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It’s been nearly 17 years since Lindsay and I came to Liberton, and the thing we noticed straight away on our arrival all those years ago, and which hasn’t changed, is that people here love celebrating.

This is no bad thing in any community, because celebrations are good for us. They make us think of what we have, instead of what we have not, and what we have achieved, instead of what we’ve still to do. Think of the celebrations you’ve been involved in over the past years. There are weddings, when we celebrate a couple’s love for and commitment to each other, and anniversaries, when we celebrate their ongoing faithfulness. There are baptisms, when we celebrate a new life, and birthdays, when we celebrate a person’s uniqueness. We celebrate for all sorts of reasons, whether it is success, or happiness, achievement or impact. The only two elements which are essential for a celebration are having something to celebrate, and having people to celebrate with.

This year Liberton will be joining a number of other churches in South East Edinburgh in an enterprise called “The Discovery Programme”. This is a programme devised by TEAR Fund*, and designed to help churches serve their communities better. The key stages in the process are –

· researching the nature of your community,
· consulting with local agencies, (such as schools, GP Surgeries, Police),
· identifying the areas of need,
· matching these needs with what you can offer,
· devising an appropriate response.

This is not something we will be doing alone. Over the coming months we will be meeting regularly with the leaders of the other churches, so that we can share out our findings and make sure there is no duplication in our responses.

The first and crucially important step in the Discovery Programme, however, is to recognise and celebrate what is already going on, and, as you can see, there is a quite a lot. So, true to form, our leadership has planned a season of celebration. This season was launched at the Joint morning service on the last Sunday in August. It was one of those joyful occasions, combining recognition of the huge variety of things people do, with words of appreciation from community members who are benefiting. Added to this, we celebrated a baptism, a confirmation, and several others wanting to join our church. All in all, it was a bit chaotic, with lots of happiness and hugs, and plenty to talk about over tea in the halls afterwards.

The next major event in our season of celebration will be when we mark the completion of the renovation work being carried out on our church halls. Our aim is to enhance what we already have with a more accessible and welcoming entrance, with the potential for a real cafe in the foyer, and better facilities all round. Our hope is that the work will be completed by the end of September, and we will be able to have an official opening in October. So, watch this space, and be sure to come along and join in the fun.

In the meantime, here’s a thought. What do you have to celebrate in your life, and who would you wish to celebrate with? If you’re looking for people to share in your joy, I know a bunch of people who are very good at it.

Much love
John

Mike Breen* is well known for pointing out that you don’t find Jesus ‘resting from work’, rather you find him ‘working from rest’. In other words, Jesus time of resting and recharging always came at the beginning, rather than at the end of the day, and whenever he faces a particular challenge, he always prepares himself by spending time alone with his Father. Mike goes on to challenge us to make sure our lives are ordered by rhythms of rest and work – whether on a daily, weekly, or yearly basis.

The word in the Bible for times of rest is ‘Sabbath’, and the Sabbath, declared Jesus, is made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath. Rest is God’s gift to us, given for our benefit and blessing. If we don’t begin with rest, we can’t work, and if we can’t work, our lives will be less and less fruitful and more and more joyless.

But ‘working from rest’ is not as easy as it sounds. My problem has always been that I am the sort of person who prefers to do things the other way round – in other words, ‘resting from work’. If there are tasks to be done I have problems switching off. I much prefer to start the day by getting stuck in so that I can get ahead. I say to myself, “Once everything is done, that’s when I’ll be able to truly rest.” Yet I know there is always more than enough to be done, and by the end of the day all I will be tempted to do is collapse on the sofa and fall asleep in front of the TV.

If you are like me, and struggle with the idea of ‘working from rest’, you might appreciate the wisdom of James Bryan Smith**, when he says that the three core elements of Sabbath are rest, trust, and surrendering control. ‘Resting from work’ expresses our faith in ourselves, whereas ‘working from rest’ demonstrates our faith in God. Putting rest first means putting the coming day, or week, or year into God’s hands. It is our way of saying that we trust God more than we trust ourselves, and that he is in control of things. It’s our way of saying that, whatever lies ahead, and whatever needs doing, God will give us the all guidance and help we need to get it done.

Summer, of course is the Sabbath season, when things slow down, and the long awaited holidays arrive. So, with some help from James Bryan Smith, I’ve come up with a set of rules to help me do some serious resting, (and maybe you will find them useful too).

1. Leave your work behind! Switch off your work mobile, don’t take your blackberry with you, and don’t be tempted to check those emails.
2. Rest! Sleeping is good – as much as you can!
3. Play! Do the things you enjoy doing. Eat things you enjoy eating. Spend time with people you enjoy spending time with. Go to places you love going to.
4. Abide! Make sure you spend some good quality time with God. Look back on the year and thank him for all his blessings. Add a good book by a Christian Author to your pile of holiday reading. Keep a daily journal of what God has been saying to you. Start each day in his presence.

I always feel that the sign of a good holiday is when you begin to want to be back at work again. That’s the true test of whether you will be ‘working from rest.’

Have a happy summer!

Much love

John

* Mike Breen – The Passionate Life

** James Bryan Smith – The Good and Beautiful Life

It started out as a fairly straightforward plan for a free afternoon – Lindsay and I would drive over to Morningside and meet our son and his girlfriend for tea and a catch-up. It was when we got there that things got complicated!

We had paused opposite a cafe on Morningside Road so that I could nip across and check if it was open. As I opened the driver’s door, it was caught by a gust of wind, and swung open with real force. We heard a loud crack, and try as we could, we couldn’t get the door to shut. There we were, parked on a very busy and narrow main road into town, with the driver’s side door jammed wide open and obstructing the passing traffic.

This was not the gentle, joyful and relaxed afternoon outing we had planned. We did all the sensible things. I put up our EU regulation warning triangle, so that drivers could see that something was wrong, and I wrapped a luminous visi-vest around the door so that it was easy to spot. Then all we could do was phone rescue and recovery and sit and wait.

Given the reactions of the passers by, that time spent waiting in the car was both mildly embarrassing and highly informative. A small number of drivers took it upon themselves to give us advice. This tended to be of the loud and offensive variety, accompanied by some enthusiastic hand gestures and shakes of the head. Clearly they were assuming that we had chosen to sit in our car on a windy day with the door wide open just to annoy them! Most people, however, after a curious glance, simply ignored us and walked on by.

I was reminded of the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10.25-37), where Jesus challenges us to be prepared to get involved in other people’s lives, even complete strangers, when they are in need. I know from our experience of living abroad, that if this had happened in the global south we would soon have been surrounded by a group of strangers, eager to put things right. Not so here! So, why is it that we live in a society where people are more and more reluctant to stop and help?

Perhaps it’s a combination of fear, frustration, and general indifference. Sometimes, (and I include myself in this), we are afraid to stop and help people on the road because of all the stories we hear of people being attacked and robbed, but more often it’s because of the inconvenience of getting involved. Sometimes we are too quick to judge someone’s situation and give advice from a distance, when there might be more complicated factors at work. Sometimes we are too wrapped up in our own plans and priorities to even consider putting them to one side for the sake of others. And so we walk or drive on, and try to put it out of our mind as quickly as we can.

The alternative, of course, is much more risky, but also much more rewarding – to put all our fears and frustrations to one side, and to get involved. In the long half hour before the rescue and recovery van arrived, one person did stop. He jumped out of his car and asked if he could help. In the event there was little he could do, but his small act of kindness changed our mood completely. It restored our faith in humankind, and reminded us of the power of compassion when it comes to making a difference, whatever the situation.

Much love

John

This year our New Kirk Halls are celebrating their twentieth birthday. As you enter the main door of Liberton Kirk Centre, you will see a commemorative stone, set into the floor at your feet, saying “Liberton Kirk Halls, 1993”.

Back in the 1980’s and led by John Cameron, the members of our church developed the bold and imaginative vision of turning their halls into a community centre for all the people of Liberton, and in 1993, after many years of fundraising, the new Kirk Halls were finally opened. 

Looking back over the last twenty years we can see how wonderfully that vision has been fulfilled. The Kirk Centre, which is the envy of many Edinburgh churches, is used regularly by hundreds of people of all ages, the majority of whom have no ‘official’ church connection at all. This, in turn, has encouraged the warm recognition of our presence in the area as a whole, and has acted as a ‘bridge’, connecting us with those who are interested in exploring our faith and becoming more involved in our church’s life.

Over the years, however, the continuous use of our halls has highlighted one or two things which still needed to be improved upon. The entrance area, which opens onto the stairs, is generally unwelcoming, the double doors into the Foyer are a major obstacle for wheelchair users and buggies, and the fact that no one can see who is coming in and going out of the front door has always been a security issue.

While there has been a growing feeling that something needs to be done, money has always been a problem, and, given the current financial climate, another fund-raising project is something we have been keen to avoid. I am happy to announce, therefore, that, thanks to the generosity and foresight of several individuals, we are now in a position to do something without having to raise any extra funds at all. These people are May Hunter, Minnie Brown, Kathleen Donald, and Wilma Munro, – well known members of our congregation who are now no longer with us but have left money for us in their wills.

Having spent many months in planning and discussion, the Kirk Session decided on Monday 11^th March to go ahead with plans to upgrade the entrance and Foyer of our Halls Complex. We plan to replace the double doors with single glass doors set into a glass partition, and to replace the kitchen hatch with a proper servery. We have appointed an architect, and have every hope that the alterations will have begun by the end of June and completed within three months. 

It is our hope that the result will be a halls complex that is much more open, welcoming and secure, opening up onto a Foyer which is designed as the meeting point for all the halls users – a place where friendships can be developed and relationships built upon. God has been good, and we can now look forward to the original vision of the 1980’s to be further enhanced for many years to come.

Much love

John

The trouble with praying in public is it can make us feel very vulnerable.Mark tells us how, on one occasion, the disciples felt very vulnerable indeed. A man had brought his troubled son to them while Jesus was away up a mountain, but when they had prayed for him to be healed, nothing had happened. Jesus returned to find them feeling rather foolish and surrounded by a scornful and angry crowd. Fortunately, he was able to step in and save the day.

Mark tells us that, later on, they asked Jesus why the boy hadn’t been healed. His reply is a bit confusing. “This can happen only by prayer”, he said (Mark 9.28-29). What did he mean? Had they not done just that and nothing had happened?

The clue to what Jesus meant is in the footnote at the bottom of the page, where we are told that some manuscripts had Jesus words as, “This can happen only by prayer and fasting.” In other words, it wasn’t their public praying that was the problem, it was the fact that it had not sprung from a lifestyle of prayer and fasting. They hadn’t been taking their own prayer life seriously enough. They hadn’t been getting the basics right.

Jesus took his own prayer life very seriously indeed. Throughout Lent we bear in mind the 40 days Jesus spent praying and fasting in the wilderness before he was even ready to begin his ministry. This was time spent tuning into his Father’s will, and opening up his life to his Holy Spirit’s power. Throughout his ministry we are told how he began every day alone in prayer. Before he died he spent the whole night in prayer, getting himself ready for the ordeal that lay ahead.

How seriously do we take our own prayer life? As you can see from the diary of events, during Lent there will be plenty of opportunities for us to meet together in public prayer. Every Tuesday the McDonald Room has been set aside as a place of prayer at various times throughout the day. The whole week before Palm Sunday has been set aside by all the BIG Idea churches as a time of 24/7 prayer, (tying in with the city wide prayer initiative organised by Trypraying). We will begin each weekday with an early morning prayer time at the Blythswood shop, and then each church building will be open in turn. Liberton Kirk will then be open for prayer from 8.30am on the Friday, and will be open for prayer until 8am the following morning.

But if this is the only time we plan to spend in prayer, all our efforts may well come to nothing. Public prayer is important, but only if we get the basics right. We also need to take our own private prayer life seriously. The more time we spend in private prayer, the more God will be able to use us. The more time we spend praying together, the more it demonstrates that we are ready for his Spirit to move among us. Does prayer always work? It depends how seriously you are willing to take it. My prayer is that you come to know more and more of the joy of God’s living presence in your life as you journey through Lent towards Easter.

Much love, John