How many things are the way they used to be? I’m sure, like me, you have from time to time engaged in a walk down memory lanes about all the things you used to be able to buy and can’t get anymore. Things like Creamola Foam, Marathonbars, sweets that used to have colour and taste mainly due to the amount of additives included. Things change sometimes quite drastically to the point that it is unrecognisable from the original source. Yet there are things that people expect to always be there, things like schools, hospitals, police stations and churches. When we look at the area around us in Camelon and Falkirk the schools have been rebuilt or extensively refurbished, the same has happened with the police station and the hospital. But when it comes to the church many get upset that things will change. The funny thing is that is usually those who are not a part of the church routinely who put up the greatest resistance to change. Those who are a part of the church know that our buildings need to enhance what we do not limit it. We need to create spaces that are accessible for people of all abilities; that are warm without the need for a mortgage to pay for the heating bills; which have the right kind of spaces to make them usable by those who come in. Many today think that old buildings somehow enshrine the religion, but if we think of the root of the word enshrine we are reminded that it is from shire a memorial to the dead. Perhaps we are hearing the faint tolling of the bell for the religion of the past but it is being replaced by the resounding peel of the faith of the people for the future. It’s funny to think that when the replacement of the schools, hospital and police station were in the public eye, there were many fond memories expressed, tales of the past of the buildings and those who used them, but they eyes were looking to the future and the benefit that would be gained by those who will use them in the future. Why is it that such a progressive outlook cannot be held about the church? The church is not the building, it is the people, it has always been the people. Yes we need a place suited to what we do, but what we do has changed hugely over the years it can be no surprise then that the spaces we inhabit need to change to. Why not look through the web site and see what plans we have for our building, plans based soundly in the now but for future and perhaps you would like to support us and help us get there. Come and join us if you can and become a part of our transformation, all are welcome.

I would be hard not to be moved by the recent reports from Haiti. Nature wakes up for less than a minute and thousands killed, more made destitute, infrastructure shattered and governments, no matter how good or bad, rendered impotent. I had hoped that when the Boxing Day Tsunami struck a few years ago that there would be a real change in the relationships between developed and developing economies, but it would appear not. Once again the stop stops and stares and doesn’t know what to do, it takes time for the sleeping giant to roll over and take real notice. But what will happen when this event slips from the front pages? I fear the world will simply slip back into its old ways where the relentless pursuit of money tops so many agendas. But what does it gain us if we gain the world and lose our souls? Oh there is nothing wrong with money in and of itself – it is inert it is nothing, it is what is done with it or the seeking of it that is the issue, remember it is the love of money that is the root of all evil not the money itself. I wonder if the developed economies will wake up and realise that we need to love more simply so that others in the developing economies can simply live! If you are in a developed western economy as you read this ask challenge you to ask yourself one question, what has changed in your life since the Tsunami, the Haiti earthquake and countless other floods and disasters? Be honest, probably nothing. Yet the potential collapse of the banks has had a deep impact on many people, some have lost their jobs, some have had bonuses cut and we complain. Our houses still stand, our families still safe, we enjoy a better standard of living now than ever before, even at the lower end of the economic scale. It is time for a new economic model to take hold. Capitalism is like a game of snap with everyone trying to take possession of all the cards. Command control economies (Communism) depend on good command, but that didn’t happen either – the idea was good, but soon corrupted. Why is it that companies look for increased profit year on year, simply being in profit is no longer enough they strive for excess profit. Perhaps we need to look as say enough is enough, can we simply make do with enough to ensure that other have enough too? So I encourage you not to look at Haiti as a single disconnected event it is part of a community of nations and what are the older kids doing to help the younger ones? More, can we change the playground rules so that the persistent poverty levels in India, South America and other places can actually overcome. We need an earthquake in our understanding of how the world can work and work to make it change.

Like most if not all of you (especially if you are in the UK) the last few weeks have been a bit of an adventure with the snow. Buses off, trains off roads closed, schools closed and the daily complaints on the media from the public. I need to point out - it is winter and winter weather should be expected. There seems to have developed over time an attitude that irrespective of the season or conditions that we should be able to get to work, or drive the way we do in the middle of summer, or take the usual length of time to get anywhere. I am old enough to remember some bad winters years ago (but not that many years ago!) as winter approached you got prepared and you coped, getting on with things as best as you can and understanding that some things wouldn’t happen due to the weather, that some things would be delayed or even shut – but that’s what happens in extreme conditions – I remember in our first flat half inch (15mm) of ice on the inside of the living room window - for days. I wonder if we have gotten too comfortable so that when the unpredictable comes along we don’t know how to deal with it. Some people do it with religion – they know it’s there but they don’t want it to interfere with their daily routine. But when life conditions become more extreme they are crying out for help. Perhaps just like in our lives we need to be prepared for the seasons of life, sun screen for the summer, salt and grit for the winter. But to prepare for the seasons of life we need to be regularly and routinely connected to the one who promises to give us all we need to cope and overcome – for he has overcome the world, for us.

The Christmas rush is past - the straining towards the event has transformed into the ease of excess - too much food, too much drink. Perhaps we have eased off the waist bands, stretched out on the sofa for an afternoon nap and gathered round the TV to watch Dr Who. The panic has subsided as all the gifts are issued and all are safely gathered in. By now the pile of ripped wrapped will be filling blue recycling bins all over the country and a good amount of gifts will be in the cupboard to be recycled next year to someone else. Has it been worth it? The white Christmas has been nice, but there were a lot of people complaining that it was interfering with their arrangements, shopping and parties – after all that is what Christmas is about isn’t it – perhaps they should start a campaign to have it shifted to the middle of July. I wonder if you have sat down and actually counted the number of programmes that actually include the message of Christmas – the real one – not the sentimental Santa rubbish. Over the years we have relegated the actual Christmas message into the cupboard to make room for the tree and presents. We get sucked into the hype and nice safe comfortable message of the “Season” whatever that means. My hope it that something of the Christian message has stayed with you and will continue to be with you as the decorations are put away for another year and will continue through the time of the credit card bills hitting the floor that you will know Christ and be known by him and his peace be with you.

Over the last 10 years or more there has been the rise in what I might call a spiritual age. In my many conversations with people they are happy to admit to having a spiritual side, even a spiritual hunger. The search for meaning and purpose is replacing the drive for possession which was the hallmark of the extreme capitalism and consumerism of 80’s. People are searching, but the problem is that they don’t know what it is they are searching for. Wandering through the different “fields” of thoughts and beliefs people have picked up a mixed bag of little connected and incoherent beliefs which often conflict with other beliefs which they switch between as it suits them. The Magi or wise men of the nativity were people outside the mainstream of Jewish thought and belief, they too were seeking, but at least their searching was structured and focused. They checked what they knew, they looked at what had been written, they put their enquiry into action by going to see. But the other side of this image was that there was something to see.

For too long the church has wrestled with its internal debates and reflections in public and so when those who come seeking and searching find nothing but empty and irrelevant arguments stripping away the mystery of the moment a lack of humility in all of us to be able to go down on bended knee and worship God. This is not an argument for blind religious observance, but if we are so busy shouting questions, how can we hear the answers. The wise men of the nativity journey for a long time and I’m sure there were times of continued silence, perhaps a night around the fireside gazing at the stars and wondering – who will we find. Still a good question and habit to cultivate.

Last Sunday I was told off in the nicest possible way for not keeping the blog entries at least up to date. The last one was in September and this is now December, but to me it seems like only last week I did it! Honest! Time just seems to fly past with no regard to season or person. Already there is the typical Christmas rush to get stuff bought. There were Christmas items in my local supermarket before Halloween and I think many feel like mice on a tread wheel running harder and harder just to catch up and never quite making it. This advent we are looking at those who bore witness to the events and this week we are thinking of the shepherds. They were on the edge of their communities so much past them by as they were stuck out in the fields. Slightly disconnected from society, the last to hear what was going on. They were the first to hear the Good News of Immanuel – God with us. I have often wondered why they were the first to hear. Was it because they were on the margins, relatively poor and these could be good enough reasons – but perhaps it was because they were waiting and watching. There is not much to do in a field at night, but gaze at the stars as you listen for the signs of danger. Perhaps being able to wonder what this thing called life is all about. It may be that they were first to hear because they were actually listening.

How often do we complain about the commercialisation of Christmas, every year it gets worse, but we still play along. We moan about it, but still do it. Have you tried sitting listening for the echo of the first Christmas coming to your inner ear? To hear the call to come form where you are to meet with God, the one who reveals himself to us in a way we can relate to. I hope you can take time over the season to stop – wait – listen and hear God wants to be with you, will you invite him to your Christmas celebration – after all it was his first.