Midsummer Midnight

If you have been up late during recent nights you may have observed that it's not been that dark even at midnight.

Last night, or perhaps I should say this morning, I was burning the midnight oil finishing off the first draft of a report I have been writing.

Although it was midnight, I could see my garden quite clearly in the twilight filtering down from the North. The sky was quite bright in the distance, although it sky was cloudy and gloomy above Edinburgh.

My camera made a valiant effort to record the scene, although the image was very dark until I used some image processing to enhance the brightness and contrast.

Although it was an 8-second exposure the image is quite sharp, except for the solar light at the far end of the grass, which you can see has smudged as the camera shook.

Sometimes as we look at our situation everything seems very dark and gloomy. But if we take a long look, life is not quite so dark and hopeless as an initial glance would suggest.

Jesus of Nazareth, is sometimes described as the Light of the World. Many folk don't see the light. But if we look carefully, it is there, shining in the darkness, and the darkness can never put it out.

Take a long look.

Sport, Church, and Emotion

One of my friends commented recently that, "Sport can be quite emotional." And I replied, "If it's not emotional is it still sport?"

Then relating that thought to my own situation, I thought "Church can be quite emotional. If it's not emotional is it still church."

Nikki recently wrote a nice piece about Jesus sleeping through the storm while the disciples are frantically trying to stop the boat from sinking. At last, they decide they will have to wake him. "Do you not care that we are about to die?" they ask him.

Now that's emotion!

Sometimes I feel that we have taken Paul's instruction to do everything 'decently and in order' far too far. The stories of Jesus in the New Testament contain lots of emotion.

Jesus wept, Jesus was indignant, Jesus had compassion, Jesus was exasperated, Jesus was angry, Jesus felt abandoned, the prodigal's father was joyful.

In the Old Testament too there was much emotion.

The joy of the Lord is your strength. Rejoice in the Lord. By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept. He drew me up from the desolate pit and put a song of praise to God in my mouth.

When a sports person accomplishes a great achievement they celebrate in style.
When an actor wins an Oscar they throw an enormous party.
When an election is won there is a tremendous cheer from the winners.

Sunday by Sunday, as we come to worship our great God, let's celebrate in style, throw a great party, and raise the roof with a tremendous cheer.

After all, the Good Book tells us to 'make a joyful noise!'

Unity - at what price?

The history of the Church of Scotland is littered with division, perhaps not surprisingly, since it began with division back in 1560.

Although many of those historic divisions have been mostly healed, there still remain some independent Christian denominations, that began life in division from the Church of Scotland.

Even today, there are stresses and strains within the Church of Scotland that threaten the unity of the people of God. Some of those stresses and strains are about belief, and some about practice, but I think that Jesus is exasperated at our willingness to squabble over peripheral issues, and our unwillingness to proclaim the Good News that God offers to each person, through the resurrection of that same Jesus.

This morning I was preaching on the New Testament book of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 4 verse 32, through to chapter 5 verse 10.

It's a difficult story to grasp a hold of, not least because during the narrative two people die. But in the end it becomes clear that the central point of the story is the importance of unity to the followers of Jesus.

Ananias and Sapphira try to deceive the church by hiding away some of their money offering, but their deception is revealed, and the consequent shock results in the deaths of both Ananias and Sapphira.

The Church of Scotland is facing difficult issues, about money, about the place of the Bible, about the way we live as individuals and as community, and whether we will continue to realistically serve the whole country.

We need to find ways to engage each other on these subjects, not because they are central, but because they are important. Unless we find ways to discuss these subjects, to live together with our variances, we will fall apart, and that's the last thing the Church needs, and that Jesus wants.

As Paul wrote to the Ephesians (4:32), 'Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, as God in Christ forgave you.'

Arctic Ice sinks below 2007 minimum

Since the year 2000 the floating ice in the Arctic Ocean has been melting rapidly. Most of the multi-year ice has either melted in situ or has been swept out into more southern waters and melted there. In the Autumn each year the ice reaches its annual minimum before the winter re-freeze sets in again.

In 2007 there was a spectacular fall off in the area of ice due to southerly winds not only bringing warm air over the ocean, but also because the same winds compacted the fractured ice floes together into a minimum area.

Last year the weather pattern was more conventional and the minimum area of Arctic ice was somewhat higher than in 2007, although still far below the 1979-2000 average.

This year, with such little multi-year ice at the start of the year, scientists predict that there could be another record minimum. The graph above from NSIDC shows that the 2009 melt season got off to a slower start than in 2007. However, for the last four weeks the ice has been melting more rapidly than in that record minimum year.

For the time of year, the area of Arctic ice is now less than it has ever been in modern times.

Frenzy was a Blast!

Saturday was the date for Frenzy, the annual Christian Music Festival at Ingliston, beside Edinburgh airport. I would have liked to include a photo, but they're all copyrighted, so have a look at the Frenzy website itself.

There were three bands I had heard of, Hillsong London, The David Crowder Band, and Third Day. They gave great performances, mixing sing-a-long worship, new material, and a few well-known items from other popular artists.

The main stage also saw sets by bands I had not heard of, The Parachute Band, Starfield, Jeremy Camp, and ValleyUK. And there were also two outdoor stages, one sponsored by Authentic Media, with a range of their artists, and the other sponsored by Open Doors, promoting their work in support of persecuted Christians all around the world.

There well several thousand people in attendance, from 12 noon, through until 11pm at night. Most folk were in their teens and twenties, but with a scattering of 'old folk' like me, and older yet!

I was pleased to see a few ministers and trainees who I recongnised, and no doubt there were others there also who I did not know or recognise. But on reflection, I was disappointed there were so few. Such an event, so popular with young people both inside the established church, and those on the fringes or outside the church, should be showing us a way forward.

Hundreds of years ago, missionaries took the Good News of Jesus Christ across the World, adapting and connecting the message into the culture of those places and times. The Christian music scene is the fastest growing genre of the professional music scene. We should be making the most of it. Don't get left behind, but instead get onboard.

Come to Winchburgh Church tonight, at 7:15pm, for the journey of a lifetime!

Back to College!

Well actually it's my first time at College.

I started a course called Introduction to Counselling in Stevenson College at the end of April. Having graduated from Edinburgh University with my second Honours Bachelors degree last June I thought I was finished with Academic Qualifications.

But I was asked to do a course on Listening Skills during this period of my training and this course at Stevenson ticked all the boxes. And it was only £82 too!

So after seven O-Grades, seven Highers, one 6th-Year Studies certificate, two Honours Bachelor degrees, a Masters module, now I'm hoping to gain my first SQA Award this summer, an Intermediate 2, just like my youngest son and his classmates!

On August 5th, Andrew and I will be competing to be first to get the post and discover our exam results. The difference is that he needs his results, whereas I don't need to pass, just to attend the course. I'll let you know how I get on.

One of my training peers thought that I had gone crazy, going back to college again. But she was wrong - there is a good reason. I've not lost the plot after all!

Final Conference - Yay!

Our Final Conference (Yay!) was great! Our presenters would make a point of mentioning that this was our Final Conference (Yay!) - getting a cheer each time. At least there was no danger of anyone falling asleep!

Many of our talks/workshops were looking at the theme of "what next for us"; Vacancy Procedures, Parish Profiles, Letting Go and Starting Up, Manse Life, etc. It was exciting to think that from 1st September I would be able to apply to congregations who were looking for a new minister (assuming I pass my Final Review in August!).

As of now Liz and I haven't made any decisions about where we might go, or not go. It's too early yet. But we have begun to look at the adverts in Life and Work, and elsewhere, with a heightened level of interest!

Our Final Conference (Yay!) was tinged with sadness too. This year's cohort of 25 will not all be together again, although those in post by next year's General Assembly will be called together on 'Ministries Monday'.

Our final dinner together was a splendid occasion. Many of us had dressed up for the occasion, Helen had written a happy and humourous song, and there were some (mercifully!) short speeches acknowledging the milestone we have all reached.

Final Conference (Yay!) is over. Now, what next?!