In praise of God

THERE were some big decisions made this week during the course of the General Assembly, and I had to make some big decisions of my own.

Should I take the ham and cheese sandwich or the coronation chicken. Or should I just have both?

With decisions about the future direction of the Church of Scotland being agreed in the Assembly Hall, it seemed logical to go and have a shuftie at some of the ‘other’ kinds of ministry actually being worked right now, and with that in mind, on Monday, I attended the ‘Pioneering Ministries’ presentation.

I think the thing about ‘pioneering mnistries’ is that it shows you how little imagination you actually have.

I’d never have thought, for instance, that the visual art community in Glasgow needed a ministry of their own – and yet they have one, a rather successful one too – led by the Rev Peter Gardner. He showed us images of the work he does with this fairly niche group and how he is working to align the language of art with the language of the Church.

It’s not as high falutin’ as it sounds – a huge seven foot diameter circular weaving loom created by artists has been ‘worked’ by over 15,000 people people who have taken the chance to be physically present with art and to allow using their hands to still their minds.

Another pioneering ministry was among the farmers in Ayrshire, with services in the auction rings and farm praise sessions at the marts. With the high levels of suicide, the dangers inherent in the job and the poverty often experienced by those who work the land, it was another area that had not occurred to me needed a specialised ministry and yet, when I listened to the talk, became glaringly obvious that indeed, this ‘flock’ definitely needed a shepherd.

Others mentioned included a pioneering ministry in a new build housing area, a pioneering minister working in an area of Glasgow struggling against the constraints of grinding poverty and a pioneering ministry working among students at Stirling University.

It seemed to me that whereas most of us see our church and our minister as a settled part of life, pioneering ministry is a ministry in the gaps of life and the people who live in these gaps.

‘Pioneering’ seemed to be the word of the week, as on Tuesday, we were all called pioneers just for attending the ‘Participatory Budgeting’ session at the Quaker meeting House.

Again, something I hadn’t heard of before, participatory budgeting seems to be a different way of addressing the ‘for us, not to us’ ethos of community involvement in decision making.

With odd pots of money available including Trust Fund grants and monetary input from the Scottish Government and local authorities, participatory budgeting aims to take the competition out of divvying up money to local projects, by allowing these projects to show what they are offering and allowing local people to select which project they would be most interested in having for the area.

The Rev Richard Frazer, Convener of the Church’s Church and Society Council and minister at Edinburgh: Greyfriars described how the system seemed to encourage a helpfulness among different groups that the previous competitive system seemed to block.

“The system of participatory budgeting encourages organisations to ask ‘what can we do for you’ instead of offering a particular service they might think is needed.

“As the system goes on, it becomes about sharing skills with each other for the good of all, not competing for money.”

Another day another lunch, and Wednesday saw me travel to the Mission and Discipleship Council’s presentation of some of their latest resources.

There are some very bright sparks within th e Council and they are very, very creative. For some congregations, CH4, the church’s hymnary, is almost literally a closed book, as apart from some of the more traditional hymns people aren’t sure quite how some of the newer, more ‘stretching’ music is supposed to sound, let alone be sung.

Never fear, M & D are here! In a monumental exercise, they have been working steadily with both professional musicians, singers and church congregations to patiently make a recording and index every single song from CH4. Not always the whole song, but enough of it to let you hear the tune, the speed and the intonations so that you can begin to include that song at your service. As well as being able to hear the music and words, there is a brilliant cross reference system that allows you to tie a song with a sermon or an event, part of the pastoral year or even a bible reading.

It must have seemed like an absolutely daunting task when they set out on it, but the end result, accessed online through their website, is a thing of wonder!

The event also showcased recent ‘Learn’ publications, Rob Rawson’s ‘Go Create’ and a joint staff effort resource, ‘Building The Body’, along with new ideas to encourage young people in the church.

One of the highlights of the week was a visit to the gorgeous Riddle’s Court to see the Spill The Beans team and find out more about their fantastic project.

Many a minister and worship leader has turned hopefully, late on a Saturday night, to the Spill The Beans website to find encouragement and inspiration from the many ideas therein.

The songs, the praise ideas, the sometimes very different way of looking at things and telling some of the old stories so seldom mentioned once you’re an adult are all there, and a demonstration of two versions of the story of Susanna (yes, we sang a modified version of the song Oh Susanna that retold the biblical story to the old tune!), one as it might be told to children, and one as it might be discussed with an adult congregation.

Spill The Beans is story-based, because, as they put it, story is the root of all scripture.

Each person gets something different from the same story – and what we get from the stories changes as we grow and mature, and our life experiences change.

One thing that comes out of looking at the Spill The Beans booklets in the hall, is that it’s never too late to go back and have a look at the old favourites – and maybe have a look at some new ones – and see what changes time has wrought on your way of thinking.

Based on the experiences of ministers and deacons and other involved volunteers in just six Scottish parishes, who meet perhaps every six weeks, the resource is now well-known, better loved and incredibly valued.

Spill The Beans is one of the best resources available to everyone, for the use of everyone, and aimed at every age, that’s currently available.

And that was pretty much it for the week. Lots of fun, lots of sandwiches and lots of interesting people doing amazing work for the church.

And I was so glad to be able to be at their once-a-year chance to blow their trumpets a bit and to be able to let others know that the work being done on all of our behalf, is fulfilling, worshipful and very much in praise of God.