BURNS CAFE SERVICE

On Sunday evening, we had a really special time at Hilton Church reflecting on the life of Robert Burns. I didn't count, but I'm told we had 110 plus at the cafe, with around 25% of those present being there for the first time. The Burns theme clearly appealed to a new constituency, and it was so encouraging to have several people from the congregation actually volunteering for the first time to take part in the cafe through poetry and song. David Shepherd gave a short reflection at the close of the evening on the theological dimensions of Burns poetry which gave us all food for thought. The Burns theme has set me thinking about other people or themes which we can use at the cafe to engage the interest of other people and groups who perhaps wouldn't ordinarily come along.

Perhaps the Christian volume is the theme,

How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed;

How He, who bore in Heaven the second name,

Had not on earth whereon to lay His head:

The Cotter’s Saturday Night