Clishmaclaver

I discovered a new and interesting word last weekend!  We had been kindly invited to a Burns' Nicht Dinner held by the Amersham and District Scottish Society.  This is a big event in the Society's year and on the table was a printed running order for the evening along with a menu that included Neeps, Champit Tatties and a wee dram!  The word that was new to me came at the very top Clishmaclaver - Scots for gossip or idle talk - but I'm sure for us last Saturday it meant something more uplifting - that relaxed banter that enhances any meal spent with companions around a table.

I'm all in favour of Clishmaclaver!  Every Sunday after the service I go into our church hall as coffee is being served and there is the wonderful sound of people deep in conversation - catching up, sharing news, listening to worries or even (and I know this sounds incredible) discussing the sermon!  I think sharing conversation is a vital part of Sunday mornings - so much is possible simply because people talk!

Last week I also experienced a slightly different form of Clishmaclavar.  After a united service with our Anglican and Methodist friends a group of us from AFC went over to Chesham and visited the Mosque there.  This was an open invitation to anyone from our Muslim friends as they tried to show the true and peaceful face of Islam to counteract the extremism showed in Paris last month.

I was so proud of members of my own congregation as I watched them engage so willingly and respectfully with the folks at the Mosque.  Together we shared Clishmaclavar - we talked about our faith and discovered some inspiring similarities.  Both parties were secure in their own faiths and in this context we were happy to share our stories with laughter and mutual respect.

Have a good weekend and if you get the opportunity enjoy some Clishmaclavar!

Best wishes,

Ian

Volunteers

On Monday evening I attended a Social at AFC put on by the Trustees of the Chiltern Child Contact Centre as a sort of 'thank you' for all their volunteers - it was a lovely occasion full of warmth, good humour and commitment.

Child Contact Centres bring together children and estranged parents in a safe and supervised place.  Although CCCC isn't officially one of our church organisations it is held on our premises and many of the volunteers - I'm really proud to say - come from our congregation.

Monday had been officially designated in the media as 'Blue Monday' - apparently one of the most depressing days of the year!  Well none of that had rubbed off on the volunteers I met in our Carey Room that evening.  Indeed the thing that struck me most was the overwhelming sense of 'energy' amongst everyone.  Some of these folk have been 'on duty' at the Centre once or twice a month since it started three and a half years ago.  Yet their sense of commitment, energy and sheer enthusiasm for the project remains inspirational. I came away so uplifted by that spirit.

So on Blue Monday I encountered something really precious - the 'energy' of dedicated people seeking to make a positive difference to their society.

With best wishes,

Ian

'Unlearning'

Why is 'unlearning' just so tough?!

Last Wednesday I had an organ lesson.  I've been taking them since the autumn of last year and have a very patient and encouraging teacher! However fitting in the practise is a nightmare and when it comes to the lessons - well just before they start the butterflies in my tummy are going mad.  It's like being back at school again and realising you've forgotten your homework! (Actually Wednesday's lesson went quite well and after I played a piece my teacher said in that rather 'surprised' way - 'sounds like you've been practising then'!)

So I'm glad I'm doing it as it's been a long time ambition of mine to get better at the organ - on my 'bucket list' you might say.

However, the truth is I'm having to 'unlearn' the 'bad' habits and incorrect ways of playing that I've picked up over the last forty years.  My biggest problem (apparently) is that I 'substitute' the wrong fingers in the course of playing a piece.  I don't know I'm doing it, it has just come naturally and even after being told ten times by my teacher that I must use fingers number one and three I still use numbers two and four - and can't seem to change and get it right.  On Wednesday I think I wore the teacher down so much that he said as we were drawing to a  close - 'well you seem to get by with your own fingering method - so I suppose if it works for you...'!!!

Strikes me that 'unlearning' is just tough and bad habits are addictive.

Yet...
... might it not be good for me to be more open-minded and unlearn some of my irrational prejudices.
...might it not be wise for me to continue with my theological reading and unlearn some of the pious yet simplistic interpretations I used to hold about scripture.
...might it not be loving of me to put others in my frame of reference more often and unlearn that dominating tendency to always put myself centre stage.

I suspect that 'unlearning' is one of the most difficult yet necessary aspects of growing older.

Best wishes,

Ian
ps As I sign off the snow is falling with some of the biggest flakes I've ever seen!

Year of Light!

Happy New Year!

At Amersham Free Church, with such a large Scottish contingent within our congregation that, surely, becomes a significant greeting bringing back memories of Hogmanay and First Footing north of the border!

What do we already know about this New Year?

We know it is written as MMXV in Roman numerals, that it is the 2015^th year of the Anno Domini (AD) or Common Era (CE) designations, the 15^th year of the 3^rd millennium and the 6^th year of the 2010’s decade.

It’s also been decided by the United Nations General Assembly that 2015 is to be known as the Year of Light.  I got rather excited about that and its theological possibilities until I read a little further that the year’s full title is actually Year of Light and Light Based Technologies!

I grew up singing hymns at this time of year like ‘I know who holds the future’ and the assumption was always made that God has a Plan A for our lives – all we need to do is discover it.  I’m not sure I believe in that pre-determined, some might almost say pre-destined, future anymore.

2015 has some scientific certainties – so on March 20^th, all things being equal, there will be a total solar eclipse.

2015 has some firm probabilities – so on July 14^th the NASA spacecraft, New Horizons, is due to fly past the planet Pluto!

And 2015 has some hoped for possibilities – so if the Queen is blessed with good health and wakes up at Balmoral on September 10^th she will become the longest serving British Sovereign of all time.

Yet I would suggest for most of us that 2015 will offer an exciting and daunting mixture of certainties, probabilities and possibilities.  What counts is the way we face both the worrying challenges and potential joys of this forthcoming year. 

God, who we sometimes describe as Alpha and Omega, is at once outside of time and yet, we dare to believe, somehow present in every moment.  We are not alone as we face the future because something of God’s goodness and love touches our pilgrimage through these days that are now before us.

And it’s not a bad aspiration to hope and pray that 2015 will indeed be a Year of Light!

Best wishes,

Ian

The Mystery of Christmas

Every year I get out my ten or so Advent and Christmas CDs and perhaps play them a little too much!  One has the title: The Mystery of Christmas.

We've heard the story so often, watched a lifetime of nativity plays and perhaps sing our carols with a familiarity they don't deserve (many of them have highly complex points of theology!) - that we loose sight of just what a mystery Christmas is.  In its day it confounded the expectations of the temple authorities and the wise men from the east.  It's been doing it ever since!

I suppose that is why I told a 'monologue' about Mary at last Sunday morning's service rather than preach a sermon.  I can't really fathom out much of her story but somehow in simply retelling it we sense its profundity, even its relevance for us today.

'Worship' rather than 'explanation' is, I think, a more appropriate response to Christmas - and probably much else in the Christian narrative!

Like you, I suspect, we receive one or two 'round robbin' letters in with the cards each day now  One arrived this morning from our Baptist Regional Minister - he finished it with a prayer that went like this:

When the world was dark
and the city was quiet,
you came.

You crept in beside us.

And no-one knew,
only the few
who dared to believe
that God might do something different.

Next week I hope you have a happy and wonderfully 'mysterious' Christmas!  The blog returns in a fortnight's time.

Ian

But his angels here are human...

I've just returned from my first (but probably not my last!) Christmas meal of the season - at our Men's Luncheon Club.  As is the case every December we had a splendid meal followed by an AGM - at which the Minister gives a Christmas message - so today I felt rather like the Queen at 3pm on 25th December!

I gave the briefest of talks about angels.  They pop up regularly in the story we are about to celebrate. Gabriel is busy with 'breaking news' for both Zechariah and Mary and the shepherds hear the news of the nativity first from a solitary angel who is then joined later by a 'host'.

Angels, as described by the biblical writers, are 'God's messengers' and I love the way Gabriel describes himself to John the Baptist's father: 'I stand in the presence of God and I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this good news...'  Isn't that wonderful and couldn't it be a sort of description for every Christian.  We stand in God's presence - whether that's public worship or private prayer - and then we 'go' - we go out to share something of God's love, light and message in our everyday lives.

One of my very favourite Advent hymns is Henry Burton's There's a light upon the mountains and it has this utterly splendid and meaningful line:
'but his angels here are human,
not the shining hosts above,
for the drum beats of his army
are the heart-beats of our love.'
I just adore that sentiment and want this hymns at my funeral!  I love the lines because they 'ground' our faith and invite us all to participate in God's life in the here and now.

As I prepared tonight's supper the kitchen radio was on and I heard an interview on Radio Four with a British nurse who has volunteered to go out to Africa this Christmas and serve with an Ebola Task Force.  She was asked what she had packed and without making a big deal of it she casually mentioned she had included her bible.  Aah - I thought - I think I recognise where her motivation might be coming from.  She was asked if she had time to read it in her new surroundings -'every day' she replied, 'for fifteen minutes'.  I was so thrilled to hear this interview of a young British nurse speaking of her faith, speaking of her love for her fellow human beings and how she could combine the two.

Something verging on the 'angelic' in all of that - and my heart was glad as I cooked the sausages!

All good wishes,

Ian

The value of small groups

On Tuesday we held our annual party and presentation evening for the small cells of our church community - a programme we call 'Life and Faith Groups'.  It's the one opportunity for these diverse groups to come together over a meal and share some of the activities which have characterised their life over the last twelve months.  I remembered half way through how inspired I'd been at this gathering last year and it was the same again on Tuesday.

We have three study groups - one seems to take a sideways look at the Lectionary readings and often expresses that discovery through craft work, another is led by our Associate Minister and amongst other techniques has studied various passages this year looking at say a dozen interpretations from commentators and the placed them in order of 'preference or relevance', and the other group has majored during one term looking at various biblical women and in another focusing on biblical men.

The three remaining groups are:  our 'Hands Together' group - knitting baby outfits for various charities, our Book Discussion Group, drawing together about a dozen people every other month to discuss a book and our 'Bring and Share Prayer Group' which meets every Friday either for led or silent prayer.

Tuesday was a wonderful evening when, after a shared meal, we listened to each group bring a presentation about its work and life together.  As I listened to these it was obvious that this side of church brings fellowship and a mutual sense of pilgrimage to participants.

Most of the groups take a break over Christmas and re-form in the New Year for what I hope and pray will be another stimulating year of fellowship and study.

Best wishes,
Ian