Sermons on-line

Thank's to Gwen and Iain, who have been working on getting sermons uploaded. I think they have identified a way of streaming the services, which means we can put them on line immediately after they take place. We've put up some of the talks from the weekend with Roy Searle, together with the talk from John MacLeod, which I promised you. I think the sound level needs to be turned up on the recording desk , but hopefully, if you have speakers linked to your pc, you will be able to hear them clearly.

LIGHTHOUSE NEWS

Plenty news about the Lighthouse over here.

A WEDDING AND MARRIAGE

Tomorrow, I am going to Ballater to share in Simon and Nicole's wedding. This morning, I have been trying to weave some of the comments on Simons blog into a short sermon at the Service. One quote about marriage by Eugene Petersen is especially worth reflecting on at a wedding service.

“Weddings are easy; marriages are difficult. Weddings are important. They are beautiful; they are impressive; they are emotional; sometimes they are expensive; they are fraught with details; and they are memorable. Still they are easy.Marriage is complex and difficult. In marriage we work out in every detail of life the promises and commitments spoken at the wedding. In marriage we develop the long and rich life of faithful love that the wedding announces. The event of the wedding without the life of marriage doesn’t amount to much.”

WELCOME

Elna Harvey began working in our church office today, and will be with us until at least Christmas time. We plan to advertise for a new administrative post in early 2010, once we have more clearly established what the needs of the Lighthouse and Church are. There has been so much change over the last few months, that we need time to work this all out. Elna will be doing the weekly bulletin and general administration, as well as helping out in the Lighthouse office.

THE BARN CHURCH, CULLODEN

Last night I was leading a team on a Quinquennial visit to the Barn Church, Culloden. Each congregation in the Presbytery is visited on a 5 year cycle. The visit provides an opportunity for the congregation to reflect on its journey over the past 5 years, and it could also provide a forum for addressing any difficulties within the congregation, if they emerged in the course of the visit.

At some point soon, I will have to write a detailed report on the visit for the Presbyterial Superintendance Committee. The Church of Scotland specialise in long winded terms! You need to be a good speller to cope with all these long words!

My key reflection as I think about all that I saw and heard last night, is that the Barn Church is a great church. It was so encouraging to be with Jim Robertson, the minister and the other church leaders, and to see how excited they are about what God is doing in their midst. We met in the new wing of the Church called the Barn Centre which has recently been re-developed. The church buildings are used extensively throughout the week for many different church and community groups. There is a lunch club for up to 70 people every week and a new counselling service which there is a growing demand for. The Church also has members working in Kenya, Gautemala, Thailand, Romania and Cambodia, as well as being involved in numerous city wide ministries like Street Pastors and The Homeless Shelter.

The Barn Church is a shining example of a church which is getting involved locally and globally and making a huge impact for the Kingdom.

quinquennial visit - former term for the five-yearly visit paid by presbyteries to each local church to assess the health of the local parish (now known as the 'presbytery visit')

THE STEAMIE

Another Scotland manager bites the dust! I found it interesting to note that one of the social commentators was expressing the view that the former success of the Scotland team (5 world cup qualifications in a row) was partly linked to social deprivation. The hardship of living in an area like the Gorbals created a hunger and a passion to succeed among many young men. Life has improved for people in Scotland generally, but in the process we have become poorer footballers. Apparently, young people are also nolonger "physically literate!"

I went to watch "The Steamie" at Eden Court last time. It was one of the funniest performances I have ever seen. Much of the play was centred around the deep sense of community that the women experienced at The Steamie while they attended to the family laundry. They shared their joys and sorrows, and dreamed of a better tomorrow when they would live in Drumchapel and have an inside bath and a TV. If you have time to see it this week, GO!

It struck me that there may be some parallels between The Steamie and the Scotland team. While the era of the Steamie has long gone, and we all have our TV's and inside Baths, community is often more of a word than a reality. We wouldn't want to turn the clock back to the days of The Steamie, but it's worth reflecting on what has been lost, and on what we can perhaps be and do as a Christian community to counteract some of these losses.

FUTURE FOCUS

A major new resource for Congregational Development Future Focus is a ‘toolbox’ of ideas intended to help congregations understand their situation better, to read the signs of the times and to answer the call of God to be all that God wants us to be in these challenging times. It has been used to help congregations think through: developing a vision for the future; congregational and community analysis; changing worship patterns; working in partnership with other churches; preparing for a new ministry; community engagement; leadership development; better use of church buildings; and new pastoral strategies. The final road show will take place on 21 November, 10am–3pm, Inshes Church, Inverness. Refreshments and lunch are available (no charge).

I'm in Ballater next Saturday for Nicole and Simon's wedding, so can't make this event. It would be great if some folk from Hilton were able to attend Future Focus.

DREAMS FOR OUR CHILDREN.

DREAMS FOR OUR CHILDREN is the theme for Prisoners’ Week Scotland, which began on the 15th and runs until 22 November. We all have dreams. What do we hope for the children growing up in Scotland’s communities today? No-one dreams of time in a prison cell or of being made a victim of crime. Prisoners’ Week is an opportunity to remember all in our communities who are affected by crime and imprisonment: prisoners and their families, victims of crime and those who work within the criminal justice system. It is an initiative of the Churches that aims to stimulate discussion, highlight concerns and share hope. For further information, including activities planned by Chaplains, reflections, worship resources and contact details of organisations that offer help and advice, visit www.PrisonersWeekScotland.co.uk The Prisoners’ Week leaflet/card, which is being distributed widely, can also be downloaded.

JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM

There hasn't been much time to bring you up to date with JTB recently. Great progress is being made on many fronts, and it has been so exciting to see the diversity of people involved in this project. Hilton Primary School is taking all of its classes on the garden journey which Jonathan and Emma have been organising, as well as taking 2 stalls for the Saturday market. Bill Lamond has done an exceptional job in creating the background settings for Bethlehem and Drew Kuzma is working on some of the backdrops with some of the youth. Alan Fraser is kindly lending us hay bales for the garden, and the Light house have plans for various events during the week. There are numerous people sewing costumes and Sandy Lyall was working with the Sunday Club yesterday to produce various eastern/Roman costumes. The angles on this project are too numerous to mention here - drama, carol singing, food..... - but suffice to say that it's shaping up well, and we would simply ask you to pray for the week 16-23rd December to be a blessing to the community of Hilton.

JOB ADVERT

Interested in helping to run a city centre local food outlet?
Social enterprise based job in a business set in a local High School. You'll be working in part with teenagersWorking primarily in local fruit & veg, bread, cheese and other local produce.... are you passionate about local food?Part retail shop work; part warehouse supportEnthusiasm and motivation essential. Experience preferred; the work involved in this post is physically demandingCV and references required. Disclosure undertaken if you are successful.
If you are interested, please call Iain on 07795064635 or on iain.shem@btopenworld.com

Church and Culture

A great weekend with the Northumbrian Community. At some points I was well outwith my comfort zone but it was good to be challenged and to see how other people worship, and to see ways in which our lives at Hilton could be enriched. One thing I really liked about the group was the way they identified with their corner of the country- the history, music, landscape and culture- they are very much northumbrian. In what ways are we identifiable as a highland congregation? I guess many of us are from other parts of the UK and anyway we’re not all fishing for herring any more, but still, we have such a rich cultural heritage, fantastic landscape and distinctive music there must be ways of bringing more of it into the church?
Dot

ADVENT

I discovered through reading Celtic Daily Prayer that today is the first day of Advent within the Celtic tradition. I'm going to follow the Daily Office of the Northumbrian Community in the coming weeks. I'll let you know how its progressing as I go along!

christian community

A hopeful vision of christian community:

'Dynamic and erratic, spontaneous and radical, audacious and immature, committed if not altogether coherent. Ecumenically open and often experimental, visible here and there, now and then but unsettled institutionally. Almost monastic in nature but most of all enacting a fearful hope for society.'

William Stringfellow in his book 'An ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land'

Story telling

Another memorable dimension of the weekend was the workshop on story telling led by Simon Airey. One of the most striking aspects of the 90 minutes together (quite part from Simon's wonderful gift in story telling) was the realisation that so many of the folk sharing in that time were very good story tellers too. I believe this is something we can use to great effect in a variety of different ways. In our morning service today, Simon told the story of Isaiah's revelation of God (chapter 6). This way of presenting brings the biblical text to life, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who is still thinking about it tonight.

A RULE OF LIFE FOR HILTON CHURCH

We've just shared in a very rich weekend of fellowship with the Northumbrian Community. The weekend was based around the theme of Creating Community - learning from how Jesus did it. I've just been reviewing my notes, and what stands out for me, are some of the questions which Roy asked.

Why did God raise up Hilton Church?

What is the essence of the Church in Hilton?

What are the words which describe that essence or rule of life?

The Northumbrian Community sums up its life together as being about "Availability and Vulnerability."

Saturday

At the train station for 6.30am to drop off Eilidh for Girl 's Brigade event in Dunblane. Rory heads for Murrayfield to watch Scotland v Fiji shortly after 8am, and Peter leaves for a football tournament in Dingwall at 9am. Parents head for Creating Community............we are part of a family community which is involved in a very complex web of activities and relationships.

Creating Community

Our weekend with the Northumbrian Community began this evening. It was a very special evening. Beautiful music, very simple but profound prayers and a thought provoking time of sharing by Roy Searle. One of the challenges I feel, relates to the folk who I hoped would come along tonight but didn't. I have worked so hard over the last few months to try and encourage as many folk as possible to come along, but I didn't really suceed in breaking through whatever walls exists in terms of keeping people at a distance from such a rich experience. It's a case of people not realising what they are missing, but how do you solve that one?

LIGHT COLOUR FOR LIGHTHOUSE

Today, Craig started the painting of the Lighthouse in earnest! It was a good sunny day for it, but it may be a while before another good days comes judging by the forecast.

LIGHTHOUSE MARKETING

We had our regular Lighthouse management team meeting on Tuesday evening. The cafe and centre are progressing well. One of the challenges we face is to increase awareness of the Lighthouse and what it can offer. Gwen has designed a superb website and we have asked the congregation to share the good news by emailing the link to as many contacts as possible - viral marketing! In our conversations, it occured to us that there might be folk linked to the Church who have Marketing experience. We would value any help or advice that you have in terms of marketing the Lighthouse. We would also welcome you e-mailing the link to the website to all your friends.

expensive letter

A couple of days ago I blogged about a global journey which led to asking for some legal advice from a New York lawyer. What we were asking for, was a letter confirming that we were an exempt charity in terms of the US Revenue regulations. I don't think it would have been the most challenging piece of work to complete. Thankfully, I asked for a quote for any work that would be done! The reply came back - around$2500!! It's obviously not only medical care that is super expensive in the US. Needless to say, I have now found another angle on this problem.

building community

GUILD WEEK 22nd NOVEMBER TO 29th NOVEMBER

Now in its sixth year, Guild Week gives local people and communities the opportunity to find out all about the Church of Scotland Guild. Described as a "trailblazer" for the national church, the Guild and its members are addressing local, national and global issues.

The Guild's current national convener, Betty Dunn, stated: "Guild Week is now an well-established and important week in the Guild Calendar; one in which we take the opportunity to share the fellowship of the Guild with others in our communities.

On Sunday 22nd November there will be time during our Morning Service for up to date information on what is happening in the Guild. There will also be a special event occurring on Sunday 29th November so make sure you are there that Sunday or both Sundays.

On Saturday 28th November the Inverness and Nairn Presbyterial Council will be holding Coffee Morning to mark Guild Week. This will be in Dr Black Hall, Inverness from 10.am to 12 noon, tickets are £2 per person and there will also be a Christmas Stall where you can pick up some bargains hopefully.

Thanks
Rebecca Wilson
Leader Hilton Church Guild

SPECIAL OFFER Life & Work SPECIAL OFFER

LIFE & WORK MAGAZINE

2010 Year of Promotion

I encourage you to consider taking out a Subscription in 2010 for a very readable magazine.

There are a number of regular columnists including Rev Ron Ferguson and for the past few years it has told the life stories of distinguished "Christians in our day."

The special price for an Annual Subscription is £15.60 which will be payable early in the New Year.

Please contact Jean Barron for more information or email the Church Office

BULLETIN

In common with many congregations, we produce a weekly bulletin for Sundays. We hope to be able to beginning advertising for a new administrator in the very near future, but until then we have no-one who can collate the information for the bulletin, produce and photocopy it. Unless we find volunteers to help with this, we will be bulletin-less for the next while!

Comments please

Simon & Nicole have an interesting question to ask here.

Global church

I was reflecting over my day last night, and made some intersting connections in terms of the global nature of life these days. The Congregational Board needs the advice of a US lawyer. I e-mailed a friend of mine currently lecturing at a Law school in Bangalore, India. He contacted a law firm he worked for in Glasgow to establish a suitable contact, and by 4pm I was emailing a lawyer in New York with some questions!

CONGRATULATIONS

Great to hear the news of the safe arrival of a baby boy, Harrison Ross (8lbs 14ozs) this morning to Iain & Fiona MacGregor. Fiona and Harrison are both well.

ARMISTICE CONNECTIONS

Steve and I had a great weekend at Greenbelt in August. One of the bands headlining the event was Athlete. During the concert, this song was sung which was written by the lead singer in memory of his grandfather. This week, because of Armistice there has been a great deal of publicity about the song in the media, and we've discovered to our amazement that the song was written in honour of Major John Potts, a very fine Christian, who we both knew when we lived in Kincraig in the 1980's. It's a small world.

As a post script to this post, I discovered that the uncle of the leader of Athlete was at the Creating Community Weekend!

Jump Family Praise Evening

‘Jump Family Praise Evening’

Our next ‘Jump’ event will be on Saturday 28th November 2009. This will be a special event for the whole family held in Inshes Parish Church from 6.30pm till 8.00pm. A great evening of creative praise and worship for the whole family, plus a great bookstall from Wesley Owen.

It would be great to see you and your family at this event. If you need any more information please email me at info@jumpinverness.org.uk

Thanks
Chris Watt
Jump Team Leader
http://www.jumpinverness.org.uk/

SEASONS

I stopped by the roadside in May to take a photo of Ben Wyvis. I stopped again this morning!

CREATING COMMUNITY WEEKEND

I have worked really hard over the last few weeks and months to encourage as many people as possible to be part of our sharing over this coming weekend. It's good as a church to pause every so often to reflect on where we are and where we believe God is calling us to. If you are engaged in the life of Hilton Church, could I ask you to be an ambassador for this weekend. To come and to encourage others to come too. A large team from Northumbria are travelling up on Friday. I'm really hoping that they will not be disappointed with our level of engagement.

Light house

The Light house management team has one of its regular meetings tomorrow evening. It's really encouraging to see the progress that has taken place over the months. I've just found this very positive review - the Lighthouse shining bright in Hilton.

First time for everything!

No posts last week. Life has been pretty full on, with little time for blogging.

Many years ago, there was a mix up and I found myself having to preach a sermon without any preparation when the preacher for that evening didn't turn up! Last night, entirely due to my inadequate communication, we had two preachers ready to share at 6.30pm! It all worked out wonderfully in the end, and it was a great delight to have John MacLeod sharing with us. I'll try and get the sermon posted this week for you to hear. It's a cracker!

Inverness connections

I've just being doing a bit of research for next Sunday morning, which included looking at the Church of Scotland website. While doing so, I stumbled on news about the appointment of the moderator designate for 2010, John Christie. You can read all about his Inverness connections here.

MUSICAL BLESSINGS

In my first couple of years at Hilton Church, the singing was predominatly organ led. I've nothing against organs as such, but I don't see them as being the best/ only musical instrument for leading worship in our culture.I can remember going to a couple of alpha training courses, and being so amazed and uplifted by the worship led by a variety of different musical instruments. I was very concious at the time of the gap between these experiences and the reality at Hilton Church. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been really aware of the blessing that we have in terms of musicians and worship leaders. There is nolonger a gap between my previous experiences and the reality in Hilton today. All my hopes have been exceeded in terms of music. We even have a couple of our worship leaders who are writing new songs. Last week, Murray introduced an outstanding new song which he had written based on Philippians 1. Yesterday, part of our morning service was led by a Junior Praise group who were excellent. This post is by way of thanksgiving to God for such a rich blessing and to all the musicians who share their gifts within the congregation.

ARRIVAL

Great to hear of the birth of Caleb Yang Mackay, born at 1835hrs on Saturday in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary weighing in at 7.085 lbs. Congratulations to Stewart and Maggie.

World cafe service

We hosted a world cafe service last night. Some fabulous music from Julie Keen and Megan Kiln, together with helpful insights from a variety of mission situations. What struck me towards the end of the evening is the power of tables and food to change the whole character of a gathering. We can double the number of people coming to an evening event by adding food! The majority of the additional people coming will be children and youth.(Judging by my headache last night, you also increase the level of stress and work - hospitality and cafe services involve a lot of extra work !) It seems to me that a congregation which places hospitality high on its way of living will have a very powerful impact on our culture. A high priority in my life over the next period of time, will be to look for ways to put this more fully into practice at Hilton Church. One or two of you have emailed letting me know that this aspiration strikes a chord in your heart. Watch this space!

Turning points in Christian history

How much do we know about Christian history? Steve Taylor has begun a fascinating series on turning points in Christian history which you can watch here. Last week he looked at monasticism, yesterday he looked at the Reformation. If I had only one blog which I could access, this would be the one!

YOUTH MINISTRY

Jonathan Fraser formally began work as our new Youth Minister yesterday. Today he is doing a health & hygiene course at Inverness College! This will enable him to begin using the catering dimensions of the Lighthouse for his work with youth in the evenings. Jonathan is also relaunching a youth event in the Hall tonight along with Drew Kuzma and Brian Irvine of Youth Inclusive. I think Jonathan is more into Facebook than blogging, but hopefully over the coming months you'll be reading and hearing about his developing ministry. We wish him every blessing and pray that he will see great encouragements in his work with young people over the coming years.

COMING & GOING

Last Sunday morning, we shared in a very enjoyable all age worship service where we looked at Blind Bart in Mark 10. Jesus' first word to Bart after his healing has stayed with me all week, "GO!" The cartoon from ASBO JESUS is also asking some deep questions about our mindset as Christians. Are we waiting for people to come or are we going? It's amazing that this site which basically has images attracts more comments than any Christain blog I know. 175 for this cartoon alone!

IGNITE

Just a reminder that tickets for the next Ignite of the 28th of November are going fast so make sure you get yours before they all go! Speaking is Steve Levy of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Swansea & worship will be lead by the Ignite band.

We come to worship, we leave ready to serve!
Chris Dowling

THE GUILD

I was speaking at the Guild last night on the theme of "acting justly" from Micah 6v8. I was struck by how many members of the Guild ( about 25 there last night) play a vital role in many areas of the congregation's life, especially pastoral care and hospitality. In many ways, the Guild functions like a homegroup with its members forming very significant friendships, which lead to a tremendous amount of mutual care and support. The Guild also regularly helps out with the shop at Cameron House, as well as fundraising for a variety of Projects. It was good to be there last night, to experience the fellowship enjoyed by many of the more senior women within the congregation.

cradle to grave

I see that Wal-Mart really now is the retailer from cradle to grave. The world's largest retailer, now plans to hold on to customers even after they die - by selling coffins. I liked the response of a spokesman for the Funeral directors industry who said he was "not gravely concerned."

WORLD CAFE SERVICE

Only 3 days until our World Cafe Service at 6.30pm on Sunday night. I'm really hoping that many people will be willing to get into the spirit of this evening by preparing cakes or bringing drinks with a global theme. Banana Cakes from the Carribean/ Fruit drinks for wherever! If you are reading this,and want to be involved, you can drop off stuff at the church kitchen on Sunday morning.

During the evening, we will have some great music from Megan Kiln and Julie Keen, and a variety of mission projects across the world will be highlighted.

LIGHTHOUSE FULL ON!

Working in my office at the Lighthouse over the past few days has brought home to me how increasingly busy it is becoming. Today all three room in the building were booked for meetings by different groups. The cafe was going like a fair with people coming and going throughout the day. It's so encouraging to see the Centre developing in this way. We have come a long way in the 10 months since the cafe menu was launched! I'm concious that as a team we are often focussed on the current challenges we are facing. It's good for a moment, just to stop, and think about how far we have come!

GOING FOR GROWTH

For much of the last decade, Hilton Church has been close to capacity in terms of the numbers attending sunday morning worship. Over the past year, it seems to have been even busier, with children and even latecomers often having to find a space on the floor, until the sunday club begins. Over the last few years, we have tried an early morning service twice, and then a second service at 11.30am. None of these initiatives have had the hoped for outcome of providing extra space at the main service. I was chatting this over with a couple of friends over lunch, and I think we need to really give this some serious prayer and thought over the coming months. It can't be right to simply continue as we are, but what do we do? This post is by way of an encouragement for you to think about the situation and perhaps dream a few dreams. Several years ago, we thought about planting a new congregation in a different part of the Parish. With an abundance of people with gifts at Hilton, perhaps now is the time to be thinking about such a movement?

CAP

Christians Against Poverty is a national debt counselling charity with a network of 112 centres based in local churches. Culduthel Christian Centre are interested in promoting a partnership across the churches in Inverness which they hope will lead to the establishment of a CAP Centre locally. A couple of us went to a meeting today at CCC to find out more. At a time when so many people are facing financial crisis, I'm sure this would be a very helpful service for churches to offer.

NEW LAPTOP

My old laptop crashed earlier on this year and couldn't be fixed. For several months I have been limited to using our home pc which has been quite a balancing act with the requirements of 4 other users! Joy of joys today - my new laptop has arrived! It's so much sleeker and faster than the old one. It's amazing how dependent we have become on technology. When I began at Hilton, I didn't have a computor and used pen and paper for everything. Now I feel as if i am really struggling if I don't have internet access for a day, because so much of daily communication centres around email and the internet.

WORDS OF WISDOM

I caught the last half hour of a fascinating BBC programme on Warren Buffet last night. He recently gave away $31 billion to the Bill Gates Foundation. Here's a link to some of Buffet's wisdom. I particularly like this one: Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago!

Part Time Cafe Assistant post available at the Light House

We are still seeking applicants for a part time post of cafe assistant at the Light House.

For more information please click here to go to the Light House blog.

DAYTIME ALPHA

An Alpha Course begins at the Lighthouse on Monday 2nd November at 9.45 -11.30 am. Tea/Coffee will be provided. Parents/carers with small children are welcome. For more info ring Jane Murtin-Armer on 225582.

UP SERVICE!

There was so much going on this morning in our service that I completely forgot to mention the World Cafe Service next Sunday night. I'm hoping that there will be plenty of people reading this POST and the bulletin, and remembering to take along some cakes or drinks with a world theme next Sunday!

And talking of UP! which was featured in our service today, there appear to be quite a number of the clergy getting excited about this film!

GIVING RACISM THE RED CARD!

After a week of controversy over the BNP being represented on Question Time, it was very timely yesterday to have every football club in Scotland showing racism the red card! Personally, I'm inclined to the view that Nick Griffin shouldn't have been given any air time to propagate his vile politics, but I know that views are split on this matter. As is so often the case, Jim Gordon wrote 2 very impressive posts on this topic here and here.

DAILY PANO

I see that the daily pano on the side bar has a photo of Loch Maree.

ROSS COUNTY ON TOP

I'm going to have a rare experience this afternoon. I'm off to Dingwall to watch Ross County who are currently top of League Division 1. They are playing Partick Thistle who are near to the top of the League. Their current success is exceeding all expectations. It's unlikely that they will be able to sustain this level of performance for the rest of the season, but hopefully they can stay at the top for more than one week. "Go County!"

A GIFT OF GOD

On the eve of Reformation Sunday, a quote from Luther which was posted here.

"I have no use for cranks who despise music, because it is a gift of God. Music drives away the Devil and makes people gay; they forget thereby all wrath, unchastity, arrogance, and the like. Next after theology, I give to music the highest place and the greatest honor."

On the music front, having gone through a lengthy period of listening to Duke Special, I am now enjoying the amazing voice of Regina Spektor. Great voice and marvellous songs. This song is especially striking. I'm not sure what Luther would have made of it.

REFORMATION SUNDAY.

I note that this is Reformation Sunday, so in honour of that auspicious anniversary I'm changing the background colour to red. We're having an all age worship service this sunday morning at Hilton. I've been to see up this week - a great film - so I'm trying to link some reflections from that film to the story of Bartimaeus in Mark 10.

TALKING MORE ABOUT VOLUNTEERING!

Just after the team meeting this morning, Bill Lamond arrived in the Lighthouse to measure up for some much needed shelving in the Purple Room. While he was there Jonathan asked him if he might be able to make a large Advent Calendar from mdf, and various other discussions took place about backdrops for Journey to Bethlehem. Over the years, Bill has used his DIY gifts in many different ways within Hilton Church and beyond. In common with so much of the work that goes on, it is done quietly and without many people knowing about it. It's the kind of sharing that sums up the title page to this blog:

"Together you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of that body" 1 Corinthians 12:27

LIGHTHOUSE

News of various developments over at the Lighthouse blog

CULTURE & CONNECTION

At our weekly team meeting we have been discussing EXILES by Mike Frost. It's a book really worth reading! We read a chapter each week prior to the meeting. Today we were reflecting on the relationship between culture and church. This post by Steve Taylor illustrates a way in which the culture of worship/community can be positively impacted by the prevailing culture of communication in our world today. I would like to give this a go in the next while!

HOSPITALITY

In 3 weeks time we are hosting a team from the Northumbrian community for the weekend. Could you help by offering accomodation and some hospitality to one or two members of the team. Please email or speak to Duncan.

WORLD CAFE

A week on Sunday night, (1st November at 6.30pm) we plan to take our cafe on a global journey,We hope that you can come along and enjoy the experience. We also hope that you can play a part in the sharing. COULD YOU BRING A CAKE or A DRINK to share please, as part of the evening.For example, a BANANA CAKE or TROPICAL JUICE! Just use your imagination.We don't often think about it, but most of our drinks and cakes connect us globally. We will try and serve some chai tea as well as coffee. We would be grateful if you could bring along the goodies to the kitchen next Sunday week morning or just to the cafe, if it suits better. Look forward to seeing you there.

CAROUSEL

In my post yesterday, I was probably more frank than I normally am about the challenges of holding it all together in church life, with Lighthouse projects and treasurers and numerous other structural dimensions to cope with. In reality, we have at Hilton Church a huge army of volunteers who do fantastic work in a wide variety of different minstries , much of it beyond the congregation. Hilton is a good place to be be and we have a lot of fun together.I don't often voice my frustrations about lack of volunteers ( less than we would want!) because in my experience the outcome is that an already busy person offers to do even more! Personally, I believe our relationship with God and with one another is meant to be liberating and joyful, and so I would much rather that we just let certain things fall than that we were guilty of losing our joy in serving because it becomes a burden. This post is by way of encouragement not to become over busy. What we want to do is to encourage everyone to play their God given part, not impose burden and guilt.I read this post last night, which may be a help to you in reviewing your life/minstry balance. The cartoon comes from asbo jesus.

MULTIMEDIA TRAINING SESSION

Anyone interested in finding out more about multi media would be welcome to the event below.

PRESBYTERY OF INVERNESS
EDUCATION COMMITTEE

MULTIMEDIA TRAINING SESSION

Hilton Church, 4 Tomatin Road, Inverness
Wednesday 28th October, 2009, 7.30-9.00pm

Practical training for anyone wanting to use multimedia presentations in church, youth club, school assemblies etc.

It will be helpful if you can bring along your own laptop in order to make best use of the practical sessions.

We will be covering the following;
- Why use Multimedia?
- Some do’s and don’ts
- Equipment required and how to set it up
- How to use PowerPoint
inserting text
inserting pictures
inserting video
- Packaging your presentation for use on someone else’s system

For more information or to book a place please contact Dr Rob Barlow, Tel 01381 629008,

It would be very helpful to know numbers so bookings please to

rob@miragemedia.co.uk
or edgar.ogston@macfish.com

Supporting Lloyds TSB Foundation

Dear Colleagues

The future of Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland

Most of you will now be aware that the Lloyds TSB Foundation has announced that it will be suspending grant-making for the foreseeable future. Current awards will be honoured for the duration of their funding period and a final round of grants will be made in December for current applicants. If you are in receipt of funding from the Foundation you will by now have received a letter from Mary Craig, Chief Executive, explaining the situation and asking for your support. The loss of funding from Lloyds TSB Foundation is a significant blow to the voluntary sector at an already difficult time. Even if you are not currently in receipt of funding it is quite possible that Lloyds TSB would be featuring in your thinking as a possible future funder. Mary Craig is looking for support to challenge the actions of the Lloyds Banking Group and, if you would like to lend your support, the link below will take you to an SCVO webpage which suggests the action you can take and gives a link to a letter template which you could use.

http://www.scvo.org.uk/scvo/PolicyAndParliament/ViewBrief.aspx?id=800111&from=nh&pr=1090

I will be writing on behalf of the Parish Development Fund in support of the Foundation.

With best wishes and kind regards


Graham

Graham Lumb
Parish Development Fund Co-ordinator
The Church of Scotland
121 George Street
Edinburgh
EH2 4YN

What really made Inverness

Iain King offers a healthy corrective to "10 things that made Inverness"

WEB SITE LIVE!

Gwen has put the new Lighthouse website live. It looks absolutely brilliant. Hopefully, its presence on line will increase awareness of the services that we offer. Please send this link to as many people as possible via your email. Thank you.

ENGAGEMENT

Congratulations to Iain Hutchison and Rebecca Patterson who have recently got engaged.

SANCTUARY FIRST

Albert Bogle has recently launched a new web site community called Sanctuary First.

"Our initial aim is to establish a network of worshippers around the world who will be encouraged on a daily basis by the prayers, scripture readings and video podcasts that appear on the site. So we look to you to sign up and join our community. We not only wish to be hi-tech we also want to be hi-touch. Look out for the local monthly worship hubs that we hope to establish. Perhaps one could be planted in your area."

TALKING ABOUT VOLUNTEERING!

For the last 6 months we have been operating without a treasurer at Hilton Church. Despite an on going search, we have drawn a blank with finding anyone who feels willing or able to serve in this capacity. We are very grateful to Jean Barron who has been working hard in the background to keep things in order while we find a solution to this difficult situation. Perhaps this is an area where we can nolonger look to a volunteer or volunteers to share in this work. The downside of not having it done voluntarily is that we will probably have to employ someone to do the job, which will have a clear knock on impact on our budgets. Money that could be spent on mission will be spent on accountancy.This is clearly a scenario which is causing me some measure of stress. All my bright ideas to date have drawn a blank!We have appointed a small working group to try and find a solution to this situation. We would be grateful for your prayers and any constructive suggestions.

VOLUNTEERING

One of the significant challenges which the Lighthouse faces is how to maintain the quality of service with a balance of staff and volunteers? The answer is "with difficulty" especially in the holiday periods like October. Volunteers are very thin on the ground during the holidays. To be honest, they have been a bit thiner on the ground generally than I had anticipated at the beginning of the project. Increasingly, I am beginning to wonder whether voluntarism has had its day in many aspects of life within the Christian community. Jesus once spoke about the harvest being plentiful, but the workers few, so perhaps it's a reality that there will always be a significant gap between our hopes and the picture on the ground. If Jesus experienced this, then perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised by it either.

Today I volunteered for the lunch time period and tomorrow Jonathan is stepping in. We have 2 volunteers for Thursday and as yet, nobody for Friday. Hint! Hint! I have to confess that I really enjoyed the 2 hours in the kitchen. It was busy for most of that time with Stewart and I serving, while Michelle very professionally prepared the food for delivery. If you have some time to offer the Lighthouse, we would love to hear from you. We can promise you a great atmosphere to work in and very appreciate customers who clearly enjoy the service which the Lighthouse is providing.

Stay at home Sunday!

While the Church of England continues to tie itself in knots over the role of women, an interesting debate is taking place in England about how women could constructively draw attention to the situation. One suggestion that has been made:

".........pondering last night on the impact of all women staying at home on a particular given Sunday (as obviously this is where some men would prefer women to be) as a peaceful protest! Every church, restaurant, bar, supermarket with women nowhere to be seen. How about it? Stay at home Sunday!"

I reckon there would be many churches that would be almost empty if such a protest took place!

PROFITABLE BONES!

Some sobering statistics from Maggi Dawn.

— 95,000 pilgrims have visited the relics of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux during their four-day stay at Westminster Cathedral. This brings to 286,650 the total number of pilgrims who have visited the relics

— At Westminster Cathedral alone, 50,000 roses - the saint's symbol - were sold and up to 10,000 candles. Roses sold for £10 for a small bunch, although as the final Mass progressed they were discounted to £5

— The Big Issue seller outside Westminster Cathedral during farewell Mass sold three copies at £1.50 each

There is also another interesting feature by Matthew Parris on these bones here!

Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland

In the wake of the credit crunch, Banks have been subject to much criticism over the past year. What hasn't been mentioned very much is the amount of money which the Banks commit to charitable causes across Scotland. Last week, the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland announced that it was closing its doors to new applications.The Highland Hospice is one of many Highland charities which currently receives funding from LTSB. The kitchen in the Lighthouse which cost £22k was funded by LTSB. Since 1985, "2,000 donations worth about £85m have been made to charities across Scotland, making it one of the leading charitable funders in the country."

The latest news from LTSB will undoubtedly lead to the withdrawl of a significant amount of important charitable work across the Highlands in the coming years.

RORISANG ELIZABETH COMES HOME

Robyn has some very special news to share over on her blog. We look forward to welcoming Rorisang Elizabeth to Hilton Church next summer.

Autumn glory

We had a memorable day last week climbing Ben Mor Coigach.

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LECTIONARY READINGS

Lectionary Readings for Sunday October 18, 2009

Job 38:1-7 (34-41)
Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c
Hebrews 5:1-10;
Mark 10:35-45

MAJOR MOMENTS

There is hardly a week that goes by when there isn't some significant happening at Hilton Church. This Tuesday, Bill MacKenzie celebrates his 90th birthday. He is regularly involved in the worship services and only retired from the anual golf outing 2 years ago! It was good to be able to recognise this major milestone at our service this morning.

OH HAPPY DAY!

WEDDING DAY

Stuart and Elna's wedding takes place at 3pm at Bona Church, Loch Ness. I've just been out the Essich Road to drop off the boys with their grandparents. There are great views down Loch Ness and over the city from up there. What a beautiful day!

We're on the road!

After this afternoon's meeting we are now well and truly "on the road to Bethlehem!" We had a brilliant response in terms of people coming along to our meeting to volunteer help, and the next stage now is to engage with many different groups across the church and community, who we hope will help to shape the whole event. We envisage the garden with its road to bethlehem labyrinth being open from 16th-23rd December. There will be a major bethlehem market in the large hall on Saturday 19th involving many local groups, and the services on Sunday will incorporate a labyrinth experience. So many ideas were shared in the space of 90 minutes. Our task over the next few weeks will be to refine our plans and come up with an experience which truly helps Hilton to engage with the amazing story of Gods arrival on planet earth.

BANA TRUST

Robyn's blog (on the sidebar) from Lesotho has been pretty quiet over the past few months, but there is a September report there,with plenty of news about all that is happening. I had a qreat chat with Robyn via skype yesterday evening, and she tells me that the website is now live.

One in four is Muslim, study says

Two very interesting articles here and here on the demographics of the muslim faith.

DESTINATION BETHLEHEM

Shona has been working on an idea of turning the Hilton Church campus, including the garden into a "DESTINATION BETHLEHEM" for the week leading up to Christmas. She shared the idea last Sunday morning, and there has been a very enthusiastic response from many people. A meeting is taking place later today to try and flesh out the idea. It's only about 9 weeks until it would need to be ready! I'll let you know how it goes.

CONNECT

BEST CHRISTIAN BLOG

I've discovered a blog today which I'm going to add to my favourites.davesdistrictblog is a fine mixture of photography, reflection and comment. It also received the above award which says something about its quality.

start the day with a story

A great story to start the day with.

Quiverfull families

How literally are we to take the Bible? Here's a report to make you think!

MISSION SHAPED MINISTRY

In 2010, Hilton Church is going to host a Mission Shaped Ministry Course. John & Olive Drane will be doing most of the leading and teaching at the various sessions. The information about the course has just been released and you can read all about it,here , here and here. I would be grateful if you could pass on the information to any individuals and congregations who may be interested in sharing in this course.

INVERNESS PRESBYTERY

The monthly meeting of Presbytery takes place this evening. Hilton Church is a Presbyterian Church. As a local church we are under the collective leadership of Inverness Presbytery, a grouping of about 22 congregations across the Inverness area. If you want a better understanding of the Presbytery and how it works, take a look at their website here.

Bungee Jumping rope cracked

On the news last night, this film of a bungee jump was shown. I've never even been remotely tempted to do a bungee jump, and the film confirmed my viewpoint!

finding Jesus in music of U2

Steve Taylor aka emergent kiwi is a fan of U2. He's just flown from New Zealand to the US to share in a U2 Conference. He has a series of posts about the conference which may be of interest to any fans reading. In the last few weeks I understand there has been quite an exodus from Hilton to see mega bands like U2 and Coldplay at Hampden Park.