It’s just gone11.30pm and I’m in Lima. Thishas been quite an historic weekend. For the first time ever the Vine Trust and Union Biblica havecome together for a joint meeting to discuss visionand strategy. For the past two days I’vebeen down at Kawai where Union Biblica have a boys home and a holiday camp site. It’s a really pleasant place with beech houses looking onto the Pacific Ocean.

Last night some of the boys from our homes were there on holiday and it was good to see these little guys entertain us withsome amazing dancing and singing.

I’m glad to say that we’ve had an excellent meeting and made good progress in our deliberations. All of us need to now deliver.

Church was busy tonight. We had a quick curry cookery demonstration going on in the kitchen while in the church itself people were putting the finishing touches to the Christmas decorations. The tree went up last Sunday but we left it empty so that we could use it as a prayer tree. Tonight we put our Christmon decortion on it and I must confess it looks absolutely fantastic. While we’re talking about trees. I got the big holly tree that stands outside our made door shaped into a Christmas tree. I’m looking forward to getting the lights put on it tomorrow.

The programme continues to be worked on for the Woolies Project. We just need to pray in all the cash we’ll need to cover our expenses. Keeping praying and i’ll keep giving you updates.

We broke some new ground yesterday during the worship service at St Andrew’s Bo’ness. We incorporated the use of text messaging as part of the prayers of interecession and I also encouraged people to text during the sermon if they felt they wanted to comment on something that struck a chord with them. I think on the whole people felt it was a good experience.

A big thank you to Tommy for putting the flag up. This is in preparation for Sunday coming when we as a congregation along with thousands more all around Scotland will join together to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Tomorrow morning we will continue an innovation that was introduced to the congregation last year. There will be a short Service of Remembrance in the little side garden facing the front street. Then the public will be able to plant some of the poppy crosses among the flowers. I noticed today that there are already quite a lot of crosses placed in the garden.

This evening was an interesting meeting working with the newly formed worship planning group. We’re planning an interesting service for the Sunday before St Andrew’s Day. We’re going to make it a Tartan Sunday. Lots of good ideas where being suggested.

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.

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?

We have a few foxes roaming about Bo’ness. Last month I discovered a couple of the church staff out on Grahamsdyke Avenue trying to feed one of them. I just think there is something sinister about these foxes skulking around Bo’ness. I even have two or three of them checking out my garden. So you can imagine the surprise the BBs got tonight when the silver fox arrived to be part of the team.

This particular fox has been known to a few generations of St Andrew’s BBs. It looks like another generation are going to get the opportunity of getting to know this legendary figure. So tell me what is the fox grinning about? Any ideas? Some have said they’ve seen him more silvery than he is now, others say that his time in quarantine forced him to try camouflage to hide his silver streaks.

I couldn’t stay for the whole evening, I just popped in to see how things were going now that David Andrew and Marie are no longer officers. I was encouraged to see a fair number of the boys turn up and also to take note that Roy,Neil and David seemed on top of things. maybe that’s the reason why the silver fox was smiling?

So if you think you can be of service to the BB Company this session please get in touch.

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

The post code lottery came to Bo’ness last weekend. I believe around 1.5 million pounds was distributed among my fellow towns people. Although I don’t do the lottery myself, I do wish everyone who won something well and hope that they can enjoy the windfall.

Someone once said to me  recently, so if you don’t do the lottery will you accept lottery money, and my answer is yes. You see I believe that  the lottery is a bit of a tax on the poor.  Too often it is the poorer people in our communities who buy the tickets.  The truth is  you have a better chance of getting mugged  or even murdered than you have of winning the lottery.  However I have come to the conclusion it is my  Christian duty to make more use of the lottery money in a creative way. I think there is nothing wrong with taking it and recycling it  to do some good in our communities. 

In the past we’ve done a bit of recycling of goods. have a look at this cartoon produced by Guthrie Pollock in memory of the aution we ran out of the church hall in the mid 90s. I guess i’m a bit of a carpetbagger for God.

( This article has been reworked in the light of a comment on the blog.)

Michael Jackson and the Bo’ness Fair – what do they have in common?. Perhaps more than you might think. The fact that he died yesterday on the Bo’ness Fair E’en, will live on in the memory of his many Bo’ness fans who were once children who danced and performed to his music as part of the Fair.

Of course the sad thing is that Jackson rightly or wrongly will always have a suspicion hanging over him when it comes to children. His friends say he was the victim of his own success. Moving from a child star to a teenage pop idol, to a global superstar in the 80s.  All this hero worship  and I believe a very  strict and at time abuse father, had an impact on his life. What ever the truth is, there is a great sadness in the story  of his life , because as I read it, it seems to me, he was a man in search of his lost childhood.  Ask yourself what ever happened to the wee boy in the picture

Jackson’s search for childhood is no different from many of our own longings. Physiologist tell us that we all at different stages in our lives try to be children again. Frank Lake a clinical theologian talks about the child parent role that we all alternate between instead of engaging with the adult we can all become. Too often we play the child to get our own way, or we play the parent often to put another down and win a point.

If only we could turn back the clock.  But we can’t and its dangerous to try.  When we do it often not only affects us but can have ruinous effects on other people. None of us can live in the past, we can learn from it but we have to live in” the now”.

Take for instance scores and scores of mums and dads have been building arches for the Bo’ness Fair. When my children were young  I did it myself. I think it’s quite magical to see a father working on an arch for one of his children, but everything has to be kept in perspective. We  all need to accept  especially in a world where there are increasingly limited resources that the simple can be the most effective.  I always remember the phrase, when it comes to art and music less can mean more .

Jackson’s love for children and his extravagant development of “Neverland” might be likened to the shear extravagance that many feel the Bo’ness Fair shows to children. I find myself alternating between two opinions. Delighted, entertained, and overwhelmed by the shear creativity of this community, and on the other hand left wondering is this the best use of resources?

It is the same challenge I find myself facing as we consider the refurbishment of the church. Should we spend thousands on a building or give it away to make a difference in the lives of the poor, or can we do both?

While saying all this it would be churlish of me not to commend the outstanding contribution that many hard working mums and dads are making to the the Bo’ness Children’s Fair. For them their work is a labour of love to help them engage with their children and the community.

The sad thing is for some  parents the fussing and preparation for the Fair is more about them reliving their own childhood rather than listening to their children. The truth is,  given the option of a huge expensive Fair experience, or the pleasure of Mum or Dad’s company on a daily basis, I know what most children would prefer.  Sometimes we can underplay the significance children attach to the most simple of gifts or actions.

All of us need to examine the motives that lie  behind the activities with which we get involved, be it in church or the community, or at work , especially when it come to our children.

Sadly too often for many of us, and I include myself in this,  the big gestures  in life can be made out of our  guilt complexes rather than our genuine engagement with an issue.  I have come to the conclusion honest involvement always creates the most effective community spirit.

No other town I know of  can match the enthusiasm of this community for a Festival centred around children.  Last year the Fair celebrated its 100th Anniversary. have a look at this clip from Youtube.

For me the challenge is to take the Fair to another level all together. To move from being a little less  inward looking to becoming outward looking. To become an International Children’s Fair.

Highlighting the predicament of so many children around the world who are caught in the trap of slavery and abuse, could be the greatest contribution that the Bo’ness Children’s Fair could make to the lives of children world wide as the fair moves into its second century  of “Fairness” .

I’m certainly encouraged by the response that many of our young people are making to the challenge of injustice and inequity already.  Indeed as a town let’s remember  it was people from our community  who set up the   Vine Trust nearly  25 years ago . Today  it is famous for  taking aid to street children in Peru.

Over the last six years this Trust has built over 5 orphanages,  in various parts of Peru, set up  a Medical Centre, from which two medical ships, now operate out of in the Amazon and the surrounding area. The Trust is also sending over 300 volunteers a year to make this work happen.  Yes there is much good will and good work in our town. It now needs more good people to catch the vision.

There is a sadness I feel as I finish this post.  The Jackson story will never be properly understood, but who ever does try to make sense of it   – one thing is for sure , children and his childhood must feature largely in it. There is little doubt that our childhood has a profound effect on the rest of our lives so lets help the children we know and even don’t know live happy and fulfilled lives as children.

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Just back from Sanctuary First. the theme was all about moving from one space ro another . It was about helping us see that the way to  bring about change in the life of the church is to be prepared to make the appropriate sacrifice.

Although it was a Bank Holiday weekend we were delighted to have a number of friends join with us in the worship.  We were pomoting the C40 programme. this is our made up Discipleship programme. So if you want to join the Challenge text  Bible 40 to the following mobile number 80806. When you do this it will cost you £1.50 per week. I hope you join in he challenge and then return to tis blog with yourown questions and answers. So look out for the first C40 post tomorrow morning.