Too hot...

It's hot. How can you tell it's hot. No, not by the mercury, but by the sight of a gerbil wandering around rural Perthshire in shorts for the last 3 days. This is an exceptionally unusual occurrence, not least due to the Scottish weather. It also prevents passers by suffering snow blindness...

Where did the time go?

I've now finished my exams. I can't believe that's first year at uni almost over and a third of my degree complete (working on the assumption I've passed!). Just can't believe how quickly the time has gone in and how much I've learnt since September (though how much I will remember an other story...).

I know I am no academic and this year has re-affirmed this. It's not I'm thick, but academia isn't me. Thankfully I'm holding my own and doing okay. It's great to be learning and stretching my brain. It's funny, but I had said for a long time I'd like to got back to uni again...any do some history as I'd never taken that past second year at school, even though I'd liked and enjoyed it, but it clashed with my first love of the social sciences - geography, especially as geography the way I was taught was physical geography.

I'm definitely seeing the interconnection in most we are taught. It's amazing how it all interweaves. I'm also seeing history seems to be my strongish point and I hope ti develop this (I know of someone will approve!).

I've been making choices for next year. There's things I have to do and things which are of interest, but which will have to wait to the following year as they clash with the have to do, but the timetable looks a bit more (dare I say this?) interesting than this year. I know this year will stand me in good stead as a very good grounding for the nest two years of study (and beyond), but some of the subjects were more...stimulating than others, shall we say. Hope my choices are okay'd, though I have an idea what to change to if I need to.

Now I'm getting my head in gear for starting my summer placement in just under 2 weeks. It's full-time and I'll be away from home, so there's the challenges and pressures of that too. I'm really looking forward to it, as I know I am ready to take the next step in my journey with God.

Heart and Soul 2012

Well, they say the sun shines on the righteous and yesterday was a beautiful day. A great day to celebrate the Church of Scotland in Princes Street gardens at Heart and Soul 2012. Hats off to the organisers. Bigger and better than last year and this was only the second time an even like this has happened.

It was great to catch up with a few folks. It was great to soak up the atmosphere. It was great to see just how alive and licking the Kirk really is.

During the closing worship, two things stood out for me. The people watching from Edinburgh Castle. They weren't tourists, they were the staff, as the castle would have been shut by the time the worship finished. They, along with passers by on Princes Street seemed to have got caught up in the worship that was going on, as they lingered for a long while. The other was the MC of the worship commenting about how he had tried to persuade his sons to attend, including telling them that there would be bands. His sons' reply? Good bands or Christian bands? Not much to be added to that.

I hope this becomes a regular feature in the life of the church. It was great to be there and know I am part of something much, much bigger. All done to be the Heart and Soul of communities throughout Scotland that they may know God in the way the Kirk serves them.

Paperwork, paperwork

I do not like paperwork - be it electronic (as, thankfully, most is these days) or physical. I understand there are some things which are necessary and required for legal reasons and the good running of any organisation. It's not helped by being a former civil servant who had to deal with a lot of paperwork on a day to day basis (and make sense of it, in a way the legal experts couldn't).

I am also becoming increasingly aware of the amount of paperwork parish ministers have to deal with. All from a conversation where I was wondering how ministers used to have time to map the nation, such as Timothy Pont, and it was pointed out to me that there wouldn't have been nearly as much admin to deal with.

This daunts, depresses and frustrates me. I am called to minister, not to be an administrator. I know I am not the only person who feels like this and wonder how many newly ordained ministers leave the vocation when the non-ministry things get to them. I also wonder to what extent very easy communication has added to the complexity of admin ministers are responsible for. It's so much easier to loose track of how much there is an its duplication when it goes out in a series of emails, rather than envelopes.

I just hope I don't end up being a parish civil servant. That would do my head in.

Branding

There seems to be a lot of branding of church activities these days. There's Messy Church, Alpha, Exploring Christianity etc (those are just the 'obvious' ones off the top of my head.

Now, I can see the advantages. They are recognised and know outwith the church by people who maybe want to find out more, but would feel out of place just turning up at a church (that's another argument altogether). They are ecumenical. They are getting the message of the gospel to people who may not encounter it in new and innovative ways.

But, does there need to be a brand? I see the people behind Messy Church have a 'hands-off' philosophy, so it can be adapted and used in the way churches want to, but the brand is recognisable. Great, so long as it stays that way.

But other courses (which may or may not be mentioned above) have very strict rules about how the name and materials can be used. It cannot be adapted for local need, which seems a bit silly. The history of Christianity shows it can and does get contextualised.

I just don't think I like the idea of branding, where it is that. Why else control how the image and name is used?

And do we really need a brand to tell people about God and lead them to a relationship with Jesus? To me this all seems to be playing into society's obsession with branding and the church shouldn't be part of that.

I wish there was a straightforward answer, but I know Eagleside ran a 'Introduction of Christianity'-type program which was designed and lead by the minister and a neighbouring colleague. On the back of it 2 people joined Eagleside and one made a renewed commitment. No branding, no marketing, no real preaching. Just talking and sharing stories about faith and God and Jesus. So, it can be done.

But then I think the Kirk, the Church of Scotland, in some ways is a brand. But it is diverse and broad. It adapts to the needs of its congregations and parishes throughout Scotland. So, the 'brand' is used well. And I think that's the rub. Is a brand a help or hindrance to local churches? That should be the measure of its usefulness IMHO.