opportunities

It was back and forward to the school again today. Two assemblies and the lunch-time SU group.

On one of my trips along to the school I met a lady in the street, whom I know a little bit. She was surprised to find I went to the school at all, and astonished that I was there so often.

How do you find the time for that? she asked.

The answer, of course, has more to do with my making the time. I see this as a 'right-up-there' priority. Building genuine bridges into the coming generations. Engaging with tomorrow's world today.

The Forth Rail Bridge under construction. It took a lot of time, a lot of steel, and an awful lot of nuts and bolts!

'Time' is a precious resource, which we have to invest in this way. There simply are no short-cuts we can take.

But time is a finite resource. For all of us.

24 hours every day. We all get the same. 7 days a week. No one gets the bonus of an extra day thrown in.

And all of those hours which build into days, which build into weeks, which build into months and years - however many years that all amounts to in the end, the time that we're allotted here is always really short. A finite number of years.

We simply can't do everything: however much we'd like to.

That means making choices as to how our time is spent.

They need to be wise choices.

The Head at the school was on about that today. Wisdom is the value for the month. One of the 'values' the Scottish Government is keen to see established through our schools (the others are 'integrity', 'justice', and 'compassion' - so the Head was saying).

Wisdom is making wise choices, he said.

He told a simple story of three pans of boiling water. Into one there was placed a carrot - strong and hard. Into one was placed an egg - fragile and soft. Into one was placed a handful of coffee beans.

What happened when the water had been boiling for a while? The carrot had become all soft. The egg had become all hard. The coffee beans, by contrast, had actually changed the water.

If the boiling water's a picture for us of the tough and troublesome times that life will bring - when the going gets tough and the heat's turned up - how will we choose to react to adversity's heat?

Will we let it weaken us and leave us limp and lame? Will we let it breed in us a hardness and resentment? Or will we be the sort of folk who in and through adversity go out and change the world?

Wisdom is making wise choices.

We choose how to use our time. We choose how much sleep we will take. We choose to set aside one whole day in the week as a day for the worship of God.

And we choose through each day how our time is best to be spent.

How do we go about making these choices?

Well, prayerfully, for a start. What is it, Lord, that you want me to be doing with my time? Where and to what and to whom are you directing my path?

But prayer's not magic. There's a need to be thinking things through. With the Lord, of course: but thinking things through.

Strategic, long-term planning. What do we hope to accomplish? And how are those aims to be furthered? And what will that mean in the detail of this day?

So I'm keeping my eyes and ears open. Where are the doors of opportunity? Where do my gifts and strengths lie? Where am I seeing the footprints of God on the move?

At the moment, for sure, there's a wide open door in the school. It would surely be foolish to turn a blind eye to the access afforded me there.

We had 20 or more along once again at the Scripture Union group today. A crowd of really eager, energetic, open-minded individuals, at a stage and time of life when they're like sponges in the way they'll soak things up.

And the Head seems keen that I should get the chance to work through the SU session I suggested on the P7's move towards the High School. "It's your move!"

When there are so many fruitful opportunities along there at the school, I want to seize them all.

I want to make wise choices in the way I use my time. We don't have all that long in life.

disappointment

We live in a fallen world. We're all of us flawed individuals.

All of us. Followers of Jesus included. The church as much as society at large.

There are always hurts and disappointments with which we have to deal. And the hardest to deal with are often those which are found within the church.

Here's something extremely helpful in that regard, from the pen of Kevin DeYoung. It's balanced and wise and we'd all do well to be heeding the things that he says. It's long; but I hope not too long!

It's called Dealing with disappointment in the church.

“No one supported me.”

“I didn’t matter to anyone.”

“You didn’t even care.”

Those are among the hardest things a pastor can hear from his congregation, whether it’s about him directly or not. These lines are also some of the most biting things a church member can say and, no doubt, one of the most painful things a church member can feel. And yet the feelings are felt, and even the thoughts expressed, quite frequently in the life of the church.

The situations which lead people to feel unloved are easy to imagine.

• A pastor fails to visit a family after their daughter is tragically killed in a car accident.

• A new couple visits the church for 6 months. They never get invited to the pastors’ home. So they start looking at other churches.

• A new graduate student feels invisible because he’s single and shy. No one makes an effort to get to know him. After a few months slipping in the service, he gives up on your church, and maybe on church altogether.

• A young man gets a call from the elders because he’s gotten a girl pregnant. He’s never met the elders before and now feels like he’s facing the inquisition. He doesn’t deny he’s sinned, but the pastoral care he’s now receiving seems unloving.

• One of your pillar families grows spotty in their attendance on Sunday morning. Eventually they drop out altogether. By the time you notice, they’ve been gone six months. Once you call, it’s too little too late.

• A new mother notices she isn’t invited to the mom’s Bible study. She’s not sure why, but she assumes it has something to do with her background. After a year of feeling isolated her family leaves the church because it is too cliquish.

The scenarios are endless and they are all painful, for the sheep and for the shepherds. So how should church members respond when they feel unloved, unsupported, or like outsiders in their church? And how should church leaders respond when they are criticized for being unconcerned or the church is faulted for being unloving?

The easy response is to assume that the other side is always wrong. I’ve talked with Christians before (not necessarily from my congregation) who harbor a long list of grievances with their church. They never stop to consider that they might be something other than helpless victims. They might be part of the problem. On the flip side, I’ve been at pastors’ gatherings where the assumption behind all the conversations, jokes, and complaining is that they’re ministering faithfully and the church just doesn’t get it.

Both sides would be helped to ask a few questions before putting their feet together and jumping to conclusions.

Pastors and elders, the next time you are criticized for being unloving or unconcerned, ask yourselves:

1. Do we have some mechanism for personally knowing our sheep? As leaders, we will give an account for how well we watched over our people’s souls (Heb.13.7)

. The Bible doesn’t mandate only one way for doing member care, but we must work to have some process in place. If we never ask, “How is the congregation doing?” or better yet, “How are you doing?” we should not be surprised to find lots of people falling through the cracks.

2. Do we have some way of knowing when people are not showing up at church? You can eyeball it, check the friendship pads, or spy out the church mailboxes, but we need to have a general sense of who is not making faithful use of the means of grace. Our Book of Church Order stipulates we talk about it at every elders’ meeting. The first step to noticing who’s missing is to start looking and start talking about it.

3. Are we confronting cliquishness in our church? The line between community and clique is often blurry. But if there’s one central difference it’s openness. A healthy community welcomes new people in. A clique finds ways to keep new people out. Pastors need to confront the problem of “closed circles” head on–in preaching, in structural decisions, and in one on one conversations. The leaders also need to make sure they are not in a closed circle themselves. Good friends are good. Good friends to the exclusion of everyone else is very bad.

4. Are there easy, identifiable ways for the shy, the non go-getters, and the more culturally reserved to get involved and be known by others? The confident entrepreneurs will make their way in the church just fine. But well-advertised entry points and personal invitations are required for many others.

5. Is it at least possible that we are more at fault than we think? Leadership doesn’t mean saying you’re sorry every time Mr. Sensitive feels offended. But it does mean always being open to the possibility that you’ve screwed up more than you thought.

6. Have we made promises we didn’t deliver on? There’s nothing more deadly than well-publicized, poorly executed good intentions. The elders launch a family visitation program, but only make it to half the homes. A pastor agrees to follow up his lobby conversation with a phone call and then forgets all about it. The church promises every member will get a mentor, but it ends up there aren’t enough mentors to go around. Don’t set the bar so high you’re bound to crash into it.

7. Are these critics generally critical? Pastors can waste their time with divisive grumblers. When they do so they are often too worn out to listen when a loyal member offers a thoughtful critique. We shouldn’t spend a lot of time on the squeaky wheels unless it’s an unfamiliar squeak. In other words, consider the source and remember “faithful are the wounds of a friend.”

As for the hurting and disappointed, before you criticize your leaders ask yourselves these questions:

1. Did I ever ask for help? Pastors and elders are not omniscient. Even with the best shepherding strategies people will fall through the cracks. So if you really need help, don’t be afraid to ask for it. I know everyone wants to be noticed. But it’s hard for a dozen guys to notice five hundred or two dozen to notice two thousand. Help your leaders help you.

2. Have I overlooked opportunities to fit in and get to know people? Before you complain that you’ve been at the church six months and still don’t know anyone, think about ways you could get known in the next six months. Is there a small group you could join? Could you attend the smaller, more informal evening service? What about volunteering for the nursery next time the sign up sheet goes around? Have you tried the potlucks and picnics and prayer meetings? Giving love and being loved is 90% just showing up.

3. Is it realistic for the leaders to give to every person in this church the kind of care I expect? It’s easy to think “All I wanted was one visit. You can’t tell me they were too busy to set aside one night for my family.” But remember you aren’t the only person at the church. If the general level of care you expect from your leaders cannot be multiplied by the number of people in the church, then you may be hoping for too much. If you expect everything, you’ll always be disappointed.

4. If I really wanted to be loved and noticed why did I stop showing up? On the one hand, church leaders should know when their members have drifted away. Good shepherds keep an eye on their sheep. But on the other hand, if sheep want to be cared for by the flock, they shouldn’t stay from it. People get hurt when their church absence isn’t noticed. But I have a hard time feeling too much sympathy, unless you’re dealing with a shut-in or someone whose absence is not voluntary. Don’t run away if you want to be found.

5. Am I willing to consider that I may be at fault more than I realize? If it feels like your leaders can never do anything right, maybe you’re the one making life miserable–for them and for you.

6. Is it possible I’ve overlooked ways the body has cared for me because I was hoping a different part of the body would care for me? Sometimes church members will say, “Sure, my small group sent me cards but the pastor never called.” Or, “Yes the pastors were very friendly to greet me after church, but no one my age ever said hello.” Or, “I know the elders care for me, but that’s their job.” Or conversely, “True, my friends prayed for me, but I never heard from my elder.” Before you get angry, remember the goal is for the body to care for the body, not for the shoulder to always get a special backrub from its favourite hand.

7. In general have I found this church and these leaders to be unloving and unsupportive? If the answer is yes, and Question 5 is dealt with too, then you may need a different church. But if the answer is no, consider giving your church and your leaders the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they just botched this one. We all get it wrong sometimes. I know I have. Maybe they were too busy and dropped the ball. Or maybe you don’t know the whole story. In any event, don’t let one misstep color your whole impression of their ministry.

For both sheep and shepherds the indispensable requirements for living together are love and humility. Love to treat others as we want to be treated. Humility to consider how we may be at fault. Disappointment in the church is bound to happen. But it doesn’t have to destroy the unity of the body. The Lord can use our hurts to make all of us slower to speak and quicker to listen.

organised?

My friend, Douglas, was in again today for a sandwich over lunch. In the course of the wide-ranging chat we have he remarks on the range of different things I manage to keep on the go.

"I could never do that," he says. "I'm not that organised."

I'm not always sure I'm all that organised myself. But I see what he means. My days are full of all sorts of varied activities and tasks. There's a lot to be kept on the go.

Admin. There are e-mails to deal with, right from the start of the day. Mail that's come in overnight which I want to address good and quick. Not because it's urgent, but because if I don't do it now, it may not ever get done. A sign of my being rather disorganised, I'd have thought. But at least I'm aware of my failings. That's half the battle sometimes.

Among the e-mails written is one to a teacher at the local primary school. I'm keen that we start the SU group this week and I want to be sure he'll have sent out a note through all of the classes at school. If we miss this week, then Thursday next week will be missed as well (there's a General Election taking place - I'm organised enough to have sussed out all the implications of that fact!), and to wait until the week beyond that is to have missed the boat completely.

Some preparation's needed! If we are going to meet this Thursday, we need to know what we're doing. I get down to the business of finalising out a programme for the coming weeks.

The summer term is difficult, with all sorts of extra things going on in the school and we're never quite sure just which and how many of the pupils will ever be there. The programme has to be flexible. I try and make sure that it is.

There's a reference I need to write. One of our fine young lads, in his sixth year at school, drops by with a form that requires my attention. He's going as a leader to one of the SU camps, and they need me to vouch for the guy.

I'm glad to do so. He's an eager and able young man, with a heart for the Lord, and I'm happy to do all the paperwork this sphere of service involves. The forms aren't large or long, but they all take time.

Over the course of the months I must do hundreds of these for SU alone, we've that many folk who're involved in these camps in one way or another. I count it a privilege to be part of a fellowship where so many are keen to be giving their time in this way. I sometimes wonder if I'd get the prize each year for the most number of references written for SU camps!

Having him come in reminds me that the man who'll be playing the piano at our lunch-time service this week will also be in this morning. He'll be looking for a note of the hymns to be sung.

I give some time to preparing the list of praise. It's never a case of just choosing a couple of well known hymns. I try to tie the praise in to the thrust of the Word of God.

So I spend a bit of time again reflecting on the passage we'll be studying at tomorrow's service. I work through some possible items of praise and decide on the hymns to be sung. And sure enough, he's in and I'm able to give him the info he needs.

A passport application requires my counter-signature. Which is more than just a signature. It requires all sorts of details from myself - my name, address, employment and employer's name and place of work, how long and in what capacity I've known the person: all sorts of things like that, including my own passport number - I have to fish this out from a hand-held 'pocket PC' which has suddenly gone on the blink.

It's good to see the person who's come in, of course, as well. She has a little child with her. I fish out from my desk a little sort of helicopter thing. It's meant to relieve stress, I think. But it makes a good toy. You press a button and the little mini helicopter thing flies off and round the room.

It does the trick. Both the wee girl and I are having fun, launching the thing round the room. The passport application form is filled in, too.

They're no sooner gone than I'm meeting with Gill. Gill is our ES-Team worker. A few years back, in conjunction with local churches, Scripture Union Scotland set up the Edinburgh Schools Team (hence ES-team). Gill is at present the person who works in the North West part of Edinburgh. I try and meet with her from time to time.

We catch up on the situation here - in the local schools, I mean. We chat a bit about the problem that there is, with the P7 children never being able to come to the group because of all the duties that they have. A year away from any SU group before they move on up to the secondary school. It's not ideal. The habit has been broken. It makes it that bit harder for an easy re-connecting with the SU group at the Royal High.

We talk about the possible use of another SU venture in the school. "It's your move" is a scheme devised by SU to help in the big transition up to secondary school. Each child gets a smart looking booklet, and there's the chance for a 45 minute 'lesson' to accompany it.

I'm keen to follow this through. We worked with the P7 children over Christmas and then Easter. It would be great to round it all off with a thing in the summer term to help with their moving on. I'm impressed by the material SU provides. It's good. I'll get onto the teachers and see if they'll run with the thing.

It's maybe an hour that I have with Gill. The time seems to fly. There's a lot going on and it's good to be able to hear of the schools and the churches she's been having some contact with. She lets me know when the next of the North West Edinburgh Prayer evenings is going to be. Prayer is basic to it all.

Prayer. Yes, that reminds me of something else I've scheduled to do.

I've a piece to write for our magazine. It's a piece about prayer. And it's due by the end of the month. Which is getting rather close now. Having seen Gill out and stopped by to chat with a few of the folk who are in for their coffee this morning, I make a start on that.

That's only one of a couple of things I've resolved that I must make a start on today.

I'm keen to see an annual 'handbook' produced. It's become apparent that that sort of thing would be useful. But because it's not 'til August/September that the thing would need to come out, it's easy to keep putting off. Another indication of a tendency I recognise to be a little disorganised.

So I start on that as well. A statement of intent, more than anything else. It's something whose importance and significance I can readily see. I want to make sure that it happens. So these few initial notes are my nailing the thing to the wall and committing myself to seeing the thing gets done.

Douglas comes in over lunch. Is it that time already? Where does a morning go? He's engrossed at the present, he tells me, in writing up an article on praying for the dead.

He sees my eyebrows are raised and explains just what this 'praying for the dead' actually is - and what it is not. It's an interesting, and at times quite illuminating discussion.

Not praying for the dead in the sense of our making petitions as such, as though their destiny could in any way be affected thereby. More our praying in the sense of our gladly remembering those who have died, with gratitude and humility, and acknowledging for them and ourselves a dependence on the grace of God.

A (helpful) reminder of the reality of what we call 'the communion of the saints'.

There are all sorts of things we end up discussing. And matters for prayer to talk through. We pray. Not for the dead, I should add. But we pray with some real earnestness for the Lord's great saving work in people's lives.

The day is running away from me once again! There are things I meant to address which I've not even started to do.

So I spend some time on preparing the evening service. I've been reading and pondering the passage these last two days at some length. I need to get a feel for how the whole thing's going to run. I take some time to prepare a tentative draft. Something to work on anyway.

There's a meeting tonight to prepare for as well. I spent a lot of time preparing for it yesterday. But I want to go over the substance again. And because it begins with a DVD being shown I get that all set up as well. I check that the whole thing is working, that the volume's going to be fine. That sort of thing.

Preparation is everything, they say. I'm not going to argue the toss on that score!

Then it's off to the hospital. There are folk to be seen. I end up filling in the menu form for one of the patients there. In discussion with the man himself, of course. But the man is beginning to get just a little bit wandered. He's also fairly deaf. And the combination of the two makes for an interesting 'discussion'.

He asks me if my father is down south. I'm not exactly sure how to answer - my geographic knowledge of the spiritual realms is plainly flawed. Since my father died more than twenty years ago I simply reply by assuring the man, yes, he's away.

I'm tempted to add, in the light of the things I've been chatting about with Douglas, that although he's away I can still of course be praying for him. But I opt not to go down that line and instead simply ask that we pray.

The man is confused. But he seems to be comforted too by the sharing in prayer that we have.

At night there's a meeting. It's a fairly important, significant one. Not easy at all. Not one that I think we any of us there really want. But we have to address all the issues and questions that big church tells us to ponder, tackle, respond to.

We do so prayerfully, carefully, thoroughly. We take our time. The meeting is long and late.

We're basically asked what we understand Scripture to say. At least, that's how we see the task before us.

We try to set out clearly, cogently - and sensitively, too - just what the Scriptures teach, and underline that Scripture, as the Word of God, must be our one authority: not what civil or European law may say, nor even what some scientists may suggest.

We end in prayer and immerse ourselves once more in the grace of God.

We live in a world that is fallen and flawed. The marks of that dis-order in our fallen world are everywhere to be seen. Not just in what too often is a lack of organisation in my life (despite what Douglas says), but in so many other vexing ways as well.

We know that, more than anything else, we need the grace of God. Each one of us. Each day.

And even as I head back home, I'm thinking of the things I might have done and could have done and maybe even should have done today.

I could end in despair over that! But I'm grateful instead for what I've been able to do; and grateful, as well, for the sense of God's presence, the sense of God's Spirit at work in all that today has involved.

inside information

A bit naff perhaps, but sometimes I need reminding!

The 'stethoscope'. I was sent this yesterday by an American I met years ago.

farming

Farming was one of the things I always fancied doing when I was a little boy.

Indeed, through my later teenage years I used to work on farms. Up in the north of Scotland through the summer months. Randomly over a series of months in South Africa. And one whole summer in my student days - four months long - on a huge big farming enterprise in the Canadian mid-west.

I'm not an expert. But I learned a few of the basics, I guess.

I know the sequence involved in harvesting crops. It begins with ploughing. Breaking up the ground. Then harrowing, breaking up the soil yet further until it's receptive to seed that's going to be sown.

You don't have to work on a farm to know all that, of course. It's pretty basic stuff.

And it works much like that in the 'farming of souls' which is what I'm called to do.

The period of actual harvesting, bringing in the crops, is relatively small and short. At least compared to the preparation time and the work that's required in advance.

When I worked on these farms I was generally only there through the summer months. The time when it all comes together. The crops are ripe, the days are long, and the fruit of a whole year's work is there to be brought safely in.

But I quickly learned the demands that there were on the folk who worked on these farms through the rest of the year. It's not a job, they would always say - it's a life.

A hard, demanding, sometimes fairly dreary sort of life, with not a lot to show for all the effort that's put in, as all the often drab routines of farming life were followed through.

But, of course, they had their eye on the summer. The harvest that one day would come.

My life's a bit like that. There are 'seasons' in God's great work. Through all the routine, day-by-day activity of 'autumn', 'winter', 'spring', when not a lot is happening (so it seems), I keep my eye on the 'summer times' of God's unfolding purposes of grace.

I'm looking for the harvest. Still.

When I first came here, I was clear in my mind that it was with a view to a 'harvest' that the Lord had called me here. I'm still waiting.

'Preparing the ground' takes time.

A lot of my time is spent 'preparing the ground'.

Meeting with people, preparing the soil of their hearts. Studying the Scriptures, preparing the seed of the Word.

Today there are added demands that way. We've a new set of Wednesday lunch-time services starting this week: and with that the need to be preparing a series of studies - at least in some sort of outline. And the SU group at the primary school will be starting again as well: and thus the need to prepare some sort of 'programme' for these half-hour Thursday lunch-times at the school.

Preparing the ground. Looking towards a harvest which I trust and pray will come.

It's God who 'gives the growth' after all.

Harvest is always miracle. But harvest is never magic. It requires us to partner with God and do our bit.

turbulent times

These are turbulent times. And I'm not really talking politics here at all.

I'm talking about the experience which many Christians are having these days.

Troubled, unsettled: distressed, disturbed: not knowing quite what to do or, indeed, where to go.

We live in times of change.

Change in itself is not a bad thing. It's part and parcel of life. We grow: we change. The two belong together. Change is a feature of life.

But the changes today are not of that sort. They're a change in direction. A change in persepctive and outlook. A change in attitude. A change in relation to God.

The currents of Christian conviction are confronted today by the inrushing currents of a culture committed to self. The waters are truly turbulent.

It's hard enough to cope with this out there in the world at large. But what should you do when that turbulence starts to appear in the church to which you belong?

We have people who share in our worship each week who are actually members elsewhere.

I'm not saying that's by any means unique - far from it: there'll be folk from here, I'm sure, who'll be found elsewhere when it comes to Sunday worship. So it's not unique at all: it's really quite common these days, I'd guess. But it is, I think, indicative of the struggles which so many good and godly folk are facing in these days.

Why do those, who are members of another church - why do those who join us in our worship on a Sunday tend to come?

Listening hard to what they say, I think it's mainly for the teaching that they're given, and the reverence in the worship which they find.

We're far from being a perfect church - very, very far - but there is a real priority always given to the teaching of God's Word; and there is, I'd hope, a warm, attractive reverence attendant on our worship of the living God.

What should folk do in such troubled and turbulent days, when they no longer find what once they could be sure of in the churches they've been members of for long enough? And how do I advise them when they come and ask that question to my face?

Well, let me get some things clear from the start. I don't make decisions for others. I'm not that directive at all. I simply put some markers down - along these lines.

Don't adopt a 'consumer' mentality. You pays your money and you takes your choice is a line that has no place in Christian living. You're not a consumer: you're a worshipper. It's not a case of what you get out of your worship: it's a case of what you put in.

So don't begin to address the thing in terms of whether you're getting precisely what you're looking for. That's the consumer society: shopping around for the right sort of Christian 'product' that will meet your personal needs, or will satisfy your personal whims, or will titivate your personal likes.

Don't become a 'consumer'. Because the moment you do, you move from being a worshipper to being in truth an idolater.

Don't downplay commitment. Our culture today is weak when it comes to commitment. Of pretty much any sort.

Folk assume 'freedom' means never being tied. They like to keep their options always open. Relationships (I might find someone else who'll better meet my needs), work (I might find a job that's better paid or more fulfilling or less demanding), leisure pursuits (I might something else which will be more interesting or more impressive on my CV, or whatever).

The butterflies are free. And our culture today wants that freedom.

Don't be deceived into seeking such freedom yourself. The license to live as you choose is not really freedom at all. It's a subtle, corrosive bondage.

Commitment is crucial. You don't run away when the going gets tough. You follow through on all responsibilities.

Don't pre-empt the call of God. I know it was addressed to a slightly different context, but the principle Paul articulated has a relevance right here as well.

"Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him."

Now, as I say, I know he was talking about something slightly different. And I know that's not the last word to be said on the subject. But it's a useful and helpful starting point. An important default position.

Not least because it underlines the priority in our living of the will and the call of God. What I feel about the situation is largely irrelevant: the question is always - what does the Lord feel? What I would like is always trumped by the far more basic card of what the Lord himself wills for me at this time.

So stay where you are until it's really quite clear that the Lord is calling you elsewhere. Pray hard and long, yes. Read and ponder God's Word, yes. Seek the counsel of others, yes.

But stay where you are until it's quite clear that the Lord is calling you on.

Don't end up being 'rootless'. That can happen quite easily. You feel it's time to move on and so you leave the local fellowship of which you've been a part.

But you're not quite ready to join elsewhere.

Rootless.

That's dangerous. And wrong.

You need to be submitted - somewhere. You need to be accountable - somewhere. You need to give outward, practical expression to the Lordship of Jesus over your life - somewhere. You need to be under authority - somewhere.

You need to be a member of a church. Submitted, as a follower of Jesus Christ. Ready to accept the lead of others to whom that authority is given. Even when it jars with you a bit.

Which it almost certainly will from time to time.

* * *

Those, then, are the sort of 'markers' I put down. A set of basic guidelines which I need myself as much as those I speak with and am pastoring, as they, like me, sail through the troubled waters of our present times.

holiday

There's a reason for my blogging silence over these last days.

Not because I've been buried under heaps of volcanic ash. Nor because I've been stranded at some airport.

Simply holiday. A few days' break.

Most of it here in Edinburgh, including some lovely 'grandpa time'.

And a couple of nights in London, and the chance to see my youngest son who lives and works down there.

No problem with the traffic (I went by train). Nor with the weather (lovely and sunny for most of the time).

London does well when it comes to the parks. Green Park, Hyde Park, St James Park. All of them looking quite lovely - a pleasure to spend long hours simply strolling through these wide open spaces right in the heart of the city.

A huge spray of bright and stunning colours. A picture of the city's life itself, I suppose.

Hugely attractive. You can see why people are drawn to the place.

Always lessons for me to learn.

H&M

There's been a steady flow of people that I've seen today. Some with me here in my office. Some while I have been out and about.

One of the folk I was with was speaking about a lovely provision from God. Out of the blue and totally unexpected. "I'd been thinking about it a bit," the man said, "but I hadn't ever really asked the Lord."

I reminded him that we had in fact - the two of us - prayed about this specifically, a month or two ago. He'd completely forgotten. Until, that is, I reminded him.

I think what kept him from making this clear connection was simply the fact that what the Lord has done for him is way beyond what he and I had asked the Lord to do. Way beyond. So much so it was almost, I suppose, unrecognisable as the answer to that prayer.

It's sometimes like that. We fail to make the connection because we fail to see that the Lord is not only able, but also pleased, to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. Here was a case in point.

Hearing this today was a wonderful encouragement. The two of us had prayed about this matter maybe once or twice, a good few weeks ago at least. Earnestly, confidently, yes.

But the matter had slipped off the radar, overtaken by other more pressing and present concerns. It was good to be able to see, though, that it hadn't got lost under a whole big pile of papers on the desk of the Lord himself. It had still been there on his lengthy list of 'to-do's.

The Lord doesn't ever forget. And he's always so able, and always so willing, to be doing far more than all that we ask or think.

Far more. Half the time we fail to notice his answers to prayer because we're thinking way too small.

God is great. High and Mighty. He deals in 'big'.

grazing ground

In comparison with last week, and all of the buzz of the Holiday Club, today has been really quiet!

It's been a day for taking stock, for catching up, for beginning to plan for the future.

The time after Easter is always a little bit 'bitty'. It's difficult sometimes to get much momentum going. There are a lot of Monday holidays, a lot of 'long weekends', with people away at different times, and a sense of any continuity is sometimes hard to retain.

There's been the chance today to give some thought to the content of coming services. A chance to be still, to reflect before God and to learn from the Lord what it is that he's meaning to say. Which field on the farmland of Scripture he'd have us be grazing in through the coming weeks.

You maybe wonder what's involved in my choosing the next bit of Scripture to be preaching on.

Well, it's not an exact science by any means.

Prayer

The first thing to say is this, I suppose: there's a very real sense in which it isn't me at all who does the choosing! I'm really intent on discerning the choice of the Lord - where it is that the Lord, as our wise and far-seeing shepherd, is directing this flock at this time.

So I'm making the question a matter for prayer: that's the first thing. And I'll generally have been seeking to do so for quite a time. Talking the matter through with the Lord in prayer, and seeking, in prayer, to be listening, too, to the Lord. Where it is he's pointing me: what are the Scriptures he seems to be bringing before me again and again.

Prayer isn't magic, of course. There aren't any magical answers, no signs in the sky. It doesn't work like that.

Reflection

So alongside prayer, and as part of that prayer, I engage in some careful reflection. I'm trying to stand back and assess before God just where it is we're at.

I think of the range of different needs that there are, or are likely to be, in the lives of the people here. Older folk, younger folk: seekers (those who are keen to be knowing the Lord), and 'sulkers' (those who've got problems and 'issues' with either the church or the Lord): strugglers and stragglers: those on the crest of a wave, and those right down in the depths.

I think of the things that these coming weeks will bring. Exams, holidays, surgery: sharing communion, marking the first full year since the leadership team (known as the Kirk Session) was first commissioned by the congregation, celebrating the end of a season of work with our youth.

I think of the landmark events that are coming up in the life of the church at large. Our own church meeting in General Assembly again. Pentecost Sunday, when the church at large celebrates the gift and the coming of the Spirit of God. The Global Day of Prayer.

I try and stand back and get a feel for the overall 'contours' of these coming days. How the land lies, as it were; and what sort of 'map' we'll be needing.

Listening

And all the while that I'm engaged in those activities of prayerful re-assessment of our present situation, I'm doing some listening too.

I'm listening out for what the Lord has gently been directing me towards in terms of Scripture passages.

What has he been bringing up before me as I've waited in his presence as I've prayed?

What are the bits of the Scriptures that his Spirit has been laying on my heart these days and drawing to my attention? In the books that I've been reading. In the countless conversations I've been having. In the issues I've been having to address. In the questions which are presently being aired.

The praying, reflecting and listening serve to narrow things down. I begin to get some clarity as to where the Lord is pointing us and what the Lord is saying to us.

I'm able then to match prospective passages with Sundays in the diary. I begin to see how the Scriptures will fit: and I'm always impressed by the way that the Lord brings the two of these things so together - his Scriptures and our situation.

So for the coming weeks I'm now clear. I've been working at this for some time and today's been a chance to bring the thing into focus. I know where the Lord is now leading us here. The so-called 'letters to the churches', recorded in the book of Revelation (chapters 2 & 3).

There are things that the Lord has to say to his church in these days. Things that we, all of us, urgently need now to hear.

May we all have 'ears to hear' and be able to hear.

Holiday Club (5)

The finale!

A party spirit pervaded the day and the children and team all loved it all. (Except, perhaps, for the cleaning up which the team then have to do!)

John came in to a rapturous round of applause. Dressed in his kilt, with a kangaroo tied round his waist in place of a sporran, he did his whole big didgeridoo Kangaroo song, and the excited delight of the children just about had the roof coming off.

They were all in party mode after that.

Helen spoke to them all about the parable Jesus told - the man who'd prepared a feast and then people declined the invitation: excuses, other things they had to do. She read the bit from the Bible and made it come alive.

She had some invites to the party scattered through the building, which the children finally found, and then she picked up on the gracious invitation of the gospel, and spelled it out for the children.

Simple, clear, and powerful.

A good way to end a wonderful week. May the Lord use it all for his glory.

Holiday Club (4)

Day 4 and the thing is in full swing.

The children all know the routine. They're enjoying the new friends they've made.

Marie, who's fronting it all this year, and who's absolutely brilliant .. she makes a point of underlining just how important these friendships are. Friendship with Jesus, too.

"Make sure you follow your leader" - these are always her parting words to the children as they leave the first of the everyone-in-it-together worship times and go off to their crafts and games and group times for the next hour or so.

She means more than they maybe realise. It's the call of Jesus to follow him that the Club is putting across. We don't hide the fact at all.

One of the younger children remarked at the end of Monday, when asked about the Holiday Club - "It's all God, God, God."

She didn't like it. "I believe in evolution not God...," she added. Which, for a six year old child, is an interesting perspective to have adopted already in life.

But she was back the next day. And, surprise, surprise, she loves it all. I don't know about her view on evolution, but her views on God are changing fairly rapidly!

The games and the crafts and the puppets and songs and the fun and the friends - if this is what the kingdom of God is about, I guess she's finding she can cope with the 'God, God, God' side of things.

The whole thing is hugely relational. Friendships being formed and fostered. Between the children themselves. Between the children and team. Between all the team as well.

And friendship with Jesus pervading it all.

Although it's the story of Elijah and Elisha which forms the backdrop to all that's being done, it's friendship with Jesus which is always so much to the fore. The talks are all about that. The songs are all about that. The team are all about that.

And the DVD evening tonight was all about that as well. A tapestry of all the different facets of the Holiday Club, with the threads of the gospel woven through its fabric.

There were good numbers out - and a huge round of cheering applause when John, our wanna-be-Australian with his brilliant, didgeridoo rendering of Tie me kangaroo down, sport!, featured in the film. He's only around at the start of the Holiday Club each day, but the children took to the guy from the start.

That sort of thing is lovely to see - the young children warming to a man like that, in whom they can sense the friendship of Jesus.

In the friendship of all of the team, in the friendship of everyone else, all this talk of the friendship of Jesus begins to make perfect sense.

There's no getting away from it: a week like this can change a person's life.

Holiday Club (3)

Our Holiday Club is called D Mains has got talent!

And in some ways that tells you everything. An astonishing array of God-given talent, not so much on display, as at the service of the Lord and for the enrichment of the children of the community here.

I always feel hugely privileged, and deeply humbled, by sharing in this annual ministry which together we're glad to exercise. Yesterday I highlighted the blessing it is to have so many young folk involved. And there's no doubt about it, it's genuinely invigorating having them around and sharing with them in what the Lord is about - ".. so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's".

I'm no ornithologist, so the comparison is rather lost on me: but I think I get the drift!

Your youth is renewed. It's true in two complementary senses.

For the young people growing up among us here, and sharing in the disciplines and demands that the Holiday Club brings, their involvement becomes the means by which the Spirit of the living God does something wonderfully renewing in them. They grow in Christ by absolute leaps and bounds. You can almost see it with the naked eye.

And for those for whom middle and later years of life have long since seen them rather 'settle down', having these young folk around somehow makes us all young once again. We find our energy levels soaring, our embers of enthusiasm erupting in flame, and our expectancy through the roof.

Our youthfulness renewed.

But there's more than simply the blessing of having these young folk around. It's the fact that we're all in the thing together, old and young alike, combinging a multitude of different talents in a single cause which lies close to the hearts of us all.

The body of Christ.

There must be somewhere in the region of 70 different folk involved in one capacity or another.

Some of them out in full view, public, up-front roles. Others who die at the prospect of that, and working away in the kitchens (yes, plural - there are two entirely different constituencies being catered for: those involved in the Holiday Club, children and leaders alike, and a whole load of parents and friends who come around the place, glad of the chance of a coffee or tea and some lunch).

Folk who are brilliant at crafts of all kinds, and folk who are super with games - all of them hugely creative in what they produce for the children, and how they are able to tie it all in with the theme that the Ckub is pursuing that day.

Musicians, and born entertainers. People to take all the photos: people very willing to take on their shoulders the hard, laborious business of all the photocopying.

A pool of different, very able people who do the talk for the children each day. Others who lead the team each day in opening the Word of God. A couple of remarkable men as puppeteers who hold the children (and most of the adults as well) totally spell-bound every morning and who, with the text of the Bible as their script, make the Word of God come pulsingly alive.

And alongside all of them - and countless more - there are loads of folk who share in this week by their faithful, daily praying. The body of Christ and the Spirit of God and the kingdom of heaven on earth.

It's a highlight of our year. And for some, at least, we pray, a defining moment in their lives.

Holiday Club (2)

As well as the Holiday Club itself today, we held a 'Games Night' this evening.

It's an evening of fun for all the family - a way of including the parents and siblings of those who're along at the Club. The folk all divide into teams and over the course of an hour or so, with a 2 minute burst at each, they tackle the challenge of something like 18 games. Easy enough for any to play, but awkward enough to be fun and a laugh for all.

Every year there are more people out at this night. Tonight we completely lost track of the numbers once we'd counted over ninety children present - and most of them had at least one, sometimes two or three folk with them. The hall was mobbed, and milling with folk having fun.

It's a brilliant opportunity to have time with folk and the chance for a bit of a chat.

I sometimes think that in five short days of the Holiday Club we build more in the way of bridges than some would attain in a year.

"If you want to hold the Holiday Club for two weeks rather than one - that would be fine by me!" said one of the Mums. "And one in the summer as well, if you like!" she added.

But the thing that most people notice - people who aren't here usually - the thing that most people notice and comment upon is the number of youngsters involved.

"Are they all from the church?" I'm asked again and again by incredulous parents, who hadn't quite grasped that following Jesus is actually fun and that at least some of the youth of today have their heads screwed on enough to recognise the fact and find out for themselves.

And, yes, the answer is they are all from the church: this local church. There are loads of them here. They're a brilliant bunch. Hard-working, fun, helpful, kind: and always so eager to learn themselves.

It's one of the great things there is about these Holiday Clubs. They're an asset in all sorts of ways: and we see such times as a God-given way to be fostering their faith in the Lord.

They learn from the older folk they're with: genuine friendships are formed. And at the same time these young teenage girls and boys are really wonderful role models for the younger children who come along.

They come along to the meeting each morning where the team have a time of prayer and praise: they listen, they learn, they pray.

They're up at the crack of dawn - at least it's the crack of dawn so far as they are concerned, given that this is them all on holiday. Committed.

One of the Mums was saying how much she valued just that for her little boy and girl. The fact that there are youngsters like that around: befriending their children. Helping them grow in the way of Jesus.

Seeing that it's OK and fun and street-level wise to follow Jesus, even as a teenager. We value it hugely, too.

Holiday Club (1)

This is our Easter Holiday Club week.

As a result, any posts here will of necessity be brief! Most of my time in the early part of the week is spent creating a DVD of the Holiday Club.

We figured a while back that the most effective way of bringing parents and families out of an evening, to share with them something of what the Holiday Club is about, would be to create a DVD of the Club: we could then show it, and give a copy of it to each child. That way, too, we'd be able to get a flavour of the gospel, dressed in Holiday Club clothes, into all the children's homes.

It works a treat! A powerful resource which is shown any number of times in every home, communicates the gospel in a low-key sort of way, and provides a permanent reminder to the children of all that they were learning through the week.

It's a simple idea, communicates powerfully, and doesn't cost a bomb. About 25p per DVD.

The only down-side is the deadline. We have to get the thing ready for a showing on the Thursday evening - with a copy for every child as well.

That works out as a round-the-clock job. Just about literally.

Filming while the Club is on in the morning. Transferring the couple of hours worth of clips onto the Mac. And then starting to put the whole thing together. The music, the people, the crafts and the games - the lot.

And doing it all in a way which is more than just random.

And once all that's done - usually early on Thursday morning, it's a case of putting it all in a format which can then be used to create a DVD. And then, finally, burn the disc.

The artistic challenge involved appeals to me no end. It's fulfilling and fun. But exhausting as well - since it is pretty much round-the-clock. The only way the thing can be done to meet the Thursday deadline.

The thing is started, anyway!

Day 1 was great! Well over a hundred children along, and a really great spirit from the moment the whole thing began.

We follow the story of Elijah and Elisha through the course of the week. And it's all tied in to our knowing God and sharing in his work. Brilliant.

But enough for now - another progress report tomorrow!