I was leading worship at St Andrew’s in Blantyre this morning while their minister Peter is off at a conference.  It was great to be there again, although we had a bit of a hymn tune issue which I thought was kinda funny.  It always amuses me when people don’t know a tune how quiet they get, usually with a kind of stunned ‘Help! That’s not the tune we know!’ look on their faces.  The audio of the sermon is above.  Our text for today was Mark 1: 1-11, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

St Andrew's Blantyre

It’s almost Christmas.  For many churches that means nativity plays and carol services.  For Dunfermline URC those will come later so this morning presented a bit of a challenge.  How to preach on Christmas… before it’s Christmas.

This is what I came up with.  Your thoughts and comments are very welcome.

Sermon Text (for those who like to read)

When the world was dark
And the city was quiet,
You came.

This week’s sermon, Waiting.  As usual your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

The sermon includes some words at the end which are not mine, but Jonny Baker’s from his book Alternative Worship.

Last night I had the privilege of filling in for Thomas, the regular co-host of the Something Beautiful Podcast. Thomas is ill and so asked me if I could step in and chat with Jonathan about his interview with Dave Schmelzer, author of Not The Religious Type.

Jonathan and Dave talk about stages of faith, signs and maths, then Jonathan and I have a chat about some of the issues raised in the interview.

This episode of the Something Beautiful Podcast is now avaialable HERE!  Have a listen and let us know what you think!