SNOW

It was a white Christmas and it's going to be a snowy New Year too. It has snowed every day since Christmas Day with the temperature rarely rising above freezing.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010

Thank's to Asbo Jesus for a bit of humour to usher in a New Year.

20 years ago, we were coming to grips with the reality of the fall of Communism, most spectacularly seen in the demise of Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu . 10 years ago, we were all wondering whether the millenium bug might create an International crisis. In truth, 10 years and even 20 years passes so so quickly. Personally, I'm glad that in the midst of so much change and uncertainty, the good news about Jesus Christ is the one true constant.

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,

wherever He may send you.

May He guide you through the wilderness,

protect you through the storm.

May He bring you home rejoicing

at the wonders He has shown you.

May He bring you home rejoicing

once again into our doors.

ADVENT BOOKS

Did you read anything outstanding in the season of advent this year? If you did, why not let us all know in the comments section below? Here are the 2 books I read for advent this year. The meaning is in the waiting was especially good, with many gems to ponder over in the lead up to Christmas. Yet again, it involved a short bible reading followed by no more than 2 pages of thoughts about the passage. I don't have time for a book review today, but I found the final week which was based around, Mary the mother of Jesus, especially thought provoking.

"Mary is someone whose whole life was shaped by waiting......she was called into the way of waiting for Jesus' birth, for him during his life, and most of all, for his death."

In the last mention of her in the New Testament, she is still waiting, this time for the promised Holy Spirit.

CELTIC DAILY PRAYER

At the beginning of advent, I mentioned that I was going to use the Celtic Daily Prayer in the lead up to Christmas. It's now nearly 7 weeks since I began following this daily rhythm of prayer, and all I can really say is that I have found the experience and the discipine spiritually refreshing. I plan to continue following this throughout 2010. The bible readings ( 3 each day)are short and the reflection (usually no more than 2 paragraphs) on them is of a very high standard. There are enough readings in the book to last for 2 years, and there are numerous other materials to inspire and encourage. If you are struggling to read the bible and to pray, this is a good way in.

BOOK OF THE YEAR

Much of the time I find it very hard to settle down sufficiently to read a book for leisure. It was good to relax for a few days after Christmas, and to read several excellent books. Among them was my undoubted book of the year. This is how Scot McKnight describes it:

Late summer I read Hala Jaber's gripping memoir of life in Iraq called: The Flying Carpet of Small Miracles: A Woman's Fight to Save Two Orphans . If you can read this without tearing up, well, you can't. Hala weaves together her own story, her fight with her own infertility, the devastation in Iraq, her critique of what war does to countries and people and children ... and how her coverage of Iraq led her to one family and one child ... and the memoir is my "Memoir of the Year."

This is a truly outstanding book, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was eventually made into a film. If you have book tokens to spend, this would be my recommendation.

St Columba's new charge

When we read the Acts of the Apostles and Paul's letters, we discover a very fluid scene where the early believers are continually involved in establishing new churches. If truth be told, this reality is quite foreign to the experience of most of us. Few of us have ever been involved in a situation where a church has been beginning from scratch. If this possibility fires your heart, here's a 21st century opportunity to be involved in the beginnings of a new outreach.

One of the most exciting things about being part of the new church emerging on the south side of Inverness is the challenge of the blank canvass there. To use the analogy of the sower, it is not so much of a blank canvass as an unploughed field. And so taking a step back from sowing, there should be some assessment of "the lie of the land." A very simple questionnaire is being undertaken in the latter half of January, seeking the views of some 150 households in the new Parish about what they like and what could be better about the area. This is the first real contact with folk living in the Parish. The survey is being undertaken by a team of volunteers and a training evening for those going door knocking is going to be held on 6th January at the McCheynes' home. A dozen or so folks have already indicated they are willing to write down the answers given - that's all that will be involved. It would be really good if some folks from our congregation were willing to spare a few hours to help with this. Contact Murray for more information (info@stcolumbainverness.org) "

A WHITE CHRISTMAS

What a beautiful day! Watchnight (with snow falling) and Christmas Day services over - time to relax and enjoy some turkey. Have a wonderful Christmas!

A guide to Christmas worship for novice churchgoers

An interesting article here about watchnight and christmas services

Gwen's last day

It's Christmas Eve, and we've just loaded all the straw bales onto Alan's trailer. The journey to bethlehem will soon be over.

In the Lighthouse, Gwen Barlow's journey with us has come to an end today. What a magnificent job she has done in steering the Centre forward over the last 15 months. We will all really miss her.On the 5th of January, when the Lighthouse re-opens, Michelle Hamill will be the new Centre Manager. We are delighted to have such an able successor to Gwen, and we look forward to seeing the Lighthouse continue to grow and develop under her leadership.

NORMA'S CHRISTMAS FLOWERS

Much has happened since this clip in 2007. The latest major development involves the purchase of a barge. In early 2010 it will be re-developed and become the HQ for the Vine Trust in Scotland. The barge will have conference facilities and an educational centre. It will be located in Leith close to Ocean Terminal. This project has been a long time in the praying and planning. It's exciting to see the various threads coming together as 2009 draws to a close.

SERVICES

Every year I receive a rush of phone calls during Christmas Eve inquiring about our service times.The times are:

11.15pm Watchnight Service

10.30am Christmas Day Service.

Only 48 hours to go and there's still plenty of snow around. Perhaps it will be a white Christmas.

SCHOOL ASSEMBLY

This afternoon we had the Hilton Primary School Christmas service for P4-7. We had a large gathering of children and their families. After the service, each child received a Good News Christmas scroll for hanging on their Christmas trees and all the adults shared in hots drinks and mince pies.

SOUND & AUDIO VISUALS

One year is ending, and already we are looking to the next and making plans. At Hilton Church, all that we do depends on the commitment and time of so many people. This week, I have been working along with Elaine Watt on the plans for services in the first half of 2010. We put together a rota which has the preacher for each Sunday, (morning and evening), the band which is playing, the worship leader, the person who is chosing the music, and two people for co-ordinating both sound and audio-visuals. That is a lot of organising, and we owe a debt of graitude to Elaine who has done this job faithfully for many years.

One area where we are struggling at the moment is Sound and Audio Visuals (esp Sound!) If you would be interested and willing to help in either of these two areas in 2010 , could you contact me duncan@hiltonchurch.org.uk in the near future. We aim to have around 6 volunteers for sound and 6 for audio visual, which means being involved about twice per month. Training will be given on the job, and your involvement will make a positive difference to the whole experience of worship on a Sunday.

JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM DAY 7

We have had to call time on the labyrinth today! It was a great concept and it worked really well last week with all the various groups visiting, but the level of snow over the past few days has made it unworkable today. We have no regrets, as the experience of putting it together has been brilliant, and we already have plans for Easter. The experience of just doing it has helped us to think more creatively, and we have discovered so many people in the church who want to do more. Next year, we will have to work on something at Christmas which is more indoors than outdoors.

COPENHAGEN 2009

A new take on an old favourite

SNOW DAY

Hilton Primary School is closed today because of the snow,, so there won't be any of their classes visiting the journey to bethlehem today. The Lighthouse won't be open either due to staff illness. I think Shona and Jonny will be pleased to have the break, as exhaustion is beginning to set in, after all the activities of the last 5 days.Hopefully back to normal on Tuesday morning.

NATIVITY 2009

A few photos from this morning. I didn't manage to get any from the service. If you have any good ones, could you email them to me at duncan@hiltonchurch.org.uk

THANK YOU

We had the most amazing morning at Hilton Church. We were treated to the most wonderful nativity service - nothing I have ever seen, came even close to it. We all left the church today with a smile on our faces. Thank you to everyone who played a part in making this such an awesome experience. Morag and Shona who planned and co-ordinated the whole event deserve particular praise and gratitude. It takes a special gift to organise so many different groups into the celebration of Advent which we were all privileged to share in. It's just a pity we didn't have it filmed, so we could share the blessing.

COMMUNITY CAROL SINGING OFF

The weather has deteriorated, so we have decided in the interests of safety, to cancel the community carol singing tonight. In this situation, the new networks of communication like texting and facebook are especially helpful. Within minutes, we had the news out to numerous people. Hopefully, everone will find out before 6.30pm.

STREET PASTORS

Dear friends,
Inverness Street Pastors are now looking for more volunteers to help out in the City Centre, Merkinch and a potential new startup in Hilton. We have been given so many opportunities that we could more than double our volunteer base if people want to join us. All of our volunteers find our work to be extremely fulfilling.
I'd really appreciate it if you could let people know about two information evenings planned where anyone who is interested in becoming a Street Pastor can come and find out more. No commitment is required, but those who want to can take away application forms on the night. Applicants need to be 18 or over and to have been in a healthy relationship with a local church for at least 12 months.

Monday 18th January7:30pmHilton Lighthouse, Tomatin Road http://www.hiltonlighthouse.org/map.htm

Wednesday 3rd February7:30pmHilton Lighthouse, Tomatin Road http://www.hiltonlighthouse.org/map.htm

Mark
--
Mark Hadfield
Street Pastors Coordinator
Love Inverness
22 Mackay Road
Inverness. IV2 4JJ
mobile: 07761 293 108
helpline: 07828 002 966
http://www.streetpastors.org.uk

Bethlehem Market