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  • Glasgow 20th September 2014...

    It is true that a small number of extremists behaved extremely badly in Glasgow last night, and the media were there to ensure the world saw.  This is my response, after I went into town this afternoon.

     

    So where were the TV cameras, huh?

    I mean, there I was in central Glasgow this afternoon and...

    The sun was shining
    Some amazingly good buskers, busking
    People, shock horror, laughing and joking
    Doing their shopping (or getting their messages)
    Chatting to folk they knew
    Streets bustling with all kinds of people
    Going about their normal,
    Everyday,
    Saturday lives

    A group of guys got on the subway train
    A little bit merry for early afternoon
    One carried an inflatable flamingo
    (No, I don't either)
    A mother explained to her excited son
    They were going the long way round
    Rather than just one stop

    Shocking! A normal, natural outbreak of humanity
    So where, I ask again, were the TV cameras?

    Don't let the actions of a few extremists colour your views

    "People Make Glasgow"

  • Grace

    That ill-defined, wonderful, tranformative entity...

    You can't own it

    You can't buy it

    You can't earn it

    You can't seek it

    You can't make it

    You can't measure it

    You can't bottle it

     

    You can, however

    Experience it

    Exude it

    Discover it

     

    Right now, what we need is to slow down, close our eyes, open our hearts and allow grace

    In whatever minisucle

    Tentative

    Other-focused

    Fragile

    Vulnerable

    Fleeting

    Form it takes

     

    And to let it

    heal

    change

    renew

    refresh

    strengthen

    soften

    open

    us to move on

     

    May the grace of God be ours, today and everyday... Amen!

  • Making Peace

    peace dove.JPG

    Tomorrow is World Peace Day, and we Gatherers will be using the World Peace Prayer to close our worship.

    A few weeks ago, I facilitated an evening reflection as part of which we looked at the strange set of sayings that form both Matthew's and Luke's beattitudes.  After we'd played around a little with the makarios as 'happy' or 'blessed' one of the folk in my small group responded to the 'blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted' by observing the importance of the grief process in personal well-being... it is only through griving that we can find comfort and the strength to move forward.  Wow!  What an amazing insight.

    So what then of "blessed are peacemakers, they shall inherit the earth"?  For the earth is not exactly a peaceful place.  What if the inheritance of the earth by people of peace is not a 'reward' but a 'calling'?  What if it is the opportunity to be the change we long to see?  To be agents of grace, hope, fulfilment?

    What does it mean to be a peacemaker, a person of peace here in Scotlnad?  In the UK?  In Europe?  In the world?

     

    Blessed are the peacemakers - to these I entrust my good creation

     

    What a responsibilty!

    What an honour!

    What faith God has in we frial, failing, finite, fearful folk

     

     

    Lead us from Death to Life
           from Falsehood to Truth
    Lead us from Despair to Hope
           from Fear to Trust
    Lead us from Hate to Love
           from War to Peace
    Let Peace fill our Heart
           our World, our Universe
    Peace   Peace   Peace