Greyfriars Parish Church, Lanark

Well today has been about one thing ... The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Ok, it has been more than that as we spent the day at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure travelling from Super Hero Island, to Toon Lagoon, trough Jurassic Park and Seuss Landing (Dr Seuss' Cat in the Hat) before finally ending up at the 46 day old Hogsmead Village! And boy ... what an experience it was.

The whole day was brilliant and the girls loved getting soaked on Popeye's Raft race, and the giant log flume (well Hayley didn't really like that one!) and they thought the Dr Seuss area was fantastic, riding on the Caro-Seuss-el, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (and getting wet ... again). But we all thought that the new Harry Potter world was magical.

When we arrived (after trying several times during the day and giving up on the 90 minute queue just to get into Hogsmead never mind on any rides or into any shops) we queued for 75 minutes to get onto the new ride - Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey where you fly with Harry toward his Quidditch match encountering ...

I have really enjoyed my time at the Church of the Palms in Delray Beach and have had a wonderful time meeting so many people who have been willing to share with me over these few short weeks.

As today was my last Sunday with the congregation it was wonderful to share a breakfast (coffee and donuts of course) with the leadership team of the church. The Trustees Council (who look after the resources of the church and set the mission direction) and the Deacons (who look after the spiritual direction of the church). During worship we were able to share in Communion together, a typically Scottish presbyterian communion, which, I think, all seemed to enjoy and take something out of it.

After worship we were taken to lunch at the Delray Beach Club by Marlene, and joining us were Liz and Herb. Liz is the pastoral minister for the church (retired but still does a huge amount) after many years in pastoral ministry throughout the country. Good food, good conversations, good company, all by the bright blue, incredibly calm ocean! Bliss.

Over the last few weeks what has struck me most is the similarities between Greyfriars in Lanark and the Church of the Palms in Florida. Both churches face a financial shortfall, both churches need more people to carry out the mission of the church, both churches have folks who are enthusiastically behind what we seek to do and folks who are ... less so!

The congregation was originally founded in an are where it was reckoned that many people came to retire and many of them had money. For decades the Church of the Palms has had the reputation of being a church for seniors and a rich church at that. Things are not like that now in the church and ...

What a fantastic day! A trip to the Lion Country Safari with Kathi (the church administrator) and her husband Jim. Located in West Palm Beach it is a joy to drive round and observe the animals ... and observe we did! We were handed a CD with a commentary at the gate and it told us about all of the animals as we approached them. We saw lions chasing each other and fighting, a squad of rangers boxing in an antelope who had just given birth to move her to a safe location in the long grass to give her baby to her away from the pack.

After the animals we were able to spend time in conversation about the church with Kathi and Jim as the girls walked around and went on every ride known to man, panned for fossils and gems and went on a camel ride! What a great way to spend a Saturday.

An early start today as I met Ned, the church treasurer on the golf course at 7:30am. What a lovely municipal course owned and maintained by the city of Delray Beach - it certainly would put many of our council courses to shame.

It was a strange experience as due to the heat we had to go around the course on a golf cart which meant stopping and starting and not really getting the usual leisurely walk around a course. That said, I could probably get used to it! However, as I thought the heat really started to hit about 10am and sapped the energy from all of those playing (at least that is my excuse for a poor score) although the ice water around the course and the clubhouse in the middle made for a great change from Scottish courses.

After our round of golf I picked up the family to go and visit West Palm Beach and whilst they went shopping I met up with Rev Dr Sheila Guillaume the regional youth minister for the southwest area of the UCC Florida conference. It was a great opportunity to hear about ...

After soliciting opinions from friends on Facebook as to whether it was worth making the journey to Maimi I can officially report it really, really was! We were a wee bit reluctant to drive for over an hour just to go to another mall and were unsure of what to do.

We started the day with a trip on a Duck tour (an amphibious bus) that took us a tour of all of the sights of South Beach including the Biscane Bay, Star Island, Ocean Drive, South Beach and much more. We got to see some famous people's houses - Former F1driver Eddie Irvine, Andre Agassi's summer house, Rosie O'Donnell, Al Capone and the house from Miami Vice. Waterfront properties are very expensive with a small 2 bed, one bath going for over $3 million recently.

As we drove into the water at Biscane Bay we learned that there are many live-aboard boats in the water where people live year round and it costs them nothing to do so. No rates, no taxes, nothing. So if ...

Well, last week we were on vacation and this week it continues. As part of our study leave in the states we planned a 2 week break to Orlando to visit the mouse.

So far we have been to all of the parks and the girls are now picking what rides they want to go back to and do again! They have had a ball getting autographs from all the characters and trying new things as they go on the rides.

Disney is like nothing you ever truly imagine unless you have been. It is an experience where everything is controlled - the way the streets are cleaned, the commentary on the rides, the fireworks at the end of the show, even a pylon on the way out is shaped like Mickey Mouse. It is a well ...

What a great night we have just had at the home of the former moderator of the church, Fred Rosene. Fred opened up his home to us and the Watoto choir as well as anyone from the church family who wanted to come along for a church picnic and to see the fireworks at Delray beach. Fred lives on the edge of a lake with unrivaled views of the fireworks. OK, so it was more than a little damp but all of his neighhours made sure we had a great warm up act of spectacular fireworks before the main event( and as I type this when we are back home more fireworks have begun at the end of the street ...  and not small ones either!). Thanks to all those who made us feel welcome and provided food for us - it is much appreciated! 

Well after an eventful few days at the church of the palms we are now ready and packed (again) to go on our two week vacation to Orlando! The girls (all 3) are very excited about meeting the mouse, and the dog, and the duck and the princesses!

So we set off at 6am for our road trip lasting about 2 hrs 45 mins to get there nice and early to experience the wonder that is Disney's Magic Kingdom.

Photos, and lots of stories no doubt soon!

I thought I would put up this wee video from our service this morning with the Watoto children's choir. I know that more will come soon from the church who videoed the service. You can check out their youtube channel - Churchofthepalmsdel

Well, I am convinced that someone told me that Florida was warm, sunny and dry? Over the past 48 hours it has been warm, sunny and very very wet with massive thunder storms taking several hours to pass over us. Still it hasn't really stopped us doing much!

We were able to go and have our first official American breakfast at Denny's with waffles, pancakes, sausage et al. Hayley and Iona didn't know where to start when it came but they managed to demolish their plates.

This weekend saw the start of our church activities and what a start it was. As we entered into the holiday weekend the church welcomed the Watoto Children's Choir from Uganda to lead worship and perform a concert of hope. Last night at the contemporary service, the Walk, they sang and danced and lit up the room with their enthusiasm.

At that service something struck me and that was how welcoming and friendly the folks from the church were. As I watched people arrive there was no-one in the room that was not personally welcomed by someone in a really genuine way. With a mix of ages in the service it was great to see young and old mixing together, and sharing in the Lord's supper together.

We were able to share some food with the choir and I was amazed at the love the kids had for the faith. They were able to express their thankfulness in such a meaningful way. They understood about their relationship with God and what it meant to them. I cannot help but think of those who try to say that children cannot play a full part in the family of God because they do not understand like we adults do.

This morning at worship we had over 180 people come and listen to the choir and hear their message. Again it was a great event and I know that there were many visitors to the church that we hope will come back over the next few weeks.

Well, it's the 4th July and it is almost time for fireworks and a church picnic and cook out. So if the rain stays off, the clouds clear we might just be able to see some of the fireworks in the sky!

Today was fun! After the girls readjusting and sleeping until 6:30am (normal time I'm afraid!) we had a breakfast which did consist of some waffles and maple syrup. Then after an hour of badgering by the girls the swimming pool in the back garden was calling them and out they went. OK, it rained but they were wet anyway!

We also had a very nice lunch with John (the church moderator), Kathi (the parish administrator) and Ed (the director of music ministry) and then we went to see the church. If was interesting to talk over lunch about some of the issue and challenges facing the Church of the Palms, but you know I couldn't help but think that many of the issues they are facing in Delray beach are similar to ones facing Greyfriars in Lanark. Perhaps it is that churches the world over share similar concerns or perhaps there is more to this exchange than

After 17 hours  on the road we made it to our house for the next 6 weeks or so. A drive to Edinburgh airport, a flight to Heathrow, a wait in T5, a 9 hour flight with the girls and some very annoying people with a child who liked to kick the seat (ask Pauline more about that one!), a very smooth immigration system, a very very nice man who greeted us at the bottom of the escalator and offered to find and collect our bags for us (and yes he was an airport employee not a random bag snatcher), and a very pleasant truck ride home with john, the moderator of the Church of the Palms.

The best laid plans of course meant that we went to the supermarket to get a few essential and paid with our new cash card filled with dollars only for it not to be authorised .... grrrrr! Luckily the cash in my wallet was enough to pay. And as we came through security at Heathrow not only was I the 'random' pat down candidate out of the whole line but my hand luggage was kept back. "You have liquids in there" they said. "No I don't" I replied only to open the bag and find two highly dangerous children suncream tubes buy one get one free from Boots. In the bin! Who knew Boots the Chemist sold such dangerous merchandise!

The house is beautiful, swimming pool in the garden looks mighty fine, the girls are very happy and we have spoken to Roger who will now be somewhere en route to Amsterdam from Atlanta before landing in the UK later this afternoon.

Yes, note the time .... it is 10:35am UK time which means it is 5:35 am over here .... and we have been up for an hour and a half - the girls clearly still have a body clock issue. Hopefully a day of activities will get the sleeping right tonight.

More later ... with some piccies hopefully. Take care and we will go and prepare ourselves for a 90 degree hot one today.

We have witnessed all sort of political scandals in recent months from hob nobs to duck ponds but the latest one takes the biscuit!

Today we have had the revelations that ex-cabinet ministers have been willing to act like 'cabs for hire' when it comes to lobbying on behalf of businesses to use their influence with their ex cabinet colleagues. Stephen Byers, the former transport minister say that he would charge between £3,000 and £5,000 per day for the work - nice money if you can get it but perhaps we are talking about moral corruption gone wrong.

It reminded me of the story of Judas ...

This is genius! You know when things have gone really well for you and you just kept on pushing it? Remember those times you had really wished you had known when to stop? Well this is one of those times. The video is of Spain's Alvaro Bautista doing a wheelie to celebrate coming third in the 250cc race in the Czech MotoGP, but it backfired as he ends up falling off in dramatic style and smashing the bike up. I guess his team weren't too happy - know when to quit - a lesson for us all!

I am a fan of Twitter and have been tweeting for some months now. There are many celebrity fans as well - Philip Schofield, Stephen Fry and Number 10. Yes, that's right the government are now even using Twitter. Not too bad generally as you do get to hear a bit of what is going on however the latest one takes the biscuit. The Health Secretary want people to tweet and say why they love the NHS! This is nothing more than a political point scoring exercise. There is no room for saying why you don't love the NHS as you think there might be in a democracy. No instead, we have all to put our wonderful stories about how we love the NHS.

Now I think there are some great stories about the NHS and I am sure that everyone will have one or two. But how many people who have these stories to share also have stories of not being seen, not being listened to etc etc. It is undeniable

I have been watching the situation with the Fellowship of Confessing Churches for the last few months with equal measures of growing interest and horror. The 'Fellowship' was set up in the wake of the decision of the General Assembly in the case of Aberdeen Presbytery. It aims to 'stand firm for the biblical gospel' (as opposed to the non-biblical gospel of Christ I stand for presumably?) and 'publicly mark the boundary between orthodox Christianity and spurious forms that claim the same name'.

So far there are 35 churches who have signed a 'covenant' (a credal statement in all but name) to uphold the orthodoxy of the Christian faith. This might surprise you but I really don't have a problem with this! I would uphold the right for every congregation to publicly profess what they desire, be it orthodoxy or not, that is the right of our congregations. And boy is there enough room for all within the Church of Scotland. I know there are certain churches where I would not be advised to apply for a position and the same would go for my orthodox colleagues. Congregations have long had the debate about where they stand on issues of faith and they have an understanding of where they stand theologically. So once again I say, I have no problem with congregations adopting a covenant saying whatever they want.

However, where my alarm grows is when congregations,... (there's more, click the button below to read it)

When trawling through the BBC website I came across this story with the headline 'Postman saves Wedding'. All that happened was that the couple lost their rings and were going to have to cancel the service. Now I know every couple wants their day to be perfect but cancelling because of lost rings ... really? Are there no jewellers in their town?

It got me thinking as to what couples want as the important part of the day - it is great this couple through it was a part of the service that was the most important thing ... but the rings - come on!

Click here to watch the video and tell me if I am mad or there really is a problem that should cancel the wedding!

There has just been so much going on in the Church of Scotland in the last few weeks. Many of you will have read in the media about a friend of mine, Rev. Scott Rennie, minister of Brechin Cathedral who has been called to be minister of the congregation at Queens Cross Church in Aberdeen. It should be a real cause for celebration ... however there is, according to some within the denomination, a problem. Scott, when he applied for the charge was completely honest and transparent with the folks in Queens Cross. When asked he told them that he was gay and was in a committed relationship with his partner, David, who is also a Christian and heavily committed to the work of the church.

When the congregation asked the Presbytery of Aberdeen to 'sustain the call', basically give permission to them to ask Scott to be their minister they agreed but a small group of people complained and have now passed it to the General Assembly to decide on it later this month. There has been a lot written about the case, in newspapers and in blogs across the world. Forward Together, a group of evangelicals in the Church are leading the public outcry in calling for Scott not to be allowed to be the minister in Queens Cross.

A lot has been said that is wrong, and in fact Forward Together had to issue an apology to Scott after facts were wrongly stated about his personal life and the retraction can be read here. The editorially independent magazine of the Church of Scotland, Life and Work, ran an editorial calling on the church to recognise the liberty of opinion that exists on such matters. A new group called the Fellowship of Confessing Churches (whose very title I take issue with as my church is also a 'confessing church', confessing our belief in Jesus Christ, but not necessarily their definition of what a confessing church is nor their theology) have even started an online petition urging comissioners at the General Assembly to block Scott's move to Queen's Cross. 

And now, an organisation I am a part of called OneKirk have issued a new edition of our Journal (which can be downloaded here) which has an interview with Scott in which he tells his story. It is well worth a read as it allows people to remember their is a person involved in this, a real human being, with feelings, with gifts, someone who is loved by God. Surely that is what is important here.

Rev. Gordon Kennedy, a former chairman of Forward Together recently wrote on his blog (not in relation to this specific case, but in the wider debate on human sexuality) that it is "our Christian duty is to love our neighbour, all our neighbours, perhaps especially those with whom we disagree. Too often debates about human sexuality become offensive name-calling exercises which display nothing of the love of Christ or the grace that should characterise Christian living. This is espeically important for those claiming the title of Evangelical as we should be people who not only preach grace but live graciously."

Surely, Gordon makes sense for us all, and I pray that others may hear his words and put them into practice. We all need to remember that behind the news stories, behind the headlines, behind the anger and bitter comments of some sections of the Church there is a man, a child of God, who is loved and cared for just like everyone else. This is someone who has been given gifts by God for building up his kingdom and who is trying in the most faithful way possible to be a servant of God and follow his calling in ministry.

Let us remember and start speaking about the sense of call and the worth of Scott's ministry in the eyes of God, and not vilify him for being who he is ... a child of God.

Sad day yesterday. To finish my week's holiday we went to St. Andrews Church in Blantyre and had lunch with Pete, Carolyn and the family. Was having a lovely time until we smelt a gas leak at their house. That was in the process of getting fixed, and I went out to the car to get something, took out my iPhone and dropped it on the tiled kitchen floor. It did not bounce. It cracked the screen. I felt bad and just a little bit sick!

Phone the phone company this morning who said it was covered by the insurance and a new one would be with me tomorrow. It still works but I have to be really careful with it incase I break it totally and am without a phone!

Oh well, roll on tomorrow! I know it is only a phone but ...

I have been getting steadily more annoyed over the past week or so with the media and Westminster. When we should have been focussing on the economic situation, or announcements about jobs in hospitals we have heard very little except about Gordon Brown's seeming reluctance to say sorry over the email smear fiasco.

The media said that any announcement the government made would be sidelined, even go unheard, because of the lack of the use of the word 'sorry' from the PM. Well, in Glasgow yesterday he said 'sorry'. And in today's papers we have had a shift from him refusing to say sorry to the way he apparantly said sorry far too late into the affair and only because the media called for it! It got me thinking can people really be... (there's more to this blog, click below to read it.)

OK, I know I haven't written a blog for some time but I am going to try and turn over a new leaf and use this as a place to share thoughts and get things off my chest. And looky look at what I read in the letters page of the Daily Record earlier ... 

"Shell Shame - On Easter Sunday, I was astounded to find the smashed remains of dozens of hard boiled eggs littering a local park. In this day and age, is it really sensible to teach children, the remnants of whose egg rolling exploits I presume these to be, that it is OK to waste food? Starving people in the Third World would not understand such wanton waste and I certainly could not explain or justify it to them. I wonder if the parents of the youngsters concerned would feel themselves able to do so?"  Daily Record, April 14, 2009  

Oh my word! You can understand the .... (there's more, click the button below to read it)