Category: Thoughts

Lindsay first heard the phrase, “TGIF”, long before it was known to me. It was used by the nuns who taught at a local school near where she grew up. These days it is used everywhere. I’m sure it strikes a chord, not just with those who have devoted their lives to teaching, but with all those whose working weeks begin on Monday morning and last until Friday afternoon. It’s a phrase that captures that sense of relief that the weekend is here at last. TGIF! Thank God it’s Friday!

Friday is a special day for all sorts of reasons. It was on a Friday 15 years ago that a bunch of local Christians set out on a prayer walk from the different parts of South East Edinburgh where they lived and worshipped. As they walked they joined up with other Christians from other churches, and, like streams flowing together, their processions grew larger and larger converging on the grassy area opposite Mt Vernon Cemetery. As one of the walkers that day, I remember how we arrived, carrying our crosses, and looked up to see similar groups making their way towards us from different directions.

We were about 40 in number by the time everyone had arrived, and we represented a variety of local churches. We sang some well known hymns and songs and prayed together, before each leader then took it in turn to share what that day meant to them. It was Mike Fallon a local priest, who summed it all up. “I’m not quite sure what I’m doing here”, he said, “but I do know it is significant. Because at this very moment something very significant is happening across the Irish Sea, and in our small way I feel part of it.” It was Good Friday, 1999 – the day of the signing of the Good Friday Peace Agreement. It was the day ‘The troubles’ were officially brought to an end.

Since that day we have made the Good Friday Prayer Walk an annual event, and over the years the numbers have crept up. Last year there were over 150 of us who ended up outside Morrison’s on Gilmerton Road, representing churches throughout the area and beyond. This year we will be there again. We meet, we sing, and we pray together. And we listen once again to the story of that first Good Friday, when someone did something remarkable for us; something which changed the world. Here are the words of one of the hymns we will sing.

There is a green hill, far away
Outside a city wall
Where the dear Lord was crucified
Who died to save us all

Thank God it’s Friday!
Much love
John

Back in February, Lindsay and I went to Yorkshire Dales for the weekend to celebrate our wedding anniversary (hard to believe it’s been 34 years!), and on the Sunday we went along to join the worship at the local parish church. This is a lovely old country church where we had worshipped many times before. On the way in we got chatting to a relative newcomer to the area, and he asked us where we were from. When we said Scotland, he paused for a moment, thinking hard, and then said, “Are you Episcopalians?”

It was a question that gave me much cause for thought during the service that followed. Am I an Episcopalian or am I a Presbyterian? In the course of my life and ministry I have been both. In Pakistan, we served under the local Bishop, and followed the set liturgy in our Sunday services. In Edinburgh I am a member of the local Presbytery, and, at Liberton, we have a pattern of worship which is flexible, to say the least. Over the years I have also enjoyed sharing in the worship and ministry of Roman Catholic, Methodist, Brethren, Baptist, Pentecostal and Independent churches. What does this make me?

Let me tell you about our worship experience that day in the Yorkshire Dales. We came out of the rain into a warm church where we were welcomed by a smiling man who handed us a couple of books and a notice sheet. We found our way to a pew and no one asked us to move. One of the books contained the day’s liturgy, (a set of prayers and responses which was simple and easy to follow). We sang hymns together and said the prayers together, and then listened to a very thought provoking sermon on Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. We then stood and said the Christian Creed together, and were invited to the front to share in communion along with everyone else. After a closing hymn we were offered cups of tea by several of the more regular worshippers. We left feeling loved and nourished – both physically and spiritually.

One of the real strengths of the Christian Church is that what we share far exceeds where we differ. In my experience the different ‘denominations’ that exist are simply the labels on the packaging. What really matters is what you find inside. As a church we are called to be Christ’s body on earth, meeting together to celebrate our faith, to be challenged by his word and to be strengthened by his Spirit, so that we can go out and carry on the work he has  begun. As long as this is happening, our form of worship or church government is of little importance. So, if you meet a stranger walking up the path to join us for Sunday worship, please don’t ask them if they are a ‘Presbyterian’.

Much love

John

There is no worse feeling than that of being falsely accused. We are falsely accused when, groundlessly, we are criticised or accused for doing something wrong. If it’s ever happened to you, you’ll know that it really hurts.

My very first day at school was a memorable one for all the wrong reasons. I had joined the class late – three months into their term. I can still remember my eldest sister, Ella, dropping me off at the door of the classroom, and the teacher looking up and pointing to a desk by the window. I obediently sat down and waited. She gave out some instructions to the class as a whole, but I didn’t understand what she meant so I carried on waiting.

Forty minutes passed, and still no one told me what to do. Eventually the teacher looked up from her desk, but instead of helping me out, she started to shout at me at the top of her voice. “You’ve been sitting there doing nothing for the last forty minutes”, she said. “If you didn’t know what to do you should have come out and asked.” I can still remember that feeling of shock and helplessness. Is this what school was meant to be like? If so, I didn’t like it one bit.

Being falsely accused happens to us all. Only recently I was given an angry earful by someone for something that was nothing to do with me. I spent the next hour trying to carry on unperturbed, while inside I was seething. Eventually I had to ask God for help on the matter. “Oh God”, I said. “Please help me to get over this before it begins to effect things too much.” And God did help. He reminded me that hurt I was feeling is how he himself feels when he, too, is wrongly accused by people every day. Because, when things go wrong in people’s lives, then, more often than not, it’s God who gets the blame. And when that happens, he too feels that hurt.

Over the next few weeks, on Sunday mornings, we are looking at the character of what Jesus calls ‘the Kingdom of God’. Through the eyes of his disciples we hope to see how his ways are different from the ways of the world. So, how does he respond to being falsely accused? Does he lash out in judgement? Does he keep quiet at the time, and then moan about it when he’s with his friends? Does he bottle it all up and take it out on the cat?

Jesus response to being falsely accused is summed up by his words from the cross – “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.” He responds to the hurt with something the Bible calls ‘grace’. Grace is the gift you offer which is not deserved, but given freely all the same. Grace reflects a love that is unconditional.

A false accusation is something that can cause great hurt, and it happens to us all. But the next time you feel that hurt, how are you going to respond? Are you going to offer hurt in return? There is an alternative. The way of grace is far more difficult, but it is the only way to healing.

Much love

John