Ministers of Kildalton and Oa

I came across a framed Celtic drawing of the Kildalton Cross which had engraved on it the names of all the ministers since the Reformation. It was looking fairly weather beaten but I have managed to scan it, clean it up, and add my name. We are all part of a long and defining Christian heritage and this is just one way of reminding ourselves about where we come from. Of even more importance of course is where we are going and I would have to say that I have grave concerns about our political leadership at this time in history. There seems so little vision, so little courage, so little integrity, amongst the majority of world leaders that one wonders how many more names will be added to the list of ministers at Kildalton and Oa.
For those interested in the names on the drawing; I will put a full size copy of this on the St.Johns Church web site soon.

Snow

It seems the snow has given me a little space. Presbytery has been cancelled and so I have some time to catch up with my diary. I notice that it has been weeks since I last posted anything and a lot has been happening.
On the technical front we now have projectors being used every Sunday at the Roundchurch as part of our service. We have not had to buy or install screens because we have found that projecting onto the wall, left and right of the pulpit works well. St Johns also now has a screen installed that we can raise or drop as necessary in the services.
Sunday Club changes are working well at the Roundchurch and we have formed a new team at St. Johns which will start afresh with our young people in the New Year.
The Roundchurch has been painted inside and out, thanks to the Distillery! We have also started the long journey towards sorting out our buildings issues at St Johns.
With our Alpha Courses starting in January it is clear that it is going to be a busy but hopefully fruitful New Year.
So, the snow has given me space... but we have to rememeber that for many it has brought considerable headaches! One friend living near Edinburgh said they have had 40 inches so far - that is a LOT of snow. However, perhaps we need reminders to go a little slower especially at a time of year which usually brings lots of extra pressures to our lives. The Christmas child who became the man Jesus, is also the Prince of Peace. I am glad about that because his peace is one of his most wonderful and gracious blessings. Peace to all of my many friends and family this Christmas! :)

Future Focus

We had a really good Roundchurch kirk session meeting last night. One of the clear things to emerge was our recognition that we cannot do everything, but what we choose to do we would like to do well. After 7 months here I think we are getting a fairly clear sense of our immediate priorities - these are (i) WORSHIP ie all that happens in church on a Sunday. We discussed having others preaching, choosing songs, leading prayers or doing readings. We discussed cleaning, teas and coffees, welcoming, sound desk and audio-visual. (ii) CHILDREN/YOUTH ie all that we do with our young people. We have moved our Sunday Club to the Baptist Church and it will now run after the morning service, rather than at the same time, and we will make much use of modern technology and communication methods. We hope this will engage our youngsters in a way that will encourage them to make it their own space.

 (iii) ALPHA COURSE. We will start this in January 2011 and we are hopeful that it will provide a space for growth amongst our existing congregation and also allow folk from around Bowmore to participate. These courses are a great way of stimulating discussion and creating safe spaces for people to express their faith. (iv) PASTORAL. We want to become more organised in how we deal with the pastoral issues in the church. Angela Stather is gifted in this area and already very well known after some years of pastoral ministry. She has agreed to head this up and we want two elders (or more) to work with her to develop a team that will allow us to care for folk in the community around us. I can move on to change our web site to reflect these emerging emphases, and the new face of the Roundchurch in Bowmore.

There is a lot to do of course and we don't pretend it will be easy! We have some suggestions for new elders and helpers and I will be following these up in due course. The immediate good news is that we have a new treasurer - Bob McNabb - and we are delighted to welcome him onto the team.

I have a meeting of the Kirk Session at St.Johns tomorrow and we are also getting ready to decide on our future focus there too..... I will let you know what happens :) 

Not Ashamed - 1st December 2010

I have just had a phone call from a friend who directed me to the Christian Concern For Our Nation web site (http://www.ccfon.org/). They are promoting a 'Not Ashamed' day for December 1st 2010 and the question put to me was 'Is this something that we might get involved in?'. A dedicated web site can also be seen at http://www.notashamed.org.uk/ for those that would like more information.

 I will certainly be showing this to the elders and the congregations of the Roundchurch and St.Johns because it says something that I hear more and more people saying to me - 'Why are we so quiet when so much that is going on is heading in a wrong direction?'. This is a view that I am sympathetic to and one of my hopes in ministry is that existing congregations will simply become more confident in their faith and start speaking up more. I don't subscribe to any suggestion of militancy or constantly writing to MP's as some do, largely because the exercise seems so negative and futile. Jesus did not say send letters to the Emperor, he said 'Go and make disciples'. So, we don't need to be militant but as Joshua said 'as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord' (Joshua 24:15). If we all took up that simple viewpoint, we could do quite a lot!

I recommend you take a look at the web sites mentioned above.

Service of Introduction to Jura and Islay for Jess Reynolds

Just a reminder that we have Jess' induction service tomorrow evening in the Roundchurch. I know that many are involved in other longstanding events but those that can please do come along to this important induction. Oh and just to help, here is a picture of her :)

Hillsong

Since arriving on Islay I have been suprised to find that neither of my congregations have heard of Hillsong, or indeed many other new Christian bands/composers. So, here is a link to a Hillsong that I am really enjoying just now. Not quite a John Wesley I know but listen to the words, let it engage you, let it's energy run through you... Now that's my God, 'the one whose Glory goes beyond all fame, and the cry of my heart is to bring you praise'. Enjoy..

Emerging Church Conference

We were away for three days last week at the Church of Scotland Emerging Church Conference. This group of about 50 folk are all involved in new initiatives of one kind or another and fundamentally they are about looking at fresh ways of getting church engaged with our culture once again. Society has changed so fundamentally in the last 20-30 years that the church has become largely disconnected and hence also increasingly misunderstood.
So it was great to meet people who are concerned to see a reconnection and the key note speaker was simply excellent. His name is Alan Roxburgh and although he has a lot of academic things to say about being a Missional Church, he nonetheless weaves much of his life story into all that he says. That makes him much more enagaging and also plausible, at least for me! The net result is that we returned exhausted but refreshed at the discussions that we were also able to enjoy at the Conference.
It was also particularly good to catch up with our good friend and mentor Duncan MacPherson from Hilton Church, Inverness! Though I think our laughter at Alan's 'eccelesiastical' jokes was at times a little too vigorous... :)
For those who don't know much about emerging church or missional church I would recommend that you take a look at this web site - http://www.roxburghmissionalnet.com/

Highland Theological College

My theology degree was formally awarded to me this week and I have received a number of ‘congratulations’ from our many friends in and around Inverness. The degree was awarded in absentia because I was attending the CoS emerging church conference in Glasgow. The conference was great and I blog about that elsewhere but significantly, whilst explaining to one individual that my theological training involved HTC the comment came back ‘oh yes, they are very reformed…’. This comment is not unusual and was, at least in my view, a gentle knock at the HTC take on scripture.

I have to say that I was mildly irritated by the comment on two grounds;
First because I have to thank HTC, in no small measure, for my place in ministry. Since having almost completed my training as an auxiliary minister in the CoS I woke one morning to the firm conviction that I should really be a full time minister. This created quite a few problems for the CoS because I was fast approaching the ‘age barrier’ of 55. Even so within a few days CoS had said they could accommodate the change but I had to find a way to extend my theological studies to complete a degree before the last day of my 55th year. None of the major universities could do it and although I had approached HTC it looked as though they could not do it either. So it looked as though I was simply too late. Imagine then my delight when two weeks later I should get a call which said ‘there is a way’…
The fact is that the vice principal had spent what time he managed to find ‘spare’ to see if a way could be found that fitted my circumstances and the ‘rules’. The CoS agreed to the proposal and thus I find myself here on Islay. Brillant!
The second cause of my irritation was that my ‘learning experience’ at HTC was really invigorating and contrasted with the almost ‘anything goes’ interpretation of the Bible that I had experienced elsewhere. In attending this reformed college I did not find that I had to respond ‘as taught’, I did not have to ‘suspend my intellect’ as some seem to think reformed theology is all about, but I could learn what the scriptures were about.
So, if any of you are thinking about learning more I commend HTC to you. Whatever stage of learning you are at I think you will find a place to start. Just as importantly the staff there will be supportive and encouraging. Go for it!
The ignorance that exists about the gospel in our culture is profound, and growing… but I will blog about that later too.

Biblically Conservative and Culturally Sensitive

As a minister in this age of the so called ‘secular democracy’ and ‘aggressive atheism’ I am dismayed at the ways in which so many of my colleagues emasculate the gospel. I struggle to understand how they can justify their revision, nay reduction, of what the gospels communicate.

In the CoS debate that is ongoing with regard the ordination of practising homosexuals it would seem that there are two sides, one ‘traditionalist’ and the other ‘revisonist’, at least according to the guidance document issued by the CoS itself. It is a clever choice of words in this age because the very word ‘traditionalist’ is a bad word, whilst the word revisionist strongly suggests enlightened, inclusive, and open minded.
As I have pondered these positions over the last year or so I have found it helpful to recognise that I probably hold a position which is ‘biblically conservative and culturally sensitive’ whereas the revisonists hold a position which seems to be ‘culturally conservative and biblically sensitive’.
I am well aware of cultural practices and ideology and I am not too impressed. Indeed my journey to faith was born out of despondency for our culture! I find hope in the gospels for a transformation in human hearts which will automatically overflow to this culture. In that sense of course I need to be aware of, and sensitive to, the issues and influences controlling people’s lives. The revisionists on the other hand seem desperate to be accepted by the cultural norms and, whilst sensitive to the bibles teachings, proceed to reduce its content until what is left matches the whims of our age.
Simple though it sounds it seems to me we are meant to be Christians ie we look primarily to the gospels to understand the meta narrative therein and respond, rather than look to our culture? I welcome a broad church, in that it can reflect different Christian boundaries, but not one that exists without boundaries. Christian boundaries tend to lead to denominations and these tendencies are frowned upon even though they all reflect a pursuit after truth within biblical boundaries. To remove such boundaries altogether will surely cause the church ultimately to disperse and be lost amongst the myriad so called alternative realities? The sad truth is that I think the revisionists believe they will grow the church, even though the evidence is to the contrary. We need to remain biblically conservative and yet more culturally sensitive than we have been in recent decades.

Children's/Youth Worker starts work on Islay

It is apparently several years since Argyll Presbytery decided that it would be good to have a children's/youth worker based on Islay, but we had our first meeting with the appointee this week! Her name is Jess Reynolds and she is staying at Portnahaven with her husband Scott.
The meeting was attended by childrens workers from around Islay and it was encouraging to see the energy and enthusiasm that folk had for young people and their needs. It was also great to see that this new initiative of the church is not about a new person coming along and waving a magic wand for us all. It was much more about starting to form a new team, with a new approach, one that we hope will be relevant and engaging for young people of the 21st Century.
The first step is for Jess to get to know the various congregations, the childrens workers, the children, plus the schools, the teachers and how Islay works. This is no small task and clearly it will take a while for her to get some sense of what is needed in each setting. Nonetheless it was just great to make a start and please pray for Jess, for Paul Beautyman her online manager in Argyll Presbytery, and for all those involved in the team, including me...  :)

Back to School with God

Yesterday we had our "Back to School with God" family service at the Round Church and we will be doing the same at St John's this coming Sunday. This is a Service that has been organisied by Scripture Union Scotland and has a theme based on Daniel chapter 3, encouraging us all to choose God's way and not to just follow the crowd!! It's a special service designed to commission our young people and school staff, and to encourage ongoing prayer for local schools throughout the year. In fact Scripture Union Scotland have set up a prayer network called the Schools Prayer Network. You can see details by clicking here. 

Sunday Club and Footsteps, Kilnaughton Beach BBQ, 2010

Just back from the annual Sunday Club beach barbecue. It was a joint affair with folk from Bowmore and Port Ellen attending which was great. As you might expect we had everything.... - good food, drinks, cakes, jelly babies, sand castles, sea, rain (lots of it) and then no rain (and then lots of midges decided to join us). The 'skin so soft' midge repellent soon ran out, and since by then the food had run out  too.... we all ran home... :)
It was great to see so many children there and it was a great afternoon, with an opportunity for me to get to chat to parents.

A great big thank you must go to Iain Laurie, and his team, who organised the event (as usual it seems) and did all the cooking. I thought the food we enjoyed was much like that you see in the Port Ellen Spar... ??  Now who owns that Spar....  Oh yes, it's Iain Laurie... now isn't that a coincidence... :)

Kildalton Cross Service 2010

Here we are just beginning to assemble for the annual Kildalton Cross Service. Around 30 people from around Islay came along for this Thanksgiving Service. We had Ray Woodrow (Baptist) reading, Adrienne (Catholic) leading prayers and I gave a short address on John 17 thanking God for our Christian heritage, but also looking forward, and encouraging everyone to remain in Christ in order that we could bear more fruit, even in an age where the church is so obviously declining.

I found it moving to be stood there with so much history around me, but I was also very aware that we have not honoured those that have gone before us very effectively. Mission must surely become much more of a focus? If we really believe that our Christian heritage is valuable ie how it has enabled us to hear and receive the gospel, then surely we must make more strenuous efforts to enagage those around us that are caught up in the hussle and bussle of modern life? My confidence in the gospel is born out of a life immersed in that hussle (nay hassle!) which proved so fruitless in comparison with all that I have learned of the Christian way of life.

I hope to make more of this service next year, by looking back AND looking forward. I hope you will be able to join us :)

Weddings!!!

Weddings, weddings, weddings... what an amazing first year of weddings! Here are just a few pics of the weddings... at St.Johns, at the Roundchurch, in the Gaelic College and on the Beach! I already have bookings for 2012...

At the first one I forgot to get the witnesses to sign the schedule... and at the last one we had one of the ushers sign by accident... ah well, it was all OK in the end..

The really wonderful thing for me is that all these couples wanted a 'Christian' Wedding, they wanted God involved. Some out of a deep faith conviction, some I suspect out of a realisation that we need all the help we can get in the love stakes, but as best I could judge all were moved by what they were doing. Quite right too because a Christian wedding is all about giving, it is not about taking. So much of our modern literature and media encourages us to take what we can get, or look for the person that can fulfill us. "It's all about me". Yet to offer oneself to another in holy matrimony is not all about "me", it's all about love and what I can give. Oh certainly this is one risky venture and the reality is that some will probably fall short of the mark, but to at least point yourself in the direction of the mountain top is surely better than staying down on the plains?

The reality for me is that the weddings have been a privilege and a highlight of ministry here. I hope to be able to keep in contact with the couples as they go forward, and I hope to marry many more in due course. :)

KIldalton Cross - August 8th at 3pm

It seems ages since our holiday ended but now that most of the admin is cleared away (at last) I can start to think about the next few weeks. One item of news is that we are planning an open air service at the Kildalton Cross at 3pm on the 8th August. It's an amazing spot and an iconic Christian Cross so it lends itself well to a Thanksgiving Service for our Christian Heritage. I have asked others to join in and so it will be an ecumenical service - after all it is a Christian Heritage that we all share in!

So, do join us if you can. Don't forget the midge repellent if it is still and damp otherwise the time will be pure misery for you. I look forward to seeing you :)

Holidays

We are off sailing for a couple of weeks starting on Wednesday. See photos below from last summer at Fingal's cave and the Skerries. Isn't God's creation magnificent! O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  (Psalm 8:1) We pray that you will have a blessed time while we are away and pray for Angus as he leads worship at both churches for both Sundays. We look forward to seeing you all on our return :)

Family Service at St John's

Today we celebrated Pentecost and the birth of the church at the monthly family service at St John's. For some of us this will be the 3rd time that we've celebrated Pentecost this year but so what...! Being God's church, being the body of Christ is something to celebrate!! Rob spoke about the Fruits of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness and Gentleness and Self-Control, and about how these are fruits that are "always in season". Many thanks to Eilidh and Anna for reading so well from God's Word. Happy Birthday!

Family Service at The Round Church

It was "Happy Birthday to the church" this morning at the Round Church Family Service as we shared the lovely chocolate cake shown here above with our tea and coffee after the service. Since we were away at the General Assembly last week, we celebrated Pentecost this week instead and will do the same next week at St John's!

Our Family Services have a relaxed, contemporary atmosphere and worship and teaching is aided by the use of multimedia technology. In fact a fruit juicer even made an appearance this morning to help with making a special fruit brew to illustrate the meaning of "Fruits of the Spirit". Could this be "Messy Church???"!!

... and here's Rob in his PERFECT MAN  (under construction) Hebrews 10: 12-14 t-shirt. I must add that WAS part of his talk....!!

It is so good to get together in fellowship to worship God!

Sunset on Islay

I couldn't resist putting up these photos taken from in front of the manse as the sun went down yesterday evening. What a wonderful privilege to be surrounded by God's amazingly beautiful creation.

Round Church Monthly Coffee Morning

During the summer period, on the last Saturday of the month, the Round Church hold a coffee morning with home baking and 'bring and buy' in the Bowmore Buffet Hall from 10.30am to 12.30pm. We were there this morning to a wonderfully warm welcome and fellowship and excellent coffee and cakes! It was good to meet friends old and new. A great big "thank you" to everyone involved.

2010 General Assembly

Last Saturday we attended the 2010 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh where Rob was presented to the assembly as a newly ordained minister. This year's moderator is the Rev John Cairns Christie and he had very encouraging and inspiring words for those being presented both as newly appointed and as retiring from service in the Church of Scotland. What a great privilege and sense of history to be at such an event. For more details of what went on at this year's assembly click here

Birthday Party

Last Sunday saw a very momentous event at St John's: the special birthday celebrations of Jim and Alec. It was just great to be able to spend the time together after the service honouring these 2 gentlemen and the cake was just amazing!! Jean carefully chose some of their favourite hymns to sing during the service before the party.. I wonder if they noticed since the party was a surprise!!!

St John's Spring Bazaar

What a way to start the blog with news of St John's Annual Spring Bazaar last Saturday afternoon at the St Columba Hall. Angela officially opened the event which was was really well attended with lots of fun and fellowship and the usual superb hospitality... in fact a fantastic afternoon and a great big "thank you" to all involved!