abbotsford.org.uk

Prayer Disclaimer

I had a bit of fun today. I was in Edinburgh at the chruch offices again but this time to record Pray Now, the Church of Scotland prayer book. This year it is an all new production with coloured photos (thanks to a few people in this congregation) and a CD with music and a selection of prayers for those in their car and for the hard of seeing. Radio Three often had to say during the God-slot that drivers shouldn't take part in this prayer because some would close their eyes in the middle of the motorway. We wondered if this CD needed a similar covernote.

Over lunch I was talking to a fabulous person who does a lot of prayer stuff. She was referring to a programme I never saw about the heart and how they have discovered a group of neurons (what do you call a group of neurons - a ganglion?) in the heart. It is a mini-brain. And we can also record the electro-force from the heart up to six metres away. The guy who was on the TV said that this is what we can record. We have no idea how far the effect of this force extends. So if prayer is about effecting things, there is something to be said about how the hopes and loves we have that are placed in the heart can truly effect or affect things.

Maybe prayer ought to carry a disclaimer after all

Looking for a little help from my friends

I was wondering if there were any spare bodies that could help set up a few things on Sunday morning namely the hall, cafe style, and perhaps put some paper flowers on the walls of the sanctuary and stick up the Cafe Notice outside and stuff like that.

And also if there is anyone who wouldn't mind playing Zacchaeus and being interviewed by me. If there is anyone, we should have a wee chat about background and what the story really means and the background to being a tax collector etc to get the real stuff going on in the interview. And of course read the story itself a few times (Luke 19:1-10).

And maybe perhaps people may wish to think ahead if they wouldn't mind being a character colming up later in the month such as Simon the Pharisee (Luke 8:36-50), Mary or Martha (Luke 10:38-41) and one of the disciples for the passover meal (Luke 22:7-23)

It's going to be very simple, nothing jazzy and few good sings with a couple of new hymns and fairly laid back, low key, gentle and quick. Feeling much better about it all now.

The idea of worship in the hall is a good one but I think that we'd have to explain that one a little more and not do it straight away. There is a whole lot of stuff we could do in the hall but as we'll have our art workers in place by then and we'll possibly be doing some other mission work over the summer (hint, hint) then the context would be different and the opportunities better. Anyhow, that's for later. Sunday's only three days away so there is plenty of time to get organised!

Only, I've no time left this week.

Long Walk for Peace

The Moderator (all bow) has sent all ministers a letter (they do that from time to time to highlight particular issues) about The Long Walk for Peace which takes place from 14-19 September leaving from Faslane to the Scottish Parliament.

Alan McDonald (the Moderator) has demonstrated against Trident outside the gates of Faslane. He recognises, as many do, that not everyone is willing or able to demonstrate outside Faslane but may see this gentle and inclusive way of associating ourselves with what the Church feels about Trident as something that can be done. It is taking place to urge those in the Scottish Parliament to speak out against replacing Trident.

the Walk will start at faslane and the route will tyravel through Dumbarton, Clydebank, Glasgow, Coatbridge, Airdrie, Bathgate and Livingston. You can find out more information here. They will be walking rhrough Clydebank on Friday 15th September.

More information nearer to time.

Enough's enough

Okay, guys and girls it's Tuesday evening and Sunday is fast approaching and we have a whole five weeks of summer services that ought to be different, with an alternative setting for the worship (remember the door that changed colour two years ago, and the table last year that got added to last year) but I haven't a clue what to do.

I was going to follow the story of David through the five weeks after last week's David and Goliath but after that story all there is is battles, adultery, lying, death and the arc of the covenant being moved with a few more battles and death and murder thrown in. Not good summertime stuff. So I am turning to you for suggestions.

The Worship Party hasn't met and it would have been a good idea for it to have done before Sunday to work out a series but as it hasn't, this is the best thing for discussion and ideas to please don't be shy in answering this request.

What I have in my mind is just playing with five big stories in the New testament and particularly the Gospels. maybe five parables, or five people Jesus met, or five sayins Jesus said, or five gold rings - who knows. It is sounding very summer mission like, which is the theme that links everything because we could turn the worship space into a beach, we could make a great big sun to hang up, we could have seagulls on the walls, we could have buckets and spaces, we could have beach towels and make the space different but we also have to be able to react to the space too with the liturgy, ie the worship leader could move to different places in the church to do different things like the where the sand castle is (pulpit) could be the place to think about responding/building/working/doing stuff after hearing the story. The sea/chancel steps could be the palce where we hear Gods word... Okayh that's not quite working for me yet but you get the idea.

It could be an entiuerly different setting altogether so to start with: what five stories?

Zacchaeus? etc (people)
Prodigal Son? etc (stories)
I Am sayings? (ie water of life, good shepherd, bread of life etc)
Something else...

Please don't be shy. If there is no input here, the services will be rather dull. Needing help. Any thing at all. Just one idea to start us off.

This really is over to you...

The Church of Prince's Square

On Sunday I was in Princes Square. Always a fabulous place to be especially on a Sunday where the glass roof opens to the sky five floors above you and there is a host of children playing on the mosaic centre running around as someone plays the piano and parents and friends are sitting in around tables from the varioujs plethora of restaurants. Fabulous.

And then people came along from The Big Top and did balloon sculpting and face painting and mask making. And suddenly I heard hymns and songs and I saw pews disolving and cafe seating appearing and coffee being brewed and whole families out together on a Sunday afternoon socializing, blethering, playing. And I wasn't in Princes Square any more but in Abbotsford and it happened every Sunday, and in the evenings too and worship and living togetehr became one and the same thing, and the whole space we picture as Abbotsford morphed into a busy, multifunctional activity centre for everyone where Sundays were relaxing places to be, with worship in the morning and then the afternoon was given over to being together and relaxing togetehr and evenings had films and candle lit coffee moments and stuff where we just discussed and watched the news on plasma screens and prayed maybe together at the end and blessed each other with our company.

Then my daughter shook me and smiled with her pink and lilac butterfly painted face and I was back in Princes Square where it was real, not just a longing...

Facing Giants

Well, it was good fun at least, the all-age part this morning thanks to a rather old version of a script of David and Goliath. Better than I thought it would be. Excellent. Hate to think what we'll do next week when we get to Jonathans death. But we'll worry about that later.

To be worried about at the moment is Trident of which a number of mentions were made this morning. There is a Petition sponsored by the Roman Catholic Bishops Conference at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/trident/ if you would like to sign.

There is also a meeting with the moderator of the church and Bishop O'Brien from the RC church in Renfield St Stephens on Tuesday at 7.30. You are welcome.

the Church of Scotland has always spoken out against Nuclear Weapons. They did so again this year at the General Assembly. Suddenly it is back on the agenda. Facing Giants indeed.

Tomorrow's Hint

By the way, the front room carpet is still soaking...

God what will we do
when the armour no longer fits?

God what can we do
when our world view no longer brings meaning

God what can we do
when each new generation
choose such different principles to live by

God what can we do
when the ways we have been brought up with
are like chaff in the wind

when the suit no longer fits
what are we to do?

Hold us God
that we may trust you
Guide us
that we may walk with you
Comfort us
that we may find strength in you
and call us
that we may move on

Hear us
So be it
Amen

Sympathy Vote

We had a good BBQ tonight. Well I hope it went okay and there have been no dickie tummies or poisoning. That was never the intention of the evening. But I do know the midgies were fairly major. They may have a wing span tof 1.5mm but their teeth are about a foot long. I stood in the smoke of the BBQ and got off scot free.

Until I arrived home and noticed the windows of our good room all steamed up. There is a bit of a problem with the double glazing on hot days when there is a little condensation but this was fog. When we got into the room there was that steady hissing noise of a burst radiator (number 4 in recent months) but because we like to hide our mess behind the sofa most of the water hit off boxes and lamps and plastic bags and soaked the carpet in the bay window area but didn't spray onto the sofa itself though it is kind of a soggy mess. Tomorrow I'll let you know about the smell.

They just don't make radiators like they used to and I think we've all the last ones.

Clearly this is a prime candidate for a sermon illustration and it would be good to hear that sermon. It need be only a few lines long. Written in the style of Shakespeare, Wesley, Barclay, or Hamilton. Prizes for the best. Over to you.

David and Goliath

David and Goliath story really interests me because (I don't know about you) but it just seems a little too perfect to be historically accurate. The characters seem too architypal: Goliath all that is bad and david all that is good. One has no good streaks and the other has no bad ones. And we know David did. Many. It just seems to be a story that was used to say somethign about the king (David) and trusting God.

None of the Old Testament had been written down by this stage in history. Everything had been passed work of mouth and thus grew in the telling as all fireside legends do. So what we have is an edited and political account of a legend that was designed to give the Hebrews the more powerful God as they invaded and took over the land of Canaan.

What do you remember of the David and Goliath story? Just think about it a wee bit. Tomorrow I'll give you a quiz and see how much you remembered. Given that this is the second favourite story from the Bible and thus we tell it often, maybe we miss a few details to pass on and the story changes a little with each generation. But we'll come back to that.

As Marcus Borg would say: I don't know if it happened exactly this way, but I know it is true.

Will the universe ever be the same again

This autumn, one way or another, there won't be nine planest in our solar system any longer. I was brought up with nine. I know their names, order. Some I know their orbit tgime (Mercury 80 days, Pluto 247 years, Earth 1 year) I know their relative size - Jupiter biggest, Pluto smallest. And therein lies the problem because Pluto may just be a little too small. It is already smaller than Earth's moon so not very big at all, something like 3,000 km in diametre. And there is another heavenly body beyond Pulto that is bigger and a few that are the same sort of size in the Kuiper Belt (a big vast belt of debris from the Big Bang that is floating about out there) So Pluto could be just a piece of debris rather than a planet and just part of the Kuiper belt.

The main problem is no one has ever defined what a Planet actually is. There are different categories like Gas Giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune). There are rocky planets like Earth and Mars and Venus and Mercury and many moons, and there are icy dwarfs like Pluto and the new planet they found a wee while back. The idea is to have ten planets which would include the new one (It doesn't have a friendly name yet) or have eight and let go Pluto and say thanks for all the good cartoons.

Why am I telling you this?

No idea. I just find it interesting. But it changes things. How do you feel about that? Excited by the prospect of having a new way to look at things, upset because it is changing our world view of what w3e took for granted, or completely non-plussed.

Let's tuck a wee lesson in here about church communities, faith communities (sometimes different things) and being people who follow a God who is always changing things.

hey, this may turn into a sermon opener. So how do you get Pluto, Goliath and a few pebbles into one sermon?