Journeys and Stories

What a time! I spent the last few days in Stornoway in the Western Isles. Met some lovely people - James, Morag and their children, Helen and David O'Loan. What a fantastic island and what a variety of ministry opportunities - open air meeting on Saturday, Corps worship Sunday, small group worship Sunday evening, Youth gathering Sunday night. Looked at Journeys and Stories on Sunday evening with a small group of Corps folk. Beautiful testimonies. I think that the telling of our story is absolutely crucial - we need to be confident of our story and be able to communicate it. So often the story describes the journey that we have been and continue to be on. God led me to choose mainly traditional songs amongst which was 'Just as I am' which turned out to be central to one story - tell me thats a coincidence.
Then yesterday was spent in Inverness wth Commissioner Linda Bond - totally brilliant as she shared her own angle on Spiritual Leadership. Sadly there were some officers not ther - probably those who should have been but I suppose I have come to expect that of some individuals.
Catherine then went on to Fort William and will get back home after midnight tonight. I went to Peterhead and led an Acts 2 meeting for the Bible Study - people encouraged each other sang together, prayed for each other and their Corps and just let the spirit flow over them.
I beleve God has been very close to e in these last few days and knows that I need him so close to me now with such uncertainty in my heart about human things. He is with me on this journey.

Emerging...

Thinking about emerging church - trying not to get sucked into the 'it's new evangelism' thinking. It's real church for real people, authentically expressed emerging from the culture and emerging from the needs of the populace.
I've been e mailing all over the world today to find out what people think is the gift that the inherited (or established, or traditional) church can give to the emerging church. And I feel a hypocrite. I led a large inherited church for 5 years and thought it was fantastic - but have developed my thinking in more recent days and now realise that if the lost are to be reached we have to engage new church and authentic faith. Not glitter and glamour but truth and authenticity.

Arthur and the Invisibles

It would have been better if it had stayed invisible!
One child (George 8) enjoyed it, the other (Jack 11) thought it was boring. I thought it stole a few elements from other better established and competent films - Harry Potter series, Kill Bill, Star Wars, Mission Impossible, Sword in the Stone.
The premise is the securing of the land and house in which Arthur and his grandmother live until the grandfather, who has disappeared (and become an 'invisible' so we learn). The hidden messages are the sacrifice Arthur has to make in order to save the house, his family and the invisibles ('He needs to die to himself in order to save them' - sounds fairly scriptural to me) and also the search for fatherhood - found through his grandfather rather than his absent father.
Not a patch on many childrens films with probably too much attention to animation and not enough to plot or storyline.

Watching a film

Watch a film and think about - sounds simple enough - then express what the film said to you. About yourself. About life. About the world. About God. 'The Truman Show' spoke to me anout what is real and what isn't, 'The Matrix' spoke to me about making the right choices and being 'real'. I'm tryingt to find out what God is saying to us through movie media - sometimes obviously and sometimes subconciously. I want to meet up with others that want to do the same but maybe have a different opinion to me.