Thinking about St Andrew’s day and nationalism, should remind us all that there is a cross at the centre of our national identity. Many people believe that there is a deep sadness in the Scottish psyche. There is a longing to be recognised among the nations of the world. Many feel that we Scots suffer from an inferiority complex which manifests itself in the loud boastings of “Wha’s like us! All this is attributed to a sense of destiny that has never quite been fulfilled. A longing to be recognised, to be all that we can be. It is further exasperated by a love for the land of Scotland, while feeling its ownership lives elsewhere.

It was while preparing a document for a meeting next week at which CWW may need to justify its existence my friend Peter Neilson sent me a paper which included this sentence “Church without Walls envisages a church that touches the Scottish psyche with the Gospel of Christ offering deep healing for our nation”

Peter goes on to talk about the need for people to undertand that they are special in the eyes of God. Not an easy thing to believe when you’ve been put down all your life and told your useless. One of the most liberating results of the Gospel is that it changes the way people think about themselves. The real prize is to try and change the way a community feels about itself. I’m convinced that the starting point in bringing healing to the nation is about making it possible for individuals to seek healing for their own lives. It is as “we give ourselves away” in the words of Bono that we find find ourselves. Perhaps this is also true of the land issue. It is as we give it away, to share it with others, to embrace the foreigners and the strangers that we discover a new kind of Kingdom one which speaks of service and sacrifice.

Do you know how difficult it is to take photograph of a flag flying. I think I must have pressed my iphone thirty odd times before I captured a few pictures that I liked. This is taken from the top of the church tower looking down the Forth to the Bridges.

I’m looking forward to hearing and reading some of the childrens’ stories as they begin to get posted on the blog. So here are the questions: At what time and date was the flag raised up on the Flag Pole? (Guess a time if you need to) Tell me a little  bit about St Andrew and tell me why it is important to celebrate using St Andrew as our Patron Saint. The child that writes the best story and gets the time closest to the actual for the flying of the flag will win £5.00. We had the local paper taking some pictures today of our preparations of the big day on Sunday. So lookout for the picture when its published in the Journal

I climbed up the Church Tower this afternoon and Rae filmed my weekly podcast looking out over to the Forth Bridges. It’s quite a trek climbing up the narrow stairway that leads to the top of the tower. As you climb you are confronted with the dust and the cobwebs that are to be encountered on the stairs. Its a kind of parable often to get to the real view of life you have to fight through the cobwebs of past generations.

It was well worth the climb to look out over the Forth and see the whole of the land unfold before my eyes. I pray that God will help us see the opportunities that we have as a congregation to serve Bo’ness and Scotland.

We are also having a quiet day on Saturday in the church. its a chance to talk about the Holy Spirit to a group of people who have been part of the Alpha Course. I think we all need times of quiet reflection in order to grasp the wide panoramic view of life that God wants us to have. Pray is key to understanding the view.

I was having a bit of fun with the children in church last Sunday morning. I reminded them of the party we’re having on Sunday to celebrate St Andrew’s Day. One of the cool things we’re doing is raising a banner or a flag from our church tower. You’ve guessed it- the Saltire !

I’ve told the children they’ve got to look out for it going up. I didn’t tell them the day or the time but I’ve promised a £5.00 prize to the child that gets closest to the time the flag was raised and also writes a story about the Saltire.

Everyone who attends church on Sunday is being invited to come along wearing some tartan. As its our annual Gift Day we’re hoping that the congregation will be generous. This year we’re seeking to raise some money to invest in our social outreach programme, which includes our “Bounce Higher” project this involves work with children and families. We also hope to support our Tuesday Club, working with those who suffer from memory loss. The Gift day will also help fund, “Shalom Counselling”our free counselling service which we offer out of the Kinglass Health Centre . Fnally we wish to be putting more support into the work we’re doing among the teenagers in our town through the ministry of “SHOUT”, this is the new name for our previous youth work know to many as SAMYP. So if on reading the blog you want to donate why not go and do it now click here

I attended a conference today hosted by the Church of Scotland’s Ministries Council. It was to engage with the the idea of Emerging Church. A term that has its roots in America but at the preset time seems to be engaging a number of people in the CofS. In a couple of weeks Brian McLaren one of the leaders of this movement will be in Scotland. It was an interesting conference with quite a number of diverse people in attendance. I guess that’s good because I’m sure God wants his church to be emerging with each other.

I came across this clip on Youtube today it made me laugh. Too often we jump to the wrong conclusions about people. I decided to write a prayer after it

Lord
Why is it that we humans
like to judge each other ?
You know,
I make comments
on almost every aspect of life.
I comment
on the weather
on my neighbours
on my work colleagues
on my bosses
on our politicians.
And I listen
to the comments
of others
and often judge them
sometimes too harshly.
Lord
I may not pull out
a base ball bat
but I know how to use words
that will bruise
I am an expert in helping
other join in the abuse.

Forgive me Lord
When I don’t listen
When I think
I know more than I do
and I do more harm than I’ll ever know.
Help me to be patient
to consider my attitudes
my thoughts
my actions.
Help me to understand
your call to serve
without judging
those i am serving.

CWW Promotional Video Watch

Hope you enjoy watching the promotional video we’ve put together to encourage members of the Church of Scotland and friends to come to the next Church Without Walls Re-Energise Conference in Aviemore from the 11-13 January 2009. Just go to www.cwwresources.org.uk where you can book on line.

I do believe this could be a very important conference in the life of the church following on from the National Gathering in 2008. In May we had thousands of people turn up at Ingliston Edinburgh to have fellowship and enjoy being challenged to consider what it means to be a church facing and living through transition.

The Homecoming as a theme for mission at a time of recession has a great potential to be used to engage the interest of all kinds of people to think about what it is that is most important in our lives. It is a warm welcoming theme with a great Biblical pedigree. It reminds us of the importance of relationships when all the material things in life are tumbling down around our heads. I hope that congregations will find time to network together and be inspired to attempt great things for God in partnership with each other.

I remember seeing this cover on the front of Time Magazine in June 1971 and thinking, God is doing something in our generation. It really was exciting times. These were the days of Christian outreach cafes and Christian rock concerts. Today we’d refer to this kind of stuff as “Emerging Church”

You may recall an article I posted in October 2007 about my past life as a singer with the Living Stones in the 60s and 70s. This was an interesting rock band because we were among he first Christian Rock musicians in Scotland. Here’s the title track from an album we released in the early 70s entitled  “Jesus Music” The song was written by Jimmy Sommerville our bass player. the recording was poor it was one of the first albums released under the GRF banner . A few years later Greenbelt Festival was established and we had the joy of playing at that first Greenbelt. i think there was around 4000 people attended.

We were not the first but we were among a number of young Christians trying to engage with the 60s revolution. This all came back to my memory today because I received an email from Arthur Blessitt highlighting a movie that is going to be doing the rounds in the States in the near future all about his life. We were really quite a busy band playing all over the show, we even played with Arthur Blessitt at the famous Greene’s Playhouse in Glasgow. I’m sure there must have been well over 2000 people in attendance that day
THE CROSS

He is quite an amazing servant of God. His ministry has revolved around literally carry the cross all over the world for the past 40 years. I wish his movie about his live much success. I planned to meet up with Arthur in india last year. Unfortunately his plane was flying into Chennai while my plane was leaving the runway. Well maybe one day we’ll meet up again.

I must say that I was delighted with the First Minister’s performance on the BBC last night raising funds for the Children in Need  Appeal. Its thanks to a lot of high profile people and many ordinary folks all getting together that money can be raised that will make a difference in communities throughout the UK.

We have a lot for which I’d like to thank the BBC Children in Need Appeal. Last year they gave us an award of just under £90,000 to set up our Children and Family work. I’m delighted to say that this project which is now called “Bounce Higher” its beginning to take off. Yes it still has to bounce even higher, but we are seeing the benefits of the project in the lives of some of our children.

Our key worker Andrea Woollard is beginning to make some excellent contacts, grow volunteers and also set up a number of exciting groups. Recently Andrea has started to work with some of the teenagers in the Academy alongside our Youth Worker Lilias Snedden. She is engaging with a youth bereavement initiative, and also with a group to boost confidence and self esteem.

All this is beginning to pay off with the recent establishment of another new group in the church called the Morning Club. This gives young people an opportunity to pop in for breakfast and a chat before they go to school. We are also offering a pick up service for those kids that live just that bit beyond walking distance. Please remember this work in your prayers its always challenging to keep funding in place to ensure that the work continues

Well I never, thanks for your post Jackie regarding the upside down Christmas Trees. I see John Lewis the Department store was selling them last year. So what is it all about? The word on the street is that its not some plan to destablise Christmas,(for give the pun), rather it is a marketing gimmick to sell trees that will be more child friendly.

The selling point is that it leaves more room around the tree for presents. I think there is something not right here. Do we not suffer from too many presents at Christmas. Certainly the children in many homes get more than they need. Perhaps the slogan “less means more ” might work for Christmas unplugged

The promoters say that it even has a Medieval Christian tradition promoting the idea of the Trinity. Well what ever it seems pretty crazy to me we certainly won’t be turning our tree upside down, but you know what I’m still interested in finding ways to help us unplug Christmas from all the commercialism of the past few decades. Sanctuary First our monthly Alternative Service will be exploring the theme “Christmas Unplugged” this coming December. I’ve started writing the material. Its going to be an adventure exploring the meaning of humility. Keep reading the blog and keep looking for the unplugged Christmas ideas. If you have any how about sharing them.

I thought this would be a good title to use as our over all theme for Christmas this year. I think many of us wish we could just unplug Christmas and get back to what it is really aall about. I think there is so much light pollution with all the Christmas decorations that it would be hard to see the real star if it were to appear. So maybe we need to switch everything off and get back to the clear dark night sky and find the star again. I’m going to start putting up some post over the Advent Season to encourage all my readers to start making that journey.

For those of you who are local to St Andrew’s Bo’ness and especially to those who will be taking part in the Christmas nativity this year I’m posting up the songs for the Kings Club so that you can hear them and start learning them for the rehearsals over the next few Sundays. So if you clip on the Mp3 buttons you will hear the songs.

Two Thousand years
Bumpy Journey
There Were Shepherds
Hey,No Way
Wise men
It’s A Party