Well I’ve been out of range of WiFi for the past couple of days. This post will serve as my last one from this trip to Peru. I’m sitting in the KLM Business Lounge writing this post. Like all travellers I can’t wait to get home.

Yesterday, was just one of those magical days in your life. We left Paul’s house just after 6.30am to miss the traffic. We were heading for the airport in Lima to take a flight to Cusco. From Cusco we would travel to the Sacred Valley to a town called Urabamba.

We arrived in Urabamba just after lunchtime. The little lodging house we checked into was amazing. Well specked, I’m told it is owned by a priest in Europe, it’s his nest egg for retirement. It was a good place to wash and get freshened up before heading out on a one hour trip to the latest Girasoles Home in the sacred valley. What a magnificent setting.

We picked up a crowd of the boys returning from school. They all climbed into the new minibus. This bus was donated by Greenbank Church Youth Group in Edinburgh. This has proved to be a tremendously useful gift . The fact is that this home is so isolated, without the minibus it is difficult to see how the boys would get about.

We arrive at the home around 3.00pm. What a welcome we received. I’m sure all forty boys run towards the bus shouting their words of welcome. Hector their house father jumps out of the van and introduces Willie and myself and our friend David who has joined us for this trip.

The home sits in what can only be described as a little piece of paradise. The huge mountains in the background and the shining silvery river running behind the home all adds up an amazing idealic setting.

The boys are anxious to show us  round their home to see their rooms. The first thing that strikes you is how tidy their rooms are. Willie comes over to me, “go on, take a picture of this wee boy’s bed, it could make you cry.” Well in this setting the sensitive side of McPherson is revealed as we look at a bunk bed with a wee boys teddy all ready and prepared for sleep. Its actually a little lamb. How wonderful to think that a child that once was on the street can regain something of the innocence and fun connected with childhood. More than this I recall to myself the words of the song.”Wherever I hand my hat that’s my home”

A few minutes later the boys are called for their evening meal. One of the children stands and gives thanks for the food. Then each table is served. Soup was the first course followed by chicken and rice, then jelly and angel delight. The boys didn’t leave a scap. It was great to see forty hungry boys getting tucked in.

After supper the boys had some time to play. David had brought a gift for the boys. A game of Table Tennis. This amuses a large number of the lads. Others had their pockets filled with marbles while others played football. In another area a group were doing homework, while a couple of boys had been detailed for washing up.

I move around the site taking pictures. Then something quite amazing happens. A rainbow appears on the sky just above the home. For me this was a sign a wonderful sign that God was smiling down our efforts.

On this journey we have visited the many varied projects run by Union Biblical and funded by the Vine Trust. It has been great joy to represent all of us in Scotland and beyond who have so faithfully supported the work. Of course I heard about challenges and difficulties but I also met people in Peru who are willing to face these challenges knowing that God is with us. For more pictures check out my picture gallery.

This post is going to be all about lights at Christmas. Its truly wonderful how a candle can light up the darkness. I know it sounds like stating the obvious but to me it is always full of wonder. I think to myself so where did the darkness go? Of course its still there but the light has brought another dimension so that your eyes see things that otherwise would be hidden. Every Christmas there is always something or someone I see in a new light.

WE SEE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

Last night I wa at the Dockers Welfare Social Club to listen to the Songwriters Christmas Song Competition. It was a great night organised by Stephen of “We See Lights“. It was great to hear a load of new Christmas songs. If you want to hear what some of them sounded like click here

CHRISTMAS LABYRINTH

I think the labrynth at St Andrew’s Parish Church Bo’ness is one of the most spectacular Christmas Light experiences you will ever come across. It was written by Maggie Lane who was our probationer minister during Christmas 2006.  A team of people still run with it and have created quite a wonderful Christmas encounter. It was designed to encourage us to make a journey to follow the star like the wise men of old to find the child i the manger who is the Saviour of the world.

there will be different stations for you to stop at on the journey giving you an opportunity to participate, to think, to pray.  Music will accompany you on your journey. You will be given an MP3 player to guide you through   your journey. the journey can be done 15 minutes or it can take you longer depending on how long you choose to stay at each station.

Word has got out this year and I believe we had a a good number of people going through the experience yesterday. So if your reading this and you can get over to Bo’ness between 2pm-4pm and 6pm -8pm today then I believe it will be an experience you’ll remember for a long time.  The thing I find encouraging about this is to see  people of all ages going through the labyrinth. If I  can get a hold of one of the tracks from the MP3 player I include it in my next post.

On other thing, I said I’d mention something about the other projects in India. take a moment to pray for those who suffer from the dreaded disease of leprosy.  Mount Zion Church in Chennai have been helping a group of people who suffer from leprosy who live together in a colony outside the city. Its about 40 miles from their church but they go every second week with food and money to help them. Last year you may recall we had an appeal in the town of Bo’ness to send them blankets.  Please keep this group of people in your prayers this Christmas. We sent £400.00 on Monday for the support of this community. A small amount but it wil go a long way to feed people with rice this Christmas.

BEING THANKFUL

Hope you enjoyed looking at the  last post Fixed Point.  Here’s another little film about a trip I made to India last year. It might encourage all of us to be thankful for all we have.

We sent off £13,500 pounds to India this morning. It was a real joy to feel that this money will be arriving in time to make a difference this Christmas.

This is money that we’ve been collecting to share with our partners in India who are part of our World Without Walls Project.  Somehow we seem to have adopted  five projects, some we are supporting more than others.  Take a moment to look through te slide show  SANGITA_TRUST.html

In this post i’m focusing on the Sangita Orphanage. Tomorrow i’ll tell you about one of the other projects.

If you scroll down on the slide show you’ll see pictures of the Orphanage being built. It looks really cool.

You will see that there are various projects on the go. Including a very worthy project which is helping feed men and women who live in a leprosy Colony.

I’m particularly concerned about the Sangita Orphanage at the moment, mainly because they are trying to build a home for over 70 children, while  being under the threat of being evicted from their present premises.  the landlord has upted the rent and has the right to evicte them whenever he wishes. He has already taken over part of the building and they now care for 70 children out of two rooms.

Paul and Grace Moses the founders have started to build the new orphanage but they need more funds to finish the project. `The thing is it is in an amazing site and the plans are quite spectacular. A million miles away from what the children are living in at present.  They need to build another three buildings to be able to house the children. Each building costs £6,000 to erect. Today we sent £7,500 this will help erect another building and also help with the running costs. If you’d like to donate to this work you can do so by going to www.standonline.org.uk our church web page and press the donate link on the left hand side of the page.

I’ve just finished writing the blurb on the Christmas card that we send round our Parish. In it I’m suggesting that we could all do with a minimalist Christmas. By this I mean unplugging all the light pollution that goes with Christmas so that we can see the real star. The thing is, I know, the Light still shines brightly for those who are looking, but some have lost their way with the tinsel and the tat.

We have a little Advent Bible Study group that meets every week with us in the manse. We’ve decided we’re going to do a few subversive things this year to draw people’s attention to the real light. Last Sunday at the Ceilidh we handed out little St Andrew Flags and invited people to write prayers for our nation and town. Last night our group of Advent Angels slipped don in the dark into our town and pinned all the prayers on the Christmas Tree in the Market Square.

We decided we’d claim back the tree, give it meaning. S we’re on the lookout for more Advent subversive things to do. If you can think on any please let me know. We’ll keep you up to date with our subversive ministry.

What can I  say Sunday was a great day. I really enjoyed the morning service , when it came to the evening it was great to experiment with praise music and Scottish dancing. I can recommend folks to try this out. It sounds corny and shallow but it wasn’t. it was one of the most inclusive  all age evenings we’ve experienced in the church. The food was great and the music was excellent. Have a look at the service click here What amazed me was that everyone joined in the dancing and also got involved with the worship and praise. I think it

just felt right. It wasn’t an import from some other place it had a real Scottish feel to it. I think we need to explore more ways in which we can connect our culture and worship. We then had an amazing meal together and what was really spooky was that all the seats were filled at the tables. yet had hadn’t sold any tickets. the right number came along.

We returned to the sanctuary for more dancing. this time Heather Niblo treated us to a Highland Sword Dance it was pure dead brilliant, as they say!

At the end of the day this is an opportunity to engage with families of all ages. I know I had a few chats with some teenagers that i never would have had if we had been running the usual evening service. reflecting on all this makes me aware that we need to be continually exploring new and not so new ways to be church. I’d love to here some of your comments on this part of post.

This week has been a pretty busy one. on Monday i was at 121 George Strret, the Church of Scotland’s central offices. I had a meeting with the committee that seeks to balance the budgets of the church. It was an interesting meeting a lot of things were discussed regarding the future of CWW, more discussions to take place, but and I’m sure when we’re finished CWW will be in a better place to attract funding from the church.

Tuesday evening saw me at the Presbytery and we were discussing reform. For my sins I presented the case to bring about a restructuring of our Presbytery meetings. The wonderful thing was that everyone seemed to be up for change. The proof of the pudding will be if we actually deliver what people seem to be looking for from Presbytery. We were asking the question, “What is the purpose of Presbytery in the context of the church today? Tomorrow I’m going to tell you about a little subversive act that some of us were involved with tonight. It can keep till tomorrow. I’m off to bed.

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.

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.

We had our second ‘Alpha Night’ at the Inchyra last night. There was a good mix of people from different backgrounds and I’m sure its going to be once again an interesting life changing experience for a number of people.

Our theme last night asked the question” Why did Jesus die?” It is an opportunity to talk about the central theme of Christianity namely, “Forgiveness” it seems to me that this is one of the central issues that faces all of humanity. All over the world people are looking for ways and means where by they can forgive. Last night I tried to explain the classic Christian doctrine of Justification. I also tried to explain the fact that the cross of Christ is like a diamond it has many sides to it and each side has an explanation that seeks to illuminate our hearts and our minds to the nature and power of the love of God.

One thing is for certain the cross of Christ has much to say to people who feel they are carrying sacks of guilt about with them. The cross is where God in Christ took upon himself our sinful humanity and became sin for us so that we might feel free from the consequences of our actions.
Inmyplace.mov
A few years ago we filmed the above clip as part of our TGI Sunday Service in may ways it is another facet of the cross and it is a diamond worth reflecting upon. I think the idea that total forgiveness invites us to let go of the things or the feelings that have hurt and abused us and then asks that we might never speak about it again is all about forgiving and forgetting. Finally receiving the grace to remember to pray a blessing for those who have wronged you is the ultimate sign of forgiveness. These three steps hopefully will be purued our various Alpha Groups. So what do you think of the idea of forgiveness?

When the Special Commission was writing the CWW Report in 2001 we thought about submitting a report to the General consisting of the following four words, Jesus said, follow me!

Follow Me!
You said.
It was more than words,
I thought.
If your leaving on a jet
I could be tempted!
How I wish You did call me to follow.
Just to be going somewhere.
To be leaving.
To be getting ready.
To be packing a suit case.
To be packing a bag.
The only packing I do is at Tesco.
O God I hate shopping!

But I need to move on.
Change my life.
Change my job.
Change the way I think!
Moving means leaving.
Leaving means making choices.
What do I take with me?
What do I leave behind?
I’ve so much “stuff”
Not just stuff,
but the kind of stuff that clings on to you
weighs you down
Makes you
who you are?
Its stuff you can’t leave behind.
What would I do with ‘me’
If I left it all behind?

It’s not just things
It’s people
Ideas
Beliefs
Attitudes
Relationships. Just say I was to go
Get up
leave everything. Beliefs
Theology
all that I struggle with
in life
in religion -in politics
What would I need to take with me?
What is it that I can’t really leave behind?
The Word of Life
a map for living The Bread of life
food for the soul The wine of life
renewing my spirit The water of life
refreshing the mind

The church was quite magical. In the darkness the small lights shining were light stars shining in the darkness. We’ve had a really interesting Advent here in Bo’ness this year. So many people have worked hard and contributed to the whole period of reflection. Friday was quite a special day. The labyrinth was really outstanding. It was written by Maggie Lane and laid out under the direction of Rae Manger. It proved to be an amazing experience for those who walked it. If you did I’d love to hear your comments on the experience. I really hope hat more and more of the congregation will begin to grasp the power of living our lives immersed in prayer. We need to understand that prayer is not just what you do when we come to church or go to the prayer meeting. Prayer needs to become a way of life so that every action of every day turns into a prayer.