Clean break?

Al Yankovich does a humorous take-off on YouTube of a Backstreet Boys number in which he tells of his addiction to Ebay. He has bid for William Shatner’s old toupé, a bag of bent golf clubs and a Norwegian flag - all for the thrill of being the highest bidder! Yes, you can get just about anything on Ebay.

You can now bid for a life.

Ian Usher wants to make a new start. Originally from Scarborough, and now an Australian citizen, Ian has divorced and wants to put his past all behind him. He hopes to do that by putting all he owns - such as his 3-bedroom home plus contents, car and job - up for sale. He will also ’sell’ you his friends and job. That is, he will sell you access to his friends and his boss will give you a two-week trial for Ian’s old job with a view to a permanent position.

More tangible are his 140 mph Kawasaki motorcycle, jet ski, surf boards, sky-diving kit, spa and 6′ television screen.

Ian decided against offering it all to friends or auctioning it locally or putting it in storage and will, instead offer it on Ebay, from June 22nd.

He wants to pocket at least £230,000. So he will kill two birds with one stone: past put behind him, money to spare.

With his cash in one pocket and his passport in another he’ll ‘go the airport and just jump on the first available plane to anywhere’. Sounds idyllic.

And certainly, a feeling of really wanting to change comes over most people at one time or another.
But wait a minute: does it really take ‘pocket money’ of £230k to make a clean break and start again, live a different way, a better way? It needn’t.

Jesus was once intercepted by a young man, rich and from a very privileged background. He, too, wanted to be sure of something better - eternal life.

The Lord told him to sell his possessions [no Ebay in those days!] and to give away the proceeds. He would, thus, have treasure in heaven. ‘And come, follow me’, said the Master.

Sadly, that seems to have been a demand too far. But it shows us, we don’t need thousands in order to start afresh and live a different way.

Exciting and adventurous as it may be for Ian Usher to sell up and move on, it is no less exciting and adventurous for those who truly live by faith in the provision of God. First, the provision of a guilt-free existence on earth, through Christ; second, the promise that we shall never be the poorer for following Him on earth, come what may. And note, too: Jesus doesn’t sell us His life - He gives it to us!

Ronald Morrison

Services from March 2008

Sermon from Sunday 09 March 2008

Sermon from Afternoon Communion 16 March 2008

Sermon from Sunday 23 March 2008

Sermon from Sunday 30 March 2008

Christian Fellowship

A snippet  in  the   Christian  paper Evangelicals Now caught my eye.

The writer was sitting with a young musician friend when that friend took a call from the London Symphony Orchestra.

It was the offer of work - a dream for any young musician starting out in the profession! He wrote down the dates and ended the call. Checking his diary, he noticed that one of the concerts was on the same date that his Bible study group was going away for the weekend. Without hesitating, he crossed out the LSO dates. He had a prior and more important engagement - to be among his Christian brothers and sisters listening to the words of Jesus.

This incident makes us all question the priority that we give to the Word of God and fellowship in our lives.

I was recently enjoying some pleasant fellowship with a retired minister. He was lamenting the little signs that he had heard were creeping into the life of his old congregation, those little signs of lack of hunger for Gods Word and being with the Lord’s people.

He had been hearing of folk not turning up at the evening service or attending the midweek meeting but sporadically, ‘putting in an appearance now and again’ as he put it.
Then he reminded me of the practice of his old session clerk. Now and again, visitors would call at his house for a ‘ceilidh’ on a Sunday afternoon, expecting to stay into the evening blethering and chatting.

As 6.30 approached the session clerk would say ‘Well I’m off to church now; who’s coming me? And every so often, of a Sunday evening, you would see him with a crowd of visitors in tow, walking down the aisle! Calum was putting the Lord ahead of everything [and everyone] else.

And I ask, ‘Have we lost that spirit, the spirit that puts God and His ordinances first, that wants to be under the sound of the Word with others?’ I think we are losing that spirit. And we cannot possibly be the better for that.

You might think that being ‘casual’ about commitment is a sign of ‘being grown up’, of adults thinking for themselves: we’ve now outgrown trotting along to church like kids being told what to do…

Someone recently said
“Increasing adults behave like teenagers and want to sit on the fence and hang loose , only going where they feel good and never get involved.”
He was writing about local congregations. Where is our spine? backbone?

It is the lack of this quality of ’stickability’ that is such a drawback to the work of God in our day.

Does the slightest thing become an excuse not to go to a service or a meeting? Or maybe something has got us into a ’state’ - is that an excuse for staying away? What good will that do?

Right on our doorstep we have the opportunity of a lifetime to do something lasting for God in our disintegrating society. Let’s not allow that opportunity to slip away!

Semons from February

Sermon from Sunday 3rd February

Sermon from Sunday 10th February

Sermon from Sunday 17th February

Sermon from Sunday 24th February

Sermons from January 2008

The sermon from Sunday 6th January is missing because it failed to record.

Sermon from Sunday 13th January

Sermon from Sunday 20th January

Sermon from Sunday 27rd January

Ideas with real foundation

Coming up to Easter is, I suppose, as good a time as any for headlines to scream things like “Christians got it wrong about Heaven, says Bishop”. Bishop “Tom” Wright has a book out, Surprised by Hope, in which he quotes from a children’s book about heaven: it is “a beautiful place where you can sit on soft clouds and talk . . . If you’re good throughout your life, then you get to go there . . . When your life is finished here on earth, God sends angels down to take you to heaven to be with him”. That, says Wright, is a good example of “what not to say”.

But it’s for the kiddies and surely it’s harmless? Well, kiddies have a habit of growing up to be adults. And they also have a habit of taking early, religious beliefs with them. So? what is wrong with that? What’s wrong is that Wright is right when he says our common ideas of what happens after death are, largely, without any real foundation in the Bible.

In fact, when Christians die, they do not go to heaven! The bishop calls us back to the Bible. It tells us that, on death we enter a sort of ‘holding station’ in a state called ‘sleep’ [not ‘purgatory’.] ‘Sleep’ was the closest the Apostle Paul could get to precision – we will be conscious, with God and with Christ in rest and refreshment. It will be Paradise, as Jesus told the repentant thief on the cross. But compared to what comes after, it will be like being asleep.

And what does come after? Well, at the end of time Jesus returns; the dead are raised from sleep [that couldn’t happen if they were in heaven]; they are judged. And, oh yes, bodies. Bodies? Yes, Christians will receive imperishable, glorious, powerful and spiritual bodies [see I Cor. 15:42-44.]

And then they get to go and play harps on cotton wool clouds? If harps are your thing, fine. But for most, I suspect that, if that were the case, we would be demanding something to send us back to sleep!

No; there is to be true fulfilment in the world to come.

We all know the frustrations of our limitations here below – surely God has made us for something better?

And He has. In the new heavens and the new earth, which Scripture speaks about, there will be unending bliss as we take part in the renewal, continuing, in a way, the work Adam started in Eden.

Someone has put it: ‘God will download his software onto our hardware until the time he gives us new hardware to run the software again for ourselves.’

With the Resurrection of Jesus the renewal has already begun!

Christmas story

I recently came across this biting parody of the Christmas story by Greg Walton. It deserves a wider circulation.

 “ Now it came to pass from about the eighth month of the year, that there went out a decree from the profit makers that the entire Western world should go out and spend exceedingly. This decree was first made when it was realised that there was much  money to be made from the misguided love of parents at Christmas-time. And all went to be ripped off, each in his own city.

And Derek also went up from the suburbs into the city to spend with Sharon, his wife. And so it was that while they were in Toy and Hobby, that lo! their wallet and purse were delivered of their contents and behold their earnings were given to the profit­makers, which did rub their hands with glee, and their tills did ring with joy. Their purchases were wrapped in brightly-coloured paper and shiny ribbon, and were laid in the wardrobe, because there was no room for them anywhere else.

Now in the eleventh month, behold there came grandparents from a suburb in the ‘east, to spend even more exceedingly according to the decree. And lo! in the window of Toys R Us a great star-shaped banner which did say ‘50 percent off, pay next June”. When they saw the sign, they rejoiced, and their hearts were glad.

At the end of the twelfth month, when the grandparents came to the house of Derek and Sharon, they did bring a great quantity of gifts for everyone, and didst receive the same unto themselves. They verily did eat of the fat of the land, and didst watch ‘,television by night. And it came to pass that the grandparents returned to their suburb,   and Derek and Sharon went back to work saying amongst themselves, “Eeee, worra beltin’ Christmas we ‘ad”, and didst enquire of the bank manager for an extension of the loan repayments.

And verily, the underdeveloped tribes of the Third World murmured among :themselves, saying “where is the great joy and peace on earth, and goodwill towards men that was announced by the angel?” Moreover, they grew exceedingly thin.

‘ Notwithstanding, the profit makers grew exceedingly fat from the hand of those who had been led astray by the false prophets. The advertisements in the Western media continued to proclaim the decree that to love means to spend, and to love much more means to spend much more than thy neighbour hath spent.

And thus, the music of the cash-tills and the rustle of paper money in the hands of the profit-makers didst smother the crying of a Child in a manger. And the Lord looked down from Heaven, and His heart was grieved for His people.”

Surely a message that needs to be taken on board, eh?

do you believe spin?

The ‘spin-doctor’ is one of the most dangerous people around. He [or she] can give words just that wee twist which suddenly changes the way we understand the truth of the situation to be. They have managed to alter the way we think. Normally we, ordinary, people are too busy to care, but a nation’s whole future can be at stake. In the early 80s a South American dictator took power, promising to stay for a year. After 12 months he staged a televised rally and said, basically, ‘Oh well, all right, then, I’ll stay’!

This type of spin is called ‘astroturfing’ –what seems to be genuine is actually artificial. Astroturf is not real grass.

‘Spinning’ is not new, of course, but it is eating into our everyday lives as never before. Let me give you just a little example.

During the recent holidays we had the occasion to stay in one of those travel lodge-type places. They really filled a gap in the market and were great for families seeking competitive, comfortable, clean and convenient short stops, en route to wherever. You got a few little luxuries thrown in. To these ‘Cs’, this particular one has added another: cost-cutting – only, their bumph dresses it all up as ‘less is more’. Some examples from their literature.

Q: why don’t you give us loads of towels? A: You get 2 towels. But we must constantly review operating costs in order to deliver highly competitive pricing. And reducing the amount of laundry benefits the environment.

Q: why no bathmats? A: people slipping on bathmats causes 1000s of accidents each year.

Q: why no heated towel-rail? A: Hot towel rails cause burns. We don’t want to take that risk with our valuable customers!

Q: why can’t you call reception from the room? A: providing a concierge-style service is expensive. We reckon that for the sake of a short walk to the reception desk customers would rather enjoy our great-value low room rates.

Pretty cynical, eh?

Customers depart, fitter from all that walking to the reception desk, glad in the knowledge that they’d helped save the environment, and thankful that they hadn’t fried to death on a towel rail or got injured slipping on a bathmat. The lowered standards are matched only by the low intelligence we are believed to have!

‘Spinning’ in all its forms is as old as the human race. In the Garden of Eden the serpent targeted the woman asking, Did God really say that you shall not eat from every tree . ?, totally distorting God’s generosity in only forbidding one tree in Paradise!

Intelligence alone will not help us spot this spin. We believe the best about God, simply because He says so. He alone is utterly reliable, His word flawless for us, whom He truly values!

spiritual exercise or stark superstition?

Yesterday’s paper had an article on left-handedness.  It seems that left-handed people are on the increase, up from 3 to 11 percent over the last 100 years!   I think most of us know about the dogging that left-handers used to get, especially at school. That has now largely changed and people are being accepted for what they, naturally, are.

Left-handedness has been viewed with suspicion by the right-handed majority for centuries all over the world: many languages have derogatory, hurtful descriptions of it; I would guess that all do. But it’s not just the outright unkind word: the word ‘sinister’ comes from the Latin for the left hand. It’s almost like a world conspiracy!

Actually, it is a superstition.

Superstition governs our life far more than we realise.

Superstition sees life as stacked against us; the world is out to get us. So we need to take every precaution imaginable to survive. The Latin word, superstes means to survive.

Life is a barrier to be scaled or, perhaps, a host of difficulties and dangers to be avoided. God is to be dreaded; if things are to go right for us we need to pacify Him or even trick Him. 

Do you want to survive? Well, possibly, a rabbit’s foot in your pocket wouldn’t be a bad idea.

And, if it could guarantee fending off trouble, I would avoid every crack in the pavement, avoid walking under every ladder and I would go out of my way to entice a black cat to cross my path each and every day. I might even wear a cross out of reverence to the Lord: but I may also wear it to stave off evil. Superstition. Come to think of it, I could drill a hole through my pocket New Testament and string it round my neck. But it was never meant to be used like that!

Welton Gaddy once saw an American high school football team, in danger of defeat, call a time-out in order to kneel together on the field and repeat the Lord’s Prayer and so avoid being beaten. Sincere and helpful spiritual exercises can degenerate into stark superstition. We see umpteen footballers run on to the park, touch the ground and make the sign of the cross. Surely preferable to train more and train better.

Genuine Christianity shows us that we don’t need to mistrust God. He loves us and wants a personal relationship of daily intimacy. ‘More than all in Thee I find’ wrote a Christian songwriter many years ago.

Many local churches are now running courses that aim, humbly, to share the basics of the Bible with non-church people and church people alike: Christianity Explored is one such. I commend them to you.

Footprints in the mud

I have, somewhere, a book of walks in Easter Ross.  Many years ago some of us tried out the one that leads from the roadside of the B9176 near the viewpoint, up Struie and along to Struie Hill where the telephone mast stands. The walk was a disaster, because of a time-dishonoured practice:  ignoring the map.

Recently, I tried the walk again. The mist around Struie didn’t bode well but a light breeze shifted it soon after I reached the first summit. All the way up to the top I had, shamefully, been feeling annoyed at seeing pretty fresh footprints on the track. I had wanted to be on my own and now the place was going to be crawling with walkers!

Grumbling, I set off from the first landmark towards the second. It was not far from here that the trouble had started 15 or 16 years before. Then I saw them again: the footprints. Not clear whether they were coming towards me or going my way. No matter; they were, no doubt, a safe indication, both of firm ground and of where the faint track was leading.

On I plodded. There can’t be, anywhere, a more invigorating air than Highland moorland air, can there? And now the track has disappeared again. But a few bent bulrushes to the left give it away and yes, there is a fresh set of footprints, again!  Grudgingly I started to appreciate their value. Their makers were nowhere to be seen but their work was making mine easier.

Well, I reached my destination after an hour [and 16 or so years] and then started back.  Now, most definitely, these fresh marks were indispensable. On I travelled. Below to my right an RAF aircraft noiselessly and unhurriedly floated along in the mid-morning air, probably up Strathcarron.  The footprints made the last weary stretch a dawdle, they had become ‘friends’; I was glad every time I saw them.

Now, you may, of course, think that the fresh air had turned my brain. [I don’t think it needed the fresh air to do that!] But with that brain, whether turned or not, I began to muse. Weren’t these footprints just like life?

There are some people we’d rather avoid – we see evidence of their presence and wish we could be miles away from them. But we can’t. Allow me to think particularly of church life here. Here, we have just got to get on with it.  And in moments of need these people, that person, proves to be helpful. In due time our opinion changes; at last our friendship is won and won for ever.  And when God first draws attention to Himself we can resent it. But if we are open-minded enough, well, the possibilities are endless and, of course, the road is so much easier to bear.