Monday 24 December 2007

The Last Piece of the Jigsaw.

Yesterday we had a memorable Nativity Service @ St Hacket's. It's always a busy service here - we hold it in the hall, so 200 people is a tight squeeze! The kids did really well and we drew Right Christmas to a close by handing over a cheque for £8050 to the Gulshan Literacy Project. Three times what we'd planned.

Earlier last week there was a tiny part of me which - despite the amazing total - was a wee bit disappointed that we hadn't broken £8k, as then we'd be able to feed the entire school for a year (350 kids).

On Friday when I went into the local primary school for the Christmas Assembly, the school administrator reached me a Christmas Card with a cheque for £500, written by a Bangladeshi family with a child in P1. I haven't met them yet, but would guess that they are Muslims and the donation is part of the charitable giving associated with Ramadan. There's something heart-warming that the last piece of the Right Christmas jigsaw should have been supplied in this way. There's a lovely large photo of some of us in today's Press and Journal - the broadsheet newspaper in this part of the world - made all the more special because Joseph and Mary are with us, and this year Roo was Joseph (and sang his wee socks off!).

I've been working hard all week to get up to speed for the Christmas services (like many of you, seven in about a week) and hope to be able to take the foot off the gas for a few days now that things are in the bag. Now that the prep is out of the way, I'm really looking forwards to leading worship this evening and tomorrow morning.

Hope you and yours have a relaxing and blessed few days, wherever you are.

Much Love

FBL

Thursday 13 December 2007

Realising a Right Christmas

I am going to allow myself to enjoy these moments, and this entry, without worrying about pride. I think we've earned it, in our little congregation.

A few entries back I wrote about our Right Christmas campaign. This all started at Harvest time when I was preaching about the mustard seed, not just how it grew, but how the bush it became turned out to be a safe place for the birds to nest. I planted the central ideas of Right Christmas - choosing to simplify the way we practice it, and re-directing the cash towards people who really need a present at Christmastime - and stood back.

And boy, has the seed grown.

We've had a brilliant few weeks in the church. Lots of people have reassessed their priorities; lots of groups have organised low-key fundraisers to bring in some cash. We've been talking to the community about what we're trying to do, and found many people outside the church willing to lend a hand. There are far too many stories to tell, but for a flavour, here are just a few:

A kid's magic show with a local amateur magician drew in 50 children and parents and raised £200.

Instead of sending Christmas cards to neighbours, one couple sent them invitations to a fundraising coffee morning. There, as well as getting a 'fine piece' (i.e. good stuff to eat!) they got information about the school we're supporting in the slums of Dhaka, and the hundred children we hope to feed for a year. They raised £600.

I played a gig in our local cafe - Tarts and Crafts. It was an ideal venue - intimate with 30 or so folk there - and cosy on a cold winter's night. I had a ball playing. I used to play a bit on the folk scene in Glasgow, but this was my first 'solo' set. I told them they were very generous pitching up for two hours of Kum-By-Ya...! We raised well over £200 and forged better links with the community, and I even got a bit of street cred with the lads on the fringes of the church!

One group of women organised a Body Shop party and donated the profits - £100

One family are going without a starter for their Christmas meal, and another aren't having crackers. Small savings, but added up, they make a difference.

One elderly couple wrote to their family and asked them not to give them presents, but donate the money to Right Christmas instead. They raised £370.

Another family are organising an informal concert in our Hall for anyone who wants to come and do a 'turn'.

The kids in our teenage groups baked cakes for Sunday after church, and agreed to spend less on their Christmas party so funds could be re-directed to the campaign. Together, the young people of our church have raised about £200.

Our Christingle Service picked up on the theme of Right Christmas, and having gone through the usual patter about what it signifies, I suggested it could also represent our lives - our world of relationships (orange), the love (red ribbon) and protection that surrounds us, the good things (fruit/sweets) that we enjoy, and the hopes (light) we have for our futures. Then I reminded folks that many people in our world don't have these things. I showed them a series of slides where the Christingle is stripped of its adornments, one by one, until all that's left is the empty skin of the orange. Then I spoke into the Right Christmas theme. We raised £650 that evening.

I could go on.

We'd set ourselves the target of providing milk for 100 students at the school in Gulshan for a year, plus meals for the poorest kids. To do that we needed to raise £2300. Each Sunday, in Blue Peter fashion, I've put up a graphic of the 100 kids as little paper dollies, and depending on how much money has been raised that week, I've been able to colour them in. Last week I had to revise the graphic to include 200 kids. This week I've had to expand to 300 (the school takes 350 kids).

All told, we've raised more than double what we were hoping to raise and are sitting at £5000 with a considerable amount still to come, and Gift Aid to claim. It's not inconceivable that we might be able to feed the whole school for a year. I have such a warm glow telling you about this. I am proud of my people and what we've been able to do.

I am always my own worst critic, though. I have thoughts like "Ok - this isn't sustainable; it's charity not justice; what happens next year?" but whatever's lacking in what we've done, the simple fact is we've done something tangible to help these kids. And I feel good about it. So much of what we do in ministry is intangible, it's great to do something which has clear, measurable results.

This year Christmas feels right, and not just because we've raised the cash. It's because the cash is a side product of a congregation-wide re-think about the whole season which has seen many of us less frantic and stressed than in previous years. This is good. And we've had such a good time doing these things, with very little stress associated.

I know that charity isn't the gospel. But in the Christingle service I quoted not just John 3:16, but 1 John 3:16-18. We speak of love coming down at Christmas. But what is love?

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

It's only a start. A drop in a pond. But it's done in the name of Christ and it's sent ripples round our little world, and the little world of Gulshan Literacy Project in Bangladesh.

God, I'm grateful for what you've done through this.

St Hackett's - I'm proud of you.

Friday 7 December 2007

The Food Of Love?

The American writer and minister Frederick Buechner says that we need to pay close attention to those special moments in life when something brings a sudden tear to our eyes.

He’s talking about those moments when, inexplicably, and sometimes embarrassingly, we find ourselves getting misty-eyed for reasons we don’t fully understand.

It could be something beautiful that does it; a sunset or a starry night, or the sight of a newborn child.

It could be something that stirs our souls – a piece of music we love, or a smell or sound or taste that fills us with nostalgia for a past we’d long forgotten.

It could be something we see or hear or read that awakens something within us – some nameless hope that we’re only faintly aware of in the back of our minds most of the time.

Buechner argues that when we find those sudden tears coming from nowhere, for no particular reason, God’s trying to tell us something.

Towards the end of last yearI taped the BBC Choir of the Year programme because Roo's piano teacher was conducting one of the choirs, and though I enjoyed their performance, two other choirs stood out for me.

The London Bulgarian Choir came out in traditional costumes and blew everybody away with their verve and incredible close harmonies. There's a plaintive element that tugs relentlessly at your heart strings, but the harmonies are sweet as honey. It's an intoxicating blend and on the strength of this performance alone I went and sourced a CD on the net so I could listen to more.

Chantage - the eventual winners - performed a remarkable piece called "Christ's Love Song", written by the composer Richard Allain. It's an incredibly complex piece, breaking into 13 parts at one point, but for me it's an aural picture of what it means to be held by the mystery of Christ's love.

Why the tears? Well, once again, it's the ability of music to point us beyond ourselves to the one who is the beginning and end of all things. The more meditative Bulgarian pieces, and Christ's Love Song, speak of the profound yearnings of the human soul, and the sweetness of our ultimate union with God.

And what's God saying?

Your heart is good, my son, and one day its longings will be fulfilled.

London Bulgarian Choir: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GEDbKe038o

Chantage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0QMkE8-B4M