Paul Newman

Dave McCarthy has a very touching piece in his blog this morning about one of Paul Newman's most memorable roles.You can read it here .

Impact Cafe

Wasps trained to seek out drugs in Columbian airports, the gospel shared through an episode of Dr Who and Life Boat Stations that become comfortable clubs. These were some of the surprising and wonderful ways in which the Cafe service went on Sunday night. There isn't another cafe now until the last Sunday in November, but I'm already excited about what we may learn from the prophet Zechariah!

It's about relationships - stupid!

A comment on the current bank bail-out in the US from Bill Coffin in SmartMarriages says “How big is $700Bn? It is equal to the cost of divorce and out of wedlock pregnancy over the last six and a half years.” In the UK, the cost of Northern Rock and now Bradford and Bingley is about four years of UK family breakdown.

The problem with both these analyses is that they are not alternative uses of the money – they are additive. The “toxic mortgages” are heavily skewed towards un-married couples who subsequently split and then defaulted. As a society we have encouraged this lifestyle, and as a society we are now picking up the cost – twice!

It is salutary to reflect that the apparent success, and now fragility, of the western capital system is built on foundations outlawed within Muslim banking circles, their system being based on the ancient biblical system which outlaws usury (lending for interest). This doesn’t mean they won’t lend money – it means that they build a relationship as the basis for any transaction in which risk and return are openly understood, and shared appropriately. The heart of the system is relationships, not interest rates.

As a society in the west we have built a society on a premise of having whatever we want, in the belief that there is no cost – a banking and finance system that sidelines the importance of relationships, and a mortgage market that ignores the impact of relationship stability, a “sexual market” in which gratification is set above care for the relationship.

The heart of a successfully functioning human society is relationships, and the pinnacle of these in terms of commitment, mutual care, and self-sacrifice is marriage. Until we shift our thinking onto a relational basis we shall continue to build sandcastles in the air – and the tides of history will quietly sweep them back into the sea, all over again.

DRUG RAIDS IN HILTON

The BBC website is reporting the following: "Police in Inverness have arrested four people and seized a "significant" amount of drugs during raids in the city's Hilton area. " You can read the full report here. Inverness is nolonger (if it ever was!) sheltered from these bleak realities. There have been 4 drug related deaths in the last 2 weeks.

The Story Teller

I found a great idea here from Roddy Hamilton. A story teller to tell the good news stories from a congregation. In many ways, the blog has that purpose and potential, but a great deal more is possible as you will see from Roddy's suggestions.I was hearing from Margaret Lamond, that last Thursday evening The Guild had an inspiring time during which many of the women told stories of their lives and their service to Christ through the Church. We need to make space for more stories to be told. One of the challenges in my experience is creating an enviroment in which people feel able to tell their stories. Despite lots of encouragement from me, very few people appear to be prepared to share their stories and thoughts in the blog. So often we hang back for a variety of reasons. I am struck by the fact that the most commented blog which I regularly read is ASBO JESUS. All Jon Birch uses are cartoons, and yet it seems to free people up to share in large numbers.

PLEASE PRAY

Jonathan and Susie Fraser phoned early this morning to say that Iona had suffered a major set back over night. She has now been in ITU for 6 weeks. The infection she picked up 3 weeks ago is still causing major problems. They would value your prayers.

HILTON SHOPS

I took a picture of the Hilton shops this morning before going into church for the service. The shops are immediately opposite the Church. Sunday is the only time in the week when the area is quiet. The Co-op, the Post Office and the new Butchers together with the Hairdressers provide a great service to the wider community. Gwen has been visiting them all this week. We hope to work closely with them in the development of the cafe. Perhaps, I'll try to do a feature on each of the shops over the next while.

Emerging Church

Tomorrow we are going to be reflecting on Luke 10 v1-12. Jesus sending out the 70.What does this say to us about the shape of mission and of the church today? There is a great deal of discussion these days about the emerging church. If this is something new to you, then a good introduction can be found through looking at the Fresh Expressions website. This is an initiative of the Church of England."It aims to help Christians of any denomination think about ways of starting and growing fresh expressions of church in their area."

JAMIE GRANT

We have a good day in prospect at Hilton Church tomorrow. One of the highlights of the day will be the ordination of Jamie Grant to the eldership. Jamie is an outstanding leader within our congregation. He regularly preaches, is involved in leading a homegroup and gives a great deal of time and effort to many different dimensions of service within the congregation, He came to Hilton Church nearly 5 years ago along with his wife Iwona and their 3 children, Gosia, Debbie and David. They have all made a telling contribution to the life of Hilton Church.Jamie is a lecturer at the Highland Theological College in Dingwall and he regularly speaks at conferences both National and International. We are thankful to God for him, and appreciate the wisdom and joy which are so evident in his life.

John & Olive Drane

It was a real privilege and pleasure to have John and Olive Drane sharing with us at Hilton Church last weekend. I follow a number of blogs on a regular basis and I noticed that Steve Taylor from Christchurch, NZ was doing a seminar in Adelaide, Australia this week, in which he was highlighting a book by John Drane. You can read about it here. The network of relationships in the christian community across the world is amazing.

The Scottish Northern Convention

The Strathpeffer Convention of 1984 was a major turning point in my life spiritually. It set me on a new course for my life which ultimately led to Parish ministry.Now called The Scottish Northern Convention, it begins this Saturday with a youth event. A significant number of our musicians are going to be leading the worship there which is great to hear. There will be bible teaching sessions taking place throughout next week, and if you have some free time I recommend a visit. You can find full details of the week by reading here

Hilton Community Centre

In establishing our new cafe and centre, we have received a great deal of encouragement and support from Hilton Community Centre. This afternoon, Gwen and I went to visit Maureen Ross, Chairperson of the Community Centre. We have a great deal to learn in terms of running a Centre and Maureen very willingly gave Gwen a variety of helpful insights into the operation of a centre for the public.

21st century prophets

"To a bystander like me, those who made £190m deliberately underselling the shares of HBOS, in spite of a very strong capital base, and drove it into the arms of Lloyds TSB, are clearly bank robbers and asset strippers," Dr Sentamu told the annual dinner of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers. "We find ourselves in a market system which seems to have taken its rules of trade from Alice in Wonderland, " he said.

Dr Sentamu noted the contrast between the bailouts to banks and the lack of funding for efforts to eradicate poverty. The US Treasury has proposed a fund worth up to $700bn (£382bn) to buy back much of the bad debt held by banks and other financial institutions. The Archbishop acknowledged the need for stable financial systems if poverty is to be eradicated but quoted commentators who said: "One of the ironies about this financial crisis is that it makes action on poverty look utterly achievable. It would cost $5bn to save six million children's lives. "World leaders could find 140 times that amount for the banking system in a week. How can they tell us that action for the poorest is too expensive?"

You can read the report here

ALPHA

We had the fourth evening of the current alpha course last night on the questions "How and why do we pray?" As always, there was a great sense of sharing and listening. The experience of being involved in a course again has been thoroughly refreshing. On a wider note, the course which is being run in partnership with the Hospital chaplaincy meets in the new Health Sciences building which you can read about here and here. It is a remarkable suite of buildings, rather hidden on the north east part of the Raigmore Hospital campus. If you are ever in the area, it is well worth a look.

The glass is half full!

For the last few weeks we have had a gift event. The funds raised will help towards the costs of fittings for the Centre such a furniture and AV, as well as set up costs for the cafe. The Project Team are asking for £20,000. By Sunday, we had raised just over half the required amount. In my experience it is very rare for the funds to be raised ahead of schedule. Much of the funding for re-developing the Centre came in when we were right "on the wire!"

The amount of envelopes from individuals/families (47) indicates that as a Project team we still have a way to go in terms of envisioning the congregation. Hopefully a greater number of people will begin to see the bigger picture as the centre moves from planning to action. We will keep the gift event open and continue to exercise the faith and optimism which has taken us this far.

"My God will supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." (Philipians 4 v19) In our experience, we have found God's resources to be more than ample for our needs.

IMPACT CAFE

Before you know it, another month has passed and it's time for another Impact Cafe. This Sunday night we are going to be looking at the wonderful minor prophet Jonah. It is one of the best known stories of the Old Testament and it has so much to say to us about the nature of God. Jonah was given a message by God to bring to the people of Nineveh. During the evening, we will be reflecting on the question "What is our message from God today?"

Mark Hadfield from Street Pastors will be sharing,as will Gwen Barlow. What is God's message today in our streets and in our cafes? There will be music from our youth as well as Peter Noble. A night to look forward to.

A little bit of hoovering!

Our new centre manager, Gwen Barlow is now into her third day of work. It's great to see her enthusiasm and to hear all the thoughts and ideas which are beginning to flow. She even had a little time this afternoon for a spot of hoovering! It would be good to have a centre blog to record the daily life of the project. I think we'll need a name before we can do that. Roll on the next project team meeting.

Who will walk the dog?

The domestic repercussions of the financial crisis have already hit home says the Telegraph. Just ask the City wives. The knock-on effect the strain and upheaval will have on the couple's marriage will emerge in time. For now, Sandra Davis, head of Family Law at Mishcon de Reya, points out that the stress caused by money woes can expose deep fault lines.

"With the financial markets lurching from one crisis to the next, city workers will be more concerned with their immediate employment prospects than with their relationships," says Davis. "Lehman Brothers employees and their wives are waking up to the reality that their stock is a busted flush, and the trophy wives of other investment bankers will be looking to cash in their chips before their husbands' stock options and deferred compensation go the same way. Either way, the outlook for the unhappily married appears fairly bleak."

Masters of the Universe, even those brought to their collective knees, evoke even less sympathy than estate agents down to their last des res, but this is no time to observe that it would take a heart of stone not to laugh at how the mighty - or more precisely, the mightily rich - hath fallen.

Of course, the big boys - and girls - at the top understood they were in a high-stakes business where risk was the name of the game, a game, they have belatedly discovered, where there really are losers as well as winners. You may have little sympathy for the City suits, but spare, if you will, a thought for their wives.

Not only have they lost status, but their army of support staff is in severe jeopardy: whether the nannies, cleaners, dog walkers and personal trainers? What will become of the independent schools where they send their children, even the charities who benefited from their conspicuous largesse?

sunday services

John & Olive Drane shared in our weekend which marked the beginning of the new cafe centre. They led our two services on Sunday, and as ever they left us with plenty to think about and much to build on.

The morning service was based around the Festival of Tabernacles and John 7. Water was central to the service and the climax of our time togther was the pouring out of our bottles of water into large basins at the front.

The evening service was based around Luke 24 and the Road to Emmaus. The service culminated in the opportunity to engage with a variety of prayer stations where many items linked to the gospel passage were placed.

I was struck by the simplicity of the services and the way they engaged so many people in a variety of different ways. There was movement and an opportunity to involve all our senses. It was quite different from an average service, and yet what was being done would not be difficult to build on.This blog offers the opportunity for you to comment about your experiences on Sunday. What did you make of it all? I would love to hear from you via the comments section.

The picture, which is full of water, was taken on a visit to the Iquazu Falls in Argentina.

asbo jesus

another great cartoon by jon birch