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.

  I’ve had a busy couple of days. Today I spent a good few hours at meetings in 121. Its all part of being Presbyterian. We had a really productive meeting about Re-energise3 I think the conference in January is going to be absolutely amazing. Anyway its back to getting ready for Sunday. The theme I’m preaching on is the phrase from the Lord’s Prayer “forgive us our debts” We’ve got a mediation to prepare on the topic. Hopefully You’ll get an opportunity to look at it when its complete. The overarching Advent theme is Your Kingdom Come! That phrase somehow,never ceases to excite me. I’m glad we’ve chosen this theme over Advent because it has been a wonderful opportunity to concentrate everyone on prayer again.You’ll see the picture of the tree. We put it up to use it as a prayer tree this week. All the little stars on the tree are prayers for the children in Chennai. They’ll all be taken off the tree and sent to all the children we’ve seen at the orphanages and some of the churches.

Preachers today live in a highly competitive world. The art of communication is being developed and honed in so many ways. The preacher needs to become more aware of these skills and become conversant with them. This is a huge task that faces the church as we seek to communicate with a world that has become focused on the visual image and an interactive form of communication. here is a little film we produced a last Christmas based on the theme ” Missing You” let’s hear what you think.

Even the very term preaching has been devalued to mean something different in our currency. It means to harp on, it means to be an irritant it means something quite derogatory to preach at someone it to harangue them.

let me for the next few sentences share with you what I call the theology of entertainment. First and foremost I want to suggest that all successful preaching or should I say public speaking or communication should be in its very nature entertaining.

Now to use such a word in the context of proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ may seem to some a little flippant. Entertainment for some has an association with “the world the flesh and the devil” To talk about preaching in an entertaining way for some is to talk in a light hearted manner. It is to be frivolous. Can I suggest that entertainment is a most devalued word and requires to be rethought when we talk about preaching and teaching. Can I suggest another definition of entertainment.

It is to allow one’s self and others to enter into or engage with an idea or a command or a notion, in such a way that they enter into the concept and are detained by it. Thus they have been “entertained”

All good preaching to my mind should have first and foremost an element of surprise to it. We need to find ideas, and illustrations that grab the attention of the listener. Too often those who listen are switched off in the first two sentences. The prophets knew all about this and they were able to engage with people in an astounding way. Take for instance the story in the Bible about God calling Moses to be a freedom fighter. Let us take this story and see how It is an excellent example of good communication.

The first thing to notice is that the burning bush was not a surprise to Moses. He had seen many a burning bush in the desert. It happened regularly. The point to this story is that God used a very regular occurrence in a “surprising way”. The Bush kept on burning. Now that was the surprise that drew Moses toward the bush. The Bush caught his attention. Good communication will seek to catch your attention often in a surprising way.

Secondly the “entering in” to the idea is what I call being detained. That experience of engaging,reflecting and making connections. This is the aspect of communication that seeks to nurture the listener in such a way that they are encouraged challenged and developed and even distrurbed. Thus Moses takes on board the whole call to go to Egypt and be a freedom fighter. Good communication must engage and bring about a result or action.

The third thing is a message may be received but it is often received to be passed on. Good communication creates a passion or reason or a cause in the listener to enable and empower them to pass on the message. Part of this is in the receiving there has to be a believing. The believing causes a stirring within the individual to pass on the message. Moses was stirred by God yet he gave reasons why he couldn’t do it. He felt he didn’t have the eloquence necessary. The point here is that Moses was the connector. He knew the palace. He knew the Pharaoh but above all he knew Aaron. He was the key to making the next part of the communication work. All this teaches me that, when we communicate ideas we need to do so in a way that makes connections happen in the head of the listener. Thus Moses finds himself leading a people in a partnership with his brother Aaron. Maybe we should be asking who has God lined up to be our spiritual partner.

Every year we make a Christmas movie.Here is one we made a few years ago. I hope you enjoy it. It has quite a lot of good points that could be raised in a sermon, or as part of a youth discussion group.

What follows now is part 2 of of Comfort and Joy. We had such a laugh making this. We included all age groups in the making of the movie. This year we are starting work on a take off of the Apprentice. the script has been written by Alec Shuttleworth. It looks very good. This is Christmas 2004.

I’m looking forward to preparing the Advent sermons around the theme. “Your Kingdom Come” It is of course a phrase from the Lord’s Prayer.I think it is a phrase full of anguish and hope. During Advent I hope to focus the congregation on the importance of prayer. I’m hoping to make the Christmon tree into prayer tree. Our Christmas Tree will arrive early this year on the 30th November, I hope to get it up for the first Sunday in Advent but leave it absolutely bare. This will give me the opportunity to invite the congregation to think of what they believe is God’s vision is for the work here in Bo’ness and then to write it on a label and attach it to the tree. So the tree will bear all the hopes and dreams of the Kingdom.

Every year we try to make something of Christmas. I especially like to do something at Advent to help everyone start to prepare for Christmas. This year is no exception. We’ve got a group together who call themselves the Advent Angels. They have been working on a number of ideas. The above design is going to be the focus of our Christmas Card Invitation to the Parish. Its been designed by one of our Elders Beatty Long. I hope that we might even have a larger version of this design produced as a hanging in the church.

I thought some of our videos that we made last year for Advent might be a resource for some of my fellow bloggers in the ministry. Now I don’t know if I can do this but here is a powerpoint that I put together for a seminar that I gave to some students at St Andrew’s University last August. I’ve entitled it “Advent Encountered Through A theology of Entertainment’.