GadgetVicar

Fair Trade Breakfast

If you are in Glasgow tomorrow (Saturday, 13th March), why not join us at St Silas' from 10am onwards for a Fair Trade breakfast?

Roof

The roof is on the new hall:

Varied Day

A busy day ahead which includes Bible Study in Starbucks, several meetings, a visit to the Big Hoose, as well as communion in the Beatson. I do love the variety in this job........

Serving And Sending Out

One of the things we are about as a church is to be "Serving and Sending Out". Yesterday I had the privilege of hosting a meeting with four representatives of two mission agencies, and a lay leader from St Silas' as we explored with a member of the congregation the possibility of God calling him to serve in another culture. It could be an excellent partnership. I believe this could be the first of many such new partnerships. It will continue our long history of partnering with mission work around the world.

Similarly, we want to see people being released into all sorts of ministry (including ordained ministry) here in the UK. But.......being sent out begins a little closer to home. Last Sunday morning (and this coming Sunday evening!) we looked at the sending out of the 72 disciples. One thing that struck me was that the disciples were to declare to those who were healed, as well as those who are simply antagonistic, "The Kingdom of God is near". It means that  the followers of Jesus take the Kingdom of God with them wherever they go. It's not contained in a building, or a ritual, or a special person - the Kingdom Of God is not far from people at all, for it is wherever we are placed. An awesome responsibility and a great joy. I think I'll try mentioning that in conversation today.............

Rima Update

Please read the latest positive update on Rima at http://www.letrimastay.org.uk/.

What's In A Name?

Nick was telling me today about some of the responses to our exploration of uses for our new hall. Among several common threads, one was having a good name for the facility. He was telling me this and before he shared a suggestion, a name came to my mind. "The Lighthouse".  He then said the same two words.

What do you think?

Glee

Lots of laughter at the meeting of our Prayer Response Team tonight. I could have sworn that the intro to one of the songs we used in worship was "We Will Rock You" by Queen. The little group I was in never got round to praying for each other as we were too busy getting to know each other, which was part of the aim for the evening. We ended with Holy Communion and prayer for the staff. Much appreciated. We're beginning to feel our way forward in this area of ministry, with a sense of things developing well. Sunday morning will see us offering prayer for everyone in the congregation, in what is beginning to look and feel like something special.

Rounded off a busy few days by watching "Glee" (or as GV Bro describes it, "Let's do the show right here").  Tonight we discovered that Sue Sylvester has a soft side. Amazing! I really don't understand how one of my friends, who is a lover of all things cheesy, doesn't like "Glee".  It's clever, funny, and at times, uplifting. There's prejudice, jealousy and anger. There's also lots about loyalty, joy and creativity.  It is very watchable.

It all takes me back to my own youthful days of treading the boards......maybe we should start a Glee Club at church?

Get The Right Focus

This is for the miserablists who lash out at others, stick verbal knives in backs (and fronts), resent the support others receive (show a little compassion, why don't you?), are so self-absorbed with their own project or agenda and who generally make Church such a downer. I do count myself among them.........

God loves you and has chosen you as his own special people.

So be gentle, kind, humble, meek, and patient.

Put up with each other, and forgive anyone who does you wrong,

just as Christ has forgiven you.

Love is more important than anything else.

It is what ties everything completely together.

Each one of you is part of the body of Christ,

and you were chosen to live together in peace. 

So let the peace that comes from Christ control your thoughts. 

And be grateful.

Let the message about Christ completely fill your lives,

while you use all your wisdom to teach and instruct each other.

With thankful hearts, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.

Whatever you say or do should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus,

as you give thanks to God the Father because of him.

Colossians 3:12-17

 

Buckfast Code

A bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church has spoken out against a great moral scourge - Buckfast Tonic Wine. This follows the report that five thousand crimes over the last three years were related to it. One of our congregation regularly shows up at church with a bottle up his voluminous sleeve and he's not averse to getting into a bit of a violent contretemps. He showed up on Sunday night, bottle of Buckie and all. When sober he's a nice man. Drunk, he's nasty. Why are Weegie drunks either all, "Ah luv yoose!" or "Ah'm gonnae kill ye!"?

I see the damage Buckfast does close up and I'm thankful for Bishop Bob Gillies speaking out. As with most things, it's not that Buckfast is in itself bad. It's our ability to abuse it that is the problem and the fact that the Church is facilitating such abuse by producing the wine. I wonder what else the Church says and does that causes others to stumble? (see 1 Corinthians 8:9)

Where No Flowers Grow

At Sunday morning's "Together", we were thinking about how we take care of the earth. I got to beat Nick Cox up (in my dreams!) as an example of how the effects of our sin can be obvious. In response to the question (about not seeing the damage we do), "Where does our rubbish go?", Hannah replied, "It's taken to a big hole in the ground, then covered in soil, and no flowers will grow there." We couldn't have planned a better answer or expect greater knowledge from one of our younger members. It was an awesome moment.

Vestry agreed with the suggestion that our collections should go to the Haitian Earthquake relief efforts. Over £1500 was given. It seems that we are joining with the whole nation in responding to the Haitians' plight. Many of us are also shocked by some Christians decidely odd explanation of this disaster. I wonder how those in Haiti, including very many Christians, who have lost loved ones and are suffering, receive such comments?