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Chocolate Teapots for Sunday 6th May

After a morning where we found Tabatha alive and well even though she was a woman(!) next week we find another character Cornelius but I bet you've at least heard of him unlike Tabatha. Just shows you what we do to women in the Bible.

But if you can tell me anything about the story of Cornelius then you get 10 extra points.

First you need to know a bout the big picnic heaven organised. It's massive. It's a bit like one of those Fa=mous Five picnics with ampers and lashing of ginger beer all round. Excelt heaven's hamper contains lashings of unclean animals all round. It's as if God is nudging Peter and saying: come on, tear down some walls and let everyone in, and al the Jews are saying, Whoa God, have you thought about this, We don't want to let in the unclean. (Bit like the Darleks in last night's Dr Who). And God kind of raises the divine eyebrows and has this look that kind of says, "I can't believe you don't get it yet".

Then Corneluis enters the scene: yup, you've guessed it: unclean, foreign gentile. Yuck. And then Peter begins to get it. The penny drops, the lights go on, the car starts, the key turns, the door opens. So it wasn't Paul who was the first to open up the church to the Gentiles, but Peter. And Corneluis was there at the front of the queue.

Don't you love it when God finally gets heaven's way! What would you sing in celebration? Help shape the ideas that go into the service on Sunday.

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

Eco song

I was asked to write a few eco prayers so I did. I always do what I'm told. But because time was short and there were a tonne of other things to do, that's when the muse usually shows up and I rewrote 'Who put the colours in the rainbow'. It's not very good but a few more verses would be great. Over to you. Here's what I've got so far. (Part verses are also acceptable).

Who took the colours from the rainbow? Who put the acid in the rain?
Who poured the heat into the icecaps? Have you got a name?
Who gives the humph to greedy business? Who sticks their neck out for the land?
Who believes the tail of eco-politics and who will take a stand?
Listen to the whales and snails. Listen to the fragile frogs.
Listen to the people plead. Listen to the world.

Who put the global into warming? Who stole the ozone from the sky?
Who’s pollution coloured red the moonlight? Who won’t question why?
Who puts the cents into the lobbying? Laugh when MP’s do the eco-dance?
Who has turned each tree into a business? Surely that’s not chance!
Who makes money out of these? Who just does whatever they please?
Who prolongs this eco-disease? Is it you and me?

Here's the original:
Who put the colours in the rainbow? Who put the salt into the sea?
Who put cold into the snowflake? Who made you and me?
Who put the hump upon the camel? Who put the neck on the giraffe?
Who put the tail upon the monkey? Who made hyenas laugh?
Who made whales and snails and quails? Who made dogs and hogs and frogs?
Who made rats and bats and cats? Who made ev'rything?

Who put the gold into the sunshine? Who put the sparkle in the stars?
Who put the silver in the moonlight? Who made Earth and Mars?
Who put the scent into the roses? Who taught the honey bee to dance?
Who put the tree inside the acorn? It surely can't be chance!
Who made seas and leaves and trees? Who made snow and winds that blow?
Who made streams and rivers flow? GOD MADE ALL OF THESE!

Ordination

There's a sexy word to get you all interested. Sadly, I've been reading about ordination for a meeting next week. There are two reports in the 'Blue Book' whic is the published reports of the church for General Assembly each year. But thse reports are from 2000 and 2001. What do we understand about ordination? Good question (if you like that sort of thing) but the chruch really doesn't quite know. There's quite a bit of thought.

So why ask academic theologians when you can ask real people: Ordination, what is it, about this word that give you the heebie-jeebies and what makes you want to dance all night? (restrict this to ordination, please). I've a very low opinion of ordination. It's not really about the person being set apart but about the duties performed. (Of course some should be set so far apart they don't come into contact with other humans). It's about the ordering of ministry rather than saying some are closer to God. It doesn't admit you to a new status.

Now I know you've known ordination in the flesh in this place and it does bring a different status to people (from china cups being used to questions about what people can dress in) so I'm interested: ordination - what is it that this word does to people? Not the most exciting post on this blog but I'm thinking about ministry of All God's People and such like and how we feel oursevles energized and affirmed in congregations and if ordination has got much to do with that.

CAOS website

We're developing the CAOS website. It's going to be great so please do visit as you browse and see what's happening in the project in the community. Lots to do but we are well on our way. We've learned tonnes. We've learned so much . We can do stuff we didn't thing possible or had any clue before. It's going to be fabulous. So have a look for a wee preview and pop over often in the last few weeks to find out some good suff going on in the next couple of months.

This weeks activity

Ruth, our student has an essay to write with week about ministry and the essay topic asks her to thing about a symbol that tells a bit of the story of ministry for her. We had a bit of a discussion this morning about those symbols and came up with a few but then we thought that wold be a great exercise for folk to do in the congregation. So this weeks task is to spend some time when you really ought to be doing something else, to think up an image of ministry and explain why.

What we came up with were:

A tree: roots deep, life in the branches, all the grow takes place on the egde of the wood and the solid core keeps it upright.

A spider: it is genetically programmed to spin the same web every time. Give it LSD (Don't ask how we know that) then it goes mad but as the drug wears off the ptter returns to what it has always done (This is an anti-symbol) because we're AREN'T meant to do all the same things in the same way all the time.

A giraffe: Huge heart to pump all the blood but to the head but when it lowers its hea to drink then it would have a stroke with the pressure of blood so the heart slows down and then knows it needs to pump bigtime again when it raises it's head or it would fall over with light headedness. Also giraffes have the best surgical stockings in nature otherwise it wouldmhave the best varicous veins in nature. Like ministry because it has a big heart and needs to respond to different conditions in diffeent ways.

Now top that!

Chocolate Teapots for Suday 29th April

There's not an awful lot of women written about in the Bible who take leadership roles. It's as if there aren't any. Maybe it's a conspiracy by the men to keep them all silent, either that or there weren't any.

Sadly the truth is the former that the church as it began to grow silenced the women, re-interpreted their roles. so it's great to come across a wee story of a big woman called Tabatha. She's given a title no other woman is given in the New testament: mathetria, the feminine form of the Greek word for 'disciple'.

Quietly and silently there are many women to play leadership roles such as Mary and Elizabeth but we Bible is rather hesitant to tell their story. So maybe we ought. maybe we should find them and tell them. Maybe that would be a great contemporary reading. maybe we should ahve far more women taking part in the worship on Sunday...

Anyway, the passage is Acts 9:36-43. Tabitha is raised from the dead and there are lots of parallels with other raising stories. It links in all over the place as a sacred story. Pity it's not one we hear often. Indeed hardly ever. I wonder why that is...?

So ideas on how we could tell it, proclaim it, learn it, sing it, read it, symbolise it, walk into it?

Notices for next week

Session: There will be a brief session meeting following the service in the church.

Craft Daft: Beyond Easter (but never without cakes) we approach a new season…

CAOS Task Groups: 7.30-9pm tomorrow night in the Church Hall.

Hospice Guild: Meet in the Hospice at 2.30 on Tuesday

CAOS Steering Group: Tuesday at the Manse

Lunch with the Almighty: 12.15 on Wednesday with tea and coffee.

Election Hustings: Clydebank Churches Together are holding an election hustings in St Margaret’s church Hall on Sinclair street on Thursday at 7.30.

Next Week: The women come out the closet next week, or at least one slips through the barricade of churchmen that learned their lesson and until recently have rarely let them through since. Tabitha raises her head and we all say, “Who?”

Door Duty Next Week: P Edwards, H McFarlane, J Smith, F Sinclair, D Campbell, S Hillis, N Wilson, R Edwards

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.

Easter Images

Check out the worship space photos for this season of Easter. This is one where we changed a large crown of thorns in the cnetre of the worship space into the colours of easter. It happened on Easter day and chidlren were everywhere taking the tissue flowers from all the adults who had just made them and make them into this crown. There was no sermon. Who needs one when the visual speaks volumes more.