GadgetVicar

Taking A Leap

How could we have missed this gem when we looked at 1 Samuel 25:22 recently?

This reminded me of Roald Dahl's 'The Vicar of Nibbleswick'. A new vicar creates a few problems for both himself and the parish. He gets off on the wrong foot by telling one woman what a nice 'god' she has and patting it extensively. He then explains he is there to teach the word of dog. The vicar has a rather unusual form of dyslexia, which means he turns whole words backwards. One unfortunate incident is when he explains that, at communion, 'You must not plug from the wine cup, you must pis, pis, pis!'.

Sticky

Phew, a 'sticky' week so far. Time-wise. Pastorally. Emotionally. Physically. Literally (no, really - read on).

Eight St Silas' people went to Johnny's funeral. I knew them all. The first time I've conducted a funeral service where I knew all those attending. It felt like a family. I suppose that yesterday, for Johnny, we were.

Spoke at Glasgow University C.U. last night. In Qudos, in the Q.M. Smell of beer. Sticky floor from same (my trainers were immoveable at one point). Much better venue than St Silas' used to be. Loved it. Had a good conversation about Scientology with Mike, the Q.M. doorman. We both agreed it wasn't worth the money. Then he learned why I was visiting. I hope he didn't think I am as mental as some of the showbiz Scientologists.

After a month, my mysteriously disappearing spectacles have been discovered. I got home in the middle of the afternoon, went into the bedroom, and I could see them poking out from under the bed - a place which we'd looked in at least three or four times. It seems the pixies who stole them had finished using them! The main problem is, I can't cancel the replacement pair I ordered. I'm not a happy bunny, but at least I don't have to wear my old pair with the scratched lenses which hurt after an hour or so.

We also got news last night that the Willow Creek Association has invited us to take part in the Reveal Spiritual Life Survey over the next month. This will give us a great opportunity to check the spiritual health of the congregation. I suspect we'll learn some uncomfortable stuff about ourselves and the church. St Silasites, watch this space.

And the word from our website designer is that it appears our new website might go live by the end of the month.

That's My King

In tonight's sermon, I seem to have used a variant of the words originally preached by S.M. Lockridge . For those who asked, here's a video version and the original wording:

My King was born King. The Bible says He's a Seven Way King. He's the King of the Jews - that's an Ethnic King. He's the King of Israel - that's a National King. He's the King of righteousness. He's the King of the ages. He's the King of Heaven. He's the King of glory. He's the King of kings and He is the Lord of lords. Now that's my King.

Well, I wonder if you know Him. Do you know Him? Don't try to mislead me. Do you know my King? David said the Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. My King is the only one of whom there are no means of measure that can define His limitless love. No far seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of the shore of His supplies. No barriers can hinder Him from pouring out His blessing.

He's enduringly strong. He's entirely sincere. He's eternally steadfast. He's immortally graceful. He's imperially powerful. He's impartially merciful. That's my King. He's God's Son. He's the sinner's saviour. He's the centerpiece of civilization. He stands alone in Himself. He's honest. He's unique. He's unparalleled. He's unprecedented. He's supreme. He's pre-eminent. He's the loftiest idea in literature. He's the highest personality in philosophy. He's the supreme problem in higher criticism. He's the fundamental doctrine of historic theology. He's the carnal necessity of spiritual religion. That's my King.

In Other News

In between working quite hard, we've been getting out and about a bit more than usual: we went to a fab party on Saturday night (we had a choice of two, and were last to leave the one we went to - changed days for us!); went as a family to see the Golden Compass (possible review to follow); spoke at Tots & Co (our Toddlers and Carers group), inviting them to our Christmas services - the wee faces were delighted at Tommy the puppet; had a vestry meeting last night at which, among other things, we reviewed the pledges made so far to Building for the Future (details of which to follow, for which we are so grateful to God - the response so far has been wonderful, but we still have a considerable way to go).

My main focus this week is getting ready for our Carols by Candlelight service (Sunday @ 8pm). This will be my thirteenth year of speaking at this, and to be honest it's become the  talk I struggle with most during the year, so prayers for this are valued.

And to cap it all, today is my 44th birthday (I know, I know, I don't look that ancient, thank you very much!). One of the benefits of being on Facebook - I've received more birthday greetings than usual, so thanks for that too. My birthday treat? We couldn't get tickets for Led Zeppelin, but I am going to see the Grammy-nominated Porcupine Tree with GV Boy tomorrow night (and the Icicle Works with Ms GV next Monday night).

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.

The Preaching Group

Our preachers' group met last night under the expert tutelage of Edward Lobb from the Cornhill Training Course (Scotland).

Eight of us gathered, and I admit to being quite tired as we began. The 7am Wednesday prayer meeting makes for a long day.

Edward had us working on texts such as Acts 2:14-36, trying to find the big idea in the passage. This involved taking the original context seriously, discerning the main theme and aim of the passage. He then helped us to think a little about structuring our sermons.

As we engaged with the Bible passages, I found myself waking up and being refreshed by the exercises set for us. We were reminded of the sloppy preparation methods that so many preachers adopt and we were encouraged to 'marinate in the Word'.

All in all, it was a tonic, and just what I needed to hear, for I'm preaching twice on Sunday and today will find me in a state of complete marination.

Lying Down on the Job

(Shaking head sadly) I don't know. The behaviour of young preachers today.......

Is this the future of preaching?

Listen to this morning's sermon to find out what is being illustrated.

A Preaching Sabbatical

It all feels a bit weird. I haven't preached at St Silas' since July 15th. I preached nine times 19-22 July in Sweden, but I haven't done any other preaching since then. That's nearly a month. I was due to preach tomorrow morning, but at short notice we invited Bishop Godwin to come and he will preach instead.

I've heard it said that it's good for preachers to have 'preaching sabbatical'. I must say that it's been good to rest the voice (the doctor reckoned that might be good for the whooping cough), and it's also been good to pick up the Bible in my daily reading and not be constantly thinking how to preach it. The best preachers allow the Word to be applied to themselves first.

It feels good to have rested from preaching the Word and in so doing be fed by it.

Now I'm hungry to preach it again. That will have to wait for next Sunday.

John Stott at the Keswick Convention

I remember very vividly, some years ago, that the question which perplexed me as a younger Christian (and some of my friends as well) was this: what is God’s purpose for His people? Granted that we have been converted, granted that we have been saved and received new life in Jesus Christ, what comes next? Of course, we knew the famous statement of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: that man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever: we knew that, and we believed it. We also toyed with some briefer statements, like one of only five words – love God, love your neighbour. But somehow neither of these, nor some others that we could mention, seemed wholly satisfactory. So I want to share with you where my mind has come to rest as I approach the end of my pilgrimage on earth and it is – God wants His people to become like Christ. Christlikeness is the will of God for the people of God.

So if that is true, I am proposing the following: first to lay down the biblical basis for the call to Christlikeness: secondly, to give some New Testament examples of this; thirdly, to draw some practical conclusions. And it all relates to becoming like Christ.

Read it all here.

Mark, 'Clan', Weather

Amongst other things, I've been busy this week preparing talks for a Bible School in Tranemo, Sweden, that I'm taking part in next weekend. It will mean nine talks over the course of three days (six on the Gospel of Mark, two more at evangelistic-style events, and a preach on Sunday morning). It's been uplifting over the last month to be reading through a Gospel, something I've not done for a while. Part of the aim of the course is to take the participants through the whole of Mark, so that they have a thorough grasp of how to handle it, and how God might speak through it.

I fly out from Prestwick at 6.30am on Thursday and get back on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, GadgetVicar Boy left this morning (with quite possibly the majority of the church - I think we'll be small in number tomorrow) for Clan Gathering. He's helping out with the Kidz team. He's camping. He has no wellies (someone told me there is a national wellie shortage?).

I'm praying for fair weather for the week:

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father,
who art the author and giver of all good things;
Look, we beseech thee, in thy loving-kindness upon us:
thine unworthy servants,
and grant to us at this time such fair weather
that we may receive the fruits of the earth in their season,
to our comfort and the glory of thy holy Name;        
through Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

                    (from the 1912 Scottish Book of Common Prayer).