One of the most popular shows on TV centres around the lives of a group of friends. I think the above clip is pretty funny. It reminds me of a few people i know who have gone down the road of the fake tan. Its really strange, but you know when we were in India this Summer the TV commercials were advertising cream to make your complexion pale. While we in this country go looking to become tan. Human nature were never happy with what we’ve got.

On Sunday morning I asked the congregation to think of the qualities that they look for in a friend. I did so knowing that the sermon was going to be centred around the teaching of Jesus regarding the topic of making judgements about people. Its such a difficult thing for all of us when we are in a situation where we have to cultivate friendships. I asked the congregation to begin to discuss the topic this week in their homes.

I was in the church lounge making a cup of tea this morning as intrigued to over hear a conversation between two staff members all about the difficulty many teenagers have in discerning who are really their true friends. So many pressures seem to face them as they seek to discover who they are and also what kind of persona they should promote in order to attract friends.

The thing is its not only teenagers that have the problem there are just so many people out there struggling to hold on to life itself because they’ve been let down by so called friends.

At the end of our reflection in church I asked the question to all of us. What kind of friend are we, to those we call friends. So lets hear you thoughts on friendships.

French authorities forced a series of evictions of asylum-seekers and migrants living in makeshift encampments around Calais today.

No doubt you may have seen the pictures as they were broadcast as part of the News. So what is it that makes people risk everything to try and win British Citizenship? Maybe we have so much in this country that we take our way of life for granted. We are never afraid to speak our mind because we don’t expect to be arrested. The thing is all around the world today people are looking for sanctuary.

I believe genuine people looking for shelter and sanctuary should never be turned away. As I type these words I hear Grace in the Sangita Orphanage telling me she can’t turn a child away who comes to her door looking for sanctuary.

All this reminds me of the thousands of people who roam our streets at night who are looking for meaning and purpose to their lives. They may have homes to go to but they are looking for a different kind of sanctuarysanctuary. Will you remember in your prayers this new web based ministry that starts in the next couple of weeks. We’re looking for congregations and individuals to partner us as we seek to take this right into the ” Lions Den”

Oh What a night !  Late September  back in 2009.  I opened the door of the church lounge , the place was jammed packed with parents waiting to pick their kids up from Anchor Boys. ” I think  I’ll install a coffee machine in here for you guys, I quipped . Monica, our welcome co-ordinator was standing smiling, its a busy place tonight, there’s a lot going on.”  She never spoke a truer word. There is so much going on  in our church  but there is a whole story still unfolding, that is not always obvious. Its the things that God does to surprise me that makes me more and more open to expectation.

William Carey the 18th Century Missionary who felt called to India, once wrote ,’Expect great things from God, and attempt great things for God.  I do believe we need to recapture that same missionary zeal again. It was that same zeal that established the modern missionary movement out of Edinburgh in 1910. We need to be a people looking to God knowing that he is already doing great things all around us.

Tonight I heard a young man confess his faith in Christ to  his peers, by the end of the evening another 5 young people had spoken of their faith in Christ.  One phoned me at the manse to share with me he had taken a step of faith into the Kingdom. An hour later I received a text to say another young person had found faith tonight.  Could it be that faith is  contagious?  What do you think?  I hope so, we could have a faith virus here in Bo’ness.  I’ll keep you posted. Here’s a song for all those who have opened their lives to the presence of God. What great expectations we should have – God’s at work in lives like yours and mine, <a href=”

“Bringing His kingdom In”   The Bogle Band has  sung this particular song hundreds of times.  It has often touched people and been used by God as a drawing song. Moving people to turn from darkness to light, from fear to freedom.  This particular version was recorded at the BBC studios in Queen Margaret Drive Glasgow in 1989. Twenty years on the Kingdom is still relevant and attractive.

So how do we respond to all the conflicting and confusing views we hear when it comes to the great moral issues of our day? I sometimes think it is easy to get things out of perspective, however there is little doubt that the temptation facing all of us is to become cynical about people politics and prayer.

I know why this happens, you see I do think people of all ages have become a lot ruder. I can give you verse and chapter. I think all of our Christian faith communities have bought into the cultural moral and material thinking of our age. So, I get exasperated when one group of Christians act as though the problems all lie in one camp. And I’m convinced that the politically correct movement has become the new faith orthodoxy of all our political parties.

All this has influenced our educational aspirations and even our freedom of speech. I don’t wish to promote the rude behaviour of extremists but can we just be allowed to speak our mind in a courteous manner without being liabled, labelled and lamented. That’s my rant over!

Yet in spite of all the dark realities of the human spirit. I am continually inspired by the light that I see burning in he lives of very ordinary people. I do believe that God has not abandoned us. He stands back in amazement that we never seem to learn. A few years ago I wrote a song out of the experience of grief, disappointment and frustration. I was in danger of seeing my cup half empty. This song was written to remind myself that God has given his people the Holy Spirit and we become the lamplighters. This song is from the album entitled “Lamplighter”

I think when the history books are written about the turn of the 21st century, these times will be recorded as unparalleled in the history of humanity.  So many challenges face us on so many levels. When we look at the ecological balance of the world we are in danger of reaching the tipping point into the abyss of a polluted creation. I  remember a few years ago in Peru,  standing on the edge of a rubbish dump in Iquitos  we could literally go no further –  the rubbish was piled up on the edge of a cliff ready to tip over. All around me was the rain forrest . The rubbish dump was just about to claim  more of the virgin ground.  The lush green  vegetation would continue to be violated.  The waste from the city was literally spilling over into the beauty of the creation.

As the world population continues to increase so does the appetite  for wealth among all sections of humanity. From Chennai to Lima from Edinburgh  to Sydney,  we humans are striving to be satisfied. Never before has so much knowledge of the past and the present and even the future been available to the inhabitants of the world.  Yet we seem to be like rabbits caught in the headlights of our collective aspirations – looking and longing for more while ignoring the consequences of the headlights. We can’t keep going on like this forever, something will have to give. I was listening to the broadcast on  BBC Newsnight, earlier this week when Paxman  was interviewing Rowan Williams, have listen. Click

I found it interesting that in this interview the Archbishop was highlighting the need for a spirit of repentance in the nation. indeed in the world. We also have a responsibility to speak of the alternative society – we are called and qualified by the grace of God to speak of the Kingdom values. All this brings me back to my song and my half empty glass.  I have no doubt we are all complicit in the “Credit Crunch” but we need to do more than just speak of our complicity, we need to pray that the old and the light flow from us to bring healing and a new vision to scotland and indeed the world. “Let’s talk no more of desolation”

Yesterday I was out doing some visits around the parish. In the course of one of my visits it dawned on me that it was on the 16 September 1981 that I was ordained into St Andrew’s Bo’ness.

When I returned home the card on the left was waiting in my inbox. The jungle drums had been used to spread the word.

When we came to Bo’ness this picture appeared on the front page of the Journal.

What a wonderful privilege it has been for me to have had the trust and companionship of so many outstanding people in our church fellowship over the years. I count it a wonderful blessing to be able to knock on so many doors in this town and be welcomed in as a family member and friend.

I honestly do not think there is a more engaging and fulfilling calling than to be a minister of the gospel. However I’m aware that some ministers find themselves ministering in very difficult and challenging circumstances. Very often we leave ourselves vulnerable and open to hurt. Today I was at a conference in the Inchyra Hotel near Polmont. During the course of the conference the wounds of ministry became apparent as leaders where were encouraged to forgive those who had hurt them and to move on from these hurts to allow God to do new and wonderful things with and alongside them in ministry.

It was a most interesting conference one in which I ended up being prayed for which embarrassed me no end. Yet I was thankful for the prayers of colleagues and it was a wonderful way to start my 29th year in ministry.

As I reflect on the day I’m reminded of the prayer of General Thanksgiving from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

Almighty God
Father of all mercies
We your unworthy servants
give you most humble
and hearty thanks for all your goodness
and loving kindness to us and all people.

We bless you for your creation,
preservation, and all blessings of this life:
but above all for your inestimable love
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ,
for the means of grace
and the hope of glory.
An we ask you please,
Give us a true sense of all your mercies
that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful
that we show to all your praise, not only with our lips
but in our lives; by giving up ourselves to your service,
and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness
all our days.

Don’t you think this prayer says it all?

Here’s a blast from the past. Thought some of you guys might like to see the Bogle Band in action some 20 years ago on the BBC programme entitled “High Spirits” Here’s a rendering of “Be Thou My Vision”. I think its still one of my favourite songs. Its a great reminder to all of us who seek to follow Christ that we are called to be disciples first above all else. It also reminds us that we’re all in a spiritual battle and we are fooling ourselves if we think differently. I ‘ll post another clip of the band next week

We got a new carpet fitted recently. I felt sorry for the carpet fitter he worked hard all day to re-carpet our hall and stairs. When he was finished I think he could identify with this clip. Here’s a man who has worked hard all day and now deserves to have a smoke. Little does he know that his smoking has cost a life.

I think that might have made you laugh. Even if your an animal lover. The point is the carpet fitter misjudged the situation and the hamster lost his life. got me thinking about that verse of scripture that says- ” Be sure your sins will find you out.” The point being
you might pull the carpet over the hamster but you can’t pull the carpet over God’s eyes.

SF Can you pass the word around that we are looking for churches, or even a few passionate individuals who would like to partner us with the SANCTUARY FIRST initiative . We are confident that we have three partners willing to run with us for the launch of the project. However the success of the vision requires that we start to enlist people all round the country and indeed the world who will catch the vision of Sanctuary First. I’ve been looking through the website that has come back from the design team and its looking good. The combination of an interactive daily worship space on the web with the tools of a social networking site, linking into a monthly worship event, be it small or large, will I’m sure be of interest to a lot of people.

I’ll announce the areas  where the launchs will take place when we have made all the arrangements and  our potential partners have all confirmed. The theme we are going to be launching during the month of October is Faith and Mystery.  The opening worship event will be exploring the challenge and experience  of encountering God in the middle of a crisis. The story of Isaiah’s call to faith and also Jeremiah’s  and even the experience of Moses all adds up to understanding God as a God of surprises.

The above video clip is from one of the worship events we piloted last year in Bo’ness.

I’ve been thinking about rivers recently,  well the truth is I think about the river everyday. My house looks out on the River Forth. The thing is the river never stays the same it changes everyday in life. I believe its such a great privilege to live so close to a river.  There are so many exciting analogies about tour spiritual life , to be learned from a river. Here’s a picture of the River  Tweed in full flow this afternoon, Monday 7th September.

A couple of Sundays ago i was preaching on the text from Psalm 46. ” There is a river that makes glad the city of God. What a wonderful thought. I wonder what the city of God “being glad” sounds like ? Its a wonderful image.

There is a River

I think this river is

Laughing with me

It too has a place in the city

God has given rivers a future

Now i know why it’s  singing in tune with the stones and the fish

Its presence lifts your spirit

It really knows how to move

It never stays still

A river is always going somewhere

Flowing

Faster

Slower

Deeper

Broader

I want to move with the river

I want to to race the river

I want to swim in the water

I want to catch a fish in the river

I want to flow like the river

Lord let the river of life flow through me

Today

Yesterday

And forever

I’m trying to kept a promise I made to someone in India when I was there a few weeks ago. So I’m in Edinburgh this afternoon on church business meeting people at the central church offices. Its a busy place, even more so just at the end of the Festival. Its a cold damp lunchtime. I walk along George Street and suddenly I realise I’ve just walked past a beggar who was sitting on the street outside a restaurant. I was past him before it registered. Then you have this struggle in your head. Should I give him money or do I just ignore his plight. I mean no one sits in a wet damp street begging unless they’re desperate. You think, to yourself, what is a pound to me? Nothing in my economy.  So I walk on window shopping before my next appointment.

Within seconds I was looking at a pair of boots I quite  liked,  they cost over £100.00. The beggar and his plight was no longer in my mind. I didn’t buy the boots, didn’t have my wallet with me. As I turned to head back to the church offices I passed the beggar and put a £1.00 in his Starbucks paper cup. He said “thank you” as I walked past. I had probably just helped him buy his next fix. Now I’m thinking, “did I do the right thing”?

Solving issues is never easy. I can’t remember seeing beggars on the street when I was was growing up. However I do remember the odd tramp at the door. There used to be a guy who walked about St George’s Cross, I think we called him Skipper. I always remember he had a ginger coloured beard and a rope tied round his waist to hold his coat closed.

I’m wondering if in fact we’re now actually going backwards. What kind of society have we become? I guess the drug culture has changed everything. More and more people are experimenting with alcohol and drugs and as a result we are finding there are more casualties. I find I need to continually remind myself that there are needy people in Scotland just as much as in other places in the world.

I started writing this post on the street in George Street on Friday. Its now Sunday evening.  In a few moments I hope to be in my bed, I’m still thinking about the man begging on the street and his cardboard cup.

In my sermon this morning I mentioned the phrase in the Lord’s Prayer, “Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” It reminds me that God expects us to fight for justice in the present. His Kingdom is not a future tense but a present tense. I guess that means we are all responsible to bring about change in our world. Did I change the world with my pound?  Maybe I did, but was it for better or worse?