Remember as well as crying Jesus laughed!
We had an excellent service this evening at church. the theme of the service was centred around the women who followed Jesus. We found ourselves thinking about the kind of man Jesus would have been. Russell McLarty got us all thinking about the "Laughing Jesus" He suggested that too often we have allowed images that depict a solemn and somber Jesus to influence the way we think about Jesus and also about our Christianity.
I was reminded of a quote I once read...
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Well here I am waiting in a restaurant to catch up with Iain Jamieson. It's Monday night and we're going to be thinking about re-recording a tune I wrote for John Stuart who now lives and ministers in Knoxville USA.
It got me thinking all this songwriting started way back in 1986 we had just completed a long weekend in Maybole as a joint youth project between the young people in Maybole Old and St Andrew's Bo'ness. My friend Gordon Reid, was the Maybole minister. We...
Today I started to put together a number of articles for the Parish Network. Its the new name we're giving to our church broadsheet that we distribute around the parish. It go me thinking about some of the things we might plan for Holy Week. Before long I was reflecting on the amazing experience I had a few years ago when I took the bread and the wine out into the streets on Good Friday. It was a a profound experience. Taking Christ to the busy street on Good Friday....
There is a great buzz around the church even although the weather is cold and the forecast is more rain this week. I've been encouraged hearing about at least half a dozen people of all ages finding a voice to openly profess their faith. In addition Sanctuary First turned out to be a great success last Sunday evening. The change of time for the evening services seems to have struck a chord especially with people with young families. We had around 50 at church last...
Relevance is surely another word that makes the church sticky. For too long the impression that many people get is that the church is no longer relevant to their everyday lives. For a start most of our buildings are only open during limited periods in the week. The thing is that many of them are situated in really prominent positions. People walk past them every day. However the building and its facade is often screaming. Keep out! I sometimes wonder if those of us who...
Last week at the evening service I was talking about the centrality of praise and adoration in the life of the Christian. I wasn't so much talking about singing praise songs or listening to your favourite praise album. I tried to describe it as a sense of well being. It's knowing all will be well when you have no evidence to substantiate the feeling. It is this sense of "well being" that praise nurtures in a person that makes the Christian an attractive person...