Tonight was such a contrast to last night (we’ll blog about today’s experiences on the World Mission Council blog later). We (Sandy, Fiona and myself) went out for dinner with 2 friends we’ve made here in Pakistan. Two incredible women: Ayra Inderyas and Alice Garrick, women whose determination, faith, strength and passion you can read about on the Council blog soon.

They took us to a highly recomended resturant called “Cooco’s Den” (number 2 in Lonely Planet’s list of places to eat in Lahore, number 8 in Pakistan). It truly was an incredible cultural experience. Firstly, it’s sits in the middle of the red light district, although this being Pakistan everything is much less obvious than in UK red light districts. The resturant itself is hosted in a Haveli, a traditional Mansion in this part of the world (often based on Middle East Islamic architecture or Mughal architecture). The owner of the Haveli, Iqbal Hussain, is an artist renowned for portraits of some of the women in the area. Some of his art is very graphic, some is very tasteful, some is very wierd. But it was kept alongside various other Asian art pieces – beautifully carved wood, incredibly vivid cermaic tiling, statues etc A very interesting exhibition to walk through to get to the Resturant.

The whole place had a very…rustic…atmosphere. And I mean that in the most positive way possible! I was enamored by the quaint sight out of the back of the building – an incredible weaving network of building, cables, streets and homes. I was wondering if the night could get any better. Was I in for a pleasant surprise! I was the last to reach the top of the stairs, having stopped to take numerous photos (shocked?). When I reached the top, I was greeted by one of the most magnificent, man-made, sights I’ve ever seen:

Badshahi Mosque

Tonight is the first time since we arrived here that I really wished I’d brought my tripod. I spent the first half an hour of being on the roof terrace finding places to steady my camera – chairs, random bits of wall, notebooks,bags, railings. I was captivated. To add to the stunning view and atmosphere, the food was amazing as well! Good food, good chat, great people and that view. What a night! Fiona kept saying that she expected it to disappear at any moment as if it wasn’t real. I had a very surreal moment thinking “Am I really here? How is this happening to me?”. It all felt so unreal, so incredible.

We were all struck by that contrast tonight. The contrast of 1 night breaking our hearts with a beautiful, but melancholy family, the next night experiencing the direct opposite end of the spectrum in Pakistan. We all felt that it was good to get a bit of a lift after last night, which is great for us, but what about that family? I’m sure their food and their view wasn’t as esquisite as ours. Is it right for us to enjoy such things on this kind of trip? I don’t know. On one hand, it would be a shame to travel this far and not take note of some of the finer, positive, rich parts of the culture (if we make sure to remember the context in which we are experiencing them). On the other hand, there is so much need, so much want, so much injustice, so much inhumanity in this land. It is a dilemma, with no easy answer. Because these cultural experiences do help to enrich our understanding of the whole culture. How? What connection does a 400 year Mosque have to anything else we’ve done? Everything! Set aside the biggest connection – the tension between different faiths – and you have the fact that this is a land with thousands of years of history, rich history, diverse history. The Christian community in Pakistan is a vital part of that history, but to truly start to understand the current context, we must be aware of what went before.

Now I know that what I’ve written sounds an awful lot like I’m trying to over-reason our experience, but it is more than that. Perhaps I am trying to assuage some feeling of guilt for enjoying the experience, not perhaps, I am. I do have some guilt that I can enjoy these beautiful places and experiences whilst others cannot. Is that wrong? One of my great passions is to travel, to explore different cultures, to experience a few of the incredible things this World, this life has to offer. Is that wrong? I am here for a specific purpose, to take pictures, gather stories and encourage council use of social media. I have done that, I think well, is it ok to, when there are no projects to visit, people to meet, that I (we) take advantage of the amazingness of where we are? The official part of the trip is THE most important part of the trip, it is the part that we put most focus on, most effort into. And yes, it is draining, we’re generally on the go from 7/8am until, well now (1am). I don’t know what to think :-/ I know that I have been incredibly fortunate to be able to travel to places like and hear such moving stories directly from the people involved. I am blessed for that, and I pray I have blessed through that.

I’m not sure how to view, to judge,  this evenings experience (ethically). It was an amazing experience, one that a few years ago I would never have dreamed would come to me. One thing that I do know for sure is that it once more brought to mind the beauty and brokenness that exists in Pakistan (in so many countries). So many of our experiences here have been a mixture of beauty and brokenness, some have been pure beauty, some pure brokenness. There is so much that needs done in this World, so much that we have to pray for, to praise for, to persevere through, to have faith for/ through. But prayer is where we must start.

Peace Out

For the last 6 years, since Linda and I got married, I’ve been employed in full-time Christian Youth Ministry. It’s been….an experience. Plenty of highs and lows, unfortunatley more lows than highs. But thats chat for another post, tonight I’m focusing on the new thing God is doing with Linda and I.

7 years ago, at CLAN Gathering I was prophesied over, the prophecy was that I was going to serve God with my hands. At the time, I was still planning on having a long career in youth ministry, with a focus on sports ministry – so I assumed the hands was to do with American Football! Then, 4.5 years ago, January 2007, Linda bought me my first digital camera, a Fujifilm S8000. She bought me it at a point in my life where I was starting to struggle with depression, a struggle that hasn’t long ended. It was during this time that I threw myself into photography, it was an escape, a way for me to block out everything. Within a couple of years, I progressed from my Bridge camera onto a DSLR. As each day has passed, and passes still, I fall more in love with photography. I grow in my understanding and technical ability, I grow in how much I understand how little I know and still need to learn! I’ve gotten to the point where all I can imagine doing is photography. I’m always dreaming up new projects to do, new places to go. Always reading about new techniques, new challenges, new ways to do things. I’m sure I drive my friends and family nuts at times talking about and constantly taking photos! One hing that has emerged from it all, that is very apparent to both myself and Linda, is that I have a passion for Humanitarian photography, for photography that tells the story of real people’s lives and moves others to react to it. Photography that is powerful, meaningful, striking, beautiful, challenging, heart-breaking and intimate. Photography that will make a difference.

That’s the abridged version of the last 6 years, which brings us to the point of this post.

Hoskins Gallery.

In April this year, Hoskins Gallery was created. Linda and I had both gotten to the point where the stress, depression and dissatisfaction I was facing in my various roles in Youth Ministry was just entirely too consuming. It was time for me to move on, I was burnt out, nothing left to give. We’d been contemplating opening a business together for a while, and we got a good kick in the right direction. Linda still had a few months to go at Uni and that was without doubt the most important thing to be focused on, but at the same time, we felt it was time to take a step of Faith and venture into the unknown.

Hoskins Gallery is a photography and fine art business. Obviously, I am the main photographer. Linda is the creative director. As well as producing prints (she has a degree in printmaking from Gray’s school of art) Linda plays a vital role in the photography side of things, helping to arrange poses/ props etc so that I can have my eye on the shutter the whole time to make sure I don’t miss the moments or the light.

As we start out, our main focus is on wedding and portrait photography, primarily based in Aberdeen and the surrounding area, although more than willing to travel! These two areas are where the biggest market is and where we think it is right for us to start to get our name known. Currently, we are a purely mobile service. Based online at www.hoskinsgallery.com we have a portable studio that fits in almost any house. The dream, however, is to, as a business, own a property where we would have a studio for portrait and lifestyle photograhy as well as a studio for Linda to create her artwork from. We would also like a gallery space within our premises, where we can have exhibitions of our work, the work of peers in the photography and art world as well as up and coming artists/ photographers. One area of photography we, I, are very keen to expand into is the Humanitarian field. I don’t think I could have picked a harder area of photography to aim for. An area where you need to take exceptional photographs (I have a way to go yet) but you also need nerves of steel, on top of a compassionate heart, to be able to focus on and process the realisities of human life you will invariably come across. I anticipate it to take around 5 years, if not longer, to break into this field. Partly because of the growth I need to do to be better enabled to work in this field, but mostly because of how long it will take to buld a good portfolio in this area. That being said, my first trip where my role is that of a Humanitarian photographer starts on Monday. On Monday, I leave for Pakistan for 11 days with a small group from the Church of Scotland World Mission Council. It’s my first trip in this role, butnby no means the first step on the journey.

All in all, despite the weekly uncertainties, this is an incredibly exciting time for Linda and I. We hope that we can rely on you for your prayers and support (perhaps your business too!?). And I look forward to sharing more of this journey with you on my personal blog here, and our busness blog on our business website.

Peace Out

The theme of the Assembly this year was “Love life”, with John Bell being the main speaker. From all accounts John spoke very well – passionate and challenging, over the weekend. When I was there on Monday he was speaking about the importance of recieving blessings from other people alongside the importancd of giving blessings to them. He illustrated this with stories about people he has met over his life that have enriched his life, even when he initially thought they had nothing to give. Now, usually I don’t find myself in agreement with some of John’s approach to Theology, but on Monday I found myself agreeing with him, more than that, I found myself really resonating with what he was saying. It started me thinking about my time at the Youth Assembly over the last 11 years and how it has blessed me through the people that I was often there to serve; about the times when I took part in summer mission and how they people I met more often than not blessed me more than I felt I blessed them; about the hospitality I was shown when I visited an unrecognised Arab village in Israel, visiting a community who had very little, were severely oppressed, yet still gave everything they had to the 11 white people who were visiting them.

There was only one debate on Monday at the assembly, a debate talking about marriage. It was really interesting to listen to the groups as I was walking around taking photos, hearing how each group had picked up on different aspects if the material. Some were delving deeply into Theology of marrisge and looking at what the New Testament had to say about it; some were exploring current cultural approaches to marriage, asking questions such as “Is more emphasis
put on the wedding than on the actual marriage?” and “Is marriage as important to society as it used to be?”; other groups were exploring issues around divorce and remarriage, during the ‘blether’ where they had recieved some background information about the subject they were also asked some specific questions about Marriage and how the Church relates to it, one of the questions being “should the Church develop a liturgy of divorce?” The reasoning behind this being that an earlier survey of young people had brought back the suggestion that a service marking a divorce may help children and young people (and the adults) to cope with thr break up a marrige better. It was a really interesting debate, I’m sure the final deliverance will appear on the COSY blog soon!

One of the things I loved about visiting this assembly was the number of people I recognised, it really wasn’t that big a percentage of the number of people there. I thought that was awesome! Yeah, it was great to see old friends, people I haven’t seen in ages when I went, but it was just as awesome to see more youth and young adults engaging with the wider Church, the more diverse the attendance at the NYA is, the better for the wider Church!

My role on Monday was to take some photos of the day, capturing some of the moments that could be used for publicity for the event. I was able to get a number of good photos, which will be appearing on here, the COSY blog, the COSY flickr page and a few other places soon, I was very aware that I was starting my visual story telling of the weekend at the end of the event. They may be good photos, the may provide a visual narrative to some of Mondays goings on, but they are missing the wider narrative and context of the entire weekend, so I can’t wait to see the photos appearing from others who were there for the whole weekend, or perhaps just for small parts of te weekend.

I’m going to leave my ramblings there for the time being, save to provide some links for you to better explore things around the Church of Scotland National Youth assembly:
For the COSY blog visit: www.cosyblog.wordpress.com
For the COSY Twitter account: www.twitter.com/#!/cosy_nya
For the COSY Flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/cosyblog

Enjoy exploring these pages!

Peace Out

I’ve been very, very inactive on here over the last wee while, something I”m not happy at all about!

I’m not sure why I have been inactive, I’m certainly not short of things to write about – CLAN Gathering, Tearfund, World Mission Council, Canada, Cyprus, Hoskins Gallery, Starting a business, Pakistan…..if these things don’t make sense, that’s because I’ve not been keeping this up-to-date!

I’m hoping to remedy this over the next while, if I am fighting against writers block then the only way to deal with that is to write!!

Anytime I write on here, I’m a wee bit nervous about how it will be recieved, so it’s definitely not fear of how I write or what I say being the issue! Although, at some point, I do want to have the courage/ strength to blog about my experiences over the last few years!

I’ll leave it there just now, other than to say, one of the things that’s been keeping my so busy recently is that my wife, Linda, and I have started our own photography and art business, Hoskins Gallery, you can check it out at www.hoskinsgallery.com

Suffice to say, we’re very excited about it!!!

Peace Out

I expect I’ll be overloaded with information, ideas, questions and challenges over the next 2 days (It’s a 2 day meeting at Scottish Churches house) some of which I look forward to sharing here! All i know so far is that I’ll be serving on the Local Development committee, I’m still not 100% what that particular committee does and what my role will be. I’m sure I’ll find out soon though!

Peace Out!

First, the official Church of Scotland media:

twitter: @generalassembly

Live video stream: webcast

Life and Work, the Church of Scotland magazine are also tweeting and posting regular notes on Facebook:

twitter: @cofslifeandwork

facebook: Life and Work

There is also an official hashtag on twitter where you can follow what is being said about the assembly: #GA11

There are also a number of individual twitter users who are regularly tweeting about the assembly:

Shuna Dicks: @shunad

Stewart Cutler: @stewartcutler

Niall MacKenzie: @rawxing

Lynsey Martin: @lynsey1889

Bryan Kerr: @revbk

Alistair Vannet: @Vdawg

Church of Scotland Youth: @cosy_nya

Fiona Fidgin: @Fidge

Mary Haddow: @WeeRant

Rev Marc Kenton: @kirkofscotland

GA_Junkie: @ga_junkie

A few blogs that are worth keeping an eye on this week too:

Bryan Kerr,  a Minister in Lanark: http://www.lanarkgreyfriars.com/bryans-blog/

COSY Blog, a blog set up to talk about various Church of Scotland Youth endeavours, this week featuring the youth Representatives to the assembly: http://cosyblog.wordpress.com/

GA Junkie, a blog by Steve Salyard following the politics of presbyterianism: http://blog.gajunkie.com/

John Orr, a probationer Minister with the Chuch of Scotland, and my old YF leader!: http://johnorr.me.uk/

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, I’m bound to have missed some people given that I don’t follow everyone! If you do see someone that I have missed, please add them in the comments below this post!

Peace Out

Anyway, as I understand it (I was not able to follow the debate all day, so this is what I’ve gleaned from reading other blogs, following twitter and the CofS website. If I have picked some of it up wrong, please tell me!), the Assembly agreed the following:

1. Receive the Report.
2. Adopt as the proper approach to homosexual Christians the recommendations of the Special Commission,
namely:
(i) The pastoral care of homosexual Christians
(1) It is contrary to God’s will that Christians should be hostile in any way to a person because he or she is homosexual by orientation and in his or her practice. In other words we view homophobia as sinful. We do not include in the concept of homophobia both the bona fide belief that homosexual practice is contrary to God’s will and the responsible statement of that belief in preaching or writing.
(2) It is the duty of the Church to welcome, minister, and reach out to people regardless of their sexual orientation and practice. The Church should strive to manifest God’s love to all of his people.
(3) In particular, the Church should recognise the heavy burden which a homosexual orientation continues to place on some who find it difficult or impossible to reconcile their orientation with their understanding of God’s purposes as revealed in the Bible. There is a particular need for the Church to reach out pastorally to them and to make them welcome.
(ii) The eligibility of homosexual Christians to hold office
(4) People who are homosexual by orientation are not barred by their orientation from membership of the Church or from taking up leadership roles in the Church, including the ministry of Word and Sacrament, the diaconate and eldership.

3. Subject to the moratorium set out in 8 below, maintain the unlawfulness of discrimination in the Church on the grounds of sexual orientation in terms of the Act anent Discrimination (Act V 2007).

4. During the moratorium set out in 8 below, allow the induction into pastoral charges of ministers and deacons ordained before May 2009 who are in a same-sex relationship.

5. During the moratorium set out in 8 below, instruct all Courts, Councils and Committees of the Church not to issue press statements or otherwise talk to the media in relation to contentious matters of human sexuality, in respect to Ordination and Induction to the Ministry of the Church of Scotland.
6. In the light of the experience of the Special Commission and, in particular, the need for a sustained theological addressing of the matters before the Church, establish a Theological Commission of seven persons representative of the breadth of the Church’s theological understanding, with the task of addressing the theological issues raised in the course of the Special Commission’s work; and instruct the Selection Committee to bring names to a future
session of the General Assembly.

7. b) Resolve to consider further the lifting of the moratorium on the acceptance for training and ordination of persons in a same-sex relationship, and to that end instruct the Theological Commission to prepare a report for the General Assembly of 2013 containing:
(i) a theological discussion of issues around same-sex relationships, civil partnerships and marriage;
(ii) an examination of whether, if the Church were to allow its ministers freedom of conscience in deciding whether to bless same-sex relationships involving life-long commitments, the recognition of such lifelong relationships should take the form of a blessing of a civil partnership or should involve a liturgy to recognise and celebrate commitments which the parties enter into in a Church service in addition to the
civil partnership, and if so to recommend liturgy therefor;
(iii) an examination of whether persons, who have entered into a civil partnership and have made lifelong commitments in a Church ceremony, should be eligible for admission for training, ordination and induction as ministers of Word and Sacrament or deacons in the context that no member of Presbytery will be required to take part in such ordination or induction against his or her conscience; and to report to the General Assembly of 2013.

8. Instruct all Courts, Councils and Committees of the Church not to make decisions in relation to contentious matters of same-sex relationships, accept for training, allow to transfer from another denomination, ordain or (subject to 2 above) induct any person in a same-sex relationship until 31 May 2013 until the General Assembly of 2013 has heard the report of the Theological Commission.
9. Thank and discharge the Special Commission.

 

If you would like to read to read more about the day as it happened and the events of the rest of the week, check out the official General Assembly 2011 hashtag here.

From what I have heard, from the twitterverse and from texting my friends who are Youth Representatives and Commissioners at the assembly this year, the debate seems to have been conducted well by the moderator, the convenor of the commission and most of the commissioners in attendance.

Peace Out

The General Assembly has been a big part of my Christian journey, I’ve had the privilege of attending 6 times, representing Falkirk Presbytery, The Church of Scotland National Youth Assembly and Kincardine and Deeside Presbytery twice each. some people hate the event, some people find it incredibly dull, others irrelevant. I love it. I love the feeling of being a part of something that matters, something that is so much bigger than the individual, something so big that is seeking to guide a nationwide community of believers, something seeking to discern God’s will for a nation.

I’ve seen many great things said and done at the assembly, been party to some awesome people doing everything they can to further God’s Kingdom. Sure, I’ve seen and heard some daft things done and said there (I’m sure I’ve been a perpetrator of that!).

I could ramble on and on about the General Assembly and how much I’ve enjoyed being a part of the event, the process, the excitement (hidden as it may be!). But I’d rather focus on what it has taught me. Everytime I’ve attended the Assembly as a Youth representative, we’ve stayed together as a group. Imagine that, 30-40 young, passionate Christians living together as a tight-knit group for a week. Frankly, I’m amazed I’ve seen as few arguments in my 6 General Assemblies as I have (and when I say arguments, I mean minor disagreements). Each year there is a group of Youth Reps who have different backgrounds, different outlooks on life, Theology and God, different perspectives on the happenings of the General Assembly. Imagine that multiplied up to almost 1000 people. Thats one of the beautiful aspects of the General Assembly. So many individuals meeting together, sharing a similar goal, a similar prayer, all with different backgrounds, theological stances, perspectives, ideas. It’s taught me well. As with most people, I firmly believe that my way of seeing things is right, that my interpretation is correct. I’ve been humbled(not humiliated) many times through listening to others and discussing things with those I disagree with. I’m not saying that the General Assembly has taught me to change my mind and be wishy washy, it’s taught me to be open to what others think and believe. It’s taught me that, while I hold fast to my beliefs and interpretations, it’s not absurd to be willing to listen to others, to not dismiss those that I disagree with, to listen to them and when necessary, respectfully disagree.

Why am I saying all this? Partly because I’m a nostalgic fool , partly because I want to say something about the General Assembly and I have nothing more substantial to say! But mostly, it’s because I value the General Assembly and the Church of Scotland, despite their many obvious flaws. Today is going to be a difficult day for this years General Assembly, today is the Report of the Special Commission on Same Sex Relationships and the Ministry. Today a very long, difficult discussion will be held in the assembly rooms, people will have a lot to say, some will be scared to voice their opinions, some will not hold back. The last time this issue came up (2009) the actual debate in the Assembly hall was conducted with graciousness, with sensitivity, with class. I pray it is again today. We also proved two years ago (as a Church) that we are not very good at conducting ourselves civilly in public when it comes to this issue. we proved that, as a Church, we are fallible, we are flawed, we are human. It was painful, it was hard, but I think it was perhaps a lesson we had to learn. I’m praying that we have learned that lesson, that when the opportunity comes this year for that public debate to re-open via blogs, twitter, newspapers and other media, that we will treat each other with respect, dignity, sensitivity and graciousness. Last time, the call came from both extremes of the Theological spectrum that the other end was close-minded. I pray that we don’t have that again. Christians so often get a bad press in this world, no more so than when we are at each others throats. I pray that this does not come again after today. I won’t call for the Church to be perfect, that would be stupid. But we have to show the world that we can follow Jesus’ commands, that we can put aside our differences, our disagreements and love each other as neighbours.

We’re people, we’re fallible, we’re imperfect, we’re Christians. Let’s listen to each other, let’s try and understand each other, let’s not be afraid to disagree. But let’s find a way to disagree whilst still being a good witness for Christ to the world. Let’s remember that the most important thing is not who is right and who is wrong, it’s not who wins and who loses. The most important thing is that God’s will is sought. That God is placed in the centre, that we seek God’s guidance, God’s wisdom. If we don’t do that, whats the point? If we do not focus on God, on His desires, His will, why bother?

Let’s pray for the General Assembly today, for those who will partake in this well publicised, difficult discussion. Let’s also pray for how we deal with the decisions made today.

Peace Out

I’m very excited about this opportunity, I can’t deny that I’m almost as excited about the land we’ll be visiting as I am about the chance to meet with young Christians from a context so different from my own. The conference has been set for 2010 so that it can coincide with the centenary of the 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference. During our time there, we will stay in Kathmandu and also in Pokhara. While there, as well as participating in the 5 day conference, we will visit local Churches and meet youth leaders, meet with the UN in Kathmandu and visit some missions.

As long as I”m able to recieve a signal on my Blackberry I’ll be tweeting (I’ll find out if there is an ‘official’ hashtag for the event) and blogging about the trip (my blog posts will also appear on the cosyblog, where there will also be people blogging about the Church of Scotland General Assembly at the same time.

As I find out more over the next few weeks I’ll be blogging more about what I”m looking forward to and expecting from the trip.

Peace Out

Chris

I’m looking forward to the game this year, it should be an outstanding shootout between two dominant offenses. I’ve tried to settle on the side of one of the teams, but I just can’t pick one team in thie game. On the one hand, the New Orleans Saints have a very romantic, compelling reason why we should support them – it’s their first Superbowl and they’re playing for a city that is trying to rebuild itself on the back of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina a few years ago. On the other Hand, the Indianapolis Colts are looking for their second ring in 4 years, and they have one of my favourite NFL players at the helm – Peyton Manning.

There are countless articles on the internet worth reading about this game, and its not even happened yet! At the bottom of this post are a few that I think stand out and give a good insight/ overview of what to expect tonight. You can also follow thing on twitter by watching the tag #SB44

Will you be watching? Enjoy the game!

Peace Out

Good links:

NFL Superbowl website
Social Media and the Superbowl
Factors to watch out for in tonights game
Will the Colts Superbowl experience be an asset?
Video: 10 greatest players without a Superbowl ring