Heart and Soul 2013

Sunday saw the Church of Scotland, for the 3rd time, take over Princes Street Gardens for the day to celebrate our faith and all that the Church of Scotland does in the name of glorifying God.

The day itself was grey, misty, dreicht is probably the best word to describe it. But, the event shone through the minging weather and ended up being a great day! I think it’s a great way to start the Assembly week – it stamps an air of positivity and hopefulness on the week. One of the great things about Heart and Soul, not just this year, but every year it has run, is the number of people with no Church connection and no faith connection who come along. Being in Princes St Gardens, it is in a high profile spot, the hustle and bustle of the event grabs a lot of attention to tourists and locals alike who are passing by. It’s a great witness for the Church, a great way for the assembly to make a tangible impact on the city.

 

I was there with the World Mission Council, as one of the members of the council I was put to work – quite happily I might add! At first putting up various bits and pieces at the WMC stand, but I spent pretty much all the day taking photos of the event for WMC – although I was gutted to miss the swing band! (sorry Robin!). As a council we had a lot going on, we had an Photography exhibition exploring various themes of the work we are involved in round the World; the HIV/ Aids programme ran their Souper Sunday stall, which was a great success; we hosted the Voice of Hope choir from Glasgow, as well as the Church of Scotland Steel Band all the way from Trinidad! We also hosted a number of guests from partner Churches overseas, who we were delighted to have speak about various issues on one of the 3 stages around the event.

 

Despite all of this, my favourite part of the day was catching up with many old friends – some that I see fairly regularly, some I haven’t seen in years! Perhaps one of the strangest moments was when I realised that I was with 3/4 friends that I’ve known for the best part of 12\13 years – we met when we were a group of 16\17 year olds with no cares, no responsibilities; now we’re all pushing 30, married and either have kids or they are on the way! How time flies!

 

Anyway, instead of getting all nostalgic, let me get to the intended purpose of this post – to share some of the photos I made on Sunday, just a few at the moment mind you, I won’t be able to process them all until I get home to Aberdeen. I hope you enjoy them, I hope they give some sense of what it was like to be there….

 

Each General Assembly, for the past few years, the World Mission Council has focused its report on a different Geographical area in which we and our partners work, this year is the turn of Africa and the Caribbean.

 

Souper Sunday has been endorsed by The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland as a time when congregations might choose to hold elder-led acts of worship, followed by a simple lunch of soup and bread. As a result of the day it is hoped that church members will become more aware of the many issues surrounding HIV.

 

The Photography Exhibition was a collection of Photographs exploring different issues Churches are facing Worldwide.

 

Waverley Care’s Voice of Hope Choir performing at the World Mission Stand.

 

Law department show some love!

 

We were delighted to host the Steel Band all the way from Trinidad!

 

Heart and Soul had a Labyrinth marked out for reflective prayer….

 

During the closing prayer of Heart and Soul 2013, Dove’s were released after each section of the prayer……

 

 

Peace Out

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Church of Scotland General Assembly 2013

Another year has passed, a year which has seen me struggle majorly with some form of writers block!

The Church of Scotland General Assembly is upon us again, another year discussing the ordination of homosexual ministers. An issue we all know to be potentially divisive and painful to many.

Instead of running over the debate: everything that has been said up until this point, just let me share this useful summary of what was decided today by a man I have a lot of time and respect for, Darren Philip:

 

There seems to be lots of confusion about what the General Assembly actually decided today, with many media reports including the one on the BBC website giving entirely the wrong information.  I offer this to (hopefully!) clarify things.  I hope I’ve got this all correct!

 - The General Assembly voted for a motion which was proposed in the course of the day by Very Rev Albert Bogle.  The (unamended*) version of his motion can be found here: http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/14451/Bogle_Notice_of_Motion_and_Related_Overture_Principles.pdf

 - Thus, the General Assembly affirmed the Church’s traditional view on issues of sexuality.  However, it agreed in principle to allow individual Kirk Sessions to depart from that traditional understanding.

 - The Legal Questions Committee was instructed to bring an overture to next year, proposing legislation which will make this possible.  The General Assembly couldn’t consider legislation today, as Standing Order 72 states that any proposed legislation must come in precise terms.  However, it did set down the principles to be included in the overture – they are listed on the link above.

 - If next year’s Assembly approves the overture, it will be transmitted to presbyteries under the Barrier Act.  (The Barrier Act can be found here: http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/about_us/church_law/barrier_act)  This means that it will need to be approved by a majority of presbyteries. 

 - If the majority of presbyteries disapprove of the overture, the legislation will fall.  If the majority of presbyteries approve of the overture, it will be brought back to the General Assembly of 2015 under the Report of the Committee on Returns to Overtures to be enacted.  The Assembly of 2015 then has the final say on whether this becomes a standling law of the Church or not.

 - The proposal was amended to include an extension of the moratorium on the ordination, selection for training etc. of persons in a same-sex relationship until the process is complete.

 - The Theological Forum was instructed to give consideration on the “ecclesiological issues” surrounding the decision and report to next year’s Assembly.

 (*Amendments included effectively extending the current moritorium, enshrining the principles in the deliverance and removing the words “same sex sexual relationships or” from principle 3.)

 

Some people will see this as a victory, some as a poor call by the Church. Many Traditionalists seem dismayed, judging by what I’ve seen on facebook; they see this as the Church putting unity over scriptural teaching. While I certainly hold a conservative theological viewpoint (which has always been a source of tension with many I am close with in the wider Church), I’m not sure yet what my reaction to this is – I’ll probably be able to form my opinion better after catching up with some folks tomorrow who were at the debate and heard everything that happened. My gut reaction is that, this outcome, if ratified by presbyteries, will do what it seems it is meant to – it will appease the centre (of the theological spectrum) whilst those at either end of the spectrum will either see it as a step too far (which will perhaps be accompanied by a walkout of some sort – although I pray not), or the first step towards the “mainstream” view of the Church being that the ordination of homosexual ministers as the norm. What I think is clear from today, is that the Church (here at least, in some form) has learned better how to conduct itself publicly when dealing with such a sensitive issue. I’m also delighted that,once again, the debate was conducted with graciousness, thoughtfulness and prayerfulness.

 

For the time being, Linda and I will be staying put in the congregation we worship with in Aberdeen, we are led by a Godly, scripture centered Minister, who is quite willing to struggle through the hard parts of scripture with us as a Church family.

 

I know there is nothing earth shatteringly useful in this post, I wanted (for purely selfish reasons) to get some thoughts out there, to start writing again, and todays decision has given me food for thought to start that with.

 

Please, if you are reading this, I’d be curious to know your thoughts on today’s debate and decision.

 

Peace Out

 

My friend Stewart Cutler posted the following on my Facebook post, I liked what he had to say:

One of the things which happened today is that people almost stopped calling each other names. Perhaps the unintended consequence of the theological commission’s polarised report was that people realised there was much more centre ground than they perhaps previously realised. The outcome certainly lives in the centre ground.

I’d still like it more if people who hold a ‘traditionalist’ view stopped saying that ‘revisionists’ don’t take the bible seriously. They do. Very seriously. They just disagree about what it means. That conversation about meaning is called doing theology. And that’s what happened today.”

 

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A change to how I blog……

You may, or may not, be interested in some changes I’m making to how I blog.

 

On this site I’ll be writing less about photography, and more about World issues, justice issues, Church issues and random bits that interest me.The reason for this is simple. We’ve decided to take our business blog more seriously, and my thoughts and comments on photography will be appearing on the Hoskins Gallery blog instead of here.

I’m hoping that this will in turn help me to be more consistent with my blogging, instead of allowing myself to become overwhelmed with ideas to blog about, I’ll be quite clear about where to blog about specific things. Like, I’ve just published a new blog containing some early musings about Humanitarian Photography on our Hoskins Gallery blog and I’ll be doing a wee bit of blogging about the Church of Scotland General Assembly this week (mostly focused on the World Mission Council).

 

anyhoo, that’s all I’m going to say on the matter just now, here’s to more blogging!

 

Peace Out

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Tearfund Digital Day

I’m participating in the Tearfund Digital Day today. Its a day for ideas, sharing and networking – I’m participating via skype, twitter, facebook and the livestream, whilst others will be there live in person! It looks to be an exciting day! Follow along on twitter through the hashtag #TFdigital

 

I’m really looking forward to the day, hoping to be challenged, inspired, galvanised, energised and so much more today! Humanitarian work is a big passion of mine and an area I want to go with my photography work (http://hoskinsgallery.com/humanitarian-photography/)

I’ll be blogging on and off throughout the day and after,

 

Peace Out

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Carbon Fast – Day 18

Todays Challenge? – Adventurous action: convert your car to run on chip fat/ waste cooking oil or investigate electric cars. For tips and inspiration visit www.vegoilmotoring.com and info.cat.org.uk.

At only £1200 – £1400 to convert a car (estimated!) This doesn’t seem as expensive as I first imagined it would – still can’t afford to do it though! I have been chatting to Linda on and off for a few years and we would consider a hybrid electric car….I’m getting visions of having a de-lorean with a blender on top cruising down the A90 to Edinburgh……

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Carbon Fast – Day 17

Today’s challenge is also the Action of  the week: “Walk or cycle to work – or wherever you’re going – today and this weekend.”

When I have shifts at Cotswolds, I will almost always walk or cycle the 2.2 miles to work – unless the rain is really nasty or I’m doing the Tearfund Rice and Beans challenge! We also, as a couple, make an effort to walk wherever we can – the city centre is a 40 minute walk from our flat, and our nearest supermarket can be reached in less than 5 minutes walking! We don’t often walk to Church – but that is a 4 mile walk uphill at 8am!

 

I don’t understand people who drive a walkable distance – it costs more; is often far more stressful; doesn’t always save that much time and just isn’t as enjoyable!!! I urge you, encourage you, walk or cycle as much as possible! It’s great fun, helps keep you fit, and can help the environment! Don’t just do it for the weekend – do it for as long as possible!

 

Do you walk/ cycle?

 

Peace Out

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Carbon Fast – Day 16

Todays Challenge: “Are you recycling everything you can? Investigate what your local council has on offer: eg plastic packaging and carton recycling can be available in superstore car parks.”

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we’re very blessed here in Aberdeen with what our council will collect for recycling – we have fortnightly collections for biodegradable waste; paper and cardboard; plastic packaging and bottles; glass containers and bottles – and we have easy access to clothes/ material recycling; wood recycling and all sorts of other recycling at the local supermarkets and council run tips.

 

Peace Out

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Carbon fast – Day 15

Todays Challenge: “Dreaming of summer? Book a no-fly holiday or short break and make the most of the UK countryside!”

My only travel plans for this summer so far are most certainly UK based! We’re heading to CLAN gathering in July, where we’ll be volunteering at the Tearfund Cafe there! I’ll be posting more about that later.

 

I also intend on doing a lot of cycling an walking in the nearby Cairngorms – accompanied by some of my friends and colleagues from Cotswolds, should be awesome!

 

Peace Out

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Carbon Fast – Day 14

Today’s Challenge: “Take a short shower instead of a bath; you’ll heat less water”

Those who know me will laugh at this one, I’m renowned for taking long showers – something about standing under hot water is refreshing! However, I am taking this challenge to heart – I’m going to make a concerted effort to take shorter showers – we’ll see how it goes…..

 

 

Peace Out

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Carbon Fast – Day 13

Todays challenge: “Only fill the kettle with as much water as you need”

 

Tea and coffee is certainly something I take for granted, especially at work. On a busy day, we can sometimes go through 6/7 rounds of tea for up to 11 staff at a time in Cotswolds. We are quite conscious about not overfilling the kettle though. We’re also quite conscious about that at home too. I’d love one day to invest in a more energy efficient kettle too, every little helps!

 

Peace Out

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