GadgetVicar

Carols by Candlelight 2011

My favourite moment in last night's Carols by Candlelight was when a shepherd forgot his lines and his colleague responded with something like, "Seeing those angels has given you amnesia!". All the actors, the visuals, the string quartet/musicians, the choir, welcome team and catering contributed to a superb evening which allowed the packed church to focus on Joseph's role in the nativity.

This annual service is the one I struggle with most. I guess it's because having done it so often (last night was the seventeenth occasion), I'm nervous of having little fresh to say, and every preacher worries about that. I wrestle for weeks with the talk, and last night's was no exception. Many years, I've found myself with three talks as I stood to speak, and it's only once I've gone on that I've known exactly what to say. Last night was a little different, as the focus on Joseph was a take I'd not explored before. How I wished I'd done so before. The focus in the incarnation story seldom falls on him, yet I've been deeply moved as I've considered his life and ministry. His grace towards Mary, his trust in God, and his love for Jesus are all marks of a faithful person. There is much to ponder. You can listen to what I said last night here.

It's Christmas!

The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:2-3 (The Message)

iPhone Worship

Our wonderful Pastor for all things creative sent me this. As a very happy user of an iPhone 4, I wonder if this is something I else I can use it for?

Here's the same group using their iPhones in a live worship setting:

When You Just Have To Do Church Together

For more than a year, while the new facilities are being built, all those attending St Silas' morning services have met together for the whole service. It's been an interesting time: the kids have had to put up with us adults ruining their time together, and we've had the thrill of their contributions to our worship times, scripted and unscripted.

With the delay in completing the building work (and I fear there might be news of another little one on the way), we've again rethought how we do morning services, and I must say, I'm really enjoying the new pattern.

We've split the church in three, with the left and right side aisles screened off from the centre. The service begins with the kids in their learning activities on the left hand side and the adults on the right hand side. It's a bit of a squeeze with the numbers we currently have but it seems to be working. I love the fact that this learning time is up close and personal (I can much more readily look into the eyes of the listeners!), and there is a real sense of being together. We also start on time, so late-comers, don't get a choice of seat. Added to that we all know that this time is at most thirty minutes long!

After this we all gather in the middle section to hear more about what we have each been learning, songs, sharing, a little liturgy and sometimes communion. In recent weeks, there has been a lot of joy and enthusiasm evident.

I'm looking forward to next Sunday when we think about Christian Commitment: Church.

Two Songs of Worship

The talented songwriters at St Silas' won't blow their own vuvuzelas, so I'll have to.

The excellent and newly wed (to the lovely Julie) Ginger Prince, Paul Robertson, has written the title track on this new worship album by Satellite. We've used the song at St Silas', and it's a good 'un. Check out his early demo version here.

And our wonderful worship pastor, Jenny Cheung, has just had a song published on this recording (My heart belongs to you). Check it out.

What amazing giftedness I'm surrounded by.

Washed

A highlight at yesterday's morning service was when some little children (along with their parents) had their feet washed. They usually miss this on Maundy Thursday, and it was delightful to see their very happy reaction. Many of the adults were less keen - I'm not sure if that was because of the state of their feet, or simply because it was too much hard work.

We were physically taking the whole church through some of the events of Holy Week, on the basis that many of us go from 'Hosanna!' to 'He is risen!', missing out all the serving and suffering. This meant going on a little journey around the church before joining together for some sung worship and a short sermon.

I was nervous about how it would all go, but in spite of a few bottlenecks, on the whole it seemed to work. Experimenting in public worship is a costly business sometimes.

St Patrick's Breastplate

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever.
By power of faith, Christ's incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan river;
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;*
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of the cherubim;
The sweet 'well done' in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors' faith, Apostles' word,
The Patriarchs' prayers, the Prophets' scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun's life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart's idolatry,
Against the wizard's evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

Christmas Spirit

I got to church at about 10pm on Christmas Eve in order to set up for the Watchnight service. As I opened the bag which contained my prayer book and Bible, I detected the powerful smell of whisky. I'd placed a bottle of Glenlivet in the bag earlier in the day when one of our senior members had given it to me after a home communion in a snowy Strathblane. The trouble was, I'd forgotten to remove it when I got home. This wouldn't normally have been a problem, but unfortunately I slipped on the ice outside the rectory while leaving for church. I lost my mobile phone at this point too (I found it frozen to the step when I got home in the wee small hours). The bottle's base separated from the body during the fall, but I only discovered this once at church.

My main problem was that my Bible and Prayer Book were both reeking of strong liquor. At the beginning of the service, I explained what had happened, just in case anyone smelled the whisky and thought someone up front had taken one too many. I commented that my Bible was now most definitely full of the spirit. Most people laughed. I could have cried at the waste.

One staff member commented that this was one very convoluted method of explaining away my partying on Christmas Eve.

The Christmas services were both busy. It was good to welcome back some people who came to our Carol Service last Sunday night as well as those visiting family and friends. As usual, many of the church family are way at this time of year, but nonetheless, it always feels to me as if our worship is joining in with something much bigger, and so it proved this time as my retired Church of Scotland minister friend, Gordon Reid, led the music. On Christmas Day, I managed to avoid the dancing he invited us to participate in. This might have been somewhat lacking in Christmas spirit!

Happy Christmas

A little GadgetVicar tradition.....A Happy and Blessed Christmas to all readers of this blog.

What's It All About?

Home communions, maybe a bit of hospital visiting, watchnight service, cleaning the rectory and preparations for Christmas dinner all to do today. Keep focussed......it's all about Jesus, of course.