This was one of the themes picked up by Archbishop John Sentamu as he issued a reminder at the closing worship service of “Edinburgh 2010” in the Church of Scotland Assembly Hall. Alluding to the gospel account of Peter’s denial of Christ, Sentamu added: “Jesus today is on trial in the court of the world by our lips and lives. Jesus and his gospel are being judged.” Sentamu continued, “Human activity only begets human activity. The prophetic Word and the Spirit make us live.” His voice echoed with an evangelising passion that recalled preachers of the past who spoke in the same space. It was also reminicent of his recent visit to the CWW National Gathering in Edinburgh in 2008 when I had the privelege of introducing him to the 8,000 audience gathered at Ingliston. Archbishop Sentamu has been such an inspiration to many of us in Scotland and he was the ideal peron to bring the conference to a close.

PRAISE GATHERING 2010
All the good things were not just happening in Edinburgh, through in Glasgow, the Praise Gathering, under the leadership of Ian Watson was packing in thousands to the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall over a three night stint. I had the privelege of attending on the Saturday evening. It turned out to be a fantastic evening. What I like about the Praise Gathering is it lterally does what it says on the tin. Its about praise to Almighty God, and its not about celebrities. in many ways it seeks to pick up the theme of Hope and Humility.

The Director and Conductor Ian Watson has been a wonderful friend to all of us involved with Church Without Walls events. Over the last few years in Aviemore. His inspirational leadership in worship was quite outstanding. Ian has put together an extensive programme of praise music, for the Praise Gathering, in doing so he seems to be able to find the balance between a participatory element to allow his audience to engage with praise themeselves allowing them to become producers of praise, while at the same time offering everyone the opportunity to become a consumer listening to an amazing 400 voice choir sing a variety of pieces ranging from traditional gospel to more contemporary songs.

For me the highlight of the evening was an arrangement of the well known hymn “How Great Thou Art.” How they did it I don’t know but they moved from a lyrical ballad to a rockous gospel sound in less than a minute, greatly assisted by Gamu.

Now I said there were no celebrities but there was one outstanding star! Once again for me the evening highlight was the young Glasgow singer Gamucharai Nhengu (aka Gamu). She is a seriously talented young woman. The truth is the she brought the whole Concert Hall to life. She has amazing stage presence and for someone so slight one wonders from where does the voice come? To hear Gamu sing again it would be worth any Glaswegian brave the elements and venture east and attend the next Praise Gathering which takes place in the Usher halls Edinburgh on Saturday 19 June.

As Bob Dylan wrote many years ago ” The times they are a changin’ ” Its amazing how politicians in the national interest can end up comprimising their once strongly held beliefs in order to gain the controls of power. I’m not sure what to think about the change of government. But I do know we are facing one of the gravest economic situations ever and we now have a very divided and inexperienced coalition government taking office. Time I guess will tell if they will be able to hold together the agreement they’ve just made. I hope it works for all our sakes. Perhaps some of the more extreme policies of both parties will be curtailed when they come to the vote in the Commons. One thing is for certain we all need to remember in our prayers all those who have taken upon themselves the high office of public service. It would be wonderful if we could gain back into our public life a sense of integrity of purpose. How we do that when we have such an unscrupulous press is not going to be easy.

I must confess I’ve always felt that we’ve not always had unbias reporting manner as far as the media are concerned with this past election. I could never quite understand why they were reporting a Clegg bounce when the leadership debates were going on. I never thought Gordon Brown did as badly as the political pundits reported. And I guess the election result bears it out. All this has got me thinking for which party would Jesus have voted. Answers on a postcard.

As minister of St Andrew’s Bo’ness I was delighted to see that once again we have been able to share our vision of working in partnership with our sister congregations and civic officials to help build a better community for the people of our town. It is important that the church has been able to serve the community by making the above hustings happen.

One of the agents for the candidates remarked as he left the church, ” This is not how I expected the evening to go, tonight has been an eye opener for me.” I think he was referring to the local expertise that was around in the church building. He may also have been referring to the fact that the church was able to stream the event out live, that the Vine Trust has its roots deep in the Christian Comminity in Bo’ness and that we in St Andrew’s in partnerships with others are delivering a multi-facited social programme touching all ages across the community.

The purpose of the day was to introduce a new constituency to Alpha and also to show that there was a sound theological ethos surrounding the whole course. The framework of Hospitality, Encounter, Catechesis and Community were all duly explored as key elements to the course.

It was actually well done. However one couldn’t quite help thinking how a course that has been run for years put in the hands of a theologian can be repacked in such a way that one would almost think that it had been designed that way in the first place? Don’t get me wrong this comment is not meant to be a criticism it is more a revelation. Sometimes we do things and we don’t see the shape or the structure that lies behind what we do. I guess it was this that I found helpful and yet left me asking the question, when they designed it. did they think this structure?

The guest speaker was Graham Tomlin. He is on the Alpha staff at Holy Trinity Brompton and an Oxford Don to boot. If I closed my eyes I thought I could have been listening to David Cameron. However there the resemblence ended, because there was real substance to his contribution.

He has recently written a book entitled ‘Provocative Church’. Tomlin’s presentation was spot on helping us all to think through how we can best engage with a generation that is very suspicious of people who want to evangelise them. The summary of his thesis it seemed to me to be saying, Its more how you live it rather than saying why you believe it. Believing comes later belonging comes first. The how comes first, the why later.

I totally agreed with his analysis of our post modern or post Christian culture here in the UK. We are in a different place from where we were 50 years ago. The rise of pluralism has made it difficult for Christians to talk about world evangelisation in the way we once did. Religion in this new world order has been given a different place. When it is brought into the public arena it has to be branded in such a way that it speaks an inclusive language. How do we do this without comprimising our belief in the exclusive flavour of the Christian gospel is a question we need to be wrestling with on a daily basis?

It will be interesting to see what comes out of the Edinburgh Missionary Conference 2010 this coming June. This will be an international gathering of Christian leaders and academics engaging with the current ethical and moral topics facing Christianity today in the light of Christian tradition and culture. One thing is for certain it will be a different conference from the one held in Edinburgh in 1910 exactly 100 years ago. It from this conference that the worldwide missionary movement of the 20th century has been attributed.

Today we need to be continually asking the question, how do we share the gospel of Jesus Christ in this changing world where different cultures and faiths demand an equal respect and acceptance. It will also be of interest to see how the Lauzanne Congress in Cape Town later this year engages with these very same same topics surrounding pluralism and evangelisation. This whole dialgue takes us into the area of philosophy and sociology of signs and symbols. It also challenges the whole concept of truth. Indeed we are back to Pilate’s famous question to Jesus.

In the conference yesterday Tomlin introduced a quote from the famous 20th Century French thinker and commentator Jean Bandrillard. I think it went something like this,( if I’ve got it wrong someone will correct me) ‘ None of our societies know how to manage their mourning for real… as a result we try to reproduce an endless searching after the real.” It was an interesting quote which he used to suggest that what people are in search of today is reality. To put it in my words they are asking of us the simple question ” Does it work? ”

All this is a challenge to evangelicals to realise that there are many different ways to communicate the gospel. Christians who have a passion for world evangelisation need to realise that Britain is in a post Christian pluralist culture. The fact is the prevailing “plausibility structures”, have a profound aversion to evangelism. The political classes have no desire to see one religion promote itself above another.

The rise of fundemalism and the whole experience of 9/11 has caused a fear factor to be projected by commentators around the ideas and actions of over zealous religious people. Too many of our role models for evangelism have been rooted in the American Culture of the 1940s and 50s spiced up a little bit to look and feel more attractive for the 21st century. The tele- evangelists of the current God Channels in the UK are on the whole connecting with people who agree with them and many of the contributers on reflection may well be adding to what I call the commercialisation of the gospel. Whether this is a good thing or not can be debated. The facts remain they are talking to a narrow ghettoised audience. We need to be in the business of broad casting rather than narrow casting.

The truth is that there is much we can learn from other Christian cultures, especially those in the east, who have lived with pluralism and know well very the challenges that pluralism brings to Christian witness. I for one am indebted to the insights of Bishop Newbign who spend a huge part of his ministry in india living our gospel principles in a society that has over 33 million gods. Newbign was of course a Church of Scotland missionary before becoming the first Bishop of the Church of South India in Madras.

All this means that the authenticity of the gospel will only prevail when Christian men and woman earn the right to talk about faith becuase they have been living the reality of the gospel in their communities. We must become people who live out the reality of kindness, grace, forgiveness, service and integrity.

On a more personal note, I was delighted to be able to film a number of church leaders for our next round of video podcasts coming up on Sanctuary First. Make sure you take a moment to check out their contribution over the next few weeks. And a huge thanjk you to the organisers of the Alpha Training Day it was a great success.

Anyway, I started my new series on the Book of Ephesians and I hope the congregation will enjoy the sermons. I think it is all right to enjoy the things of God. Therefore it is good to talk aboput enjoying sermons. God takes great pleasure in our pleasure. How amazing is that? There is just so much in the Epistle of Ephesians that challenges us to be positive people, living out Grace s a life model in the world.

Today I had the privelege of having a group of leaders from the various community sectors visit with us here in Bo’ness. They were part of the Common Purpose Leadership Programme. This is an organisation that offers leadership training to various sectors including industry and the business world. I had the opportunity of taking part in a seminar talking about leadership styles and sharing a little with them about the person who has influenced me most.

The wonderful thing is that Jesus of Nazareth is now often quoted and held up as a Leadership Model among those who write about Leadership. Today I used the thinking of the Clinical Psychologist Frank Lake, to introduce the group to the Cycle of Grace. It is a model from which we can learn about leadership. Lake saw in Jesus the ultimate leader who was comfortable in his own shoes becaue he fist and foremost felt and understood what it meant to be accepted.

At the end of Luke chapter 3 we have the baptism of Jesus and the words of the Father saying, ” You are my beloved Son and with you I am well pleased.” It was this knowledge of acceptance that allowed Jesus to feel sustained enough even to face the trials and the temptations of the wilderness experience. From such an experience Lake suggests, Jesus discovered his significance and it was this knowledge of his purpose and significance in the world that gave him the courage to bind up the broken hearted, heal the sick and even face the cross.

But here is the amazing idea – when Jesus faced the cross was that the achievement of his life? His death brought about by the betrayal of a friend and the indecisive Roman Governor? Or was it more?

What looked like failure was in fact the greatest achievement that has ever been, the redemption of a creation. You see Ephesians tells us that all things that are in heaven and on earth will be gathered up and given their meaning in Christ. Jesus Christ is the great Comic Unifier. So the resurrection of the one becomes the promise of the resurrection of the many. Hope and victory are drawn out of failure. What is failure to one person might in reality be tseen as their starting point to renewal.

As we face a General Election here in the UK I am only too aware of politicians defining success in economic terms. Now in many ways that is understandable. Perhaps we need to hear about the achievements that might look like failures but which have become the driversto being about change and renewal.

I wonder if there is a place for leaders today to reflect on the nature of success that is not soley based on economics but relates to creating and sustaining workable and lasting relationships built upon communities of fairness and integrity and dare I say it trust. Communities that value the contribution of the man who earns his living with the skill of his hands as much as the one who earns his significance through his brain power. We also need to be aware of the effect that unemployment has on the self worth and significance of an individual. How do we create opportunities for more people to engage in work that creates and develops good and lasting relationships? I’m thinking on the many opportunities that could arise out of a philosophy of work that was not only rewarded through economic gain but was rewarded through respect and heartfelt gratitute.

I think we need to start engaging the politicians to begin to think about what it might mean for them to work closer together to work for the common purpose. What I find so amusing in all of this, is that we live in a so called politically correct culture, promoted on the main by politicians, who say they believe in being inclusive, yet who find the whole idea of modelling inclusive politics completely impractical. And while i point the finger at the politicians I challenge the Church of Christ to consider what it means to be one body serving together in community. So what does it mean to be people who live in community yet recognise the shaping tool of diversity. Perhaps our politicians could learn from the church model of being a people who are called to live in commmunity out of our diversity? The interesting thing is that this whole theme of unity and diversity is one of the key themes discussed in Ephesians.

The thing is perhaps voters will in the end decide to stick with what they know rather than take the chance at a time like this with the other two parties who have rather inexperienced leaders. Brown may well end up Prime Minister again if Clegg can steal votes from the Conservatives.

Anyway I enjoyed much more my seat in the sun here in St Andrews Fife, this afternoon, looking out over the North Sea reading my latest theological aquisition, “The Theology of John Zisioulas, Personhood and the Church”. I’m in the process of preparing myself to preach a series of sermons on the Epistle to the Ephesians.

I hope to start preaching on the introduction this Sunday. Ephesians has much to say about the nature and purpose of the Church. You know we really have a purpose as Church to be the alternative to the empty individualism of worldliness. We are God’s living manifesto for change in the heart of humankind. Its actually fasinating to hear politicians speak about the nature of greed and dishonesty among politicians. However none go to the source of the problem. The need for a redeemed humanity.

One of the great liberating ideas is that the Church is the Community of Resurrection. There is a great phrase I came across in the above book which I’ve found myself meditating upon this afternoon it is this ” The final resurrection of the many is the cause of the resurrection of the one Jesus Christ.” How brilliant and inspiring is this thought. Christ rose so that he might bring to life again all those who have fallen asleep.But more than that those who are dead in their trespasses and their sins. You and me and even our MPs

It gives us all a whole new perspective on the resurrection and also on the great eternal love affair that exists within the Godhead towards us human beings. All things will be brought together in Christ. there may well be a great ash cloud hanging over the UK this evening but one day the groaning of creation and the pain and disruption of life will be set free and will be made new in Christ. In him all things will come together in peace and harmony. In Christ the many become one. In Christ diversity comes into unity. So ultimately Christ is the great unifier of all things and the ultimate answer to all political questions.

I wonder if the time has come for the Church to become more pro-active in putting forward the case for marriage. The thing is many of the young people who are living together but not married are doing so with a good heart and a willing intention to stay together and also stay faithful to each other. If my assumption is right then why is it that so few take the formal step of agreeing their commitment in a public forum? Its not because they are afraid of commitment, many of them have made commitments to joint mortgages for hundreds of thousands of pounds. however such commitments also have the potential of reaping a material profit. The living together can be seen as an additional conveinent way of getting on the property ladder. For some the legal commitment is not the marriage ceremony but the signing of the mortgage with the mortgage broker.

Somehow the church has not explained or modelled marriage in such a way that those who live together see any difference or advantage in being married. One thing I do know is that too many people equate the wedding ceremony with the need for a big expensive celebration.

I wonder if what I said in my last post about individualism has had an effect on the way individuals react to the idea of commitment when it comes to relationships. Marriage has at its centre the idea that two become one and actually belong to each other. For the Christian it is a relationship that reflects the depth of love and commitment that Christ has towards the church. So marriage is seen as a physical analogy describing the close relationship betwen Christ and the Church. In many ways if we need to make the case for marriage I think we also need to make the case for the Church. The Church needs to explain to its members and also to the world around the reason for its existence. Christian marriage and the church are intricately woven together.

So I wonder if there is a place for a national advertising campaign promoting marriage and also offering the opportunity for couples who are making plans to live together to consider the advantages of marriage. So what do you think? How do we engage a generation to rethink the place of marriage in their relationships?

I think there are areas in the UK where less than 35% of the population turn out to vote. In Glasgow there are some constituencies where the vote was as low as 39% at the last general Election. When it comes to membership of political parties the numbers are even less. Put it this way on paper the membership of the Church of Scotland is around 600,000 the membership of the Labour Party on paper in Scotland is 18,000 and they claim to be the party with the largest membership. So while we hear much talk of the decline of the church why is it that the media seldom ask the politicians about the decline of politics. Fewer and fewer people seem to be interested in their policies and their speeches. Indeed the number of people listening to current affairs programmes is on the decline. More people listen to Songs of Praise. Yet religion is not broadcast to the same extent as current affairs and politics.

Politicians should really be worried. Could we be seeing the first signs of democracy unravelling? We have had a long tradition in western thought that has been influencing our education system and our understanding of personhood. It is sometimes not spoken about but it is displayed in action. It is like an undertone that influences the colour of our thinking. It is a basic assumption that individual rights and personal freedoms are always ideas that fly in the face of community and living in communion. There is a philosophy abroad that says when all is said and done, it is every man for himself, we are isolated human beings, we might see need but we need to preserve self over against the other and against society as a whole.

Could politics be seen as becoming almost a cult promoting individualism? Almost every politician speaks in defence of the rights of individual. This thinking has influenced politians from all the parties. This whole way of thinking was illustrated in the fiasco over MPs expenses. When it came down to brass tacks many were more interested in their own personal gain than the public purse.

We the public should also be worried because if so few of us care about who governs our country and who makes the laws then we are surrendering power into the hands of fewer and fewer people. I believe that the Church is called to be an example to the world of how freedom and community are interdependent on each other and that they are not mutually exclusive but indeed part of the building blocks of the Kingdom of God.

So while I throw out a challenge to the politicans I also exhort the Christian Church to step up to the plate and live out and model the Kingdom of God in the here and now.

Chocolate Sunday is all about debunking the idea that we should give our little pleasures up during Lent. I really think Lent is about a greater challenge. It is an inviatation to pick up the cross and follow Jesus. It is a challenge not to deny yourself chocolate but to deny yourself.

I was reading an article in the Guardian newspaper today which was focusing on the ethical dimension that needs to enter into politics. Nick Clegg the leader of the Lib Dems outlined his philosophy of human nature. He said he started from the premise that human beings are by nature good. The drive of his arguement was that if we can get the right economic policies in place and promote a society of “fairness” then things will get better. I thought to myself, Nick your following the old Liberal deception. All men and woman are by nature good. the truth is that all men and women left to their own devices will seek to do what suits them best not what suits the wider community best. We are all by nature sinners. There is hardly an action we carry out that doesn’t have the potential to be twisted for our own advantage. Take for instance the things we do or do not do at Lent.

The fact is that t many of us give up chocolate or give up this and that during Lent and we feel smug when we’ve finished. Its almost as though we pat ourselves on the back and tell people how proud we are of our self control. Its so strange we say we’ve given these things up for lent and all the time we’ve givn up following Jesus. The chocolate thing is more about our image and the Lent idea is more about an opportunity to engage in a slimmimg programme. You know deep down that you really need to lose some weight. Lent then becomes an excuse to allow you to do something that you’ve wanted to do because you want to improve your self image.

The real meaning of lent goes beyond the chocolate. it invites you to journey with Jesus to the place of obdedience to the place where you say ” Father not my will but your will be done.” So i guess the 40 Day Challenge is a call to pick up the cross and in doing so change your world.

Today was no exception. We were down at the branch this morning tranferring money to a couple of project which we support in India. We couldn’t have had better personal service even 50 years ago. However I’m afraid what happens in the friendly community of Bo’ness is seldom reflected in other banking establishments.

I came across this piece of correspondence supposedly written by a 98 year old lady to her bank manager. I must confess I couldn’t help but identify with her feelings about our impersonalised banking world and I also enjoyed the chuckle as i read her letter.

Dear Sir,

I am writing to thank you for bouncing my cheque with which I endeavoured to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the cheque and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honour it. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my Pension, an arrangement, which, I admit, has only been in place for a mere thirty eight years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account £30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank.
My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways. I noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become. From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person.
My mortgage and loan payments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank by cheque, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate. Be aware that it is an offence under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope. Please find attached an Application Contact Status which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative. Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Solicitor, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof.
In due course, I will issue your employee with PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modelled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press buttons as follows:

1. To make an appointment to see me.
2. To query a missing payment.
3. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
4. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
5. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
6. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.
7. To leave a message on my computer (a password to access my computer is required. A password will be communicated to you at a later date for the Authorized Contact.)
8. To return to the main menu, and to listen to options 1 through to 8.
9. To make a general complaint or inquiry, the contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service.

While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.

Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.

May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous, New Year.

Your Humble Client,
Myrtle J Watson.

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