I will miss not being at the assembly, the 7 Youth Assemblies I have attended, as delegate or staff, over the last 10 years have been very important to me. I’ve made many good friends, been challenged, been inspired, at the assembly in 2000 I gave my life to Christ. Through my involvement in the Youth Assemblies, I’ve been opened to many other opportunitites – the ecumenical assembly in 2001, being a General Assembly youth rep in 2001,2002,2003,2005,2008,2009 (2003/2005 as a youth assembly rep – I’m quite proud to have been a part of the first group voted by the Youth Assembly to represent the Youth Assembly at General Assembly in 2003, voted by the NYA of 2002), going to Toronto in 2002 as part of the CofS group that visited the Roman Catholic World Youth Day celebrations, being involved in the Wadi adult network, the upcoming trip to Nepal and countless other weekends, evening and events that I was able to attend/ be part of through the people I’d met. I know this list seems a bit narcissistic, but I’m just realising how blessed I’ve been to be a part of all these things.

If you’ve never been to the Youth assembly and you are eligible to go, I would recommend that you do, if you’ve been before, why do you share some memories with us? Those who are going this year – relish it, enjoy it, participate. Its the kind of event that is only as good as you make it, if you don’t put yourself into it and take part, it will never be as good as it could be – for you and for those around you.

Peace Out

Before I write about the moderators address, there is some background stuff you need to know. The youth reps, as a group, decided to set the moderator a challenge. We decided to ask him to choose 1 word out of 3 and incorporate it into some part of the proceedings. The 3 options were: ‘fishfingers’ ‘fiddlesticks’ and ‘rolypoly’. We were all quite chuffed when he accepted the challenge.

So, the mods address was based around Luje 19: 1-10. The mod was talking about Jesus unmistakable plan: that he came to seek and save the lost. He started by telling a story about a wee boy ordering something in a restaurant(at which point all the youth reps expected one of the words to come out, it didn’t!). As the story went on we kept thinking one of the words would pop up. Eventually the mod uttered the now(amongst youth reps) immortal line: ‘fiddlesticks and fishfingers, thats not what I ordered!’. Que hilarious laughter from the youth reps all sitting together, and no-one else. The mod did a very good job of holding a straight face, while Marjory (obviously in the know) looked like she might fall of her seat with laughter! While we all had a great laugh, I’m sure the rest of the assembly (and those watching online) thought we must have the worst collective sense of humour in the world!
Back on with the mods address: He talked about how we all often know what the script is, but we always want to change. This was in reference to God and life.
How often do we try and complicate what Jesus has called us to? His call is simple: ‘follow me’. How powerful is that?
He left me thinking over this statement: ‘we are to be the Church, and we have to be it now.’ I’m going to be pondering that for quite a while!
I’m sure you all know by now that Archbishop Desmond Tutu graced the assembly with his presence. He was awesome, his full address can be viewed here. Here are a few of my notes on top of that, I’ll just bullet point them:
My first impression of him was that he had a very peaceful presence, a fantastic voice: calm, gentle, inviting, warm and passionate.
‘an omnipotent God who becomes impotent in the face of injustice and oppresion, is he an impotent God? or wanting his people to act?’
‘South Africa is so thankful for those who supported them through apartheid; protesters, martyrs, those who prayed etc’
he gave grateful thanks for all the missionary work the CofS has done in SA.
He urged us to ‘invest in all people a worth that is infinite; that we are created in God’s image’.
As Christians, we are compelled by God’s imperative for love.
‘Go and do justice for the orphan, widow and alien’
God draws all into his embrace.

my notes are really just some of the phrases he used that I thought were particularly captivating. I really do think you should listen to his address as a whole. What I found most moving was the 2/3 minute long standing ovation the assembly as a whole gave the Archbishop. He was obviously moved, to tears at one point. Over my 6 times at assembly, I’ve heard many ‘important’ people speak: Alex Salmond, Gordon Brown, the Queen, but never have I heard someone so passionate, gracious and Godly as Desmond Tutu. It was definitely a privilege and a moment I won’t forget in a while!

I’ll posy later about exactly what the GA has meant to me in these formative years as a Christian, I’ll just focus on GA2009 just now. I had to leave early, in order to get to Inverness at a decent hour! I finished my time at the GA by going for a coffee at Starbucks with some of the other youth reps. We were blessed to be joined by Alan MacDonald, ex moderator. He’s just awesome. He’s an incredibly intelligent, spiritual guy, but at the same time very down to earth and funny. It was a great way to spend my last hour as a youth rep………

There was quite a funny moment during the the morning worship when one of the youth reps leaned over to me and tried to engage me in a discussion about how hot the Proctor was, I’m not here to judge, but I’m just not that keen on women twice my age!

With the first report of the day being from the Chaplains to Her Majesty’s armed forces, the Bible reading during the morning worship was read by a Chaplain. Rev John Duncan, currently stationed in Afghanistan, also on the voice link was Rev David Anderson. I really enjoyed that moment because David Anderson was my Sunday school teacher and John Duncan was my Dad’s best man (at least if its the John Duncan I think it is!).

I’ve really enjoyed the moderators addresses over the course of the week. Today was no different! Here are some of the points I wrote down from his address:
do we proclaim the gospel unashamedly? Or do we hide behind being Scottish and Presbyterian and say we don’t want to force it upon others?
Do those closest to us know we have taken a stand for Jesus?
Do we take glory in Jesus like Paul did?
We should never be ashamed of a gospel that will change people!

One of the big reports of the day was a joint report called ‘Forgiveness & Proportionality’; for of such is the kingdom of God – creating a Church where all may safely live.
Basically the report is all about discussing what the theological concept of forgiveness is and how it informs the policy/practice of the Church of Scotland in relation to sex offenders being involved in the life of a congregation. It’s definitely worth a read, its available here.

At lunchtime, the Mission and Discipleship council took all of its staff, members and the youth reps out for lunch. We had a great time, was nice to spend that lunchtime together. It was also Doug Nicols last such gathering with those who were there. I’m really glad for him that he’s found a Parish to move to, although he’ll be greatly missed in 121.

In the afternoon there were 2 reports of interest. The Mission and Discipleship report, that went quite well for the most part. After that there was the National Youth Assembly report. THe report was delivered by Iain Mclarty, moderator of the National Youth Assembly. There were some questions about the report, including one commisioner asking if how the Church was doing with its internet use ie: its website. When it was asked I was really excited thinking about how it was a chance to push them into perhaps incorporating things like twitter, RSS and podcasts. Or even developing a policy of allowing CofS national stuff to be online outwith the main website. This didn’t happen. I can’t remember who answered, but they said they were pleased that the youth page had been updated……..and that was it. (BTW: I couldn’t answer because only the moderator of the youth assembly or one of the youth assembly appointed reps could answer. I felt it was a wasted opportunity. But I’m not going to go on about it, thats my moaning done now on that point!

Tuesday night was a busy social night for the youth reps. First, we were hosted at the scottish storytelling centre by the moderator. It was a really nice time with the group and the mod. He spent some time wandering around talking to us all, what really struck me about him was how down to earth he is, he’s such a normal, nice guy. At the end, as part of a vote of thanks, Iain McLarty informed the moderator that, as a group, we would like to offer him the opportunity to have his portrait painted by Colin, one of the Youth Reps, he seemed quite chuffed at the idea!

After that reception we were invited to Holyrood palace for the beating of the retreat and then a reception in the palace hosted by the Lord High Commissioner, His Grace George Reid. The beating of the retreat was fantastic, standing in the grounds of the palace with a great pipe band playing, accompanied by some Scottish country dancers. Inside the palace, there are a lot of people at this reception every year who just want to be seen, but there are also a lot of great people there. Many Youth reps, including myself, had the chance to chat to some of the ex-moderators. As a group, we all love Marjory McLean (the acting principle clerk) and Rt Rev Alan MacDonald, and a large number of us got to chat to them both. Some youth reps had the chance to speak to the lord high commissioner as well. After the palace, we all went to the Hard Rock Cafe for some dinner. That was a lovely time to spend some time chatting with folks as well. Once we were done there, we headed back to the hotel where we enjoyed our last night together just sitting in the bar chatting and laughing, then moving on to one of our rooms once the bar closed!

All in all a good day, a busy day, but a fun, sociable day.

Peace Out

Chris

I had a great time meeting Paul Beautyman for a coffee in the rainy hall, Paul is one of the people who first encouraged me in my faith. I met him within about 20 minutes of becoming a Christian. He invited me to a week of using sports to share the gospel with young people. Sounded like a great week, so I signed up! I’ve never looked back! That week I fell in love with Youth Ministry. Paul has always encouraged me, always tried his best to help me however he could. He’s counseled me through many things, tried to help me turn my passion into action.
Anyway, we had a really good chat, I was telling him about my new job and he was telling me about his! He’s going to be the new Youth Advisor for Argyll and Bute. Can’t think of a better man for the job! You can follow his exploits at his newly set up blog.

I then went into the assembly for the Lochcarron and Skye overture. That was a heavy debate. Out of respect for the decisions made and for the General Assembly I won’t go into it unitl I’ve spoken to the Principal Clerk about exactly who and what time of communication is covered by the ‘no public debate’ instruction. Personally, I thought that, given the events of the week and the media circus leading upto the week, the General Assembly made a good call.

I’m gutted that this is my 3rd last day at GA. It’s been a really good week ,but I’m sad its coming to a close! There are two ‘pieces’ of worship I want to share with you from the Youth Reps worship time, the first is a poem shared by Iain Majcher, the Youth Rep from the presbytery of Europe.The second is a video of the worship tonight, a few months ago, my Uncle died suddenly in his sleep. He was quite musical, and had some guitars lying around. As the only other vaguely musical person in the family, my Grandparents asked me if I took take them and find good homes for them. One of the guitars I found a good home for was a Banjo. My friend, Mark Cameron, is a fantastically gifted worship leader and guitarist, this is a video of him leading worship on that very Banjo, apologies for me singing whilst holding the camera close to me! I don’t have them on the computer I’m blogging from, but as soon as I can I’ll post them up here.

If you read this before Tuesday afternoon, I recommend tuning into the CofS webstream to watch both or one of the Mission and Discipleship council and that of the Youth Assembly.

The afternoon was taken up with a long prep session for tomorrow. As I right this, some of the other youth reps are heading home from the worship session in the assembly hall, and others of us are just chilling out while waiting for another prep session at 8pm!

The Sunday always feels weird. Although we are busy, its bizarre not being busy in the assembly hall!

The prep sessions were brutal, not as much in what we covered but rather how much we covered and how long it took! We were at it for quite a while, but then Mark Cameron, our worship leader for the week, led us in a great time of worship where we just sang and listened and prayed. One song in particular is stuck in my head from lsat night:

A thousand times I’ve failed
Still your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I’m caught in your grace

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
my heart and my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Your will above all else, my purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing you praise

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
In my heart, in my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise
From the inside out Lord, my soul cries out

I love the sentiment behind this song. When I sing it it I do so to remind myself that I need to give everything to God. Yes I sometimes fail, but I have to push myself to put God, and not myself, first.

There were a few debates in the morning, the one I was most looking forward to was the World Mission debate. This was because I was planning on speaking during this debate about Israel/ Palestine. I wanted to speak about one of the things I experienced on the pilgrimage last year. One of the places we visited was a a community know as one of the ‘unrecognised villages’. This is one of the things I have still to blog about from that trip, but I will soon. For no, let me just type here the speech I was going to give the GA before the moderator asked me if I would mind speaking quickly!

Moderator, I would like to insert a new section 7 to the deliverance, reading as follows: ‘Instruct the council to research and bring information on the issue of unrecognised villages in Israel, in order that the Church of Scotland may be made aware of their plight and for this information to be brought to the General Assembly of 2010’.

Moderator, I am delighted by the content of the report on Israel & Palestine and by section 6 of the deliverance, as I was by the relevant sections in the Church and Society report and deliverance yesterday. It is important for the Church to be involved, in word and action, in this part of the world.

Last November, I had the privilege of being a part of the COSY pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The trip was, for me, life-changing. I find it impossible to imagine witnessing what I did out there and not be affected by it. The part of the trip that moved me the most was our visit to an unrecognised village. Before I went last year, I had never heard of an unrecognised village. For those in the hall who are in a similar position allow me to share a bit about the situation.

Unrecgonised villages are communities of Arabs who live on land that has been owned by Arab families for centuries. This land is wanted by the state in order to build settlements for immigrating Jewish families. The villages do not officially exist, they will not be found on a map. They have no water or electricity and have to fend for themselves in terms of healthcare and education. The families who live there live under daily threat of their houses being destroyed.

When we visited the village, we were welcomed like we were family. They couldn’t have made us feel more welcome! We were invited into the home of one family and offered snacks and beverages. My overriding memory of the home visit is of a young child being very excited to show our group their workbook!

I was quite shocked when walking round the village at the conditions these families live in. Every single home was pieced together or repaired with whatever materials could be found, many of the homes wouldn’t be out of place in a shanty town.

I didn’t know what to do or to say, as a group we asked what we could do to help them. Their answer was twofold; “pray for us and tell others their story, give them a voice”. I resolved that I would do both, and I come to the assembly asking them to help me fulfil this commitment. Moderator, you spoke this morning about the importance of young people dreaming dreams. I am a young man with a dream. A dream that these people can be heard, that their story can be told. I would dearly love this dream to become a reality and believe this assembly is the place where that can happen. I so move the Addendum.

I’m pleased to say that the addendum was passed. I’m glad that I’ve been able to take this issue forward to this level. I look forward to next year, to see where the World Mission council take this.

Not much to say about the garden party; I managed to get a quick chat with Bill Hewitt, I’d told him last year that if I came back this year it just wouldn’t be the same for me without him in the playpen (he’s been at ever assembly I’ve been at, or at least, he’s one of the people I most remember from previous assemblies). I was also able to chat to Marjory McLean and convey my thanks to her for all the encouragement and advice she has given me over my years at GA.

Saturday evening was interesting. At the start of the evening I wasn’t that as bothered about the outcome as I was about how the debate was conducted. I don’t want to talk here about the outcome, plenty of people are doing that, I want to talk about attitudes (again). I was worried that people would be hostile and disrespectful to one another during the debate. I think the way that the moderator handled the night was fantastic. He made it clear from the start that he would not tolerate ungracious behaviour and that he would not tolerate people cheering or jeering. Overall I thought everyone did a great job of upholding this. I thought that both parties did a great job of keeping focused on the actual issue, and not allowing themselves to be derailed from that. I was so grateful and proud for the respect, grace and dignity that was displayed for all those who were involved and by all those who spoke during the debate. The attitudes displayed gave me hope for the future debates that will be had on this issue.

Today has been quite a full day. The morning started with communion, then we had a number of debates, the largest of which was the Church and Society debate, although the HIV/AIDS project report was today as well.

The communion service was very uplifting. I’ve yet to be to a worship element of GA that isn’t uplifting! I’ve said before that the unaccompanied singing at GA is awesome, it was especially awesome during the singing of ‘Ye gates’ this morning, the sound of that being sung blew me away! I also really enjoyed the moderators address, let me share 4 points I especially liked from the address:
.we are united by our weaknesses
.we are united by the strength we find in God and in each other
.the Church should be a community of ‘changed lives that reflect Gods love corporately’
.it is as a unit we function, not as individuals.

The moderator also prayed for us to be an ‘unbroken fellowship’. I liked that idea too!

There were a couple of comedy moments for me this morning. To me, when the assembly was reciting the Apostles Creed, it sounded quite similar to when the Borg collective speak in Star Trek! There was also a moment when Bill Hewitt (The Moderator) seemed to forget he was Mod and went to sit in the playpen(the square, fenced in area in front of the Mods chair) instead of the Mods chair!

Although there were a few reports today, I want to focus my comments on the Church and Society report. As a whole, I though the report was rather good, there were parts I loved and parts I hated, but I want to focus this blog ‘report’ on some of the points I picked up during the debate.

The vocal report given at the assembly was opened with a strong statement of disappointment that MP’s have put more energy into clearing up the expenses debacle than they do on some of the issues addressed in the Church and Society report. They also stated that they saw the report as being the council getting us to ask questions about ourselves, our Church and our society. At one point, the council was asked if it would produce a statement opposing the BNP. They had no issue with opposing the BNP, they just reckoned that the people of Scotland were too bright to allow the BNP power.

When the report moved on to the section on ‘Growing up in Scotland’ my attention peaked. This is because I, alongside some other people I’ve known for a while were involved in the working party that put together this section of the report. So I was quite interested to see what was presented about it and what responses there were to it.

The section was introduced with the convener saying that the Council wanted to keep pressing the Government on issues surrounding meeting the needs of young people and that they also see a need for more consistency in policy. It was also suggested that the council look into the influence TV has on our society.

As ever, someone managed to bring up the idea of Youth Reps being allowed to vote, in an indicative manner. This usually comes up during the Mission and Discipleship report, not Church and Society! Marjory McLean, the acting principle clerk and also a legend amongst Youth Reps, reminded the assembly that the current status of Youth Reps and voting is that we cannot vote in any way just, but the question of us having some sort of indicative role is being thought about by various people, including the Youth themselves. She suggested that might think of ‘creative ways that old people haven’t thought of’. I’m not quite sure where I am on the idea of Youth Reps voting, I think its much more complicated than just hearing how the youth reps would vote, but I’ll look at that on a different blog post.

There was some discussion about Trident and other nuclear deterrents, the highlight of that section of the debate was when the council recommended against hitting nuclear warheads with hammers!

There was considerable debate over the issues in Israel/ Palestine.One issue that was toiled over was whether or not the GA should support the Two state solution in Israel/ Palestine. One commissioner was against the idea on the principle of not supporting the creation of mono-ethnic countries. Another commissioner worried that a two-state solution would lead to the creation of a Palestinian Ghetto, which I disagree with. I would argue, after being in Israel/ Palestine last year, that if things stay the same way they are now, then a Palestinian Ghetto will become. From what I saw last year, it’s heading in that direction, but I’ll cover that more fully in another blog post.

There was a cracking quote from one of the overseas delegates: “There is no peace without justice and no justice without human rights” (Rev Dr Tharwut Kades, evangelical presbyterian Church of Egypt.

After the world Church and society debate, a few of us decided we were done for the day and headed to the starbucks on the royal mile. One thing you should note at this point, is that the Heineken Cup Final was being played in Edinburgh yesterday, Leinster vs Leicester. Bearing that in mind, when we got to the starbucks on the royal mile the royal mile was packed with rugby fans. They all seemed to be having a great time, and an even greater time was had when somebody produced a rugby ball and started kicking it! It kept getting kicked up and down the royal mile, they even started aiming for open windows! That was fun to watch for a while! That day was rounded of nicely with a lovely dinner with my gorgeous wife Linda!

God: What new thing did I learn about God today? I’m not sure! One thing I’ve been thinking about is how God is faithful to his promises and that, just because I’m not necessarily aware of his presence and influence in/on my life, it doesn’t mean he’s not there! I hope I can learn to hold onto this realisation in future hard times!

Church: What did I learn new about the Church? I’m not sure its new, but my perception that the Church will polarise over most any issue was strengthened by some of the comments I heard today, in assembly proceedings and in private conversation!

The fellowship amongst this group of youth reps is, as always with youth reps, awesome! Almost everyone seems quite willing to step past their self set boundaries and comfort zones, in order to meet and get to know those they are spending the week with. This fellowship ranges from eating breakfast together, to joking with each other to spending time debating issues over a pint together!
I couldn’t imagine being at GA not as a Youth rep, the experience is just so awesome. If you ever have the opportunity to go to GA, especially as a youth rep, do it!

On a very bizarre side note, some of us enjoyed a haggis and cactus pizza tonight, it was actually rather good!