Calvert argues that the way forward for the church is to engage with the broken parts of our societies and in doing so show that Christianity is not simply about sterile dogma and truth issues but it is about living these dogmas out in a practical way so that we reconstruct the Kingdom not simply through grand words but through postive actions that change the hearts and lives of communities. Well that’s how I’ve interpreted his contribution.

The dogma of secularity can be and often is overtaken by the pragmatic approach of secularists and Christians alike, who seek to subvert those who want to promote stereotypes when it comes to faith based organisations. The picture of the bread and the wine on the street is a subversive and converting idea. Offering communion on the street was enacting out in a powerful way the truth that Christ is reconciling the world to himself.

I believe the church has always been in a unique position to be the changemaker in our local communities. Surely, that is what the church was established by Jesus to do. Calvert points out that secularism is the result of the “Death of God Theology” As many of you know this kind of thinking can find its roots back to the philosophy of Emmanuel Kant. He sees us humans as disengaged,estranged from one another without relationship, he sees us humans as unwilling to except any law but our own, certainly no external laws from an external and eternal God.

Kant has had an enormous influence in the way that the modern world sees itself. There is little doubt that his philosophy has influenced the thinking behind social science and our religious studies, especially here in Europe. It means that human beings think they can find the answer from within themselves. This kind of thinking is prone to believe that the individual will always seek to establish himself or herself over against community. It is very Darwinian, the strongest always survives. Yet the paradox is that people are drawn to community yet feel and think community will always rob them of their freedom and perhaps their survival.

Now the Gospel of Christ proclaims a belief that you can only be totally free when you are in community and engaging in communion. The one and the many need not be mutually exclusive. The teaching of Jesus highlighted in John’s gospel is all about unity. The one and the many in Christ. Paul further explores this idea in Corinthians 12 when he speaks of the freedom of the different parts of the body within the unity of the one body.

It is this teaching that is at the heart of a new emerging church that I can see developing and making interesting subversive inroads into our secular society of the 21st century. Robert Calvert alludes to the fact that Orthdox Christians are now working in partnership with Christians from more Independent style churches. For me the miracle is that many more of the Independent Charasmatic churches are engaging with the more traditional or mainline churches. I was speaking to an Indian pastor who was staying with me last month from a small Independent church in Chemmai, he confirmed to me that many of the mainline churches in India are being influenced by the Indpendents and vice versa. This coming together to engage in acts of charity are all to my mind signs of the Kingdom. Often from this flows an exchange of worship styles and also the breaking down of barriers and walls that Paul speaks of in Ephesians.

It is not only a partnership with other churches that can change communities, it is also partnerships with local governments and other charitable agencies. The church can be truly ’salt and light’ when we work alongside others of good heart who want to bring about justice in the world. I can only talk for the UK but I am encouraged by the number of statuatary agencies and Charitable Foundations that are open and willing to help fund work of a social nature that is carried out by fgaith communities.

Firgive me referencing my own congregation but it acts as an example of engaging with the secualar world. We run four social outreach programmes out of our congregation here in Bo’ness as well as our international development work. A greater proportion of our funding comes from what we might call secular agencies. The BBC Children In Need fund our “Bounce Higher Programme, this is a programme that seeks to connect with children and families and offer them support and encouragement at various points in their lives where they might be feeling a bit vulnerable. Our programme supporting elderly people who suffer from dementia is partial funded by the Social Work Department, and our Christian Counselling programme is run out of the local Medical Centre. Our youth programme has developed and grown and has a not insignificant role to play in the local High School. Finally our not for profit media company is engaging with all kinds of projects and commissions both Christian and secular, including developing n online emerging church programme.

All this makes me aware of the great opportunities that are available to churches and Christian communities who want to begin to engage with the issues of our day. We may not start with handing out tracts and singing gospel songs but the reality is that sooner or later the topics of forgiveness and injustice guilt and truthfulness raise their heads and in the context of authentic relationship the gospel can be explored and received. Yes the Christian church needs to critically engage with the secular world and be shining examples of integrity and resourceful creativity. I am convinced that we need to reflect more upon what it means to be free in Christ and live for each other in community. To love God and serve the world and to also serve God and love the world. It has been my experience that very often it is Gospel and Communion that breaks open Dogma and Diversity. Communion holds diversity in unity and I think that’s not a bad piece of dogma.

Check out Robert Calvert’s Article

There is something about summer that makes us all feel just perhaps that little bit more optimistic. Is it the weather? Is it the fact that we get time off to go on holiday? Is it that we can get into the garden and enjoy a summer evening with friends? What ever it is I just know that most people like Summer.

For me one of the most inspiring phrases about summer comes from C.S. Lewis in Chronicles of Narnia. Aslan speaking to the children says: “. . . you are – as you use to call it in the Shadow Land – dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.”

I think there is something quite liberating about the above phrase. I can still recall the amazing sentiments of joy bubbling up within me as a child knowing the school term was over and the holidays had begun. Walking away from school was a truly spiritual experience. For me it was like a huge cloud had been lifted. It was summer, time to play.

It was just fantastic getting ready for holidays as a child. It was so exciting in our family. The big case would get packed, my dad would have on his ‘sports clothes’ as he called them, a tweed jacket and cavalry twills. Then it would be off to Ireland for two weeks with the big case on his shoulder and us children following behind and my mother keeping us all together as we walked up the gangway.

Those were exciting times for a boy who lived in the city. The chance to ride a tractor, the opportunity to sit in a big milk lorry. I can still recall the smell of the milk lorry cabin with the torn leather seats and the petrol and oil mixing together in the atmosphere to create a smell that for me says ‘all is well’. Those were happy days without a care in the world. Can you just imagine how wonderful that feeling is for a child?

C.S. Lewis uses that experience of ‘end of term’ to help look forward with expectation to the time when we will find ourselves released from the term of this life and we will be facing eternity. Death then is nothing to fear, it simply is the gateway into the light and the peace of God’s presence. I think this phrase of Lewis’ reminds us that living for many of us is just existing in the Shadowlands, indeed that phrase describes all of us.

Deep down in our souls we know there is more something quite wonderful to look forward to even better than any Summer holiday. I’ve come to the conclusion Summer is almost like a foretaste of heaven. It gives us a chance to think in a different way about life. The cold wind of the winter is over and the fresh warmth of the Summer days beacons us to think positively about life and also about life after death.
So why not kick your shoes off this Summer and get ready to enjoy your holidays. Yeah the dream has ended – let us make this day the first morning of the rest of our lives. If God is for us who can be against us?

Finding ways to connect with people is at the heart of the Gospel and of course the biggest connection of all is when a man or a woman discover the presence of God all around them. The thing is when this happens its “a God incident” its not something we can generate it happens in God’s time. I also think it happens when the Church is practicing what it means to be an everyday church. The truth is the church has to be an everyday church because its all about people living their everyday lives. Too often we still think of church as the building as a set of programmesas an organised identity. Church is not really like that at all. I think its a lot more messy than we’d like to believe. Jesus in his parables iis continually surprising people who want things to fall into a neat solution. he tells stories and parables that stretch our ideas of fairness and justice. He tells stories that often put the people who ae on the outside of religion more at the centre of true religion than those who are at the centre of religious organisations. It might even be that some of the organisations and structures and trappings of past religious experience may have to wither on the vine to allow the new branches the new grapes to begin to grow.

I’m becoming more convinced that God is working where he has always been working in the hearts and lives of individual people drawing them together by his Spirit to fulful his purposes in the world. Those of us who are used to thinking of church being church in a set way, we need to change if we are going to be part of the church of the 21st century.

Look into our building these weeks when the young people are off school and you’d think it was building site. There are just so many bits and pieces lying around the place. I’m ever thankful for our long suffering church cleaner who takes is all in her stride. Its also a parable the people and relationships are there to bring glory to God. the building has to be made to fit round the needs of the people not the people fitting around the building. Now that is our problem. We have an old building no longer fit for an everyday church. So here is the question what does a building being used by an everyday church look like? Do we need one building, do we need many buildings, do we need to use more technology? What is the 21st century church building to look like? let me hear your comments

So get listening to my show its on air every day at 9.00am except Saturdays and Sundays. So if your reading this get listening to italker on air. I’ve a great show lined up for today.

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.

We had some rain but for most of the time everyone enjoyed the opportunity to be out in the fresh air getting to know each other and eating some fantatstic burgers. big thank you to the Discipleship group for organising the event. Douglas and Andrew and Martha all did a wonderful job. i was especially pleased to see such a good cross section of the congregation involved.

So it appears like everyone is looking forward to the next one. When will it take place? Maybe next Sunday if the weather’s good we could have a barbie in the church garden. What do you think Lilias? a great way to elcome our visitors from India. i believe they arrive with us on Saturday.

Talking of which if your around in the Church garden you may see one or two flags flying. In reality they are prayer flags from Sanctuary First. If you want to know more about them you’ll need to check out www.sanctuaryfirst.org.uk Sanctuary First is an exciting online worship experience which we at St Andrew’s Bo’ness are developing in partnership with other congregations around the Scotland. There are literally hundreds of prayers on the site and numerous videos that I’m sure could be used by various groups in different settings.

We’re looking at the present moment for more people to join with us in the partnership and put on the Sanctuary First service in their area. The venue needn’t be a church in fact it would be great if it was some place other than a church. We’re also hoping that eventually we’ll be able to connect with some congregations from around the globe.

Meanwhile we’ll keep pressing on and once again a huge thank to all who worked so hard last night to make Sanctuary First so special.

Mary tells me she has attended St Andrew’s for most of her life. She has been a Sunday School Teacher and a member of the Choir. She misses many of her friends who ae no longer with us, however she always has a genuine interest in the work of teh church and is someone who realises that changes have had to take place. While she may not like all of the changes. She believes that some were essential.

Her father was invited to be an elder, but because he didn’t have a morning suit. He turned the offer down. All this got me thinking. Many people complain that the church is not what it once was. In some respects I’m glad. When I think of a church that excluded people from the eldership because of their clothes, I think of a church that had missed the point of the gospel. Lest we as church leaders a hundred years on get on our high horse, perhaps we need to think of the attitudes we have that are preventing and creating barriers to faith in Christ. It might be of interest I just heard the other day of someone who went into a church only to over hear someone comment on their clothes. Nothing changes! Even James in his epistle wrote about attitudes to clothes and riches.

Anyway its happy birthaday to Mary

Yesterday I was working with Dianne Collins who heads up our Bounce Higher Programme. Our task was to make a start on our next grant application to Children In Need. We are so grateful for the support we’ve been given by the BBC Children In Need. Over the past two and half years the grant we received has allowed us to begin to develop and grow a child centred programme called Bounce Higher.

At the heart of this programme is a desire to help children learn how to be resilient. I think this is such a key word to explain to children especially those who have all the added strain that comes from marital breakdown, bullying, illness, and learning difficulties. The great thing about Bounce Higher is that it is a programme open to all children. It means that no one is singled out as being different. Every child has the potential to bounce higher regardless of their circumstances.

As Dianne began to speak about the importance of resilience I was reminded of the work of the clinical psychologist Frank Lake who created the idea of the ‘Cycle of Grace.” Lake suggested that by looking at the life of Jesus we can begin to see a pattern of living and a confidence that comes from resilience. However he suggests that the wqy to bring about resilience is to learn what it means to live in the Cycle of Grace as Jesus did.

If we look at the story of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke in chapter four, we see it follows on from Jesus being baptised. Here in this narrative the Spirit rests on him and the Father speaks, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased” Lake suggests that Jesus knew what it was to be loved and in doing so this truth sustained him and from that he understood the significance of his life, which took him to the place of achievement and completion, when he cried from the cross “It is accomplished”. However, Jesus’ achievemnet was not viewed as success by the world. He was seen as a failure. The cross and crucifiction can hardly be seen as success. However out of supposed failure we see resurrection.

Lake suggested that it is only as we accept people with an unconditional love that this love begins to sustain and strengthen them. It is this sutaining strength which brings about an awareness of the individual’s significance and it is this understanding of significance that brings a person to understand achievement from an alternative perspective. Lake went on to describe the Cycle of Works. In this cycle everything we have said is in reverse. You have to achieve to gain significance and this significance sustains you and finally you feel accepted. The latter cycle is the model that is too often operated in our families, in our educational establishments, and in our workplaces, and even among our friendships. For me it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can truly accept and love unconditionally. this is the true gift of God and something we must continually receive from God..

Anyway , Dianne was explaining that resilience was at the heart if the “Bounce Higher Programme and through the discussion I was able to give a theological framework for her methodology. ( I do hope I didn’t end up boring her. I was looking to see if the glazed look was there in her eyes. If it was, she hid it well. Its amazing the conversation you can have filling out a grant form. If you’d like to see the video of our Bounce Higher programme click here

The programme continues to be worked on for the Woolies Project. We just need to pray in all the cash we’ll need to cover our expenses. Keeping praying and i’ll keep giving you updates.