Sunday's coming!

Just a reminder of this post. Bring a flower or a piece of coloured ribbon or cloth, and we'll use it as part of our worship on Sunday am.

World Autism Awareness Day 2010

A fascinating post here from Ben Dawn.

Multi Congregational Church

Opawa Baptist Church Intro from opawa mac on Vimeo.

EASTER SERVICE at DORES

Our Easter service at Dores kicks off at 8am. I'm hoping that the weather will be kind to us. We have three baptisms at the beach (not full immersion!!) and even if the weather is cold, we'll have hot drinks and bacon rolls to warm us up. At our 10 am service in Hilton we are having 2 baptisms, so we really have much to celebrate together on this day of days in the Christian year.

TENEBRAE

Tonight at 7pm, we are going to share in a Tenebrae service led by Jonathan and some of our youth. The service will climax at sun set which takes place tonight at 8.03pm. We've never had a service like this at Hilton before, so I'm really looking forward to it.

IN THE UPPER ROOM

In the simplicity of our upper room at the Light house, we re-enacted some of the events of Maunday Thursday including the foot washing and communion. There were no songs, just the kind of sharing and conversations you would expect to have around a meal table in the gathering gloom of an evening spent with friends. A very special evening to experience together during Holy week.

Maunday Thursday

Maunday Thursday is when we remember that Jesus washed his disciples feet, and then celebrated communion with them as part of the Passover meal. Tomorrow evening, we are going to have an informal time of worship and sharing in the Light house at 7pm to which all are welcome. It will be led by Sharon Klassen who has just arrived from Canada to spend 1 year working alongside us at the Light house. This will be a chance to meet Sharon and to reflect on this very significant moment in Holy week.

LIGHT HOUSE

The Lighthouse has been growing rapidly over the past year, but it still remains quite vulnerable in times of staff holidays etc. We have a very committed, but relatively small volunteer base to draw from in times of crisis. Today was such a day, with Shona taking the lead, with the rest of the MacPherson clan, along with Stuart and Sharon. There is no substitute for learning under pressure - lunchtime was a steeping learning curve for us all! We're back on again tomorrow, so hopefully the lessons learnt today will make for a smoother operation tomorrow. I enjoy the buzz of being involved in a project in its infancy, when you are continually faced with challenges which keep you looking to God for the answers!

EASTER SUNDAY DECORATION

Jonathan is having a Cross made as a focal point for our Good Friday Service. For those on Sunday morning who would like to, please bring a streamer or coloured ribbon to decorate the cross during the service.

ELECTION HUSTINGS

Subject to polling day being, as expected, on 6th May, a Hustings Event for the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Constituency, sponsored by churches in Inverness, Nairn and the surrounding district, is planned to take place in the Town House, Inverness at 7.30pm on 28th April. Seating in the Town House is limited, so you are advised to get there early! All candidates known so far to be standing have agreed to attend and answer YOUR questions. You can submit your question EITHER by email to: mhtml:%7BCE3CE512-2B83-4B4A-BAB9-CD35478E238A%7Dmid://00000033/!x-usc:mailto:inbsforum10@btinternet.com Or by post to: Election Questions, Crown Church Office, Kingsmills Road, Inverness, IV2 3JT. Questions selected from those submitted will be put to the candidates at the meeting. Further details from the Rev Peter W Nimmo, tel. 01463 250 802.

SPREAD THE WORD looks like an interesting project.

die and be raised

In the course of my foraging about for various Easter worship resources I came across this nugget from Walter Brueggemann.

HOLY WEEK

I'm working on the Easter Sunday morning service today, and wondering if anyone reading has either of these 2 cd's?

HISTORY MAKER

A facebook campaign has been launched to have History Maker at No 1 for Easter Sunday. More details here.

earth hour

THE SCENE WAS SET :
KITCHEN TABLE READY WITH 4 CHAIRS - 2 BIG BOWLS OF POPCORN - A BIG BOWL OF SWEETS - 8 ICED CAKES MADE ESPECIALLY FOR THE BIG OCCASION.A BOARDGAME READY TO PLAY.CANDLES LIT.
A HUSBAND,DAUGHTER AND GRANDSON AND MYSELF ALL SEATED WAITING PATIENTLY.
FOR WHAT ?
THE ANSWER IS : 8.30PM ON SATURDAY NIGHT AND THE WWF's EARTH HOUR WHEN WE SWITCHED OFF ALL THE LIGHTS (AND EVEN THE HEATING) FOR ONE HOUR.
WHAT FUN WE HAD AS A FAMILY PLAYING THE GAME EATING AND ENJOYING THE CANDLELIGHT. WE WERE ALL QUITE SAD WHEN THE HOUR WAS OVER.
WE MIGHT EVEN DO IT AGAIN BEFORE NEXT YEAR.
MARGARET

TRAINS

"Let the train take the strain!" I had to go down to Edinburgh for some meetings on Thursday, so for the first time in many years I decided to take the train. It was comfortable and on time, and I was able to work on both legs of the journey. It was also considerably less stressful than 3 hours of driving each way on the A9. I try to keep my journeys south to an absolute minimum, but I will certainly be more enthusiastic about taking the train in the future.

MSM

In all the various activities of the last week, I forgot to mention that we had another really good MSM day at Hilton Church. We have over 40 people doing this fresh expression course. Next month, we are joining up with the Glasgow course at Aviemore for a residential weekend which should be interesting.

Health & Hygiene

On Monday, I spent the day at Inverness College doing the elementary health & hygiene course. In 1996, 21 people died following a church lunch! The source of the e-coli outbreak was John Barr's butchers shop in Wishaw. From time to time, I help out at the Lighthouse, so it was helpful to go on the course and have my awareness of all the health & hygiene issues increased.

To err

"To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer!! So writes a friend who has just lost a lot of vital data.

STATED ANUAL MEETING

I'm just back from the stated anual meeting. Mike Robertson encouraged folk to come along to the meeting and he wasn't disappointed. We had a record turn out, and heard an encouraging report from Jean Barron on the finances of the church. We have continued to meet all the financial targets that we budgeted for, so we have much to be grateful for. In the coming year, we have some major upgrades of the buildings to do, including a major re-wiring programme, which will require substantial funds. We have a new treasurer - Julie Douglas - together with new Board members, as well as a recently appointed chairman, Mike Robertson, and clerk to the Board - Lloyd Arthur, so we look to the coming year with a lot of optimism. God has been so good to us in terms of providing for all our needs, and we trust him for the year ahead.

THANK YOU!

Today, I was really concious of all the work that quietly goes on in the background which is so vital. Steve was busy in the garden tidying up all the winter debris. It's work like this which will ensure that the garden is available for use this summer. In the church, John, Ken, Bob and Donald were continuing their work on the sanctuary floor. On Monday, they stripped back the polish and today they were applying a fifth coat. It looks fantastic. Then I met Jean who was printing off copies of the accounts for tonights Board and Stated anual meeting. We haven't had a treasurer for a whole year, and without Jean's meticulous book keeping we would now be in dire straits! These 3 examples are indicative of the magnificent work which quietly goes on throughout the year, and makes Hilton church such a good place to be part of. So many people are ready and willing to play their part.