India is a busy place. Everyone you see on the street seems to be going some where. Boys and girls dressed in their cotton school uniforms rushing to school. Workers, men and women, carrying great bundles on their heads and backs. Motorcycles moving in and out of cars. Engines reving, horns being blown, it all sounds a bit like a great orchestral piece of music.

In the midst of all this movement of people we too make our way out of the city of Chennai to drive for about four hours to  the State of Kerala, we are heading  for  the village of Marriyoor.

This is where we will meet up with the Sisters of Nazareth. Both of these women have quite outstanding stories to tell of the wonderful way God has called them to be servants among the people who live in this region.

They have been working here for over 15 years. They seek to be champions of the poor with a special remit to serve and support the tribal people who live high up in the mountains. This group of tribal people are known as “MUDHUWANS”. They have very little contact with civilisation. They are a primitive group of people and it is estimated that there could be up to 400 settlements spread out across the mountain range.  Jansi in forms me that some anthropologists have suggested that these tribes are linked in some way with the tribes of Indians found in South America.( I must look into this the next time I’m over in South America.)

The only way into their villages is to go on trek into the hills and climb high up tpo around 7,000 feet. This journey will take you at least five hours if your fit or perhaps your life if your not.

Freeda speaks with great passion for her work.She tells me how the Mudhuwan’s live. “They live in huts of bamboo covered with clay,” she explains. ” when we first went there all the people ran away from us they were terrified. Finally we met the chief and we managed to ccommunicate using  a language mix of Tamil and Malayalam. Today, some 15 years later, they run a school for the children in their complex which is just outside the village of Marriyoor. About sixty boys and girls from the tribal villages in the mountains attend the school and it is becoming a source of great pride to all parents who live in this area. The children come and live with the sisters and are educated up to secondary school age. There are many opportunities that come Freeda and Jansi’s way.  We need to help them maximise these offers.

This project has great potential if we can find so group out their who would be willing to lend a hand. I can see us doing a similar thing that Vine Trust do in Peru sending out work parties to help establish buildings and infra structure for this kind of work to continue.

It is from these distant mountains  communities that the  above children have come to study and be educated. On their returnm these children become the community educators in all sorts of subjects.one of the most important is in the area of health education.

This is the life, this is India. You’ve never lived till you’ve travelled by train especially second class. I’m not brave enough to try third class, thats where they hang out the windows in their droves.

Lying back listening to the rhythm of the wheels on the track as the train moves through the night can easily put you to sleep. I always feel the train is talking to me. You know reliving the day, perhaps helping me to pray, pray the things I don’t want to say. Anyway, here’s what I was hearing…..

Had a good flight
Had a good flight
Had a good flight

We may not carry heavy physical burdens but pray for those who do and ask God to bind up the wounds and hurts of those who have been overburdened with grief and pain today.

You know what its like, your packing for a trip and the phone rings. The last thing you want is a conversation. You need to get that bag packed. the secret of course is not to take too much stuff with you. Travelling light becomes an art. Take enough to get you by for a few days them be ready to wash a shirt or two out and let them dry. the secret is if you keep the case light you can take it into the plane with you and when you get out at te other end there's no waiting for the baggage. Your out and away. Anyway that's the theory. this trip will be different, rae has been given etra luggage allowance by the airline. this will let us take some extra supplies for the orphanage.

We visited  St Andrew’s  in Fife  yesterday to catch up with some of the congregation who are at the CLAN Gathering for this past week. They’ve taken over at least two houses and a group of them are living together in community. I was really encouraged to hear how God has been blessing them this

week. I ‘m sure they are  all going to return to Bo’ness with a renewed vision for the work of the gospel in Scotland. Erica you make a mean omlette, you really are a woman of many talents!

It was wonderful to meet up with Rudi again from South Africa. Rudi was one of our visiting students to Bo’ness when we were running the World Without Walls video training school in 2005.

He and Hildigaard made a fantastic little movie called the lost coin, which actually won our International Film Festival in 2006. I hoping that we will be able to reconnect with Rudi again and perhaps have a contingent from South Africa join us for   the World Without Walls Cycle Challenge next July.  Anyway if you want to have a look at the film they made check it out by clicking here

In a few days some of us will be heading off to India to continue to develop the friendships that we have made through our World Without Walls Programme. I praying that God will raise up the right people to help me to continue to establish this overseas development work making use of technology. There is just so much that can be achieved when we use technology in the right way.

Anyway I hope all our folks get back safe from CLAN and that they will inspire our worship on Sunday morning.

There is always something happening around the church building here in St Andrew’s Bo’ness. Its great to see the building being used and cared for by a wide variety of people. Take for instance today. Elizabeth Ann was down looking after the garden and watering the plans

Apart from the staff members who were working out of the building, we had a young teenager in for a few hours getting coaching on work experience. Then we a visit from the BBC Children in Need programme to meet Andrea our Family Worker and to meet some of the children who attend our various creative art clubs. Children in Need were particularly interested in helping the children tell stories using animation.

Here is a picture of Andrea preparing for the children a few minutes before our friends from the BBC start working with them to make up a story and them film it using models the children have already produced earlier on today.

It actually great to see how the children respond to Andrea. She has a real talent in making all the children feel loved and accepted but above all that they all have some wonderful stories to tell  and some amazing gifts .

One of our greatest resources in St Andrew’s is people too often we forget the influence that  even one person can have on the lives of children. Recently I was watching a Channel 4 documentary on children who had grown up in care and where now adults getting on with their lives. I was impressed to hear the impact that one lady carer and her husband had on all these children. Everyone of them mentioned her by name as one of the most important people in their lives as children. I think a number of children in Bo’ness will be grateful for the Bounce Higher programme and the contribution that Andrea and her helpers are making to their lives.

Here are just a few of models the children made yesterday. I believe they’ve turned it into a short animated film, which will appear on the BBC website in due course.

I was just reflecting today that Madeline Makola is quite an amazing person. In the face of all that she endured she is still in one piece and able to let he past go. I guess she is the one qualified to answer the post i made a few days ago surrounding the steam train. Have a listen to her as she speaks to a BBC reporter about her feelings towards the man who locked her in the boot of her car for ten days. It is really worth listening to even if you’ve heard it before.Click Here. She is a wonderful example of Christian grace in action. Now compared to all the hype around Susan Boyle who is the real hero. i leave you to judge.

I had a wonderfully inspiring day yesterday. Its really exciting and quite humbling to think of the extent of the vision that we have for Sanctuary First. We were working on the website design today and I tell you its going to be a fantastic worship resource for the church. I’ve been recruiting writers to help me put together the content. I believe this is going to be a resource that will match well into our Church Without Walls programmes.So keep praying for the developmental work. We have a huge challenge before us as we prepare to give the Church a daily worship website that will match we hope inspire us all to a deeper walk with God. There are going to be all sorts of resources on this site including videos for downloading from SANCTUSMEDIAand all sorts of creative ways to use texting as a tool for developing spirituality.

I think I must be in a creative cycle at the moment because I’ve also managed to prepare all of the teaching syllabus for the church from August straight through to Easter. So look out for the themes on the church website. Oh one other thing we’ve been experimenting with using video when preaching. I pre-recorded a sermon on Monday in the church garden. It was an introduction to a series of sermons based around Matthew’s gospel. It will be interesting to see how the congregation receive it when we start o the series at the end of August. Its one way of keeping continuity in the preaching and teaching when I’m off on a trip. However I’d much prefer that we find the associate minister to join the team.

Talking of the team, we’ll be having a visit from BBCs Children in Need Fund this week. Remember Andrea in your prayers as she prepares the children to take part in the filming of the event. I believe the BBC will be teaching our Digi Story children a little but of animation. The Bounce Higher programme which Andrea heads up is funded by Children in Need. And we are truly thankful for their £90,000 grant. We just need to keep praying that funding for the A-venue Youth Programme can also be found. we are so grateful to Lloyds TSB for their generosity over the years, it looks like if we are fortunate we’ll only get one years running costs out of the next traunche of money from the TSB. Anyway these are all the trials and tribulations of being a church leader in todays world. Shortly we’ll be heading out to India to take some support to our partners in the St Andrew’s Charitable Trust India.

Its amazing what you see on the road when your out and about around Bo’ness. I’m staggered at the weight of things that get transported on our roads.  Here’s a steam engine being pulled by a lorry. The lorry is having a rest in a lay-by outside Bo’ness.

Got me thinking about the shear weight of troubles and worries that we all transport around in our lives. We literally carry rubbish in our heads and feelings in our hearts  that should have been dumped years ago.  

I’m just thinking I  had a boot load of rubbish rattling around in  the car for a day before I took it to the skip. It was most annoying rattling about in the boot , especially when I was turning corners.

Its the same with our emotional and psychological  rubbish, it always reminds us of its existence, especially when we’re trying to change the direction of our lives. The answer is simply take it to the skip and have a clear out. Yes dump the lot. You’ll feel a lot better. Why pull a steam train on a road when it was meant to go on rails. We do carry strange things around with us.  I like what Jesus said about troubles and worries. I’ve paraphrased it below.

BOGLE’S PARAPHRASE

Drop into my lay-by if your carrying a huge heavy weight, even if its the size of a steam train, I’ll deal with it. I’ll give you rest from that burden. I’ll send you on your way feeling different about everything. I’ll put you on the right track . Before long  the burden will be carrying you. Is that not what steam trains are made to do?  Matt 11. 28-30

I’ve been working on the the sermons for Sunday. Struggling a wee bit with the theme for Sunday morning which is entitled “Facing the Single Life” i guess I’m becoming aware of the breadth and depth of the topic. People are so different, their approach and attitude may depend  on their age, their sex and whether they have chosen to be single .  I can imagine the feelings  will  be quite different for people  who are single, following on from a divorcee, or a bereavement. One thing we can be sure of the experience will also change as you go through different stages in life.

I guess the one thing i will be trying to get across is whether,single, married, divorced, separated, a parent or childless. We are all by our calling as Christians part of the family of God. Or in St Paul’s words we are all part of the Body of Christ. they key thing is for us all to discover the place where we have been called to serve. Anyway I work more on this theme tomorrow.

After an enjoyable  evening spent at the Hippodrome, our local refurbished 1910 cinema, where we saw the film, ” Last Chance Harvey” starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thomson the night was rounded off nicely by seeing Bono  and Edge on the Jonathan Ross Show. I’m seriously tempted to splash out and get some tickets for the Glasgow gig on the 18 August.  The Stage their using looks amazing. have a listen to this recording from the Milan gig it looks awesome.

BOGLE’S  PARAPHASE  PSALM 100
Tell U2 to turn the volume up
They make such a joyful noise
The Lord just loves that sound

On the Edge

Let the stadium rock with worship
Incite the people
To serve with joy and gladness,
enter the gates of the stadium with praise.
Give thanks for truth endures for all times
It is everlasting throughout all generations .

Went out for a meal tonight and on the way back I couldn’t help noticing that the local countryside is really quite magnificent.

I had a really creative day yesterday. Putting together the themes and topics of the sermons and services as we plan ahead for the next nine months. It a great feeling when you’ve been able to find a format and a number of themes that all fit into each other. I just hope the congregation enjoy what I’ve decided work on. I’m also looking forward to the new Worship Planning Group to be put in place . This will also help me to shape and reflect upon the themes and the content of these themes. I chosen Matthew’s Gospel as our core focus gospel for the next nine months. I’ve decided to split the gospel up into three distinct parts dealing with first of all the teaching of Jesus. I’ve entitled the first series of ten sermons ” Jesus the Generous Teacher”  We’ll take a break from Matthew for 5 weeks and look at the Epistle of James. When it comes to Advent we’ll return to Matthew’s gospel and look at the stories surrounding the birth of Jesus. So part two from the gospel will be entitled – ” The World is Still Waiting” I noticed this will tie in nicely with the theme that has been chosen for Advent 2009 by the Churches Together in the UK. The third series of  sermons from Matthew’s gospel will continue with the theme “Jesus the Generous Miracle Worker”  This will allow us to explore the working practice of Jesus. He was always so generous in the way he treated people. Reading through the chapters from 7-9 y become aware of the immense compassion that Jesus had for people who had been cast aside , especially if it was trough illness. The Challenge is for us in the churches today to reconnect with the Jesus of the NT rather than the miracle worker we have systematically questioned until everything he ever did has been rationalized and minimized.