2nd Sunday Summer Services: Taizé worship 12 June

'2nd Sunday' Summer Services

Can't make morning worship?
No need to worry!
'2nd Sunday' evening services are back...
in June - Taizé-style worship;
July - simple service of communion;
August, and September: tbc


6.30pm at Holy Trinity Chapel, Lamington: 
Take time out to 'be' as we gather together for worship in the simple, uncluttered style of Taizé.

It's a time for:
candles and contemplation,
music and meditation,
silence, simplicity, singing...
Worship in an unhurried pace,
with time to reflect.
A quiet space in the midst of the busyness of life
to help recharge, refresh, renew yourself for the week ahead.

What is Taizé-style worship?
Over the course of the service, you'll encounter:
brief Bible readings;
gentle, easy to learn chants;
times of quiet [in fact, as few words as possible].
If traditional, wordy worship is not for you, come and experience something a little different.

Some background on the Taizé Community: 
Taizé is a small village in eastern France and one of the wonders of the Christian world.
Far better known in continental Europe than it is in Britain, for over 50 years,
it has been the home of a Christian monastic community made up of over 100 brothers
from around 30 countries, speaking many different languages and, uniquely, belonging
to several different Christian denominations.
Catholics, Anglicans, Protestants, Orthodox and others live and pray together,
share a simple life and welcome the tens of thousands of visitors who come to spend time
with them every year from all over the world.

The Community describes itself as a "parable of communion", living proof
that it is possible for Christians from all denominations to overcome the divisions
of the past, to live, work and worship together, united by their shared trust in Christ.
Taizé has developed a unique style of meditative singing which focuses
on the repetitive chanting of short phrases from the Bible and other Christian texts
in a range of languages.
The three daily services also include short Bible readings and prolonged periods of silence.
Learning to listen to God in the company of others is at the heart of prayer at Taizé.
It is almost impossible to recreate the unforgettable experience of a Taizé service
outside the Community, but thousands of Christian churches, communities and families
across the world do take inspiration from what they have found there.
The songs, in particular, are widely used.
Taizé Services by Upper Clyde Parish are loosely based on the pattern of worship
used by the Taizé Community. A mixture of repetitive chants, scripture readings,
spoken prayers and long silences, they provide an oasis of peace,
a chance to stop and dwell with others on the presence of Christ.
If wordy worship is not for you, if you enjoy stillness and simplicity,
Taizé Worship may well be what you are looking for.

Countdown to the UCPC Manse Garden Party, 2016

It's back! The annual Manse Garden Party Sat 25 June...

Come along: bring a friend, and bring some sunshine...all welcome.

UCPC Guild trip to Moniave

A great day out was had by the Guild and friends. We travelled down to Moniave in the Community bus, ably driven by Alison K.  Heading down the Dalveen Pass, when we arrived in Moniave, it was straight to the Stackyard. We met up with Gordon Stewart, and heard about - and saw - his amazing collection of 3 500 jam jars, gathered over many years. His earliest piece dates back to the 1830's, and it was great to see such a diversity of styles and decoration. Having had a good wander through the collection, we then had a gentle daunder over to the Glen Whisk Cafe, where we had a fabulous spread of soup, sandwiches, and selection of fabulous baking. Thereafter, having stopped to look at some glorious blooms, we hopped back on the bus, and headed home by another way - up the Mennock. A great day out, and brilliantly organised!

Sermon, 5 June: Week 1 of Galatians series - 'The only thing constant is change'

Beginning a 5-week series on Paul's Letter to the Galatians...

1st READING: Psalm 146
2nd READING: Galatians 1:1-24

SERMON/
Let’s pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations
of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

‘The only thing constant, is change.’
So said the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus
nearly two and a half thousand years ago...
Ironically, over the ages, various people have quite happily adopted,
adapted, and had his saying attributed to them...
pretty much proving the very point that Heraclitus was making...

‘The only thing constant is change’
This theme of change, of transformation,
is at the very heart of Paul’s letter to the Galatians,
possibly Paul’s earliest surviving letter.
Scholars think that it was written about 15 to 25 years
after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The recipients, the Galatians, were a cluster of faith communities
that had sprung up as a result of Paul’s earlier missionary efforts.
He had come,
had shared the good news of God’s love in Christ;
they had listened,
had come to faith,
had been transformed.
Their lives had changed as they entered upon this new faith journey,
and walked in the footsteps of Jesus and his disciples.

‘The only thing constant is change.’
...Change and transformation.
Over the next few weeks, as we look at this letter of Paul’s,
we’ll see how the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus
had the capacity to transform the lives of these very early Christians,
we’ll also see how this good news of Jesus – the gospel –
had the capacity to transform the lives of those around them,
as they lived out their lives in faith, hope and trust –
bearing the fruit of the Spirit.
And today, we’ll see how God, in Jesus,
had transformed Paul’s life,
his understanding of faith,
his understanding of how to live his life...

But before we get to Paul’s transformation,
let’s look at the opening of his letter,
and perhaps it might be helpful if you open up to our passage in Galatians...
Like any good letter, Galatians begins with a salutation – a greeting:
here we have who the letter is from,
and, to whom it’s written.
Now, remember, his audience know him -
Paul’s been there before,
he’s shared the faith with them...
and yet, right at the very beginning of his letter,
Paul pulls out some big guns:
he sets out some credentials – if you like:
‘It’s me, Paul – I'm an apostle sent from God.’
You can almost feel a big black pen underlining this, emphasising it,
and possibly, his unwritten words:
‘so pin back your ears, and listen, folks, because this is important.’

Having got their attention,
Paul proceeds with a blessing of grace and peace, in Christ’s name –
Christ, who gave himself ‘to rescue us from the present evil age’...
And without wasting any time for gentle pleasantries, such as
‘hope all’s well with you?’
or ‘how are Mildred and Effie doing?’
he’s straight in there:
‘Hi, Galatians, it’s me, Paul, apostle: blessings on you.
I’m astonished at what you’re doing!’
....If they weren’t listening before, they certainly are now.
But, what is it that they’re doing?
It all centres around the gospel –
but, which gospel are we talking about here?
Paul talks of the Galatians turning to a ‘different gospel’ –
they've been listening to others who have
seemingly sowed seeds of confusion.
Apparently, a group referred to by scholars as the ‘Judaizers’,
have come in,
have seen Paul’s handiwork,
and have decided that he’s been preaching a watered-down
version of the gospel...or, if you like,
he’s been doing things a little differently from how it’s aye bin...
This group, preaching a different gospel –
a gospel that Paul is quick to condemn as no gospel at all –
are wanting the non-Jewish Galatians to follow their particular ways and customs:
for example, for the males to be circumcised;
to follow the Law and the Prophets.
Not for them any fancy new ways –
basically, they’ll let these Galatian non-Jews come into the faith,
but really, these new folk will just have to fit in.
The Judaizers are not prepared to make any changes that would make
the faith path a little easier to walk along for these younger members in the body of Christ.
They’re putting conditions on the gospel:
yes, it’s good news, but only if you do it our way.

Paul’s hard work of bringing the Galatians to faith
is being undermined, and he’s incensed.
For him, the whole point of the gospel is that it’s
about change and transformation –
about liberation from the Law and freedom in Christ.
And these are themes we’ll come back to a little more in depth, in a couple of weeks.
At the moment however, we have, in essence, a stream of writing
by Paul centring on the gospel:
He had shared with them the gospel, which they’d joyfully received.
He had then gone on, to share the faith with people in other areas.
Others had subsequently arrived, adding to, and, as Paul states, ‘perverting’ the gospel.
He urges the Galatians to turn back to the gospel he shared with them:
the gospel of Christ...
a gospel of grace – unconditional grace;
a gospel not made up in the minds of humans
but a gospel received by Paul from Christ himself ...
a gospel that Paul had previously not only denied, but had vigorously suppressed:
a gospel that is utterly about transformation.

Paul makes his case for the transformative power of the gospel
by reminding the Galatians of his own story.
He was a man of deep religious conviction:
zealous in his faith,
proud of the tradition that had been passed down to him by his father...
and for generations before that.
He was a rigorous student –
he had surpassed his peers in knowledge of the faith.
He had persecuted those who dared to challenge it.
Had tried to destroy this new faith springing up around the man, Jesus...

However, while pursuing God with all his restless energy,
it was God who caught up with, and called Paul –
called him into a different understanding
of his faith,
of his God,
of the man, Jesus.
On the road to Damascus,
on his way to root out the Jesus people,
Paul encountered Jesus, and his life would never be the same again.
While ‘the only thing constant is change’,
even so, God took and used Paul’s personality:
his restless energy,
his passion,
and transformed them from being tools of terror,
and  harnessed them to be used in the service of Christ,
and in the sharing of the gospel:
the gospel, that, God’s love was such, that he became one of us;
experienced what it was, what it is, to be human.
Showed, in the way he lived, and loved,
what it was to be truly, authentically human;
showed the transforming power of God’s love
in his love and care for human beings –
especially those discarded, or deemed dispensable by society.
Showed the wideness of God’s mercy and grace
and that it was freely given for all...
and, at the last, showed a love that could transform even death itself...
Paul was passionate about the transforming power of the gospel,
for he knew what it was to have been rescued and transformed;
he knew what it was to be known among other followers of Christ as:
‘the man who formerly persecuted us,’ who was
’now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy’

It can be easy to listen to other gospels:
gospels that tell us we don’t measure up...
gospels that tell us that the only way we can receive God’s grace
is by keeping all the commandments,
making sure we do this, or that, or the other;
gospels that have conditions put upon them.
And sometimes, we take these kinds of gospels on board,
try to tick all the boxes,
and jump through all the hoops –
hope we get a gold star
and our ticket to heaven,
as long as we just work away at it.
We take these different gospels on board because it seems really hard
to accept that God’s grace is freely given,
that God’s grace comes without strings attached,
that God has called us for his own
and that we are his beloved...
and that, in his love, we are transformed.
It’s almost as if we’re afraid, fearful, perhaps even suspicious:
after all, you don’t get something for nothing, do you?
But that’s the essence of the gospel, the good news.
We do get something for nothing:
God’s love freely given.
We love, because God loved us first.
And perfect love casts away our fear.

‘The only thing constant is change’ 
Change is a discomforting, disquieting thing.
But we need not fear change:
we are the people of change, of transformation.
And as we embrace God’s good news,
embrace God’s transformational love,
not only will we be changed,
but those around us will be as well.
Mother Teresa once said:
‘I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, 
or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do 
whatever I’m supposed to do, what I can do. 
I used to pray for answers, but now I’m praying for strength. 
I used to believe that prayer changes things, 
but now I know that prayer changes us, 
and we change things.’

Shortly, we’ll share in bread, and in wine.
We’ll remember the one who had – who still has –
the power to change, to transform lives.
The journalist, Linda Ellerbee once said:
‘What I like most about change is that it’s a synonym for ‘hope’. 
If you are taking a risk, what you are really saying is, 
‘I believe in tomorrow and I will be a part of it.’

As we share in the meal that Jesus gave us,
we remember that, in holy mystery, it is a meal of hope;
a meal which transforms us, as it nourishes and strengthens us
to live out our faith in a world that is constantly changing,
a world where we share the gospel – the good news –
of God’s constant, faithful love:
a love that has the power to transform‘this present evil age’
into a foretaste of the kin-dom of heaven on earth.
And, as the Psalmist proclaimed:
'Happy are those who have the God of Israel as their helper,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.'   Amen.

UCPC Writing Group - inaugural session

THURSDAY, 9 JUNE, 7PM...
It's a new dawn,
it's a new day,
it's...a new group:
a writing group, to be precise.
Whether putting pen or pencil to paper -
or tapping on a Tablet -
come join us around the fireside as we blether, read, listen, and encourage one another to do some writing.
Meeting monthly, at the Colebrooke Arms, from 7pm.
Wherever and whatever place you find yourself in your writing,
come along - we are all learning together!

Communion, 5th June

Join us, as we share together in Communion...

Contacts, information, church notices...

The minister will be on leave from: Mon 23 May - Wed 1 June. 

Pulpit and funeral cover: 

Sunday 29 May: we welcome back the Rev. Sandy Strachan - formerly NHS Chaplain in Dumfries.

Funeral cover: will be provided by the Rev Rachel Dobie, who can be contacted on 01899 229244.
For any ongoing parish queries, please contact our Session Clerk Moira White on 01659 74261
--------------------------------------------------

News, events, and general notices:

Thurs 2 June, 7.30pm: 'Junction 13' tea, cake, and a blether: For anyone who has been a part of the community choir at any point, and for those who'd like to jump on board: an opportunity for a wee get-together to reflect on what we've been doing, how you think it's gone, and to see where we might go from here. Meet up in the Church Hall, Abington. See you there!

Sunday 5 June, 9.45: Singing group meets at church before worship - all are welcome to come along and have a wee practice of an easy to learn song for worship.

Thurs 9 June, 9-3: Guild outing to Moniave.
and
at 7pm, Writing Group: our first meeting of this new group will gather at the Colebrooke Arms Hotel, Crawfordjohn. All welcome.

Kirk Crafters’ group: all are welcome to come along to stitch, sew, cut, glue, get creative, and have a good blether. We next meet on Tues 7 June, from 7-9pm. Our current 'big project' in process is the creation of some long banners for the season of Advent. Our other wee project is to knit woolly hats for sailors - which are much appreciated! These will be given to Tim Bell, Port Chaplain at Leith, for distribution.

Church notices - volunteers: the minister is looking for volunteers who would read out the church notices before worship on Sunday mornings. Ideally, it would be great to have a team of 4-5 people, working on a rotational basis. Please let the Nikki know if you’d be willing to do this - and thanks for those who have already offered.

Sermon 22 May: Trinity Sunday

READINGS: Ps 8; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15 

SERMON Let’s pray:

May the words of my mouth and the meditations 

of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, 

O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer.  Amen.

It was a mystery.

And he had been puzzling over it for near on 30 years.

He had written thousands upon thousands of words 

and yet, none of them felt adequate.

All of them fell short of the mark.

How do you describe the indescribable? 

How do you try to comprehend the incomprehensible?

It was a daunting task;

It was madness:

a work that could never be completed in a single lifetime.

It was a mystery, a puzzle, an enigma.

One day, as he walked on the beach, 

his mind overwhelmed by the immensity of the task, 

he saw a young child playing.

As he watched, the child dug a small hole, 

then ran to the water’s edge with a shell in hand.

Gently, carefully, the child filled the shell with water 

and tiptoed back across the sand.

The shell was upturned, and water trickled into the hole;

the child then went back to the water’s edge.

The great thinker watched, as again, and again, 

the child with the tiny shell  

moved between the water’s edge and the hole, 

collecting, carrying, pouring.

Walking up to the child, he smiled.

‘What are you doing, little one?’ he asked.

The child looked up at him with a solemn face and replied:

‘I'm trying to pour the ocean into this hole.’

The great thinker considered the child’s answer for a moment and responded gently:

‘But the ocean is vast. What makes you think that you can empty

 the immense ocean into this tiny hole, with just a small shell?’

The child continued to look solemnly at the great thinker and then,

in a strange and otherworldly voice said:

‘And what makes you think that you can comprehend 

the immensity of God with your tiny human mind.’

And with that, the child vanished leaving the great thinker alone 

on that empty beach, looking at a tiny hole in which sea water 

seeped into damp sand...

Today we celebrate, and reflect upon, mystery:

a mystery that the Church has puzzled over for near on 2 000 years.

There have been thousands of words written - 

including the thousands written by the great thinker we heard about in the story - 

the 5th century African theologian Augustine - 

and while the story of Augustine’s strange beach encounter may be mere legend....

in this second decade of the 21st century

we are still none the wiser about the mystery he was pondering.

Words are not enough;

all of them fall far short of the mark

as we try to describe the indescribable,

and comprehend the incomprehensible:

the mystery and immensity of God,

Father

Son

and Holy Spirit - 

one God

in three persons...

...blessed Trinity.

It is a mystery,

this business of the Trinity

yet, every year, for near-on 2 000 years, 

church communities have listened as preachers have used 

a variety of examples to try and come close to explaining the inexplicable:

God, like a shamrock - three leaves but one stem

God, like water in 3 forms: water, steam, ice...but still water

God, like an egg: shell, yolk, white...

All of these okay, but yet, not quite right.

It’s a tough job... 

so perhaps we should just stick to the words of the Athenasian Creed - 

you can almost hear the writers sighing and shrugging as they wrote:

God the Father: incomprehensible

God the Son: incomprehensible

God the Holy Spirit: incomprehensible.

But is mystery necessarily a bad thing?

And will we cope if we haven’t got the answer 

to every single question this side of heaven?  

I suspect... yes.

And I also suspect, from scripture, that we don’t get to know the whole shebang 

this side of heaven anyway:

Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13, notes 

‘for now we know in part: then we shall see, face to face.’

Personally, I kinda like the anticipation, and of knowing there’s a whole lot more to come.

So, if we don’t get to unravel the whole mystery 

of who God is and what this matter of the Trinity is about, 

where might we go from here?

If we explore God as Trinity within the context 

of love and belonging and relationship, 

- concepts that are a little more easy to get our heads around - 

how might that affect the way in which we live our lives?

In a small nod to ecumenism: the 1982 communion liturgy of the 

Scottish Episcopal Church, paraphrasing the 1st Letter of John, 

states that:

‘God is love and we are God’s children.

There is no room for fear in love.

We love, because God loved us first.’

For me, this gets to the heart of the matter:

relationships of love -

God    is    love...

and, our response to that love.

In the 16th century, the Russian artist Andrei Rublev 

tried to paint his understanding of the Trinity: 

Father, Son, and Spirit.

It’s the picture you have in front of you 

on your order of service, and also given out with your order, 

which I’d invite you to take out and have a look at now...  

Rublev was very much trying to demonstrate this sense of God 

living in harmonious and perfect community. 

This sense of unity within the relationship of each of the figures 

is indicated by the way their heads incline one to the other, 

almost making an outline of a circle. 

This shows how they're bound together as one 

by a common will and mutual love: love unites them.

...God as a Trinity of love.

God the Father: the one who loves

God the Son: the beloved

God the Holy Spirit: the love that flows so strongly between Father and Son, 

that it takes on shape and substance of its own.

And, mirroring this, for us who are created in God’s image, we might ask:

How do we love?

Who do we love?

What is the impact of that love on others?

It is a mystery, this business of the Trinity

and yet, the overarching theme appears to be community;

to be about relationship.

While our reading from the psalms reminded us of 

how majestic, how great, is our God – 

and that we are in a relationship of praise 

with the whole of creation as we worship God,

our other two readings both contained mentions of God 

within the context of relationship – 

within what we call the three persons of the Trinity...

God as Father

as Son

and as Holy Spirit.

In Romans we hear of God who poured out his love to us through the Spirit...

of God further demonstrating that love for us 

in the life and death of the Son – of Jesus...

God, who, in a community of relationship as Father, Son, and Spirit

creates a reconciling relationship with us –

and calls us into community.

God, as Trinity, modelling what perfect, loving community looks like:

always giving, always looking out for the other, 

and always done within the context of mutual love.

Elsewhere in scripture – the gospel of Matthew, 

when Jesus sends out the disciples to tell others the message of God’s love,

he calls them to go and make other disciples and to baptise them:

in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - 

again, the holy community that is God.

And the one who is baptised enters into the church - 

the community of God’s people.

As God is in the perfect community of the Trinity,

so those who believe are to live within the context of community:

we do so, because we are members of Christ’s body here on earth.

This sense of relationship - of belonging to God - 

and of being a part of God’s people – 

and of modelling lives lived in the fullness and richness of community,

is brought out in our gospel reading from John.

Jesus says: 

‘I tell you...anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.'

And then observes that the power to follow Jesus, 

to do what Jesus has done,

is only given within the context of 

the relationship between Father, Son, and Spirit –

As Jesus goes to the Father, 

and speaks for us, his brothers and sisters,

so the Spirit comes to us, enabling us to do great things...

enabling us to live lives in love,

this, because we are enfolded within the love of the community that is God –

and because we live within the community who are called together as God’s people.

Jesus, in effect, is reminding his disciples 

whose they are, 

and how they should live...

lives modelled on the holy and harmonious relationship 

of Father, Son, and Spirit:

lives lived in grace, love, and fellowship.

And there’s an openness to love.

Our painting by Rublev has an open space at the front:

it’s as if we’re being invited in to sit at the table...

God looks outwards, not inwards - 

looking out in love towards us, 

towards the world.

In turn, we are to look outwards not inwards - 

look in love at the wider world around us:

to welcome all people,

to demonstrate heavenly hospitality 

on earth as it is in heaven:

to build communities of love - 

as in the prayer of St Francis:

‘where there is hatred, sow love,

where there is injury, pardon; 

where there is doubt, faith; 

where there is despair, hope; 

where there is darkness, light; 

where there is sadness, joy.’

And, as we go out marching into the world and do so, 

we have the promise of Jesus, who says:

‘I will be with you always, to the end of the age.’

The life of faith is a life lived within the community of God, 

the community of God’s people – 

we’re not called to bear our burdens, or celebrate our joys alone –

we do this together – 

sharing and caring with and for each other,

just as God, as Father, Son, and Spirit

work in seamless harmony and love, and attend to one another.

The Trinity: 

it’s a mystery.

One that will continue to puzzle human beings until the end of time.

Thousands of words will be added to those already written;

all trying to comprehend the incomprehensible and never really succeeding.

But in the end, what matters is this:

love:

the love of the God who dwells in perfect community;

the love of God whose love is limitless, immeasurable

and welcomes us in - 

the love that creates a place at the table for all...

And, as God loves,

so we are to reflect that love because:

'we believe in God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

the Three-in-One and One-in-Three,

God in three persons,

Blessed Trinity...'

Let’s pray:

three is the magic number

calling us out of individualism

insisting on relationship:

I, to you,

we, to another;

trinity – creating relationships

until all the cosmos joins in

one to create

one to save

one to sustain

one to author

one to fight

one to enliven

one to conceive

one to die

one to resurrect

one to plan

one to act

one to explain

one's sufficient

two's company:

three's community

God of trinity: 

expose our self-reliance,

break open our exclusivity,

continue your creative work

of building relationships

here, and now, among us,

your people... amen

Reflection Zone: a mid-week blessing

[With thanks to Rev. Genevieve Turner Razim. Artwork by Rev. Jay Sidebotham.]

Discussion Group

UCPC Discussion Group meets this week

'Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.' Chaim Potok 

We meet on Thursday, 7.30pm, in Leadhills Village Hall: a cosy chat around the kitchen table this month, as the hall itself is being used by the stained glass class. A cuppa, some cake, and good conversation - see you there!  

Christian Aid Week update: 'Wonderful Worms'

It's Christian Aid Week. Here's some of what we've been doing so far:

On Sunday, during worship, 
we celebrated both Pentecost and Christian Aid Week - with plenty of red splashed about the worship space.
A small team had tiptoed in on Friday night, and blew up nearly 100 balloons, and hung up Christian Aid bunting. After all those balloons, we were getting a little light-headed!

In the weeks leading up to the service, the minister had asked people, if possible, to wear something red on the day - so along with our decorations, we also had Pentecost/ Christian Aid people. There was also a rather large birthday cake to celebrate the 'birthday' of the church - which we enjoyed at morning tea after the service. We have a special collection bucket at the door for both Sundays, and hopefully will raise some money to help folk living in difficult conditions in Bangladesh... including providing worms...

which we've been learning about in Leadhills and Lamingon Primary Schools.  We've been thinking about people who live on the river islands in Bangladesh, and a strange kind of 'buried treasure' - wonderful worms. The worms are part of a project by Christian Aid to help people living in the river islands enrich what is quite poor soil - the worms help to make good compost, and in turn, encourages good, healthy food to be grown. You can watch the video here:

Lunch Club, May 18th

Join us for our May Lunch Club...

NB CHANGE OF DATE from 25th to the 18th

                          ...before we break for the summer. Good food, good company. All welcome!

Sermon, 8 May: Ascension

Today's readings:

Ps 47

Acts 1:1-11

Luke 24:44-53

Let’s pray:

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts, 

be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and redeemer, Amen.

BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM [1]

Begin in the brightly painted kitchens.

At the table set for supper and 

on the wide couches where we watch TV. 

Begin while we are sorting

the laundry, writing out the shopping list.

And in front of our bathroom mirrors.

Begin in the barns among the warmth of animals

and the smells of grain and manure.

Begin in the growing fields, and in the flooded

pastures, and where the rains have not come

and the soil is cracked    and hard.

Begin in the gleaming office towers, the shiny

shopping malls, the sweaty factory floors.

Begin on crumbling sidewalks and amid

the rumble of subways. 

At machines, 

at our desks,

by the coffee makers and computers.

Begin with the rich, the comfortable.

Begin with the poor, the desperate.

Among the successful, the self-assured.

Among the failed and the floundering.

In the glitter of the halls of power,

and in the cold and shadowed corners

of tragedy and defeat.

Begin on a day when the sun is brilliant;

on a day when the sky is gray.

In a time when economies are favorable;

in a time when all is rust;

at the moment when leaders are caring;

or amid indifference, hostility, despair.

Let us begin beginning again. And whether

we have begun and triumphed, or begun

and struggled and faltered, 

we will continue

our beginning, 

as we have from our beginning,

at Jerusalem,

which is wherever

and whoever we are ...

----------------------------------------------

Endings.

Endings and beginnings.

They are often tricky things to get right.

And if you get them wrong, 

you can be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

We’ve been, in these last several weeks, on an Easter journey:

a journey that began with a man,

on a donkey,

riding into the city of Jerusalem;

a man, 

cheered at,

waved at,

carrying the weight of so many 

expectations on his back –

expectations of what a messiah 

should look like,

should be,

should do.

Expectations that, for the most part, were based upon 

definitions bound by a very human understanding of what success - 

of what deliverance -

should look like,

should be,

and of how it should be done...

but not necessarily definitions based upon God’s understanding of messiahship 

and of power

and of how to overturn principalities and powers:

not by might.

Not by force.

But by humility -

by self-giving love.

We know the story of how that man’s journey 

into Jerusalem seemed to end:

betrayal,

torture,

and death.

But then, a beginning:

a few days later, 

the very definition of death was overturned –

an empty tomb,

folded grave-clothes,

a cry of ‘I have seen the Lord!’

Shock, pain, and fear...turned to joy.

A new beginning.

Meeting with friends and explaining again

the parts of the story that they’d not understood

the first time around.

The Teacher, teaching them once more.

Forty days of seeing him, until, 

another ending at Bethany.

Precious, last words:

urgent reminders.

If they remembered nothing else 

of his mission,

of his message,

of the meaning of his life...

these last words were a litany,

a list:

‘this is why I came;

this is what you saw;

this is what you do next:

Go. 

Wait in Jerusalem.

Wait for my Spirit to fill you with courage,

to fill you with strength – 

to go tell my story to everyone.’

And then, mid-blessing,

lifting up his hands,

he was lifted up,

away from sight...

It was nothing, if not dramatic.

But instead of the fear and desolation they’d

experienced on that previous ending on a Friday,

this ending filled them with hope;

filled them with joy.

This was an end.

But it was also a beginning.

And if they were in any doubt,

white-robed men dispelled it –

told them to get on with it:

‘don’t just stand there, looking up, do something!’

And so they did.

They remembered his ‘to do’ list 

and went up to Jerusalem.

Knowing that, in this new beginning, 

they need not fear:

instead, they were filled with joy...

and, as they waited, 

in the beginning part of this new beginning,

they worshipped –

blessing God.

Beginning that transformation of what it was –

what it is

to be Christ’s body here on earth.

to be his eyes and ears,

arms and legs...

diverse and gifted and called to share his story:

a story of love,

of beginnings and endings 

and beginning again;

a story of presence,

of being with and alongside one another

in joy and sorrow and laughter and pain;

a story meant for everyone to hear –

whether friends, or neighbours, 

or those who we think of as enemies:

our version of Samaritans – 

and not the good variety.

A story to take, and to share, and to rejoice in –

wherever our own starting point, 

our own Jerusalem, may be.

In his ascension –

in that ending,

there was a beginning:

where followers began to take up the responsibility of what it meant 

to be Christ’s own for the world –

to go,

to be with those that he would seek out:

the vulnerable,

the least, the outcast, the poor, 

the hungry – in body and in soul.

In his ascension was a mandate:

to go and do as he did,

to actively be him,

to continue his work –

to continue his story...

a story that could only continue

in his ending

and our beginning –

a beginning marked by openness to change –

of new things;

a beginning marked by waiting 

for God’s Spirit to move; 

a beginning not undertaken alone – 

but within community, 

as his body – supporting and tending 

and caring for one another;

learning together of God’s love,

and being God’s love in the world...

'Because Jesus ascended 

and sits at the right hand of God,

a new world has broken into ours—

a world in which justice does come for the poor,

freedom comes for the prisoners,

and healing for the sick.

Because Jesus ascended 

and sits at the right hand of God,

a new community has been formed—

a community that loves 

and cares for all members,

a family that welcomes all 

who are abandoned and rejected,

a place where all find a place of belonging.

Because Jesus ascended 

and sits at the right hand of God,

a new creation has begun— 

all that was distorted is being restored,

all that is corrupted is being renewed,

all that was broken is being made whole.

...Because Jesus ascended 

and sits at the right hand of God,

God’s new world has begun...'  [2]

--------------------------------------

Is this the time

that we expected, as we lived,

ejected from home and country,

objected to by powers that see

not the humans here before

their violent arrival?

It is not for you to know, 

but yet to hope, sing on although

the songs stick in your throat, to

dream on, envisioning a shape

for the shadow dancing on the wall,

showing you the light.

Why stand you there, looking heavenward? 

In a cloud he left you, in a cloud

he comes again: the cloud is you.

'You will be my witnesses,' you heard

him say – crowd in around the story,

shout loud the invitation from the hills,

the time is now and always, see heaven

here, be heaven here on earth.  [3] 

Amen.

1/ poem by Andrew King

2/ Christine Sine

3/ [Sarah Agnew]

Countdown to the Fiddlers' Rally

The week has finally arrived, and we're very much looking forward
to what promises to be a great evening of toe-tapping entertainment.
If you've not yet got your ticket - get in touch with Janet!
See you there -

Upper Clyde  Parish Church present a fiddlers' rally with:

The Caledonian Fiddle Orchestra

We're delighted to welcome back the CFO, who'll be performing in:

Crawfordjohn Hall on Friday 6th May at 7.30pm  

Tickets £10 each. Contact Janet 01864 504265

A light supper is included in the cost of the ticket.
There'll also be a bar on the night.

For more information on the Orchestra please see callyfiddleorchestra.co.uk

Sermon, 1 May: Seeing God in all things

READINGS: Revelation 21:10, 22 - 22:5; 

John 14:23-29 

SERMON 

Let’s pray:

May the words of my mouth 

and the meditations of all our hearts, 

be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, 

our strength and our redeemer, Amen.

His name was Nicholas, 

a Frenchman born to peasant parents.

He was a humble man:

humble both in position in life, and in character.

He knew what it was to be poor:

so poor, that he joined the army 

in order to be guaranteed regular meals 

and a small stipend in order to live.

He had a great and deep spiritual awakening:

while serving, he saw, in the depths of winter, 

a barren tree, stripped of leaves and fruit – 

seemingly dead, yet waiting patiently

for the sure hope of spring 

and of summer abundance.

He grasped, in that moment, 

a sense of God’s extravagant grace...

understanding that, like the tree, 

he, too, was seemingly dead,

but that God had life waiting for him, 

and that the turning of the seasons 

of his own life would bring fullness.

He also saw war, and was injured in battle.

He was forced to retire from the army and eventually joined 

a religious order in Paris – the Carmelites –

where he spent most of his remaining life quietly, and cheerfully, 

working in the monastery kitchen scrubbing pots, peeling veg, 

running errands for his superiors.

There, in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning, 

he developed a simple way of life and work for God, observing that:

People ‘invent means and methods of coming at God’s love,

they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love,

and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the 

consciousness of God’s presence. 

Yet it might be so simple. 

Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business 

wholly for the love of him?’

He was a man of grace, of patience, of love...

but it was his reputation as a man of deep and profound peace, 

and his simple and cheerful spirituality based upon the peace he’d found,

that drew people to him despite his lowly status.

He was sought out, in his kitchen,

by many who were hungry for a way to experience the peace that he had found.

He was courted by ordinary folk, 

and by those deemed ‘the great and the good’,

for the desire for peace is a powerful thing.

He shared with them his understanding of living life 

through the medium of God’s love.

In all things, love.

He particularly celebrated the little things, saying:

‘we can do little things for God;

I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for the love of him,

and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, 

I prostrate myself in worship before him,

who has given me grace to work;

afterwards, I rise happier than a king. It is enough for me to 

pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God.’

He found, in that love of God, companionship:

he didn’t wash the dishes alone, nor scrub the pots...

God was there with him.

He said of this companionship:

‘I have abandoned all particular forms of devotion, 

all prayer techniques. My only prayer practice is attention. 

I carry on a habitual, silent, and secret conversation with God 

that fills me with overwhelming joy.’

This humble man could have died in complete obscurity

and would not have been disappointed if he had.

However, the profound peace of God that he experienced

guaranteed that even now, 402 years after his birth,

that his name is still known, particularly through a small book –

his religious name was Brother Lawrence,

and he wrote what became a spiritual classic 

treasured by both Catholic and Protestant alike:

‘The Practice of the Presence of God’

Some of you may have heard of it.

It’s a book that I stumbled upon very early in my Christian life –

I was about 19 when I first met Brother Lawrence, and discovered 

his kindly, gentle ways, 

his deep and profound peace, 

and, his great, shining love for God.

His book, his words, have been such a help to me in my own walk with God –

and I thoroughly recommend reading it, if you get the chance!

In our gospel passage today, 

we get a sense of practising the presence of God:

we’ve stepped back chronologically to just before Jesus’ arrest and execution.

It’s just after the Last Supper and of washing the disciples’ feet in an upper room.

These few chapters in John are known as ‘the farewell discourses’ –

basically, conversations had with his disciples before he was taken from them.

Immediately prior to this particular passage, Jesus talks of his leaving them,

but tells them that they will not be alone –

‘I will ask the Father, 

and he will give you another Counsellor 

to be with you for ever – the Spirit of truth....

I will not leave you as orphans’

In response to a question by Judas, Jesus talks of those who love him:

and here we get a sense of what our friend, Brother Lawrence, had understood...

for Jesus talks of companionship –

‘My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him’

companionship:

God making a home with the one who loves and is loved in return:

God, in vision to John on the isle of Patmos, sharing the outcome of all things;

God, in a monastery kitchen in Paris, 

side by side with Lawrence, talking companionably over the dishes...

and God, in the Abington Store, with us as we get our messages,

or with us as we call on a friend for a cuppa.

Down through the ages, and through to the end of all time...

God with us through the promised Spirit.

Companion, friend, and Creator of the universe.

God with us 

in the flesh and blood and bone of incarnation,

a lived life among his friends with many conversations 

along the stony roads of the Holy Land,

and in death and resurrection –

God with us, teaching us that he is near us,

or, as Brother Lawrence once said:

‘you need not cry out very loud; he is nearer to us than we think’

And, as God is with us, so Jesus talks of peace:

a peace given to those who follow him,

those who love God –

a peace unlike the world gives...

for there are always negotiations and conditions surrounding such peace,

and the fear that such hard-won peace may disappear, 

for the peace of the world is a fragile thing,

unlike the peace of God which survives even death itself.

The peace that Jesus talks of leaving 

is given by the one we know as Prince of Peace –

the peace given that will ultimately heal the nations, 

as described in our reading from Revelation. 

This is a peace that is both for now, and which lasts for all eternity.

A peace – a ‘shalom’ – which is all-encompassing,

a peace that is about the well-being of the whole person,

of communities,

of countries,

of the whole world.

A peace founded upon not being 

‘weary of doing little things for the love of God,

who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.’

Peace, however, doesn’t come easily:

it comes at the cost of the Cross and rises up in the joy of the Resurrection.

Peace is an attitude of heart and mind – a way of choosing how to live our lives.

Brother Lawrence talks of prayer as being

‘the pure loving gaze that finds God everywhere’.

In that sense, learning to see God in all things,

learning to practice the presence of God in our daily living 

as we work at daily loving God both in busyness and quiet,

with company, or in the companionship of God.

It is as we stop, occasionally, to look at the way the light is playing on the hills,

or in the interactions of the smaller members of our communities,

that we try to focus on God –

first, giving thanks,

but also, just seeing God in the everyday:

there’s a sacredness to soapsuds, Brother Lawrence might say.

Peace is found, as we are attentive to what is happening around us

as we pause to look for what God is doing in our world, 

reminding us that we are his, but that he is ours:

he has made his home among us.

There’s a saying:

‘Dance like nobody’s watching,

love like you've never been hurt,

sing like nobody’s listening,

live like it’s heaven on earth’

I did see a more cynical alternative the other day: 

‘dance like nobody’s watching – 

because they aren't, 

they’re all on their mobile phones’ 

But I wonder, if there might be another way of viewing the saying, 

of re-jigging it the Brother Lawrence, peace-filled way.

How about:

‘Dance like God is watching,

love like God has loved,

sing as if God is listening,

live like it’s heaven on earth’

Where do we find God?

Actually, right with us.

Where do we find peace?

As we practice the presence of God...

for he is our peace, that lasts forever.

How might we change the way we see this week,

so that we look for God

so that we see God in all things,

so that we live into the peace that he gives?

...  ...  ...

Let’s pray:

Dear God

enlighten what’s dark in us,

strengthen what’s weak in us,

mend what’s broken in us,

bind what’s bruised in us,

heal what’s sick in us,

and revive whatever peace and love has died in us, 

we pray, in Jesus’ name, amen.