GadgetVicar

Romantic

I saw two movies on Friday, both of which are essentially love stories.

In the first, Monsters, a photographer is commanded by his publisher boss to get his daughter safely home from a Mexico infested with giant octopus-like aliens. The creatures got there when a space probe crash-landed six years before. The US government has built a massive wall on the border to try and contain the infection, and are regularly bombing the Mexican poulation with chemical weapons, causing massive collateral damage. Sounds like a familiar story? Though it sounds like pure science fiction, the focus throughout is on the couple, who quickly fall in love, and they see that love reflected in the events around them. Its cheaply but beautifully shot, and is quite possibly my favourite film this year. At the British Independent Film Awards yesterday it won Best Director for Gareth Edwards.

The other film was Megamind 3D. Love features again as Megamind (a blue-skinned evil alien who is made that way by the prison environment he literally lands in as baby - Will Ferrell does the voice) defeats his arch-enemy, Metroman (voiced by Brad Pitt), but quickly realises that an evil genius needs a nemesis or it's no fun. Megamind has to win the heart of the Lois Lane-like reporter in order to save the day when he inadvertently creates a hero who turns to evil. Great animation, lots of stuff that adults will get (Superman fans will love the person that Megamind morphs into in order to mentor the hero he has created) and plentiful humour make for an entertaining movie.

My romantic weekend continued with the real life adventure that was the wedding of JJ and John on Saturday afternoon. The most excited bride and groom I have ever seen and all that snow made for great fun. In the immortal words of Billy Idol, "Nice day for a white wedding".

Half-term Holiday

Bill Hybels talks about those moments that cause him to feel, 'This is Church!'. For me, this last week has been full of them -

A joyful wedding on Saturday
Listening to and praying with a grieving family
A funeral service in which we celebrated a life and the hope of the Gospel
Holy Communion with some of our more senior members in the autumnal beauty of Strathblane

In between all that there has been time to do other important stuff like preparing a sermon for Sunday, a pile of administration stuff, a visit my mum and dad, a walk around a loch and visiting ( way too many) diy stores and carpet warehouses.

The rectory remains somewhat chaotic, though the central heating is now wonderful and the shower room will hopefully be completed tomorrow. We're a wee bit scunnered by it all, but there are still two rooms to get sorted out, so we must endure a while longer. In other domestic news, we finally succumbed and bought a dishwasher this week. We had one that died ten years ago, and didn't replace it. What were we thinking? Probably us trying to save the planet or somesuch. Having the machine has made a huge difference already and cut down how much work the rectory adults have to do. Now we only have to train everyone who lives here to put their dirty plates in it rather than simply leaving them all over the place!

The next few days will be R & R with the family, before our little darlings return to school on Monday. On Sunday night after Deeper we've got tickets to see Elbow. Now that's a pleasant way to spend an evening.

It's Saturday, So It Must Be British Sea Power

Another action-packed Saturday for us with a wedding this afternoon, then nipping round the corner after the reception to see British Sea Power at the ABC (while dodging the merry Scotland fans celebrating our victory over Norway!).

Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward

Paul Newman's long marriage to Joanne Woodward seems to have been overlooked by many commentators. They were a couple for over fifty years, and through all the storms and temptations, they remained faithful. Their dear friend, prominent writer A.E. Hotchner sums it up best:

"Thinking back, in all the years they were together, I never saw a time when it looked like there was trouble, that it was all coming apart, I never felt that. At the end, they were in the same kind of loving relationship they had from the beginning. They stayed the course. They were very quiet, very respectful, very nurturing and very fond of each other. They always had that kind of tender relationship. As they got older, it aged, but it was still beautiful".

Uganda - Day 11 ( A Wedding & A Rally in Kampala)

A tour of the University started the day then at 12pm, there was a wedding to attend at St Kakumba's Chapel.

It was a wedding and baptism combined, for the happy couple had a child. The worship band were very excited because the couple were members of the group, and the pregnancy had obviously caused some upset. The bride and groom had shared at services the previous Sunday and had repented for their mistakes. It was a beautiful moment, where truth and grace met.

A visit downtown for some western-style food (the worst I had during my stay in Uganda), a long internet cafe visit to check-in for the following day's flights home, then it was time for the reception.

The reception was held in a terraced garden downtown. My abiding memory will be of the Master of Ceremonies continually stirring up the crowd with cries of, "Oh look at the bride, she is so sweeeeeeet!".

I asked whether there would be dancing after the many speeches, and it was suggested that because this was a Christian wedding, such a thing was unlikely. There then followed some very exuberant dancing!

In the evening, I visited Prime Time, an open air rally on campus, with rapping, testimony, dancing and teaching. Perhaps one thousand students were in attendance and the standard of presentation and energy levels were very high.

More food and some late night conversation back at my lovely hosts, then it was time for bed. Sunday was going to be a long day.  

Blessing or Wedding?

If it reads like, looks like and sounds like a wedding it was probably meant to be understood as a wedding?

A Question of Marriage

In a phone call today:

"My name's ****** and I'm planning on getting married in the summer. I walked past your church today and wondered if I could book it for the wedding. Could I come and have a look around?"

Which of the following is the best answer?

a.    No you can't. What do you think this is? Go and find somewhere else to get married, as you clearly aren't interested in anything other than finding an attractive venue for your 'special day'.

b.    Yes of course you can. You can also have whatever you want and we expect nothing whatsoever from you in return.

c.    Yes of course you can. If you like the building as a venue for your special day, that will be £1000 please, to be paid to our Building for the Future Fund, thanks very much (on the basis that this couple simply want to hire a building, by the sounds of it).

d.    Yes of course you can. If you like the building and want to go ahead, you'll need to start coming to church services and attend our five evenings of Marriage Preparation Classes. It's our way of helping you get the best possible start to your marriage, it helps me get to know you, and you'll have a better understanding of the vows you will be making. The church service will cost you nothing by the way!

Downside Up - Peter Gabriel

Don't You Just Love A Good Wedding?

A beautiful wedding yesterday, following 'the longest courtship in the history of the world'. Congratulations, Tracy and Ian, and well done for creating such a moving service.

The reception was in the Auditorium at Oran Mor. It's a fantastic space, with images of the reforming greats on the pillars and a rather different spirituality presented by the Alasdair Gray mural on the ceiling.

We were served bacon rolls at the mid-evening interval. This was a very good thing, which I will now commend to all couples contemplating a wedding banquet.

Wedding Number Two

I raced off after preaching this morning to get to Ardrossan for the wedding. Events then conspired against me.

First off, the Beith-Dalry was closed (don't know why), prompting a detour, involving roadworks and multiple traffic lights.

Then came the 'getting stuck behind the Sunday afternoon driver' experience. Eight miles or so of open country road at less than 30 miles an hour was great fun.

I don't know why I was worried - they couldn't start without me!

I still arrived on time. The bride was twenty minutes late.

The sun shone, as did the bride and groom.

Back home in time for another preach tonight.