Santa's a Scotsman

I heard this song on Ken Bruce's Radio 2 show in the week before Christmas and it made me smile. But as I recall from my childhood, the Santas I met always had a Scottish accent.

"It's Christmas time in Scotland, and my kid said to me.....
Just one question Daddy , before I go to sleep....
How will Santa find me , so I said.. wherever he may roam,
Santa will find you because he's coming home

Don't You Know
Santa's A Scotsman
He's Loved Everywhere he goes
He moved form Glasgow to Lapland...following Rudolf's nose
Don't you know
Santa's A Scotsman... Come on make a fuss
Too many pies not enough exercise....of course he's one of us."

Annette and I are now looking forward to the family arriving today. I think I may teach my grandchildren the song and they can sing it with their Black Country accents.

Snow

Snow began to fall around tea time yesterday and now we have a nice covering. Sadly I have no grandchildren nearby to give me an excuse to get out and make a snowman or throw some snowballs.
Thankfully, I have no meetings to attend which would mean getting the car out. Instead, I will walk across the snow covered Stray this afternoon to make a hospital visit to a member who has had surgery on both knees. She reminded me on Sunday that when I visit she won't have a leg to stand on - boom boom!!

Advent 3

Yesterday I decided to preach on the awesome call of the prophet Isaiah described in chapter 6. In preparing for this during the week I came across this illustration which I found on the Text This Week website.

"The story is told of a young American student who was from the north of the country but went down south to spend some time with relatives. These relatives worshipped in a small country church. The young student was taken aback when he went to church and saw the exuberance of the people - the dancing and jumping and actions. His aunt who was alongside him saw his perplexity and perhaps unease and said:
Don’t worry honey - it aint how high they jump that matters it is what they do when they come down."

It is an illustration that applies no matter how we experience God in our worship and in our lives.

St Andrew

A few years ago I had the opportunity to preach at a St Andrew's day service which fell on Advent Sunday. As I thought about St Andrew and Advent it did seem to me that Andrew can be a seen as an 'advent character'. From the little we know of Andrew from the Gospels the major characteristic which comes across was that he often cleared a path for others to meet with Jesus. It was Andrew who encouraged his brother Peter to come and meet Jesus. It was Andrew was brought the boy with the 5 loaves and fish to Jesus. It was Andrew who enabled some Greek speaking enquirers to get near to Jesus.
Andrew was not among the inner circle of the disciples like his brother. We learn precious little about him from the Gospels. A disciple who perhaps was very much in the background and yet whose quiet contribution was on occasions very telling. Praise God for Andrew and also for my native land on this St Andrew's day.

Advent

This has been a busy week following on from my 2 weeks of holiday which saw Annette and I visiting family in Scotland and our grandchildren in the West Midlands. One of the highlights was that on the way north we stopped for lunch and I had delicious Scotch Pie. Why are there no butchers in Harrogate who could stock genuine Scotch pies and sliced sausages??

I am now looking forward to a busy weekend. The Showstoppers Holiday Club reunion party is on Saturday afternoon with over 40 children booked in. Saturday evening will be the time for getting into my kilt to attend the Harrogate St Andrew's Society annual dinner to mark St Andrew's day.
Sunday morning is our bi monthly Parade service and is, of course, Advent Sunday.

The season of Advent was not one which I remember featuring at all in my growing up in a Lanarkshire Baptist Church. But it is a time I look forward to now. On Sunday morning we will use this hymn from the Iona Community to set us on our way -

Advent is a time of waiting
for the life that is to be.
When the Christ, by prophets promised,
sits enthroned on Mary’s knee,
human in the way that we are;
come to earth for you and me.

Choirs of angels are rehearsing,
‘Glory to our God on high.’
Shepherds in the field are watching
where their bleating charges lie.
Distant magi, waiting, restless,
scan the dark mysterious sky.

Hope is all our theme for Advent,
hope for all the human race.
All our hope on God is founded,
God who shows a human face
God who made the Earth and planets
now appears in time and space.

Josie Smith.

the church in its most local setting

Yesterday's daily 'Verse & Voice' email from the Sojourners contained the following thought-provoking quote:-

The Christian faith for most people is not communicated by doctrinal pronouncements ... but by what goes on in the church in its most local setting. It is here, in the church down the street, that people are caught up in the Gospel promise -- or are turned away. (James C. Fenhagen, from his book Mutual Ministry)

I am on holiday at the moment and will be heading to Scotland early next week and then back down the M6 to visit the family.

Remembrance Sunday

Below is one of the images I intend to use on Sunday. In 1999 Annette and I had a wonderful holiday in Italy which included a visit to the Monastery founded at Monte Cassino by Benedict in the 6th Century. From there the Benedictine order began and spread across the world. Monte Cassino was also the site of ferocious battle during the second world war. Many soldiers lost their lives and the monastery was badly damaged. The monastery was rebuilt and now stands above a cemetery where over 4000 British and Commonwealth service personnel are buried or commemorated. The image captures the monastery overlooking the cemetery. It brings the thought of Jesus overlooking Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday, weeping and saying "If you, even you,had only recognised on this day the things that make for peace".
The monastery, a place of study, worship and prayer, overlooking a stark reminder of the consequences of conflict. If only we could recognise the things that make for peace.

I followed the Lectionary Readings for today and used Mark 12:28-34 as the passage on which the sermon was based. The Old Testament Reading was from Deuteronomy 6:1-9 which contains the words of the Shema - ‘Here O Israel…….’. With the children I used a powerpoint with some photographs of Jewish men wearing the Teffilin (a pair of black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Bible. The hand-tefillin, or shel yad, is worn by Jews wrapped around the arm, hand and fingers, while the head-tefillin, or shel rosh, is placed above the forehead. The Torah dictates that they should be worn to serve as a "sign" and "remembrance" that God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt.) . I also showed them a mezuzah which is fixed to the doorframe of Jewish homes to fulfill the instruction to inscribe the words of the Shema "on the doorposts of your house". I had been given one some years ago as a gift from someone who had visited the Holy Land. The teffilin and mezuzah are used in response to the words of the Shema which gives the instruction about the importance of remembering and obeying the Torah.
“The commandments I give you today must be in your hearts. 7 Make sure your children learn them. Talk about them when you are at home. Talk about them when you walk along the road. Speak about them when you go to bed. And speak about them when you get up. 8 Write them down and tie them on your hands as a reminder. Also tie them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses. Also write them on your gates.’ ( Deuteronomy 6)

I have always though the ‘mezuzah’ to be a powerful symbol to remind the people that in all their coming and going the Law of the Lord should be listened to and lived out.

The lead into this with the children was to tell them about one of my ‘pet hates’- seeing people who have written messages on their hands to help them remember something important.

When asked, at least half the congregation confessed to to sometimes writing messages on their hands!

Question Time

Much blog space has been given over to this week's Question time. I don't often watch the programme nowadays but like millions of others tuned in to this one. I thought the programme was dreadful. It was almost exclusively focussed on Nick Griffin and the BNP.No current and topical issues got an airing. Nick Griffin really came across as out of his depth, nervous, unimpressive and his appearance will certainly not have done his reputation or that of his party any good at all( which is a good thing).
But according to the newspapers today it would seem that the whole programme was engineered to focus on Griffin and now he is claiming 'victim status'. I am sure a normal Question Time programme which discussed a whole range of topics would have exposed Griffin's( and that of the BNP)shortcomings. Now the issue will run and run. But I suppose the BBC bosses will be patting each other on the back because viewing figures for the programme exceeded that of Strictly Come Dancing( which in my mind is another cringe worthy programme).
I confess that I channel hopped at times on Thursday and watched some highlights(?) of Celtic-Hamburg. That too was not very impressive either although the final score did not cause me any grief.

Fruit clock

The fruit of the Spirit(Galatians) was the overall theme from yesterday. As a visual aid for the the congregation I produced my fruit powered clock which I had bought over the internet some weeks ago. Fruit can be used to power a small digital clock given the right conditions. What gracious power should there be in the fruit produced through the lives of God's people in the world? How about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?

Over the weekend I read a brief article from the Scottish Composer, James MacMillan. In the article he described a Burns Supper as being a parody of the Roman Catholic Mass and therefore, I suppose, an anti Roman Catholic occasion. I think Mr MacMillan should stick to writing his music which could hardly be described as accessible or popular to the vast majority of the population of his native land who probably have no idea who he is.

Baptism

Sunday's baptism was a great occasion. Rachel( the one being baptised) spoke wonderfully and had chosen a whole range of hymns/songs for the service. As you would expect from a 16 year old for whom Soul Survivor has played a major part in her Christian journey, most of the music was contemporary. But two of the hymns she chose went back to the beginning of the 20th Century -
'All to Jesus I surrender' by J.W. Van De Venter which I can remember singing as part of a Junior Choir in Larkhall. The cyber hymnal website quotes the words of the author - ' For some time I had struggled between developing my talents in the field of art and going into full-time evangelistic work. At last the pivotal hour of my life came, and I surrendered all. A new day was ushered into my life. I became an evangelist and discovered down deep in my soul a talent hitherto unknown to me. God had hidden a song in my heart, and touching a tender chord, He caused me to sing. The song was written in 1896.
and
'I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene' by Charles H. Gabriel who was a profilic evangelistic song writer in the early 1900's. It is a hymn which I must have sung from the Sankey hymn book we used in Larkhall at the evening services.
Maybe some of the older hymns will make a comeback, but perhaps only if they are sung in a way that has a more contemporary feel.

the year 2016

Felt slightly annoyed when I heard the shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, indicate that as part of the plan to put the economy in shape he would raise the retirement age for men to 66 in the year 2016. The initial annoyance stems from the fact that, God willing, just 5 days into 2016 I will be 65. It could mean that I will need to work another year before becoming eligible for the state pension.

I then began to feel a bit selfish. The problem the nation is facing is far bigger than me and as Mr Osborne said - We are all in this together. So, I have recovered myself and no longer feel annoyed. Also, Mr Osborne's repeated phrase, "we are all in this together", gave me an idea for a sermon for Sunday's baptismal service. Perhaps we could also sing the song from High School Musical?

baptism

Looking ahead now to Sunday and the second baptismal service this autumn. To help in the preparation of those being baptised I provide them with a series of daily readings for the days leading up to the Sunday. The idea and plan is one suggested during my College days by my late College Principal, the Revd R.E.O White. To his words I have added the prayer:

To the Creator
Who give life
We offer our life.

To the Saviour
Who gives love
We offer ourselves in love

To the Holy Spirit
Who gives himself
We ask to be filled.

In the power, peace and presence
of Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
we come to be baptized.



Only caught the last minutes of yesterday's Old Firm derby. Good result :-))

Sundays

The Sundays seem to be coming thick and fast at the moment. Last week - baptismal service. Next week - Harvest thanksgiving. Three weeks time - baptismal service. It will be Advent, Christmas and New Year before before we know it. I also need to fit in two weeks holiday before the end of the year. They do say time passes more quickly the older you get.

Away fans

Came across these pictures of a football stadium in Poland. I suppose it is one way to deal with the away fans. Now which away fans would I consider right for this? Up in Scotland the colours would be just right for Partick Thistle or even Motherwell. But if you look closely you might see the colour of the scarves being waved. Say no more.

"All over 60 welcome to this free event"

Feeling slightly depressed today after a flier advertising an event to celebrate the United Nations International Day of Older Persons arrived from one of the Town Centre Churches. As I read it through the part which brought on this feeling was the line 'All over 60 welcome to this free event'.
I realized that in just 16 months time I will be eligible to attend the service of thanksgiving, the lunch and the concert.( and of course use my bus pass to get there).

mustard seed

In the book 'Celtic Daily Prayer' there is the encouragement to pray that Christians may be faithfully planted as mustard-seeds of hope in the world. A considerable need and challenge in today's world.

To carry on the theme of planting here is a photo of a sunflower planted in our garden by our granddaughters and given some tlc by me. More photos to follow when the other plants finally flower.

Yorkshire Day

'Yorkshire Day' has dawned wet and miserable here in Harrogate. Time, therefore, to do some updating of the blog. I have added some new pictures to the album on the left. Some of the pictures are from the Holiday Club week. A few of the other pictures show the family in various settings. With the rain today it is just as well I did some gardening yesterday!!

Showstoppers

Holiday Club Family service this morning was led by the Showstoppers Cast. It brought to an end a great week when an average of 50 Primary School aged children met each weekday morning at church. The morning was filled with the usual mix of activities - music, movement, crafts, Bible stories, jokes, letters and fun. Already some of the children are asking when next year's Holiday club will be!
It was also great to have our grandchildren with us for part of the week. Emilia enjoyed being in the Potty Puppeteers and she and Esther soon caught on to the Showstoppers song. Hopefully some photos will follow.

Other good news this morning was a request for baptism from one of the Durban four.

Back to work

After a lovely holiday in Italy and a couple of days spent with our grandchildren, it is back to work tomorrow. Monday morning will also see the beginning of another Holiday Club at Church. This year the title is 'Showstoppers' and the stories to be shared deal with 'creation', 'David's trust in God', 'Daniel who stays true to God in exile', 'God coming to earth in Jesus' and 'the death and resurrection of Jesus'. All the stories are vivid and lend themselves to the dramatic presentation used on the dvd which comes with all the material. The aim is to encourage the children( and the leaders) to engage with the stories. It promises to be a good week with just over 50 children booked in.
This morning the August edition of the Expository Times arrived. The last page is now entitled 'And finally' and is often an interesting and anecdotal comment - a welcome contrast to some of the other articles which sometimes go right over my head. In this month's final page Johnston McKay reflects on the Edinburgh Festival and quotes from a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, John McIntyre who wrote that if we believe we are made in the Image of a Creator God, then the way we reflect that is when we exercise our imaginations in creative ways. And so the creative artists are sharing a creativity which Christians believe to be inspired by God in whose image we have all been made.
The article ends - " And those who believe in Jesus' form of communication recognise that the creative story is more powerful in conveying truth than the dogmatic proposition. As Don Cupitt has pointed out, asking 'Am I in this story?' is a far more powerful invitation to join in a creative journey that 'Am I in this statement?'.
I hope Showstoppers will be a creative way of drawing children and adults into the story of our faith.

Holidays

A two week holiday, part of which will be spent on the shores of Lake Garda, is almost here. I am already kind of demob happy. This has not been helped by a very hot day in North Yorshire today. Hopefully the Italian weather and the Italian food will be all that we hope for.

Calendar

Read a suggestion this week that a calendar is a 'moral document' in the sense that it can reveal where our priorities lie. The suggestion was made particularly in terms of how much time parents give to their children.
I wander what our calendars/diaries reveal about our priorities?

The final hymn this morning was from Baptist Praise & Worship - 'Jesus, life of all the world' by Margaret Clarkson. She was a Canadian school teacher who is remembered as a writer of over 100 hymns (3 of which are in Baptist Praise & Worship). She died in 2008.

The hymn, Jesus life of all the world, ends with this stirring prayer for the Church –

Jesus, life of all the world,
You are Lord of every nation;
By your Holy Spirit’s power
Make your Church your incarnation;
Till our lives of truth and grace
Show the world your human face.

downtrodden grass

A recent 'Verse & Voice' email from the Sojourners included:-

As [Jesus] came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes."
- Luke 19:41-42

and

When two elephants struggle, it is the grass that suffers.
- East African Proverb


A major outcome in our world when there is a struggle for dominance and power is often, as the proverb suggests, the 'grass' being downtrodden.

another good day

Sun shone; a group of Fijians from the 4th Regiment, Royal Artillery, held a baptismal service at Harrogate Baptist in the afternoon and it was great to be there; I saw the second half of the Scottish Cup final on television and my team won. ( it also brought back thoughts of the 4 Scottish Cup finals I have attended at the old Hampden - 1962,1964,1969,1973. Three victories and one defeat. When I mentioned this to Annette, she commented that they were all before we were married. What does that say?)

A good day all round

This morning's service focussed on the fourth 'mark of a healthy church' as described in the Healthy Churches Handbook. The usual members of the congregation who were away on this Bank Holiday weekend were compensated by a good number of visitors. The service seemed to be appreciated by the comments received from regular members of the congregation and visitors alike.

An early afternoon with the Dundee United and Rangers game to watch my team win the league - brilliant.

Grandchildren just arrived for a few days - even better.

no change

Listening to the radio on Sunday I heard the last part of a report from the Middle East regarding the visit of Pope Benedict. The reporter was speaking about the problems there and the difficulties of getting the 3 sides involved to move forward. He concluded that each grouping recognizes the difficulties but that each one considers that "the only viable solution is one which involves no change on their part." That final phrase could be used in lots of situations, not least within the church.

PS - disappointing result last night( not helped by a good goal which was not given). But the league is not over yet.

Big game

Yes!!!!!!!

Big game

Day off tomorrow. Annette has already decided that she is going shopping to avoid the spectacle of me watching the Rangers - Celtic game on television. A good Rangers victory for the boys in blue is all that is needed.

The compassionate employer

I am still reading 'Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes' by Kenneth Bailey. In chapter 28 he reflects on what he calls the 'parable of the compassionate employer'(Matthew 20:1-16). He reminds the readers that this is another parable which has a 'missing ending'( like the parable of the Prodigal Son).

He suggests that the parable reaches a "critical dramatic moment and stops".

"What is the response of the workers who are complaining? We are not told. The readers/listeners are challenged to find themselves in the story and to bring it to an appropriate conclusion in their own lives.
A summary of the parable might be - He comes to us where we live; He loves us as we are."

"Once more Jesus creates a ‘house’ in which readers/listeners are invited to take residence as they make the worldview of the parable their own."

webcam

I recently bought an inexpensive webcam and can now enjoy a video call with my grandchildren. Although it has to be said that speaking to grampa via Skype takes second place to watching High School Musical 3.
The webcam picture really highlights my eyebrows which were recently described as "Alistair Darling like". But at the least the background bookshelves look reasonably impressive and almost tidy.

Healthy churches

I am just about to begin a series based on the 'Seven marks of a Healthy Church' as described in the Healthy Churches' Handbook.
One of the issues raised is about how we understand 'church'. The book describes the response of Archbishop Rowan Williams who, when asked what his definition of church was, replied along the lines of: 'church is what happens when the impact of Christ on a situation brings two or more people together'. The book points out this this is a surprising definition because of what it leaves out( no mention of sacraments, Word, building, worship and much else). But what is our mental image of 'church' and how would we express it? The suggestion in this book is that 'Church = community + faith + action'( or to put it another way, 'an engaging faith community').

The book also suggests at one point one of those exercises where people are encouraged to try and describe their local church in terms of an animal or object or colour.
(e.g. our church is like an elephant: it never forgets, is very slow to move and very unpredictable as to which direction it might take when it does move - or our church is like a sheep dog: it is well disciplined, barks a lot and most enjoys trying to get everyone to go where it wants them to go' - or 'our church is like a wheelbarrow: nothing moves unless you push it'.)
I will need to ponder how I would describe our church!

Courageous women

Some more thoughts from Kenneth E Bailey's book, 'Jesus through Middle Eastern eyes'.

In Chapter 19 he reflects on the parable of the widow and the judge( Luke 18:1-8). He notes that the hero of the parable is a woman of courage and persistence. He ends the chapter with a brief paragraph looking ahead towards the Cross.

"...as the cross approached, the role of the women in the band of disciples became more prominent. A woman anointed the Messiah as he approached the end. Women were faithful to the end at the cross. They had the courage to follow Joseph of Arimathea as he made his way to Pilate. It was the women who brought the spices to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus.... who heard the glorious and yet frightening words of the angels. They took the news to the absent disciples.
In like manner in this parable the hero is a woman, a woman with persistence and courage – the very virtues that his female disciples so nobly exhibited all through Holy Week. To them.......the church remains forever in debt."

This week will include daily Holy Week Prayer breakfasts at Harrogate Baptist. I always look forward to this week and to the opportunity to lead the short meditation each morning, even if it means a slightly earlier start to the day!

The lady is not for stoning

In his book, Tell it slant', Eugene Peterson recommends Kenneth Bailey's book 'Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes'. I am just over half way through the book and finding it to be a fascinating read.

This morning I read through the chapter 'The lady is not for stoning' which is Bailey's take on the story of Jesus and the woman caught in the act of adultery(John 7:53-8:11)

He writes:-

“At great cost Jesus has shifted their hostility from her to himself and he doesn't even know her name. The famous servant song of Isaiah affirms, “ with his stripes we are healed”(Isa 53:5). She knows that the opponents of Jesus will be back with a bigger stick and that Jesus is in process of getting hurt because of what he is doing for her. She is the recipient of a costly demonstration of unexpected love that saves her life.Jesus demonstrates the life-changing power of costly love. This scene provides an insight into Jesus’ understanding of the significance of his own suffering. A core aspect of his “doctrine of the atonement” is here displayed….

"Jesus lives out the core meaning of the Cross. He offers the woman a costly demonstration of unexpected love. The reader is obliged to reflect on how the woman in the story may have responded, and in the process think deep thoughts regarding his or her response to the costly love of God offered on the cross for the world."

"Great theological and ethical bells ring in this story and the greatest among them is Jesus interpreting his own cross”.

Would this story serve as a powerful illustration of what was happening on the first Good Friday?

Tell it slant

I am just coming to the end of 'Tell it slant' by Eugene Peterson. This is the 4th book in his series on Spiritual Theology. Towards the end of the book he comments on the words Jesus spoke from the cross. When reflecting on the words 'I thirst'(John 19:28) he suggests: -
'"I thirst" is the sacred witness that there was "no spring of water gushing up to eternal life"(John 4:14) left in him'( p 256).

He is also anxious that we should avoid either trying to spiritualise Jesus and treat him apart from his body( as the gnostics did) or focussing so much on the pain and suffering of Jesus on the cross to a degree that depersonalizes Jesus' pain so that "it becomes a thing, an object to be pitied or admired, or a truth to be preached and taught." (p257).
On reflecting on this he writes:-
"sexual pornography is sex without relationship, the intimacy of sexuality reduced and debased to an object to be looked at or used. Spiritual pornography is prayer and faith without relationship, intimacy with Jesus reduced and debased into an idea or cause to be argued and used". In a footnote he suggests that Mel Gibson's film The Passion of Christ' was a conspicuous instance of this. All the parts of Jesus' words from the Cross are embedded in the whole story of Jesus.

Economics

At a time when we hear endless speculation about how to deal with the economic problems in the world, the regular email from the Sojourners contained this quote from Rabbi Michael Lerner,

[We need] to embrace a "new bottom line" in which corporations, social practices, government policies and individual behaviours are judged rational, efficient or productive not only if they maximize money or power, but also to the extent that they maximize love and caring, kindness and generosity, ethical and ecological sensitivity, enhance our capacity to treat others as embodiments of the sacred and to respond with awe, wonder, and radical amazement at the grandeur of the universe.

By faith

At the moment I am half way through Eugene Peterson's book 'The Word made flesh'. The first part of the book observes the ten parables that are unique to Luke's Gospel and are part of what Peterson's describes as Luke's travel narrative(9:51-19:44). In describing the parable of 'Lazarus and the rich man', Peterson quotes NT Wright - 'the parable is not, as often supposed, a description of the afterlife, warning people to be sure of their ultimate destination.... the reality is uncomfortably different..... rather what was happening to both rich and poor in the present time. Jesus' welcome of the poor and outcast was a sign that the real return from exile, the new age, the 'resurrection', is coming into being; and if the new age is dawning, those who want to belong to it will have to repent'( 'Jesus and the Victory of God').
Peterson suggests that this parable "enlists our imagination to grasp more than our immediate feelings and surroundings - other lives, other circumstances, other possibilities. Once we are free of being stuck in the mud of our sinful, self-absorbed, self-contained "miry clay" of ego, our imaginations can be a catalyst for faith that the Spirit uses to create something out of nothing, the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of "things not seen... that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible"(Hebrews 11:1-3).( p116)
Peterson then quotes from his own paraphrase of these verses in The Message, - faith is "the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living.... our handle on what we can't see... by faith, we see the world called into existence by God's word, what we see created by what we don't see."

Vocation or career?

Our Thursday evening group is looking at some excerpts from the life of the prophet Ezekiel. At the last meeting we pondered that part of the call of the prophet when he is instructed to 'eat the scroll' (3:1ff). Before that Ezekiel is reminded of how difficult his task as a prophet to his fellow exiles in Babylon would be. He is to proclaim the message whether they listen to him or not, for they are a stubborn and rebellious people. As a job description it is a complete turn off. But this may highlight the difference between a vocation and a career. Ezekiel is being called to this challenging task. He is not being given a career opportunity on which he can build.

On Sunday morning it was the Lectionary reading from the Gospel on which the sermon was based. Mark 1:21-28 is the account of Jesus teaching in the synagogue and dealing with the man who had 'an unclean spirit'. The authority of Jesus is at the centre of the story. The people recognise in the teaching of Jesus an authority unlike what they had experienced before. Jesus then acts with authority when confronted by the man. Within the Church community there are different views as to how we understand what was happening in the synagogue and how we understand the condition of the man. But it is interesting that we do still speak of 'possession'in our everyday language but not in terms of unclean spirits or demons. How often have we said to ourselves 'I don't know what possessed me to do that' or ask a similar question of others? What does possess us at times? What gets into us a times? Could it be 'self', 'career', 'money', 'power' or ????????
To ask that question perhaps prevents us from keeping this Gospel passage at arms length.

Week of Prayer

Sunday was the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. In the town centre group of Harrogate Churches we will meet each lunchtime to share the readings and prayers. The material produced for this year has been provided by the Churches of Korea with the theme, 'that they may become one in your hand'. The theme refers to Ezekiel 37:15 describing how the prophet is instructed to take two sticks and write on them. Each stick is to represent one of the kingdoms into which the nation had divided. Ezekiel is then told to hold the sticks in his hand so that they look like just one stick. He is to proclaim the word of hope to the people that this is what God is able to do for his people.
It is a powerful image - that in God's hand his people can become one as those who are held in the hand of God. Ezekiel presents a picture where the focus is not on the two sticks but on the one hand that holds them together.

A pleasant piece of 'tradition' has been established by a member of our Junior Church. At the end of every service now Sophie will soon appear in the church vestibule to pass on to me her joke for the day. Yesterday's joke was a classic -

Who plays music on your head? A head band!!!!!!!