Thursday 18th Sept

The Ministers' Meeting held in Perth on Tuesday 16th appeared to be a success.  Some interesting discussions arose between those Ministers who attended and hopefully some of our new ideas and fresh expressions will filter through eventually.

Can you wink?

Seems that there are a majority of people who cannot wink, especially with both eyes and in one instance it lead to someone being unable to join the Royal Marines, something to do with the sights on guns.  Wouldn't it be good if no one could wink and we didn't have guns?

Who stole the sunshine?

As Autumn is now upon us and the season of rest is showing signs with the leaves rapidly falling of trees, can anyone tell me when we had Summer?

Friday 19th September

That's life!

Nothing to do with the BBC TV show of the same name but have you ever had a sequence of events and things  keep going wrong?  Well, it looks like I am going for the 'jinx' olympics again and at this rate, i'll win all the gold medals.  I am not that keen on the word luck but if that's the term you are used to, then I am out of it just now.  Whilst undertaking a DIY job at home, I brought out a brand new stapling gun, plugged it in and nothing, not a hint of life!  I spent the whole of Friday night working on my pet project only to be let down by a new purchase, which failed to work.  Now that's what I call life!

Website

We are getting a few fair 'hits' here on the 'ye old' website as the hamsters are furiously turning the wheel to power up the site.  After all the expense of running a site and the cost of energy these days, it's cheaper to use hamsters!  Still the wonders of the 'net' are beginning to pay dividends as more and more enquiries are coming through email to the webmaster.  It shows that there is more than just passing interest in the church these days.

Saturday 20th September

We all know the weather is changing, perhaps this is the beginning of an Indian Summer?  We had some outstanding jobs to do in our garden and shed before autumn moves to winter and today, we managed to remove every item from our shed, fit shelves and then put everything neatly in place.  Whilst we were doing this, I kind of thought to myself, this is the first time in 4 years that the shed has been tidy - wait and see, we'll move house now!  Not that we intend to move anywhere at this present moment as we probably don't have enough equity in our house with the price slump in properties but I imagine we are just about breaking even.

Shed tidied, some of the household items down there now and I am beginning to tick of the list of jobs that need to be done.  I like to be tidy, especially at home because I work there from time to time, preparing services and so on.  An untidy house is a distraction and once it's put in order, I can concentrate the old grey matter on the tasks ahead.  Anyone else like that?

Saturday 26th September

Despite it being the September holiday weekend (for Glasgow and surrounding areas) there was a reasonable turnout at the Conference held in Cumnock Congregational Church.  Unfortunately, we started our conference proceedings very late and the result was we never covered all of the ground some of us had hoped we would.  This was the Rev'd Jason Boyd's final Scottish Area Conference and we wished him well for the future at Witney Congregational Church in England as he joins that church on January 1st 2009.  Once again, I leave a conference thinking to myself, should I bother?

Wednesday 1st October

Unfortunately, the CF Scotland website has been taken offline for the time being and this makes things rather awkward as some of our church websites link to that site.  I hope that the site will soon be up and running again but in the meantime, for events within Coatdyke please keep checking this website.

Friday 10th October

Thankfully the CF Scotland website has been fully restored.  Some of us are looking forward to the 75th Anniversary celebrations of Knightswood Congregational Church.  Hopefully the weather will improve but if not, I can always change my car for a canoe.

Saturday 11th October

Today along with Tracy, Emma and Katie we attended the 75th Anniversary Service for Knightswood Congregational Church.  Representing Coatdyke at that service were, Margaret McGuinness, May Main, John and Margaret Glen and Margaret's mother.  Well done Coatdyke!

The service was presided over by the Rev Alan Gibbon, Minister of Knightswood and his predecessors were also present; Rev's Henry Cook, Jim Graham (both URC) and Rev Stephen Haward who all played a part in some aspects of the special service.  The address was given to the Church at Knightswood by the Rev'd Jack Graham of Parkhead Congregational Church and the Rev John Butler, brought greetings from the Congregational Federation.

Knightswood has made remarkable progress over the many years and it continues to grow and flourish.  Indeed it made this one observer think about his own church and the way it has developed in his 7+ years of service.  Of course Knightswood was never a really 'traditional' church and has a tremendous amount of youth associated with it, also many of the young adults are members and join in with the business meetings of their church.  I bet that was scary to some of the more seasoned members, new blood but new blood with a voice and an opinion to be aired!

It's not right to come away feeling envious of another church, but I am ashamed to admit it, I was.  I was envious with much of what they had achieved and were still planning to do.  I was envious of their use of technology and the size and layout of their premises allows them to be flexible and engage the community in ways that I could only wish for.  If only we could be so bold, so supportive...

I know that we at Coatdyke would all like to wish Knightswood our very best wishes for the present and for the future.  Perhaps, just perhaps in some small way the seed will have been sown and maybe somewhere along the line we will take that giant leap of faith for when we celebrate our 100 years in our present building.

November 4 2008

Presidential Election 2008

I watched the BBC's coverage of the election results, occasionally flicking over to CNN & Fox to see their take on the night. It was rather interesting to see the way different media stations present statistics and predictions. Fox and CNN both declared many key States before the BBC, which on the night was rather conservative in my opinion. Mind you the BBC was not at its best last night and in the early hours with failed interviews, sound problems and a rather bombastic former Ambassador who insulted people; poor old David Dimbleby looked totally lost at times. Maybe by January 2009 come Obama's inauguration the teething problems will have been sorted.  In the meantime those of us with even the slightest inclination, witnessed history in the making!

The President Elect is the first African-American, the first black man to occupy the White House. The 44^th President of the United States of America is going to face many challenges but hopefully, his term in office will be fruitful, not just for America but the countries around the globe.

 Congratulations, Mr President!

Thursday 20 November

It has been an extremely busy time and the opportunity to update my blog has been the last thing on my mind.  Our Variety Show went extremely well although there were some hitches and problems along the way.  It was however a learning curve and one that the performers seemed to enjoy.  'It'll be all right on the night' was the motto expressed by myself to the organisers who as usual pulled it off.

This season of Remembrance has been particularly prominent in the minds of many within our congregation.  90 years ago this year, the Armistice was signed.  It is also a time for members of the congregation to reflect on the past and many do, I would imagine our memorial garden will be busy this month and next as folks think back on days that have gone before.

I always think about the past as well but I find myself now looking towards the future and like so many people, I wonder what I will be doing this time next year.  It's good to take time to think about where you've been in life and where you are going or what your hopes are for the future.

Coatdyke is actually doing rather well considering the challenges we face with our building.  We have discovered dampness in our gable end walls of our church and there is a worry that once we open these walls up, we may find the problem is more extensive. 

Meanwhile, my thoughts are with Ebenezer Congregational Church and it is my sincerest hope that they find themselves in the position to call a minister within the early part of 2009.  It would be good for the church, the community and for rather selfishly, good for me too as I would be able to hand the reigns over to their new minister.  Mind you, each time I go to Ebenezer, I am always warmly welcomed and it is so much fun at times visiting another church.  I do wish them well.

I had hoped that we would the beautiful but peaceful 9 Lessons and Carols for Christmas one Sunday evening during Advent in December, but the congregation felt that they had a lot on throughout the year with other activities.  However, I can advise those who like this service to attend one at Shotts Congregational Church on the 14th December.  Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend as we will be celebrating a family event that day.