Re-enchantment
St James the Less, Bishopbriggs : 16th March 2024 10:52 pm : Rector, Rector's Blog, Thought for the dayOur Rector Paul writes on his blog:
The magical wonder of snow can be lost by a couple of degrees warming turning the white falling flakes into dismal rain. It is precisely the same elements of moisture and air, humidity and wind, yet the shifting of the one variant of temperature creates a totally different outcome. I have only managed three snow days in the mountains this winter, due to a combination of mostly busy diaries and a very unpredictable weather which meant days set aside for a climb would sometimes be literally a washout. Ina and I did have a good summitting of the Cobbler with the spikes on our boots giving us the grip we needed in the the last snow of the season, and I felt again the sheer wonder of walking in crisp, hard snow as the world fell away around us.
It looks like it’s gone for the year now though and we have to wait 9 months probably to get out onto the white stuff again. The hills just look wet and sodden now and most uninspiring… and yet…they are exactly the same slopes and views. It got me thinking of how our lives can often seem to hover between a sense of wonder and a sense of disenchantment. In the first we value what we have and see the bigger stories that we are part of, even in the smallness of our day to day lives, we can take great joy in little things and have a spirit of gratitude and appreciation for the sheer grace of being alive. It doesn’t take much though for the emotional or spiritual temperature to change a little. Our circumstances may remain the same, but we find ourselves bored, unhappy, dissatisfied and what once seemed homely now seems mundane, what we were content with now seems limiting.
This can creep into our wider culture too. Films, novels, songs, political discourse, media and of course social media, can look on askance at our world and see little to be hopeful about, few things to inspire and not much good news to help us believe in the better angels of our humanity. Such a disposition is rarely disappointed because it rarely hopes, is impervious to hurt because is rarely vulnerable and is too grown up to fall for the stories of adventure and travail, happy endings and brave hearts that enchanted our childhood.
As we approach Holy Week though and the heart of the biggest story of them all, I am called to hope again in the the sheer goodness of the deep down things. That there is more goodness in this world than evil, that the love of God and His entering into human history is the ultimate guarantor of all our childlike longings for a better world and better version of who we are. The acceptance of our inability to sort ourselves releases us from attempting to create the smaller worlds we can manage. Instead, a sense of wonder opens us to a much larger world, shot through with traces of a God who is good but most certainly not safe. He shows us in Holy Week that we find our lives by losing our lives, that our destiny maybe found only through sacrifice, that it’s only when a seed is buried that a harvest can come.
We can be re-enchanted once again not by some grand flight of fancy of our own making but by having the courage to believe once more that there is an awful lot more going on than meets the eye. That slight shift in perspective that creates snowflakes out of raindrops.
This post and more are available on Paul’s Blog, Stillpoint, at stillpointfaith.blogspot.com.
Curiosity in Lent
St James the Less, Bishopbriggs : 12th February 2024 10:55 am : Lent, Rector, Rector's Blog, Thought for the dayOur Rector Paul writes on his blog:
Lent starts on Wednesday and I’ve decided this year to cultivate curiosity. I’m not sure where this will lead me but it came off the back of a school assembly I led yesterday for 200 17 year olds. I was referencing Jesus’ famous saying ‘you will know the truth and the truth will set you free’. (John 8:32). Amidst all the revising for exams and the importance of learning facts and answers I was hoping to inspire them with the sense of wonder they had as children and the curiosity that led them to ask questions. Good questions sometimes are even more important than good answers.
After a day today walking with Ina in the Trossachs and hanging out in our van afterwards reading and chatting and snoozing I felt the challenge of my own words the previous morning. Lent is so often seen as a period of contraction, a narrowing of appetites, restricting of habits, scrutiny of motivations etc. It is hard to get excited about Lent the way we may feel during Advent with its lead up to Christmas…an Advent Calendar makes sense, a Lenten Calendar less so …there would certainly not be any chocolate in it!
How may a healthy curiosity inform and inspire my Lenten journey this year? There is a very appropriate place for the inner spring cleaning that comes round at this time, the awareness that we may have let things slide in our lives and need to get right with God and one another. Having a genuine curiosity about this though can really change the mood music. If we start with the assumption that God knows all about us anyway and deeply loves and cares for us then couldn’t Lent be a time when we earnestly pursue God’s good intentions and purposes for our lives, even if this includes challenging and unsettling our ingrained habits and perspectives. If these are unhealthy and skewed in some way surely it is better to ‘know the truth about ourselves and be set free‘??
I am reminded of a wonderful prayer by George Macdonald: As for me, I can only fall on my knees and pray that the Lord Christ, who had died for me, might have His own way with me-that it might be worth His while to have done what He did and what He is doing now for me . To my Elder Brother, my Lord and my God, I give myself yet again, confidently, because He cares to have me and because my every breath is His. I will be what He wants, who knows all about it and has done everything that I might be His own- a living glory of gladness.
I just love the fullness of trust that this prayer gives voice to, the sheer ‘given-over-ness’ to God and his ways and the vision of ourselves as a living glory of gladness. This is a prayer I hope to say every day this Lent until it seeps into my soul and keeps me curious about what God might do if I really live like this.
Most of humanity’s greatest discoveries have come about from someone being curious, asking a question no one had thought of before, setting out on a voyage into the unknown, sometimes at considerable cost and risk to themselves and others. We see this once again with the renewal of space exploration.
What might you discover this Lent, about your one wild and precious life? (a)
(a) Mary Oliver Summertime
This post and more are available on Paul’s Blog, Stillpoint at stillpointfaith.blogspot.com.
A deep breath and a covenant prayer
St James the Less, Bishopbriggs : 2nd January 2024 10:15 am : Rector, Rector's Blog, Thought for the dayOur Rector, Paul, writes on his blog:
It’s 9pm on the 31st of December and rarely have I felt so uncertain about the coming year. There seem way more instability than usual in our national and international systems and given the record of early 2020 and 2021 all bets are off that there’s not something else coming down the track. Or perhaps October 7th was that and it just came early. Or maybe it is the metastatic fall out from that day which will dominate early 2024. Tonight I’m at the top of a big wave, hovering there waiting, feeling rarely more alive just as the pre-reptilian bit of my brain flashes all the danger signals. A deep breath.
And yet I am reminded of the prayer I led my church in this morning, written in the mid eighteenth century by John Wesley and since become an integral part of the Methodist Community’s life.
I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing,
put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you,
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you,
or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours. So be it.
And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.
Such a prayer can do very little about the circumstances of Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, economic growth, migrants, elections, culture wars, poverty, loneliness and so on and on. What it does offer as we go into the stormy seas of 2024 is an engine in the ship that is my life, the one piece of this world that I can actually do something about. A ship can survive almost any storm so long as its’ engine is functioning and it can head into the waves, maintaining a small measure of control of direction and response and, God willing, a water tight bulkhead that allows me to stay afloat. This prayer of surrender to the purposes of God, sets aside my agenda and plans and puts myself at the disposal of God’s tender mercies. Which hopefully will make a difference also in the community we live in.
I heard an interview this morning with a Jewish man and a Palestinian man who had founded ‘Combatants for Peace’. From their experience of warfare they know that violence cannot bring solutions. They acknowledge that they are on the sidelines of their communities right now. However they have given themselves over to the bigger truth that ultimately being on the right side of history means holding the ship of hope steady and keeping our moral compass fixed on the eternal stars that cannot be seen through the raging storm. On God’s tender mercies.
Such people give me hope.
This post and more are available on Paul’s Blog, Stillpoint at stillpointfaith.blogspot.com.
A Solstice Nudge
St James the Less, Bishopbriggs : 23rd December 2023 10:38 pm : Christmas, Rector, Rector's Blog, Thought for the dayOur Rector Paul writes on his blog:
At 3.47am this morning the solstice took place and the earth started its’ long journey back towards summer (in the northern hemisphere at least!). I always feel my heart lighten a little when this happens. It’s all about the direction of travel as I have so often said to people struggling with circumstances or a seeming lack of progress. And the fact that I know we are heading towards warmth and light makes all the difference in the dark and the cold. It reminds me that my current situation, however stalled it may feel, will one day pass.
Such a change though rarely takes place in a dramatic and obvious ‘before and after’ kind of way. Rather it feels like a nudge. You would have to be looking very closely to notice that little tilt of the earth that starts the process. I’ve just been looking at my weather app and over the next few days the sunset time moves by a minute each day: today:15.44; 23rd: 15.45; 24th:15:46 and 25th 15:47. (yes that really is the sunset time in Scotland!).
Of course we make the most of this dark time of year and right now most houses have a brightly lit Christmas tree in the window and increasingly many have lights around their house or on bushes in the garden. Homes are warm and the light shines through from within making a contrast to the damp dark and heightening our feeling of security and hospitality that draws us in towards family and friends.
However it is not a season we would want to be a permanent season… ‘Always Winter and never Christmas’ as the White Witch in Narnia would say. The dark seasons and difficult times of our life do indeed have their peculiar treasures and lessons for us and nothing is wasted if we trust that indeed ‘all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose’ (Romans 8:28). But, one of the lies folk can believe is that whatever dark place they are in is where they deserve to be and where they will always be. This is simply not true, a nudge comes, the earth slowly starts to turn, your life begins to move, even if with little effort from yourself.
And this is one of the big take aways for me, that the nudge that can start a life giving process once again in my life is usually not generated by me but somehow by other people, circumstances, deep rhythms of life that slowly pull us onwards towards life again like the moon pulls the tides. We fall into the post enlightenment trap of thinking that whatever is real in my life is something that a) I understand and b) I make happen. With a lot of the deeper processes that are going on in us that pull us towards love and life neither of these two things are true…trust me, I’m a sucker for post enlightenment arrogance.
So, whatever you are going through right now and however stuck or stalled you feel, believe indeed that there ‘are new things every morning, great is God’s faithfulness’ (Lamentations 3:23). Or in the words of Lectio 365, God interrupts our despair with His faithfulness, which is a pretty good summary of what Christmas is really about. Of course, it is natural for despair to be our default setting at such a time in our world…just as complacency is natural when all is going swimmingly. God interrupts both dispositions by calling us beyond ourselves and to look to the wider horizon and the gradual turning of the bigger story we are all part of. The nudge will come , please choose to receive it as God’s tender mercy and his redemptive plan for your life. Happy Christmas.
This post and more are available on Paul’s Blog, Stillpoint at stillpointfaith.blogspot.com.
Carol Singing this Saturday
St James the Less, Bishopbriggs : 7th December 2023 4:30 pm : Thought for the dayWe are gathering to sing Carols in Asda this Saturday, 9 December, from 11:00am!
If you see us – do come and say hello – or ask us to sing your favourite Carol!
A reminder of our Christmas services:
Sunday Sermon 16 April 2023 Sent by the Lord am I
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 18th April 2023 9:09 pm : Thought for the dayAileen Macdonald-Haak
John 20:19-31
Burns Evening 28 January 2023
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 17th January 2023 11:09 pm : Thought for the daySunday Sermon 20th November 2022 “Christ, a Different Kind of King”
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 21st November 2022 9:24 am : Sermon Videos, Thought for the daySunday Sermon 16th January, “Running Out of Wine – When Life Finds us Short”
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 20th January 2022 10:24 am : Thought for the dayLiminal is a word that resonates well at this time. It has a cluster of meanings including transitional stage, start of a process, threshold, being at a boundary. A liminal season implies a period of time when things are changing from what they were and are still in flux and a new normal has not emerged yet. A lot of uncertainty and even insecurity can go with this experience. Old patterns, ways of doing things and even ways of thinking and believing no longer work so well anymore but we are not sure yet what they are being replaced with.
There’s no doubt that these last two years have been an extended liminal time to some extent in that a lot of our old ways of being in the world and in public spaces have changed. We don’t know yet what the long term future of for example shopping, travelling, worshipping etc, will look like. As I write this my niece is checking in at Heathrow airport en-route to Sri Lanka for a few months, a Heathrow which is much quieter than normal as far fewer people are travelling internationally.
It is also the start of a new year, an annual ‘threshold’ moment when we look back at the year that has gone and start to get some perspective on it and look with a variety of emotions at the unknown year ahead. In one way it is just another day, but our marking of it shows how significant it is for humans that we recognise and acknowledge the momentum of time and try to bring some meaning to it.
It is also a liminal season for the church in general as we move quite quickly from old established ways and expectations to a reality of much smaller congregations and a more marginal place in the life of modern society. This is a process filled with heartbreak for many and a deep sense of loss and an even deeper sense of uncertainty as to what the future may hold, not only for individual congregations but, for wider church structures as well.
Liminal seasons however are a very natural part of life and usher in new beginnings and new ways of being in the world. There is both a letting go and a letting come. We hear often about letting go and how we need to move on and not allow things to hold us back and so on. We rarely hear though about letting come. It can be easier to identify what we have to let go of, but the trick is then to wait patiently and to pay attention to what is in front of us until we see what will emerge. We must resist the temptation to move back to what we know and feels safe.
This is also Epiphany season and the Magi are a great example of letting go and letting come. The wee bairn Jesus and his mum and dad were certainly not what they were expecting, but they were able to let go of their ‘old dispensations’ (courtesy of TSE) and let come this new light , this unexpected epiphany. It left them unsettled in their ways and forever they remain as an example of noticing the liminal moment, embracing the liminal season and letting go and letting come. Whatever lies ahead for you this 2022 I pray that you will be patient enough and attentive enough to notice what new things are emerging…these can be easy to miss if we are looking for something else.
Due to the current crazy numbers of Omicron infection rate we’ve decided to suspend all children and family events run by St James for January. It really sucks to have to do this, but going forward the signs are more hopeful. Thanks for your patience and keep safe.
-Paul
Sunday Sermon 2nd January, “A remarkable sensitivity to goodness”
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 2nd January 2022 5:06 pm : Sermon Videos, Thought for the dayHuge thanks to all those who made packed lunches. The very wet pilgrims were grateful for a warm dry hall and Sarah’s tablet!!
Crafty Kidz is back!!
Come and have a hoot at our autumn art and craft session! Sunday 7th Nov, 3-4pm St James, Hilton Rd. Kids 3-9 with parents in tow…
St James’ Conversations – Sunday 12 September 2021 – Rev Harriet Johnson
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 15th September 2021 12:48 pm : Thought for the daySt James’ Conversations – Sunday 22 August 2021 – Revd Paul Watson
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 22nd August 2021 4:48 pm : Thought for the daySt James’ Conversations – Sunday 1st August 2021
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 8th August 2021 11:39 am : Thought for the dayReadings: John 6:24-35 and Ephesians 4:1-16
Rev. Harriet Johnston talks about following Jesus and how this leads to flourishing in our lives.
Thought for the day 30th June 2021 – A slide with a view
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 30th June 2021 9:57 am : Thought for the dayI had been to see the sun setting on Monday night and once it had gone behind the horizon I came home and got ready for bed when I caught a glimpse of red through a gap in the curtains. The sky was afire with afterglow and this was something I couldn’t miss. I took Ina’s camera with her lenses to get a shot from our front door then realised I needed to go out into the street, then a bit further down until I ended up in the park. The sky was spectacular here but it was only once I was standing on top of the slide that I had enough elevation to frame the sky with Dumgoyne and the Campsies. Still wearing pyjamas and slippers.
Appreciating creation and its wonders is a form of thanksgiving as we recognise the beauty of this world that God has made and make the effort sometimes to get out there and participate in moments like this that come by, often unexpectedly. I’m not sure whether Bishopbriggs is ready for a rash of St James parishioners in pyjamas outside in precarious places late at night though! In the first lockdown there was a greater appreciation of the world of nature on our doorstep and I hope we can regain some of that this summer. And it may mean being a little daft, like the group of folk that got together last night in a random field to watch another sunset…only later did we notice the CCTV camera!
Climbing up the slide to get a view also chimed well with my reading this morning where Christopher Jamison, Abbot of Worth Abbey wrote: Classic religion is quite simply a broader and richer reality than that offered by many modern spirituality movements. Religious doctrine (has the capacity) to expand our hearts and minds, to lead people into areas that they have never experienced or considered and to save human beings from the smallness of their private lives.
Climbing slightly higher allowed me to see more and using the lens on the camera allowed me a depth of perspective I could not have had with my own eye. Our faith does that for us and these words from Christopher Jamison capture so well how being part of a community and tradition with so many years of reflection and experience helps us reframe our lives and the beauty and brokenness that we find there. As we engage honestly and deeply with the Bible and keep fresh our obedience and commitment to Jesus Christ we will find ourselves with a new perspective on our lives and a deeper understanding of our place in God’s plans to bring healing to his world. Even if we are in our pyjamas.Rev. Paul Watson
Thought for the day 23rd June 2021 – Appearances can deceive
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 23rd June 2021 9:27 am : Thought for the day“Paul and Silas were watching a match” sounds like the beginning of a New Testament joke. However Silas is a post graduate student from Zimbabwe who I have met through the Buddy scheme of Friends International and we watched Scotland play Croatia together last night. Given the amount of mutual jumping, yelling and groaning as the match progressed there is no doubt as to the loyalty of this recently arrived visitor! Although Scotland lost the team played well, have some good younger players and the future looks promising. You could be forgiven for thinking the Scots had won by the sound of cheering and support for the team at the end of the game by the Tartan Army. Appearances can deceive.
We had been for a walk earlier in the evening and Silas was telling me of trees in Zimbabwe that during the dry winter season look almost dead. Their bark is dry and brown and seeming lifeless. Within a few days of the spring rains coming however they quickly turn green, leaves sprout and the bark is transformed. These trees have many different layers of bark and during the dry season the tap root of the tree goes deep into the soil where moisture remains and keeps the inner part of the tree alive and well. Appearances can deceive.
This reminded me of Jeremiah 17:8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.’
Appearances can deceive when it comes to the church also. I recently came across a quote from the German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer: It may be that the times which by human standards are the times of collapse (of the church) are for Jesus the great times of construction. It may be that the times which from a human point are great times for the church are times when it’s pulled down. It is a great comfort which Jesus gives to his church. You confess, preach, bear witness to me, and I alone will build where it pleases me. Do not meddle in what is not your providence. Do what is given to you, and do it well, and you will have done enough…. Live together in the forgiveness of your sins. Forgive each other every day from the bottom of your hearts. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
A diverse group of people from age 11 to 89 were walking around Loch Ardinning on midsummer night deep in scattered conversations. They were seen climbing rocks, being ambushed by midges, chasing dogs, enjoying the views, celebrating life. Appearances can deceive…this is Church.
Rev. Paul Watson
Midsummer Festival @ St James Church – Celebrating local talent
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 18th June 2021 9:39 am : Thought for the dayFriday 18th June @ 7pm – An interactive conversation and interview with local authors, Mick Ashworth and Lewis Blair about their new books. Elegantly written and beautifully illustrated, WHY NORTH IS UP? tells you everything you need to know about the signs, symbols and science behind map-making. Essential reading for any map lover. Set in 1980s Glasgow, SEVEN VARIETIES OF SILENCE is a bittersweet meditation on the complexity of psychotherapy and the deep yearning to help one another. Live from St James Church (register at rector@stjamesbishopbriggs.org.uk ) and on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84553393773…(Meeting ID: 845 5339 3773. Passcode: 026106.)
More about the Midsummer Festival at St James HERE
Thought for the Day 16th June 2021 – In Praise of Beauty
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 16th June 2021 9:42 am : Thought for the day“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is a well-known saying that captures something of the way in which there is a unique response by each of us to what we see as beautiful. It has been wonderful to see the reaction of the congregation and many others to the Four Evangelists Mug. An ordinary everyday item can also be something beautiful. Churches over the centuries have tried to be places of beauty which celebrate God’s creation and the gospel story, and the history of western art particularly is incomprehensible without that.
And of course there is natural beauty that takes your breath away whether it is the minute detail of a flower or the wildscape of a mountain range. Being a minister and a people person what moves me often is the beauty of human relations and the courage and commitments that go into shaping our lives. Here are some recent examples:
· So many people at St James working hard and using their diverse gifts and personalities and ideas to make the Mid-summer festival events come together.
· Volunteers in the community being inspired and challenged to sponsor a refugee family to come to East Dunbartonshire.
· A set of grandparents who help daily, often many hours, with their grandchildren, putting much of their own lives on hold.
· A nurse, recently retired, half way through a 12 hour shift cheerfully vaccinating and chatting with me.
· A young dad inspired to run a toddler group with a vision for outdoor activities and community building.
· A young mum with three under 5’s stepping up to coordinate the toddler group when no one else will.
· A wife saying goodbye to her husband of many decades as she buries his ashes.
· A husband tenderly loving and supporting his wife who has dementia and is in a care home.
· A young dad having his children come and say goodnight to me in their pyjamas whilst mum is out with friends during a break in her cancer treatment.
· A schoolgirl singing a solo at a memorial service for her friend who died before her 18th birthday
· People coming forward to receive the Eucharist wearing masks
· The zoom chat before and after a service and the glimpses into folks homes.
· Two of our young people finishing school
· A young girl says yes and becomes the mother of the Saviour of the world.
· A young woman says on live TV ‘You can’t wait for the pain to stop to be happy’.
So…yes, the world is full of beauty and the glory of God in the face of people, even in sad and tragic situations, or perhaps especially so.
As Christians we have a wonderful story to tell and can talk about beauty and wonder in a rich and full way.
What beauty does your eye see?
Rev. Paul Watson
Thought for the Day – 9th June 2021- Mug From Above
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 9th June 2021 9:23 am : Thought for the dayThis photo, sent to me by Sophie, is named “Mug from above.” It is one of three photos she sent to show me the mugs St James is selling to fundraise for the Community audio-visual project. I’ve found putting together the publicity for St James’s Midsummer Festival fundraiser an inspirational process. One of the events features two local authors, Mick Ashworth and Lewis Blair. Mick’s latest book is called Why north is up – map conventions and where they came from, whilst Lewis’s new novel is Seven varieties of silence.
All of these titles have got me thinking about perspective – why we see things the way we do. Most of the time we see things from ground-level, perhaps a little higher if we have an upstairs or live in a block of flats. We view what’s happening in the light of experience and knowledge we’ve gained over time. One thing we learn from the Bible is that our perspective as human beings is not the same as God’s perspective. His perspective is far greater, as Isaiah 55:8-9 shows:
‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,’
declares the Lord.
‘As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.’
Silence is one way we can tune into God thoughts and begin to see things from his perspective. Silence allows us to enter the presence of God, whose love is so great that the Psalmist declares it to be ‘as high as the heavens are above the earth,’ (Psalm 103:10). The idea of heaven being higher than the earth isn’t to be taken too literally. This is a concept more associated with God’s greatness rather than location. God’s higher perspective comes from his living beyond time. People sometimes talk of being in thin places where we can feel like we’re within touching distance of God; a sense that he is right beside us.
This sense that God is tender in his closeness and, at the same time, powerful in his magnificence is one that I find incredibly comforting. God’s greatness and deep love for each of us means that he is both able and willing to come close, to protect us and to provide us with what he can see we really need. That might lead to him encircling us and accompanying us as we sit down to read a book, pondering what it says, while drinking our favourite brew from a mug we view from above.
Rev. Harriet Johnston
Thought for the Day – 2nd Feb 2021 – When We Pray
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 2nd June 2021 9:31 am : Thought for the dayLast Sunday Harriet reminded us in the very telling phrase that when we pray we do not pray as the alone praying to the alone. This sentence has stuck with me since then and I have noticed in my prayers that I do sense myself as part of something much bigger. And I am more aware also that prayers are going to God even when I have ceased my own. This reminded me of a hymn I would often sing to myself in Sri Lanka in the evenings as I watched the sun going down in the direction where so many of my family and friends were. Here are the well known words which I encourage you to read slowly and notice which lines stand out for you. You could also listen to it here by clicking here: (13) The Day Thou Gavest Lord Is Ended : The Choir of the Abbey School, Tewkesbury – YouTube
The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended;
The darkness falls at Thy behest;
To Thee our morning hymns ascended,
Thy praise shall sanctify our rest.
We thank Thee that Thy church unsleeping,
While earth rolls onward into light,
Through all the world her watch is keeping,
And rests not now by day or night.
As o’er each continent and island
The dawn leads on another day,
The voice of prayer is never silent,
Nor dies the strain of praise away.
The sun that bids us rest is waking
Our brethren ‘neath the western sky,
And hour by hour fresh lips are making
Thy wondrous doings heard on high.
So be it, Lord! Thy throne shall never,
Like earth’s proud empires, pass away;
Thy kingdom stands, and grows for ever,
Till all Thy creatures own Thy sway.
I love the sense of the global church that the song conveys, that we are linked to millions of other Christians that worship and pray and seek to serve and be faithful to Jesus. Especially after this last year and the continued uncertainty it is important to remember this. I love also that there is an unceasing offering of prayer and that just as the sun rises and goes through its circuit, so do the prayers of the church. When we can feel tired and worn down, being reminded of this can refresh and renew us.
Who knows, but perhaps the prayers of a person in Namibia or someone in Hong Kong are holding you up as they pray for their brothers and sisters in Scotland. So next time when we listen to the intercessions on a Sunday and we come to the part where we pray for other parts of the Anglican Communion, let’s really join in.
And finally the hymn has a great sense of confidence that God has not abandoned his world, that it still is his, even when things are in such a mess and that we can be hopeful for its final outcome. Each decision we make and step we take to live in line with the values of his kingdom will bear fruit in time.
Rev. Paul Watson
Thought for the Day – 26th May 2021 – Images of Christ
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 28th May 2021 10:12 am : Thought for the dayOften on a Sunday morning I switch my radio on around 7am and listen to Radio 4’s Sunday programme. This religious current affairs programme is interesting to listen to as I awake and prepare myself to lead Sunday services. Last Sunday an interview with Chine McDonald from Christian Aid caught my attention. She was talking about her new book, “God is not a white man”. She spoke of how her image of God has been influenced by depictions of Jesus as a white man. For most of her life this is how she pictured God when she prayed, something she recognised was theologically problematic for her as a black woman.
The Bible doesn’t describe Jesus physically, but it’s likely he looked very different from how he has long been portrayed in western art and illustrations found in older Bibles. Luke 3:23 says Jesus was about 30 years old when he began his ministry, but the Bible says little about what he looked like, except that he didn’t stand out in any way. In fact, when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane Judas Iscariot had to point Jesus out to the soldiers who came with him, probably because Jesus and his disciples all looked similar to one another.
Jesus, like his disciples, was a Palestinian Jewish man living in Galilee in the first century, so he would have looked like a Jewish Galilean. Although we don’t know exactly what Jesus would have looked like it’s likely that he would have had dark, perhaps curly hair, dark skin and dark eyes. The fair long-haired, bearded image of Jesus found in early art was heavily influenced by representations of Greek and Roman gods. The thought behind images of Jesus wearing robes, seated in positions of honour sometimes with a halo surrounding his head, was not to show Jesus as a man, but to show Jesus as Christ in his divinity.
Last year the Archbishop of Canterbury made the following statement on Twitter: “Jesus was Middle Eastern, not white. It’s important we remember this. But the God we worship in Christ is universal, and the hope he offers is good news for us all.” He acknowledged that Christ is depicted in different cultures as someone who looks like them. He posted some of his favourite images of Christ from around the world and invited people to share theirs.
Reflecting on this got me thinking about where I get my image of God from. When I was little, I was given a children’s book about Jesus. The colourful pictures depicted Jesus as a middle eastern man, and this framed my image of Jesus. In fact, when I was old enough to go into an art gallery and see religious art, it took me by surprise to find Jesus depicted as a white man. He looked so different to what I had seen in my children’s books.
When I visited the Holy Land during my ministry training, we had a guide who was Palestinian. One day he took us to a restaurant in the Old Town of Jerusalem. He knew the owners well judging by the familiarity of the banter between them. While we were eating, I observed them laughing and joking and I wondered if Jesus and his disciples would have looked like these friends as they laughed and joked together.
The images we have of Jesus have a bearing on the way we see God. We make many assumptions based on influences we may or may not be aware of. When I read about Jesus and his disciples in the gospels, I find it helpful to consciously put aside what I think I know and read each passage as if for the first time. Why not try it for yourself? Choose a gospel passage and read it through a couple of times. What does it actually say? Allow yourself to picture the scene using the actual information given. Why is this important? We can become so familiar with what we think the Bible says about Jesus and miss the detail. We can form a composite of Jesus based on a variety of influences which may blind us to aspects of who Jesus is and how he relates to us. By renewing our image of Jesus, we can renew our appreciation of who he is and what he has done for us. Our prayer life can become more dynamic and exciting as we get a fresh insight into how Jesus wants to relate to us today.
Rev. Harriet Johnston
Thought for the Day – 19th May 2021 – A Timeless Prayer
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 23rd May 2021 12:10 pm : Thought for the dayMy Lord God I have no idea where I am going I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear for you are with me, and you will never leave to face my perils alone. Thomas Merton,(1915-1968)
Thomas Merton, as some of you will know, was a Trappist monk whose writings on the spiritual life were very influential in the middle years of the twentieth century especially but still have a resonance. This prayer seems as relevant for us today as it did when it was first written. I will briefly comment on the direction of the prayer but hope to come back to it at some point over the summer.
My Lord God I have no idea where I am going I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Merton starts by acknowledging how uncertain life is. As someone who lived in the same monastery for many years he was not talking about geographical travel, but that sense of the unfolding nature of our lives, how we change as people and how circumstances can surprise us. He is also humble enough to let go of attempting to control his life in the face of this uncertainty and that includes his own spiritual formation and discipleship.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
He is also honest enough to confess that he is still discovering much about himself, that his inner drives and motivations for example can remain a mystery. This means that as a Christian he may get things wrong and that it is possible he does not know what God’s will is. Such childlike humility is at the centre of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.
God looks on us like a loving parent whose small children bring paintings, crafts, mud pies etc which are done out of love but with minimal skill. It really is the thought that counts and so long as we sincerely desire to get it right, Merton encourages us that God will guide us. He reminds us that there are right roads and choices and those are better than their alternatives, but that God will help us in the making of these. Often though we are not aware of how we are fulfilling God’s will, and how he may be using us to bless others, and I think that is quite wonderful.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear for you are with me, and you will never leave to face my perils alone.
With echoes of Psalm 23 Merton reminds us that we will indeed face perils and even the shadow of death and will feel lost at times. Such things are part of what it means to live a full human life. Rather than running from them we are encouraged to live into them knowing that we are not alone.
As we emerge into whatever lives ahead for our planet, our country, our city, our church, our family this summer let’s keep the words of this prayer close to our hearts.
Rev. Paul Watson
Thought for the Day 23rd April 2021 – Visiting
The Rev Paul Watson : 23rd April 2021 9:34 am : Rector, Thought for the dayNext weekend will mark the 30th anniversary of my start in Christian ministry. A large part of these years has been spent visiting homes. First of all students from all around the world in their residences in Glasgow, then folk all over the south side of Glasgow, then in Kandy, Sri Lanka, followed by Aberdeen and now Bishopbriggs. Thirty years of conversations in many varied contexts and through the whole gamut of human emotions and life cycles. It doesn’t take much for memories to surface and I can recall hundreds of faces and innumerable homes. It is a rare privilege to be welcome in homes in this way as a Christian minister and my life has been deeply enriched by it. Ina and I have also shared our own home for everything from student supper parties to bible studies, vestry meetings to pot luck meals, pastoral conversations to teddy bear picnics in the garden.
One of my guiding bible verses for this ministry has been 1 Thessalonians 2:8 we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well because you had become so dear to us. At the heart of every congregation is this sharing of lives, an involvement with one another through the ups and downs of life and a willingness to be honest about how things are. Several socially distanced conversations recently in folk’s gardens have brought this home to me as they have related ways the church and other friends have been there for them. You can’t read any of the New Testament and not pick up how important relationships are and the many links and connections between people. Our faith is very communal, down to earth and gets right into the nooks and crannies of our lives and relationships.
As The Message version of John 1:14 says: The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood. God honours the details of our lives, domestic and otherwise and builds his kingdom through them not in spite of them. Some unhelpful ideas of Jesus have him floating slightly above everyday life in early Palestine, not affected by the heat and the dust, fatigue and pain, serenely passing through on his way back to heaven. This couldn’t be further from the truth. He was often found visiting people in their homes and living through the realities of everyday life…walking at times in the centre of trouble. (Psalm 138:7)
The bible ends with God dwelling with his people. Once again The Message version of Revelation 21:3 Look. Look. God has moved into the neighbourhood, making his home with men and women! The bible starts in a garden and ends in a community where God is one of our neighbours, visits in our homes and has regular teddy bear picnics.
Rev. Paul Watson
Thought for the Day 26th March 2021 ‘Let it go’
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 26th March 2021 9:32 am : Thought for the dayIn various conversations recently I’ve heard people’s stories of what they have been ‘sorting out’ and ‘getting rid of’. Perhaps the long lockdown has forced us into taking spring cleaning more seriously. As we move towards the summer we want to be less encumbered with …stuff!
It’s been said that one of the skills of a great artist is knowing what to leave out. Sculptors need to leave out stone, painters can’t fit everything in, poets certainly have to work hard at getting the words just right, and of course writers have to be really strict with themselves.
Being creative is hard work and sometimes means letting go of the good so you can create the best. Life also is a creative endeavour and hard work. One of the big questions that the ancient philosophers used to ask was ‘how to live well’ or ‘what does it mean to live a good life’? A virtuous character became the Greek ideal.
A virtuous character was important to Jesus too, but he knew it could lead to a sense of self achievement as an end in itself, so he was careful to make it a by-product of a God centred life. Jesus said that his purpose was to do his Father’s will and that in order ‘to find your life you must lose it’ and ‘take up your cross and follow me’.
He lived what he preached and gave up the good that was his life, his teaching and his following in order to allow the best to emerge from the cross and the empty tomb. Jesus knew the importance of leaving things out and you could say that his journey to the cross was a gradual letting go until he was hanging naked on a cross and took his final breath.
On the cross the Creator of the world let go of his own claim to life. His Spirit is now released to help us let go of what can seem important, even essential, even good, so that we can live into God’s best for us. The long arc of life, particularly in our later years, is a gradual letting go. Why not allow your faith to give meaning and purpose to what is going to happen anyway. May we all ‘grow old gracefully’, or perhaps even dare I say… ‘grow old creatively’?
And as we emerge from lockdown slowly maybe there are some things we have been able to do without that we can perhaps still do without. Just let it go and see what living creatively can look like.
Rev. Paul Watson
Thought for the day 24th March 2021 ‘We are in the Business of Hope
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 26th March 2021 9:28 am : Thought for the day‘We are in the Business of Hope’.
These words jumped out at me when I opened a recent email from the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI).
A few years ago I collected donations for the RNLI. Still in contact with this charity, I receive emails containing stories and videos of recent rescues around the U.K.
This latest email recounts a rescue by Gavin Steeden, Deputy Coxswain of Swanage Lifeboat Station.
‘I’ll never forget seeing hope in the eyes of two sailors as they were plucked from the bow of their sinking yacht by my crew. It was a stormy evening, the sailors were doing night time navigation training when their yacht ran aground so hard the rocks holed the vessel and it began to take in water. One minute I was home sound asleep, the next I was at sea with the crew. When it’s your job to launch into raging seas because somebody needs you, you’ve got to have hope in your heart. And you hope upon hope that you bring your crew and survivors back home safely to their families. That hope comes from caring’.
When Paul asked me to write a ‘Thought for the Day’ about hope, that got me thinking, ‘what is hope’? The dictionary explains it as ‘Looking forward with optimism’.
Never more was this the case as during the two World Wars. In 1939, to keep up the morale of the overseas armed forces, the BBC granted Dame Vera Lynn a programme called ‘Sincerely Yours.’ Of course ‘We’ll Meet Again’ and ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ were always included. Not everyone was in favour of the sentimentality of the songs, believing it would cause homesickness. However, it was soon found that the hope element of the lyrics was a great boost to both military and families alike.
I was aged six when the Second World War broke out. By the winter of 1940/41 air raids were a nightly occurrence. I remember vividly one such raid. There was no warning by wailing siren of an imminent attack. My parents and us children, four in all, including new born baby, were nervously huddled together at the foot of the stairs, unable to get to the Anderson shelter because of gun fire, shells and shrapnel. The well-known drone sound of enemy aircraft overhead confirmed the dangers. I recollect my father saying to us trembling bairns, ‘right, courie-in and we’ll all say The Lord’s Prayer’. We hoped our prayers would get us to the protection of the shelter. Warfare subsided, we ran to safety, prayers answered.
This last year of ‘lockdowns’ has been a testing time for everyone. One hope now is that vaccines prove reliable, and like smallpox, polio and scarlet fever, the Covid 19 virus will be a rarity. Surely the latest news of the slow easing of restrictions is a reassurance that better days are ahead.
One of my favourite hymns, because of the enduring words, is ‘My hope is based onnothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness . . . in every wild and stormy gale my anchor holds and will not fail’.
Adrienne
Thought for the day 19th March 2021 Beyond Shelter
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 19th March 2021 9:03 am : Thought for the dayWe have a new pup at home and recently she has discovered a new favourite sleeping place, below the armchair. In a few weeks Bella will be too big to fit under there, but along with her bed which has high walls around and sleeping against our legs or against the sofa, it’s clear that she likes to sleep in a place that has a measure of safety and the reassurance of some kind of shelter.
Harriet and I have been attending an online Anglican conference earlier this week called ‘Beyond the Storm’, full of really helpful talks and seminars and discussions as church leaders look at where we have got to and start to look at the new landscape emerging as the storm of Covid slowly passes on(we hope). It’s a little like the closing scenes of a disaster movie that I watched in which a family just makes it to a remote place for shelter as a cataclysm shakes the world ( I can’t actually remember what it was now) in an extinction level event. The deep doors close just in time as the shockwaves hit (keeping the dramatic tension to the very last minute). Then we scroll forward 9 months later as the survivors open the great doors and emerge into what is left after the storm ( I think it was meteors). Blinking they come out into the weak sunshine to find a changed but recognisable earth and slowly messages come in over the radio from other small similar bands that have made it through and as those voices come over the airwaves the film fades away to the credits.
The message is clear, the shelter has saved them, but now it is time to slowly emerge and rebuild what they can, a new day is dawning and there is hope beyond the great suffering and loss. And so it is with us today. Small signs of hope are already emerging even just in our own church; as I write we are painting a prayer labyrinth and a few markers for children to play on our church grounds. Our Fence of Sorrow and Hope launches tomorrow as a public space for folk to mark in different ways the passing of this year on March 23rd. And of course spring flowers are everywhere now and the buds are starting to appear and even unfurl in some places. And we are moving towards Easter morning.
And of course the God who promises us shelter: Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty is also the God who leads us out into the new morning You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace. None of this is easy or guaranteed, but as we can be thankful for what shelter we had during the storm of the last year so we can know that as times slowly change we do well to recover and rebuild together with others. Just this morning I came across a scheme to “spread colour and pollinator havens by spreading a free pouch of bee-diverse wildflower seeds”. Couldn’t put it better myself!
Rev. Paul Watson
Thought for the day 17th March 2021 Solidarity
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 17th March 2021 9:23 am : Thought for the dayHaving been asked to contribute to the St James thought for the day this week, my thoughts on solidarity have sadly been dominated by the distressing news about the murder of Sarah Everard in London and the campaigns to make the streets and other public spaces safe for women to use without fear of attacks or harassment by men. Thousands of people across the country have talked about standing in solidarity with women all over the world and thousands of good, caring men have asked “What can we do to help?” Politicians are so often the first to talk about their “thoughts and prayers” being with those who are bereaved or involved in major incidents, that I often wonder if this is a phrase that just slips off their tongues to make them look good in the media, or whether they actually do go and pray for these people.
Prayer is a vital part of our lives as Christians, but for many of the most disadvantaged people in the world, knowing that others are praying for them isn’t always enough. They also need practical solidarity and help towards a better life now, not just promises of hope for another time. In a society in which women, compared to our times, had even less in the way of authority or control over their own lives, Jesus made some very open gestures of solidarity with them. It would have been easy for him to simply rebuke or forgive the Samaritan woman at the well, or the woman caught in adultery, or the woman who used her perfume over his head. Instead, he publicly and controversially asked the woman at the well for a drink, he challenged the crowd calling for the stoning of the adulterous woman to look to their own behaviour first and both defended and praised the woman with the perfume for her actions against those who denounced her.
When I pray for individual people or groups whom I don’t know personally, it’s often along the lines that God will move others to become involved in practical, physical ways to ease their pain, sadness or hardship. However, we can actually make a huge difference to the lives of strangers beyond just praying for them and many at St James have done that for years. Involvement with and support for the local women’s refuge and for the families of the prisoners at Low Moss has been vital in standing beside women in a practical and caring way. The need for donations to the East Dunbartonshire food bank, either with items from our own shopping, or financially online has become more pressing during the past year, as more and more parents on low incomes are struggling to feed their families. Figures have shown that far more women than men have been affected by increasing poverty during the pandemic. Emailing our MPs or MSPs to support campaigns for justice for health or other social inequalities is something we can do without leaving our sofas during lockdown. Befriending isolated or lonely overseas students studying in Glasgow is one way of supporting people across the world and of course, buying fairly traded food or gifts wherever possible gives hope and financial support to poor famers, (often women) trying to feed and educate their children. Remembering and caring for each other as a congregation in difficult times such as this past year is also really important.
I believe that solidarity in prayer is one of the things which makes the difference between us as Christians and people who might have no faith, but still have a social conscience and want to help others. However, as Christians, I believe that we are also called to stand in solidarity with those who need us. Jesus reminds us in Matthew’s gospel that God expects us to get involved in the physical world too, when he says “For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me…….I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me”.
Jane Munro
12th March 2021 A World of Wonder
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 12th March 2021 8:46 am : Thought for the dayAlbert Einstein once said that we have two choices about how to live in this world. As if there are no miracles or as if everything is a miracle. Although Einstein was not a conventional religious person, he had seen too much of the universe to be an atheist. His sense of wonder grew the older he got and the more he discovered, and discovered that he didn’t know.
To live as everything is a miracle is not to believe that God keeps jumping in and suspending the laws of nature. Rather it is a sense of wonder that so much of what comes to us in life and happens is gift. That, given the almost statistical impossibility, the very existence of our goldilocks planet is a gift and should not be here by any law of averages at all. Most of all though it is an appreciation that the ordinary stuff of life matters and that each person we meet bears the divine image…there are no ordinary people.
Light is not something we look at but by which we see everything else, so when the apostle John said Jesus is the light of the world he meant that in seeing the world through his eyes we see everything and everyone as they really are. Our faith acts like what I said in my post last week: it helps us recover our wonder and reframe the world, opening us up to what may be possible after all.
Now this all sounds very pious and spiritual but one of my literary heroines who demonstrates this is anything but spiritual or pious. Olive Kitteridge is a large, intimidating and outspoken lady in her seventies who is scared of her feelings, confused why people find her difficult, including her own family. Yet now and again Olive sees through to the wonder of the ordinary.
Here’s an example: Sometimes, like now, Olive had a sense of just how desperately hard every person in the world was working to get what they needed. For most it was a sense of safety, in the sea of terror that life increasingly became. People thought love would do it, and maybe it did.
Or…She remembers what hope was, and this was it. That inner churning that moves you forward, ploughs you through life the way the boats below ploughed the shiny water, the way the plane was ploughing forward to a place new, and where she was needed. She had been asked to be part of her son’s life.
It is in our own human messiness and limitations, quirks and foibles, not in spite of these, that Christians believe God meets us in the face of one another. The gospel of John says from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace… or perhaps more accurately and beautifully… grace responding to grace gracefully. As we start to pull through this time of pandemic let’s live generously and hopefully once again, allowing the springtime of the Spirit to live and see as others as Jesus did.
Rev. Paul Watson
10th March 2021 Solidarity makes all the difference
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 10th March 2021 11:42 am : Thought for the dayAt St James Church our theme this Lent is Sorrow, Solidarity and Hope. This week we are beginning to look at what solidarity means for us. I first came across the word associated with Solidarność, the Polish trade union led by Lech Wałęsa. When I was growing up the union was frequently in the news because of its civil resistance to the communist regime and its role in the negotiations that led to the 1989 elections. The outcome was the election of a Solidarity-led coalition government which led Poland’s transition from communism to democracy.
At the same time, elsewhere in Eastern Europe, there were more civil rights movements challenging communist regimes. In Leipzig, the second city of East Germany, a prayer service dedicated to peace was held each Monday at 5pm in St Nicholas Church for over seven years. This became the focal point of the candle-lit, non-violent peace march that took place on October 9, 1989, precipitating events which ultimately led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Solidarity is an acknowledgement of shared interests, values and sympathies; those ties in a society that bind people together. During the Troubles, despite the divisions, the events in Eastern Europe inspired churches across Ireland to persist in praying for peace. In 1996 many Christians joined their fellow citizens in peace rallies in cities north and south, calling for a ceasefire. I was one of those marching for peace – combining civil resistance with prayer. I still believe it was a powerful combination and had an influence on the negotiations which culminated in the Good Friday Agreement.
As we approach Good Friday this year, it’s helpful to remind ourselves that prayer can bring about powerful change. When we pray in solidarity with others, amazing things can happen. Change may not happen instantly but little by little things begin to shift. From these small beginnings, momentum will build and lead to something significant. Knowing this motivates me to keep meeting with others to pray for the needs of the world. You can join in too – we meet every weekday on Zoom.
In Romans, the apostle Paul encourages the church to “always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” The writer of Hebrews says, “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
The Day is approaching when we will see the very things we are praying for come to pass. Won’t that be a great day of celebration! In the meantime, lets continue to stand and pray in solidarity with others, doing what we can regarding the needs we see before us. Be encouraged by the small changes that are happening and remind each other of how God is answering our prayers. Together in prayer we can and will make a difference.
5th March 2021 Telling Our Stories
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 10th March 2021 11:22 am : Thought for the day“Once upon a time…” those words have invited children (and adults who know what’s good for them) on journeys of imagination and excitement, suspense and hope, even courage and danger. There is nothing like a well told story to capture our attention, expand our vision and leave us transformed. Stories can also bring comfort and calm and I know one or two folk who listen to stories on sleep apps when they wake up at night, carefully chosen to settle and reassure us. And all of us who have been parents know that young children love being read to and especially hearing stories that include them in roles that shape events and show they matter.
We are a story telling people and one of the greatest gifts we can give another person is the time and attention to listen to their story, however mundane it maybe. I once had a friend who would take his young daughter to visit a gentleman who had early onset dementia. He would repeat the same stories often when they visited. One day my friend asked his daughter if she was okay about coming as she would hear the same stories again and again. She replied, ‘that’s okay, John is just telling us who he is.’
Or there is a story (!) of a famous Rabbi who listened at some length to a woman talking about her geese. When his disciples asked him why he gave so much time to this, he explained that her geese were what mattered most to that lady. As a minister I hear many stories and I learned early on to allow time for the telling of these and not rush things…except in Vestry meetings obviously! Our recent church magazine is an assortment of stories of different kinds, glimpses of life of church members and in our community. This is also why we are having a story telling evening to mark the first anniversary of the lockdown. This honours our journey so far and does what humans have always done in times of danger, to gather around the fire and tell tales.
And here’s the thing about stories, humans have been sharing them from the earliest days as a way of making sense of a world that often does not make sense. “Myth is a timeless truth that happens all the time” as someone wisely said. For us as Christians on the journey of Lent this is more poignant than ever. Here is what Francis Spufford had to say: We don’t have an argument that solves the problem of a cruel world, but we have a story. Or as GK Chesterton called it: The Greatest Story Ever Told.
Our personal stories are important so never underestimate how valuable they are and how much of a gift they can be to others. Don’t keep them to yourself. And it is in the story of God’s love and call to follow that our stories finally find their true place and meaning and value. Story telling helps us recover our wonder and reframe the world, opening us up to what may be possible after all.
22 January 2021 The world has become a village
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 26th January 2021 5:27 pm : Thought for the day“The world has become a village” was the phrase a friend used just a couple of days ago in a book she had contributed to. She was referring to the impact of Covid 19 and how our lives (and deaths) are linked in a way they weren’t previously. The book came out in June and had not taken account of the way that vaccine roll out around the world is very uneven- some bits of the “village” are definitely better off than others! The phrase still rings true for me though and particularly in some of the lines from Amanda Gorman’s poem for President Biden’s inauguration.
Let me adapt some of them a little and replace the word nation with world. For example:
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a world that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.
To compose a world committed to all cultures, colours, characters and conditions of man. And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.
We shall not march back to what was, but move to what shall be, a world that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free. So let us leave behind a world that is better than the one we were left with…we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover in every known nook of our world, in every corner called our world, our people diverse and beautiful will emerge battered and beautiful.
The new dawn blooms as we free it. For there is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.
Inspiring and rousing words delivered with passion and clarity. And how much greater they resonate when we look beyond our national boundaries and fall in love once more with this beautiful and lonely green-blue planet that is our fragile and wonderful home and it’s magically diverse peoples.
Right now we are all linked by the Covid pandemic and the head of the WHO challenges the wealthier nations to rise to the moral and ethical challenge of ensuring a universal roll out. There is no doubt that none of us are safe until all of us are safe. But it has to be more than that. We need a common vision of what our world can be.
The bible offers us many rich images (including sitting under fig trees and vines as quoted on Wednesday) that evoke a just and equitable future when all God’s children lay aside conflict and live in peace. We need to take part in writing humanity’s long story in words and deeds drawing both from millennia of biblical tradition and the aspirations of a new generation finding their voice.
For there is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.
Rev. Paul Watson
27th November 2020 Weaving the cloth
Aileen Macdonald-Haak : 22nd December 2020 11:18 am : Thought for the day
Yesterday evening I heard a great quote : ‘we are living in times when the cloth is being woven.’ I found these words very evocative and have been wondering why! You know how certain lines just suddenly hit you at an instinctive level, bypassing your reasoning and going straight to a moment of recognition. Aha…yaaas…I didn’t realise I was waiting for these words to land in my life, but now that they are here they really describe/evoke/ define/inspire…etc., take your pick! I wonder if there have been any words, or images that have had that effect on you recently?
When there is such wholesale change in our world and with more to come, our inner compass is looking for signs and clues that can help make some sense of what is happening. The phrase, the cloth being woven did that for me!
Firstly I think it is because I am a great lover of tweed materials …I love the earthy robustness, the natural colours, the longevity and the sheer coolness of wearing something that is so rooted in my Scottish identity.
Secondly weaving a cloth is a creative process that takes various threads and materials…in the case of tweed , starting from the wool of a sheep, and through weaving then together emerges a whole new …scarf, jacket, waistcoat, bag, etc etc, that did not exist before. That we weave together a variety of threads from different sources and with different colours and even textures, speaks very powerfully to the way in which differences can enhance and enrich a community, a church, a world.
Thirdly weaving can often include threads that have come from material that has been unravelled and now can be re-purposed. I love this last one particularly as it really speaks to our context as it seems things are being taken apart and we have a chance to weave them together again in a repurposed and fresh way. Also in our own lives God can take our varied experiences, even the ones we wish had never happened, and our personal weaknesses and weave them together with our joys and confidences into a richly multi textured life. The Apostle Paul was alluding to this when he said in Colossians 2:2 I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God.
As we look ahead at the next few months we see hopeful threads…being allowed to gather in a bubble at Christmas, three vaccines that look promising for the spring, that in less than 4 weeks the days will start getting longer again, Christmas services and carols online and so on. Let’s see what we can each of us weave over these winter months. Traditionally the winter months in the highlands of Scotland were when these house-based activities such as weaving and spinning were primarily done. Who knows perhaps this season will be a very memorable one for us in ways we don’t expect.
(The phrase the cloth being woven is embedded in a fuller quote: I think we are back to square one. We may timidly admit that we are living in times when the cloth is being woven, when we have to tell one another the basis of our hope, the questions we have and join with each other in the expression of our faith. (Gert Ruppell World Council of Churches 1995). It is 25 years since this was said regarding the mission of the church at that time and it is still true today.)
Rev. Paul Watson