I’ve been working on the sermon for church later today. There is going to be a bit of a tie up between the morning service and Sanctuary First. I’ve been reflecting upon that great little text in 1 Corinthians 16.9 where Paul says this ” a great door of opportunity has opened up for me, but i face many adversaries. I going to be encouraging every one of us to make the most of our life opportunities. We can’t live our lives in regret. never can we live our lives in fear. Too many people over the years have held back from the call of God on their lives because they could only see the obstacles rather than the opportunities. So tomorrow will be “Open Door Sunday”

I think the evening service has the potential to be really interesting. One of the themes we will be looking at is the living dead that inhabit the church. Here’s a sample of the material we’ll be reflecting upon.

A scene of first aid - blue lights flashing emergency noise soundtrack - someone being brought back to life. Paramedics flat on the ground - receiving the breath of life from a passer by. The point is that the church is facing an emergency. The scene depicts the struggle for the Christian who is slipping back into the world. The church is called to be like the rescue ambulance seeking to strengthen Christian life. However the church is dying no longer able to carry out rescue missions.The passion for renewal and revival is now outside the church in the most unexpected places. God is Emerging in the lives of people who would normally pass by.

GET REVIVED OR DIE? - ALBERT BOGLE
(The actor pacing up and down looking at the audience then at the paramedic flat on her back Desperation can be detected from the voice)

They’ve got to wake up!
You better wake up!
So much to do
It’s absolutely ludicrous
I can’t believe what I’m doing
I can’t believe what I’m saying
I can’t believe what I’m seeing
This is a crisis.

Religion is dead
Church is dead But I,-
We need something to believe in

Imagine
Para medics being resuscitated
By the patients
If you where told that
You’d laugh in disbelief
But we’re living in an upside down world
How did the church get into this state?
Something happened!
Something terrible is happening
The world has gone crazy
And the Church with it

Oh what ever happened to you?
Why have you stopped talking?
Why have you stopped explaining?
Why have you stopped believing.?
It was your job to bring us back to life
To bring us hope
Salvation
Meaning and purpose
But you lost
Your heart
Your passion
You got side tracked
into alternative programmes
You stopped believing people were sick
You became sick yourself
believing lies
You got caught up in a counterfeit world

You’ve got to wake up
Start coughing
Breathing
O Please just start
Living again
Loving again
Singing again
Caring again
Healing again
Believing again

I’m the outsider here
I’m not into rescue
I need to be rescued
I’ve got my own problems
My own plans
But people like me need help
Children need love

Don’t look at me like that
You look dead
I’m not like you
I’m the outsider here
I’m not a Church
I can’t do it your way
I’m into relationships
I like it minimalist
Not too complicated
O Please wake up
Strengthen the things that remain

Song - Bob Dylan – From the “Slow Train Comin” - When You Gonna Wake Up

I was telling you all how I enjoyed Christmas. i was especially impressed by the latest ministry that is being developed out of the church. the Puppet People.  thanks to Hugh O’Brien and his inspiration earlier on this year we now have our very own little puppet ministry.  I think they did a brillant job of Christmas Day have a look and tell me what you think? Puppet People So I’m now looking forward to the next presentation. I’m hoping we’ll be able to use this group to make the children’s address come to life on a Sunday.

SANCTUARY FIRST

Believe it or not this Sunday evening we’ll be putting on the Sanctuary First service. The theme this month is “A WAKE UP CALL” the service is going to be based around the passage in Revelation 3. This is the letter to the church at Sardis.  This community finds itself being rebuked because it is something its not. I always think this is such a challenge to all of us who try to keep the church relevant. We need to be careful that we are not simply promoting programmes to look busy rather than being engaged with effective ministry. Here is the opening part of the liturgy. Its meant to cause you to think. I’m posting it as a kind of trailer, perhaps to coax you to come along or at least loh=g in on the net next Sunday at 7.00pm

“Music playing to reflect  imminent danger. On the screen the clock is ticking. There is an interplay between the world on the screen and the ticking clock. Finally the music stops and all that is heard is the ticking of the clock.  Then  suddenly an alarm breaks the silence!”

A WAKE UP CALL

Narrator Speaks
We’re on the edge of disaster .
We’re facing economic, ecological, spiritual and moral bankruptcy.
We watch on like people in a dream.
We’re asleep.
We’re snoring
Ignoring
The clock ticking
We only have one life
And we sleep through it
And we gamble with it
Like poker players in a game
We each hold a hand
We throw away the best cards
In search of the charmed suit
Only to find we hold a busted Flush

But we dream on

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.

Over the years there has been much speculation about Joseph the father of Jesus. Many writers have tried to think through what it must have meant for Joseph to have taken on such a role knowing that Jesus was such a special child and not his own.

Joseph is a bit of a mentor for all Dads, but especially those who are caring for children they are bringing up as their own. The great thing is that he did it and did it successfully. I’m sure there are times when those who are in such a role feel a bit like an outsider and may even feel what they are doing is out of place. What an encouragement to be reminded that God entrusted his Son Jesus into the hands of another. Here’s a great song written by one of the Bogle Band Colin Jamieson and sung by Iain. I hope you enjoy it. Joseph As you listen take a moment to pray for all who are members of blended families. Christmas can be one of the most enjoyable but also one of the most stressful times if you are in such a position. However learning to trust God can be an amazing step forward in all family disputes.\

JOSEPH

I’m known to my friends as Joe
But do they really know me?
I doubt it.
Okay People know our names
but they don’t really know us.
I’m a carpenter
I make things
I like working with wood.
When it comes to understanding
Women - well
that’s a different kettle of fish

I didn’t think I could deal
with the problem I found myself in.
It has been a difficult one
This whole situation about
Mary’s pregnancy
Freaked me out!
video

I was ready to walk away .
Then, the whole thing changed overnight.
I had a dream and the next thing I knew
I had a change of attitude.
I now know I can work at this
Make it work
I’m a worker by nature
I think God knew that
“Work it out ,“ he said
Work it out Joe!

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.

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

SANCTUARY FIRST

This new project has the ability to become an amazing presence on the web. Will you pray for it as we begin to make onnection around our presbytery to begin with and then take it further afield. If you think this is something you’d like to know more about why not pop over and see us on Sunday . It starts at 7.00pm but we’re serving food at 6.30pm. We’re hoping to launch our Twitter Prayerline for the whole church at the Sanctuary First Service this Sunday.

UNITARY CONSTITUTION

This Sunday we’re going to have a special meeting of the Kirk Session and the Deacons’ Court to look at a new structure out of which to organise ourselves as a church. At the last Kirk Session, Session agreed to allow , St Andrew’s Multimedia Youth project (SAMYP ) to morph into a new not for profit company which is going to be known as SANCTUS MEDIA LTD. We’ll be looking for some folks to invest in this new outreach project.This will allow us to bring together our our fur social outreach programmes under the leadership of our new associate minister whenever they arrive. These include the Shalom Counselling Service which operates out of the Kinglass Health centre two afternoons per week. The Bounce Higher Programme which focuses on children and families. The Youth Work lead by Lilias and her team and of course the Tuesday Club our award winning programme wich has just received a certificate of excellence from the Care Commission

WORLD WITHOUT WALLS

Over the next few weeks we’re going to be missing Rae and Adam from the staff as they go off to India to visit our partners. This will be an opportunity for them to see the work and report back on the progress of the various projects we support. As Rae and Adam leave we’ll be delighted to welcome home Erica and Lorna from thier 15 month tour of all our World Without walls partners. Please remember us in your prayers

We had a very interesting weekend at church. The Must Be More Festival turned out to be an interesting start to the coming church session. I pray that we are on the right tracks.

At present we’re in the midst of a capacity building exercise. This calls us to look at the way we organise ourselves so that we can become more effective as an organisation. I’ll tell you more about this in the coming weeks.

We have come to the conclusion that we need to be continually reviewing the way we structure ministry. The picture of scaffolding on the left is one that I saw in India last year. It was pretty dangerous looking, made up of pieces of wood tied together with rope. Got me thinking that while the structure needs to be flexible it also requires to have an element of security about it. However the structure cannot in the end determine the shape and the purpose of the organisation. The shape and vision must determine the structure required to support its function.

Part of our vision in St Andrew’s is making church relevant for those with young families this  is one of our priorities as a church. The Children’s Holiday Club was well attended last week and it was great to see many of the children and their parents return to church for the Sunday service. We need to be reflecting on the right things to do that will keep attracting the children to worship. I’ve noticed thatwe don’t always get the same children eturning i the following weeks to the Holiday Club. the question is do we need to change the way we do Children’s ministry?

Got me thinking about how we do church at the present. At one time we used to have three services on a Sunday. An early morning one which was especially focused on young families. We ran it for nearly seven years. Eventually we merged the two services. Sunday morning last week was a great service focused on the children, it got me thinking about how we might further develop such services in the future. I must say a big thank you to Craig Hannah and his team for doing such a great job.

This week I’ve started working on a series of sermons centred around the book of Nehemiah. I think it is going to be very useful to us all as we consider this winter what is going to be the way forward for us as a congregation. We have had a group looking at the refurbishment of our present building to help us bring it up to standard for the 21st century. We also have a group as i mentioned before looking at the way we organise our administration. The shape of all this is determined by our vision.

I’m looking forward to exploring all this with the congregation. Nehemiah is all about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. There will be lessons for us all to learn as we consider the walls that we need to rebuild in our ministry and the ones we need to tear down in order to fulfill our ministry to be a local congregation with a global calling. We’d love to hear from others who are going through a restructuring. there is much no doubt we can learn.

Well can you believe it the Bogle Band is out on he road for the second time this Summer. Carberry Featival last month and ” Doon the Watter” this month. Tomorrow evening Iain and I will be performing on the world famous Waverley Paddle Steamer. Have a look at the picture above. She really is a bonnie boat.

Anyway all the money being raised tomorrow will go to the work of the Vine Trust. Keeping close to the Vine is a good thing. You know, our motto is ” Connecting People to Change Lives” However for me there is a wee sermon in that phrase, it is really all about connect people to the VINE to change lives. What we are really saying is, when people get connected to Jesus their lives are changed. I never cease to be amazed at the number of people outside of the church who have drawn alongside us to help us fulfill our purposes.

I convinced that God sends them our way. Tomorrow night is no exception. What a wonderful step of faith one guy thought to himself. I could rent the Waverely for an evening and raise money for ssomeof the poorest children in the world. Guess what? He took the risk hired the boat, and believe it on not he has sold his 650 tickets. Not bad for someone just thinking up an idea. Makes you think. Just think Lilias our Youth Worker last year promised to take some of her teenagers to India, and guess what ? Yes she did it, well worth reading their blog. Go to India