We may be busy but let's not be in a hurry.
This picture is a reminder to me of the importance of sometimes just doing absolutely nothing. Its good sometimes to be busy doing nothing. The lesson we learned this evening I hope will prepare me and others for all the things that lie ahead of us this Summer. Our Thursday study group is reading through material based on John Ortberg's book entitled " The Life You Always Wanted" It's a common sense approach to re-ordering our lives so that we begin to train for the Christian life rather than try to live it.
Tonight we were reflecting upon the importance of carving out space in our lives to encounter solitude. Ortberg describes the difference between being busy and being in a hurry. Being in a hurry is to have no time to stand and stare. Being busy is being fulfilled and balanced in Christian discipleship. So I know I'm hoping that I won't be in a hurry and suffer from "hurry sickness", but I do pray that we will have much success in delivering a variety of really interesting opportunities for service to many in the congregation over the next few months.
The next couple of weeks are going to be pretty busy, as is the next few months. Neil Maclennan and myself had an interesting meeting this morning with a consultant who we hope will be helping us to think about how we plan for the ever increasing opportunities we seem to encounter as a congregation. Our consultant is going to be helping us to think about how we can build capacity and restructure our organisation and put together a strategy plan. So you can see we have some interesting times ahead.
Meanwhile, as Chair of Vine Trust, I'm delighted to welcome Paul Clark and his wife Marty to Scotland. Paul is the General Director of Scripture Union Peru. During the next couple of weeks he will be touring Scotland making contact with the various supporters of our work.
Next Thursday is going to be a big night out for us all at the Inchyra. Thanks to the MacDonald Hotel Group we will be hosting an event to promote the work of the Vine Trust. there will be some great prizes, and Tom Morton of BBC Radio Scotland will be the MC. Let me tell you, I've been out there trying to persuade businesses to take a table at our event. It has been challenging but I think we are getting there.
Anyway the following week will be the General Assembly, and our technical team from St Andrew's Bo'ness will be delivering the technical support for the streaming of the General Assembly. I'll also be delivering a report to the Assembly on Wednesday 23 May reporting on the future plans for the CWW programme in 2008. i tell you a little more about this after i've been at our planning meeting tomorrow in Edinburgh.
Here in Bo'ness we will be preparing for the appointment of our new family worker to join our team. We will also be putting together our plans for the Summer programme. Lilias our youth worker and Craig our youth elder, have been up in Aberdeen this week connecting with Jim Richie and his team. Jim we hope will be leading a youth mission in the town at the beginning of July.
There is also another group of people preparing to set off for India towards the end of July. This group hope to meet up with some of our partners from World Without Walls. Also over the Summer there will be a group looking at the structuring of the King's Club, reflecting on how we can best delivery a first class experience to the children who attend church on a Sunday morning.
