Christians in Politics

After last nights debate, here's another pitch from the 3 leaders from Christians in Politics.

GRADUATION

Congratulations to Ingrid Hutchison and Iwona Grant who are graduating today in Edinburgh after 3 years of counselling training through Crossreach. The services of trained counsellors are frequently sought, and we are delighted that Ingrid and Iwona are able to offer this service through the Lighthouse.

CLIMATE QUESTIONS

Residents throughout the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency are being encouraged to challenge their prospective MP on environmental matters ahead of the General Election. All 5 candidates will be attending the Environmental Question Time, to be held on Monday 3rd May in Hilton Church. The event begins at 7.30pm, with each candidate given 3 minutes to set out their environmental agenda.

The audience will then get their chance to raise questions on a range of environmental matters, which can concentrate on local issues or include topics of national concern. Chaired by Peter Nimo, a local minister, this event will give local residents a chance to find out how well informed the candidates are, and whether they regard the environment as an important campaign topic.

Anne Thomas, co-ordinator of the local Friends of the Earth Scotland group, said “In previous elections the environment got very little mention and yet it is the most important thing for our civilisation. We are living at a crucial time in history. If we make the wrong decisions now we may be condemning our children to a very unstable world with risks of millions of people dying. On the other hand if politicians make the right decisions we have a chance of a much brighter future“.
With recent media attention on climate change following the talks in Copenhagen during December 2009, it is expected that this topic will feature in discussion. However, there are many other environmental issues which have been hitting the local headlines in recent years, such as renewable energy, public transport services and wildlife crime.

TED

Hilton Community Centre

While much of the focus in this election campaign is centred around the huge budget cuts which are going to follow which ever party wins, the reality of major cuts is already facing Councils up and down the land. Highland Council have to find tens of millions of pounds in savings and one of the possible casualties is Hilton Community Centre. The Centre provides excellent facilities for all ages across the community, and it would be a devastating blow, were it to close. Copies of the petition against possible closure are available in the church and the Lighthouse. I will be encouraging everyone of sign it on Sunday.

floor

I keep forgetting to mention what a difference the recent work on the floor has made to the whole feel of the sanctuary. It has lifted the whole room. Thanks to the team for such an excellent job

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NOEL DUE VISIT

Noel Due is visiting Scotland in May, and is speaking at various locations across the Highlands. You can find out more details here.

MATT IN ZIMBABWE

Matt has now departed for Zimbabwe. You can follow his adventures here.

FRESH EXPRESSIONS

Over the last few months, I have been helping to lead a Mission Shaped Ministry Course in Inverness. Tomorrow, I am leading an introductory session on MSM at Highland Theological College and the weekend after next I'm leading a session on worship within a Fresh Expression of Church at the MSM retreat in Aviemore. I have been doing quite a bit of research on some of the many fresh expressions that are springing up all over the UK, and this one called tubestation looks really cool! An expression of christian community aimed at the surfing community in Cornwall. I think one of the main things I want to do ever the next year is to try and stimulate the imaginations of people within my congregation to think outside the box. To try and imagine how they can impact their context and culture for Christ. I find it so exciting to see the way that this is happening all across the UK and hope that we'll see plenty of it in the Highlands in the coming years.

NOEL RICHARDS CONCERT

I've just received details of a Noel Richards concert to take place at Culduthel Christian Centre on Saturday 29th May at 7.30pm. Many of you will be familiar with the name Noel Richards, for those who are not you may well recognise some of his songs "To be in your presence"; "All Heaven declares" "You laid aside Your Majesty" and lots more.More details available here.

ASSISTED SUICIDE

I was present tonight at an excellent session on assisted suicide led by Stephen Hutchison and Jamie Grant. I was especially struck by the following quote from Lord Carlile:

"Laws aren't like precision-guided missiles. You can't draft them in the comfort of a Westminster chamber and then just 'fire and forget'. Once they are on the statute book they have a habit of causing collateral damage well beyond the intended target area. With something as fundamental — and as crucially important as the safety of us all — as the law on murder, you need to be quite sure that the law is defective and needs fixing, and that the provisions you are making are robust enough to stand up to the rough and tumble of the real world. In real life we have to design laws which protect the greatest number of people, and especially the vulnerable members of society. And that is what the law as it stands does."

I find it striking that around two thirds of the public are in favour of assisted suicide while two thirds of the medical profession polled are against. It would seem that the very real prospect of being involved in such a process is very problematic for the majority of doctors. For more information on this very emotive issue, you can go to Care not Killing here.

majestic

I had to travel down to Glasgow over the weekend, and for a change I decided to go via Fort William rather than the usual A9. What an amazingly beautiful country we live in. The views of the mountains bathed in sunshine were quite spectacular. I'll hopefully get out into the mountains again in the very near future.

Saturday team

Before the wedding on Saturday, I dropped into the Lighthouse and was delighted and amazed to see such a big team helping out. I'm working there next Saturday, so hopefully there will be plenty support then too!!

FIRST SERVICE

The first service for the new St Columba charge took place at 4pm in Holm Primary School last Sunday afternoon. After months of praying and planning it's great to see the reality beginning to take shape. We pray for Murray McCheyne, who is secretary of this new congregation together with others from Hilton Church committing themselves to this new church.

SATURDAY CELEBRATIONS

What a joyful time we had celebrating Rosie and Jim's marriage on Saturday. The joy was increased by the news that Ross County had humbled the mighty Glasgow Celtic!

Jim and Rosie's Wedding

What a real pleasure, if a tiny bit stressful with all that glaring sun, it was to photograph Jim and Rosie's wedding on Saturday. It was such a great day.

Here are just a few of the many hundreds of photos I took. I'm sure the happy couple will let you see the rest if you ask them.

Chris Watt. (yes, I do a little photography on the side, http://www.cwphotography.org/ )

Technology

I spent a huge amount of time this week preparing for Sunday am. Powerpoints,video clips and music take an inordinate amount of time to co-ordinate. You can only imagine my frustration this morning when the music I had downloaded from amazon and then burned onto a cd suddenly got stuck on the cd player, just as the powerpoint and music was reaching its climax point! Such are the frustrations of life. I think I know what the problem may have been, so hopefully the next time will go smoother.

Greenbelt 2010

The programme for Greenbelt 2010 has just been announced. One of the keynote speakers last year was Rob Bell. Here's one of his talks which is being offered free on the greenbelt website.

TENEBRAE SERVICE

The tenebrae service on Friday evening led by Jonny and some of our youth was quite exceptional. The service was significantly shorter than the one described here, but in many respects, less was more, when so many of the congregation were children. On a personal level, the part of the service which affected me most was the repeated hammering of nails into the cross during our prayers of confession. It brought home to me, the absolute agony of the Cross, in a way which nothing else has done before.

EASTER SUNDAY

Easter Sunday at Dores beach was special with Robbie, Tracey and Aaron Ross being baptised. The weather wasn't cold and the rain only began to drizzle near the end of our time. At our 10am service, Gemma and Finlay MacRae were baptised. What a joyful day. Happy Easter!