tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024985477826576362023-10-11T16:28:14.647-07:00Soul SearchExploring faith one church at a timeSoul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-89775236933460172642014-06-29T02:21:00.001-07:002014-06-29T02:21:13.866-07:00Separation of church and stateSoul Search 2013 is a blog about churchgoing in 2013. We're now half way through 2014 and I am no longer posting regularly, although I still allow comments as they arise. However, I have had to delete a number of comments relating to the Scottish independence referendum. This isn't the place for them. There are plenty of other people blogging about the referendum, so please take your comments elsewhere. Thank you, kind readers.Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-16714659135903808792014-02-27T13:37:00.000-08:002014-02-27T16:58:18.348-08:00It’s the Wrong Trousers!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">... thoughts
on modesty and patriarchy</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It
was all over bar the shouting. I'd finished my <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/fifty-shades-of-faith.html" target="_blank">year of church visiting</a> and
didn't think many more people were going to notice my little blog. And then Mr
Anonymous discovered my post about the <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/free-presbyterian-church-of-scotland.html" target="_blank">Free Presbyterian Church in Inverness</a>, almost exactly a year after it first appeared online, and it all started
kicking off. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">To
describe this commentator as intemperate would be putting it mildly. So great
is his rage that he struggles to express himself clearly at times, making some
of what he's written unintentionally comical, as you'll see if you can be
bothered to <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/summing-up-second-attempt.html" target="_blank">trawl through all the stuff</a> he's felt duty bound to tell me about what true Christians would and would not
do, wear or drink. Don't feel obliged, dear readers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Thankfully,
not all my readers are like Mr Anonymous. And indeed, there are other anonymous
commentators who have written considered and thoughtful things and have behaved
like perfect blog guests. Thank you, lovely people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Two
interesting things arise from the whole coffee/trouser/haircut rant: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->the importance to Mr Anonymous (and perhaps to others in his
denomination, although I will not extrapolate so far as to assume that they all
share his views) of the outward appearance of a god-fearing woman, and the fact that what is on her legs or head is more significant than what is in her heart or
mind; and <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 18.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->the surprise expressed by some of my readers, secular and
religious alike, that there should be such a dress code in any Scottish church
in the 21st century (I'd assumed it was common knowledge), and that a woman's
otherwise uncontentious fashion choices or hairstyles should draw any comment
whatever in church circles or should be deemed to reflect on her character,
morality, piety or fitness for salvation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But
if we're talking religiously sanctioned clothing options, we're getting into
the realms of the veiling debate ... active choice or symbol of oppression? ...
and that isn't somewhere I ever planned to go with my blog. Perhaps
non-Christian religions are best kept out of it, since I don't have enough
knowledge to comment wisely on the politics of the hijab or of tzniut
compliance. However, the comments about trousers remind us that even here in
Scotland there are some Christian groups that take a very strict view of what women
should be allowed to wear, and of their conduct and their obedience to what a
male-run church dictates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Now,
I'm all for modesty. It's been many a long year since any part of my body above
the knee or below the collarbone was exposed to public view ... okay, maybe a
hint of cleavage in the only dress I own (and can still fit into) that could
pass for evening wear, but most of the time you'll find me fully buttoned up.
If there was a shop called Frum Gear for Fat Girls, I'd probably buy my whole
wardrobe there. But if I did have the figure to flaunt and I felt like
flaunting it, I really don't see that that's any business of the adherents or
leaders of a church to which I have never belonged, and I have to wonder how FP women and girls manage to do the gardening, play sport or climb trees while wearing a skirt, or how they feel when they don't want to get their knees frozen or their knickers revealed to the
world on a particularly windy day but haven't the freedom to dress for the weather. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I'm assuming here that that they're allowed to garden,
play sport, climb trees and leave the house without a chaperone, but who knows? Now that I've started thinking about it, I'm thinking the worst.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">If
a man restricts what his wife and daughters can wear, what else is he stopping
them doing? The FPs may have been following these rules for more than a hundred
years, and may believe that they are honouring a tradition that is millennia
older than that, but anyone who thinks that they're just a few oddballs and
they don't matter needs to take a look across the Atlantic to the burgeoning
Christian patriarchy movement in America, where quite staggeringly
regressive movements such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiverfull" target="_blank">Quiverfull</a> and the <a href="http://aboverubies.org/" target="_blank">Above Rubies</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ministry are raising up new
generations of obedient Christian girls who will pledge to their fathers
complete authority over their "purity" and every other aspect of
their lives (until they marry, when their husbands will take over), who will receive no sex education and only the restricted
curriculum in other subjects that is approved by their churches' home-schooling
regimes, and who will remain in ignorance of their rights and of their capacity
to do anything other than breed, pray and obey until the day the Lord returns
to rapture up the faithful. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And
their brothers are being brought up in the same households, expecting to lead
and dominate and to get an obedient and unquestioning wife.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It's
scary stuff and we should take it seriously. All of us, including the nice
liberal churches who don’t like to rock the boat, should take it seriously.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A
politician once said that we should understand less and condemn more. Mr
Anonymous lives by this injunction, as we have seen, but perhaps more of the
"mainstream" churches could take a leaf out of his book. I know that
sounds as if I'm contradicting everything I’ve just written, but bear with me.
What I mean is that, rather than just not being as extreme as the actively
patriarchal, woman-hating, contraception-forbidding, education-suppressing
churches on the right wing of the Christian spectrum, they could try exploding
the myths that these sects and movements perpetrate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And
it's not all happening overseas. Only last week, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/12/anti-abortion-clinics-shut-down-crisis-pregnancy-centres" target="_blank">news stories emerged</a>
about the misleading information offered to women visiting some pregnancy advice centres in the UK, and the issue isn't so much about their pro-life stance as about the tactics they employ, the lack of transparency about their funding
sources and their unregulated access to vulnerable women who are being led to
believe that they will receive professional and impartial medical advice. These aren't women who are members of the churches involved, but their bodies are still seen as a suitable site on which to stage a moral battle. The
religious organisations backing these centres may believe they have God on
their side, but since when did God require his servants to be insidious and
underhand while they are about his work?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Churches
who want to retain any credibility should publicly distance themselves from
such groups and movements. They're giving Christianity a bad name,
and "Sorry, not my department," just doesn't cut it as an excuse for
inaction. But if churches, and individual Christians, keep silence and allow their fellow Christians to carry
on unchecked, who can blame the secularists for tarring them all with the same
brush?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Of
course, some of the extremists are not devious or dangerous single-issue
campaigners. Some of them are just outspoken trouser-fetishists with nothing better to
do than inundate other people's blogs with their shouty comments. Those in the
latter group are pretty harmless. Nobody needs to condemn them; they
condemn themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">There
may be FP folk reading this who are horrified to find themselves mentioned in
the same blog post as some of these other groups, but if it hadn’t been for an
FP adherent’s extreme reaction to my blog I would probably never have lumped
them all in together or found myself associating what could be dismissed as an antiquated and mildly misogynistic attitude to clothing with a broader agenda to suppress women's freedoms in the name of religion. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Until now, I’d always thought of the FPs simply as a slightly less
fun version of the Free Church – a bit odd and cheerless, perhaps, and to judge
by my visit last year not very friendly either, but nothing to worry about too
much. Now, thanks to the comments from one of their worshippers, I see them as the thin end of a wedge whose fat end can look very sinister indeed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Let us take comfort where we can, though. The prospects for FP girls aren't so very bleak. Some of them</span></o:p> grow up to become members of Parliament and hold their own opinions ... or at least those of their party, rather than those of their parents. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But
hey, maybe I've got it wrong. A single, childless woman with a mind of her own
and several pairs of trousers to choose from ... in the eyes of certain people
who call themselves Christians, I'm past saving and nothing I say should be given too much credence. Meanwhile, the justified trouser-haters of cyberspace can be assured of their place in heaven.</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-54275157285366449382014-02-10T13:52:00.000-08:002014-02-10T14:38:05.208-08:00Summing up … second attempt<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So
a month has gone by and <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-mission.html" target="_blank">my Soul Search mission</a> seems a long way behind me already.
Maybe I’ve actually got this out of my system. Maybe I don’t need to sum up
neatly. Maybe I can just say, “Been there, done that, no longer interested.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I
started 2013 with the tentative label “post-Christian monotheist”, and I
reached the end of it without having to change that label. Am I a monotheist? I
am prepared to be a theist, in the sense that I cannot say (as the fool doth in
his heart) that there is no god with enough certainty to call myself an
atheist, and yet I’m not particularly comfortable with the idea of being an
agnostic, which is the category you might expect the unconvinced to fall into. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But
one thing’s for sure. Christianity is a thing of my past. There will be no more
churches. I can’t see myself ever again being lured towards such a belief
system. It might look attractive and simple at the outset, but scratch the
surface and you’ll spend the rest of your life trying to reconcile its myriad
inconsistencies. Of course, you could just adopt a blind-faith attitude that
stonewalls all argument and criticism, but that’s not a very mature or persuasive
stance to take. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Oh
yes, you have to be persuasive, because once you’re in, you’re supposed to
evangelise and recruit and spread the word, like a lowly latecomer in a pyramid
sales scheme. But at some point – and it may take years to reach that point –
you’ll realise you’ve been sold a pup. I realised that a long time ago, if I’m
honest about it, but I wanted to be really, really sure. And after <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/fifty-shades-of-faith.html" target="_blank">fifty-odd churches</a>, I'm about as sure as I can be … where
Christianity is concerned, at least. I’m not ruling out other faiths; I am in
no position to do so at this stage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And before you ask, no, I don't think Christianity has value because it instils a sense of morality. Atheists/agnostics/secularists aren’t running around killing and robbing
each other, or if they are it’s not because they're godless. If anything,
it’s the religious folk who seem to do most damage, because their belief that their
atrocities are in a righteous cause allows them to be so much more extreme and intolerant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Religiously
inspired codes of morality may reinforce the rules that civilised people would
come up with anyway in the absence of religion, but that doesn’t mean that
religion, or god, is the source of all morality. Anyone who says that if he/she
wasn’t a Christian he/she’d be completely amoral and would be committing crimes
left, right and centre is a person to be avoided. Being a dangerous person
whose criminal and/or immoral instincts are suppressed by Christianity is nothing to be proud
of. Being a civilised person who acts morally without needing to be told to is
more to be desired. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Nevertheless,
there are some areas in which a deity could be acknowledged – as a notional
creator, for example, and I have no problem with that concept. The literal
six-day creationists are barking, of course, but I can make room in my world
view for a first cause, however that is to be understood. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I
can also make room – indeed, I could hardly deny it room, if it’s omnipresent – for
an overarching almighty entity that is too great and mysterious to be fully
understood, however rational we try to be. But the physical paraphernalia attending
the Christian version of this entity – all thorns and nails and tail feathers –
is not the substance or manifestation of any god I can believe in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So
that’s where I am so far. Still pondering, but not beating myself up about it.
Still doubting, but open to persuasion. And still blogging, occasionally, and trying not to get too riled by the intemperate commentators who insist on USING CAPITAL LETTERS ALL THE TIME!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Tee-hee, giggles the Soul Searcher. At least people are reading my blog -- it's been visited by people in 57 different countries. That's one for every week I've been writing it. Who'd have thought people as far afield as Benin, Chile, Qatar and Hong Kong would want to read about Edinburgh churches?</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com64tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-61967497295030265362014-01-13T10:21:00.002-08:002014-01-13T10:21:59.929-08:00Summing up … first attempt
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So there have been three church-free Sundays since the end
of my year of churchgoing. On the first one I worked (deadlines and bad
planning having scrubbed out any possibility of “fun” over Christmas and the
New Year), and on the second and third I met up with a friend to visit the
Botanic Gardens and then the National Museum.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And no, I’m not missing going to church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Trying to sum up what I’ve learned in the past year is taking
longer than I’d thought. No definite conclusions …
not yet, anyway. Except perhaps this one … that there will be no more churches.
I’ve been there and done that, and seen more varieties of this crazy thing
called Christianity than I bet a lot of people could claim to have experienced.
And there’s nothing there for me. If I want music, I’ll go to a concert or
listen to a CD. If I want a lesson, I’ll read it from a book. If I want the intemperate
opinions of social conservatives, I’ll read the <i>Daily Mail</i>. Actually, no, I don’t
think I could stomach that. And if I want to pray or read the bible, I don’t
need to sit in a strangely decorated building in order to do that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">All the Jesus stuff needs more mulling over. There are big
questions about exactly how much I can bring myself to believe, and as you
might have worked out by now the term arch-sceptic might just about begin to
describe my approach to most faith claims. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">More to come when I’ve worked more of it out, if that ever happens. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-62580131452193486582013-12-27T12:06:00.000-08:002013-12-27T12:06:28.827-08:00St Cuthbert’s Parish Church
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.st-cuthberts.net/" target="_blank">St Cuthbert’s Parish Church</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Christmas Eve, 24 December 2013, 11.30pm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Ministers: the Reverend David W Denniston, the Reverend
Charles Robertson and the Reverend Jane M Denniston<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Bah Humbug! Soul Searcher is not a fan of Christmas, at
least not of most of it. Yes to turkey and sprouts, but no to rampant
consumerism, queuing in Sainsburys and the awful loop of Christmas pop songs
played just about everywhere from mid-October onwards. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But I couldn’t not go to church on Christmas Eve. My dear
friend C, the cafeteria Catholic at whose behest I attended <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/low-key-christmas-mass-at-st-peters.html" target="_blank">St Peter’s</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>last year, kick-starting the whole year
of blogging, had suggested a return visit, but then she bottled out, so no
brownie points for her. So I thought I’d try St Cuthbert’s, last experienced
<a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/greyfriars-tolbooth-highland-kirk.html" target="_blank">through a fug of soup odour in May</a>, the week the general assembly was in town and Princes Street gardens were
playing host to the Heart & Soul festival. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">No soup this time, but lots of electric candles to light the
first half of the service, until the house lights came up at midnight. A
reversal, if you will, of the Tenebrae service at <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/old-saint-pauls.html" target="_blank">Old St Paul’s</a>, with all the lights going out until we ended in darkness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">St Cuthbert’s is one of those churches that seems too ornate
to be CofS, with friezes and frescoes and all manner of fripperies to distract
the eye. They also have an organ, played by one Dr Jeremy Cull, who treated us
to Bach’s Christmas chorales from the Orgelbuchlein on the way in and Widor’s
Toccata in F on the way out. After all the dire “praise” music I’ve endured
this year, it’s nice to hear some old-school church music played well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But as for the choir, well, not so great. Six feeble voices
were largely drowned out by one of the male ministers (wasn’t sure which was
which) who left his microphone on throughout all the hymns, although they
attempted a feeble descant for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">See in
Yonder Manger Low</i>. I feared that they might try the same for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">O Little Town of Bethlehem</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">O Come, All Ye Faithful</i>, but we were
spared what could have been a car crash. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Congregational enthusiasm was difficult to judge because of
the mic’ed-up minister, but there were 60-something people in various degrees
of mufflement against the mid-winter weather, although one woman had opted for
bare arms, bare legs and peep-toe stilettos. Brrrr! Soul Searcher, who likes to
be prepared for draughty churches, wore her new hat, crocheted by her own fair
hand, but still found herself coveting her neighbour’s white fleecy, furry,
ear-flappy, tie-under-the-chin hat. But <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Where
did you get that hat?</i> wasn’t what we were there to hear about. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The carols were: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">On
Christmas Night All Christians Sing</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Child
in the Manger</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">See in Yonder Manger
Low </i>(complete with errors on the OHP), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">While
Humble Shepherds</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">O Little Town of
Bethlehem</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Still the Night</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Joy to the World</i> (which I didn’t realise
had quite so many verses), and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">O Come,
All Ye Faithful</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The readings were Isaiah 9:2-7, Titus 2:11-14, and Luke
2:1-20, and the sermons, or “talks”, of which there were two for some reason,
were about the innkeeper, starting with a grim little piece of doggerel called “The
Tale of the Innkeeper”. In a nutshell, we are all of us innkeepers, thinking
there is no room in our lives for Jesus, but let us not miss another
opportunity in life, because he always has room for us. Quite why it took three
clergypeople to deliver this I’m not sure; maybe they just don’t want to be
alone at Christmas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But I can’t say that I felt moved or uplifted at any point.
Maybe after <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/fifty-shades-of-faith.html" target="_blank">all these churches</a> I’m just bored now. The year is
nearly ended and there’s nothing new under all those vaulted ceilings. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-49340303756334054232013-12-23T14:52:00.001-08:002013-12-23T14:52:27.702-08:00Try Praying<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://trypraying.co.uk/" target="_blank">Try Praying</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Where: on the buses, in little booklets and <a href="http://trypraying.co.uk/" target="_blank">online</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Led by: a very nice man called David Hill <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’d seen the bus adverts, stuck behind one in traffic, most
likely, but I wasn’t sure who was behind trypraying until I met David,
parishoner of <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/0-false-18-pt-18-pt-0-0-false-false.html" target="_blank">Liberton Kirk</a></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">,
who commented on my blog and who turns out to be the campaign co-ordinator. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">David gave me the booklet (also <a href="http://www.trypraying.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Try-Praying-7-Day-Booklet-2012_4_WEBVIS.pdf" target="_blank">downloadable</a>) and asked me
to try the seven-day prayer challenge. And I did. And I promised that I’d write
about it. That was more than seven weeks ago now. Soul Searcher has had a lot
on her plate, but finally she’s getting round to it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So how to review trypraying? The short version is simple:
tried it, didn’t work!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But there’s a difference between, “I tried it and it didn’t
work for me,” and “I tried it and it didn’t work and therefore it doesn’t work
for anyone.” Clearly there are many who believe that it does work, that prayer
is effective, that God listens and responds, that it isn’t just some kind of
pointless lunatic activity akin to having an imaginary friend. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So there has to be a longer and, I hope, more carefully
considered version too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Regular readers will know by now that the Soul Searcher is a
grumpy, grudging grouch who finds plenty to complain about almost everywhere.
So if you asked me what I honestly thought about prayer, about its purpose and
efficacy, you could expect a fairly sceptical answer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But it’s also worth checking sources, so let’s start with
the <a href="http://www.westminsterconfession.org/confessional-standards/the-westminster-shorter-catechism.php" target="_blank">Westminster Catechism’s definition of prayer (q98)</a></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for things
agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and
thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And now let’s pick it apart and think about what that really
means. It means that a petition for anything not agreeable to God’s will
doesn’t count as prayer, so if your prayer goes unanswered it might be because
you’ve prayed for the wrong thing. But how do you know if what you desire is
acceptable or not? Well, perhaps because acceptable desires are fulfilled and
unacceptable ones aren’t … which leads us right back round in a circle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This definition would also seem to suggest that unless you
confess your sins it doesn’t count either. Ditto for acknowledgement of his
mercies. So if any one element is lacking, you’re unlikely to get what you’re
praying for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">More detailed definitions of prayer expand on the basic
premise, explaining that it’s about more than mechanical lip service, not what
you say but what’s in your heart, etc. So here’s another question? If God knows
what’s in my heart, why do I have to tell him? Okay, so there’s always some
value in trying to set out your thoughts in proper order, like writing a list
of all the things you need to do rather than just worrying about the general mess
your life is in … or like writing a blog about churchgoing for a whole year
instead of just letting all the spiritual mayhem swirl around in your brain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Back in October, at <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/craigrownie-parish-church-cove.html" target="_blank">Craigrownie Parish Church</a></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">,
the sermon covered some of this, but not in any great depth, although the
minister did have quite a tidy argument to account for unanswered prayers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But maybe not every prayer expects an answer. There
are prayers of acknowledgement and of thanks, as well as prayers of petition.
There are prayers whose purpose is to cement one’s membership of a
congregation/sect/faith, everyone reciting the same prayer together. This is
prayer as fan mail; the fans don’t really expect the admired celebrity to write
back to them in person, but the act of sending the letter makes them feel like
part of something bigger … maybe? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I don’t know really. I’ve never idolised a pop star or
actor, so I’m guessing here. Maybe it’s my lack of idol-worshipping instinct
that makes prayer not work for me. It</span>’s just hard to see how the petty little
god prayed to at <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/holyrood-abbey-church.html" target="_blank">Holyrood Abbey</a>, <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/elim-pentecostal-church.html" target="_blank">Elim</a> and <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/st-stephens-comely-bank.html" target="_blank">St Stephen’s</a>, who is unable to do any of the things that a truly almighty god would do, could be
worth praying to.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There could be another purpose to prayer, of course. Prayer
as meditation, to get your mind into some kind of receptive state, to calm yourself,
to focus your thoughts, etc, etc. But to commune with a supernatural being?
Hmmm … not sure I can really go for that. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of the themes that I’ve brought up during my <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-mission.html" target="_blank">Soul Search mission</a> is the theological difficulty I have in equating Jesus with God. While I could
just about believe in God the Father, there’s too much messy Christology around
the person and purpose of Jesus, around the trinity and so on, for me to
believe in the divinity of Jesus. However I leave my year of Soul Searching, it’s
going to be without Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">… and trypraying is all about Jesus. For trypraying, Jesus
equals God, and they don’t want to muddy the waters with too much theology. The
campaign is aimed, after all, at people who wouldn’t darken the doors of a
church. Soul Searcher quite likes churches; she just isn’t too keen on what she
tends to find in them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So what can I say about trypraying? I don’t want to condemn
it as pointless. There are some genuinely well-intentioned people involved in
promoting it, and good luck to them. If their forthcoming <a href="http://www.thereishope.co.uk/april-2014/" target="_blank">Pray, Say, Display campaign</a>
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">to widen the scope of the project
succeeds, they might get a few more people talking regularly to God, feeling
better about themselves, finding a purpose in life, and that’s got to be good.
But there’s a step somewhere beyond that, when all those brought to prayer by
trypraying start to get a bit more inquisitive … and then they’ll find
themselves where I am, <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/fifty-shades-of-faith.html" target="_blank">fifty churches down</a> and still no answers.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sorry, David. </span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-43278078506661510132013-12-16T06:52:00.000-08:002013-12-17T14:55:41.495-08:00Robin Chapel<br />
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<a href="http://www.robinchapel.org.uk/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Robin Chapel </span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Choral Evensong, Advent 3 (Gaudete), 15 December 2013, 4.30pm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Chaplain: Revd Thomas Coupar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Preacher: Very Revd Mgr Michael Regan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It was the third Sunday in Advent, and once again John the
Baptist was very much to the fore, starting with a rousing rendition of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry</i>,
which fairly raised the rafters. There were only eleven worshippers, but the
thirteen choristers made a big noise in a small space. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Maybe they get more folk attending when the weather isn’t
fierce and filthy, but if you’ve never been to the Robin Chapel then you’ve
missed a choral treat. Built in memory of Robin Tudsbury as part of the <a href="http://www.thistle.org.uk/" target="_blank">Thistle Foundation</a>, it is described as interdenominational but appears to be more or less Anglican. They have a super little choir who sing evensong every
week, yesterday’s music list being:</span></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Hymns 34, 573 (Common Praise)</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Plainsong <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Preces and
Responses</i></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Ps. 14</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Amner <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cesar’s Service</i></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Gibbons <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This is the
record of John</i></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Naylor <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Festal
Responses</i> </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Bit of a wobble on the final verse of the Gibbons, but it
was pretty impressive. Even the collects were sung, and the order of service is
from the 1929 Scottish Prayer Book, which features such charming archaisms as, “In
Quires and Places where they sing, here followeth the Anthem.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The visiting preacher, the Very Revd Mgr Michael Regan from
the Metropolitan Cathedral, wins the prize for the best vestments of the year
bar none. Germolene pink satin – rose pink, he called it – with elaborate
floral embroidery and a befringèd cope. It even surpasses the gold and yellow
number worn by Jennifer Irungu at the <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-kingdom-church.html" target="_blank">Kingdom Church</a>, though he might lose a point or two for not accessorising with sparkly high
heels. Maybe that would have been over-egging it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The readings were Isaiah 35 and Matthew 11:2-15, and the
sermon was about preparing a way for the Lord, citing lyrics from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Les Miserables</i> and reflecting on what it
means to be touched by love, when we can begin to discern what the prophets
have been talking about. At just seven minutes long, it’s probably the shortest
address of the year, but there was a lot of singing to get through, and having sat through some dire sermons during <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-mission.html" target="_blank">my mission</a> I'm not going to complain about concision. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve noted a couple of times throughout <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/fifty-shades-of-faith.html" target="_blank">my year of churchgoing</a> that there’s something aesthetically pleasing about the Anglican liturgy, and
especially so when it’s all set to such fabulous music. Does it do anything for
me spiritually? Er … no. Sorry. But maybe that’s just because I’m dead inside. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But they’re doing a Christmas carol service next Sunday at
4pm, which should have some good music. How many people they can fit in is
another matter, as there’s probably only seating for thirty or so. First come,
first served, I guess. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-5621770873021923962013-12-08T16:27:00.000-08:002013-12-14T15:53:46.665-08:00Pilrig St Paul’s Church<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.pilrigstpauls.org.uk/news.php" target="_blank">Pilrig St Paul’s Church</a> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Sunday Worship, Second Sunday of Advent, 08 December
2013, 11am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Minister: Rev Mark Foster<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Déjà vu aplenty this week, as I added yet another <a href="http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/" target="_blank">Church of Scotland</a> congregation to <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/fifty-shades-of-faith.html" target="_blank">my list</a>.
<a href="http://www.pilrigstpauls.org.uk/news.php" target="_blank">Pilrig St Paul’s</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>happens to be my parish church, in the
sense that I live in the geographical area assigned to it, although I didn’t
find this out until the middle of September when my visit to <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/0-false-18-pt-18-pt-0-0-false-false.html" target="_blank">Liberton Kirk</a> prompted me to wonder about the churches on my own doorstep.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Maybe I’ve been to too many C of S churches by now, but
there were echoes of other services, not least last week’s at <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/duddingston-kirk.html" target="_blank">Duddingston Kirk</a>,
as Pilrig St Paul’s</span>’ (how many apostrophes should there be?) minister, Rev Foster, is more or less a younger
version of Dr Jack – same avuncular tone, same balance of humour and
seriousness, similar physique though slightly more flamboyant sartorially in his
big blue dress and purple stole.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Echoes, too, of <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/wilson-memorial-church.html" target="_blank">Wilson Memorial’s</a> tiny
and barely audible choir (muted echoes, I guess), as Pilrig St Paul’s boasts
just four choristers, and the same demographic imbalance seen at <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/musselburgh-congregational-church.html" target="_blank">Musselburgh Congregational Church</a> –
fifty-odd mostly elderly folk, 90 per cent of them female, and three bewildered
children. The building could have held four times this number with room to
spare.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The children’s address was pretty chaotic, involving an
invisible time machine, its invisible keys, the symbolism of purple and clues that
had been hidden around the church in Sainsburys bags – honey, hairy shirt … can
you guess who it is yet? A bear? Fred Flintstone? Unfortunately, the final
item, a leather belt, had been found by a diligent worshipper on arrival and handed in to lost property so it had to be brought
out again to complete the puzzle, and even then none of the kids could guess.
But, yes, all the grown-ups knew it was John the Baptist. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Kids out of the way at Sunday school, the sermon was about
John the Baptist as an unconventional role model, unlikely to win friends or influence
people. Rev Foster suggested Hallmark has missed a trick by not producing
Advent cards featuring John the Baptist with “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand”, or “Ye viperous brood” as the sentiment. But in a nutshell, the
rantings of this lunatic preacher (John, I mean, not the Rev Foster) are a
seasonal reminder that our lives need turning around. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Readings were Isaiah 11:1-10 and Matthew 3:1-12 (NIV) and
hymns were from CH4. The organ is set in an ornate carved wall of pipes and
pulpit, somewhat ponderous in the jaunty little advent carol but coming into
its own for the more traditional hymns, but I do have to wonder why the
organist passed up the opportunity to use Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen, as
printed, and choose Crüger instead. Still, a chorale is a chorale and I suppose I
shouldn’t complain. At least they weren’t singing praise choruses. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So I’m almost at the end of <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-mission.html" target="_blank">my year of churchgoing</a>, and I
ought to be asking myself if I’ve actually learnt anything. Hard to say.
Nothing new or challenging today, at least. At some point soon, I will need to
start gathering my thoughts and drawing some conclusions. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-12296419973325167182013-12-02T11:59:00.001-08:002013-12-02T12:04:55.324-08:00Duddingston Kirk<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.duddingstonkirk.co.uk/" target="_blank">Duddingston Kirk</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">First Sunday in Advent, early service, Sunday 01 December 2013, 10am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Minister: Rev Dr James Jack<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A reader of and commentator on my blog asked if I’d be interested in visiting her church, which she described in somewhat cryptic terms as a “south-east Edinburgh gem … near the shores of a loch”. Aha! Where else but Duddingston Kirk?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Everyone’s seen Henry Raeburn’s famous picture of the skating minister, <a href="http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/artists-a-z/R/4399/artist_name/Sir%20Henry%20Raeburn/record_id/2469" target="_blank">the Rev Robert Walker, skating on Duddingston Loch</a>, lovely views of which you can see from the kirk gardens, although Walker’s parish was the <a href="http://canongatekirk.org.uk/" target="_blank">Canongate Kirk</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Whether Duddingston’s current incumbent, Dr Jack, is a skating man or not I couldn’t say, but he does have a magnificent baritone voice and a sense of humour that the congregation seemed to appreciate, and I have to say I enjoyed the service. So thank you, Eileen, for the recommendation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I failed, however, to count how many people were present, mostly because I sat at the back and couldn’t see into the transepts or gallery, but it was a fair sized crowd, and that was for the early service. They do another one at 11.30, so it seems to be a thriving congregation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We kicked off with – hurrah! – a paraphrase, <i>The Race that Long in Darkness Pined</i> (Isaiah 9:2-7), and as I observed at <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/craigrownie-parish-church-cove.html" target="_blank">Craigrownie</a>, it’s nice to know that the paraphrases haven’t been completely forgotten in the move to CH4. The hymn selection was much in the same vein too – <i>Rejoice, the Lord is King, Away in a Manger</i> and <i>O Come, O Come, Emmanuel</i>, plus the more lyrically experimental <i>‘I have a dream,’ a man once said </i>to the tune of Repton. I wonder if that one will survive to CH5. Slightly odd, though, to choose <i>Lift up your Hearts! We Lift them to the Lord</i>, when we could have had <i>Tell out, my Soul, the Greatness of the Lord</i> to the same tune (Woodlands). During one of the hymns (I don’t recall which), Dr Jack wandered up to the back rather like an exam invigilator, but if he hadn’t done so I wouldn’t have been able to hear his super voice; there are some funny acoustics in that space.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It reminded me of Craigrownie in other ways too. Maybe it’s the village setting, or maybe it’s because both Craigrownie and Duddingston sit somewhere towards the trad end of the <a href="http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/" target="_blank">Church of Scotland </a>spectrum where their style of worship is concerned – sung amen, stained glass, minister in academic robes, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The readings were Isaiah 2:1-5 and Matthew 24:36-44, the children’s address was about Mary and the sermon was on the theme, No One Knows the Day and Hour. Last time I heard a sermon on this theme, before <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-mission.html" target="_blank">this year’s mission</a>, I almost missed a ferry from Mull back to the mainland, because no one had told me the service would last almost two hours – I really didn’t know the hour – and with only 13 in the congregation it would have been rude to leave early. But I made it back to Craignure in time on that occasion, and luckily Dr Jack runs a tighter ship than the evangelicals of Tobermory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He launched into his sermon with a few lines of <i>Santa Claus is Coming to Town</i>, but he quickly turned to the disconnect we can feel during the festive season – “an uneasiness, or even embarrassment, that hovers unspoken over the frivolity of Christmas” while we all run around like headless chickens and Isaiah’s vision for peace among the nations seems lost in the machinery of commerce and warfare. Who wants to listen for the voice of a mouldy old prophet? But we need a mental intermission in the midst of the extravaganza, a little head space to raise that faith question.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I agree. I hate Christmas, and there are still 20-odd shopping days to go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">There were prayers, of course, for those killed, injured and bereaved in the Glasgow helicopter crash. How could there not have been? It fitted with the sermon, really. On the one hand, everyone’s so busy with their exciting lives and their profound ambitions and their trivial daily concerns, and then in an instant everything can change utterly. No one knows the day or the hour. </span></div>
</div>
Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-32230883240058196532013-11-25T12:38:00.000-08:002013-11-26T07:26:56.599-08:00St Michael and All Saints<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.stmichaelandallsaints.org/" target="_blank">St Michael and All Saints</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">High Mass for the Feast of Christ the King, Sunday 24
November 2013, 11am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Led by: a whole bunch of clergy and servers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Sermon by: Fr Malcolm Aldcroft<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Last week I had a hankering for Bach. This week I got to
hear <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht </i>sung
by the choir of <a href="http://www.stmichaelandallsaints.org/" target="_blank">St Michael and All Saints</a> at probably the highest mass I’ve attended all year. If it’s smells and bells
you’re after, St Michael and All Saints even eclipses the Tridentine Latin mass
at <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/church-of-saints-margaret-and-leonard.html" target="_blank">St Margaret’s and St Leonard’s</a>, and has the advantage of actually including the congregation by processing
around and puffing everyone with incense. It doesn’t half stick in your
nostrils, though. I could still smell it two hours later.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">If the Anglican communion is a spectrum, this is the end at
which it looks more Catholic than the Catholics, and to someone with such Presbyterian
instincts as mine it’s an uncomfortable experience to witness the clergy bowing
to a separate little Marian altar and singing Hail Mary, although this bit was
after the mass itself was ended. Nor have I ever heard the Lord’s Prayer
changed to include the blessed and ever glorious virgin Mary, the apostles
Peter and Paul, Andrew of Scotland, Michael and all saints, but that’s what we
got in this version of the 1970 Scottish Liturgy. Excuse me while I have
another little Presbyterian shudder … eeurgh! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The mass was sung, led by a choir of ten, and an organist
who scores top marks for sneaking a few motifs from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Once in Royal David’s City</i> into the tune of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Crown Him with Many Crowns</i>, as well as singing along to the
prayers. As well as choir and organist, there were three clergy in gold and red
vestments and six servers in black and white vestments, which is quite a high
staff-public ratio considering there were only 37 in the congregation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Slightly confusingly, although the gospel reading (cue bells
and huddled clergy) was Luke 23:33-43 as advertised in the pew-sheet, the other
readings were from Malachi 4 and 2 Thessalonians 3, and not Jeremiah 23 and
Colossians 1 as in the sheet. No pew bibles were supplied. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The sermon was short and sweet; it has to be when there’s
all that mass to get through. On this the Feast of Christ the King, we were
asked to consider how a king or queen can be recognised without his/her crown
on. One of the men crucified beside Jesus failed to recognise him, and indeed
his majesty cannot be measured in human terms. Oh yes, and it was stir-up
Sunday – last chance to do your Christmas baking. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Soul Searcher has not been baking. Soul Searcher’s mother,
on the other hand, had her cake done a fortnight ago. I’m not sure if I believe
in god, but there’s definitely such a thing as a domestic goddess and I’ve a
long way to go to learn to bake like her. Maybe that’s another project for
2014.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">There’s definitely something appealing about the Anglican
mass, incense and Mariolatry aside, and I can see why some people like the
ritual and rhythm and predictability of it. Nothing too challenging in the
sermon, hymns that everyone knows, an hour and a quarter circumscribed by
tradition and familiarity, but still not my cup of tea. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Mind you, I bumped into a friend at St Michael’s, and it’s
only the fourth church this year where I’ve met someone I knew, so that’s two Anglican
churches, a <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/st-columbas-free-church.html" target="_blank">Free Church</a> and a <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/free-church-of-scotland-continuing.html" target="_blank">Free Church Continuing</a> – the extremes of the whole high/low continuum. I keep thinking that the
bumping-into-friends hit rate s<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">hould be higher after fifty churches, but
perhaps I just don’t know enough nice, godly people. </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Post-script, Tuesday 26 Nov:</b> actually, now that I think about it, there are two other churches where I've met people I know, both Church of Scotland. That takes the hit rate up a bit, and balances the extremes. </span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-4930740057518973442013-11-17T15:54:00.000-08:002013-11-17T15:58:11.789-08:00Edinburgh City Vineyard<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.edinburghcityvineyard.co.uk/" target="_blank">Edinburgh City Vineyard</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Sunday 17 November 2013, 10.30am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Led by: David Hart<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Soul Searcher was a happy bunny this morning. She met the
big scary deadline (three days early, thank you very much) and for the first
time in many weeks actually took a day off. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So I was in a good mood when I headed into the Hilton hotel
in Grosvenor Street to attend the <a href="http://www.edinburghcityvineyard.co.uk/" target="_blank">Edinburgh City Vineyard</a>, a fairly new congregation that’s part of a network
of <a href="http://www.vineyardchurches.org.uk/" target="_blank">UK</a> and <a href="http://www.vineyard.org/" target="_blank">international</a> churches that I’ve somehow managed not to hear of at all until relatively
recently.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Vineyard has its own record label, which doesn’t mean that
its music is any good. There’s not much to distinguish its praise music – led
by a guitarist introduced only as “this good-looking man” – from the trendy droning
heard at <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/hope-church.html" target="_blank">Hope!</a>, <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/life-church.html" target="_blank">Life</a> and other strum-along churches of that ilk, and I’ve said often enough why this
isn’t my kind of thing so I won’t explain why again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">You get a Vineyard CD in your welcome pack, but I’m not adding
it to my iTunes library. There’s chocolate in there too, for those with a sweet
tooth, and even if you’re not a first-time visitor there are doughnuts every
week. It could be a dangerous church for anyone watching their waistline, and
since all those weeks of deadline meeting and near immobility have not helped
mine I really shouldn’t have indulged. But I did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">After 35 minutes of “worship” (definitions of which <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/destiny-church-leith.html" target="_blank">I’ve discussed before</a>),
it was time for David Hart to deliver his talk on Sharing Jesus: how do we
practically do it? A believer should not assume, he said, that the onus is on
other people to recognise the presence of Jesus in his/her life and to come and
find out more. Rather the onus is on the believer to come out of his/her
comfort zone and speak to others. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And the believer who wants to share Jesus should not do as David
does with the wilting plants in his hanging basket – resentfully pour a bucket
of water over them from time to time and then wonder why it just runs off the
hard surface of the soil leaving the poor plants as thirsty as ever. Instead,
the plants need to be fed little and often, letting the moisture soak in
properly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He cited a few bible verses (Romans 1:14 and 13:8, and
Matthew 10:8), but there wasn’t a bible reading, which seemed something of an
omission, but maybe they do bible study at other times during the week. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Thankfully, there was no reprise of the music after the
talk. But all the people were very lovely and friendly (about 30 of them, plus
some children in the next room), and if you like this style of worship
they seem to be a close-knit and supportive group of folk. I was invited to
join them for carol singing, which I will have to miss because of a prior
engagement, and that made me realise just how soon Christmas will be upon us
once again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So, as an antidote to the Vineyard praise music, I listened to
Bach’s Christmas Oratorio on my
way to the supermarket – note to self for 2014: must take up choral singing
again – and to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0079g5m" target="_blank">Take the Floor</a> on the way back from the supermarket – note to self for 2014: must take up
Scottish country dancing again and work off that doughnut … and the rest!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-36850541914530217922013-11-10T03:30:00.000-08:002013-11-10T03:30:40.853-08:00What do non-churchgoers do on Sunday mornings?
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Soul Searcher isn’t going to church today. She has a big,
scary deadline just a week away, and a smaller and less scary one tomorrow, so
she has to work. Yes, on the Sabbath. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">She can’t help but think that she’d be further ahead now if
she hadn’t spent so many other Sunday mornings in church. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Maybe other people just have a lie in. Lucky them. </span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-16738001902023912832013-11-03T11:45:00.000-08:002013-11-03T11:45:17.749-08:00Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Morningside
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Morningside<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Morning meeting, Sunday 10.30am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Talk by: Brother Leitch <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Watchtower study led by: Brother McCracken, with readings by
Brother Gladwyn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">(all name spellings are guesswork on my part) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve never had my door knocked on by <a href="http://www.jw.org/en/" target="_blank">Jehovah’s Witnesses</a> – at least, not when
I’ve been at home. But then again, I seem to be off the radar of all the
religious organisations that you might think would want to witness to me, <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/0-false-18-pt-18-pt-0-0-false-false.html" target="_blank">as I’ve observed before</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So at the risk of mixing my metaphors, since the mountain
hadn’t come to Mohammed, I set off to find the mountain, which in this case was
a small hill on Oxgangs Green. If I were trying to sell a property in the
vicinity, I’d try to call it Morningside too, but let’s face it, once you’ve
crossed the Braid Burn you’re in Oxgangs and you can’t really deny it. The
clue is in the street name. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I didn’t (and still don’t) know very much about Jehovah’s Witnesses besides the usual lore … they can’t have blood transfusions, don’t
dink coffee (Soul Searcher can’t live without her caffeine), believe that
heaven has a limited capacity but you can work your way to the front of the
queue, and have inaccurately predicted the end of the
world several times. Actually, <a href="http://www.jw.org/en/" target="_blank">their website</a> has lots of myth v. fact information for those who want to find out what
they’re really about. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">What I can definitely say without fear of contradiction
after this morning’s experience is that they are incredibly welcoming and
pleasant and all seem like genuinely lovely people. Who would leave such as
these shivering on a doorstep? And they know their bible inside out too, which
I’ll come to in a moment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The format of the meeting is a talk (peculiar to each congregation) followed by bible study based on the articles in “The Watchtower:
Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom” (which will be the same in every congregation
throughout the world, week by week). There were three hymns/songs, from “Sing
to Jehovah”, which were sung somewhat hesitantly to a piano accompaniment. I’d
never heard any of them before, and sight-singing isn’t my strong suit, but I
did my best. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The talk, given by Brother Leitch from the Portobello
congregation, who admits to once having been knocked over by a hungry
Charollais sheep, was entitled “Never become dull in your hearing”. He asked us
to think about three ways in which animals use their sense of hearing: 1) to
flee from danger; 2) to herd together for protection and feeding; and 3) to
search for food. Likewise, since faith follows the thing(s) heard (Romans
10:17) and because it is difficult to explain about Jesus if you have become
dull in your hearing (Hebrews 5:11), we should be alert and responsive and
should flee (1 Timothy 6:11) from the things that Satan has set in the world to
distract us, such as violent movies and other examples of immorality. The
faithful should also draw comfort and inspiration from the fellowship of other
believers, as did the two Estonian women who made a three-day round-trip just
to attend a meeting. And we should be hungry for spiritual food (Matthew 4:4
and 5:6) – this is where the boisterous Charollais came in; it just couldn’t get
there fast enough when it heard the feed bucket rattling – and should listen to
the call to study and, once studying, listen to the subtle rhythms of our own
hearts and adjust our lives to work on what is lacking, striving all the while
to ignore the siren call of the world that would dash us on the rocks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">All in all, as well-crafted a talk as I’ve heard this year.
Can’t argue with that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And now it was quiz time. Brother McCracken chaired the
seminar-style study session like a brisk, avuncular schoolmaster, putting me
rather in mind of Robert Robinson, not so much for his physical appearance as
for his habit of addressing everyone by their surnames (Brother Smith, Sister
Jones, etc) as he went round the room inviting answers to the Watchtower
questions on this week’s theme, “Jehovah’s Reminders are Trustworthy”, and
responding to most of them by saying, “That’s right.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Witnesses do their homework, I’ll give them that. Copies
of Watchtower were underlined and highlighted and annotated, and almost all of
the fifty people present (as with most <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/fifty-shades-of-faith.html" target="_blank">places of worship visited this year</a>,
attendance was “about fifty”) answered at least one question, even the wee boy
of about six or seven. It’s an interesting format and it must be effective. No
snoozing at the back such as you might get away with in many churches, and
you’d need to have all that information at your fingertips if you were going to
go out there and make disciples of all nations, which is what seven million
Witnesses are doing – “zealously proclaiming God’s Kingdom in more than 230 lands.”
Quite what constitutes a land I’m not sure. There aren’t that many nation
states in the world, but this time next year there could be one more
independent country to add to the list … if the Lord’s swift judgment doesn’t
come before September 18<sup>th</sup>, of course. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Would I go to a Kingdom Hall again? Actually, I might, if
only to observe another of those study seminars. It’s something more churches
ought to do, because there’s a whole lot of so-called believers out there who
can’t answer simple questions about their own faith, and it’s unlikely you’d be
able to level the same accusation at a Jehovah’s witness, which might explain
their success in worldwide evangelism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Could I actually subscribe to what the JWs believe? That’s
another question, and the answer is probably no, but if they ever do come
knocking on my door, I’d be up for a discussion about it. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-69010405105466062682013-10-22T14:50:00.002-07:002013-10-22T14:50:59.363-07:00Sunday Assembly
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://sundayassembly.com/" target="_blank">Sunday Assembly</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">New Empire Bingo Club, Edinburgh</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Tuesday 22 October 2013, 7pm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Led by: Sanderson Jones & Pippa Evans<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Soul Searcher can be a bit tetchy at times. What can I say?
There’s a lot to be tetchy about in this world. Until tonight, though, I hadn’t
really thought of myself as a no-holds-barred misanthrope, but nothing makes
you see the worst in humanity quite like an hour and a half of enforced jollity
and really bad music. That and people photographing you without asking
permission, which is something <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/niddrie-community-church.html" target="_blank">I’ve commented on before</a>. You snap me with your camera, I’ll snap right back at you in my blog.
Honestly, it would be a courtesy to warn folk on the way in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve heard some truly awful singing this year at the <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/fifty-shades-of-faith.html" target="_blank">various churches I’ve attended</a>, but the Sunday Assembly band trumps them all. Deafeningly loud and flat,
flat, flat. Ouch! I mean, really, an offence to the eardrums, and no amount of
clapping along could disguise it. The songs were <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">500 miles (I wanna be),</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Don’t
stop thinking about tomorrow</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
life of Riley</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Walking on sunshine</i>.
Exuberant, yes, but in the way that pub karaoke singers are exuberant despite
their patent lack of tone and talent. There was a bar but I didn’t buy any
alcohol – perhaps the numbing effect would have left me more kindly disposed to
the discordant caterwauling. As it was, I felt like the designated driver in a
crowd of bar-room philosophers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And no, Sanderson, I don’t think that a second cello would
have succeeded in classing up the act. The absent cellist had gone to his
mother’s funeral and had sent a message which was read out by Sanderson Jones,
but this was the only genuinely affecting and thought provoking content of the
meeting. The rest, as I shall reveal, was … oh dear, where do I begin?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Let’s begin with the other offences to the senses, because the
New Empire Bingo Club offends the eye with its pink formica and the nose with
its awful stench of hoover bags and stale smoke – doesn’t the smoking ban apply
to bingo halls? Someone’s been having the odd crafty fag or twenty in that
building. Not a great environment in which to nurture community spirit, but
maybe it was the best venue they could get with their limited budget. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">They want a bigger budget, of course – £500,000 bigger. Yes,
that’s right, they’re <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/godless-congregations-for-all-the-sunday-assembly-global-platform" target="_blank">crowdsourcing the funds they’ll need to take over the world</a>. Apparently there was also a collection plate going round tonight, but it
didn’t come my way, though I’d have bunged them a couple of quid if it had, so
they could do with organising that aspect of their fundraising a little better.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Sanderson describes the basic outlook thus: if you had an
excellent pair of shoes but there was a stone in one of them, you wouldn’t
throw out the shoes, you’d throw out the stone. Richard Holloway’s reaction,
apparently, was to tell him, “Well done, you’ve just made your first parable.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So they’ve thrown out religion and kept all the good bits of
church (singing and cake). Their mantra is Live Better, Help Often, Wonder
More. What I’m wondering is, do you need to be part of a Sunday Assembly to do
that? Do you need to read out Walt Whitman poems and talk about wave-particle
duality in terms of dots and wibbly wobbly things and debunk time as a
meaningless construct and say “atoms are weird” and ask people if they’ve ever
drunk so much absinthe and listened to so much Enya that they feel themselves
to be at the centre of the universe? The chap who did this also had the good
grace to say, “This talk will be better if you lower your expectations.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Pippa Evans, who is apparently the 26<sup>th</sup> most
influential atheist in the UK, talked about how it’s okay to fail as a comedian
if you’re about to become leader of a worldwide movement that will awaken
non-religious community spirit. I didn’t find myself warming to her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Sanderson Jones talked about finding things to be grateful
for. His technique for celebrating life is to think about death. He dreams of
dying peacefully in his sleep, but next to someone he dislikes … who hates
surprises. This was the only thing that made me laugh. Clearly I haven’t
developed the “attitude for gratitude”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Will the Sunday Assembly succeed in expanding and
enlightening and uplifting and all the other affirming and upbeat things they
want to do? Other secular movements have come and gone, and none of them has really
had the staying power that churches have. But Sanderson and Pippa are hopeful,
and good for them. They managed to get fifty folk to come out on a nasty
October night, so it could be the start of something wonderful … for those who
like that sort of thing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Frankly, I’d rather go to church.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-34187643717794455852013-10-21T03:35:00.000-07:002013-10-22T10:02:18.938-07:00Craigrownie Parish Church, Cove<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Craigrownie Parish Church, Cove<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sacrament of Holy Communion, Sunday 20 October 2013, 11.30am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Minister: Rev Norma Moore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After the not-so-great service at <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/paisley-abbey.html" target="_blank">Paisley Abbey</a> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">last
weekend, I carried on northwards and westwards and ended up in the Rosneath
peninsula, where I’ve spent a splendid week sequestered at <a href="http://covepark.org/" target="_blank">Cove Park</a> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">getting more work done than I ever thought possible and occasionally braving
the rain and the highland cattle to get my daily fix of internet access.
There’s definitely something to be said for a break from the norm. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So this week, it was Craigrownie Parish Church, or Craigrownie
“Paries” Church if you believe the intimations notice. What is it with church leaflets
and proofreading? Apparently people in the peninsula are fighting the scourge
of Japanese knotweed, so this may reduce the time they have available to root
out typos. I feel I should offer my services; my rates are very reasonable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Craigrownie is a proper old-fashioned Church of Scotland
village kirk with some nice stained glass and the congregational turnout of
“about fifty” that I’ve come to expect <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/fifty-shades-of-faith.html" target="_blank">this year</a></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.
Whether this is typical for Craigrownie I couldn’t say, but it was a communion
service, so that may have drawn a few more than usual. In any case, the church
seemed pretty full, although the first thing read out at the beginning of the
service was an edict form the presbytery of Dumbarton (yes, yes, it's been pointed out, see comments below, and Matthew 7:1-3) about the linkage of
Craigrownie with the neighbouring parishes of Garelochhead and St Modan’s.
Linkage … what does that entail? Alas, I won’t be around to find out. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There were proper old-fashioned hymns too, albeit
accompanied by ponderous and uneven organ playing, which was at its worst
during psalm 121 (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I to the hills will
lift mine eyes</i>), when the organist couldn’t choose which of the two
versions of French in CH4 he/she was playing, settling for a mix-and-match
version somewhere in between. Other numbers from the old-school C of S hit
parade included Psalm 24:7-10 (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ye gates
lift up your heads</i> to St George’s, Edinburgh), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God whose almighty word</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Now thank
we all our God</i>, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">O God of Bethel
by whose hand</i>, which might be the first paraphrase I’ve heard all year - I
need to check that. The paraphrases seem to have gone out of fashion elsewhere,
but we actually got two of them at Craigrownie, because we also sang <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Now, Lord, according to thy word</i> at the
end. All that and a sung Amen; you can’t go much more trad than that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The readings were 2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:5 and Luke 18:1-8, the
persistent widow and the unjust judge, and the theme of the sermon was “Persistence
in Prayer”, drawing on the readings and on psalm 121, a plea for safety and a
statement of faith in the absolute reliability of God, who is constantly there
(or should that be here?) looking out for us. Just as God is constant, said Rev
Moore, we should be constant and should live in confidence that God will
prevail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Turning to the gospel reading, she asked us to consider why
we should persist in praying to God for justice when it is in the divine nature
to grant justice? And she offered three answers: 1) through persistent prayer
we remain mindful of God and of the need to put our own spiritual house in
order and to keep alive our own commitment to justice; 2) by praying
persistently for something that doesn’t seem to be happening, we may realise
that the answer is in our own hands and that God’s will is to be done through
us; and 3) God doesn’t see persistent prayer as nagging, but loves to hear our
prayers and wants us to share everything with him, and we ought to consider the
judge/widow scenario in reverse – what if God is the one who is persistently
asking us to deliver justice? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All of which makes me think of a yet-to-be-written blog post
about <a href="http://www.trypraying.org/" target="_blank">Try Praying</a></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">,
which I will get round to soon.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I had parked at the foot of the hill, outside the burgh
hall, and walked (no, actually, I climbed, because getting anywhere in this
part of the world somehow involves a steep, slippery hill) the 250 yards to the
church. The locals knew better and had all driven up to the church itself. On
the short but perilous journey back to the car I nearly fell over twice (first
time moss, second time leaves), I got thwacked in the face by a tree branch and
I managed to get soaked even through my waterproof coat. That’s the wet, wild
west coast for you. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But now it’s back to auld claes and porridge, and back to the
east and my beloved Edinburgh. All that fresh air is fine in small doses, but
the Soul Searcher is a city girl at heart.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-51195088219314239662013-10-13T11:25:00.001-07:002013-10-13T11:29:58.508-07:00Paisley Abbey<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.paisleyabbey.org.uk/" target="_blank">Paisley Abbey</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Service of Thanksgiving for the Royal National Mòd, 2.30pm,
Sunday 13<sup>th</sup> October<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Led by: Reverend Iain Thomson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Precentors: Mr John Macleod & Rev Kenny Macleod<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I was in unfamiliar territory this Sunday, in Paisley, the
town that Starbucks forgot. After trailing round several caffeine-free streets
and two grim little shopping malls, tongue hanging out like Miley Cyrus (see,
Soul Searcher’s not entirely disconnected from popular culture), I realised
that Costa and Caffe Nero have also forsaken this unloveliest of Scottish
cities, and I didn’t much like the look of Muffin Break.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Isn’t Paisley too far west for the Soul Searcher? Well,
there were two reasons for going there: a) it’s sort of en route to where I have to be on Monday, which is further west, and b) it’s Mòd week, which means that
the town should have been buzzing with the excitement of what people persist in
billing as<a href="http://www.modphaislig.org/" target="_blank"> the biggest Gaelic cultural event </a>of the year.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Er … should have been. You can’t miss BBC ALBA’s OB trucks,
lying in wait for the first of the competitions tomorrow, but the city fathers
hadn’t exactly hung out the tartan bunting. Nor had the Abbey seen fit to list
the service on its website – not under “services” or “events” or “news” or in
its October newsletter. Despite this, a fair crowd had gathered. Difficult to
count, but I’m estimating 150+ of a congregation, which isn’t bad going, but it
didn’t make for the greatest Gaelic church experience I’ve ever had. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And since it scores low for both ecclesiastical and Gaelic
reasons, my review is divided into two parts. This bit for my Anglophone
readers, about the church stuff, and a rant about language politics further
down the page. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The psalms were 136:1-2, 96:1-3, 98:3-4, 40:5, all
attractively printed in multicoloured ink and adorned with the Mòd Phàislig
(Paisley Mòd, as if you couldn’t work that out) logo, but whoever designed it
could have done with spending a little more time proofing it and weeding out
the typos. There’s a new god in town, folks, and his name appears to be
Lehovah. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Of the two precentors, the older chap with the white hair
was croakier and less easy to follow than the younger chap with the tonsure,
who had that bright tenor tone that you want in a precentor, but the tunes were
familiar in any case. The real problem was that nobody in the congregation
seemed to be singing. I was, and my Mòd competitor friend to the left of me was
(you always bump into someone you know at the Mòd) and the chap immediately in
front of me was, but all around us sat dozens more folk with their mouths
firmly shut. It makes one feel very exposed, and more “listened to”, which
doesn’t feel great even for a confident singer like me. Frankly, we made a
better fist of it at <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/st-columbas-free-church.html" target="_blank">St Columba’s Free</a> back in March when there were only 16 of
us.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The reading was Revelation 5 (quite why, I’m not sure,
because it was read in English and then never referred to again), and the text
for the sermon was Psalm 100. Rev Thomson spoke for twice as long as was
necessary, because he provided his own subtitles by translating everything he
said into English (see Gaelic rant below), and in an unintentionally ironic counterpart
to the muted congregational singing his theme was that we should sing to God
from the very depths of our soul, which we can do wholeheartedly only when we
enter into the same spirit as inspired the psalmist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In a nutshell, we should worship God for all the reasons
given in the psalm – because he is God, because he made us, because he tends us
like his flock, because he is good and merciful, and because the chief end of
man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever (first question in the catechism, for
those who had forgotten). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But hearing any of this was a challenge, because the lectern
was positioned in the middle of an echo chamber and the reverberations drowned
out quite a bit of what was said. Perhaps it’s just as well he said it all
twice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Chunnaic mi rudeigin air duilleag Facebook caraid dhomh a
bhon-dè: “tha e math a bhith beò agus gun a bhith aig a’ Mhòd”. The e a’
còrdadh ri cuid agus buidhe dhaibhsan, ach tha leasan fhathast – fhathast! –
aig a’ Chomann ri ionnsachadh mu dheidhinn cleachdadh cànain. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Carson a bhiodh e cho doirbh duilleag Ghàidhlig a chur ri
chèile? Nan robh iad air “Dàmhair” a chur an àite “October”, an tigeadh crìoch
air an t-saoghal? Bhiodh e furasta gu leòr obrachadh a-mach, nach biodh? Nach
eil facail againn airson “welcome”, “prayer”, “psalm”, “reading”,
“benediction”, etc? Smaoinichibh, a Chomainn! Dè tha ceàrr air an deilbh seo? Coimhidibh
… smaoinichibh … seadh, tha a h-uile rud sa Bheurla! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Dè a’ Ghàidhlig air “Doh!”?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">O seadh, agus ar caraid ùr “Lehobhah”? Nach eil cuimhne
agaibh air “Na biodh diathan sam bith eile agad am làthair-sa”? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Thuirt mi gu h-àrd gun d’ rinn am ministear fo-thiotalan dha
fhèin, agus ’s e a rinn, cho nàdarra nach robh e fiù ’s a’ tarraing anail eadar
an dàrna cànan agus an cànan eile … “Cionnas a tha sinn a’ dol a thoirt dha
cliù, how are we to give him praise?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Is e a’ cheist a th’ agam, carson? Cò dha? Is e seo am Mòd,
agus bhiodh dùil agad gum biodh Gàidhlig ann, agus a bharrachd air sin, gum
biodh tearmann air choireigin aig a’ chànan far nach biodh Beurla a’ tighinn
a-steach air a’ chùis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Trì facail sa chànan eile … does … not … compute! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Agus trì sa Ghàidhlig: o mo chreach! No OMC, mar a bhios a’
chlann ag ràdh. Soul Searcher’s scratched her head about lots of things this
year, but this one … this one has finally left me lost for words, in either
language. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-61849332097216804152013-10-06T13:27:00.000-07:002013-10-06T14:04:05.038-07:00St Paul’s and St George’s Church<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="http://www.pandgchurch.org.uk/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">St Paul’s and St George’s Church</span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Worship Service, Sunday 06 October 2013, 11am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Led by: Richard Cornfield, Associate Rector<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Preacher: Vanessa Conant, Associate Rector<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">After a few small churches where any visitor is conspicuous,
I thought I’d go for a big one where I could hide at the back. “Ps and Gs”
should be a good place to hide, because there might have been about 200 folk
there (beyond a certain number it gets difficult to count, so that’s ballpark),
but the people sitting in front of and to the side of me made a point of saying
hello, which was nice of them. As I’ve said before, there’s a balance somewhere
between being lovebombed and being completely ignored. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Other Episcopal churches I’ve been to so far, <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/old-saint-pauls.html" target="_blank">Old St Paul’s</a>, <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/st-columbas-by-castle-scottish.html" target="_blank">St Columba’s by the Castle</a> and <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/st-marys-episcopal-cathedral.html" target="_blank">St Mary’s Cathedral</a>, have all been pretty trad with their Anglican liturgy. Not so Ps and Gs,
which had no liturgy (maybe their early communion service does, but I was still
dragging myself out of bed at that point). In fact, so non-liturgical was it
that barely anyone said, “Thanks be to God,” in response to the reader’s “This
is the word of the Lord.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It was a service of contrasts, bests and worsts. There’s a
band (aaarrgh! thought the Soul Searcher, this is a bad sign) but the
guitars/fiddle/bodhran combination gave it a folksier feel—which worked
particularly well for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My Heart is Filled
with Thankfulness</i> (Getty/Townend) but less so for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Praise my Soul the King of Heaven</i>—the backing singers had some nice
harmonies, and the sound engineers hadn’t gone overboard with amps and base,
which is more than can be said for some of the dire worship bands I’ve
encountered this year. On the other hand, there were two songs that were so
drab, and so deep – a point that deserves a paragraph of its own – that I just
gave up and stopped trying to sing at those points. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Okay, about pitch. I’m a mezzo and I can sing from the G
below middle C up to the B-flat below high C. That’s just over two octaves, but
I wouldn’t want to spend much time singing at the extremes of that range. Keep
me between middle C and the F/G an octave and a half higher and I’ll be quite
happy, and even that is a big range that most songs for untrained singers, such
as people in church congregations, wouldn’t span. As singers know, and as
arrangers of songs ought to know, what makes a song comfortable to sing is not
so much how high or low the highest and lowest notes are as where the tessitura
lies, i.e. the typical pitch range, and once you’re grubbing about at the
bottom of what’s comfortable for you it can feel, and sound, like growling.
<a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/niddrie-community-church.html" target="_blank">Last week’s music</a> was generally too low, and over the year I’ve noticed that the trendier the
music the lower it’s pitched. I think it must have something to do with the
worship band style of singing, but it doesn’t make it easy to participate.
Goodness knows how a soprano or tenor would fare. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But now that my little rant about gravelly singing is over,
let’s go back to the sermon, and hats off to Vanessa Conant, who is right up
there in the running for best preacher of the year. Matter of fact, personal
and heartfelt, she drew on the story of Jesus preaching from the boats and
filling Simon Peter’s nets with fish (Luke 5:1-11) and talked about how frightening it
can feel to be called to follow Christ. Let’s bring our fears into the light,
she said—the fear of the unknown, of the ridiculous, of looking like an
idiot—and acknowledge that our first reaction is to decline the responsibility
and ask Jesus to choose someone else. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The abundance of God’s presence can be scary too; it breaks
our nets and causes our boats to sink with the weight of it, and of course we
want to opt for a safe way out. Being called brings a sense not of certainty or
strength but of inadequacy and brokenness, but God calls us not for our strength
or competence but for the totality of ourselves, and we don’t have to become
someone we’re not to be a disciple. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">She was really very good, and didn’t seem to have any
speaking notes either. All their sermons are online, so have a listen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Unfortunately, the chap who led the prayers was the mayor of
Dullsville, a real let down after that sermon, but then Vanessa was a hard act
to follow. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-59498919821869035852013-09-29T10:59:00.001-07:002013-09-29T11:02:54.138-07:00Niddrie Community Church<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.niddrie.org/" target="_blank">Niddrie Community Church </a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Morning service, Sunday 29<sup>th</sup> September 2013, 11am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Led by: Andy Constable, assistant pastor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Preacher: Mez McConnell, senior pastor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Knitting on the Sabbath might have been frowned upon at one
time, but we’re so much more relaxed about that sort of thing now, aren’t we?
Actually bringing your knitting to church, though, still seems to be
overstepping the mark somewhat, but it’s not the first time there’s been a
tricoteuse in the back row; the other one was at <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/charlotte-baptist-chapel.html" target="_blank">Charlotte Chapel</a>. Well, they say that the devil makes work for idle hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">What I’d have liked in my hands was a bible, but I didn’t
see them at the door as I came in, and then I didn’t want to walk all the way
back in front of everyone to get one when it came time for the readings (bits
of John 15 and John 16 – they’ve been studying John’s gospel all year). But not
to worry; I had my work cut out taking notes on Mez McConnell’s sermon, one in
a series on the holy spirit, taking us into the same territory covered some
months ago at <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/holyrood-abbey-church.html" target="_blank">Holyrood Abbey Church</a>, even down to the Edinburgh Castle floodlights analogy to illustrate how the
holy spirit illuminates Jesus the better to let us see his splendour. They must teach them all that in evangelical pastor school.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Unlike the Holyrood Abbey preacher, though, Mez doesn’t
fight shy of theology, even though the trinity is a concept that’s been
baffling his head for fifteen years. Yours and mine both, Mez. He even had a
PowerPoint diagram showing that the Father is God, the son is God and the Holy
Spirit is God, but that the Father is not the Son or the Spirit, the Son is not
the Father or the Spirit, and that there are not three gods, only one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">McConnell is an energetic and engaging speaker, well
rehearsed and self-deprecating to a fault – “I can’t guarantee much because I’m
just a little dude”, “I can barely string a sentence together”. Oh no, laddie,
you’re good and you know it, although I think you might have given J.I. Packer
credit for the quotation you read out rather than attributing it to “some
old dude”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Hey, dude alert! As orthodox as the preaching was, the dress
code was certainly laid back. Hoodies and combat pants (Mez), assorted trainers
(most men), blue hair (the knitting woman), and possibly the best hippy
skirt/shawl/sandals combination yet spotted this year. I felt distinctly
overdressed and I hadn’t really made a special effort.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">For those readers unfamiliar with Edinburgh, it’s worth
pointing out that Niddrie is not a smart or fashionable area. If you’ve seen <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Trainspotting</i>, you’ll know what it used
to look like before the housing regeneration schemes got going – acres of
boarded up and abandoned flats where only the brave or foolhardy would venture.
It looks a lot different now, but it’s still economically deprived and not
short of problems. Niddrie Community Church is part of <a href="http://20schemes.com/" target="_blank">20 Schemes</a>, a cross-denominational
initiative to plant new churches in poor areas, and of the <a href="http://www.eosgp.org/" target="_blank">East of Scotland Gospel Partnership</a>, all but one of whose partner churches <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/fifty-shades-of-faith.html" target="_blank">I’ve already visited this year</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Niddrie Community Church is the sort of place where people
spot a new face and immediately come to speak to you (leaning in just a little
too close, perhaps, and being just a tad too inquisitive), but that’s better
than being completely ignored, which has happened elsewhere. I was approached
by the leader of the women’s ministry. Sorry, did we just rewind by about 150 years?
The women’s ministry! No, no, the Soul Searcher does not do gender segregation,
but apparently NCC does. All the elders and deacons are men, and whatever the
women get up to is separate. Sharpen your knitting needles, sisters. You need to go in
there and assert yourselves. But seriously, boys – and, more importantly, girls
– do you really think this is how a church should be in the 21<sup>st</sup> century?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Music-wise, it was that can’t-put-my-finger-on-it genre that
I’ve encountered a couple of times now. A bit Sally Army, a bit Gospel Hall –
only one song I’d heard before, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I stand amazed
in the presence (How Marvellous! How Wonderful!) </i>– all with a rolling
electronic keyboard accompaniment and generally pitched too low but otherwise
very singable, and with 70-plus folk singing along the sound fairly filled the
sports hall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">About an hour in, I spotted the video camera. They really
ought to warn folk that they’re liable to be recorded and tell them where to
sit if they don’t want to be on camera. I didn’t expect to be filmed, but on
the other hand I don’t think they expected to be blogged about. Let’s call it a
quid pro quo. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So that was Niddrie
Community Church – bustling, young and “producing children at an alarming rate”
– and it’s nice to know that there’s something dynamic happening in the area,
even if they all need a lesson in gender politics.</span><!--EndFragment-->
Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-2474966213490575312013-09-22T13:02:00.000-07:002013-10-27T13:09:27.370-07:00Old Schoolhouse Christian Fellowship<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.osh.org.uk/" target="_blank">Old Schoolhouse Christian Fellowship</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Sunday Morning Service, Sunday 22 September 2013, 11am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Led by: didn’t learn his name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Speaker: Charles Tulloch<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Shades of <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/bellevue-chapel.html" target="_blank">Bellevue Chapel</a> at this morning’s church, which offered not so much a service as a fundraising
speech and some holiday snaps, but with better music than at Bellevue … and birthday cake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Old Schoolhouse seats sixty and was almost full, but
many people were visitors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">After being asked three times if I was from St Columba’s, I
had to ask, “Which St Columba’s?”. It seems that the Old Schoolhouse
congregation is dwindling, the young folk having upped sticks and decamped to
<a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/central-jesus-at-heart.html" target="_blank">Central: Jesus at the Heart</a> (for those who like that sort of thing, as a famous Morningside lady once
said), and that <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/st-columbas-free-church.html" target="_blank">St Columba’s Free Church</a> is coming in to plant a new church and revive the OSH’s fortunes. This makes
sense for the <a href="http://www.freechurch.org/" target="_blank">Free Church</a> vis-à-vis its geographical coverage of Edinburgh, and I’m sure it can’t be easy
for an independent Brethren group to keep going without wider denominational
support. At least, I hope I’m right to categorise the OSH as Brethren in <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/fifty-shades-of-faith.html" target="_blank">my list of churches</a>, based on the <a href="http://www.osh.org.uk/history.html" target="_blank">history page of its website</a>.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The minister/pastor, whose name I didn’t learn, had been on
holiday to Austria. He likes mountains – “all the best scenery is where
glaciers have been carving things out” – and can’t understand why anyone would
ever go to Holland, because it’s totally flat and there’s nothing to do there.
He showed slides of the peaks he’d climbed, on the descent from which he had
sung the hymns chosen for this morning: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To
God be the glory, great things he hath done</i>; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Praise the Saviour, ye who know him</i>; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jesus is Lord, creation’s voice proclaims it</i>; and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lord, thy word abideth</i>. And despite the
computer having thrown “a hissy fit” before the service began, the technical
stuff all went smoothly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The reading was Luke 8:4-15 (NIV), the parable of the sower,
which was the set-up for guest speaker Charles Tulloch’s talk about the work of
the <a href="http://www.gideons.org.uk/index/news" target="_blank">Gideons International</a>, described as an organisation of “Christian professional businessmen and their
wives”. No businesswomen or their husbands, then? No single women? No
blue-collar workers? Or maybe the Soul Searcher’s asking a few daft lassie
questions there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Gideons give out 80 million “scriptures” (by which I
assume he means both whole bibles and New Testaments) a year in 195 countries,
only 10 of which raise enough money to pay for the books they distribute, so in
the UK 49% of money raised goes towards purchasing books for overseas distribution.
That’s a lot of books by anyone’s standards. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Not every school will allow the Gideons to distribute bibles
to their pupils, but in a month when the Scottish press has carried stories
about the <a href="http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6352780" target="_blank">religious indoctrination of children</a> and the <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/sect-s-preacher-spent-8-years-at-primary-school-1-3081113" target="_blank">dissemination of creationist literature</a> in state schools, the minister/pastor rejoiced in the fact that a bible
distribution session in a local school (unnamed) had allowed him to turn a
lesson on euthanasia into a discussion of Christ’s return and the promise of
eternal life. Because for those who believe in Jesus, everything is going to be
all right. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Well, I’ve no objection to such discussions in the context
of a comparative religion class, and at least he’s not a young-earth
creationist, or he wouldn’t have credited the glaciers for the Austrian
landscape. But does it mean that the kids never got their euthanasia debate?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">There was coffee, and cake, and chat. Everyone was very nice
and friendly, but it left me asking myself, “Yes … but?” It’s unlikely to tempt
me back in its current form, although maybe the St Columba’s deal will give the
Old Schoolhouse a new lease of life. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-46850577389995360542013-09-15T06:24:00.001-07:002013-09-15T11:23:52.970-07:00Liberton Kirk<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://libertonkirk.net/" target="_blank">Liberton Kirk</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Morning Worship (early), Sunday 15<sup>th</sup> September
2013, 9.30am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Preacher: John Young<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I have no idea which parish I live in, and I might have
reached the end of my <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-mission.html" target="_blank">Soul Search mission</a> without the thought ever crossing my mind were it not for a very splendid cat.
The feline in question has graciously allowed me to live in her house for the
past week while her regular butler and housekeeper are on holiday, and what
should land on the doormat while I was tending to her every whim but a copy of
the Liberton Kirk magazine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It got me thinking … where I live, over in EH7, I’ve never
once in seven years received a leaflet or a newsletter or any other communication from a
church in my own (albeit less salubrious) district, although the <a href="http://www.edinburghpresbytery.org.uk/locator/" target="_blank">Presbytery of Edinburgh’s church locator</a> reveals ten churches within a one-mile radius of my flat. Which of these is
“my” parish church, though? I’ve no idea. That’s the <a href="http://churchofscotland.org.uk/" target="_blank">Church of Scotland</a>, of
course. The Catholic directory is “under construction” and full of dead links,
and I’m assuming that smaller denominations don’t attempt full coverage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So who would I call if I wanted to find out which parish I’m
domiciled in? The people at 121 George Street couldn’t answer a simple query I
had about the General Assembly (which day and what time of day was a
particular debate taking place, and this was me asking one week before the
Assembly itself – no schedule online, you see), so I expect they’d be equally useless
on this one. I could go to the library, I suppose, but who uses a library these
days? You really expect a website to be able to serve you up this kind of data,
don’t you? I might just have to try all ten local churches and see which one of
them claims to cover my street.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But all of this is by the by, because this week it was
Liberton Kirk, which, unlike some of its sister churches, has really got its act
together. Not only does it produce its 44-page magazine and deliver it to every
household in the parish, but it boasts a full programme of activities from
badminton and Brownies to Scrabble and Scottish country dancing, on top of its
three services on a Sunday and mid-week bible study and praise meetings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A chap called David, who is a member at Liberton, was kind
enough to comment on my blog earlier in the year. I looked for you this
morning, David, but I didn’t see you, or I failed to recognise you if you were
there. Sorry! But thanks for the recommendation, because I enjoyed the service.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The later service (11am) is for the trendy guitar people, to
which Soul Searcher says a resounding, “No thanks!”, but the early service
(9.30am) is for people who like proper hymns and no nonsense, and there were
about 60 of us. In fact, the minister almost apologised for an unfamiliar hymn,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Loving creator</i>, and rightly so, because it really didn’t
stand up alongside the others (all from CH4): <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Immortal,
invisible</i>; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jesus, lover of my soul</i>;
and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> You are before me, Lord</i> (psalm
139).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">John Young’s theme was “Just 10 – Prosper with a clear
conscience”, one in a series of sermons looking at the ten commandments, based
on sermons given by one J. John, who seems to be well known to everyone in the
world except me. This week, “What is stealing, and is it possible to get by
without it?”, which I initially misread on the website as “… is it possible to
get away with it?”. Everyone’s at it – the Fiat garage, the respectable
Morningside restaurant, the online music downloader – and the sermon notes make
it particularly easy to summarise this one because there are eight questions
and two places to fill in the blanks. So, here goes: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Three ways not to prosper in life: dishonesty, defrauding
and defaulting. Three right ways to prosper: work, saving and prayer. So, yes,
I’ll admit to being old-fashioned. No, I have no stolen library books, unpaid
taxes or dodgy dealings, so I do pretty well in the “honesty test”, though I
can’t claim never to have written a shopping list on an office post-it. But an
interesting answer to the final question, “What has God been saying to you
today, and how are you planning to respond?”, is contingent on his saying
something, otherwise the answer will be, “Nothing”, and, “To what?”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The reading, incidentally, was Luke 19:1-10, the story of
Zacchaeus (NIV). Maybe that’s me sitting up there in the tree trying to see without
being seen, but Jesus didn’t call to me this morning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So that’s all, really. It’s old-school Church of Scotland.
The building is kind of back to front, in the sense that the doors are at the
pulpit end, so latecomers will be conspicuous, and the scent of the flowers was
pretty strong, but not unpleasant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And on a completely pedantic note, which will be appreciated
only by my fellow grammar freaks, I was delighted to note the use of the
vocative comma (sadly, more honoured in the breach than the observance) on the
embroidered banner that read, “Here I am, Lord”, although it occurred to me that
the omission of the comma would be okay if God ever takes up appliqué: “Here I
am Lord” … and that in turn got me wondering if the latter version should be, “Here, I am
Lord”. And now I’m wondering if there’s a Pedants for Jesus group out there
somewhere. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-45087476385113386922013-09-08T13:01:00.000-07:002013-09-15T09:40:13.356-07:00North Edinburgh Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.edinburghrpcs.org/" target="_blank">North Edinburgh Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Public Worship – Lord’s Day, Sunday 8<sup>th</sup> September
2013, 11am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Pastor: Peter Loughridge<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Remember the <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Churches_of_Scotland_timeline.png" target="_blank">diagram showing all the Presbyterian churches and their schisms</a>? This one had slipped my notice before now, but there it
is, running right along the top, the <a href="http://www.rpcscotland.org/" target="_blank">Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland</a>, having
avoided almost all of the knotwork in the middle since 1712. The North
Edinburgh church, which meets in Craigroyston Community High School, is a
recent plant, about to celebrate its second birthday, but when Edinburgh last
had an RPC church is something I don’t know and didn’t ask, because the
post-service conversation led in other directions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We were a small company, only 18 of us in all, among which
the number of visitors<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was
described as “many”. This makes the RPC joint second in the contest for
smallest congregation of the year so far, level pegging with the <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/free-church-of-scotland-continuing.html" target="_blank">Free Church (Continuing)</a>, but still two more than <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/st-columbas-free-church.html" target="_blank">St Columba’s Free Gaelic service</a>. But numbers aren’t everything; <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/central-jesus-at-heart.html" target="_blank">Central: Jesus at the Heart</a> was packed to the gunwales and it was a terrible experience … for me, at least. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">While we’re talking numbers, Peter Loughridge is also in the
lead if we’re counting most bible verses cited in a sermon. Quite apart from
the scripture reading (Genesis 50), he quoted Job 23, Isaiah 46, Daniel 1 &
2, Matthew 10, Jeremiah 25, Lamentations 3, Romans 8 & 9, Acts 2, plus at
least another two that I didn’t manage to note down. But unlike the floundering
preacher who might have been attempting something similar over at <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/destiny-church-leith.html" target="_blank">Destiny Church</a>,
Peter made them all build towards the argument of one of the best-crafted
sermons I’ve heard this year. It’s an art form, and whether you agree with the
conclusions or not you have to admire the artisan’s craft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The theme was “God is in Control”, part of a series of
sermons on the question, “What is God like?”. So far, they’ve established that
he’s good, wise, powerful and holy, and today’s teaching was to show that he is
sovereign in all things – in nature, in history, and in the cross. It would
have been “too easy” for God to make us all like obedient robots; instead he
gave us choice, and we are therefore responsible for our actions. God is never
the author of evil, which is the result of sin and rebellion against God, but
he can use wickedness to bring good. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Of course, the problem of evil is a big, thorny one, and the
trouble with any sermon on it, however cogently argued or thoroughly supported
by scripture verses, is that it is likely to bring comfort and confirmation to the
believer while still failing to convince the unbeliever. This is probably why
Peter offered two suggestions for how to respond, one for the Christian and one
for the non-Christian. The non-Christian was asked to consider the fact that
God had brought him/her to church today, and that pain, suffering, crimes and
disasters are reminders that the world is broken and damaged by sin – in CS
Lewis’s words, God’s “megaphone to rouse a deaf world” – and that we can turn
to Jesus for a solution. And the Christian was reassured that bad things can call
him/her to deeper faith, and to trust in God as he accomplishes his plan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The singing was simple but lusty, three psalms (135:1-4
(Walton), 103:16-21 (Lloyd), and 138:1, 4-6 (Warrington)) without instrumental
accompaniment, no need for amps or overhead projectors. The psalm book was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Psalms for Singing, 21<sup>st</sup>
Century Edition</i>, a split-page book a bit like the old 1929 Scottish Psalter
but with about a hundred extra tunes in it and modernised language. I love a
psalm, as I’ve said before. Nothing beats a metrical psalm. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Would I go back to the RPC? They’re very friendly and
welcoming, that’s for sure, and I talked to Peter and his wife for ages
afterwards, rather monopolising their post-service chat time, for which I must
owe the other worshippers an apology. They have the simple worship style that I
enjoy, and there’s a part of me that says I could happily sit through such a service
every week … if I actually believed what they teach, which is the crux of the
problem and the whole reason for <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-mission.html" target="_blank">my mission</a>. But of course, I know little else about them - nothing about
their politics or social attitudes, for instance, which I kind of suspect might veer towards
the conservative, but maybe I’m wrong about that. That’s one of the limitations
of Soul Searcher’s snapshot approach; further investigation would definitely be
required.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-7841025181638357132013-09-01T16:45:00.000-07:002013-09-01T16:45:16.192-07:00Bellevue Chapel
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.bellevuechapel.org/" target="_blank">Bellevue Chapel</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Family Service, 1<sup>st</sup> September 2013, 11.30am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Chair Person: Sandra Lindsay<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Speaker: Steve Packwood<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Last week in <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/musselburgh-congregational-church.html" target="_blank">Musselburgh</a>, I wondered where all the men had
gone. Maybe they were at Bellevue Chapel, which seems to have a gender balance
tipping more towards the masculine, and a congregation of all ages. With seating for
approximately 120, they must have had somewhere between 90 and 100 today, which
isn’t bad going compared with some of the <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/fifty-shades-of-faith.html" target="_blank">other churches</a> I’ve seen this year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Forewarned is forearmed. I knew I wasn’t going to enjoy the
music, described on the <a href="http://www.bellevuechapel.org/" target="_blank">Bellevue Chapel website</a> as
“contemporary worship led by a praise band”, but even of its kind it was pretty
grim – thunderingly aggressive piano obliterating any hint of guitar or base
guitar, and an entirely inaudible female vocalist who might as well have been
miming alongside her booming male companion. The tech guys in the gallery were
busily sound-testing when I arrived, but clearly to no avail. The songs, one
from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mission Praise</i> and two from
Bellevue’s own supplement, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sing to the
Glory of His Name</i>, were instantly forgettable, but I had to smile inwardly
at the last one, “We stand and lift up our hands”. We stood, but nobody lifted
their hands – a far cry from all the fervent swaying and air punching at the likes of <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/central-jesus-at-heart.html" target="_blank">Central</a>, <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/elim-pentecostal-church.html" target="_blank">Elim</a> and <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/hope-church.html" target="_blank">Hope!</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But singing aside, it was a reasonably interesting morning. No bible
readings as such, though, which was a bit of a surprise. Their evening services
promise “extended bible teaching”, so I’m guessing that would be the time to go
if you want to hear scriptures and sermons. But this morning all we got were a
few snippets from Amos 5 in connection with the Martin Luther King anniversary
and a couple more verses from Romans 10 to round off guest speaker Steve
Packwood’s talk about his work on a mission ship, the Logos Hope. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Steve, who is the UK director of development for <a href="http://www.omships.org/" target="_blank">OM Ships</a>, has a slightly
disconcerting tic of licking his lips every few words as he talks. Once you’ve
noticed it, you can’t not notice it, so I tried not to look directly at him,
concentrating instead on the rather pretty rose window and the other stained
glass, partially obscured by the projector screen so that the three saints were
visible only from the waist down and I couldn’t work out who they were supposed
to be, or indeed why Bellevue bothers to illuminate the glass with electric
light (what was once an external wall now backs on to an extension) if only to
cover it up again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Distractions aside, it looks as if the crew of the Logos
Hope have a whale of a time sailing the world to minister in every exotic port
you can imagine. And after the video about life on board and a bit of a pep
talk about donations, Steve turned to the preachiest bit of his talk, reminding
us that Christians are to obey the commandment to go and made disciples of all
the world, an order that has never been countermanded since Jesus walked the
earth, and that they should not feel overwhelmed by the size of the need in
this lost world, because every little helps. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">There were a couple of other missionaries too, who had been
to Burundi to support a project that teaches former prostitutes tailoring
skills. Mission seems to be a big deal with Bellevue, as does church planting,
although exactly how their denomination is structured (if Brethren are indeed
organised as a denomination) isn’t something I could determine from their
website. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">They seem cheery enough, though, and they do serve a fine
cup of coffee, but that music … oh dear, that is something I really don’t want
to hear again. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-79447335221166740942013-08-25T11:55:00.002-07:002013-08-26T04:40:45.223-07:00Musselburgh Congregational Church<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.musselburghcongregational.org.uk/" target="_blank">Musselburgh Congregational Church</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">All Age Family Service, Sunday 25<sup>th</sup> August 2013,
11am</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Minister: Janice E Andrews (but service mostly led by a
Sunday School teacher whose name I didn’t learn)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“We’re looking for Humpty Dumpty. Is he in the
congregation?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Not a traditional call to worship, but these were the first
words uttered at today’s service at Musselburgh Congregational Church, part of
the <a href="http://www.congregational.org.uk/" target="_blank">Congregational Federation</a> (or possibly the <a href="http://www.congregationalscotland.org.uk/" target="_blank">Congregational Federation in Scotland</a>, whose website is less easily navigable). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Not knowing much about congregationalism, I was a bit
puzzled as to why there still are any congregational churches, having learned last week at the <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/augustine-united-church.html" target="_blank">Augustine Church</a> that the Scottish Congregational Church had joined forces with the United
Reformed Church. But as is true of <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Churches_of_Scotland_timeline.png" target="_blank">the many presbyterian schisms</a>, you really need string and several
extra dimensions to illustrate the interwoven histories of non-conformism. I’m not
sure I’ve got the whole picture clear in my mind, but I did find <a href="http://hamilton.urc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/A-Scottish-Congregationalism-edited.pdf" target="_blank">an interesting article</a> about the history of the tradition, from which I learnt that Scotland’s first female
minister was a congregationalist ordained in 1928, forty-one years before the
Church of Scotland caught up and let the girls join in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Women and forty-one years are significant for this post, as
I’ll explain anon, but first I have to go back to Humpty Dumpty for a minute. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The official call to worship was from Psalm 90, “Lord, you
have been our dwelling place,” and Humpty was merely an example of the cuddly
toys that the congregation had been making for the Olivebank children’s day
care centre. But the whole service had a juvenile bent to it, because it was
all focused on the Sunday School and the start of the new academic year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">What the usual service for grown-ups is like is something I
would have to go back to find out, but this was all about Maths (cutting up
bits of paper and counting the corners to show how God’s love grows the more you give it away,
which very nearly resulted in the teacher falling off the dais while wielding a
pair of scissors - but no children were harmed), English (“U” and “I” are required to make the alphabet, and
other endeavours, complete), and Religious and Moral Education (remembering
what to pray for using five fingers), all with audience participation. To all
of this the minister then added her own address about putting on the full armour of God, and there were prayers and hymns (Mission
Praise) with organ accompaniment, and scripture readings (Psalm 136:1-9 and Romans 12: 3-7).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But here’s what I noticed most. I was sitting beneath a
Cradle Roll poster (tried to find an image online and couldn’t, but you know the
one I mean – I think it may have been designed by Hilda Goldwag, or have I
imagined that?) and noticed that I was just beside the list of baptisms from the year of my birth,
1972. Yes, folks, I’m forty-one, and I feel about a hundred, but that’s not the
point. In that year there were fifteen baptisms in Musselburgh Congregational
Church, which would be one every three or four weeks. In today’s congregation
there were a dozen children in the Sunday School and another forty or so
adults. This year, I’ve happened upon only one infant baptism, at <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/st-andrews-and-st-georges-west-church.html" target="_blank">St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church</a>, and two adolescent baptisms at the <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/seventh-day-adventist-church.html" target="_blank">Seventh Day Adventist Church</a>. Dwindling, ever dwindling. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So, twelve kids and forty adults, or thereabouts. The typical
attendance for most of <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/fifty-shades-of-faith.html" target="_blank">this year’s churches</a> has been “about fifty”, and that’s not just
a lazy estimate; I always count. But here’s another odd thing ... even setting
aside the fact that women tend to outlive men and that most congregations are
full of eld<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">erly people, the predominance of women at today’s service was out of
all proportion to what statistics might predict. I counted six men and one
little boy, so they were outnumbered by almost nine to one. This has got to be the
first time I’ve been in a 90 per cent female congregation this year, and I
can’t account for it. In a traditional fishing community, you might have
assumed the men were out at sea, but that’s not Musselburgh in the 21<sup>st</sup>
century, so I’m stumped. Any theories?</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Post-script, Monday 26 August 2013:</b> I knew there had to be an image of the Cradle Roll poster online, and sure enough, <a href="http://www.stlukespaisley.org.uk/images/Cradle_1.jpg" target="_blank">here it is</a>. </span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-47327088103216058702013-08-18T11:11:00.000-07:002013-08-18T11:11:16.023-07:00Augustine United Church
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.augustine.org.uk/" target="_blank">Augustine United Church</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Morning Worship, Sunday 18<sup>th</sup> August 2013, 11am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Minister: Rev Fiona Bennett <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Maybe I’m crazy (you’ve read my other blog posts – you
decide), but I set out to visit a city centre church in the midst of the
Edinburgh festival, which doesn’t rest on the Sabbath and was already in full
flow by mid-morning. I made it through the tourist throng just in time for the
start of today’s service at <a href="http://www.augustine.org.uk/" target="_blank">Augustine United Church</a>, which I
felt I ought to include in <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-mission.html" target="_blank">my mission</a> if only for the sake of completing the trinity that is
the ecumenical church partnership of AUC with <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/greyfriars-tolbooth-highland-kirk.html" target="_blank">Greyfriars Kirk</a> and <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/st-columbas-by-castle-scottish.html" target="_blank">St Columba’s by the Castle</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I’m glad I did, because it’s reminded me of how nice a
church can be if it tries, after a recent run of not very inspiring Sundays. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Having absorbed through a <a href="http://www.augustine.org.uk/about/history/index.php" target="_blank">series of mergers</a> the traditions of several other city churches, including a denomination I’d
never even heard of (Evangelical Union, anyone?), AUC describes itself as a
“progressive and inclusive” member of the <a href="http://www.urc.org.uk/" target="_blank">United Reformed Church</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It “offers affirming space” to LGBT Christians, which is a
far cry from some of the sentiments I’ve encountered <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/p/fifty-shades-of-faith.html" target="_blank">elsewhere this year</a>, and today’s service featured an interview with <a href="http://www.teatrodomundo.com/about-jo.shtml" target="_blank">playwright Jo Clifford</a>,
who had also written part of the liturgy used for the communion (alcohol free
and with gluten-free wafers for those who didn’t fancy the crusty brown loaf).
By sheer coincidence, it was the second time this week that I’d been to hear
Jo, the first being at a Traverse Theatre talk on Monday, and I had no idea she
was a member of the congregation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Jo’s play, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Gospel
according to Jesus, Queen of Heaven</i>, was denounced by an archbishop who
said it was hard to imagine a greater affront to Christianity than her – not her
play, Jo herself. Ouch! That’s got to hurt. But there is something very
affirming about hearing Jo speak about her experience of being a transwoman and
about her work and her family (her late partner, once a colleague of mine – yes, Edinburgh’s a village! – was herself a hugely talented and vivacious woman who
died far too young), and she talks with such enthusiasm and encouragement about
other creative artists that I feel I ought to go and see everything she
recommends. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">More importantly, for someone whose very nature inspires
fear and hatred in many who wouldn’t even attempt to understand her, Jo seems to
be at peace with herself, in the sense of peace as completeness described by Rev
Fiona Bennett in her sermon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But achieving that peace isn’t an easy or painless process, as
we heard in Isaiah 5:1-6 (the vineyard thrown back to the wilderness) and Luke
12:49-53 (Jesus coming to bring fire to the world) – unsettling readings for
anyone who thinks of Jesus as a cuddly chum or <a href="http://soulsearch2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/central-jesus-at-heart.html" target="_blank">God as a doting daddy</a>. Transformations are forged in conflict and division, said Fiona, but out of
the conflict peace and new life can grow, which is treasure beyond price. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I’m sure there are many who would mock the churches at the
extreme liberal end of the spectrum, which is where I’d place AUC with their
Maker/Redeemer/Spirit trinity and painstaking avoidance of gendered language,
but I applaud their efforts. They’ve thought about the aspects of patriarchal
Christianity that offend and exclude people and they’ve taken steps to address
them, and there’s a fair few churches I’ve seen this year that could learn a
lesson in humanity and humility here. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-702498547782657636.post-89525303864768003062013-08-16T11:10:00.000-07:002013-08-16T11:10:12.716-07:00Why I feel I have a right to criticise
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Not
that I’m feeling defensive or anything, but a recent conversation prompts the
following thoughts.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Churches
promise the earth. They fling their doors open to the public claiming to offer
a warm welcome and, more importantly, that if you accept their invitation to
come in you’re going to hear something so amazing that it will change your
life. They’re promising no less than the truth about life and death, morality
and salvation, an explanation of our puny little place in a great big awesome
universe. Who could say no? These are the questions every one of us is
grappling with, and churches claim they can provide the answers … or at
least that they know a man who can. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But
what do you find inside most churches? Lacklustre music, a confusing,
contradictory, boring or incoherent sermon, and people who don’t exactly give
the impression that the secrets of the universe have been vouchsafed to them or that the assurance of salvation cheers them.
And maybe a cup of tea if you’re lucky. Small wonder, then, if the church
visitor comes away thinking that the product didn’t turn out quite as
advertised. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Great claims, great expectations, great disappointments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Over the past seven and a half months, I’ve realised two
things: a) I actually really like going to church, and b) most churches aren’t
worth going to. There are a whole lot of dreadful churches out there; the ones
that have disappointed me vastly outnumber the ones I’ve enjoyed enough to
consider going back to. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">What do the churches make of my reviews? For the most part,
I don’t know. I suspect that some who’ve felt the sharper end of my pen, if
they are aware of my blog at all, go on the defensive, assume I bear a grudge,
deny that I’ve accurately represented my experience. Well, that’s their
business. Others, I’d like to think, will ask, “My goodness, is that really how
we appear to an outsider? We should do something about that.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I can count on the fingers of one hand (with room to spare)
the number of invitations I’ve had to come back again and give a church a
second chance. I can’t blame them for not wanting the likes of me to return,
but on the other hand (not the one I was counting on) aren’t they in the
business of saving souls? And doesn’t my soul appear to be in particular peril?
I’ve bared enough of it for them to see how black it is. Surely nothing, not
even taming my proud spirit, can be too great a challenge if God is on your
side. Or am I not worth saving?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I suspect that I’m just too awkward a customer. There are
easier targets for a church seeking malleable new members – people who are
poor, socially disadvantaged, addicted, bereaved or otherwise
weakened. It fits with the Christian tradition of surrendering power and status
and worldly goods, stripping away all vanity and wandering the world as a
mendicant … except that kirk sessions and leadership committees are packed with
articulate, educated, professionally successful, middle-class men (and some
women) whose job is to keep the wheels turning, and who have the advantage of
not being plagued by doubts like mine, or at least not voicing them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It’s been suggested that I’m poking fun, and that I’m
clearly already an atheist so why hang around just to have a dig at organisations
who are trying to do good things for people who are genuinely responsive to the
message of salvation? Okay, so a little humour can add leaven to a dry
write-up, but here’s a newsflash, folks: most people don’t think theology’s fun
or funny. But I think it’s fascinating, and I wouldn’t be writing this if I
didn’t think it was important, or if I thought I was beyond the pale, because eternal
damnation’s no laughing matter either. Knowing I was beyond God’s love or any
hope of redemption would be a cause for existential angst, not gentle satire.
And if I simply wanted to ridicule every church in Edinburgh, there would be
easier ways to do it than braving a strange new church every weekend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">God’s got to have a sense of humour, don’t you think? Look
at us. If we’re the pinnacle of his creation he’s got to be having a laugh. And
a great big powerful god isn’t going to crumble or cower or cry in a corner if
I ask a few questions about him, so why should his advocates on earth do so? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And if he created me, and endowed me with the intellectual
wherewithal to wonder about him and write about him and maybe get a few others
thinking about all the big stuff too, then I reckon I’m within my rights. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Not everyone let down by a church will complain about it. Some will, of course, and I daresay some can cause big problems for their former friends and colleagues if they feel sufficiently aggrieved. But fear not, church chaps. For all her rhetoric and superficial hostility to your cause, the Soul Searcher is a mild-mannered creature who means you no harm. She's just a bit lost, and so far none of you has really made a concerted effort to rescue her.</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Soul Searcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484611864233206491noreply@blogger.com11