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.

.

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.

LECTIONARY READINGS

Lectionary Readings for Sunday 11th October 2009

Job 23: 1-9, 16-17
Psalm 22: 1-15
Hebrews 4: 12-16
Mark 10: 17-31

It's all white out there.

To find out more click here.

BUILDING COMMUNITY WEEEKEND

The October holidays will soon be upon us, and before we know it we will be in November. A quick reminder of our weekend with Roy Searle and the Northumbrian Community on 13-15th November. All the details here.

Jobs at the Light House

Hello, Gwen Barlow here to announce that as the Light House moves into the next stage of its development two new job opportunities have arisen.
Café Supervisor and
Café Assistant
Both posts will be for a 6 month period with possibility of a job-share.
Salary for the café supervisor is £6.50 per hour and for the café assistant £6 per hour.
Working hours are 7 hours a day, 5 days a week. You can view descriptions of the posts in more detail by clicking on the links above.

If you are interested in applying for these posts please come and speak to me or Iain Ross or contact me on the following details: tel: 01463 224477 or email: gwen@hiltonlighthouse.org

LEUNIG

I came across Leunig recently. Some great cartoons. He's also a bit of a philosopher.

"It's much easier to be stupid these days than in previous times.
Back in the old days they had to do it all by hand. It was sheer drudgery.
Now we can do it faster and with more comfort, thanks to modern methods.
You can fit it into a busy life, it's available to everyone. It's right there at your fingertips."