is such a tragic waste of precious life. Yet it is our duty to take time to remember those who have given their lives in the noble cause of serving their country. It is so right to be angry with those who cause war but we must not forget about the young men who stand on the battlefield and give their all. We must never forget the mothers and the fathers, wives and husbands and children who remain broken apart for the rest of their lives; when the politicians have long forgotten about the conflicts. It is for these people and for the lads and lassie’s who have given so much that we must stand up for and honour. We also need to pray for those who return home and carry with them the memories of war that can never be erased from their hearts and minds.

If you’ve managed to get to a service today maybe you’d like to write a name or a thought you had on the blog just to keep afresh in all our minds people we have loved and lost awhile. Here’s another idea that came to me. What do you think about having a little garden of remembrance set aside every year at the church just for the week running up to Remembrance. We could encourage people in the town to plant crosses and poppies in the garden during the week running up to the 11th. I think it might prove a popular thing among many people. What do you think?

Moving on to a different subject. Can I say a big thank you to all those who have been contributing to the blanket appeal. I’ve been receiving letters in the post and envelopes through the letterbox. To date the figure is standing at £880.00 we need to to reach £1250 by the middle of next week. I’m quite sure we’ll meet that figure. It will be a great feeling to think that together we have been able to send a blanket to all 250 people who live in the Leprosy Colony. It makes the blogging worthwhile. We should remember that at one time we had people in Scotland who suffered with this dreadful disease. I’m told on good authority hat at one time the Gorbals in Glasgow was in fact a Leprosy Colony in the 17th century. So if you know anything about this and would like to enlighten me even more I’d love to hear from you.

One of the most exciting things that we have been developing in Bo’ness is a small video production unit. Its well worth having a look at some of the videos we have produced over the past view years. Here are just a sample of a view that we have posted up on Youtube. The future of broadcasting of course is no longer going to be found on the television networks instead I believe the internet will be the source of broadcasting that is cheap and can be played by the viewer on demand. So what do you think of us at St Andrew’s Bo’ness developing an Internet Television Station. let’s hear your comments.