Boys and their Toys

One of the questions that I get asked from time to time is, what is it about clergymen and model railways? Go to any model railway show, talk to any group of clergy and you are almost bound to find at least one railway enthusiast among them, to a disproportionate degree. There are many theories why, often connected to the particular interest that the clergy person has. There is an element of predestination among those with a particular interest in signaling. There is the creativity among those with an ecological outlook. There is a fascination with the idea of spiritual gifts among those with an interest in rolling stock but then there could just be the fact that for six days out of seven they are always around people, ministering to people and the idea of just going off by yourself to recharge your batteries in your own wee world appeals.
I was thinking about this yesterday because a neighbour had a friend visiting who is a railway enthusiast and so I invited them to join me at the Perth Model Railway Club. I said to my neighbour that I would gather some stuff together so that we could run a variety of things on one of the club layouts.
I then gathered up a variety of trains that I have in their own separate stock boxes with their appropriate engines. A short freight with a small shunting tank engine, a slow freight with a different engine, this time with a tender but with small wheels to pull heavy loads. Express freight with a larger tender engine still and then both local and express passenger trains. All the engines were quite different and all were used for different tasks, to help keep the railway going and to fulfill all the needs that existed. I think I have around 18 classes of locomotive now which can be grouped into about 6 broad categories of task.
It reminds me of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians when he writes that Christ is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church. We are not all glamorous express engines, or humble shunters, we all have different gifts, different skills none more important than another in order to do the work of the church and to build it up just as each engine was important because it fulfilled a requirement on the railways.
So where are your gifts, what have you to offer the church in order to build it up? Every one of us is important in their own way in order for us to be a strong and vibrant church do not think you are not important and do not have anything to offer for we all have gifts to bring before our God.

Resident Aliens

Passports, immigration and visas is a live topic at the Manse just now. Jane had to renew her American Passport recently and because of that she has had to get a new permanent leave to remain stamp in the new passport from the UK government so that when we go overseas she can get back in the country OK. The only trouble is that the new biometric cards can take up to six months to arrive and it is less than that until we go back to the USA for an event at our son’s college. So we have been doing all sorts of things to expedite the process.
It has made me think back to when I got my green card to remain in the USA when we were first married. Of course the green card is not green, it is pink! It also had emblazoned across the top “Resident Alien.” it made me think I should be green and have weird antennae! However resident alien was also the name of a very important book written by Hauerwass and Willimon about the fact that we are no longer living in a Christian society, that the predominant worldview has dismissed Christianity and we are living in a post-Christendom context. They wrote the book almost thirty years ago, but the church is still struggling to come to terms with the implications of this reality. As a song expresses it, we are strangers, we are aliens, we are not of this world because we belong to a different kingdom, the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I believe that as a church we need to consider what we do when our values are no longer shared by society’s values. Are we prepared to be different, when we do not accept what society is saying and want to stand for a different reality? A lot of the controversy in the church today, when you get down to it, have these questions at their core. it would of as all well to consider how we want to address these issues.

What is your word?

It used to be said that a person’s word was their bond. in other words if you made a promise you kept it and it was a matter of personal integrity for you to keep your word. There was no need for written contracts or notarised documents because if it became known that a person did not keep their word they quickly became known as being untrustworthy and no-one would do business with them.
Sadly those days are long gone. In the course of any given week I meet many people and often after a fun conversation they will say that they are going to come and visit Kinnoull Parish Church. In 90% of those cases I am still waiting. What people say and what they actually follow through on are often so very different.
I wonder if that is why the church today struggles at times. Jesus made so many promises, promises to us, about us and about the future and for the modern person, they read it and they automatically distrust the promise because of so many disappointments in their own lives. Jesus did not come down wrapped in a legal document signed by God, he was wrapped in swaddling bands. Yet, I believe that that the event at the end of his earthly life does give us that legal document, because in rising from the dead Jesus kept his promise to his disciples and thus proved that he does keep his word. His word is true, his word is his bond and he has proved that over and over again to those who trust him. So even if your word is not your bond. Even if you have been let down in the past you can place your faith and your trust in Jesus Christ without fear of disappointment so come along to Kinnoull this Sunday and hear another of Jesus’ promises as we continue to work our way through the parables portrayed in Millais’ famous window.

What are we saying?

In the Herald this morning there is an article about an essay written by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow. In it he claims that we have become too wishy washy about standing up for the faith we believe in. He accuses the church of not standing up for itself against robust secularism and becoming ever more compromised and accommodating. For example we do not want to talk about sin but only about modelling good behaviour. I think he has a fair point. If we do not stand up for matters of faith then the church runs the risk of becoming a social work agency. If we do not stand up for faith then we become just another social club with a vaguely moral agenda. As the church waters down its message in order to accommodate culture so we lose our ability to speak on anything at all and so the decline of the church will continue. Soon we will have nothing unique to say at all.
My challenge to you today is to ask yourself, what do you really believe? Can you defend your faith and stand up for what you believe I. For if we don’t stand up for something we will fall for anything!

An amazing creation

I hope that you have not missed the minister’s blog too much over the last couple of weeks while I have been on holiday. I am back now having had an amazing time which gave me cause to reflect once more on the amazing world we live in. For the first part of my time away I was at the beach. It was not a Scottish beach and so as well as the usual seagulls, of which there were a few, soaring overhead and then diving into the water were pelicans. Now I love pelicans. They are so graceful in the air and watching them dive for fish is just amazing. I sat for hours just watching them. Then later on at my mother in law’s house I had been outside and just as I got to the back door I was joined by another bird. For by her back door my mother in law has a hummingbird feeder. I stood stock still and it flew within two feet of me and started to feed, hovering while its long bill sucked nectar from the feeder. You very quickly realised how they got their name with the loud humming sound from its rapidly beating wings. Again I could spend hours at my mother in law’s house just watching the various hummingbird feeders and watching their aerial displays.
Then from the beauty of nature we experienced also the fierceness of nature as we sat in the airport terminal waiting to fly home while the whole place was shut down by a ferocious thunderstorm associated with Tropical Storm Emily. It was dark as night, the lightning flashing all around with the deep rumble of thunder and the heavy rain which would take two turns at hitting you, once on the way down and a second time as it bounced up off the tarmac. It was terrifying, yet somehow awesome.
Unusual birds, uniquely adapted to their lifestyle, incredible storms terrifying yet awesome. It just makes you reflect on the amazing world and its creator. Why don’t you take a moment to reflect on all that God has made, pause and give thanks.

Remodelling lessons

As I said last week, there is a big remodelling project happening at Kinnoull Parish Church. I have popped in a couple of times to see how it is progressing and I will do again before I officiate at a wedding in the church grounds this afternoon. When I went by on Thursday the new wall was up at the edge of the balcony, you could see where the new doors into the hall would be and even the hatch was marked out. However on Friday there was a big development which I saw on Sunday. They had put in some big steel beams and bracing to support the balcony temporarily when the old wall gets taken down.
Sometimes we could all use a little additional support. You might have lost a dear friend, relative or spouse and need some support while you cope with the new reality you are facing. You might need some additional support because of a change of work or home. It might be that you have become empty nest parents and are finding the transition tough.
This is a time when small groups in a church really come into their own. When you have built up a close relationship with a small group who meet together regularly for prayer, study and fellowship you have a steel support structure which will bear all the weight you can place upon it. You have folk to turn to, to talk to, to pray with and in today’s mobile society when we are not all surrounded by all our friends and relatives this type of support network is more vital than ever before. I would even go as far as to suggest that the willingness of a church to set up a small group ministry is a good indicator of how serious it really is about reaching out into the community.
So let us get our support network into place, for you never know when an old form of support will crumble away and you are left trying to shoulder all the weight of society’s expectations.

Let the work begin

If you drive or walk past Kinnoull Parish Church over the next few weeks then you will see that there is a lot going on. The Memorial gates, made in memory of those from the church that died in the first world war are away being repainted. There are workmen all over the hall extending and remodelling the kitchen and we are even going to have a part-time Youth and young families worker starting in the next four weeks or so. This is all part of our ongoing commitment to the community. The kitchen renovation will make it easier to host fellowship meals, coffee mornings and afternoon tea and chat. The youth worker will lead events such as Strengthening the family and provide a fun outlet for the young people in the area and the renovation of the gates is just the first part of a plan to brighten up the exterior of the church to make it more welcoming and inviting. If you live in The Gannochy, Bridgend or Kinnoull, remember this is your church. We are here for you, and more importantly, to journey with you. Come along and see what exciting things we have planned and make our great adventure your great adventure.

Death where is your sting?

This past month has been a very tough one in the Manse household. There have been a number of people who have died who have been a big part of the family for many years either as a relative or as a friend. Thus it has been a sad month, because we will miss them; their ready smiles, their sense of humour and their candid advice. However although we will miss them, as will many others, at least we can take comfort in knowing that their pain and discomfort, that had plagued their final days are now over. They are at peace, they are at rest. We also can take comfort in the fact that they were people of faith. They knew Jesus as their Saviour and Lord, they were committed to his kingdom and therefore are assured of their salvation. As Jesus himself promised “If you stand up for me against world opinion, I’ll stand up for you before my Father in heaven.” We may be sad but they are now enjoying the glory, death is not the end and even death cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
For us, in the Manse, that is a great comfort and a strength. Do you know that strength and comfort for yourself? Have you decided to follow Jesus and live a life of faith, hope and love? I pray that you have, not just for your own sake, but for the comfort of those who you will someday leave behind, that the sting may be taken out of their sorrow, their grief. Think about it.

Clergy and trains

What is it about the clergy and railways? The writer of the Thomas the tank Engine stories was a Methodist minister. One of the great model railway layouts of all time was Buckingham central built by the Rev. Peter Denny. Whenever you go to a model railway show you could just about have a Presbytery meeting as there are enough Presbyters present for there to be a quorum. The two simply go together for some reason. Is there that latent Calvinist trait that the route of the train is predestined by the signalman? Is it this creative spark, in the image of our God that makes us want to create our own perfect little world? I do not know but one thing is for sure, this weekend Perth will be full of clergy as it is the Perth Model Railway show. It will be a fun weekend. Come along and meet your minister in a different context. You might find out that ministers are quite human after all!

I can see clearly now.

I knew from my last two eye tests that my reading vision was not improving. Because of a history of glaucoma in the family I have to get a test every year and I had been told that my vision was slightly worse each time but not enough to warrant a change of prescription. Today was different. As I went through the test I was aware myself that there was a big improvement that could be made. So those of you who are observant will notice their minister looking a little different at some point next week when my new glasses arrive.
As I walked home from the exam, squinting because of the pupil dilator drops in my eyes the words of Paul came to mind, “12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!” Whenever we read scripture we are always squinting at God, getting some idea of what he is like. But because some squint one way and someone else squints a different way we do see things differently. We build up a picture gradually and slowly as we feel God revealed to us. But that picture can be quite different for two different people. Can we really say that one is more legitimate than the other? I’m not sure we can. I think the important thing is to keep discussing how we see God in Christ, how our squinting is affecting the emphasis that we have while listening to how their squinting affects the emphasis that they have and maybe, just maybe, by so doing we can build a much more complete picture than we could on our own.

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