asbo jesus

another great cartoon by jon birch

CHRISTIAN MEDICAL FELLOWSHIP

On Friday evening, I attended a promotional event at Raigmore Hospital hosted by the Christian Medical Fellowship. The aim of the evening was to highlight the medical work being pioneered by the Vine Trust in the Amazon region of Peru. There was about 70 people there for the presentation. Hopefully, many of them will be inspired to link in with this great project. The key note speakers were Sian Jones, Iain Whyte and Philip Kiln (all from Hilton Church) and Calum Munro who was a member of our first workparty to Peru (and is now Educational/Expedition Director at the Vine Trust). They all spoke so well and shared about the differences that the project had made to their lives and to the lives of the Amazonian people. I felt very proud of them all. It us so inspiring to see the difference that can be made by just a few people deciding to do something together. You can find out more about the Vine Trust here

BABY STEPS

The last two weeks have been very difficult for Iona and agonising for her parents,Jonathan and Susie. Just when it seemed that everything was right for Iona to move out of ITU, she got an infection which became a very serious issue. We are delighted to hear that Iona is again making progress. The word which is being used is "baby steps" so there is a way to go yet. Iona and her parents are constantly in our thoughts and prayers, and we hope that the improvement continues in these next days and weeks.

LIFT OFF!

I notice that the blog has been quiet since last Thursday. We had such a busy weekend that there really was no time for any sort of journal of the events.Personally, I collapsed into Monday morning and so today it's time to pick up the various threads again.

The cafe opened for people to come and have a look on Saturday afternoon. The afternoon was all I could have hoped for and more. The place was full of people up until the last half hour, and there was a great buzz as people shared together. Thank you to Peter Noble, Audrey Whyte (and friends!) and Julie Keen who did some singing sessions, to Olive Drane for her story telling and to Philip Noble for his string and things! The hospitality by those serving in the kitchen was also outstanding.

Gwen Barlow began work as Centre Manager yesterday. The building phase ends and a new chapter begins. We wish Gwen every success in her new role. I took the picture just before everyone arrived on Saturday. Hopefully we can post some pictures of the event later.

WATER

The service on Sunday morning at 10am is based around the theme of the Feast of Tabernacles, a major thanksgiving point in the year around harvest time. The high point involved the pouring out of much water. It also involved rabbis staying up all night and juggling with flames, but we'll give that a miss!

Can you remember to bring a small bottle of water for each person in your group, and perhaps an extra one for visitors.

OPEN AFTERNOON

Tomorrow afternoon (Saturday) from 1-5pm we are having an open time at the new cafe centre. (The sooner we have a new name the better!) It will be an opportunity for people to have a look around the new centre. We will be serving drinks and eats, and a variety of folk will be singing in the cafe throughout the afternoon. Olive Drane will be doing some story telling and John Drane will be doing some personal card readings from the Jesus deck. There will also be face painting. All in all, we hope it will be an afternoon to enjoy together.

CELEBRATION

At about 9pm this evening, we popped a few bottles of champagne and celebated the end of the painting and cleaning. A great team turned up tonight and worked really hard to get the job done. Thank you to everyone who helped. If you feel that you missed out tonight and would like to help, we are setting up tables and chairs at 6pm on Friday night.

500 posts

Tonight a large team will be gathering at the new centre (we hope!) to tidy up and to do the last bits of painting. All the floor coverings have gone down this week and engineers are completing the wiring and fittings for the audio visual system. I'm looking forward to seeing it all finished. It's been a long journey to this day. PICTURES ABOVE are before and after.

On another matter, I notice from the counter that this is the 500th post on the blog. I hope it serves as a useful tool to keep people in touch with what is happening around Hilton Church. It's a good way of telling our story as a church as we go along.

Ideas and Volunteers!

Hello! Gwen Barlow here just to let you know that starting this Monday I will officially be the Hilton Church Community Centre’s “Development Manager”. What does that mean?!! Well, it means now that we have this fantastic new resource in place, I’ll be working, alongside the Project Management Team, to develop the use of building. It started out as the “Hilton Community Café Project” but has actually become more than a café since it also has several meeting rooms which is why we’ve started calling it a “centre” instead.

The church’s vision for the centre is one of outreach and a tremendous opportunity to share the gospel with the wider Hilton Community; but as you may appreciate, we do have quite a blank sheet of paper in terms of the details. So.. I welcome your thoughts and ideas about the centre, its direction and what you would like to see happening. I can’t guarantee that all ideas can be implemented by any means, but all are certainly welcome, big or small..

We are also looking for any volunteers that would like to be part of the team working at the centre, perhaps in the cafe or in some other role at the centre.

On either of these issues, please don't hesitate to contact me. My email address and phone numbers are gwen@miragemedia.co.uk tel: 01381 629008 or just come and have a chat with me after the morning service this Sunday. I won’t be at the service every Sunday morning at Hilton since I’ll be over in Beauly with Rob, where he’s currently doing his ministry training placement; but whenever you see me please don’t hesitate to come over and chat.

Duncan has suggested that I put a photo here for those of you who don't know what I look like and so here's the most recent one I could find of me at one of our daughter's graduation ceremony this summer..
Blessings!
Gwen

ABORTION & DOWNS SYNDROME

On Channel 4 News tonight there was a very startling article on the screening of foetus' suspected of having Downs Syndrome. New research has claimed that,

"For every three unborn Down's syndrome babies prevented from being born, two healthy babies will be miscarried because of the methods used to detect the condition.The research claims that, in detecting and preventing the birth of 660 Down's babies, 400 healthy foetuses are lost."

Abortion is a very emotive issue, but these statistics don't make comfortable reading. It would be interesting the know the responses of the GP's in our own congregation to this medical journal report.

Summer Postcard

Family support comes in a variety of ways - from organised courses, to "simply listening", to providing a service such as Toddlers etc. One of the simplest and most appreciated ways in which we have been able to help is through Hilton Family Breaks - a fund set up specifically to provide a holiday break for an individual or family who just need to get away. Applications are by referral through Social Work, the School or another agency. Since July this year 5 familes have benefitted from the fund. Are we making a difference? The summer postcard says it all:
"Thank you so much. We are having so much fun. The weather has been lovely. We have been to the beach and we love the night parties. see you soon."

help!

Iain Ross asked for help on Sunday from anyone in the congregation who felt confident about doing a little painting once the carpets were down. Yesterday, only Brian Gunn came to help and he was working away on his own all day. This is not an acceptable solution, so today Iain and I have been looking at how to respond to such a lack of volunteers. We plan to phone around tonight, to see if we can get a team together for Thursday night to finish off the little work that remains to be do. If you can help on Thursday night, its not too late to "volunteer!" You are also invited to come on Thursday night (same night!) to help tidy the building. We want everything to be in perfect order for the weekend.

BONO ON BELIEF

Fascinating interview with Bono which you can read here

What is your religious belief today? What is your concept of God?

If I could put it simply, I would say that I believe there's a force of love and logic in the world, a force of love and logic behind the universe. And I believe in the poetic genius of a creator who would choose to express such unfathomable power as a child born in "straw poverty"; i.e., the story of Christ makes sense to me.

How does it make sense?
As an artist, I see the poetry of it. It's so brilliant. That this scale of creation, and the unfathomable universe, should describe itself in such vulnerability, as a child. That is mind-blowing to me. I guess that would make me a Christian. Although I don't use the label, because it is so very hard to live up to. I feel like I'm the worst example of it, so I just kinda keep my mouth shut.

Do you pray or have any religious practices?
I try to take time out of every day, in prayer and meditation. I feel as at home in a Catholic cathedral as in a revival tent. I also have enormous respect for my friends who are atheists, most of whom are, and the courage it takes not to believe.

THE WEEKEND THAT WAS

Another Sunday gone. The morning was an opportunity to take breath after a tough weekend working on the Centre. A remarkable sermon by John MacLeod last night from the minor prophet Obadiah - Reconciliation and forgiveness. I'll try and get it on the blog before the week is out. Jonny Baker also appears to have been involved in an intriguing and very creative service at Grace this weekend.

We also spoke to Jonathan and Susie last night, and Iona is still in ITU. They are cautiously optimistic that things will move in a positive direction this week for Iona. Hopefully we will be able to welcome them all back to Inverness soon.

9/11

Amidst all the activity of this week, 9/11 (7th anniversary) on Thursday was a reminder of how fast time passes and how different the world is today because of it. On 9/11, 2001, I was at a meeting which was all about making a beginning to the project which has been the focus of the blog all week. It has been a long road! The image above is part of a series of images which you can see here

PRESS & JOURNAL TODAY

You can read a report of yesterdays events here

THE TWO TROJANS

Here is a good picture of two of the central characters in the project. Iain Ross and Lewis MacDonald have worked like Trojans this week. It was great to see them at 5pm this afternoon,so pleased and happy at the end of such a challenging week.

HANDOVER

At 4.30pm this afternoon, the building was handed over by Rok to our project chairman Iain Ross. After all the planning and hard work, the event felt a bit like a dream. The last 24 hours have been quite remarkable with a huge response in terms of volunteers to paint. If a good number turn out tonight, all the painting should be complete in time for the carpets and floor coverings being laid on Monday. Thank you to everyone who has helped.

PLEASE HELP!

I'm just back from an afternoon of painting at the centre. There were 6 painters this morning and another 6 this afternoon. If a good team turns up tonight we may just manage to finish it by tomorrow evening. If you can , please come along on Friday to help, morning, afternoon or evening. Bring a tray, rollers or brushes and we will give you the paint.

I have e-mailed my entire address book asking for help. If you could pass the word on as well, that would be great.

Cafe keys handover

PRESS RELEASE

A LONG cherished vision on the part of Hilton Church comes nearer to fulfilment tomorrow afternooon (Friday) with the handover of the the keys to the congregation's new community centre building by Rok Construction. The church aims to provide a cafe, together with other rooms for use within the newly re-developed former manse.

Minister, the Rev Duncan MacPherson said Rok had done an outstanding job under the leadership of site manager Lewis MacDonald, who is also a congregation member. "Rok moved onto the site on 16th June, and has completed the work in less than three months - a magnificent achievement", he revealed.

Leading Highland businessman David Sutherland, who was brought up near the new centre's site, has been a pivotal figure in this re-development, added Mr Macpherson, giving generous financial support together with expert back up through Rok and Tulloch Homes.The project which has cost in excess of £500,000 involved the purchase of a new manse, followed by the re-development of the old building for wider use.

"Some have suggested that the new centre will be in competition with the existing Community Centre. Nothing could be further from the truth," declared Mr Macpherson. "Our aim is to complement the existing services offered by the Community Centre and to provide an additional resource for the Hilton area.

"This week volunteers have been busy painting the interior of the building and next week all the floor coverings will be laid.Within the next few weeks we aim to have a centre manger in place and to have a suitable name for the building."

The formal opening will take place towards the end of the year.