ST ANDREW’S DAY IS GIFT DAY!

Over the years as a congregation we have been given some wonderful opportunities to serve God and this year has been no exception. Our work at a local national and international level continues to grow. I’m going to ask every member of the congregation to make a special effort to be at church on Sunday 30th November its St Andrew’s Day and the Kirk Session has agreed we should also make it our Annual Gift Day.

We are hoping to make this a special day in the life of the congregation. There will be something for everyone that day at church. We want everyone to make an effort and wear something tartan. We are going to fly the St Andrew’s Flag from the church steeple, and we are also going to have two baptisms that day. So trust ne the church will be busy get down early for your seat.

I’m going to ask all the various ministries in the church to prepare displays in the hall on the 30th, so that we can all see the various areas in which we serve the world as a congregation. God has opened some amazing doors for us in the area of Social Outreach.

We are now working in four distinct areas. We have this year opened up the Shalom Counselling Service, led at the moment by one of our elders Mrs Margaret Young. There is the Children and Families work now known as the Bounce Higher Project which has been funded by Children in Need. This work is progressed by our key worker Andrea woollard. Andrea is developing links across the community in providing general support and encouragement to a wide group of people, while offering one to one support to those families who require her specialist advice.

The Tuesday Club continues to carry out valuable work among those who are encountering the stresses and strains of memory loss. And of course the youth Work which has been operating under the acronym SAMYP ( St Andrew’s Multimedia Youth Project, is about to take on a new identity as we reshape our youth ministry programme. Our multimedia ministry is going to take on a new identity through a not for profit company to be called SANCTUS MEDIA UK.

The new Unitary Constitution has been agreed by the Kirk Session and Deacons’ Court and willcome before the congregation to be ratified on the 23rd November. This is all to enable us to become more effective as we prepare to develop our ministry in the coming years.

It will be a great time to encourage us all to give to the Social Outreach Ministry of the Church. Each year we have a special appeal to support some aspect of the work of the church. This year we are making our appeal to support our Social Outreach programme.

So I do hope that perhaps you will be able to come on that Sunday and enjoy the service. When it comes to the evening of the 30th November we are going to have a St Andrew’s Supper in the Church, we hope to make it a Praise Ceilidh. It will be a great night. We will be inviting friends of the family of St Andrew’s and it will be a chance to meet up with people you haven’t seen for a long time. I’m looking forward to seeing some of our past probationers and also congregational members who have moved on. So mark the 30th November in your diary and make it a real St Andrew’s Day.

Today we are celebrating at church the 125th Anniversary of the Boys Brigade. We are fortunate that the 2nd Bo’ness is still a successful BB Company. Today we will be using the famous BB Anthem ” Will Your Anchor Hold” to reflect upon the importance of being rooted in Jesus Christ. When the storms of life come to overwhelm us being fastened to a rock that is immovable is the answer for our confidence.

A few years ago I recorded a version of “Will Your Anchor Hold” I’ll include it at the end of this post. Why not

turn the sound down on the Youtube video and then click on my version of 03 Will Your Anchor Hold.mp3 Let me know what you think

I’ll use this in the service to talk to the Anchor Boys about Jesus their anchor. My challenge will be to make it relevant and interesting for the boys. I think I will try and emphasis what it means to be brave and strong to stand up and do the right thing.

The sermon will be divided into two parts. I’ll speak to the older boys about the folly of thinking you are invincible. The story of the “Titanic” is an excellent example of modernity in the early 20th century.

The designers of the Titanic are reported to have said, even God himself couldn’t sink her. It is a great lesson on the importance of being humble in face of the great challenges of life. All of us need to face the fact that we are vulnerable people who make mistakes and need the forgiveness and companionship of the Almighty. Have a look at this short summary of the story of the Titanic. In this story we learn that we all need to be saved from ourselves and the folly of the world around us.

This story can also be seen as a living parable from real life describing the pearl of the human condition. So many young people can start their life thinking they are invincible until come up against the icebergs in the ocean of life.

George Best was such a person, he had so much talent. However he began to think he was invincible. He was unable to weather the storms that came into his life.

The Lord’s Prayer has much to teach us about the character and nature of God. Recently I’ve been thinking how relevant the phrase “forgive us our debts’ is for all of us as we approach Christmas. Here’s a video we made a couple of years ago. It has something to say to us in the middle of a credit crunch or should I say recession. ForgiveUsOurDebts.mov

A few weeks ago I made a post about our Remembrance Garden. Well its beginning to take shape. We’re going to have a little service to start the proceedings. Please note the remembrance theme will run for a week. then it will revert back to being a flower garden.

On Tuesday 4th November at 11.00am we’ll plant the first crosses. It will be interesting to see how many crosses appear in the garden. You will be able to buy a cross from the church office for the princely sum of £1.00 then move out and plant the cross in the garden. All proceeds will go to the Earl Haig Fund.

I spoke of the idea of Remembrance today at Bo’ness Academy, I hope that the pupils will get involved in some way with the project. Wouldn’t it be great if we could send a letter to all the ex Academy pupils who are present serving in the forces to let them know we’re thinking on them and praying for them and also their families. I wonder if the Bo’ness Journal would help us find out how many Bo’nessians are at present serving Queen and Country?

We had an interesting service at church today. A promise of a fiver, a taste of honey, and a lion or a “Sunday lie in” made the scripture reading interesting this morning. We were reflecting on the power of the Word of God not only to change the heart of an individual but also the heart of a nation. The story of Ezra reading from the Book of the Law and its effect on the people is a moving story.

I was talking to the children about how the Word of God or the ‘ Book of the Law” is described in the Bible. Often it is described in terms of honey being sweet and good to taste.

This post is for the boys and girls who are going to research the riddle that I spoke of found on a Lyle’s syrup tin. What was the riddle? Check it out, what is the story all about? Where does it come from and what is the meaning of the riddle? As promised the first correct post on the blog by a boy or girl gets £5.00 from me next Sunday at church. Remember to post your name on the blog. So get your thinking cap on and post your answer. If you think someone has beat you to it remember it is not just the first post but it is the one with the best first answer who will be the winner.

Since I ‘m giving the fiver, I alone will be sole judge and there will be no appeals. My decision will be final. ( I’ve always wanted to say that by Mrs iTalker always gets the last word!)

I’m hoping for a great evening this coming Sunday. Having completing over 15 months of world travel Lorna Main and Erica Bonnar, known as Soultouch. have returned home after visiting a good number of our World Without Walls Projects. Sunday will be an opportunity to hear a little about their trip and also to be inspired to get involved with World Without Walls.

I’m delighted that the praise will be led by the joint worship band of St Andrew’s and the local Bo’ness Apostolic Church. Over the past couple of months we’ve been meeting with the Apostolic Church for a joint Praise evening on the third Sunday of the month. So if your close enough to travel why not make a point of joining us on Sunday. You will also be able to log on and watch the service being streamed live at 6.30.

Check the picture out. Thought it was cool the way the light has reflected off the poster. Pray for the light of the world to touch Scotland.

Please get your friends in the various congregations around Scotland to book up for the 4th Re-Energise Conference coming up this 11-13 January in Aviemore. This conference has the potential to inspire something really good to rollout across Scotland during 2009/10. I’m praying that we get 300 congregations. ( to start with), from the Church of Scotland registered for this event. This event has the opportunity to take the thinking of the National Gathering and help congregations find a vision and partnerships to help them in their mission strategy for the next few years.

The Scottish Government has been planning the Year of Homecoming since 2006. It is an attempt to persuade the Scottish diaspora to return and celebrate their family roots. Its interesting to note that while doing the research for this initiative, one of the major causes of tourism was discovered to be connected with spirituality. Literally hundreds of thousands of people transverse the globe in search of a spiritual encounter. It became obvious that the churches should become involved because of the rich Christian heritage of Scotland.

At Aviemore we want to explore how congregations can use their spiritual creativity to help connect present day Scotland with its rich Christian heritage. As I have said in previous postings the present credit crunch will have a serious effect on the Governments Tourist plans, however churches could quite easily prepare to host many o heir overseas partners to come to Scotland during 2009/10. many of these partners might well be the agents of change we need to encounter to help us change he way we do church here in Scotland.

So how about signing up for Aviemore and partner with a group of churches that want to celebrate Homecoming. We can do this by inviting the nation of Scotland to consider a different kind of Homecoming one that makes space for people to interact with God rather than simply a church building. I don’t mean that the church buildings can’t help us to do such a thing. However we need to be careful that our church buildings are not simply turned into heritage trail stations rather than centres of worship.

I’m looking to explore with those who attend Aviemore all kinds of ways we can engage with the theme “Homecoming” in order to help us as churches make our witness meaningful to the population we serve. So go now to the www.cwwresources.org.uk and sign up for the conference.

I hope you enjoy this video. I came across a reference to it on the Jim Wallis blog. Its really topical when we think of the fact that the Prime Minster here in the UK has been floating the idea that the whole world banking system need to be reformed. I’m sure this idea of Jubilee on wall Street is a step too far for Gordon, but it does challenge us all to a more radical lifestyle.

Could it be that our political leaders could be influenced to make changes in the way we reward people. I heard Gordon Brown speak this morning about making sure that people got rewarded for their hard work and not because they took risks with others people’s money.

Got me thinking, its not only the fat cats in the banking sector, that earn rediculous wages. What about the fat cats in the sporting world, where people get paid thousands of pounds a week for kicking a ball around a park or playing a game of tennis. The irony of all this is that it is the working man who sees fit to watch the matches and pay the wages.

Perhaps the whole idea of wages caping for sports personalities might not be a bad thing. It might become more popular as clubs tighten their belts in the midst of this credit crunch.

So will the Prime Minister do something about the ridiculous wins that happen with the lottery. Lottery winner are certainly not being rewarded for hard work. It seems to me if the fat cats in the city are being forced to diet maybe it will have a knock on effect for the good in all sectors.

HOMECOMING 2009

Very shortly the Scottish Government will launch their big tourist idea for 2009. Its called “The Homecoming”. They’re hoping for rich exiled Scots to return in their droves next year from all over the world.

It might prove to be a more challenging idea than first expected, now that the ecomomic down turn is almost certain to effect the jobs of many people. Personally I can’t see Americans making the trip when their stocks and shares portfolios have hit rock bottom.

CHURCH AGENDA STRENGTHENED

However I do think this is a wonderful opportunity for the churches to connect with their partners in the developing world and invite them to Scotland in 2009. We’re hoping to bring over some of our friends from India during 2009. It maybe that the Government doesn’t get the tourist trade, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if the churches got a spiritual boost from the shear enthusiasm of our Christian brothers and sisters from around the world.

Going home isn’t always an easy thing. For many there are too many sad memories. Using this theme as a mission statement for the churches may be more challenging that I first thought. However it may do us all the world of good to reflect on the idea of home.

At the end of the day I’m convinced that we all want a place, a person, a community, a hope, we can call home. Of course the idea still remains uncomfortable as we think of the hundreds of Scots marooned in cities all over the world, addicted to alcohol and drugs, for them there is no homecoming. Perhaps the churches should be challenging government about such a topic. How could we work together to bring the broken back home. If we can spend Billions on saving the banks maybe we need to be thinking about the cost of saving individuals.

GOING HOME ?

Going home?

He smiled,

I wish,

but, I’ve a shift to finish.

Going home?

I’d need to say sorry

I’d never be accepted.

There’s no room for me

I’ve burnt my bridges

Too much has been said

Too little done to mend the hurt.

Mention home

My stomach turns

I feel crowded

smothered

afraid.

Which home?

My mother’s home

My father’s home

I’ve had many homes.

The question unsettles me

makes me sad.

It reminds me of something

I’ve lost but never had.

Faith.

We had a most interesting meeting tonight at Alpha in the Inchyra Hotel. We were considering the topic of prayer. We all agreed that we’d try and support each other over the next two weeks as we explore the purpose and meaning of prayer in our personal lives. The group will not meet next week so we hope to keep in touch through this blog. So where does one start if you want to develop a prayer life? I’ve found that the Psalms in the Bible often act as a kind of prayer book from which you can explore a relationship with God. The psalmists for me seem to cover all kind of topics and they help me address some of the major doubts and worries and short comings in my life. Anyway here is a prayer I found which certainly pertains to me.

O Lord God,

merciful and mighty:

Help those whom I have neglected to help;

Set aright those I have caused to stumble;

Visit those I have neglected to visit;

Bring back those whom I have led astray;

Cheer the hearts of whom I have made sad;

Draw with the cords of love those for whom my love has grown cold;

Save them all,

O Lord have mercy on me the chief of sinners,

lest after I have preached the gospel to others

I myself should be cast away

Hear me, O Father for the sake of Christ my Lord

Unknown author