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How to take offense

Letter from the Minister – How to take offense.

As I write, the western world is still reeling in the aftermath of the shocking events that took place in Paris in early January, when seventeen people were gunned down by Islamist extremists in a brutal attempt to avenge the honour of their prophet. More than a million people took to the streets to declare their outrage at such a cowardly attack on their commonly held values of freedom of speech, and armed police are now everywhere, as the security forces attempt to allay fears of further shootings.

In times of high emotion it is often difficult to take a step back and ask the bigger questions that such events raise for us as Christians. One of the paradoxes I’ve been trying to grapple with is that while, in a free world, everyone should have the right to publish without fear of attack, with that right should come the responsibility to be sensitive about the impact of what is being published, particularly on those people who already feel marginalised and oppressed by the society the publication represents.

At the centre of the controversy is a French satirical magazine called Charlie Hebdo, which specialises in mockery. Over the years their ruthless brand of humour has stretched to encompass politicians, celebrities, and religions. Nothing wrong with that, we say, except that in recent years, as their sales have decreased, their cartoons have become deliberately more provocative and offensive.

There is a debate to be had about the role of satire and mockery in public life, for even in the west there are some areas (e.g. race and disability) where the mockers no longer dare to stray. In our secular culture, however, a person’s closely held religious views are now seen to be ‘fair game’. And so, I often find that my own personal beliefs and values are the target of those who make a living out of offensiveness and ridicule.

Clearly, the response of those Islamist extremists to the insults they were enduring was not the right one. But, if that is the case, what is? Here are some timeless words from a close friend of mine*, that have given me much food for thought over the years, and increasingly so in the last few weeks.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you…

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also…

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”

With much love,

John

*(Matthew 5.11-12, 38-39, 43-4)

Now what?

Some people are fascinated by answers, I am fascinated by questions. A good question can blast you out of the comfortable, or unlock a previously unseen path. A good question disrupts unprobed assumptions, it can be unsettling, unexpected, or even unanswerable. A really good question can become a lifelong friend. Here are some of my favourites: “Are you sure?”; “Who is my neighbour?”; “How then shall we live?”; “Where is God in this situation?”; “What is your heart saying?”. But one of the best is also one of the shortest. “Now what?”

Now what? is an amazing question. It carries a sense of urgency but also expectation, it demands an answer but gives no steer as to what constitutes a right answer. But now what can also be dangerous. If we answer too hastily we can cause huge problems for ourselves and for others. Even thinking that there is only one possible correct outcome to a now what question can be unhelpful. Within the Ignatian tradition, the process of discernment is at its most subtle when faced with a choice between goods. A choice in which either, or any, of the possible answers are good ones. It is to stand on the threshold of what is not yet and try and peer through the doorway of what might be.

This is precisely where I find myself as my time at Liberton Kirk draws to a close. Now what? There are many vacancies in the Church of Scotland, many places who would love to have a youngish family in their midst. It is a choice between goods. Yet at the same time, as a family we have felt a strong pull to Orkney ever since participating in the Remote Rural Placement Scheme in 2012 (a scheme that wouldn’t exist without the contribution to Mission and Ministry by wealthy churches like Liberton Kirk.) No future opportunity is without constraints and there will be some who would be appalled by the constraints faced in Orkney, with 130mph winds, few trees or mountains, and the distance from the “centre” of Scotland. Yet we find it is a rich soil, full of gentle kindness, that excites not only me but my wife Sally and our three children. As if God is asking all of us to be with him there and waiting for what we might say.

We stand on the threshold of a long asked question – is it Orkney? By the end of November we will have an answer to that question. Either way, the next question will be now what? But I don’t believe we are the only ones who will be asking that question. For everyone in Liberton Kirk it will be a process of adjustment after we have left. For some the adjustment will be easier than for others! You have faced this question many times before, with many previous probationers leaving, yet each time the answer has been different. What might next year hold for you? For your faith? For your love of self and neighbour?

I am different, having been with you. I have seen many differences emerge in many of you as well. We all need to know what is next but, whilst the future is uncertain, I am grateful to have been a thread woven into the tapestry of the Liberton Kirk story. It is a good place to be. It will also be a good place to have been. Now what?

David McNeish

Thursday 11th December: Upper Room time

A few weeks back, as part of our Sunday morning series on ‘The Marks of a Healthy church’, I mentioned a vision that had come to me while preparing a sermon. The sermon had been about the need for us, as a church, to listen for what God was wanting us to do, and the vision was of the Wilson Hall as an ‘upper room’, where, like the first Christians before Pentecost, we could gather to wait for God’s guidance.

Afterwards I expressed my hesitancy about this vision, and asked people to tell me whether they thought it was of God, or whether it was just me doing some wishful thinking. I was surprised and delighted by the number of people who wrote to me or spoke to me in the days that followed, expressing their enthusiasm for the idea of setting aside some time on a regular basis, and making the ‘upper room’ available for people to come and listen, on their own or together, for what God might be saying to us.

As a first step in this direction, we have agreed to designate the Wilson Hall from 3pm-9pm on Thursday 11^th December as a place of prayer and meditation. The time until 7pm will be a flexible time, where people will be able to come and go when they have the time. The hall will be organised into a number of different ‘prayer stations’, with themes for you to explore in your own time, but always listening to what God might be saying to you. Then, from 7pm-8pm we are planning a joint time of praise and prayer, when we will be gathering all our thoughts together and offering them to God. The half day will end with seasonal refreshments and fellowship from 8pm-9pm.

The whole event will be designed to be relaxed and informal, allowing people to come and go when they can and listen to God in their own ways. How it goes will give us a direction as to how to take the whole idea forward. In so doing we will be following an age old pattern of discernment that has been part of church life since the days of the Apostles. So, please come along and join in.

JNY & the Prayer Team

A good place to be

January 2015 marks the 200th year since the foundations of the current building of Liberton Kirk were laid, and we are planning to have a whole year of celebrations to mark this. A small group has been meeting to discuss this for over eighteen months, and a wide range of events and activities has been planned.

One of our projects has been to produce a book about the people who have contributed to the character of the church family and wider community over the years. Richard Purden, a local author and journalist, has been commissioned to undertake this task, and for the last twelve months he has been enthusiastically immersing himself in our community and its history.

As I write this, the full text is being finalised before it goes to the type-setter. The book will be entitled “Liberton Kirk – a good place to be”, and will be made up of the collected memories and writings of a number of well-known local characters, with specific chapters focussing on the contributions of our most recent ministers.

As I have been reading Richard’s proofs, these are the chapters which, personally, I found myself most drawn to. In the church there has always been the danger that we put our leaders on pedestals, but, like the characters in the Bible, we have all been shown to have our flaws and failings. The amazing thing is that God is still willing to use us, and, reading Richard’s rich prose about the lives of Campbell Fernbach and John Cameron I have been surprised and impressed by all that they achieved.

The book, however, is not just about the ministers of Liberton. It is also about the everyday life of a community which lived through times of great change and world conflict. In addition to some memorable events, we will be able to read about the contribution of a number of well-known characters, about the long tradition of good youth work, and about how our relationships with other churches have developed and are developing still.

Richard’s writing is reflective as much as it is factual, and his book will give us much insight into the character of our church family, and our strengths for the future. Our hope is to have the first copies ready for sale in December of this year – just in time for Christmas.

Much love
John

Signs of life

What was remarkable the way Jesus did things was the people he chose as potential leaders. He seemed to disregard things like intellectual ability, knowledge, experience, status, and charisma – all the things we would tend to look for in a leader today. The only thing he seems to ask is that they be willing to follow him and learn on the job.

In the last few years here in South East Edinburgh we have seen a remarkable rise in the number willing to answer that call. The huddling process which was begun three years ago has resulted in several people stepping into different forms of leadership – some teachers and pastors, and some apostles, prophets and evangelists. These were people who, if you had said what they would be doing in just a few years’ time, would have looked at you in dis-belief and said ‘Who me?’.

One of the great encouragements has been the growing number of people willing to be trained in preaching. Over the past year Ruth, David and I have found ourselves in a mentoring role with fledgling preachers, coaching them in their content and delivery. These include Alan Perry, Roger Barlee, Nikki Kirkland, Anna Krabbenhoft, Kay Haggarty and Rachel Willis. If you check the Liberton Kirk and KLM websites, you’ll find their names popping up with surprising regularity, so much so that we are now in the process of planning our second ‘preacher’s workshop’, when about a dozen people will be gathering to share and learn from each other.

To me, however, the most surprising and encouraging development of all has been the growing interest among our teenagers from non-church backgrounds. Bradley Laing is one such individual. He first got to know Alex and Andy several years ago through their detatched youth work programme, and is now, himself, one of our local student youth workers, learning on the job.

Another familiar face is that of Erin Howieson. Erin, who did not have the easiest of up-bringings, became a Christian through her contact with Sarah Beach, whom she still works with up in Gracemount. She got involved with Liberton early on, and was bowled over last year at our response to her plea for help in funding her through her leadership training apprenticeship. I’ve asked Erin to give us a report on how her first year with the ’20 Schemes’ programme has gone, and you will find it in the pages of the October magazine.

You will also find another, much shorter report from a young girl called Siobhan. Siobhan’s story is just as remarkable. She really struggled with behaviour issues at home and at school until she met Ruth Rankin through the Dramatiqui Drama Club. Not long after that she started to turn up at the morning service at Gracemount, and, within a few months, she was asking to be baptised. She is now an active member of the church there, helping to lead worship on Sunday morning. More recently, Siobhan has started to talk about becoming a minister. Her father, (not himself a church goer), having seen the change his daughter’s faith has made to her life, is fully supportive of this, and has pushed hard for us to give her some work experience. This is what Siobhan writes about in the pages of the October magazine. She still has a long way to go, but, with good support and lots of encouragement, I know God will find a role for her in the church of the future.

We live in a time when the media is quick to prophesy the end of the church in Scotland, and when the talk is of growing numbers of congregations without a minister. Maybe, instead of worrying, the best thing to do is to start working out new ways of doing ‘ministry’ using the growing number of potential ‘ministers’ on our doorstep – people who need your support and your prayers.
Much love
John

The Companionship of walking with Jesus

Jesus and his followers were companions on a journey which was as much spiritual as it was physical. They were a mixed bunch of individuals, travelling together in the presence of their master. Over the course of their time together they grew in faith and understanding, but also in friendship and trust. They got to know each other really well, they shared in each other’s struggles and they looked after each other’s needs.

On the day of Pentecost the number of Jesus’ followers grew into its thousands, but the pattern did not change. In the early chapters of Acts we were told that, as well as gathering together in larger numbers at the temple, the Christians also continued to meet in each other’s houses, where they ate, shared, learned and prayed together in smaller groups.

This pattern is also repeated here at Liberton Kirk today. Sunday tends to be the day when we gather together in large numbers, but during the week groups of us meet together in each other’s houses. It is here that real friendships can develop, as the small numbers allows us to share, learn and support each other on their faith journey.

Back in January 2011, the Kirk Session (our leadership team) agreed that everyone at Liberton Kirk should be encouraged to get involved in a house group. To help this happen, the Kirk Session also agreed to hold an annual ‘Whole Church’ Study’, when the themes of Sunday morning worship were adopted by the house groups, so that people would have a chance to discuss and apply what they had heard*. The Whole Church Study is an opportunity for those who have not yet experienced the small group discussion to give it a go. Because the series is for a set number of weeks, it means that involvement is time limited if you discover this sort of thing is not for you.

The Theme for our next Whole Church Study will be ‘The marks of a healthy church’. Following extensive research into a number of successful churches, it has been discovered that, although they were of different sizes and theological backgrounds, they all had certain characteristics in common. We will be asking ‘What are these characteristics, and how evident are they in our church’s life here in Liberton?’

Why am I telling you this? My main reasons is simply to encourage you, if you haven’t already done so, to get involved in one of the small groups meeting throughout September and October to discuss and reflect upon these things**. It will be an eight week commitment, but I can promise that it will be time well spent. As well as helping to focus on the things that matter most in our church’s life, it will give you the chance to experience first-hand what the companionship of following Jesus is all about.

Much love

John

* Past Whole Church Studies have included J. John’s ‘JUST10’ series, the ‘Green Bible’, and ‘The Provocative Church’.

**There will be sign up lists at the Welcome Desks, and, for more details of the groups – see the ‘What’s on’ page of the Website, or contact Rink on 664 2178 / rink@talktalk.net