Today was a full day at Railway Town Baptist Church... our AGM and Church Meeting, preceded by a bring-and-share lunch (see the photo for the spread before we all dived in!).

I am pleased to say that the AGM took 27 minutes - nowhere near my all time record of 10 minutes, but a pretty good effort all around!  That did also include a lovely local tradition of minute if silence to remember a Member who had died since we last met.

The Church Meeting took about 35 minutes, and included a very productive interactive exercise to move forward with our 'Hopes, Dream and Visions'.  Basically, I had transcribed all the ideas onto five large sheets of card, grouped under five headings.  In the first round of 'voting' people had four stickers to allocate as they chose to ideas they thought were interesting - they put all four votes on one thing, or split them as they chose.  In the second round, people had two stickers, to allocate to the ideas they now thought we the most important for now.  In the last round, people had just one sticker, which, if they wished to, they could use to choose one project they would be willing to commit to being involved with.

Lots of work still to do - and people need to let me know how they voted so that we can take things forward, but it felt positive, and certainly one person said they now felt they had permission to follow through on something they wanted to be part of.

So... another good day, with yummy food, good humour and a sense of moving forward together. 

This was followed by a  

This cartoon graced one of the noticeboards of the Gathering Place for more than six years, to my knowledge.  I loved it then, and I love it now.  Provisionality is an important quality of any theological position - it doesn't mean we can't hold firmly to strong convictions, but it does mean that we have the grace to accept that we don't have everything fully sorted.

As the old saying goes... ' in essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things charity,' 

This photo from last Sunday certainly makes me smile, if only because I have absolutely no idea why I have both hands in the air!

Last Sunday's Baptismal service was truly wonderful - as they always are, it was no more and no less wonderful than others - and will surely be remembered for some time to come by all who were there.

Tomorrow is far more mundane - a church AGM and Church Meeting, as we begin to think about next steps in our transitional process together.  There'll be lunch to share in between the service and the meetings, and I think I am looking forward to it all.

Yesterday the baptistery at Railway Town Baptist Church was opened up ahead of Sunday's service.  It is very generously sized, especially as it is the original Victorian.  It passes under the pulpit, and there is a rear door - through a cupboard - into what was once upon a time a corridor leading to meeting rooms (now opened up into a single decent sized space).

On Sunday it will be full of - hopefully warm - water ready for two people to be Baptised.  This is an exciting and wonderful occasion, and I for one am looking forward to it.  More photos to follow in due course.

Yesterday in college chapel, we were invited to reflect on the words of Revelation 21 in conjunction with a piece of writing I first came across when I lived in Leicestershire, and which I shared in worship very early in my time in Glasgow.  It was interesting to see a photo of a place I have walked countless times, and from where I even recorded a reflection on St Mungo.  It was joyful to see people hear it for the first time - and that our one true Scot among the students read it for us.  It bears another sharing...

The New Glasgow

I saw a vision - it was last Thursday at eleven o'clock in the morning:

I was standing on the Necropolis, looking down over the city;

and the cold blue winter sky broke open above my head

and the Spirit of God breathed on my eyes

and my eyes were opened.

I saw Glasgow, the holy city, coming down out of heaven;

shining like a rare jewel, sparkling like ‘clear water in the eye of the sun’;

and all the sickness was gone from the city,

there were no more suburbs and schemes;

no difference between Bearsden and Drumchapel.

I saw the Clyde running with the water of life,

as bright as crystal,

as clear as glass,

            the children of Glasgow swimming in it.

And the Spirit showed me the tree of life

growing on Glasgow Green.

I looked out and there were no more homeless people,

 no more women working the streets,

no more needles up the closes,

HIV and AIDS were things of the past,

there were no more racist attacks,

no more gay bashing,

no more rapists,

no more stabbings,

no more Protestants and Catholics,

no more IRA graffiti, no more Orange marches,

because there was no more hate!

And I saw women walking safe at nights,

saw the men were full of passion and gentleness,

that none of the children were ever abused,

because the people's sex was full of justice and of joy.

I saw an old woman throw back her head

and laugh like a young girl;

and when the sky closed back, her laughter rang in my head

for days and days

and would not go away.

This is what I saw, looking over the Gallowgate,

Looking up from the city of death;

And I knew then that there would be a day of resurrection,

And I believe

that there will be a day of resurrection.

 Doug Gay