abbotsford.org.uk

First Christmas

Spotted the first Christmas Trees up in people's houses last night. There are two along the street from us: all lit, windows decorated, flashing away.

Better get writing to the Easter Bunny now or I'll miss out on the start of that as well.

Should we have a Christmas Tree Watch? Let us know when you see those trees lurking in windows pulling in the happiness sooner than decent because we all need some of that cheer right now.

Christmas Sound Scape

So we've got a wee royal wedding to look forward to. Good Morning America, as only they can do, began their programme with fanfares while we British always undersell these things. But before all that we have Incarnation which ought to be a bigger celebration and louder fanfare. You always need some music to go with celebration so I wondered, what music, contemporary or otherwise, ought we have in the background of the impending season?

This exercise hopefully will sculpt some background and offer some contemporary meeting points of incarnation and society. It also heps reinterpret the advent with contemporary images and poetry and thought. Always well worth doing.

So what muzak ought incarnaton have playing in the background of promise and birth...

Meant to add that this could become a wee thing for the carol service late in December. It;s just an idea at the moment and miles away but it can be a quick journey getting there and the more music playing, the better.

Caption Competition

Here a wee photo looking for a wee caption:

On a lighter note...

We were discussing with the Abbotsford Angels (an open group of people who are angels in as much as they are organising taking the message (angelos=messenger) of the congreation to those outside the congregation or who have gone quiet in the life of the congregation) about holding a light festival in December. A fabulous idea.

But what do you do at a light festival? Ideas? Can this be a crossroads with faith and culture and community and secularism? What would you do at a light festival? What are the 101 things you can do with light? Open to a host of ideas!

The nursery rhyme challenge

Here's a wee excellent note and open challenge from John Richardson...

Reading “Choc Teapots” this morning, brought to mind this nursery rhyme. Many of them are coded messages about the Church and the religious happenings of past times. Can we perhaps write some for our era?

Little Jack Horner sat in the corner
Eating his Christmas pie,
He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum
And said "What a good boy am I!"

Big, Bold Pharisee; stood in full view,
Saying, his quota of prayers.
He applauded himself in each line he said,
“Thank God, I’m not like him over there!”.

10:10:10

We'll be getting involved with this over the next week, month, year. Our worship will focus on it but in the mean time for the contemporary reading this week, top ten... Can you suggest various top tens: top ten singles, top ten tips for the commonwealth games, top ten hymns, top ten home bakes, top ten words you hear in church, top ten children's talks? Just for fun of course, but may help out a bit in putting together the worship. Over to you.

What are we

Needing major help here. Dedication service on Sunday. I'm trying to gather people's thoughts on the congregation. When I say Abbotsford, what do you think of? It can be serious and funny (even at the same time). I'm mainly looking for one word answers, but as many one word answers as possible. So there you go: homework for the next day: think up as many one word answers that describe Abbotsford from leaking roofs (okay, you're allowed two word answers too) to tea bar.

Be are cryptic, humourous, serious, challenging, honest, diplomatic as you like. Let's write the service together on Sunday again...

Soundtrack

Needing some inspiration here. I'm looking for soundtracks to the different things we do as a congregation here. We've a great number of wee groups ranging from talking over the newspaper headlines to community arts programmes, from theological discussion to taking flowers to folk. I could list all the ways we respond to being the church quite clinically but I wonder if there is a better way of doing this. What about putting a soundtrack together, or at least list the songs we are and who best to help out with that than the usual  crowd out there. So here is a list of some things (I won't be able to mention them all) but feel free to add to the list and set it to music. Be as imaginative and tongue in cheek as possible.

Discussion Groups
Newspaper headline chats
Midweek blethers
Worship
Sunday School
Community Project
Choir
Meetings (Session, Board etc)
Big Sings
Quiz Nights
Social Events
Lunch (regularly)
Tea Bar
Boys' Brigade
Brownies
Eco Group
Walking Group
Contemporary Communion
Rainbows
Line dancing
Badminton
Craft Daft
Trips
Look who's coming to dinner

to name a few... Go on, find five minutes at lunch time to fit the song to the event.

The Rainbow Litany

Looking for some help for the service on Sunday. I have the thought in my head to do a rainbow litany. A litany is really just the posh name for a big list so when you imagine or see a rainbow, what do you think of. It could be anything that stirs your soul, moves your feet, juggles your thoughts... If you would like to add to this list, please, please do so. It could be one word or 100. We'll put them into some kind of order and use them with some rainbow music in the background.

A starter for ten:

pattern
rain
community
colour
song
wizard of Oz
Toto
prism
refraction
photons
peace
GLBT
dove
Noah
arc

but that's not all, surely....

Vuvuzela

This is the instrument of choice for the football world cup. Apparently there is something happening in South Africa at the moment to do with football. I'm so not interested. The more it is drowned out the better.

But it does bring me to an interesting point in my mind about how humans get so passionate about some things. Why or how is it we from the human herd get so completely wrapped up in something that we can't see past it at times, that everything stops for the spectacle, that we suspend our lives and our senses for the sake of a match and lay so much importance on it, directing so much speech and conversations and friendships on it?

Is it the same thing that enables us to suspend some of our belief in reality when we enter a church, or leave our brains and our thinking parts at the door and witness people who run multinationals become putty in religion scholars hands?

There is some about getting so locked into a thing, football or religion, that we become feral. Are either of them that important? 

It would be good to hear your thoughts.