abbotsford.org.uk

Chocolate Teapots for 24th June

You're standing on a mountain and suddenly you hear this great roar of the earth shacking the whole lot. Rocks tumble down the mountainside, and you feel the roar in your being. And once it is gone you think: it was big, dramatic and dangerous, but it wasn't God.

Then the wind starts. It throws any shrubbery around on that mountainside, animals take cover behind rocks that feel as if they are shaking and when the winds dies down you think: it was strong, it was powerful, but it wasn't God.

There the fire stars, a great forest fire, or lightening throwing itself down from heaven. It charges to the growund in great explosions, rocks spark, trees explode and when it all dies down you think: it was violent, it was awesome, but it wasn't God.

And then it clicks: not in the eqrthquake, fire and wind but in the silence afterwards is where you find God. Isn't that amazing. It's the big we linger in afterwards, hearing the echo of what's just happened, is where you find God as if God has been waiting in the background, the ambient atmosphere all along. Just there, not in the drama but in the eternalness.

1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a

Songs, words, colours, images...?

This Weeks Notices

Craft Daft: Tomorrow night to prepare, prepare and prepare a little more.

Living the Questions: Tuesday at the Manse at 7.30. Intrigue, mystery and debate of the inner workings of God.

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

Bowling Club: Thursday from 6.30, open to everyone for a wee game, a wee cup of tea and a wee chat.

Door Duty Next Week: M MacVean, N Hendry, I Hood, M Smith, S Brown, R McKie, K McKie, W Caldwell

Next Week: Loud, soft, crazy, still, thunderous, gentle, large, small – the voice of God speaks. from out of the earthquake and fire.

Summer CAOS: We’d like to invite you to summer. Not just any ordinary summer but a unique season all the way through July for children on Tuesday and Thursday each week for the month. If you have any knitting, cooking, creating, clearing, juicing skill then we’d love to hear from you. There is a summer box in the welcoming hall (you can tell by the bright colours) and we’d like you to pop you name in that. Summer will never be the same again.

Taster Day: Another CAOS taster day is about to happen on Saturday with storytelling, drumming, creating, making, laughing and eating, all free. 10.30-1pm and it’s going to be great.

Today

Better...

A wee hint...

THis is part of the contemporary reading. You'll just have to b there to see how it finishes. (don't worry, it's not that exciting and will probably be in Mucky Paws at the end of the month. Two people back to back turning to face the congregation to speak and turns away as the other turns towards during the bridges bit. One persons last words and the other's first.

Voice 1
I saw him enter the house so I had to follow.
Don’t ask me why,
I just did.
It was one of those moments
when everything came into sharp reality,
and you saw it all,
just one moment,
but I had to follow him,
follow him…

Both
Follow him… (one turns away as another turns towards the congregation)

Voice 2
Follow him is what I had chosen to do.
I am a Pharisee and I saw in him
a lifestyle and a teaching that was fresh,
and broke open heaven,
and made God seem possible,
and so I invited him,
invited him…

Both
Invited him… (one turns away as another turns towards the congregation)

Voice 1
Invited him to rest after is journey
and relax,
just sitting there by his feet,
and I found myself crying:
the way he looked through me
and saw everything,
knew everything,
and I cried,
I cried…

Both
I cried… (one turns away as another turns towards the congregation)

Voice 2
I cried to the servants to bring in the feast.
He was such an important guest in my house,
everyone would know he was here,
and I was impatient for him to begin the teaching,
for him to speak,
to hear him,
Hear him…

Both
Hear him… (one turns away as another turns towards the congregation)

Voice 1
Hear him talk to all the others
when I knew this moment was mine,
and so I dried his feet with my hair,
wiped them clean,
and the bottle of perfume
that had been hanging round my neck for years,
and I had forgotten when it came from,
I broke open,
Broke open…

Both
Broke open… (one turns away as another turns towards the congregation)

Voice 2
Broke open the Realm of God in word and deed.
But somehow I knew he was speaking to that woman
who had come into my house
and ruined the evening,
comparing her hospitality with mine,
comparing her worldly ways,
with the generosity of the feast I had prepared,
and Jesus turned to me,
turned to me…

Both
Turned to me… (one turns away as another turns towards the congregation)

Good-bye...

...Pluto. It's getting worse for everyone's favourite planet, or at least the planet most people know the name of. We're down to 8 planets and three dwarf planets but Pluto isn't even the biggest of these. It's all change out there, or at least we're looking at it differently.

I wonder if we could do that with anything else...?

Tower Lighting

Some photos of last nights experiments are in a wee photo album. More will be added as it begins to happen now. Best time to light a tower is during the shortest days don't you think!

Tower Lighting

A few of us were down at the church tonight (it's now 12.25) getting a wee foretaste of the lighting of the tower. It was well fascinating and the technology in lighting was fascinating (I was going to do lighting as a career at one stage so I found it fascinating anyway). I'll put on a few photos tomorrow as tonight I'm going to bed soon. It was good. The lighting engineers are away to develop the images they took to illustrate the whole tower lit and stuff so watch this space.

Lipsmackin thirst quenchin

I had to do a wee thing about NEXUS on the 23-25 August whcih everyone needs to go to in the SECC which is a big event organised by local presbyteries and will easily be the biggest event for the churches this year. I was meant to give a wee reminder about the event and I used that old classic advert from Pepsi (Lipsmackin thirst quenchin ace tastin motivatin good buzzin cool talkin high walkin fast livin ever givin cool fizzin Pepsi) changing the couplets. I don't know if many got it becasue not that many laughed. They are certainly all old enough. Maybe it just wasn't funny. Anyway, it got me thinking about what adverts are iconic for us and form the classics in our memories and growing up. So what would they be: a finger of fudge... a mars a day... If would be good to have a wee disucssion because I have an idea for a talk for Sunday perhaps...

Chocolate Teapots for 17th June

Luke 7:36-8:3

A story for women everywhere, not just that they were repeatedly the ones who recognised the special uniqueness of Jesus but also they were the ones who supported him financially, taking from their husbands funds, enough to keep Jesus going. They were the ones to be decadent with their love for him, over the top in their recognition of the mystery and hope he held for them. Okay you wouldn't ever get a man doing what this unnamed woman was doing to Jesus feet but in a culture that had women silenced in many ways, then this was all they could do.

It's Sunday School prize-giving this Sunday so it's partly all-age and also a we sermon too. So I'm interested in your thoughts about this woman and the others. Could we make it a feminist thing going on in the service this week (led by a man)? You know, when you look at the Bible, every week is about radical inclusion. He never misses a turn to get those on the outside, inside. If only we'd live more like that and let that change us...

I think we'll do the new hymn again that we did yesterday (I like it and at least one other likes it too), but I'm open to lots more suggestions...

Big on-going thought

Had my weekly crisis of faith this morning (mainly because I though the sermon was pants) and wondered, yet again, about getting people back to churc. It's something I think every Sunday when I see the congregation: full of fabulous people but precious few. Of course there were people not there this week that normally are but we really need to do something more about opening up the chruch and letting people have the choice about choosing the particular adventure into spirituality we find oursevles on with our worship, our creative communions, CAOS, Living the Questions and the other forms of community we have here.

I'm going to do a door to door this summer. I don't know how far I'll get but I'm going to start somewhere and knock the doors and say hello and offer a wee leaflet or so to everyone.

Maybe we should also offer a community day with specific hand-delivered invitations to some event like the CAOS taster day.

May we should also offer specialised worship around those who suffer or know folk with breast cancer, or MS or something like that. Or other themed stuff like education Sunday inviting schools, music Sunday inviting choirs, creative sunday inviting artists, neighbourhood sunday invting folk of the neighbourhood and having an exhibition, worklessness Sunday with worship and then a jobs fair of something like that. Anything would be good. Other themed Sundays? What would you like us to focus in on that moves your soul or being, or speaks into where you are at? Could we invite more people, specifically to our environment sundays like greenspace, Clydebank Re:Built etc?

CAOS may help and the summer stuff may do something too but we can't go on an awful lot longer independently as we are with the numbers we have. We need to live a little more edgy and dangerously and know that the worshipping community may change by doing so if other folk do begin to come along. It has already but (g=fingers crossed) if more come along, then the style will shift.

Anyway, feel better now having go that off my chest. But it is all serious. Any comments?