Moving On

It is with dread that I look at the week ahead! Apart from three funerals and a Remembrance Service for those who have died in our community as a result of addiction, a Vestry Meeting and a short listing meeting to choose who we will interview for the post of Associate Priest here, there is the Moving House Day on November 19th.

As I speak, I am surrounded by boxes, some empty bookcases and bare walls. I'm dreading, yet getting really excited, at the prospect of moving on. However, this is not really to a new parish, but to another Rectory in the forthcoming linkage of St Augustine's with St Mungo's Alexandria. Richard Holloway may have recently published his book Leaving Alexandria, and here I am Going to Alexandria!

Moving on has always been a big part of my life, and in many ways it reflects Christian Pilgrimage. We are called constantly to move on, to grow, to change, to be better and to move eventually to the heavenly home! I hope that's a move I'm not asked to make in the next wee while, though, for there is much to do and much to accomplish.

I'm not really leaving Dumbarton, though, it's just that my boundaries have become broader. My office will still be in Dumbarton, and probably most of my time will be spent in Dumbarton too. Just a physical move of goods and shackles. A new house with lots of big rooms which is going to be hell to heat and a garden which fills me with terror, but at least the dogs will be happy!

And both congregations will have to move on; move on to a new place where they will be ministered to by a team rather than an individual. Exciting times...... But I wish we could afford Pickfords who come, do the packing, and let you sit back and watch!

Now, there's another thought! How many of us, in our spiritual journey, take the Pickfords option and let other folks just get on with it as we sit and watch?

God's Revelation - Our Core Beliefs

Yikes! It's been a while since I've had so many positive comments on what was preached on a Sunday. Maybe I'd been getting a bit stale! I'd have liked it to have been recorded, in retrospect, and I cannot reproduce what I said, for it was "off-the-cuff" stuff, but much was based on what I had experienced last week on retreat.

Basically it was centred around what God thinks of us, and what God says to all of us. Let's call them God's revelation, or our Core Beliefs!

• ·         I have been made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1)
• ·         I have sinned but have been redeemed (Gen 3 and 2Cor 5:17)
• ·         I am precious in God’s sight (Isaiah 43:4)
• ·         I have been made little less than a god and crowned with glory and beauty. (Psalm 8:6)
• ·         I am reborn of water and the Holy Spirit  (John 3:6)
• ·         My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1Cor 6:19)
• ·         I am God’s work of art (Ephesians 2:10)
• ·         I am part of the Body of Christ  (1Cor 12:27)

     This is what Scripture tells us, and to protest that we are "only human" does God a great disservice. It may even amount to heresy! Our humanity is precious and loved, a work of art, in the image of God indeed, and we have been made little less than a god and crowned with glory and beauty. How wonderful is that? 

      

      Yet, we are plagued by the Inner Critic. Our lives are full of dialogue, with all sorts of people who will use negative words to tell us how they perceive us, but the rest of the time we have an inner dialogue, and that is when the Inner Critic comes to life. It will tell us that bits of our body, or our whole body is ugly, or that we are useless, that we should have done better, that we are no good and bound to fail, that we are forever falling short. Ad infinitum it goes on and on, whispering lies to us, and the Core Beliefs are shoved to the side as we listen to the Inner Critic which magnifies all our shortcomings, especially if someone else has sown the seed in us! 

      In truth, we need to banish the Inner Critic and see ourselves as God sees us, worthy, loved precious, a work of art, etc etc, which are all part of God's revelation to us. The Inner Critic will destroy us if we let it. 

      We are children of God, and we need to drag that truth from the bottom of our souls and keep it at the top of our inner being, where it belongs, and refuse to let the Inner Critic bury it again!

 

New Soul for All Souls

Coming off a few days at St Mary's Monastery at Kinnoull in Perth, and a wonderfully led mini-retreat by Fr Jim McManus, a priest I have greatly admired for years. These past few months my soul has been greatly troubled by a number of things, and as a result, I have been unwell at times when I'm normally quite a bouncy person. The things which troubled me are still around, OK, but I've managed this last week to put them where they belong, and they will overburden me no longer!

In fact, I'm looking forward to the days ahead, merging two congregations into a Linked Charge, which means I'll be moving house to Alexandria on the 19th November. However, even the thought of the turmoil of moving house is not flustering me in the slightest, although it may do a bit more before we get to the 19th!

On this All Souls Day, I feel as if my own soul has been renewed and revitalised, and that's going to be so important to me as I face the days ahead. There is a morbidness, along with a feeling of gratitude in my heart on every All Souls Day celebration. I grieve for many on the lists I read out, but I'm grateful for all they gave me in their lives. Some names bring a tear, and others a smile.

At the Requiem this morning, I read out a blog post which had popped into my inbox earlier, and all seemed to appreciate the words I read to them. They had moved me deeply. Written by Beth, a young medic, who happens to be a server at the Cathedral, they had me in tears, tears of empathy and understanding and I think joy, yes joy too. There is indeed a fine line between the living and the dead! Read Beth's words here.

Pat's first Celebration of the Eucharist

And then on Sunday we capped it all off!
















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Ordination

                                  

What a wonderful day we had on Saturday 28th September, as Revd Pat Smith was ordained priest in St Augustine's! A full church, two bishops, a music group in fine fettle, and lots of clergy from all over the Diocese. It will be long remembered!

Pain in the Neck

It's been a strange week! On Saturday night I slipped on the top step in the house, trying to carry six things at once, and ended up tumbling down our stairway, bumping my back on each of the fourteen stairs. After a very painful night I struggled through the 9am service on Sunday.

However, the RW drew the line and I was carted off eventually to the RAH in Paisley for multiple x-rays. By this time I was in complete agony and it was feared at one point that I may have broken or chipped a bone in my neck. Thankfully, this proved not to be the case.

Having been told by the doctor the week before to take some rest, I found myself with another few days of having to stay in the house and swallow painkillers like they were going out of fashion.

It's been an enlightening fortnight! Being forced to take time out, good quality thinking time, has enabled me to think through a lot of issues and worries, and gain a bit more perspective. Things WILL get done on time, I CAN cope with my workload, and with my Higher Power partner, nothing is insurmountable.

For those who have supported and helped this past fortnight, 'thank you'! (You know who you are)


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Food Bank

I really didn't want to have much to do with it, as our parish resources were stretched already, and I certainly wasn't going to have any truck with coupons or vouchers, but when West Dunbartonshire Foodshare was born, I was persuaded that St Aug's could be used to provide basic groceries to those whose benefit had been cut or stopped, and who found themselves hungry with hungry children.

At first it was hard going, trying to fix times and commitments, helping people feel safe, and managing to separate those who were really in need from those who were on the 'con', but things have settled down and we are running a worthy wee Food Bank which doesn't use vouchers or letters from your doctor/social worker or anyone else.

The fact that the Benefits Office are turning people away and then sending them to us speaks volumes. CAB and Social Work are constantly referring, and there's a lot of need and poverty outside our door. Benefits are being slashed and ordinary folk are finding themselves in untenable positions. The Bedroom Tax doesn't help, but folk are having to choose between food and electricity, between clothes and rent arrears, with threats of eviction and all the rest. I think we may have saved one or two lives in the process.

I'm appalled by the amount of poverty we are now unearthing in Dumbarton and the Vale, as more and more folk come in tears, with nothing and leave in tears of gratitude with a bagful of groceries sometimes costing less than a fiver. Single mums and dads with kids, and sometimes even wage earners, whose jobs pay less than what is acceptable, and have no way of topping that up.

I hear there was a big Political Forum in Dumbarton last night, talking about poverty and how we tackle the mess we are in. It was nice to hear St Augustine's being praised to the highest heavens for the little we do from MSPs and all in Authority, but why have we come to this, that a struggling wee church which can't afford to pay stipend is being asked to bridge the gap. Is this how the Big Society works out, that you leave the poor to feed the poor? That's what it looks like!

Partick Thistle Too

Just a wee ps. It was Thistle two today! Tonight we are third in the Premier League. I'm getting a nosebleed!

Blame the iPad

Two major things have been around since I last blogged. One was my falling out of love with my laptop and falling in love with my iPad. Using Blogger on my iPad has never worked for me, even with the "App", and I once wrote a long and deeply moving piece about the power depression can have over me only to see it disappear into the strata from my new lover, the iPad. Put me off a bit!

Apple are very cunning and extremely seductive, and as I hate my old laptop so much now, it's so slow and old and the battery needs replacing, I've been looking at MacBooks which come in over £800! Help ma boab, I'm on minimum stipend here! So, blogging means opening up the dreaded laptop and doing stuff from there, especially if I want to add pics. Meanwhile I'm dragging myself away from Apple stores, because I know that if I go in, the dreaded credit card would start whispering in my ear!

The other major thing is that I have had to stop calling my Football Club Partick Thistle Nil, after an inspiring First Division Championship win! So it's Thistle from now on and a season in the League of Greed is already underway. This has repercussions, with bigger crowds, all-ticket games and having to host Celtic supporters twice this season.

If I'd been blogging at the end of last season it would have been mostly about The Jags, so at least the world was spared that!

Blessings eh?

Goodness

What have I been doing since Lent 3? Well, the answer is that I've been very busy thank you! Blogging has become almost 'old hat' I guess, and I use Facebook for short stuff and to share things. Yet, I really miss my blogging although nobody else does! I need to write things down and keep a diary of feelings, if for nobody else but me.

I guess I felt it so much yesterday after a really fulfilling day with Christchurch Dalbeattie as we looked at the possibility of doing a Community Audit. I wanted to share the joy, and enthusiasm, but there was nowhere to share it, and my Facebook friends would just say "eh?",

So maybe a return to blogging, just for my own sake maybe. My stats show that nobody really kept up with me anyway!

Gambia Bound

This time tomorrow, I'll be getting ready to fly off to The Gambia for ten days. Most folk will think it's a wee holiday, and yes, there will be sunshine, a chance to slow down, and all the rest, but there is serious stuff to be done and dusted while I am there.

For those of you who don't know, we run a Nursery School in London Corner, the poorest part of the sprawling town of Serrekunda, which is comprised of crippling poverty, corrugate, and broken dreams. We educate 90 children and feed them daily due to the generosity of people from Dumbarton, Helensburgh and beyond.

January is the usual time to negotiate rents, pay rises, bonuses, and teaching materials/resources, and my ten days will be full of meetings, lots of head shaking, and a few pleas for a taxi for Christmas! This year, too, will begin a hunt for alternative accommodation, as the building we operate from is in a pretty critical condition.

I will try to blog a diary when I'm there, depending on whether I get electricity or a WiFi connection that works properly!

It's with some sadness that I go. One of St Augustine's greatest stalwarts, May Thomson, died yesterday, and I will miss doing her funeral. Indeed, May, in her early eighties came with us to The Gambia to see the school, and managed to do a spot of unintended topless sunbathing! They still ask about the "Lady with the Laugh!"

Next Sunday, I'll be worshipping in St Andrew's Lamin, which is a three hour marathon, but worth every minute!