For those who don’t know about the workings of the Church of Scotland, every year ministers and elders meet in Edinburgh to debate the work of the various councils of the church. It’s sort of like an AGM. It begins on Thursday next and lasts to the following Wednesday.

This year, there doesn’t seem to be any obvious controversy for the church to leap into the tabloids, but there will be very considered reports on a wide variety of subjects.

One such is to do with conflict in the church. Surely not ? Sadly, as the New Testament will show, it’s neither new nor unexpected. There are congregations out there who treat their minister shamefully. I’ve had personal experience of it. To be fair, there are also ministers out there who do likewise to their congregations.

Too often, this kind of abuse gets swept under the ecclesiastical carpet, but not this year. This year it comes out into the open and promises to be a moving debate.

It would be good to know that folks are praying for us as we meet, so that we might find the mind of Christ on the above issue and many others.

It was good to watch Trevor Immelman win the US Masters. A man who has had a serious health scare and come back to win a major is good news and hopefully will encourage others to good efforts during the year. One commentator put his foot in his mouth by muttering ‘this is the last danferous shot he has to play’ as he swung towards the famous 16th and the water…. a splash later and nerves were all jangling.

What was rather nice was a concessionary comment from Tiger Woods acknowledging the day to be Immelman’s and wishing him well. Well said, Mr Woods.

On the Thursday of Easter week with all the pressures of that week building up (for those leading services the number of services increases as the week progresses) I got an unexpected present.

A couple of the children from the middle of the primary school game me a wee scroll and said that it was for me and that I could open it right there. In it was a drawing of an easter egg that they had taken turns to make and there was a wish for a happy Easter.

For some this would appear to be a little thing, but for me it was huge.

And that is often the way of it. A seemingly small gift from us can be massive to the person receiving it. Never underestimate the gift of encouragement.

Why not give that gift to someone today ?

I’m always glad when Easter is over. It’s a sad thing for a member of the clergy to say, but here’s why.

It’s only when the festival is over that I can truly enjoy it. Leading people in worship and helping people realise the importance of the great festivals is a great privilege and responsibility, and I wouldn’t want to change that. It’s just that occasionally it would be good to be on the receiving end for a change. Am I the only one who feels this way ? I don’t think so.

In general terms, clergy give out for 46 weeks of the year attempting to compile something that is interesting and original for their congregation, and for the holiday weekends, clergy may wish to avoid church. Alternatively, these holiday Sundays are nuggets or oases if I can mix metaphors, where we are fed instead of doing the feeding.

Some may say that the clergy ought to be fed through their own Bible study and thinking time, but those who say that don’t often realise that the demands made on clergy time mean that often the first thing sacrificed is that very reflection time. I’m not particularly proud of that, nor do I think that I’m unique. Whenever I look at a Bible passage, I am automatically thinking how I can preach on it. Every passage that I preach on is first preached to me, but that is not what reflecting on the Bible ought to be about. It ought to be inwardly digested and considered without the pressure of a sermon delivery place upon it.

For all those who give their preachers a word of encouragement, thank you and bless you. For others of you, please consider doing so. These encouraging words are ones we ALL need to hear.

As a school chaplain I find myself cringing slightly as the assemblies come along. I’m there thinking empty tomb and risen Christ and everyone else is thinking Easter bunny and chocolate.

There is no doubt that Easter begins after Christmas (in the supermarket aisles at least) but we can divorce the two festivals in our minds quite easily. Christmas with its nice neat and tidy manger scene (which it wasn’t, tidy and neat I mean), Easter with its violence and death (which it certainly was). The two are sides of the same coin, one man’s life.

The Mel Gibson Passion overstated the violence and cruelty of crucifixion, or did it ? Lots of complaints were made about the sheer nastiness of the violence, but crucifixion is not a nice thing. And the sad part is that had we been there we would have watched with the rest of the crowd. We would have been in there shouting for thedestruction of this individual not because we particularly wanted it, but we’d be fearful of the powers that be.

Easter, for the church, has nothing to do with bunnies. It is to do with new life, and hence the confusion in the popular mindset.

Most churches will mark this week as being holy and will have services throughout the seven days to follow the events in Jerusalem all those years ago.

May those who have faith, and those who have none, take a risk to make that journey to ask why such an event should have such an impact on history.

I’ve just received the ‘bill’ for next year’s season ticket, and, as feared, the hike is more than just substantial.

What is particularly despicable is the link the powers that be have made between the Old Course and the new Castle Course. You can’t have a season ticket that includes the Old unless you go for the expensive Castle inclusion.

All of the golf clubs in the town are up in arms about this, but I don’t see what they can do. Talk about over a barrel…

It isn’t the hike that is the problem, but the size of it, and the total lack of consultation. This is no great surprise to me. Other decisions have been foisted on the town, like the carbuncle of an architectural disaster that masquerades as a clubhouse at the New/Jubilee. The destruction of two perfectly good courses for the sake of length and the totally misguided hope of holding a qualifying event for the Open in the one venue, although now with extra courses in the area this looks ominously possible.

While hosting events like the Curtis Cup this year, the Open on a regular basis, and the Dunhill events are good to watch, from a playing point of view that means weeks are lost not just for local players during the competitions, but also during the preparation time when obscure and unreasonable pin positions make a mockery of the courses in the town.

More anon I expect as this story slowly unfolds steam rollering the locals once again.

Had an interesting time this week concerning a family (nameless) who wanted the KHR minister to do a funeral. After a little gentle enquiry, it transpires that the minister who did that funeral was two before me (now deceased), and shouldn’t have done the funeral anyway for reasons below. No real pastoral connection, given at least fifteen years time had passed.

Then had the ‘the person lived locally’ card played, only to discover, again with gentle questions, that they did not stay anywhere near my parish. (Second strike) Again, no connection. And, in any case, six years had passed since the person stayed there. (Third strike)

To cap it off, a family friend was asked to phone me to see if I would do a funeral (same one), and as soon as the name was mentioned, I had to decline.

This is more than just sticking to rules. It involves professional integrity and appropriate pastoral support.

It turns out that there is a chaplain connected with where the person most recently stayed, and that should have been the family’s first port of call in any case. Should this finally be resolved with the chaplain, it will be the best pastoral support for quite a family in pain.

You couldn’t write it !

As someone who was brought up in St. Andrews and enjoyed the privileges of cheaper golf and having experienced previous decisions of those who make these things, it comes as no surprise that there is an attempt to rip off the local folk, and those like myself who have ordinary tickets, in the new pricing system arrived at because of the coming on stream of a new course.

I’ve not walked the Castle course, only seen an isolated picture or two (not wildly impressive) and to hear of a price hike of more than 30% for locals and a possible doubling of my kind of ticket, I cannot see the justification for such a rise…. unless it the making of a fast buck (sorry, pound) is at the back of it all. Massive profits have been made by an organisation whose original remit was not to be profit driven, have not, in my humble opinion, translated into the upkeep of the course to good standards. The annual cycle of playing with astroturf mats makes golfing there an unpleasant experience, and before any say that if it is so unpleasant then when am I still playing there, such comments betray an ignorance of the tradition, history and loyalty of playing at St. Andrews.

Course redesign in St. Andrews has, arguably, destroyed two of the courses there (Eden and Jubilee) from fun tests of golf to lengthy slogs with hazards that are very un-St. Andrews like (ponds for example). Little thought appears to have been given to the original layouts of greens and their current approaches (par three greens that offer little attack opportunities as par five greens, for instance) and the loss of perfectly good golf holes, some of which would ahv been described as holes that define the course. (The 17th on the Eden for example… the 2nd on the Jubilee) These redesigns went through with little if any consultation, and the current price hikes are of the same ilk.

There has been a little furore in the local press (Dundee Courier), but I am not holding my breath expecting a climb down by the price fixers. It would be nice to wrong….   

As Chairperson of the local Council of Churches, one of my pet projects is to geta link going between my town’s twin town. I’ve had a nibble at a possible link between the schools, but it is a very slow proces to get churches linked up. My hope is for a regular exchange visit, but funding and enthusiasm are not there yet. It’s a bit like pushing a boulder up a hill. I know that when I get to a crest the boulder will run away with itself, but it’s not at the crest yet.

I was involved in a similar arrangement in my previous parish, but that involvement was with a group that had existed for some ten years previously, and that’s no counting the boulder-push time. It was great to have links not just outside the parish, but outside the country.

It’s when we lift our heads above our parochial parapets that we can glimpse something of the great work the church is doing in all her branches. (Ecumenism is the broad sense of the word) It’s when we see these things that we can be encouraged in our own patches. 

2007 may well be thought of as a year of tragedies.

Madeleine McCann disappearing. Floods in the UK. Benazhir Bhutto assassinated in Pakistan. Northern Rock. Information discs disappearing, to name but a few.

There were lighter moments…. England 2 Croatia 3, for example !!

Personally a mixed year. My father died in January. We had the holiday of a lifetime visiting relatives in Australia (not forgotten in a hurry). The ups and downs of ministry. Funerals (nearly 40 .. not too many compared with some) that began with a still birth and ended with a suicide.

I’d like to take this chance to thank those who have brought their kindness to us during the year. I won’t personalise this. (You know who you are) The word in season that has encouraged and challenged in equal measure.

May 2008 bring a more positive emphasis to life to all.

God bless.