A Tale of Two Bridges

There are now two bridges across the Forth at Kincardine, although the newest one won't open to vehicle traffic for a little while yet. It was raining when I took the above photo of the new bridge, but perhaps you can get some idea of the scale and simplicity of the new crossing. Construction began in 2006 and it will open when the approaches are finally completed. The two towers, one near either end, are actually electricity transmission pylons, carrying high voltage cables across the Forth, and are nothing to do with the new bridge.

The old bridge shown below was built between 1932 & 1936 and was the first road bridge downstream of Stirling. It was a swing bridge with a rotating central section that allowed shipping to pass upstream to the port of Alloa. It was no longer required to open after the port was closed in 1988. The new bridge, slightly upstream of the original, has a raised central section, but does not open. Once the new bridge is in full use, the old bridge will close to traffic for a year or two to allow a major refurbishment to be undertaken.

Conference Venue - Tulliallan

It was splendid to meet up with my trainee colleagues at our conference over the weekend. There were 25 of us who have been training together for the past 2 or 3 years, along with 5 new people transferring into the Church of Scotland from elsewhere, who have been added to our group.

The seminars were all interesting and well presented, and we enjoyed meeting at Tulliallan, near Kincardine, in the elegant 160-year-old former home of Admiral Lord Keith, former senior officer with Lord Nelson. It became the police college in the 1950s, with the addition of major extensions up until the late 70s.

What's a Probationers' Conference?

During the first year of our 15-month final training placement, all of the trainees are required to attend four training conferences. These are held in various residential centres for 3 or 4 days each time.

There will be 32 trainees at the first of this year's conferences this weekend, most of whom are first-time trainees. A few of the participants are transferring from other denominations.

We will hear speakers teaching us about pastoring, preaching, bereavement care, personal spirituality, caring in the city, and church law - including marriage.

I'm looking forward to learning more about these diverse subjects, and I'm also looking forward to meeting my fellow trainees. Most of us haven't seen each other for more than a year, and some will be newcomers. I'm sure we will have a lot to talk about, having completd our university studies, and started our final placement, since we last met.

And why is it called a "Probationers' Conference'"? It's an obsolete term really, since trainees used to be licensed before we started this final stage. But we were still in a probationary period until we had finished this placement. So it was called the Probation Placement.

Nowadays, the official term is Final Placement, but no-one has found an easy-sounding replacement for the conference name, so they are still Probationers' Conferences!

Back to Church Sunday

It's a mark of how low the church has fallen these days that this Sunday has been designated Back to Church Sunday. You can read more about the campaign at their website.

Winchburgh Church are inviting everyone to their Harvest Service this Sunday at 11:30am, and for a free Soup Lunch afterwards. The service will be for all ages, containing a variety of items suitable for children and for adults.

If you've not been to church for a while then why not come along this Sunday and enjoy the fun! The church was refurbished in February this year, so if you've not been since then, it's not the same church that it used to be!

Harvest Thoughts from Ruth

I was sharing a few Harvest Thoughts today with the Senior Citizens club in Winchburgh. What I said arose out of the story of Ruth in the Old Testament. Her story is one of only two stories about women that get a whole book in the Bible to themselves. Although I summarised Ruth's story for the gathering this afternoon, I won't do that here. I suggest that you read the whole book for yourselves. It's not long.

What is the story of Ruth all about? Why is it in the Bible?

At first sight it’s just a family story about King David’s great-grandmother Ruth, and her mother-in-law Naomi. Ruth had married into Naomi’s family, and then through multiple bereavements the family had become destitute. Boaz comes to their aid and rescues them both.

It’s a nice story, but why has it become Holy Scripture?

I think the reason is that Ruth's story is a model for human relationship with God.

The key moment is Ruth's declaration of faithfulness to Naomi prior to their return to Bethlehem. She was committed not only committed to Naomi, but to Naomi's people, and to her God. Here is what she said, “Where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay; your people shall be my people; and your God my God; where you die I will die; and there I will be buried.” (Ruth 1:16,17 NRSV)

When Naomi’s family come on hard times due to crop failure they decide to go somewhere else. It’s a betrayal of God. They go to the Moabites, who worship a different god, and seek their fortune there.

They abandon their family heritage in the Promised Land as part of the People of God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses.

So when misfortune comes upon the family, those who heard the story say, “It serves them right. They ran away and now God has deserted them. It’s not surprising disaster has come upon them.”

And in the story, Naomi herself thinks that the Lord has dealt harshly with her and has brought calamity upon her. She tells people to call her ‘Mara’, which means ‘Bitter’. She certainly felt bitter after all that had happened to her.

And when we read the story today, perhaps we also think that she is entitled to feel bitter, after losing her husband and her two sons.

However, it was the family’s decision to leave Bethlehem that contributed to Naomi's present state of poverty. The story does not tell us if anyone else left Bethlehem because of the famine. Certainly, some ten years later, the town seems to be doing well. Boaz, Naomi’s relative, seems comfortably well off, employing many labourers. Boaz felt comfortable enough to grant Ruth and Naomi a significant portion of his crop, as much as Ruth was able to carry on her own. Perhaps Naomi and her husband were too quick to go to Moab.

Also, Naomi’s attitude takes no account of Ruth. Perhaps she thought that this foreign young woman could be of no help to her. Ruth had to ask Naomi if she could go and glean, i.e. to scavenge, in the fields after the harvest.

And although Naomi gave her permission, she didn’t give Ruth any advice on where she should glean. Surely Naomi knew of her kinsmen in the town. But it seems that Naomi had given up. She was in despair. She had lost her trust in God, and in everyone else as well.

But Ruth doesn’t give up. She goes out to look for food. And God blesses her hopeful faithfulness. She comes to Boaz’s field, and Boaz finds out that she is staying with Naomi, the widow of his relative. Boaz tells his workers to look after Ruth and to leave extra grain for Ruth to collect.

Ruth could have taken the grain she had gleaned to the market and kept the money to buy food for herself. But ‘No’. She is faithful to Naomi. She said she would stay with Naomi, through the bad times, even unto death, if that is where their path lay.

It is Ruth’s faithfulness to Naomi, and her unconditional acceptance of Naomi’s culture, and faith in God, that is the motive for this story being retained in the Bible.

The story of Ruth tells us that God is faithful to those who turn away from him, and then come back to him, as Naomi did. Naomi was not very strong in her faith, but she did leave Moab and return to her family in Israel, in Bethlehem. And God restored her.

And God is not only faithful to Naomi, but also to Ruth. She was a foreigner, living in a strange land, with strange people, worshipping their strange God. But she was faithful to Naomi, and God’s response was to be faithful to her, and through her to Naomi.

God exhorts us to look out for the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner, in our midst. We should shelter them and care for them, rather than discriminating against them, as too often happens these days.

And as we are faithful to God, so we can trust him to be faithful to us, just as he was to Ruth and Naomi.

Harvesters

On Saturday we got a close-up view of a Combine Harvester at work. Living in Edinburgh it's not the sort of thing we see very often, sometimes not for several years.

And today it was just the other side of the fence. It was huge! Churning away at the crop - wheat, I think. Gathering in the seeds, and chucking out the chopped-up straw behind. It was fascinating to watch, as I hope you see in the video clip above.

And then once it reached the end of its run it emptied out the golden grain into the tractor trailer, as you can see in the clip below. The field lay before us - ripe for harvest.



It reminded me of the time that Jesus said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few." (Matthew 9:37)

Have you been harvesting recently? Are you up to the task - like these massive Combine Harvesters? Get trained up! Become an expert Harvester!

In recent years, I have come across a good group of Harvesters. You can read about them at their website.

West Lothian scale-model of Solar System

In the 1770s, during the so-called Scottish Enlightenment, the 11th Earl of Buchan created a scale-model of the Solar System, as they knew it at that time. In the last few years, a group of artists have created a new scale model of the Solar System, inspired by the Kirkhill Pillar, which was part of the original model.

You can see and read more about it at the project website, which contains videos with the artists and other local participants.

Below are photos of each of the sculptures and artworks that my wife and I visited on Saturday as part of our 30th anniversary celebration day. We saw the Neptune artwork at Kingscavil Church on Sunday (21st), and I photographed it on Tuesday (23rd).

Thirty Years!

Thirty Years. It's a long time. It's 10,957 days. Put like that it sounds even longer!

I can hardly believe that over 10,000 times I've woken up beside my wonderful wife Liz. She and I have been married for 30 years now, and we've been celebrating all weekend! Don't we look good, even after 10,000 days together?!

Our celebration began on Saturday by taking a tour round the Solar System on our bikes! We began by visiting the Sun, then Mercury, Venus, Mars and Earth (Yes, I know it was the wrong order!). And then the asteroid Thule, followed by Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. I wonder if you can tell how we managed all that!

In the evening we had a nice celebration meal in Leith with my brother and his girl-friend. They have been together almost ten years now, so this year will be a big year for them too.

The celebrations continued today. We enjoyed receiving gifts and congratulations at the churches where we have been this morning and this afternoon, Davidson's Mains, Kingscavil, Winchburgh, and Bridgend. There was a Harvest Tea party at Bridgend in the afternoon, and my Mum came with us too. It was great she was able to come along and meet some of the people I have been working with these past few weeks.

Who knows what the next 30 years will bring. God has been with us these past 30 years, and we know he'll be with us for the next 30 too. May He be praised forever!

Firelighting

Three weeks ago, when I was staying with friends in the Borders, one morning I offered to light the fire. Fire has always fascinated me, and I couldn't resist the opportunity.

That fascination is probably why I like using the Barbecue in the summer, and our coal fire in the house during the winter (using smokeless fuel, of course!). With all that experience I didn't think it would take me long.

However, it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. The coal was wet, and there were no firelighters! Now admittedly, when I'm using the Barbecue, I have a metal chimney for lighting the charcoal, which just needs some newspaper and one match. But the charcoal is dry, rather than wet.

So, although I had newspaper, kindling sticks, and coal, it took me several attempts before the fire got going, and all that took about an hour, rather than the ten minutes or so I had initially imagined.

It's strange, isn't it? In some scenarios, fires start too easily - electrical sparks in the house, cigarette ends or careless fires in summer droughts. Sometimes bits of glass can start a fire from bright sunshine, and in summer thunderstorms lightning strikes can set whole forests ablaze. Such situations are rather a contrast to my pathetic attempts to light the fire.

It all made me think back to incidents in the life of the early church. When the Holy Spirit came, "They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them." (Acts 2:3, TNIV). The Holy Spirit was vital to the development of the early church. Without the Spirit's activity the church would have withered and died as had happened many other religious initiatives of the time.

In those days the followers of Jesus were expectant, they were ready and waiting for the Spirit. And when the Spirit arrived, they caught fire, and thousands of people joined their number (Acts 2:41).

Many church communities today are not in the same place of expectancy and preparation. If the Spirit came with the spark of flame, sceptics and scoffers would rush to put out the fire before their way of doing things was consumed by the flames.

We should be gathering tinder, drying off the fuel, and preparing for a mighty conflagration, when the Spirit comes to energise Jesus' Church to gather in the harvest. Are you dry tinder, or a wet blanket?

2 Lost but 1 Found!

Early on this morning I realised that my plastic card wallet was not in my trouser pocket where it was supposed to be. I checked the other places in the house where it might have been. There was no sign of it. It was missing.

I was also trying to solve another mystery. How was it that I had not received a voicemail on my mobile yesterday evening? I was to give someone a lift to the Bible Study at the church, but I didn't get the message.

I was pretty sure that the wallet would be somewhere safe, so I didn't call the banks, etc. and cancel the cards. But I needed to locate the wallet to be sure. I checked the jacket and trousers I had been wearing on Sunday morning, and it wasn't in my gardening jeans either. I would have to check the two homes I had been in on Monday, and the church too.

Out at the church I spent the late morning and lunchtime helping to print the quarterly magazine. Our printer had gone faulty and we were kindly offered the use of the printer at Broxburn RC Church. It was a job that needed done, but all the time I was pondering my two mysteries. The wallet hadn't been at the church, neither in the sanctuary nor in the Session room where we had met for the Bible Study.

I got my wife to send me a trial voicemail on my mobile. It worked OK. I had received a phone call from that person before. So they had the right number. The person confirmed that they had definitely left a message. There was no clue to what had happened.

Back in Winchburgh I returned to the two houses I had been in on Monday. We had a thorough search but there was no sign of my wallet. By now I was beginning to get alarmed. Maybe I would have to call the banks after all. It doesn't take very long for a disreputable person to use up a plastic card. Although I still couldn't figure how I could have lost the wallet outside.

As I drove home I had another think about what I had been doing on Sunday and Monday. It occurred to me that I had worn another pair of jeans after I finished in the garden on Sunday. I hadn't checked them earlier in the day. Perhaps I didn't take it out of the pocket at the end of the day. They must be there.

When I got home, I nipped up to the bedroom, and sure enough, there was the wallet, just where I had left it, in my jean's pocket. Well, that was a relief!

The wallet had been lost but now it was found. I was pleased. It reminded me of a famous song, about being lost and then found. Of course, it's Amazing Grace, 'I once was lost but now am found', penned by John Newton back in the 18th century.

I thought about how we are all lost, not knowing where we are, until God finds us, and we understand that we are in his family, secure, safe, and not lost.

Jesus told many stories about people and things that were lost and then found, a sheep, a coin, treasure. Are you searching? What have you lost? God knows the answer to what you're looking for.

And the Voicemail? It's still a mystery!

Wet Sunday

For the two infants who were baptised this morning it was wetter than for most of us! One baptism was at Abercorn, and the other at Winchburgh. It was great to see so many extra children in both congregations, the friends and families of the baptismal families.

Although it was a lovely sunny morning, which must have given great light for the Abercorn Art Exhibition, the afternoon became gloomier and gloomier, until at last the rain started falling again. Our farmers must be at their wits end with all this rain. We've hardly had two dry days in a row, or even all summer!

The grass in my garden was growing long, so I was glad that by 4 o'clock most of the dew had evaporated and I could get it cut. It was sticking and clumping all over, so there was rather a lot of handwork to be done picking it all up afterwards. But at least I got it finished before the rain came on.

Of course, the wet weather we have been having is nothing compared with the storms and floods they have been having in the Caribbean and in northern India and Nepal. We have much to be thankful for in our own climate, and we should be doing our best to support those in much worse situations than us. May they know God's help.

I wonder what next week will bring in my placement at Abercorn, Pardovan, Kingscavil and Winchburgh. God knows!

Abercorn Art Exhibition - Finished now!

It was rather remiss of me to forget to take my camera to the opening of Abercorn Art Exhibition this weekend. I had intended to take some photos so you could see how good it was, and it was good!

There are a large number of paintings by three different local artists, June Cameron, Fred Shewan, and James Campbell, who sadly died in December last year.

The artists have contributed many different styles of painting, oil, watercolour, still life, landscape, portrait, and don't ask me what else because that's the limit of my artistic knowledge! But I do know that I enjoyed looking at the paintings, and admiring the skill of the artists, and their interpretation of what they had been looking at.

If you have time to go and see the exhibition over the weekend then I thoroughly recommend it. It's open from 11am to 6pm on Saturday (13th September) with a BBQ from 1pm to 2pm. And on Sunday it's open from 11am to 5pm.

You might even like to join us for worship in the ancient Abercorn Church on Sunday from 10am to 11am. The church will be open throughout the exhibition and you will be most welcome to look round our historic worship centre.

To find the exhibition and church, travel to Newton (West of South Queensferry on the road to Bo'ness), and then take the Abercorn Road at the West end of the village.

Back to School Today

Today we visited Winchburgh Primary School. It's a lovely modern building, as you can see above, with friendly staff and delightful children.

We spent all morning visiting all six classes and I was impressed by the depth of the responses the children gave. We also had some fun with music. I took in my French Horn, as part of telling the children a bit about myself, and we played and sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star several times!

The song is about wondering what the twinkling star really is, and we had some fun thinking about who God really is as well. By the end of the morning I was exhausted!

No wonder the children are tired when they get home from school, and I now have a fresh admiration for school teachers too.

In the afternoon we had a contrast, leading worship with some of the residents of the local sheltered housing centre. We had a laugh there too as we thought about the trustworthiness of God.

Farewell Edinburgh

Tonight the Edinburgh Presbytery initiated the transference of my Candidate Supervision to West Lothian Presbytery. I had already laid down my role as the Presbytery's Prayer Co-ordinator a couple of months ago. So that's me finished with Edinburgh Presbytery for the meantime.

I'm a bit sad about leaving, for they are a group of people whom I have got to know quite well over the past 6 years. But now at West Lothian Presbytery I have a new group of people to get to know. And it's a much smaller group than the couple of hundred folk that are in Edinburgh Presbytery. I already knew some of them from a long time ago, and met more of them last week.

Meeting people. It's what my new job, indeed my whole role as a Minister, is about. Meeting people where they are at, and helping them to move forward, in the company of God.

I myself am moving out from my previous comfort zones, and heading out into unknown territory. So I guess I too am blazing a new trail, as are many of the people to whom I am ministering. I'm enjoying it already, and looking forward very much to the weeks and months ahead.

Our God is a Great Big God!

First Sunday

It was my first Sunday at Kingscavil Church today, and my first Sunday 'in post' at Winchburgh. Some probationers get dropped in at the deep end by being given services to take when their minister is away during the early weeks. But not me.

Scott has been very kind, or else not sure of my abilities(;-), and organised other people to lead the two services today. At least that meant Scott could relax during his weekend off!

Kingscavil has a bright, airy sanctuary, with nice stained glass in the centre part of the windows, and clear glass at the edges to let the light in. They also have a nice set of colourful banners from their centenary a few years ago. It's a charming place and I'm looking forward to leading worship there.

The interior of Winchburgh Church was refurbished earlier this year, with wall-to-wall carpeting, comfortable chairs (almost too comfortable!), and nice cheerful paintwork. It too is a very pleasant place in which to worship, as you can see from the photo above.

Although I wasn't involved in leading the worship services today, I found it quite hard work, meeting so many new people, and trying to remember new names, and those of people I had already met. But everyone made Liz and I very welcome and I'm looking forward to the coming week, and indeed all 64 remaining weeks of my placement!

Impressions - updated

At the beginning of August I was telling you about the Impressionist exhibition Liz and I had visited a few days before. Yesterday Liz found out the name of the painting I mentioned and I've updated the entry with a link to the Ulster Museum site where you can see an image of the painting.

Three Funerals and a Wedding!

It's been a busy first week in my new Placement.
That's my poor excuse for neglecting you all this week.

At the start of Monday we had a plan for my introduction to life in PKW&A but as the day progressed the plan gradually got pushed to the side as the needs of the bereaved families and communities pressed in on us.

It wasn't only the families, but a large number of the people who live in and around Winchburgh were suffering the loss of their friend David. He had fought cancer bravely and with determination but unsuccessfully. But he lived life to the full right to the end, marrying his fiancée only a few days before he died.

The church was packed, with people standing not only lining the walls, but filling the centre aisle too. It was an awesome tribute to a young man who had clearly touched the lives of so many people in the community.

Isobel's funeral earlier in the day was a smaller affair, but no less touching. Although she had only lived in Winchburgh for the past 10 years, many people came to bid her farewell. Even one of her former neighbours in South Queensferry came, despite the difficulties for her of that journey. Isobel's sudden death spared her the pain and suffering of illness and old age, but has made the parting more difficult for her family and friends.

And lastly, on Friday it was time to say farewell to Effie. She had lived in Abercorn parish for more than 50 years, hailing originally from Galashiels. Approaching 100 years of age, there were not many at the crematorium, but those who knew and loved her clearly mourned her passing. She had been a founder member of Abercorn Guild many years ago and had retained an active interest in the life of the church even in her last days. Her faithful service at Hopetoun House was marked by several of her former colleagues and the estate factor.

The wedding service on Friday afternoon was a welcome contrast to those of earlier in the week. There were babies, and frocks and kilts, and much giggles and laughter, as the happy couple pledged their troth and began their married life together with their friends and families. It was indeed a joy to be part of the service of blessing and commitment within which they were wed. I was surprised to discover that we sang one of the hymns we had sung earlier.

Love divine, all loves excelling. Yes indeed, God does love his people, in the celebrations of marriage, as well as in the sadnesses of parting. As Paul puts it, in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians,

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds
through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that
just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. (TNIV, 2 Cor. 1:3-7).

And I have yet to mention the meeting of West Lothian Presbytery on Tuesday. It was a Communion service during which the new Moderator of Presbytery was elected. Since Peter is an elder at Winchburgh that's where we met. It was a wonderful beginning to my Placement and I was surprised and pleased to be formally welcomed into the Presbytery.

So all in all it has been a busy but satisfying first week. Only another 64 weeks to go!

Introducing Pardovan, Kingscavil, Winchburgh & Abercorn

Hmmm, that is rather a long title, isn't it?
I suspect I'll be shortening it to PKW&A before long!

Anyway, that's the official title of the two parishes I'll be working for until the end of November 2009. Abercorn was fairly recently linked to the previous union of Pardovan, Kingscavil and Winchburgh.


The PKW parish is located between Kirkliston and Linlithgow, on both sides of what used to be the main A9 road from Edinburgh to Stirling. They have three buildings, one at Winchburgh, another at Kingscavil close to Linlithgow, and the newer Bridgend Mission Hall between these two. That's Winchburgh church above.


Abercorn is a smaller parish, located between South Queensferry and Blackness & Bo'ness to the West. The Abercorn parish includes the estates of Hopetoun and the Binns within its bounds. However, the church (above) is far older than the other buildings, dating back to the 11th century in the reign of King David I. There are even references to Abercorn back to the 7th century, although there is no knowledge of any ruins from these earlier centuries.

So today has been my first day on the job and I have enjoyed meeting some of the people who live there. Follow my journey as I record it here.