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
the truth isn’t sexy 2007-03-22 15:13:56 The Home Office estimated in 2003 that 4,000 women were trafficked into the UK for sexual exploitation. It is thought the figure may have grown since.
It may interest you to know that there are approximately 16 million more people trapped in slavery today than there where 200 years ago when the UK abolished it’s slave trade. Please do what you can to support the campaign and its partners..
the out of bounds church? 2007-03-21 15:51:09
I bought the Out Of Bounds Church? today. I’m liking it lots! A great mix of emergent church thought and insight with commentary and pointers to music, film, books and websites as you go along. I’ll post more thoughts when I’ve read and digested more. Steve blogs as e-mergent kiwi. Go read his thoughts and his tale of an encounter with a sheep…
the world as it really is 2007-03-20 12:09:11 Statistics are hard to read so the people at World Mapper have designed so great maps showing the world in statistics in a format that is easy to understand.
This one is total population. They have maps of youth literacy, teenage mothers, oil production, deforestation…
First Email 2007-03-19 21:05:05 I got my first ever email from Ben today. He’s 7! He was logging into his primary school email from my laptop and he sent me an email… Changed days indeed!
Read more:First
, Email
B+ 2007-03-19 10:46:27 My better half is blogging again…
B+ is her new incarnation. I’m not sure if the title is a statement of intent or her blood group but whatever it is I’m sure it will be worth a read!
Giving Up 2007-03-18 16:37:40 I was leading worship today at Dunfermline URC. I’ve been a few times and always enjoyed it there.
The Gospel reading was Luke’s account of the Story of The Lost Son.
For the all age talk I hid 100 sheep around the church and asked everyone to try to find them. In an initial rush lots of the adults helped the couple of children to find most of the sheep. They found all the easy ones and then something I hadn’t banked on happened. All the grown ups gave up looking, but the children kept at it. What a brilliant illustration! Of course I was going to tell them that Jesus doesn’t give up (I had the 100th sheep so they would never find them all) but the point was made even more forcefully by their quiting. They gave up pretty easily.
For anyone looking for a great exploration of the Prodigal Son have a look at Lawrence Moore’s Disclosing New Worlds blog. Lawrence did a fantastic series of bible studies on Grace at URC General Assembly in 2006 Read more:Giving
ACTS Statement: 2007 Bi-Centeneray of the Passing of the Act Abolishing the Slave Trade 2007-03-17 14:14:32 The Synod of Scotland of the United Reformed Church remembers with gratitude all those, slave and free, who worked to bring about the ending of slavery, for which the first step was the abolition of the British slave trade in 1807.
We acknowledge that many Christians were slow to speak out against the evils of the slave trade and that many were actively involved in it and profited from it. We express sincere regret for this.
The legacies of the slave trade are still active in the world and we commit ourselves to working for reconciliation and for an end to both the economic imbalance between the powerful, rich nations and the poorer ones and to racism. We call on governments to be particularly supportive of the nations inAfrica and in the Caribbean which bore the brunt of the effects of the slave trade.
We recognise that out of this economic imbalance comes an exploitation of poverty which has led to forms of de-humanising treatment of people such as trafficking in people and forc Read more:Slave
, Trade
Synod of Scotland 2007-03-17 12:52:12
Isn’t technology great…I’m at the Spring Synod of the United Reformed Church in Scotland
in Saughtonhall URC, Edinburgh. I’ve been to this church before and had a great time. It’s a lively congregation led so ably by Sue. I love the beautiful windows that were saved from their old building and incorporated into the new church.
Things are off to a great start. Two fantastic young people led our prayers this morning and this afternoon Morison Memorial Church in Clydebank will be presented with their Child Friendly Church Award, the first to receive the award in our Synod. Hopefully lots more churches will follow their lead (but I wonder sometimes!).
First on the agenda… Ministerial Deployment. An indication of when ministers would retire gives a startling picture of the demisnishing number of ministers over the next 10 years, so we need a policy. I worry that one thing we seem not to be talking about in tandem with the issue of deploy
Lego Genius! 2007-03-15 23:12:20
I first saw this ages ago but forgot to blog it… The picture above is the guy with the plank in his eye, not some random violence!!!
The Brick Testament is the Bible in LEGO… total genius!!!!!
Peak Practice 2007-03-14 12:54:13 No, not the random medical drama…
I’m at my URC Youth & Children’s Work Trainers meeting in Derbyshire with my colleagues from across the UK. The drive down yesterday was stunning, well, after Stockport. I’ve never been in the Peak District before but it looks even more spectacular in real life than in Jane Austin adaptations on TV. I’m looking forward to the drive back! Must come back and spend some time exploring.
Read more:Practice
if you’re ever in… Inverness 2007-03-26 10:39:46
This could be the start of an occasional series&hellip
; If you’re ever in…
The first entry is Roseisle near Kinloss, near Inverness. We had a great day there on Saturday with Jillian, Scott, Calum and Ewan and their new puppy, Brora. The sun was shinning on this beautiful wood next to the beach. We played on the beach and in the amazing dunes, had a picnic and explored the forest on the red walk. The kids loved it.
The drive home on Sunday was an added bonus. The road from Inverness to Perth has to be one of the most spectacular in the world!
planting seeds 2007-03-28 23:33:13 I’ve been off with my colleagues in the Synod Development Team for an overnight at The Beild, a christian retreat in Perthshire. It’s a beautiful place and well worth a visit if you need a small space to meet and think and pray.
This window is in the chapel housed in what was originally the carpenter’s workshop.
Our meeting was good, I think, although with less concrete outcomes for us to work on which is in some ways difficult but in other ways gives us space to think some more and see where we are heading. I think we might be on the edge of something significant, perhaps even looking at it, but not quite knowing how to describe it or what to do with it. As always the tension is between being ‘life support’ and ‘bringing new life’. Working for the institution but seeing the need to move and change and develop new things. That can bring frustration and insecurity both for the congregations we work with and for us and we prod and Read more:planting
Child Friendly Church 2007-03-31 13:36:04 I’ve spent the morning working with a church council who have gathered to think through the question ’who do we say we are?’. My contribution was to talk through the Child FriendlyChurch
Award and the implications of the scheme.
Holders of the award get to stick a big sign on their church telling the world they are welcoming to children and young people. I think because of this the process should be one that involves lots of people because everyone has a part to play. That ranges from well trained, well resourced and safe children’s activities all the way through to people not tutting when small children are noisy in church.
It seems in some ways a shame that a Christian community would even need a scheme like this but its value is there to be seen. Is your Church child friendly?
Palm Sunday 2007-04-01 20:37:03 I’ve had such a good day today!
I led worship this morning at the friendliest church I think I’ve ever been in. The people at Drumchapel United Reformed Church are great. They made Avril and I feel so welcome and they are so relaxed about worship that it really creates a warm and accepting atmosphere. I can’t wait to go back in June.
I preached about skipping from Palm Sunday
when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem and the crowd welcome him to Easter Sunday when we greet the risen Lord. Missing out Holy Week seems to me to miss the whole point. The journey through darkness is the road to our salvation. We can only really begin to understand that if we travel the road to the cross and beyond.
This afternoon we visited my parents and then went to see a Prayer Walk their church have created around the 7 ‘I Am’ sayings of Jesus. It’s the first time they have tried anything like this and it’s great! Good to see some innovation coming from th
Scotland Is Brilliant!!! 2007-04-02 15:40:22
The Sunday Herald (source of my scorn a wee while ago) has redeemed itself with this fantastic trip through the 99 best things about Scotland
. Numbers 16 (words for being drunk) and 49-60 (Scotland 1-0 France) are my favourites but Heather the Weather, Tunnocks Tea Cakes and Irn Bru all get a well deserved mention.
For the Scots reading this… laugh out loud. For those readers from further afield… this is our life… no, really!
Read more:Brilliant
Holy Week 2007-04-03 23:17:19
I was guest preacher tonight at a Holy Week service in Lanark. I spent some time talking about Mary of Bethany who anointed Jesus with oil and with love and also about Judas who criticised her for it, then betrayed Jesus. I guess there is a Mary and a Judas in us all. Thankfully God’s grace both accepts our praise and forgives our weakness. (the sermon is here)
After the service we walked the labyrinth in the hall. It was a beautiful and soul searching experience and I’m so glad I had the chance to make the pilgrimage. There are a few more photos on flikr.
learning to read the Bible again 2007-04-06 12:07:24 Russell and Matt are looking at a 9 point thesis on Learning To Read The Bible Again. They are taking each of the points in turn. Point 1 is here on Russell’s blog and here on Matt’s. Join in!!!
new traditions 2007-04-07 23:27:47 Over Holy Week we have been to church lots but we have also been following a home liturgy we found in a book called Eggs & Ashes, a lent and Easter resource book.
The liturgies are very simple. Beginning on Palm Sunday with 6 lit candles and extinguishing one each day, we read a passage from the Passion story and reflect on an object that relates to the story, for example for the story of Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus we had a bottle of perfume.
It has been great for us to be able to involve the children and give them an understanding of Easter. They have been fascinated and have asked for the Jesus story. I think we have created a new family tradition.
Read more:traditions
learning to read the Bible again 2 2007-04-07 11:23:32 Part 2 of the thesis is Russell and Matt are discussing is here. Add you thoughts…
guilt-free shopping? 2007-04-10 14:09:31
Yesterday we made a pilgrimage to the shopping cathedral at Livingston, McArthur Glen. I was interested to see that their advertising campaign is built around the slogan ‘guilt
-free shopping’. The outlets are discounted designer shops so I’m guessing the lack of guilt is more to do with not paying £100 for a t-shirt rather than any kind of assertion that the products on sale are fairtrade…
Amnesty UK 2007-04-12 00:13:26 Amnesty
is an amazing organisation campaigning for human rights and against political imprisonment. Click the sign and get involved. You can make a difference.
what do you like best about your church? 2007-04-11 21:54:46 The United Church of Christ has a ‘16 reasons why you love your church’ spot on its front page.
I liked ‘I love my church because the Sunday School teacher gives a prize to the kid who asks the best question’ and ‘I love my church because it’s sort of like the Wizard of Oz, you need a heart and a brain. And courage!’.
What can you say you love about your church?
the boy in the striped pyjamas 2007-04-13 19:02:05
I’ve just read ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne, highly recommended by my wife . It is the story of Bruno, a 9 year old German boy, whose father is sent from Berlin by a small man with a small mustache called ‘The Fury’ to be commandant of a place Bruno thinks is called Out-With. Bruno makes friends with a boy who wears striped pyjamas and who lives on the other side of the fence with the other boys and men (there are no women on that side of the fence).
It is a beautiful and tragic story of the Holocaust, made even more poignant because it is told through the innocent eyes of a boy who does not know or understand the horrors of the place he now lives.
The book ends with the words
‘And that’s the end of the story about Bruno and his family. Of course all this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age.’
I get the feeling that it could and is. Millions of
if you’re ever in… Keswick 2007-04-15 23:30:55
Climb a hill!
Today we got up early and headed off to one of our favourite places in the world, Keswick. The weather was great and we climbed most of the way up Catbells, the hill in the picture above. That’s not the top you can see! Avril wasn’t feeling great so we came back down before the steep rocky section at the top.
The views are stunning, looking over Lake Derwent Water and Keswick. We’re heading back down next Saturday with the small boys to meet friends and hopefully get to the top this time.
Read more:hellip
mixtape club 2007-04-17 22:41:51
The Church of the Exiles have a brilliant mixtape club!
People who go along to their meetings are encouraged to make a CD of their favourite tracks and they swap so people can both discover something about the person who makes the mix and maybe also some new music. Brilliant idea!
Mary of Bethany & Judas 2007-04-17 20:44:23 I’ve been doing a lot of preaching recently, with lots more to come. I thought I would post a few of my sermons here for feedback and thoughts. I’d be grateful if you felt able to read them and make some comments (constructive of course!).
This sermon was delivered on 3 April 2007, Tuesday of Holy Week, at Lanark, St Nicholas Church. The readings were: John 12: 1-11 & John 13: 18-30.
‘On Iona, in the early days of the Iona Community, it was decided to commission a well-known glassmaker to make six glass communion cups for use in the Abbey. The craftsman was asked to engrave a suitable biblical text onto each of the cups: ‘This is the blood of the new covenant’, ‘This do in remembrance of me’ and so on. Now this craftsman, as it happened, was not a churchman, although he was sympathetic to Christianity. When he received the commission he made one request: could he choose one of the texts to engrave on the cups? His request was granted.
When the cups wer Read more:Bethany
, Judas
learning to read the Bible again 4 2007-04-17 20:30:06 Matt and Russell continue their discussion of what the Bible is and what we should do with it…
learning to read the bible again 5 2007-04-20 18:23:38 Part 5 of Russell and Matt’s journey through a nine part thesis is worth a look.
5. The four canonical Gospels narrate the truth about Jesus.The Gospels, read within the matrix of scripture from Genesis to Revelation, convey the truth about the identity of Jesus more faithfully than speculative reconstructions produced by modernist historical methods. The canonical narratives are normative for the church’s proclamation and practice.How are the four portraits of Jesus related to one another? To what extent are historical investigations necessary or helpful in understanding Jesus? How is the entirety of scripture necessary to an accurate portrayal of Jesus? To what extent is a right understanding of the whole of scripture necessary to an appropriate understanding of the identity of Jesus?
So, what do you think? Leave your thoughts here or pop over to Russell or Matt’s blog and get talking…
Read more:bible
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