GadgetVicar

Get Yer Bible Out (In Starbucks)

Five pastors met in Starbucks, Byres Road before 8am this morning in order to share what we had discovered or rediscovered in the New Testament. The idea is to read through a book a week before Christmas, meeting up every week to share together what we are learning.  Today it was Matthew; I shared some thoughts on the historicity of Jesus, the pastoral nature of Jesus teaching ("Hey, disciples, the church will be rough and you need to live with integrity"), and the sheer inconvenience of following Christ. The others had better nuggets than those and all-in-all it was a very good time of spiritual nourishment. I had my big shiny new ESV with me (and was duly slagged for it) - our  church of Scotland colleague had a tiny little New Testament (some humility there).

I will have to read through Mark this week........

Florence & the Machine - Cosmic Love @ The ABC, Glasgow

I met my old friend Alastair Black at the Florence gig last night. We used to hang out at New College together, frequently dogging classes as we did so. He now pastors Stirling Baptist Church. It's good to know I'm not the only middle-aged vicar who likes her work.

A powerful performance by the whole band, which the crowd lapped up. The Etta James song she did was spinetingling stuff.

I now await her next visit to Glasgow on the 9th December.

Here she is in action (who is that singing along at the top of his voice?):

Gigging (Yet Again)

Another gig tonight: Florence and the Machine + The XX. Should be nice.

Rock Stars

A lovely nun called Maria surprised me on Thursday-

Maria: With a surname like that, you'll be from Ireland.

Me: Sadly no, but my dad's family came from there.

Maria: Have you ever been?

Me: Only to Dublin a few times.

Maria: That's where I come from.

Me: Like U2.

Maria: U2. Ahh, that Bono, he's lovely, so he is.

She is the the coolest nun in the world! The staff at the Redemptorist monastery of Kinnoull were wonderful hosts, just as I remembered them being many years ago. They served their guests well, with smiles and genuine Christlike care. They've got a real joy in life.

In other thoughts about rock stars, after the service tonight I was told that I got a mention on Dermot O'Leary's Radio 2 show yesterday, and to my amazement it's true! Listen here from about 29.15.