THE NATIONAL GATHERING

Lots of things are happening around the church this week. I guess we’re not any busier than normal but it seems that way. The staff of SANCTUS MEDIA are working flat out getting ready for the General Assembly. Rae has just managed to produce a DVD with over three and half hours of footage on it all relating to the 2008 National Gathering. Its well worth a watch, indeed I think you will be able to order it on line from our Sanctus Media web page within the next couple of days.

Talking of getting busy, I’m struggling to keep up with the Discipleship 40 Challenge but I’m not going to give up I’m going to be a pilgrim and press on. So if you get invited by me to take part in a challenge please humour me so that I can complete it. I just wrote another seven challenges this evening. Those of you who are ahead of the game will be delighted to know that there are more challenges coming,your way.

A DAY OF PRAYER

One amazing challenge  is the day of prayer taking place in the church this Saturday. We hope its going to be a wonderful creative and restful day for those who decide to come along and pray. there are many different facets to prayer. We hope to introduce people to different methods. I notice Rae and Adam have been working on a prayer tree.  They’ve taken a branch of a tree and sprayed it with gold paint. They’re getting it ready to be changed from a dry branch to a prayer tree branch. When people come on Saturday they will be able to write on a piece of paper and attach it to the branches like leaves. We got a good write up last week in the Bo’ness  Journal about the Prayer day so let’s hope we get a good turn out. i believe the church is going to be open from 10am-6pm

This is a post to encourage all the 40 Day Discipleship Challengers. Don’t beat yourself up if you’ve missed one or two of the text messages. Remember some of the suggestions will take time to put into practice. We’re all here to support and help each other not to lay guilt trips on one other. I have a few to catch up with myself and I intend to follow them up.

Life has been quite busy over the past few days and I must confess I enjoy getting a chance to chill out on a Friday evening. The thing is when your a minister the weekend is the time that you begin to wind your self up as you prepare for the Sunday services. Most ministers in the Church have one service to prepare, however because we have kept our Evening Service it means two sermons have to be written.

So when everyone else is winding down on a Saturday my mind is usually reflecting and compiling the sermon. I’ve tried having it all prepared by Wednesday, but you know what, I found when it came to Sunday it felt as though I was heating up last weeks dinner. I guess for my style of preaching I like to have the ideas current in my head. It doesn’t mean to say that the sermon is a last minute rush, I like to plan all the themes and Bible readings well in advance. I guess I just like pulling it all together on Saturday morning and evening and checking it over again on Sunday morning.

Next week is going to be a pretty full one with the General Assembly starting on Wednesday morning. This is the first time they have moved the Assembly to start midweek. Our team from Sanctus Media of course will be there streaming the Assembly out as usual. So if you go to the Church of Scotland web page you’ll be able to get live coverage and even a summary of the days events. However I believe the controversial case concerning Scott Rennie will not be streamed out on the web.

We are living in challenging times and all of us who are in leadership in the church have a responsibility to seek the unity of the church. This is not to say that we cannot speak out our mind clearly, but it does mean that we need to be measured in the language we use. The media just love it when clerics get angry with each other and they love making the angry people look ridiculous. My advice to everyone taking part in the debates concerning homosexuality is this, don’t allow yourself to be made into a caricature regardless of the point of view you hold. Remember we all claim to be part of God’s family. You will never win your opponent over by making him or her look small. You will never change the mind of someone you disagree with if you don’t spend time in their company listening to them. And yes it is possible for friends to disagree. Indeed non of us in the church are enemies, and if Jesus commands us to love our enemies, surely he expects us to be loving to each other, even if that involves discipline.

I well remember Alan MacDonald when he was Moderator commending the Commissioners to go for a coffee with someone who had a completely different theological perspective. Make a friend of someone who holds a differing viewpoint. Most people know that I have a pretty conservative view of what is appropriate behaviour when it comes to sexual orientation, however I feel it is right and courteous to listen and learn from those who have a different view. I have discovered from experience over the years that there is a great deal of fear that seems to come over people when we are confronted with issues and people who challenge our understanding of the truth.

You know what when the debates are going on in the Assembly Hall I’ll be whispering under my breath ” Perfect love casts out all fear”

I pray that what ever happens non of us will be gripped by fear but that the love of God will be spread abroad in our hearts. Difficult choices means that we will never all agree on specifics especially when it comes to sexual orientation. Those of us who hold to more traditional viewpoints need to realise that the world around has adopted a different view on this issue. It is not enough to simply quote scripture. The secular world has moved the whole debate on to the point where many no longer believe there is an issue to debate. We need to explore perhaps with others who hold a more liberal view say on homosexuality, where it is they draw the line of appropriateness, for they will have a line. Especially when it comes to other relationships of a sexual nature within family units. The question then has to be asked by all of us, why is it that we find one type of relationship among the sexes appropriate and another inappropriate? What is it that makes a sexual relationship inappropriate? When we find the answers to these questions we may well be able to express ourselves more clearly to one another. And perhaps realise that a loving relationship is not enough to establish appropriateness.