Autumn preaching diaries for The Round Church and St John's

Harvest Thanksgiving Services

The Church of Scotland and Baptist congregations are joining together this Sunday in both Bowmore and Port Ellen to celebrate Harvest Thanksgiving. Everyone is welcome to come along to these services which are for all ages. Please see the posters below for more details:



This Little Light of Mine

One of the old songs that we still use a lot with young people is 'This little light of mine'. The words are great and the congregations know it, so it is very well accepted (even if the music is a bit dull for the kids these days!). So, imagine my delight when I was introduced to this 'modern' version.....

There is a lot of good material in those lyrics and I will certainly let kids know about this band (LZ7). One young woman I have in mind is an 11 year old who came up to me recently and asked 'Mr Barlow, I want to become a Christian... is that OK?'. 

We have been praying a lot for our young people on the island and you can imagine that I was more than a little encouraged since this young woman is known through our school work, and not from church. I have met her mum and we are planning to take some time preparing for a forthcoming baptism. Please pray for her and her friends (and me as we continue on our journey of reaching out to our young people and their parents).

Oh, and do 'let your little light shine too', and help change a generation :)

In Christ Alone

Great new song from Hillsong;

What happens when money is held up as God?

The latest revelations in the news about Barclay's Bank and executives rigging the libor rate prompts me to comment, conscious of the fact that our culture has been, and continues to trust in money as the solution to all problems.

I recently read a book which gave some interesting insights into business, whereby a group conscious of the destructive personality of big business, developed a checklist using diagnostic criteria from the World Health Organisation and the DSM-IV, the standard diagnostic tool of psychiatrists and psychologists, to determine the personality profile of a typical corporation.

They found the following: The operational principles of the corporation give it a highly anti-social "personality": It is self-interested, inherently amoral, callous and deceitful; it breaches social and legal standards to get its way; it does not suffer from guilt, yet it can mimic the human qualities of empathy, caring and altruism. Four case studies, drawn from a universe of corporate activity, clearly demonstrate harm to workers, human to health, animals and the biosphere. Concluding this point-by-point analysis, a disturbing diagnosis is delivered: the institutional embodiment of laissez-faire capitalism fully meets the diagnostic criteria of "psychopath." How about that!

In sharing this with one of my daughters she responded - I've been reading a book recently on the same subject myself re: all business leaders being psychopathic. Having worked with diagnosed psychopaths myself (we use the DSM-IV at work), it seems obvious that the traits seen as most depolorable in a social context are those actively sought by the multinational corporations (callous, lack of empathy, grandiose sense of self-worth, strong belief in predator/prey world view, charming on first contact, shallow affect, manipulative etc). If these people are running the world, we really are
in trouble!

It is into this context that Christians need to speak, because money is not the solution to all problems and our culture has lived a politically led lie for decades. Scripture says that the 'love of money is the root of all evil' and sadly many millions around the world are feeling the effects of this serious political mistake.

Tesco Delivery Man or Minister?

One of the great mainland innovations some years ago was Tesco's offering of online shopping and a delivery van service. It is just great, you order up what you want, pay for it and then someone else goes and gets it and delivers it. Brilliant! In an age of consumerism and self selection it's just perfect.
However, being a minister in this age of consumerism has its problems, because when I deliver the Sunday Service I am sure a number of folk are thinking 'that's not what I ordered'. Some leave the church and say that they 'did not know the hymns', or 'they did not like the hymns'. or 'there were a lot of Graham Kendrick songs today'.
Having attended a Ministry Conference recently, and heard stories of my colleagues expeiences in ministry, it seems to me quite common for folk to think that Presbytery must have delivered the wrong man or woman. Just as they would with Tesco's, they grumble and complain to ane another about the bad service... and occasionally someone may complain to Presbytery. It is consumerism at work.
As a minister my real sadness abou this is that many seem to attend sunday services for what they can get, rather than what they can give. It is after all Sunday 'Worship', where Christians are supposed to gather before a 'worthy' God and sing his praises. It is written that 'God inhabits the praises of his people' and that is so true. As Christians learn how to praise God they learn about the joy and freedom that God alone can bring to our lives.
I enjoy being a minister, since it is such a privilige, but being a delivery man is not a pleasant task since one meets unpleasant customers from time to time. So please pray for the consumers in congregations everywhere... pray that they might come to know the joy of giving themselves to a worthy God and Saviour.
Thank God too for those folk that know that sense of joy and fullness when gathering to worship God. To see their smiles and sometimes their tears of release is just great. It seems to me that they are able to enjoy the full range of opportunities to worship and enjoy learning new songs. In this sense they cannot be described as being 'meat and two veg' people. Indeed the length and breadth of opportunity in the Christian life is staggering because we have a great God.

Dr John Blanchard is coming to Islay in June

Out of the blue, at the beginning of the year I had an email from John Blanchard saying that he had read my blog and decided to contact me...  Who is John Blanchard some may ask??...  well a quick summary;
"Dr. John Blanchard is an internationally known Christian preacher, teacher, apologist and author. He has written 30 books, including two of Britain's most widely used evangelistic presentations, Right With God and the booklet Ultimate Questions. The latter has over fourteen million copies in print in about 60 languages. His major book Does God believe in Atheists?, published in 2000, was voted 'Best Christian Book' in the 2001 UK Christian Book Awards, and immediately became a best-seller, described as 'a brilliant defense of belief in God'."
What John did not know was just how encouraging it was to get his email at that particular time. A few individuals had made our time on Islay very unpleasant and we (my wife and I) were asking the question "Why should we stay and put up with this vitriolioc nonsense?". John's email reminded us why we had come here... to bring the Gospel fresh to a new generation and we were greatly encouraged.
John will be here from the afternoon of June 8th to the morning of June 11th. On Sunday 10th June he will preach at the Round Church Bowmore at 10am, St Johns Church Port Ellen at 11.30am, and then at the Baptist Church in Bowmore at 6.30pm. Do come along to one of these services because I am sure you will be challenged and encouraged... bring a friend too.. :)
He will be staying here at the Manse with a film crew that are with him. Their 'side' mission is to record some film of John on Islay as he recounts his time as a young boy when he came here as a war time evacuee. He has great memories of those times and developed a real passion for Islay. We are hoping he will be at the beach rugby on saturday 9th June at Port Ellen, so why not come along and have a chat with him. His story is not just a good story but a God story  :)