EASTER MORNING at DORES BEACH

Over the past 8 years, a short early morning act of worship (8am) together with bacon rolls and hot drinks at Dores Beach, has become a very popular way to begin Easter Sunday for Hilton Church.

Catering arrangements are now in place, and a group of musicians are beginning to emerge. It would be wonderful to have a warmer Sunday this year. Over the past couple of years, the temperature has been pretty cold. A baptism on the beach in gale force winds and sleet especially stands out in my memory. Hopefully see you there.

LIGHT HOUSE VOLUNTEERING

Great to hear from Susie today that there has been a positive response to our appeal for more volunteers to help with serving in the cafe and/or cleaning. We are looking for 6 people willing to gift 45 minutes per week to cleaning in the Light house. If you're reading this today and feel you can help, please call into the Light house and speak to Susie. The picture is of Peter MacKenzie, who kindly volunteered to erect the additional fencing at the side of the Light house.

Sisters 'make people happy'

Sisters spread happiness while brothers breed distress, experts believe. You can read the whole article here. This article on the BBC website caught my eye yesterday.

It will be interesting to see whether another group of experts pop up with a different view point on this issue.

LECTIONARY READINGS

Bible Passages for Holy Week

April 6, 2009 Monday of Holy Week
Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 36:5-11
Hebrews 9:11-15; John 12:1-11



April 7, 2009 Tuesday of Holy Week
Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 71:1-14
1 Corinthians 1:18-31; John 12:20-36



April 8, 2009 Wednesday of Holy Week
Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 70
Hebrews 12:1-3 John 13:21-32



April 9, 2009 Holy Thursday
Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10), 11-14; Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19
1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35


April 10, 2009 Good Friday
Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22
Hebrews 10:16-25; John 18:1-19:42



April 12, 2009 Easter Day
Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:1-11; John 20:1-18 or Mark 16:1-8

SIGNS

Robyn has been doing a series on signs in her blog. Here's one I found last night when I was looking over photos of my trip to visit Laurence and Mairi in Kabale last year.

World Autism Awareness Day 2009

Thursday 2nd April is World Autism Awareness Day. Autism is something we have all become increasingly aware of over the past 10 to 15 years.Two posts by Maggie Dawn here and here and two by Jim Gordon here and here give important insights, if you would like to read further.

SISTERS OF SINAI.

Are you looking for an interesting book to read? This book has received two major recommendations over the past couple of days,here and here. It sounds fascinating. I think I will get a copy. I read quite a number of books during my recent visit to Africa. I would especially recommend The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

YOUTH FOOTBALL PROJECT

Quite a few of my friends of a certain age seem to stumble from one injury to the next curtesy of their indoor football training! We ahve received this email which may be of interest:

Hello, I'm Chris Grant,

I'm one of the youth from the parish of Saint John ogilive consisting of Invergordon, Tain and Alness. You may know that I'm trying to organize a youth football event to happen in June. My Aim is to bring youngsters more closer and to work as a team and possibly even for youngsters like myself to make new friends. What I would like to ask you is would you possibly have a team that consists of two age ranges there will be the youth league 14-25 and the adults 25+, It would be very good to get this up and going and I ask you to see if there would be any people interested, The maximum number of teams will be two youth and two adult teams consisting if you like mixed genre but must stick to the age group given and it will be 6 a side tournament. It would be great to get this on the go but I ask if you could advertise in your newsletter or word of mouth to see if this is possible from your church and get back to me as soon as possible, so we can make the arrangements.
Donations would be greatly received to go towards general costs The Dates are as follows with the venues coming in a later venue when I have everything cofirmed.
Dates - To most likely meet by 12pm MidDay - Venues will be spread around the area, E.G Dingwall, Inverness, Invergordon, Bonar Bridge etc.
June 6th 2009
June 13th 2009
June 20th 2009
June 27th 2009
CONFIRMED VENUE - Bonar Bridge
Venue Information and times will be send out in an at a later stage.

If you want more info, you can email chris at countyfanchris@lycos.com

The picture is of the boys at Puerto Allegria sporting their Caley Thistle tops, which were kindly gifted by the club, and delivered to the Amazon by Fiona Newton.

CABBAGE PATCH QUESTIONS

How many cabbages would you plant in an area 6m by 3m? This was the question circulated by Robyn for all Bana Trust supporters today. I'm not a green fingered person but I did find this website curtesy of google which may or may not be correct.

CARTOONS

I've mentioned GET OUT OF JAIL FREE before. Anne this week has been highlighting favourite sites. I particularly enjoyed the cartoons from Dickiebo!

LIGHT HOUSE VOLUNTEERS

I mentioned recently that the Light house welcomes volunteer support. I'm working in my office (The Garage) next door to the Light house this morning, so already today I've been very concious of the vital contribution volunteers are making there. Sandra MacKenzie was in early baking all sorts of scones and cakes. Debbie Grant, Eilidh MacPherson and Fiona Hutchison are serving in the cafe and Brain Gunn ( producer of the much in demand "Brian's broth") was helping Susie with some administration related to childrens activities in the cafe. The operation of the cafe is only possible because of such a commitment by volunteers and we're so grateful for such support. If you're reading this and you feel you can help in some way - cleaning, administration, serving, painting - please make yourself known to Gwen and Susie. The picture was taken last July which is a reminder to us of how far we have come in a short time!

WILD CARDS

I came across this fascinating website today,and this quote which appeals to my sense of the adventure and risk God is calling us to.

"Sometimes I have had a feeling that God throws out the occasional wild card, almost a dare -- try this if you will; I will bless it; it is rich with possibility; it will not be easy."

Speaking of Faith

LECTIONARY READINGS

Lectionary Readings for April 5, 2009
Passion/Palm Sunday(Sixth Sunday in Lent)
Liturgy of the Palms - Mark 11:1-11; Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
Liturgy of the Passion - Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11; Mark 14:1-15:47 or Mark 15:1-39 (40-47)

VINE TRUST

The latest newsletter from the Vine Trust has just been published and can be read here. HRH Princess Royal spoke at a recent fund raising dinner for the Trust and has now agreed to be its Patron.

LIGHT HOUSE HELP!

You can read all about our Light house here. We have had such an encouraging start to the cafe. When I called in yesterday at 3pm, the cafe had been busy all day. It's great to see so many of our youth helping as volunteers over their Easter holiday.At church this morning we were highlighting the continuing need for volunteers both for the cafe and general cleaning. Do you have 45 minutes per week to help with some cleaning? Could you give a few hours to help with serving in the cafe? We would really appreciate your help as we seek to develop this vital aspect of Hilton Church's ministry. If you can help, please call into the Light house and speak to our cafe manager Susie Fraser.

Alltnacriche at Easter

SU Camps are a significant focus at Easter and Summer for Hilton Church. Tomorrow Elaine Watt with her team of leaders (almost exclusively from the congregation) begin leading a camp at Alltnacriche. Please remember them in your prayers as they share in this camp over the coming week.

EARTH HOUR

Did you remember Earth Hour between 8.30 and 9.30pm last night? All around Scotland and across the world lights were turned off for an hour. I was on my own at home as the rest of the family were away for the weekend. It was good to share in this act of solidarity even if it was quite a solitary experience. You can read here about a church in Clydebank which gathered together for the hour.

preaching a complex scent simply

Steve Taylor is one of the most thoughtful bloggers around. His words about preaching yesterday struck a cord with me. The weekly task of seeking to connect the Scriptures with our complicated lives:

I’ve been wondering if the last line actually captures some of the task of communication in general, including preaching.
It’s a fact that the Bible is complicated. Multiple genre’s, from poetry to story, from apocalypse to epistle, from gospel to poetry, from proverb to parable. The literature emerges from lives spread over hundreds of years, across diverse languages (Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew) and unique cultures (nomadic, Ancient near eastern, Israelite, Greco-Roman). It’s complicated.
So to are the lives of people. Every Sunday a range of lifestories eye me up. Some are high, others low. Some are forgiven, others burdened. Some are open, others closed. All are trying to make sense of a rapidly changing world and the complications of life in a credit crunch.
Into all this complication comes the cry for simplicity, to be clear and sharp, to say one thing well. Preaching becomes “Squeezing complicated lives into a simple headline”! I’m not saying this is good or bad, it simply is. Nor am I saying anything about how one goes about the preaching task - whether one exposits, or discusses, or imagines or creates. Simply that the task seems to be summarised by the juxtaposition between complicated/simple.

You can read the full text here.

Mike Robertson

We have missed Mike Robertson's presence at Hilton Church over the past few months. He has been doing an attachment at Trinity Church as part of the assessment process for the Church of Scotland ministry. This week there has been a major profile of his life in the Courier which you can read here.

Lesotho bound

Scott and Jessie are winging their way to Lesotho today. Hopefully all their connections will go smoothly and they'll arrive safely in Maseru tomorrow.