Owner: Scream Without Raising Your Voice URL:http://swryv.wrdpress.com Join Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 13:13:29 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Thoughts on God, life, church and other stuff Site statistics:Click here
desk bound! 2007-05-16 13:59:15 The last few weeks have been pretty busy, mostly with planning, which means I’ve been stuck at my desk lots!
Crossover, Scotland’s best Christian youth festival (I’m contractually bound to say that!), is coming up in a month so I’ve been trying to sort out the programme for printing. It hasn’t been easy! Lots of people have been pretty slack getting their information in but I think we are just about there!!! I’ve also been working on the t-shirts. Bit of a baseball theme this year withRed Sox and Tigers style designs.
I’m also trying to get a bit more proactive in my work so I’ve spent some time mapping out the rest of the year and hope to offer some youth work training, get some young people together at Synod to kick off a youth forum and perhaps run a training event around Web 2.0 and church with some blogging and podcasting workshops… who knows.
Running Man 2007-05-20 22:32:53 David, my step-son, has done many crazy things in his life. This picture is David at Yankee Stadium, wearing a Red Sox jersey, and hat. He rode the D train to the game.
His latest bid for self inflicted punishment is his plan to run the Glasgow half-marathon on 2 September 2007 in aid of Cancer Research UK.
He has been out training, dragging himself from his student coma in the morning to pound the streets, and hopes to run the 13.1 miles in a reasonable (sub 2 hours) time.
You can sponsor David by clicking HERE or by clicking his picture in the sidebar.
1 in 4 of us will suffer from Cancer at some time in our lives. Please give whatever you can.
I’ll keep you updated on his progress or check his blog.
it’s the future part 2 2007-05-20 15:46:22
Well, the meeting is over. And just so you know… the 24 hours had a break in it for sleep and food!!!
We put some thoughts on a flip chart at one point, things we might be or wish to become or things we might wish to be known for as the United Reformed Church Synod of Scotland:
Ecumenical - we are clear in our affirmation of ecumenism
Imagination rather then Memory - perhaps a statement of intent but one we are capable of fulfilling
Inclusive -always with work to do to be more inlusive but getting there
Access to politics - we have a voice and should use it speaking out for what we believe and making sure the people of Scotland know that the church has more than one voice and one view.
from institution to community - we must remember we are called to the community of God not God’s institution
Affirming of ‘lay’people - we believe in the priesthood of all believers, that all are called by God to minister and serve each other and all have gifts and talents
it’s the future 2007-05-18 16:42:25 I’m off to a 24 hour meeting of our Synod’s Policy, Planning and Strategy committee. There seems to be some time in the agenda for some discussion on a theme that has been somewhat recurrent in our team… ‘who are we?’ Not ‘who are we as individuals?’ but ‘Who are we as the United Reformed Church in Scotland?’.
I guess our questioning comes from the sense that the institutional church struggles in a number of ways to either renew itself or to support renewal in places other than our traditional understanding of church. It could make for some interesting discussion. I hope so… otherwise it’s going to be a long 24 hours!!!
UPDATE Part 1
Well, it turns out my hopes for an interesting discussion were well founded. PPS in my experience (limited I’ll admit) has been a business meeting. Tonight it was a discussion forum and that, it seemed, was something that almost everyone valued.
We were left, after good
C’mon the Reds 2007-05-23 11:41:43
When I was a boy there was only one team who were worth watching in England, mostly because the heart of their team was Scottish; Hansen, Souness, Dalgeish. They played the kind of passing football that was breathtaking to watch. They were my heroes. My most prized posession as a boy was my Liverpool shirt.
Tonight Liverpool bid to be Champions of Europe for the 6th time. I hope they do it.
missing a chance… 2007-05-23 09:54:59 While discussing a great report on Human Sexuality the General Assembly was presented with the chance
to affirm what it ALREADY believes, that homosexual people are not loved less by God that anyone else and that sexual orientation is not a barrier to baptism, communion, membership or leadership in the Church of Scotland. They declined to endorse their own position leaving this observer, and I’m sure many more, to question why?
Read more:hellip
Is Presbyterianism Working? 2007-05-23 06:51:48 I’ve spent the last couple of days at my desk with the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly streaming live in the corner of my desktop.
At various points I have sighed, shouted and come very close to swearing at some of the things said. Today the Youth Assembly reported impressively in the person of their Moderator Judith Taylor. One of the questions raised, not for the first time, was why youth delegates don’t have a vote. The answer, again not for the first time, is that they are not elders, deacons or ministers and have not therefore signed the Formula making them eligible to serve in the Courts of the Church. Making an exception would, and I quote ‘be the top of a slippery slope’.
A slippery slope leading where? Would the slippery slope lead to some kind of representation of the people in the church who would be able to make decissions about their church, what their priorities are and how their money should be spent? Heaven forbid that
what is it? 2007-05-24 13:58:52 I took a trip to Edinburgh today to meet with some friends, old and new, and to take in a little of the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly. Lunch was great. Good conversation with good people.
I’ve blogged my displeasure at the Assembly below but it was interesting to hear the thoughts of those who have been ‘in the room’ for the week. In particular they felt that the decission not to further affirm the Church’s position on homosexual orientation was a gracious act which will do more good than harm. It sets a context where conversation and listening can happen without anyone feeling that decisions have been made and lines drawn. If that is the case then that must be a good thing.
Earlier in the week someone requested that St Andrew’s Press, the church’s publications wing, produce a guide to the Church of Scotland. ‘I know what it is’ he said, ‘but others don’t.’ This struck me as it is similar t
God’s Own Land 2007-05-28 14:28:00 We have just spent a weekend in Skye. Words cannot describe the rugged beauty of the Island, photos don’t come close to capturing the magnificent landscape but I’ll try.
We set off, Avril and I never having been to Skye, with our companion for the trip Harry, Avril’s father. He’s been a few times but was keen to go back. Now I know why.
The journey from home takes us past Stirling, through the Trossachs, Glen Coe where the Campbells murdered the MacDonalds as they slept, past Ben Nevis, Scotland’s highest peak (still with snow on it) and on through Lochcarron to Skye. It is simply one of the most amazing journeys in the world.
We drove through Skye and arrived at the Darnbrook Guest House to find this view…
We could see all the way out to North Uist! It is stunning. We sat at our window and just looked and looked. Such an awesome view.
Our hosts Caryl and Duncan recommended the Stein Inn for a meal and Skye’s oldest inn didn&rs
wisdom and truth 2007-05-31 10:19:25 I’m preaching again on Sunday and the scripture readings this week have a lot to say about wisdom and truth and where we might find them.
I’ve always had a suspicion of authority. I like to think that it is a healthy scepticism but it has landed me in trouble on more than one occasion. One thing I have learned to be true is that your boss doesn’t really like criticism!
Blogging and wikis hold a strange place in our world of experts and fact. Blogs are all about opinion. Wikis are editable by anyone. Truth has become subjective.
The church must, by its very nature, struggle with a world where truth is subjective. We have spent the last 2 thousand years telling anyone who would listen (and lots of people who really didn’t want to) that Jesus is the Truth. The result of that claim has led many Christians to the point where the Bible has become their truth and I have a problem with that. I had an interesting conversation with JohnO last night about t
Say Hi!!! 2007-06-04 12:59:59 Lurking? Want to say Hi? Oh go on, you know you do!
The map on the right shows that people from all over the world (I had to look up a map to see where some of you are!!!) have been reading my blog. It would be great if you could take a moment and say Hi! and tell me where you’re from. Just click where it says comment…
Thanks for reading.
wikiletics 2007-06-03 12:59:04 Hey, it’s a wiki full of sermons, including one of mine (but don’t let that put you off) listed as ‘Friend , wherefore art thou come’ but posted here on my blog as Mary of Bethany & Judas . Check out wikilectics for yourself.
Thanks to Russell for the pointer!
Ramble on Wisdom 2007-06-03 12:11:16 Today’s service at St Andrew’s in Blantyre was great. Nice people. Warm and friendly. I did most of the service with Pete, the minister, an I shared communion (he did the magic, I’m not allowed ; ) ) I’ve stuck the sermon in the Box in the sidebar with some others. I’m not sure what I think of it. It’s ok in bits but could do with a good edit! Any feedback would be appreciated.
It turns out that trying to say something coherant about wisdom isn’t that easy!
Read more:Ramble
, Wisdom
Culture Carriers? 2007-06-06 18:07:21 I’ve been thinking a bit about how much I re-enforce church as it is and how much I bring a new culture.
In lots of ways I’m sure I do quite a bit of re-enforcing. When I go somewhere new to lead worship I tend to ask them what they usually do and probably don’t stray too far from that. I do that consciously because I know that I’m not going to be there with that community to catch any fall-out or to discuss the differences. I’m also aware how much people struggle with change and for many congregations too much change all at once on a Sunday morning would be counter productive.
It’s also easier for me. I know where I am and what I’m doing. I know what comes next and I get to be a little creative when writing a sermon.
A big part of me worries about that. Am I supporting the status quo by doing this? I could justify it as building trusting relationships with communities so that I can then challenge them but is there time for that?
hard questions at Drumchapel 2007-06-10 14:38:29 I was back at Drumchapel Essenside this morning to lead worship. They are such a great bunch of people. So down to earth and welcoming.
The texts for today were quite challenging; the story of Elijah asking God to raise the widow’s son back to life from 1 Kings 17 and Luke’s account of Jesus raising the son of a widow in Nain (chapter 7).
These texts raise some very real questions
about why not everyone gets healed, why bad things happen and why God seems not to intercede. As I prepared over the week I felt in an awkward position as an outsider going in and talking about these kind of questions with a group of people I hardly know. (I’ll post my sermon in the blue BOX)
What struck me was despite the obvious and well documented hardships of Drumchapel the people in the church seem to be bouyant and optimistic. They are people who get on and get stuck in.
They even asked why Avril wasn’t there (she’s not been feeling great). In some churches we go
off to Crossover 2007-06-14 02:43:52 I’m heading up to West Linton today to oversee the build up of CROSSOVER, Scotland’s best Christian Youth Festival. over 600 people will be there this weekend. The weather forecast for the weekend isn’t great so looks like another wellies and waterproofs weekend. Never mind. I’m sure it will still be a great event! Some of the wet weekends we have had in the past have been the best festivals!
I’ll post some photos and I’m doing a couple of workshops on church and web 2.0 so look out for some live posting!
PA envy! 2007-06-19 13:47:54
I’ve borrowed Peter’s new Yamaha Stagepas 300 speakers for our Synod Day this weekend… and he might not get them back!!! They are brilliant. 300watts, a powered 8 channel mixer that fits into the back of one of the speakers and the cables fit inside the other one!
I’m seriously considering one for work for conferences and films and stuff. At £300 they are a steal!
Tagged 2007-06-18 11:01:29 I’ve been tagged by Thomas (he’s just getting his revenge for the book tag last month!)
Here’s the rules: Grab the book closest to you. Turn to page 161. Print the 5th complete sentence on your blog. Tag 5 others.
The book closest to my desk (none on it today) was ‘The Daily Study Bible - The Gospel of Luke’ by William Barclay.
Page 161, 5th complete sentence:
To God we are never lost in the crowd.
Oddly, I quoted this section of Barclay’s book in a sermon not that long ago!!!
I tag Avril, David, Pauline, Bryan (he’ll never do it) and Russell
Read more:Tagged
Crossover 2007 2007-06-18 07:01:16 I’m back from Crossover. I’ve spent the weekend being tired and wet and it was great! The young people seemed to have a great time and the mud only enhanced their enjoyment! The sun came out on Sunday so all the tents got dried out a bit. The highlight for me was a U2 tribute band called Joshua//U2 who were fantastic… and LOUD!
I’m stepping down from the Management Group of Crossover in a couple of weeks. I’ve been doing this for 9 years and it’s time for a rest and some new ideas. I’ve loved being involved and have made some great friends through Crossover. I’ll look on with interest to see what the future holds.
children and communion 2007-06-24 09:59:21 Today I was at Greyfriars Church in Lanark making the final settings on their new sound desk as they put it all to use during today’s worship. I was also helping a young man called Ben to find his way around the new sound desk and laptop. He’ll be running the show from next week.
The service was great. It was Sunday School prize-giving, dedication of a beautiful new pulpit fall and communion. For the first time the children took their rightful place in that sacrament. What a difference it makes when the whole family of the church are together. The liturgy had two young girls asking questions of the minister. Why do we do this? What is it we are doing? Why bread and wine? The service had a simplicity which made it accessible but also deep and poignant.
Synod Day 2007-06-22 14:28:46 Well, tomorrow the United Reformed Church Synod of Scotland will gather at Perth racecourse for a ‘fun’ day. The weather forecast is terrible, that’s why the ‘fun’ is in inverted commas. We had hoped for the one day of sunshine this summer but it seems destined not to be. Never mind. I’m sure we will still have agood day, although I have no idea what to do with 60 children who won’t be able to get out to play if it’s too wet! Veggie Tales to the rescue!!!
UPDATE
well… it rained… a lot!!! There was an amazing thunderstorm and everyone (400 people) seemed to be having a good time. I was busy with the kids so didn’t see any of the rest of the event! We had fun making some veggie tales stick puppets after a stressfull morning (who says 10 year olds are nice?).
Closing worship looked like this apparently (ta to Peter for the photo)
Oh, and if anyone wants a nice mug with the Synod logo on I have 241 of t
smacking kids 2007-06-21 14:18:37
I spent yesterday at a conference organised by the Scottish Commissioner for Children and Young People, Dr Kathleen Marshall on the topic of non-violent childhood. The day was pretty interesting but to be honest the speakers were preaching to the choir. The most interesting part of the day was the chance to have a chat with the people at our table and kick around some of the barriers to a non-violent childhood, or put simply banning smacking children. We wondered why parents get loads of anti-natal information but very little support beyond that unless things reach crisis point. We talked about how messages and help are advertised. ‘Come to a course on non-violent parenting’ translates to ‘Do you beat up your kids but want to stop?’. No-one will go to that course. But they might go to ‘How to play with your kids’ or ‘getting along with your teenager’.
The statistics are overwhelming. Only 6% of adults support smacking chi
crossover de-brief 2007-06-27 09:25:40 Tonight is the final chapter of Crossover 2007. The de-brief for an event this size is very important as Crossover brings together so many agencies and volunteers to deliver a weekend for over 500 young people.
Crossover has been a huge part of my life for over 10 years and I’ve decided that tonight will mark the end of my involvement in the management of the event. It seems like a good day to do that as Tony Blair makes way for Gordon Brown and a government of new ideas and talents, so it is my hope that Crossover will grow and evolve by embracing and enouraging new ideas and new visions.
When I got involved with Crossover it was pretty much a blank piece of paper which we soon filled in with all kinds of mad ideas. The first event in 1999 had something like 20 bands playing, mostly to 5 people. The police came along and asked us to stop at 10pm, then told us to stop at 10.15pm! The years have seen sun and rain, but it seems to be an event that young people come along Read more:crossover
graduation day 2007-06-26 13:07:34
Jack ‘graduated’ from nursery today! He welcomed everyone, quickly, and then we were treated to 30 four and five year olds singing with various degrees of tunefulness. Then they were presented with their graduation
certificates and a book. All the boys and girls made their own mortar boards!
He has had two great years there but he’s more than ready for primary 1. The big question is ‘Are they ready for him!’
violence comes to Scotland 2007-06-30 15:44:45 Today two men drove a Jeep into the front of Glasgow Airport. The car was alight and apparently one of the men tried to throw a petrol bomb into the terminal building. Being Glasgow someone wrestled the guy to the ground, despite the man being on fire.
I don’t get it. How does trying to set a building full of parents and kids just finished school and heading off on holiday make a political point? As far as I can see across the world and throughout time violence has pretty much never worked. It didn’t work in Ireland, South Africa, India, the civil rights struggle in USA and isn’t working in Iraq or Palestine.
Violence breeds violence. It doesn’t make things better. It doesn’t solve anything. It doesn’t make people take you seriously or like you more. It doesn’t make people respect you or want to be your friend. It also doesn’t convince people that you are right or fit to hold power or to look after others.
If you hav Read more:comes
, Scotland
Off Line Blogging 2007-06-28 08:43:18 Thanks to Russell for a pointer to Windows Live Writer, a beta application that allows you to blog off line and synchronises with your blog when you get online. It’s a WYSIWYG editor and looks like your blog dashboard. Worth a look.
Read more:Blogging
culture - eventually 2007-07-05 10:47:22
Today Ben, Jack, my mum and I ventured out in search of culture
and higher learning. We visited the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow after spending 90 minutes in a traffic jam trying to get there (it should take about 20 minutes).
We saw loads of cool stuff including a real WWII Spitfire suspended from the roof, Dali’s Christ of St John on the Cross, dinosaurs and Elvis. Well worth a visit, but check the traffic first!
Read more:eventually
Alan Johnston released 2007-07-04 02:37:32 BBC journalist Alan Johnston
has been released after 114 days in captivity in Gaza. Alan’s picture has been in my sidebar for most of that time. I’ll leave him there until tomorrow. Click his face for the story of his captivity, release and to read and see some of his reports from his three years living and working in one of the most dangerous places in the world.
John Smeaton - Legend! 2007-07-03 12:41:44 The guy who restrained the terrorists who tried to attack Glasgow airport is John Smeaton. Check out this site devoted to the Weggie Hero of the Hour!
Read more:Legend
General Assembly - Day 2 2007-07-08 17:29:37
Well… It’s tempting to say that today was just as dull if not more so, than yesterday! In parts it was, very, but there were also moments of what could almost pass as interesting, even exciting.
Bible Study this morning was on Psalm 139 and was presented with an honesty and vulnerability that was rare and engaging.
Vision4Life was launched, the next stage of our Catch the Vision process, but more on that some other time.
We discussed in small groups a proposal to be grown up about sexuality. To make a committment to work and pray together, respect each other and to seek God’s gifts of unity, harmony, wisdom and deeper understanding. It would be easy to be cynical and describe this as a fudge or avoidance tactic but there is a real sense that we, the United Reformed Church, want to work this deeply devisive issue out in a manner that shows the Grace that Jesus had. Today I’m proud to work for this church.
Tonight we marked the 200th anniversary of Read more:General
, Assembly
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