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Safely gathered in...?

And so Harvest is completed and everyone seemed very happy this morning. lots of great comments, unexpected joy broke out in places least expected, some folk who never say anything said good things. And we filled the time and then some quite the thing. I looked at my watch at 12 noon and thought, 'how did we get here so quickly'.

I thought the band was excellent this morning. Good songs to sing and everyone joined in quite the thing.

The words from Job really were straight from Job (chapter 38) without any poetic licence. Aren't they just fantastic. One of my top five favourite passages in the Bible. Here they are again:

Were you there when I made the world?
Who decided how large it should be?
Who laid the cornerstone of the world?
In the dawn of that day the stars sang together
Who closed the gates to hold back the sea?
Have you ever ordered the dawn to seize the day
Who dug a channel for the pouring rain?
Who is the mother of ice and frost?
Who is wise enough to count the clouds and tilt them over and pour out the rain?

A good balance of actions in the statement of faith and songs along with visuals (Do you like my new projector. It's the size of your hand and not much more).

Even the Gap liked the service and indeed sang some of the songs.

It's a songs of praise next week so not quite back to normal and then its the rest of eco-month. So chocolate Teapots will appear next week sometime. For the moment we can just relish the harvest and know it isn't safely gathered in until justice is established. So that won't be soon then.

The blessing from today:

May we find heaven in the wildness of creation;
may we seek justice in bread for the world;
may we know resurrection in the sunsets of autumn;
and may we find God in the sharing of it all.

Today's service

So how was your day today at church?

I don't think I was actually there. It felt very strange to me today though the Gap were a little happier with the hymns since they chose most of them yet still didn't give them full marks!

Favourite bit was the sand stories.

Digging Deep

The Sunday School had a great day on Sunday when our resident archaeologist came along and did Moses and stuff with them via tools and stuff. It was brilliant. I think we'll be doubling the Hunterian Museums visitor figures this week as I've spoken to a number of parents who have said they will be taking their chidlren along. Well done Michael. Suddenly bible characters are grounded in some historical context such as Bronze Age and Stone Age etc. Fabulous.

But I think it is very necessary for the adults to do the same exercise. The'd love it. What if we did church round a table of stone age tools. That would be very cool. Watch this space.

A good sing

I thought the singing was good again this morning though not as many people there as during the summer services. Is this significant? The summer services were consistently busy as they were the last couple of years. Busier than a normal Sunday quite often. Should we be doing the summer format more often? Have we got the right level with all-age/creativity during the summer?

The service itself was quite interesting for me as I haven't 'preached' as such for about 2 months. So it was good to cram everything into one week! I did like the contemporary reading best today however. the whole breathing gods name was just right for me.

And even the offering thing worked okay I think. I'm sure the offering will go down because it is now collected at the door and people will miss it but the doxology was okay and many people took the initiative in sitting down once it was finished though it was a bit of a Mexican Wave. That will be sorted next week. Having said that, I'm not sure the doxology is long enough for me to get info from the duty folk who have brought down the offering of the notices I've forgotten.

Holy Moses

We're moving on to the story of Moses for the month of August, away from the lectionary. Haven't done this for as long before, but hey, we can do what we want! So the story of Moses... we have four weeks (one of them is the Greenbelt weekend, so we've probably only got three. We're not going to get through the whole lot because there is a huge amount in it. it is one of the most important Jewish figures and stories. Exodus is immensly important. It's the crucial story. And for us too.

I could pick my favourite parts in terms of the theology, story, characters, events etc and design worship round my usual hobby horses (don't imagine it is all up to the inspiration of the Spirit!). But what bits are seminal to you? Burnng bushes, bull rushes, red sae, 10 commandmants, plagues, 40 years in the wilderness, manna, land of milk and honey, pillar of cloud and fire, golden calf, water from rock, everyone bitten by vipers, arc of the covenant (to name a few).

We could tell the story but pause only three or four times to unpack the story and hear it again for the first time listening once more to what is being said to us for out time and place.

So I can give you till Wednesday to make suggestions for at least Sunday. But let's not start at the end! Sunday's focus needs to be near the beginning of the story of Moses, so that would be bull rushes, killing the Egyptian, burning bush, I am what I am (is Gloria Gaynor really God?). Or is there a more creative way of doing Moses, retrospectively, from the end to the beginning and see how things shaped other things. I'm open to all suggestions.

I won't guarantee we'll necessarily use your suggestion but it will help shape the whole month, promise. nothing is disguarded. It's like a drop in the ocean, it all adds up.

Sunday's Text

Just when you thought it would be easy...

We have a choice of three at the moment: Adam and Eve, Good Samaritan or an empty week where we could look at how we read the bible, the questions we bring, the post-critical naivite ie looking over the texts not as historical truths but metaphors and symbols that you need faith to engage with.

All would be good. The first two would be very visual and I have an interesting spin on the Good Samaritan text. Adam and ve would also open up the post critical stuff, ie believing stories beyond believing they were historical truths.

Hmmm...

And also we have Noah too (forgot that one had been suggested) and again there is a good eco spin on that along with Noah lying naked and drunk in his vineyard and about to be disowned by his sons. Why don't the chidlren get to hear baout that bit?

Any that tips the balance? You've got till Wednesday teatime. Vote here.

That was the Sunday that was

And indeed it was. A very positive reaction to the communion and prize giving serve today. People who haven't said anything before said they got good stuff out of it. Some who were just slightly sceptical about children being present were encouraged by them being there. A couple of people were quite emotional. And we were busy because of prize giving. There were also a lot more people who opted for the common cup than I imagined and I think there were probably more who didn't move to the common cup pews on the day but would again. It was good to see people move, chose and share.

So I feel really positive about it. Tom was uptight about it. I was uptight about it but I think we journeyed quite a bit together and I think all the children there, some who opted not to take part and it was was really encouraging to see them choose, on the whole, enjoyed the whole event. My daughter said it was the best yet but then she is six and the minister is her dad and she's my greatest fan. When everything else is going pear-shaped, I go to her for encouragement.

So a time of reflection will take place later in the month when I'm back and we can see if the format was encouraging for us as a congregation and how we can smooth it out a wee bit.

Questions that were asked came from the elders who didn't get common cup and that can be sorted. But that was really the only thing I heard.

Any other comments, positive and negative so we can hone it?

Watcha Spirit

Those questions about the spirit I invited folk to reflect on have lead to some fabulous answers. It is the main theological bit of the service and has become a statement of faith. They really are fabulous and creative. I'm just trying to work out in my mind how best to do it. I think I need 6 readers who are willing to lead this. I wonder about some music in the background and also a rehearsal because we need to get the pauses right. So if anyone is up for it that would be fabulous. Just let me know.

Here's what folk have said. Just brilliant.

In many ways it is difficult to talk about the Spirit of God. We don’t do it very often and when we come to Pentecost, the day we remember and celebrate the energy of God, then we are left with a whole lot of language we can’t quite get to grips with. So instead of asking everyone to repeat what no one fully understands, listen to this statement of faith, which is a way of telling the world what we believe, but the images have come from people in this congregation and others, in response to a few questions. A great variety of folk who all have different pictures of the Spirit, to can be added to our own thoughts of the Spirit.

If the Spirit was a colour what colour would it be?...

1 a light peaty gold
6 purple, of course
2 blinding white light

5 colourless
3 the colour of laughter
4 Sometimes she is yellow illuminating what we couldn't see before. Sometimes she is green and weaves in and out of the trees. Sometimes she is blue and dances around me, until my feet and my body moves and I feel part of her. Sometimes she is purple and commands my awe, then I just sit at her feet.

If she made a sound what sound would that be?...

3 so silent she can't be heard, so loud I can't make out the words, so gentle it's like singing a lullaby, so rousing I have to get up and move, so inspiring I have to tell people
4 the noisiest form of silence ever
2 the gurgle of pouring liquid
5 silent as night
1 the sound of spring
6 the Blackbird preparing for the new day - while it is still dark

If the Spirit was a famous person she would be...

1 not nearly as mystical and alluring
6 Dawn French
2 Robin Hood
5 Richard Branson (with NO money)
3 Martin Luther King - stirred up to change the world
4 the spirit does not believe in the cult of personality

If I was to woo the Spirit I know she'd like me to sing...

3 at the top of my voice

4 'You're the inspiration' by Chicago
2 The Lord is my shepherd (Vicar of Dibley tune)
5 Blister in the Sun by Bruce Lash
1 she’d like me to make sure that everyone else has reason to sing
6 she’d like me to sing to her all the time

Her favourite band is...

1 Take That
6 the Abbotsford Band (!)

2 the Byrds
5 U2
3 African drummers
4 the one which arcs across the sky to say "THANK YOU!" for sun and rain

The bit of the Bible that really gets her going is...

3 the Sermon on the Mount

4 Jesus tearing up the Temple
2 Luke warm churches
5 Genesis...then Exodus and so on
1 Easter Saturday, when all is quiet and sad. Excited at what is changing. Thrilled from what is yet to come.
6 Ecclesiastes 3:1- There is a time for everything

She gets angry and restless and a wee bit dangerous when...

1 people use their voices to block her path, building fear around the invitation to party
6 Men subverting women in the church - or anywhere else
2 She gets angry and restless and a wee bit dangerous when… you least expect it
5 when I say I can't afford it
3 when we’re not
4 when lips move but hearts don’t

This is the spirit and we…

3 love her
4 praise her
2 are disturbed by her
5 questions her
1 know her
6 follow her

not here, but into all the world.

Chocolate teapots

Here's a section where we can blether about next week's service which is a songs of praise where all the hymns are chosen by folk from the congregation.

The Emmaus meeting

I'm interested in people's responses to the format of today's sermon. I'm not looking for content, style, execution or anything like that but on the idea of having a sermon that is a little less monologue-esque and responds more to the biblical text.

It's a wonderful story to tell and retell and we did that a few times today, at least three. And it would certainly be easier to have just a monologue sermon in response to it, but taking it apart a little, and doing it scene by scene offered some insights that may have been lost otherwise. But then maybe they were lost because of different voices and unfamiliarity with the format. But with the inclusion of the bread and the way is what whole and the next time we saw it as we left the worship space it was all broken up for us, worked for me anyway.

Your thoughts?

Emmaus Travellers

I'm looking for a couple of volunteers for Sunday (and it is only Thursday). The sermon will still be a sermon but done slightly differently and I don't want to give it all away though even saying that, your expectations will be surely disappointed when you see what actually happens. As to what that is, I have no idea yet since it is still just a thought, nae a rumour of a thought.

Anyhow, it would be fabulous if I could get two volunteers to dialogue the story of Emmaus, freshly written (with your help indeed) that would become part of the reflection/engagement time (commonly known as the sermon). There would be no acting but you may get some fresh bread to eat.

I also need another volunteer or two to do some other things that involves no speaking and not actually doing anything in the service but while the service is going on. It would only take 5 minutes so you wouldn't miss much (but I can make it longer if you want to miss more and have an excuse!).

Now if you aren't already intrigued then wait till you see the hymns - Joke. they are reasonably normal, except for...

Looking forward to all these volunteers.

Easter Day

So hey, happy Easter.

We had chocolate fountains which is never a bad thing. White chocolate because it's Easter. Baptism because no better day for Baptism than Easter Day. We had singing, a fair bit because what else can you say about the faith on Easter Day. We had fairly new songs among the old, because resurrection is always new on Easter Day. And we laughed which, I believe, is how God burst the tomb on that first Easter Day.

And we heard Jesus say that first word of love: 'Mary!' It takes a while to recognise it, but when you do, things start fitting together and falling in to place. Now we have a season to listen out for resurrection and begin to recognise it everywhere. Eyes pealed, which is probably spelled wrong. I don't know. I've given up worrying what's right or wrong. Which is maybe the best place to be on Resurrection Day. Who gets it right and who gets it wrong? Doesn't matter. It's Easter Day and everyone just get's it!

Hint for Sunday

God
source of all life
has just burst open the tomb with laughter

Resurrection
silent as dawn
has set loose random explosions of alleluia’s

Jesus
crucified one
has given breath to his first resurrected word, a word filled with love: ‘Mary!’

Mary
valueless woman
is the first to proclaim, before any religion catches on, ‘Jesus is Risen!’

May we not dither
with the alleluias

Christ is risen!

Worship Party

Still on tonight but now at the Manse instead. I think this has become a Wild Goose Chase but it's like one of those Raze parties in the 80 and 90s where you got one clue in a phone box to go to another phone box for another clue until you actually go t there.
If any of you make it then you probably ought to win a prize. You 'probably ought to'. That doesn't say you will!!

wee taster

Voice 1:
God loved the world so much
that God sent Jesus the son
so that all who believed in him
would have eternal life

Voice 2:
God loved the world so much
love gave everything it had
that anyone who grasped the story of love
would be grasped by love’s story
and find what is eternal

Voice 1:
God loved the world so much
heaven opened up itself completely
so that whoever welcomed the kingdom in
through works of love and justice
would find the lasting wholeness of life

Voice 2:
God loved the world so much
Jesus put on flesh and lived among us
so that the face of God would be clear to humanity
and the word of God would be clearly heard
that no life is cheap enough to destroy

Voice 1:
God loved the world so much
God went there Gods-self
so that anyone who banked on love
would discover life’s ultimate value
and in so doing live in its fullness

Voice 2:
God loved the world so much
God let Jesus gamble everything on love
through to crucifixion and death
so that all who ventured to love in that way
would know what had been distilled in eternity

Voice 1:
God loved the world so much
that God sent Jesus the son
so that all who believed in him
would have eternal life

That was the Sunday that was

So today happened. At the end of the service I was quite pleased with the way thing fitted in and we stretched transfiguration a bit, looking at stories anbd glimpses of it from others points of views rather than just explain it (away). There were also enough traditional hymns for folk as well as some others that made more sense to me personally.

However The Gap were confused. Maybe because we swapped the sermon with the contemporary reading. One of them said they normally know when to switch off when I go up the pulpit steps but as I swapped things around today she was confused.

That didn't cheer me up!

And no one joined in 'Climb, climb up sunshine mountain'. People normally just sing away. I was left on m,y own and by the second time it was too late to suggest folk join in.

Baby Erin was great, of course. Beard-puller that she is.

Any thoughts that may make things work better at some other time? Too arty? Not coherent?

Looking for volunteers

I'm on the scrounge again wondering it there are two folk out there who might be interested in reading something for Sunday. I've got it more or less worked out and can send you a draft by email. It's going to be fabulous. There could be the additional bonus of playing with some sand but if that makes you think again, we can leave the sand to the side.

I'm afraid that the plethora of old hymns we've been finding ourselves singing over the last couple of months hasn't been kept up this week but we'll return there, no doubt, during Lent.

Text Images

To help thoughts and images collide.

Following is a strange term to use with Jesus. It’s a bit like the blind leading the blind. Did Jesus know what was round the corner? Did he have it all mapped out and clear cut with rehearsed lines to rehearsed situations?

Or did he simply trust?

Following is a strange term to use with Jesus. It implies a leader who has already passed that way and with heads down we stare at the footprints and play a game of journeys. Had Jesus moved through this way before?

Or did he simply trust?

Following doesn’t mean the one out front knows where they are going. It’s just that they have the trust and faith we would like to have, enough faith for us to trust. They live more on impulse, initiative and intuition. These are the ways of God-living. To move from beach to roadway, means moving from knowledge to intuition, living in faith not because you’ve been here before, but because you haven’t. Knowledge doesn’t help. Faith does.

For Sunday

Anyone got access to a couple of snooker balls I could borrow for Sunday? I'm just needing two. You'd get them back unharmed.

Wednesday already

Time slips away but there is always time to ask Santa for something. What would you ask for?

I might use some (anonymously) in the watchnight service.

That was the Sunday...

I felt there was lots of life today. Six hymn and it didn't feel like it as someone said. We were also out by 12 noon. Hey, how did that happen. A couple of guests too one who had been meaning to comer along for a while and finally did so that was good. Great times to boast a little about the congregation. Such a fabulous lot of people.

All the invitations for posting were taken too by the session. Good. A few door to door to do but I can do that.

It was a good feeling today and yesterday. But the advent is slipping away. Too much to do to get it all over with. That's what it seems at times. One thing to the next without spending time with the moment. It means sometimes that the visits doing get done as much as they ought, especially at this time. 2 weeks to go. Can't believe it.

Just keep breathing.

That was the Sunday...

We packed a fair bit in this morning and it seemed to go well. I enjoyed particularly the communicants joining us. Fabulous. But the Gap weren't impressed. I think it was the hymns (here we go again...). The fact we had one with the number 666 seemed to swing it for them and also because it was the oldest one (which for me was just fabulous. It brilliantly pulls together the mysterious and ancient past) and mentioned Satan a couple of times.

Interestingly they said separate parts of it were good: the sermon in particular, the candles etc. And then on the other hand a few others said it was good. No wonder it is so easy to get paranoid. Instinct I think is the only measure.

Anyway that was the Sunday that was. It's going to be a rich month for us. Hope you'll be there for most of it.

That was the Sunday...

Well I quite enjoyed today. I thought the singing was good (not that anyone said anything), David was his usual on the piano and organ (how can we stretch him more?) and I felt we proclaimed this morning saying lots of things about Jesus being Reign of Christ Sunday yet also asked ourselves (me included) what say you...

Next week we tiptoe into Advent, in a hush that almost imagines it isn't real. After that big words and songs to today, what will next week bring? Tomorrow I'll post Chocolate Teapots and feel free to add your suggestions for anything and everything. We did sing some of the suggestions people offered this last week. None of them are ignored but often guide to other thoughts and songs that sum up what is being said and explored.

There was also a good number there again today. I'm trying to get habits back into fashion and need to have 'Excuse Sundays' for people to make an excuse to be there in the pews. There needs to be a Big Sunday for that and advertised as such. Sort of got there today. Will focus on Nativity Sunday in December: 'if there is a Sunday you should be at church, then this is it...' sort of thing. Watch this space and book your pew early.

Big Jesus Hymns

I've got a wheen of hymns to chose from for Sunday as it is the last Sunday of the year and it's going to be a big sing. It's Reign of Christ Sunday where we just celebrate who Jesus is but we've only got 6, possibly 7 slots for hymns and I'm up for suggestions from folk. I won't guarantee we'll choose everyone's offerings but I'd be really grateful if folk would consider what big Jesus hymns speak to them of Jesus in the world and us as followers. So any thoughts would be great. I've enough hear for at least three services and I can't whittle them down.

Of course doing this deflects any comments about hymns on Sunday...

That was the Sunday...

I think it went fine today and the hymns were most acceptable apparently. Quite a lot of comments.

I don't know what people expect from Remembrance. That's not a complaint, I just genuinely don't know because there are so many different takes on it. I found myself a few times sweating a bit when the context of the service made the words to some hymns sharper than normal, particularly the last one for some reason. And in my head there are those who have relations in the armed forces who are part of our congregation and others who find the whole armed forces thing very difficult indeed. There are those who see colours flying in the church as the right place for that to happen and other who cannot cennect with it at all. And then there is the National Anthem which some are proud to sing and other who see it as something that doesn't fit in a service. And all of them were there today. (Am I just taking this too seriously or being criminal imagining that intelligent people can't see that it is a day for a whole lot of emotion and feeling and tradition and just let it be that way? I think I imaging people will leave when they don't get exactly what they want or a particular line is or isn't adhered to which is me giving people no credability of integrity.)

Anyway I think it went well and was decent and hopeful and for some, moving.

The evening creative communion had its moments too. The idea that was in my head didn't quite work out as I imagined but it worked enough. I took some images on my phone so I'm try and bluetooth them to by mac and post them later.

So it all seemed to be a good day in all. Now on to next week... where will we begin?

That was the Sunday...

I liked the contemporary reading (not what's posted below. That was the gathering. The contemporary reading took short stories of excluded people and brought them in, recognising the meeting/turning point was the meeting with Jesus. We symbolised that with the font, leaving handprints on it so that all our faith stories were seen to be part of the community that nurtures and cares for any newly baptised). It seemed to work better in real time than in my head. Even the Gap commented. Scary: they were listening. And the singing. Only two old ones but we sang well, or was that all the Baptismal guests...? Or the hope of all the food afterwards that was more of less finished? We know how to enjoy ourselves.

And that's a good thing.

Up-dates

Well, that was the Sunday that was and all-age communion went fine. Yet again it was one of the more moving communion services we offer. And for me it just brings communion alive in a much deeper way when chidlren open up the mystery again to you and the daring of drinking wine as if they are doing somgthing they should be, or something dangerous, because that's just what it is. And that's what formal communions seem to lack for me personally, that example of doing something daring.

Anyway, just to mak clear what's happening this week:

Juniour Craft Daft starts at 6pm tomorrow and finishes at 7pm

Bible for Duffers is on Thursday at the Manse at 7.30 till about 9pm. It's on again next THursday too and then fortnightly afterthat

Living the Questions begins the week Duffers isn't on, but on a Tuesday. Does that complicate things enough?

Saving Jesus which is the sequel to L the Q is being run by Holy City at Strathclyde University Chaplaincy on Tuesday 6pm to which everyone is welcome. We'll probably buy a copy of Saving Jesus later when we can afford it. Up to that point I'd suggest going to the Holy City variety.

Hopefully that should keep your weeks busy along with all the other stuff. It's all got a little more fire again. We're on the road again.

Harvest Service

Well I think it went okay today. I'm not sure. Do you think we need to revamp the all-age stuff completely? I remember the first all-age service we did 10 years ago. It was the same sort of style we tend to do but there was an awful lot of very positive reaction from it. And that was because it was completely new for folk. Now there is no reaction which I amn't wanting to complain about. My thought is that it has become same old, same old. It doesn't do much for fol's engagement anymore. But to revamp and do something quite different again may be a little too much for folk. We don't have the numbers as we did then and we are fairly used to this kind of style. So I'm interested in a conversation about that: what about the future of all-age services? What do they do for folk? What do they miss? To me they are kind of halfway houses, they kind of hint that you are moving but fail to take you there. So a conversation about that slice of our worship where everyone is in and we celebrate the big moments together as a whole family would be good.

Before we talk about what we should do and the format of any all-age type services in the future (there are plenty of cosmetic ideas) I think we ought to talk about the theology of worshipping together, what a community does together when it worships, what this particular community is looking for and needing to do to mark these pivotal moments in our year and indeed how we are a community in worship.

So this isn't a 'down' feeling about today because the few who have commented seemed to enjoy it but I have wondered for a ong while now if these big services (Harvest, Christmas, Easter and Pentecost) miss the mark and ought to be celebrated in a different way becasue what we are looking for is not just a more relaxed way of being family together but a far more vital way of engaging with the moment.

Your thoughts?

Harvest help

I'm looking for some input for the harvest service on Sunday. If you feel about, interested, imaginative or scientific, what about answering the following questions with an many answers as you like. Think outside the box a little. Nothing has to be exact. This is poetry and dreams and stuff like that. The idea is to turn it into a litany on Sunday so the more entertaining the better.

If you could only describe harvest as a set of colours what would they be?

You have only six words to decribe creation. What would they be?

What animals would you like as pets and why (it doesn't have to make sense of be anywhere likely)

Give a list of as many animal sounds you can think of

Is there an animal or animal name or noise or behaviour that makes you laugh? What is it?

Go on and make us smile with your answers...

Today

The last couple of weeks I have been meaning to give a space here to discuss the sermons/themes of the weeks because, for me at least, they have been a bit of a struggle, leading to preaching about areas I wouln't choose, which is one of the benefits of the lectionary in that it makes to visit topics you wouldn't normally, but maybe that means the sermons are rubbish because they haven't come from 'firm gound'.

Maybe I should post them to remind folk. But feel free to have discussion here. They have been big topics over the last wee while and that's been god.

A reflection

Here's a fabulous wee reflection I picked up today from another source which I hope to use to base something on for Sunday. Just brilliant.

Sing Out
Aaron Zeitlin

Praise me, says God;
I will know that you love me.
Curse me, says God;
I will know that you love me.
Sing out my graces, says God.
Raise your fist against me and revile.
Sing out my praises or revile.
Reviling is also a kind of praise, says God.
But if you sit fenced off
in your apathy, says God.
If you sit entrenched in:
"I don't give a hang."
If you look at the stars and yawn,
If you see suffering and don't cry out,
If you don't praise and don't revile,
Then I created you in vain, says God.

Source: translated by Emanuel Goldsmith

That was the Sunday that was (16th September 2007)

Well probably better than last week in terms of hymns in that I didn't get any complaints today though I avoided talking about the service to anyone. Sad or what! Except the Gap who thought the hymns were dreadful! (Ps 23, King of Love, Praise my soul etc). So that was a bit of a laugh!

I even got a few volunteers after the sermon to help go round some doors and knock and say hello and invite them to church. I don't know how many other churches locally do that. From conversations with folk it seems everyone is doing it. I've been told the JW's, RC's and Elim have all been doing it recently. Is this true? If it is going to be seen as just 'another set of religious nuts scouting for business' then maybe a different tack would be better, though I'm not trying to find a way out of doing door to doors.

What do people feel about doing door to door mission work? It would be the same as we did last couple of times of knocking on the door, saying hello, giving away a wee leaflet and that would be it, no long dicussions, no questions about eternal salvation, nothing other than a hello and a good-bye.

This is part of a whole lot of other stuff too like CAOS and special themed services where we'll invite special groups who work in the community to have a service with us. Groups like MS, like stepping stones, like schools, and celebrate with them and just get people in the door. So it is all part of a bigger 'rollout' of living in the community.

Hint for Sunday

Here's one of my favourite stories that will be used on Sunday. It's not complete here. You'll just have to wait for the weekend...

A certain woman had a vivid dream. In it she saw a man with untidy long hair and bare feet sitting on a bench outside the Post Office. A voice said to her that if she were to sk this man, he would give her something that would make her rich forever. She woke and shrugged off the dream. But the next day, while walking through town, she saw the man from her dream sitting on the bench outside the Post Office. Feeling somewhat foolish, she approached the man and explained her dream. He listened and then reached into his rucksack. He produced an enormous gold nugget, saying, ‘I found this beside the rive. Here, it’s yours if you want it.’

She gladly took the nugget. It was huge, sufficient to make her wealthy for the rest of her life. But that night she could not sleep, tossing and turning in her bed. At dawn she set out to find the tramp, who was sleeping under a tree in the park. She returned the nugget to him and said...

The day that was

Don't know if ayone wishes space to talk about today so here it is. I thought it was okay. There were no comments either way so that probably means it was neither terrible or brilliant and that's a fine place to be. Personally I thought it was okay. There was the bias towards justice and also the traditional words. I thought the hymns worked well around communion, unexpectedly so. Words crept in and changed in the context of the service. Nice. But otherwise it was all mediocre and that's fine too.

That was the Sunday that was

Not too bad. The Gap are back doing thier quiz after about a year of just having to listen without any help so they gave the service 7/8 and the sermon 8/9. Their enthusiasm always worries me. But then I knew things were fine because they gave the hymns 3. That's pretty low. And they were right, they weren't the most exciting, though they liked the last one. So back on track I think. Yet its the hymn that come bacl to haunt every time. Maybe I should do the Gordon brown thing and remit the choice of hymns to a different group of people...

Other than that, it was all very run of the mill. Not a bad thing. No seron from me next week but I've worship to do for Church without walls at NEXUS on Thursday morning which I keep forgetting about. Chose the hymns for that last week but they aren't known either. I'm doing well!

Hope some can go to NEXUS. It's big and it will be fabulous. Lots going on. If you are there on Thursday, I'll see you then but thereafter Greenbelt, here we come...

That was the Sunday that was

Old clothes and poridge. Summer up beautifully though the singing wasn't cad at all, not from where I was standing. maybe everyone was warmed up from last week. A couple of positive comments from a few folk and that was that.

I enjoyed the worship space tonight at the contemporary communion. The welcomeing hall was stripped of everything that is normally there and a number of images put in their place. It centred around the theme from this morning 'Faith is...' and took stories from Jesus to illustrate what faith is. But it wasn't the gold encased doctrine of belief, but the tinness of life, the questions the doubts the wonderings that were faith. If it was all so certain and assured as all the gold laminated creed stuff suggests, then it wouldn't be faith. It's the struggling, the questioning, the agony as Jesus himself felt that speaks of faith. As the best line tonight said, 'Faith is the end of the loaf, when you dont' know if there will be any more' just as we broke bread togetehr using the ends of the loaf to do so.

So I enjoyed the space. I'll post some images later tonight. And those who come occasionally, please do send me your comments about creative communion, the why, the what happens, the reason this works in ways formal communion doesn't. It really breaks free from 'what we're meant to do' and lets heaven be revealled as she really is...

Hint for Sunday

To possibly whet your appetite. Alternatively make you decide you'd rather just stay in your bed on Sunday. Any guesses as to the theme?!

Voice 1: Faith is…
Voice 2: believing 12 impossible things before breakfast.

Voice 1: Faith is…
Voice 3: stepping out the boat and walking on water.

Voice 1: Faith is…
Voice 4: watching bees, who don’t know they can’t fly, fly.

Voice 1: Faith is…
Voice 2: looking at an atom and hoping that’s not all there is.

Voice 1: Faith is…
Voice 3: playing in a child’s latest fairy adventure.

Voice 1: Faith is…
Voice 4: being here when the world isn’t.

Voice 1: Faith is the waiting, the possibility, the maybe and the perhaps
It is the being in God and wondering what God is up to
It is not the certainty but the expectancy of God

Voice 1: Faith is…

Contemporary communion

Sunday 6:30. It's all about 'faith is...' In my head it's going to be brilliant. On paper it is nothing as yet. But it is happening. It will involve people of faith, srt moments, an installation thing I think and candles aong with bread and wine. Faith is... faith is... faith is... trusting there will be a complete service by Sunday evening.

A good sing

So today we sang to our heart's content. I wasn't there of course. I was being humbled elsewhere as a consumer in the pews of another congregation. However everyone I spoke to back here said it was a good sing, 'the singing was great'. I suppose that's what happens when we sing all the songs we grew up with. It's nice when that happens in a concentrated form or is that condemning with faint praise?!

Anyhow maybe we need to make space for 'a good sing' in the life of the congregation. I've toyed with this for a long while now wondering how best to do it. I'm not sure it is 'worship' in the fullest sense which is about connecting with the contemporary world amid heaven, engaging with a God of the here and now and a world that needs God's News. This is the ever returning headache of hymns and worth a debate again I suppose about what people like to sing as opposed to what words God has given the world's needs and needs to hear. But, yes, there is space for hymns from our childhood that we know so well that have lots of stories attached to them, truths that have lasted with us or keep us going when the chips are down (is that a gambling analogy!?). So I think we ought to have songs of praise nights where we can sing these well known songs.

They are just part of our much greater repetoir that we have for our whole congregation worship. There were only a few out the seven we hadn't sung in the last couple years so we do sing them, just not all at once because there are a whole lot of others that speak into today too. I know, I'm trying to justify myself again.

So thanks to everyone who spoke about their hymns. These are always good stories to tell and it shows how faith songs are more than just words and aren't time bound always. It's good to know about the breadth of what keeps people strong in the faith or at least shape its meaning. We're going to do a junior version soon which will be great because we'll then hear the songs today that are going to last them their lifetime in the way the songs tht were sung by us this morning lasted the lifetimes of those who spoke about them. A good crossroads.

Goliath

Okay, Sunday is changing a little. It's still about David but how can we avoid the Goliath story? Ten point to anyone who can remember doing it before not too long ago where we had the congregation calling out 'Here we go, here we go, here we go' etc. (If too many of you remember I'll have to think of something else.)

It's going to be a busy Sunday and a bit of a roit too. Fabulous. Anyway, it is the last of the summer services. Comments? Thoughts? What worked for you? Or maybe we should leave that until after Sunday...

Paint and stuff

I had a good wee afternoon with my daughter painting stuff for Sunday. It's not all put together but lots of paint was used and good fun had. So next Friday if your child wishes then there will be more scenery to paint for the next part of the story. 3pm-4.30 at the latest for the painting. Juice available and on tap. Old clothes should be worn and that goes for the parents too.

The story is Noah on Sunday. Nothing like having a topical Biblical story.

Two requests

Looking for two pieces of help from folk if they can...

1. If anyone who is coming to the Big Taster Day on Saturday, has a pair or ten of small garden pruners that we could borrow then that would be fabulous. You'd get them back and a new pair if yours go missing.

2. I need some inspiration about the summer services. I think I'll organise a worship party to work out some stuff but I need a general idea that can shape the four services. Last year we did the cafe and we could do that again but you know me, I'm always reluctant to do something twice. How could we do the cafe sufficiently differently or who could we do the summer services completely differently? Big Brother style? Do lots of singing? Deck the place out like a beach with lots of sand and we could all wear sun hats and bear feet and build sandcastles at the front. That last one appeals possibly. Any ideas...?

3. (I know there were only two thing but this one comes free) If anyone has any shoes they don't want, then I'll take them off you willingly. Just bring them along to the services over the next few weeks. Any kind of shoes will do. THe greater variety the better.

And did any one know that a trainer hung by a piece of string is the sign of a drug dealer? I ask because I'm involved with a piece of installation art that involves shoes hung from a ceiling with fishwire and the idea generated that comment.

Today

Better...

Help needed

I'm looking for about 5 people to read a tiny wee thing tomorrow and then enjoy themselves with some food. If anyone would be willing then you can email me or I'll just jump on people unsuspectingly in the morning. Don't come early if you don't want to be invovled!

Communion Cloths

So any reaction about the communion cloths of lack thereof this morning? I heard nothing.

Any reaction to environmental themed communion? I heard nothing.

Any reaction to hymns? I heard nothing.

Any reaction to organic cranberry juice particularly among those on morpherin who should be drinking cranberry juice (about half the congregation). I heard nothing (and haven't been called to the hospital yet)

 

Any reaction to the number of birds flying about the place today (you had to be there). I heard nothing.

It's been quiet!

Help for Sunday

I'm wondering if anyone would be willing to pop down a hour earlier tomorrow morning to do some prep for the service. Won't tell you what it is yet but if anyone with strong lungs could be down before 10 then there will be a cup of roibos tea (red bush tea) waiting for you.

Hint for Pentecost

Here's the affirmation for Sunday, written on the bus down from Oban this afternoon. Not quite complete I think but on it's way. Maybe trying to hard with it but the idea is that the italics are sing (if you know a good tune then let me know, or if you'd like to write one...) and chidlren will lead some actions during the singing each time (not the same words are used at the beginning of each for that purpose. Theoretically it ought to allow everyone to engage at some level.
Additions, suggestions, tunes and edits all welcome.

Holy Spirit:
creation’s colour palette
and chaos’ mistress,
luscious and abundant energy of heaven,
enlivening dry bones to dance,
with the vibrancy of life,
in God’s own dance of resurrection.

As flame she clears the wasteland,
as water she runs in the earth
as wind she blows through the desert
the Spirit makes God a new day

Holy Spirit:
disturber of the world
and catalyst of change
filling us with the energy of heaven
with a call to renew the world
with songs of justice and words of peace
God’s own word, of resurrection

With flame she lights a passion
with water she soaks our birth
with wind she blows a new order
the Spirit makes God a new day

Holy Spirit:
shaper of the future
interrupting our now
burning through all that is corrupt
with a revelation of justice
filling the old and young with new vision and dreams
God’s own dream, of resurrection

With flame she burns a candle
with water she quenches our thirst
with wind she shakes out our dryness
the Spirit makes God a new day

Hint

When it takes hold, resurrection doesn’t let go,
it shakes the dead awake,
it shakes the darkness from the light,
it shakes the silence from our throats
and it wrestles death from all that is dying

Let us go out into the world
and in the upheaval of resurrection
seek out the life

Sunday's hint

You break in, O God,
on the road
you break in, O God,
exactly the way we don’t believe
you break in, O God,
and change everything
---
You break in, O God
with a call
you break in, O God
with an invitation
you break in, O God
with the truth
---
You break in, O God
with a new realm
You break in, O God
with a new world
You break in, O God
with your intent for the future
---
God, break in again
and call us to be your workers
God, break in again
and use the gifts we are to build your realm
God, break in again
and change our world once more.

Thursday Evening

the gathering of the dark
the breaking of the bread
the pouring of the wine
the telling of the story

the preparing of the lies
the beating of the heart
the making of the covenant
the turning towards the cross
the rumours of death
the whisper of night
the shimmer of grace
the snap of twigs
the flash of eyes
the moment of turning
and the kiss

Chocolate Teapots for Easter Day

Maybe that should be chocolate eggs for Easter Day. Anyhow, before we get to the Big Moment we have to start at Palm Sunday and today's service. I thought it was thin but folk seemed to enjoy it. Again it's that distance between what you expect to feel like and what you actually feel like. The banners were good and the words of all the Sunday School were great - all their own work. It was reflective more than a thriller though as someone said, you're never going to make it a happy service if you talk of crucifixion. So probably, all in all, if was a decent first service of Holy Week. At least the hymns were approved of!

But, even though we have Holy Week to move through, we have to also focus on Easter Day too. There are a tonne of hymns (probably not all approved) but here's your chance to throw some this way and I'll use them as a basis for the service. I won't guarantee all of them will be used but I certainly won't ignore the variety. We could have a great big easter sing, even bigger that the fairly big Palm Sunday Sing. Go for it. Let your faith speak in song this easter. The birds sang, creation sang, the mountains sang or so the Bible tells us, so we'll sing too. And sing loud.

A hint for tomorrow

There is a place
shaped for the lost
a place that knows your name
and calls you home
Love’s homecoming place

There is a place
shaped for the estranged
a place that reaches out
and welcomes you home
Love’s homecoming place

There is a place
shaped for the lonely
a place that meets you
and knows your need
Love’s homecoming place

There is a place
shaped for the refugee
a place that is empty without you
and knows your worth
Love’s homecoming place

There is a place
shaped for the broken
a place that knows your brokenness
and promises healing
Love’s homecoming place

(begin playing 'How lovely is your dwelling place')

There is a place
shaped for you who have never left
a place that waits
and longs for each return
Love’s homecoming place

The Prodigal

Found this version of the story...

The Prodigal Son Parable in the Key of "F"

Feeling footloose and frisky, a feather-brained fellow forced his fond father
to fork over the family finances. He flew far to foreign fields and frittered
his fortune feasting fabulously with faithless friends. Finally facing famine
and fleeced by his fellows in folly, he found himself a feed-flinger in a
filthy farmyard. Fairly famished he fain would have filled his frame with the
foraged foods of the fodder fragments left by the filthy farmyard creatures.
'Fooey', he said, 'My father's flunkies fare far fancier,' the frazzled fugitive
found feverishly, frankly facing facts. Frustrated by failure and filled with
foreboding he forthwith fled to his family. Falling at his father's feet, he
floundered forlornly. 'Father, I have flunked and fruitlessly forfeited family
favour.'

But the faithful father, forestalling further flinching frantically flagged
the flunkies. 'Fetch forth the finest fatling and fix a feast.' But the
fugitive's fault-finding frater frowned on the fickle forgiveness of the former
folderol. His fury flashed.

But fussing was futile, for the far-sighted father figured, such filial
fidelity is fine, but what forbids fervent festivity? The fugitive is found!
"Unfurl the flags, with fanfares flaring! Let fun and frolic freely flow!" "Former
failure is forgotten, folly is forsaken! And forgiveness forms the foundation
for future fortitude."

--Author unknown

Hint

Psalm 63 and stuff led to this benediction (and other stuff too but that's being kept for tomorrow)

God first
God last
God in everything
God beyond words
God beyond silence
God beyond all things
God in the journey
God in the resting
God on our pathway
God on the cross
God in the tomb
God in the resurrecting
God first
God last
God in everything

Stuff from Communion

Here a few wee things from tonights communion "Four Rooms for the Transfiguration". Instead of having wee stations we dedicated four rooms to different ways to engage with transfiguration.

Room One: The Waiting Room. Stories of those who have waited for God and how waiting brings transfiguration in terms of hope and longing and promise and the way you live your life. Simeon, Mary and Isaiah were all pasted across the walls.

Room Two: The Lighting Room: A single candle in a dark room and a retelling of the transfiguration

Room Three: The Newsroom. Different household objects were covered in newspaper and we prayer seeing the world through transfigured eyes, through gospel eyes, through the manifesto of the Realm of God, through the works of Jesus

Room Four: The Dining Room. The glory of that mountain is here in everyday things like bread and wine.

From Room One:

Beyond the words we can yet use
and the time we yet have
and the feeling we have yet to experience
and the truth we have yet you hear
and the vision we have yet you have
and the taste we have yet to know
and the heaven we have yet to believe in

you are

waiting

Beyond the journey we have yet to travel
and the news we have yet to read
and the song we have yet to sing
and the aha we have yet to have
and the death we have yet to face
and the light we have yet to feel
and the place we have yet to go

you are

calling

Beyond the colour we have yet to see
and the story we have yet to hear
and the dance we have yet to dance
and the living we have yet to live
and the suffering we have yet to suffer
and the mountain we have yet to climb
and the Jesus we have yet to know

you are

transforming

us

now

We do not need to know
before we know
come now
O transforming Spirit

that you may reshape
this journey

and this story
of grace
So be it

From Room Four:

And we gather
in the world
for a piece of heaven
to reshape
and send some lightning bolt
through injustice
some white noise
across the lukewarm talk of leaders
some silver glory
into the poverty of the world

and we wait

and God offers us
bread and wine

crumbs
and fruit juice
to compete with the splitting of the atom
the Oscars
royalty
the stockmarket millions
the fat cat paycheques

the glory of the world
beside the glory of the kingdom

and God offers us
bread and wine

(pause)

Lowdown on hymns

Okay, we might as well have this conversation. Hymns. How were they this morning? I thought they were excellent but not everyone did. Those who didn't (I only spoke to two who made any comment) suggested the rest of the congregation thought they were all terrible. The irony was, only one was a contemporary one and that was the one that was sung best. All the others were old or older hymns.

They were big hymns and a splendid sing. Given the sermon about the transfiguration that we the church isn't meant to be in the business of using outdated catergories to describe God then it was alll a bit of case in point.

Given that, it is fiendishly important that we have a song to sing and what we sing is decent, theological, honest and is able to transform the world rather than sentimentalise our faith where as long as we feel comfortable and everyone "has a good sing" then everything is okay.

So I'm really interested in your thoughts. This is a debate that has followed me throughout my ministry between keeping to the old ones (which means the ones we are familiar with, rather than the age of the hymn) and trying to offer the church word appropriate for the world, like singing about what we think of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima as we did this morning. That's where we offer words to the world.

Anyway, I'm deleting as much as I'm typing here and not trying to turn it into a rant. It's the thing that depresses me most in the church, tightwalking between keeping everyone happy with hymns and actually having something decent and contemeporary to sing in categories that speak to the world.

The debate is now open.

Taster

Not on the mountaintop
but in the world
not in the glowing of the saviour
but in dust covered living
not in the memorialized story
but in the work of today
Go
and let the glory out

Invitation

You are invited to a wedding. Please come appropriately dressed. Hats optional but extra points will be given.

Sunday 14th 11am in Abbotsford Church.

Wine, music, singsongs. Meet some special guests but no need to bring your own wine. There will be plenty (we hope).

See you there on Sunday.

The Waiting

No so much in the glory of kings
but in the fear of motherhood,

Not so much in the announcement of court circulars
but on the breath of angels,

Not so much in the pages of Scripture
but on the streets of Clydebank,

Not so much in the doctrines of the church
but into the lives of the poor,

Not so much in a silent night
but in the strife of Palestine,

Not so much in the quiet of a stable
but into the clash of the world,

Christ will be born.
God will be one of us.
The Prince of Peace is on the way.

Blue Christmas

Just a wee reminder that we have our Blue Christmas Service on Tuesday at 7.30. This is a service for those who recognise that Christmas can't be all happy and jolly all the time, but that there is a space to remember those who aren't with us, and a space to recognise there can be pain at Christmas too. This is your space.

It's hard to be merry sometimes, and it's okay to feel that way. But this isn't a miserable service. It's quite positive. It's just a great space to allow yourself to be honest, and you miss someone or something you've lost.

Hint for Sunday

By the way, just to say there is a Creative Communion on Sunday Night: Damned Incarnation. 6.30

The passage on Sunday is Zechariah and his finding voice after being silenced. This reflects on the things that silence us and wonders about what can be found in the silence.

One:
I have been silenced by my disbelief.
I thought, “Where is God?
God is silent.
God has turned the divine back on us,
and we are left in the silence.”
(Blow out candle)

But in amongst this silence,
a son is being born,
a promise is being fulfilled,
a prophecy is being foretold.
In the impossibility of my disbelief,
God is doing a new thing.
We have not been forgotten.

And my silence is broken with song.
(light candle during singing and take away)

Christ be our light Verse 1 solo
Chorus everyone

Two:
I have been silenced by the horror of conflict.
I thought, “There is no God here.
Pain and suffering, yes,
but not God.
Only the silence of God, left by the terror of war.
(Blow out candle)

But in amongst this pain,
a promise is being fulfilled,
a prophecy is being foretold.
In the impossibility of war,
God is speaking of a new thing.
We have not been forgotten.

And my silence will break with peace.
(light candle during singing and take away)

Christ be our light Verse 2 solo
Chorus everyone

Three:
I have been silenced by the iniquity
between those who have food on their table,
and those who have to grow it but never taste it.
Of a prejudice of power
against the hungry nations,
and I am speechless at it’s audacity,
and of the God who remains silent amid it all.
(Blow out candle)

But in amongst this hungering and thirsting for righteousness,
a promise is being fulfilled,
a prophecy being foretold.
In the impossibility of sharing,
God is speaking of a new thing.
We have not been forgotten.

And my silence will break with the banquet call.
(light candle during singing and take away)

Christ be our light Verse 3 solo
Chorus everyone

Four:
I have been silenced by injustice,
and think, “Where is God found
among the displacees and orphaned
because of conflict, asylum and HIV/AIDS.
God has moved out, and left us silenced.”
(Blow out candle)

But in among this a son is being born,
a promise is being fulfilled,
a prophecy is being foretold.
In the impossibility of injustice,
God is doing a new thing.
We have not been forgotten.

And my silence will be broken by justice.
(light candle during singing and take away)

Christ be our light Verse 4 solo
Chorus everyone

Five:
I have been silenced by incarnation.
(Blow out candle)

But this God has broken silence,
not with empty words,
but by the living word:
in the body of Christ whose voice calls in protest,
in the journey of God’s People that is made towards peace ,
in the choice taken by followers for trade that is fair,
in the life of the church that is lived in justice,
in the question of every disciple that is asks for the widow & orphan.

In my silence God speaks,
a prophecy being foretold,
a child is being born,
for in the impossibility of incarnation,
God is doing a new thing.
We have not been forgotten.

And my silence is broken by promise.
(light candle during singing and take away)

Christ be our light Verse 5 solo
Chorus everyone

And Today...?

Here's a space for thoughts, comments, insights and blessings.

What happened this morning for folk in the advent candle lighting thing?

When we gathered round the table?

When we blessed each other with peace?

When we discovered the banners and the colours?

When we tasted bread?

What we sang?

When we listened to the prophecy?

Or just when we got home and warmed up?

A foretaste...

Two wee bits for tomorrow as we perch on the edge of Advent.

A Gathering...

Crouched against the promise
the oppressor hesitates
and asks
Who is the one?

Breathless by a table
those who hunger for freedom, endure
and ask
Who is the one?

Ravished by the Word
those who long for incarnation, hear
and ask
Who is the one?

Bent over by burdens
those who cannot look up, straighten
and ask
Who is the one?

Waiting in the Advent
those who cannot see, wonder
and ask
Who is the one?

Caught by the promise
the prophet whispers
and claims
This is the one.
Come, O Come Emmanuel

---------------------------------------

A Welcome to the table...

My friends
this is where we belong…
where bread is broken and wine is poured
and the table waits for the people of God

this is where we belong…
where the Realm of Heaven with impatience pushes through
and the promise for the world is again made new

this is where we belong…
where God calls each one to a place that is set
in a banquet now readied where heaven’s saints are met

this is where we belong…
where Jesus is waiting and longing to meet
and shares with us body and blood in this feast

this is where we belong…
where our Saviour’s story is retold once more
and love is revealed as it was before

this is where we belong…
where the power of death is broken in bread
and justice foretold in his wine filled breath

My friends
welcome to the advent of God

This may never be said tomorrow

I’ve never been a fan of the colour red… It’s too bold… too harsh… too primary… It takes over everything… you notice it before you notice any other colour… It’s the colour of danger… or stop… of hazard… of that wee standby light on my TV and phone that I can’t get rid of… as if saying to me… Hah, you can’t get rid of me… I’m burning up energy even when I’m doing nothing…

I prefer white… It’s a more sacred colour… there is something fresh and new about white… it’s about something unharmed… pure… still yet to be tarnished… It’s the colour of the opening ceremonies of big events as doves are released… of table cloths at communion… of bread… It is altogether a more wholesome… hopeful… sacred… colour…

The colour I like least is pink… not just because everything my daughter wants to wear is that colour… or that her bedroom is a sanctuary to that blasted colour… but because it is insipid… it’s a compromise… It isn’t a real colour… it’s just an excuse… red watered down by white… It’s not even a new colour like orange… or green… or purple… which you get when you blend other colours… It’s just pink… and it should be banned…

In remembrance there is always the debate about white or red poppies… In any remembrance you need both… Both because… there is a harshness here… You have to notice the truth of death… and the dying of humanity whenever conflict takes people’s lives… You have to notice it… you can’t get rid of it… the truth that war kills human life… and destroys the very heart of being human…

But maybe we equally need white too to remember… because it offers hope… it offers the chance to re-draw… to start afresh… It reminds us of sacrifice… like Jesus’… of communing with those fallen because they were on a battle front… or they were a family minding their own business but were ruthlessly attacked by tank shells in Palestine… or Iraq… or wherever civilians die… White because it turns death… and the hurt… and the untold suffering and the emptiness… into something of God… something that holds the promise… I will not let you go… that says… I notice each death… each dying… no matter how small and insignificant… like tuppence in the temple treasury… and tells us remembrance… which is beyond memory… but full of the transformation the terror-filled recognition of how much humanity is worth… is a sacred moment… and sacred moments can change the world…

I think I need red as much as white… I can’t do without them both… or there is nothing to hope in or long for… and I could never abide the diluting