Happy Christmas!

Yes, I know I'm a bit late, and I'm sorry not to have posted on Christmas Day itself. I hope you'll understand and forgive me!

We had five services during the past few days: the Tongue Primary School Christmas Service was on Thursday afternoon, then our Christmas Eve Watchnight Service was at 11:30pm in Tongue Church, followed not long afterwards by the Christmas Day service at 11:30am in Melness Church. Not surprisingly, not many folk came to our two Boxing Day services!

The church was well filled on Christmas Eve and there were people who had come from as far as Bettyhill! This was the first time I had preached at a Watchnight service, and I really enjoyed speaking with folk about the connections between our present-day culture, the Old Testament prophecies of Isaiah, and the Christmas Story.

With my science background, we were thinking about how scientists know what they know, and don't know what they don't know (quoting Donald Rumsfeld along the way!). Isaac Newton got a mention, with his apple and gravity, and his three famous 'laws' of motion. Albert Einstein also got a mention, due to his update on one of Newton's Laws, and his famous formula of e=mc².

Of course, we also were talking about love, because the birth of Jesus demonstrated to the fullest possible extent, how much God loves each of us. It isn't only a children's story. It really happened. People experienced it. People recorded it. And people have passed it on, down through the ages, all the way to us.

It was the beginning of a journey, for Mary & Joseph, for the shephereds, for the Magi, and even for God himself. He invites each of us to journey with Him.

On Christmas Day, the service was all about celebration, and we ended up with a Birthday Cake, complete with candle. We all enjoyed gathering together around the cake, for a chat and a piece of cake, before heading home to enjoy the rest of Christmas Day.

We long to see God's Kingdom becoming more established in this place. God calls us to be like watchmen, watching on the walls, praying to God that He will build his kingdom and restore his 'city'. We all have a part we can play in the drama.

On Boxing Day, there were some boxes! We were talking about packing up for journeys, when moving home, or just for a short visit from one end of the country to the other.

Mary and Joseph journeyed from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The Magi journeyed hundreds of miles, probably from Babylon to Bethlehem. Then Mary and Joseph fled from Herod to Egypt, followed some years later by their eventual return to Nazareth.

We wondered what kind of boxes, or packages, they used to carry and protect the precious gifts that the Magi had given them. Jesus was their most precious 'possession'!

We thought about the kind of emergency supplies we need to take when we are travelling on icy and snowy roads. We thought about how some people treat Jesus as an emergency item; kept safely and securely hidden away out of sight, until the emergency occurs. Then He is unwrapped and pressed into service to save us from whatever disaster has occurred.

How much better to journey with Jesus, walking in his footsteps, holding his hand, following his guidance and directions. The likelihood of emergency or disaster will be much reduced, and the likelihood of rescue so much stronger.

At the end of the service, a few folk received a mysterious box with a little present inside. God is a God of surprises - nice surprises!

I am looking forward to the New Year ahead. We don't know what it will bring or where it will take us. But we know that God will be with us, or rather, we will be with Him!

God has a unique path for each of us, tailored to our circumstances, and to who we are. He loves you for who you are, and wants you to be the most you can be. With God all things are possible.

Four months and five days to go

Tomorrow will mark four months since I was ordained into the ministry after which there are only five more days to go until Christmas - yay!

We are now in our second period of wintry weather. This one began on Thursday and the forecasters predicted a couple of days of snow and then dry into next week. However, it snowed quite a bit through Saturday and on through the night. As a result it was rather difficult for many people to get to our Cool School Nativity Service this morning.

But it takes more than a bit of snow to keep Melness and Tongue folk away from church. All the children and leaders were there, and there was a good crowd of parents and siblings too. I reckon we had close on 50 folk in church today.

Given that we have at least three folk away on holiday, and another dozen or so kept away by the weather, I was pleased by the strong turnout.

It seems that God is really drawing people towards our church fellowship. We are having fun together as we strive to follow Jesus and worship our God. People are deciding to start coming along for the first time, or after an absence of many years.

The children did really well today. The Christmas Story was well told, with clarity and humour. The congregation did really well too, laughing at the funny bits, and managing not to laugh when one of the Kings proudly announced she had brought Frankenstein for baby Jesus!

During this past month we have had five funerals in the parish. It is not many compared with a lot of parishes, but for a resident population of around 600, it is a significant percentage. One of the people who came to church today said that it seemed that for too long they had only been to church for funerals. They were pleased today to celebrate the joyful message of Christmas with us all.

Although I have been here for four months now, the beautiful scenery still catches my eye and makes me gasp in awe and wonder at the majesty of God's creative genius. The above view across Talmine Bay and the Kyle of Tongue, with the watery wintry sunshine slanting across the misty air, just took my breath away.

When God's messengers came to tell Mary and Joseph, and then the Shepherds, what was going on, almost the first thing they said was 'Fear Not!'

God loves each person and He doesn't want anyone to be afraid of Him. Don't be afraid to put your trust in Jesus today. He has lived through everything we have, and more. He won through to the other side of death, and He beckons you to follow after Him.

Don't get left out in the cold and dark of Winter. Shout out, "Wait for me, I'm coming!"

Before the Beginning

Recently I watched a BBC Horizon programme entitled "What Happened Before the Big Bang?" The interaction between science and faith is interesting for me. I have been an electronics designer for much of my life, and now I am a minister in the Church of Scotland. I care about science, and I want to know more about God.

The Bible begins by declaring that the Universe came into being through the action of God. The book of Genesis records the earliest understandings of our place in that Universe. In Genesis we see that God was involved in the development of life on the Earth, culminating in the arrival of mankind. God breathed his Spirit into humanity, and He gave us the ability to communicate with Him, to have a relationship with God himself.

Scientists have often struggled to give any credence to the Genesis story. Scientific experiments have been unable to prove anything about God. Nor have they been able to disprove the existence of God. Millions of people have claimed to experience God, but that experience is not scientific.

The nature of the Universe, and mankind's place within it, have been the subject of our curious minds since the dawn of history. Every culture has its traditions about how they came to be here.

During the first half of the 1900s, there was a great scientific debate about whether the Universe had always existed. If it hadn't always existed, then how did it get here? Of course, that question is equally relevant even if the Universe always existed!

By 1950, the argument had been settled. The Universe began with a Big Bang, and expanded into its current condition. The Universe continues to expand. Indeed, scientists think that the expansion of the Universe continues to accelerate.

Cosmologists continue to analyse and study the Big Bang. Sensitive microwave telescopes can detect Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation. It comes from everywhere, but it has variation and structure. The current understanding is that this background energy is left over from the Big Bang. Studying the CMB radiation can give clues about the Big Bang.

Recent discoveries suggest that before the Big Bang, there was Something. There are a range of opinions about the nature of that Something. The Horizon programme presented the ideas of about ten different researchers. It was interesting to see how these scientific folk grapple with something that happened so long ago and so far away, when no-one lived to record what happened.

I did wonder if one of those people might turn out to be a theologian, someone who studies and thinks about God. But 'No'. After all Horizon is a science programme, not a religious broadcast!

But I wonder just where that blurry line runs, between science and religion, when talking and discussing such an intangible subjects as the Big Bang and the Creation of the Universe.

Perhaps if people considered the claims of religious folk throughout the world, both those living today, and those from former generations, they might enlarge their understanding of how we all came to be here and what we are here for.

Religious folk must also take seriously the work of our scientists. We have much to learn from them about this world that God has given us to look after. It's the only world we have just now. Scientists too are seeking to understand Life, the Universe, and Everything.

Autumnal Snow

Last year the first time I saw snow was just a few days before Christmas. The snow hung around for a couple of months before finally disappearing. That was pretty unusual for Edinburgh, where some winters there is no snow, and even in a bad winter it would only lie around for a week or two.

So I was quite interested on Tuesday morning this week to see through my study window a dusting of snow on Ben Hope. Ben Hope is the most northerly Munro in Scotland, a 'Munro' being a mountain peak higher than 3000 feet, or 914m, above sea level. My OS map indicates Ben Hope is 927m.

The dusting of snow increased slightly on Tuesday afternoon, and then on Wednesday the heavy showers continued with even greater intensity. Even Ben Hutig at 408m near Melness had some snow on the summit by the end of the day.

In the noontime sunshine I was astonished to see that the strong breeze was swirling around the summit and whipping up the snow into graceful whorls and streamers. The sunlight was gleaming off the white snow and it was awesomely beautiful. You can see a photo below. The snow must have been very dry to be lifted into the air by the wind.



Sometimes we take the everyday beauty of our world for granted. The delicate balance of nature on the surface of our planet seems imperturbable. Yet the narrow zone of habitable environment is narrower than we think. A rise in global carbon dioxide, or a fall in the solar power output, is all it takes to throw our human civilisations into chaos.

God calls each of us to live in harmony with his plan and purpose for the world. We are to love our neighbours, even if they are our enemies. We are to care for the poor, bring healing to the sick, deliver justice to the oppressed, and to enjoy the bounteous provision of our creator God. God is love - dwell in his love.

Is love more important than happiness?

God loves us so much that he spent his life on the Cross so that we might come into a loving relationship with Him. But does He want us to love Him more than He wants us to be happy?

Sometimes people try to make friends with someone by being nice to them. We are so desperate for them to be our friend that we give them gifts, take them places, and generally be as kind and helpful as we can.

Such generosity might convince the other person of our sincerity, but if the other person is not attracted to us as a person, then it is not likely that our generosity will change their mind. They may be happy to be with us, since the good gifts are enjoyable. But when there is a pause between the gifts, then they become uninterested again. They are not deep friends, only fair-weather friends. When life gets hard, they will move on, and leave you behind.

Sometimes people think that if there is a God who loves us, then He should make us happy. If we were happy, then we would be willing to love God. If God can't make us happy, then He is not worthy of our time.

I wonder if that kind of attitude underlies the fragility of so many human relationships. People are pleased to stick with their partner so long as he or she makes them happy. If life moves into a difficult phase, and we are not happy, then we split up and look for someone else who can do the trick.

How much should our love be based on our feelings, how much should be based on our thoughts, and is there anything else that would strengthen our love?

When we feel happy, when we enjoy someone's company, when we desire to be with someone, we sum up our feelings by declaring our love. But feelings can be very fickle, having bad days as well as good days.

If our love is based on a considered appreciation of someone, then that should be much more stable. We remember our partner telling us of their love for us. We recall their attractiveness and we remember the good times we have had together. We are thankful for those qualities and characteristics that we value and appreciate. We may not be feeling positive towards the person, but we remember how important they are to us.

My musings are no-doubt only capturing a glimpse of what love is all about. Many others have written deeply on the subject. But it seems to me that many folk today still struggle to feel loved, and to love others.

Love is more than feelings, and more than a product of our thinking.

God tells us that He is love. It is his nature. He has made us humans in his image, and so we have capability to love. God wants us to love, and to be loved. He longs to be the primary object of our love, and to enfold you in his love. When you know his love in and through you, then you have love in abundance for other folk too.

We cannot make other people love us. But we don't need to make God do that - He loves us already. He is just waiting for our response - for us to open the door of our hearts and lives, to let Him in, and fill us with his love.

God loves you unconditionally. You cannot make him love you more, and you cannot make him love you less. He gives us that kind of love for other folk too.

If you are feeling short of love, then open yourself to God, and let Him fill you to overflowing.

Northern Lights

It's been a beautiful day, almost cloud-free, except for a period in the mid-morning. We've been working in the garden, and then visited someone for afternoon tea.

This evening the air is very still and the sky is still clear. I went outside to check that the intermittent low rumbles I could hear were actually from the military bombing range at Cape Wrath. Indeed, they were, although I couldn't see any flashes. The bangs must be rather loud, as it's some 30-odd miles to Cape Wrath from Tongue.

When I looked northwards, I was delighted to see my first sight of the Northern Lights. The photos I had seen previously, and a distant view through an aircraft window, did not do them justice! It was really amazing to see the patterns moving about and the glow was much brighter than I expected. Perhaps we will see even better examples during the dark winter nights ahead.

I took a few photos, but even at 8 seconds exposure time on f2.8, I could only catch the brightest portions. The photo above has the brightness level boosted, and you can make out some of the aurora just above and to the right of the street light. My photo won't give you any idea of the broad view of the Lights. They ranged across the whole northern sky, although they didn't not stretch high up into the night sky.

You might also make out the constellation of the Plough farther up in the sky, pointing towards the North Pole star. I was only holding the camera against a downpipe at the side of the house, so I'm quite impressed I held it so still for 8 seconds! Perhaps next time I'll get out my tripod.

When everything else was quiet, we could also hear some distant roaring from the red deer stags, now that they have started the annual rutting season. Hearing this was another first time experience for my wife and I.

Milky Way

One of the sights I have been looking forward to here in Tongue is the night sky.

Living in Edinburgh we only see the brighter planets and stars. The Milky Way and the clouds of stars that make up the unpolluted night sky are just invisible in the city.

Tonight, as I arrived back home around 10:30pm, the Milky Way was stretched across the clear night sky above my head. A very bright planet was rising in the East (as they do!), and there were hordes of stars visible almost everywhere I looked (up the way, that is!).

When you see the night sky in all its glory it adds resonance to several passages from the Bible. The Christmas Star is probably the most obvious. The stars are created in Genesis, the bright Morning Star(s) shines in Job, Isaiah, 2nd Peter, and Revelation. At the End, the stars will fall from the sky. But tonight I am glad the stars are still shining brightly! And the planets too.

Us Human beings often think that we are in control of our own destiny. "If you try hard enough you can do whatever you want." Heard that one before.

Look up. What can we do compared with all that. We've reached the moon. We sent robots to Mars. We've sent a spacecraft to Pluto although it's not got there yet! Two spacecraft, the Voyager probes, have almost reached interstellar space - the edge of influence of our own Sun. Big deal!

The Universe is so awesome that we can hardly believe the numbers. So I'm not even going to try and make you now!

The Queen of Hearts encourages Alice to practice believing impossible things. In her own youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast."

Recently a well known scientist, physicist and mathematician, has declared that God wasn't there when the Universe began. Apparently it all started with an act of "spontaneous creation".

Quoting the BBC Website,
Stephen Hawking says: "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing.

"Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.

"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going."

It seems to me that Mr. Hawking has been trying too hard to believe impossible things. At least he believes in Creation. At least he believes there is a reason that the universe and humans exist. To me, 'spontaneous creation' seems like an unlikely reason. Indeed, I would say it is an unbelievable reason.

Laws do not occur spontaneously.
If gravity is a law, then there is a lawmaker, and a Judge.

The entire basis of Physics is that things do not occur spontaneously.
There is no uncaused event.

Quantum Physics throws some doubt on that assertion.
It deals with the microscopic, sub-molecular scale.

But it is not tenable to suggest that since sub-atomic events appear to be uncaused, i.e. occur spontaneously, then macroscopic events, such as the creation of the Universe, can also be spontaneous, uncaused events.

For years scientists have been saying that miracles, as described by present-day people, and recorded in the Bible, can not and do not occur.

Now we have a scientist saying that the Creation of the Universe occurred spontaneously.

Well that seems miraculous to me!