I think I hear someone saying so, "what are you doing in Lima? Well apart from the fact that Lima is rapidly becoming one of the world's best cities for fine dining. I'm here on my annual visit to enable me to report back to the Board of Vine Trust about the work that we are currently funding here in Peru. Well it's really all very exciting! We're trying to make sure that the work we do in partnership with Union Biblical is the best it can be. Like everything in our...
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The Vine Trust Diamond Jubilee Appeal for 2 million pounds was launched last Thursday evening with a Dinner at St James'Palace. It was well received by all who attended. It was a very successful evening. Raymond Blanc the world famous chef was in attendance having overseen the menu for the evening. As Chair of the Vine Trust I'm so grateful to Orient Express for their generosity in picking up the cost of the evening. Already we've received substantial pledges. Its...
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[caption id="attachment_3937" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="Manna Dobo Artist"][/caption]I've had a pretty busy week hence just back from a Vine Trust Jubilee Dinner in St James' Palace. I'll get round to telling you about that visit in my next post. However i wanted to follow up on my last post. Manna Dobo is a quite outstanding artist and respected in her field of visual arts. We are so fortunate to have someone of her experience and talent teaching at...
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I'm just in from visiting a parishioner I know its the early hours of the morning but it is such a privilege to be able to pray with someone who is nearing the end of their life. I'm reminded of all we have been thinking about today. God is to be encountered in the every day activity of life. In the ordinary ups and downs and in the times of sadness as well as the times of great celebration and rejoicing. In our preparing for death and in our preparations to bring new...
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Finding God in the ordinary! This is the theme we will be exploring through Sanctuary First this month. Please pray for the work of Sanctuary First. We've lost our funding and had to make a member of staff redundant, however we're looking for ways in which we can keep the programme running. In order to solve our immediate problem we will be doing some re-runs of themes. However we're looking at this as an opportunity to be even more creative. Those of you who regularly...
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I'm conscious that in a few months I'm going to be preparing and focusing my mind on the task ahead of me as Moderator of the General Assembly 2012. As I do so I'm delighted that my good friend Peter Neilson will be taking over the leadership of St Andrew's Bo'ness for the 15 months that I'm away. I know its going to be an exciting time for all of us. Like this tree I pray that we all may be given room to grow. Martha always loves to see trees in their own space. It...
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