The Record - March 2018 by Free Church of Scotland

THE

RECORD

MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MARCH 2018 • £1.50

Editor • Rev. David A Robertson The Editor, The Record, St Peter’s Free Church, 4 St Peter Street, Dundee, DD1 4JJ 07825748752 drobertson@freechurch.org Missions News • Mrs Sarah Johnson Free Church Offices, 15 North Bank Street, Edinburgh, EH1 2LS sarah@freechurch.org WFM Editor • Sarah Cumming 31 Doune Park, Dalgety Bay, KY11 9LX sarah.cumming@hotmail.co.uk Gaelic Editor • Janet MacPhail 24 North Bragar, Isle of Lewis, HS2 9DA 01851 710354 Seminary News • Rev. Thomas Davis Free Church Manse, Carloway, Isle of Lewis thomasanduna@btinternet.com Prayer Diary • Mrs Mairi Macdonald ian.macdonald57@btinternet.com Copy Editor • Dayspring MacLeod The Record • ISSN 2042-2970 Published • The Record is produced by The Free Church of Scotland, Free Church Offices, 15 North Bank Street, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH1 2LS 0131 226 5286 offices@freechurch.org Details of the church's activities, latest news and people to contact are all available on the church's website: www.freechurch.org Follow us on: Twitter @The_FC_Record and on Tumblr freechurchrecord.tumbler.com Advertising • Anyone wishing to advertise in The Record should contact the editor.

Cover: ©Alessandro de Leo/Adobe Stock

For Subscriptions • The annual subscription price for The Record is £30. Cheques should be made payable to: Free Church of Scotland. Please contact the offices for overseas subscription costs. For the visually impaired: Please contact Norman Kennedy on 01463 240192 for details of how to obtain The Record in an audio version. Design & Layout • Fin Macrae @DUFI Art www.dufi-art.com The Free Church of Scotland is a registered charity SC012925 Women for Mission is a registered charity SC03898

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CONTENTS

WELCOME TO THE MARCH RECORD

that we have introduced a digital edition. If you have purchased this paper copy you will see that there is a QR code on p2 — which you can scan to get your free digital copy. If you have just bought the digital version then you won’t need it! We would ask people to be honest and not to pass on the QR code to people who have not purchased the magazine. One new item this month is something that we intend to do on a quarterly basis — and it’s a return to the past. Those who remember the good old days they will recall that every month there used to be “the league table” of givings within the denomination. We are reintroducing that (p16-17). If you find the cover this month a bit disturbing then it has achieved its purpose. It is disturbing. And confusing. This is what our children are increasingly being fed in schools and through the media. Even as I write children in a primary school in my city are being told about the red pencil that really is a blue pencil — as they are indoctrinated with the gender confusion of Queer Theory. These are challenging and confusing times in which we live — but no more so than when the gospel first came into the Roman world. We believe in a sovereign and almighty God whose word will always achieve that for which it was sent. Let us continue to serve him with the fruit and power of his Holy Spirit. • his is the first month

Yours in Christ David

2018

WHAT WOULD JESUS DO ABOUT TRANSGENDER?

KEEPING SUNDAYS Dr. James Eglinton

OBITUARIES: PAUL JENNINGS Farquhar Renwick

FREE CHURCH NEWS: Retirement of James Morrison, Missionary, Lybster. Youth Conference

FREE CHURCH FINANCES

IN HIS HANDS Murdo Murchison

THE GOVERNMENT THREAT OF EXTREMISM John Putt

LETTERS PAGE

ECCLESIASTES: WISDOM, MADNESS, FOLLY

OBITUARIES: KENNY MACDONALD Calum MacMillan

ETS ACCESS COURSE INTERVIEW Thomas Davis

FROM PERU WITH LOVE Catriona MacDonald

EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS — WFM Sarah Cumming

LETTER FROM SOUTH KOREA Callum Bowsie

POETRY PAGE George Herbert

GAELIC Janet MacPhail

HOME SWEET HOME Dayspring MacLeod

PRAYER DIARY

POST TENEBRAS VOX Catriona Murray

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WHAT WOUL ABOUT TRAN BY THE EDITOR

But it is precisely because he loves people that he wouldn’t just accept that brokenness and depression amongst trans people is because of bullying. Maybe it is because, for some people, being trans itself causes so much unhappiness? — so in that case we need to ask, is it loving to encourage something which leads to so much unhappiness? Maybe doing the ‘nice’, and easy, thing in this case — avoiding the hard and complex questions — is not actually the kind and good thing to do?

he free church is being asked this month to respond

to the Scottish Government’s consultation on gender identity recognition. How will we respond? It’s important to recognise that when the Scottish Government uses the term consultation, they don’t use it in the normal way: seeking advice in order to obtain information so that a decision can be made. The Scottish Government have already made the decision, and given the way that modern politics works, they won’t permit their MSPs to disagree or go against the pre-determined outcome. However, the Church will respond and pray that some of our politicians will come to a rational, humane and loving decision. How do we make our decision? For some this may be a bit simplistic, but we ask the head of the Church. What would Jesus do about transgender? Some might say he would do or say nothing. After all, he says nothing in the Bible on the subject — it has to be said that it is not particularly clear that this was a burning issue in 1st-century Judea! Then we must not forget the danger that the Church gets distracted from the gospel and gets obsessed with what the culture is obsessing about (every day this week almost every newspaper and media outlet has had stories on this one issue). Whilst we must not do that, nevertheless we do need to speak into that culture, and we do need to speak truth to power...so WWJD? Let me offer five principles.

JESUS WOULD TREAT ALL PEOPLE FAIRLY. There is a basic biblical principle of equality. Our society talks about equality but has no real basis for it. But as Christians we know that all human beings are made in the image of God. Gen. 1:27: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Therein lies the basis of all human equality. We are all equally made in the image of God. JESUS WOULD REAFFIRM HIS FATHER’S TEACHING Because therein lies the rub. He told us that we can’t just pick ‘n’ mix the bits we like out of the Bible. The very verse that establishes the whole basis of human equality is the verse that tells us that human beings were created male and female. There are two genders — not 71 (Facebook take note!). And human beings are not ‘assigned a gender at birth’ by society. We are born that way. And yes, I recognise that life isn’t always that simple and that there are those who feel as though they were born in the ‘wrong body’ and that there are a tiny percentage of people who are intersex and who need help because of that — but what we are talking about here is the demonic ideology that we can pick and choose and change our gender. Gender is not a societal construct but a God-given fundamental of humanity. Jesus, as the one through whom all things were made, is not going to go along

JESUS WOULD TREAT PEOPLE WITH RESPECT AND KINDNESS. Yes, he got angry (at the money changers and the religious hypocrites), but ‘the bruised reed he would not break’. For that reason the Church, and all Christians, must be totally opposed to any bullying or unkindness for any reason. We must never demonise or denigrate any person or group of people — even, or perhaps especially, when we fundamentally disagree with them. Of course Jesus is concerned about bullying.

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with the idea that humanity can now re-make itself, without the plans and designs that God gave. Whilst some Protestant churches are confused on this issue and just seem to be following the culture, the Catholic Church has, as is often the case on social issues, been much more robust. Several years ago Pope Benedict made it very clear how important the issues at stake were — he rightly saw the current fad as a real threat to the future of humanity. ‘The words of the creation account, “male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27), no longer apply. No, what applies now is this: it was not God who created them male and female – hitherto society did this, now we decide for ourselves. Man and woman as created realities, as the nature of the human being, no longer exist.’

WWJD? I don’t think he would issue minority reports, panic or despair. I don’t think he would begin political campaigns. But neither do I think he would compromise at all on the truth of his Word. Heaven and earth would pass away before that happens! He would continue his prophetic, priestly and kingly role. And we must do the same. We announce the Word like prophets to our culture — whether they like it or not. We intercede with fervent prayers for the confused, hurt and broken people in our society, recognising that we are they. And we proclaim the kingship of Christ above all that the political leaders and opinion-formers of our culture tell us is now the absolute truth. It is his will that will be done, not theirs. They are on the wrong side of His-Story. We work on — against the odds — but with the joy and peace that comes from knowing that in the end the Judge of all the earth will do right and that the creation will be renewed, not destroyed. The Free Church will respond to the Government’s consultation. We will point out the harm that this fad is doing and will do to children and adults. We know that our position will receive ridicule and abuse — anyone who has ever dared challenge any Transactivist knows the hatred and the bile that they will receive. But we will not hate or abuse back. We recognise in all human beings the image of God and the brokenness of the Fall. We challenge those harmful ideologies which undermine the Word of God, and by so doing attack the person of Christ and harm his creation. We need to listen, learn and love. As the Church of Jesus Christ we must be fearless in proclaiming the love of Christ in a confused and lost world. We must not compromise his love by adapting it to suit ourselves or the current zeitgeist. Christ is too precious for that...and our culture is in such a desperate state that it needs the Christ of the Bible, not our own personal Jesus. •

JESUS WOULD BE ESPECIALLY HARD ON THOSE WHO BRING HARM TO CHILDREN. He warned that the lowest place in hell was reserved for them. That’s why child sexual abuse within the church is such a hellish abomination. It’s also why the Christian Church must stand up against the current fanatical ideology of the trans theorists who deny that biology and gender are connected and who think that we can just tell little children that they can choose their own gender. Many people have pointed out already (including those who have been involved in this field for many years) that what is now happening is in danger of becoming state-sponsored child abuse. JESUS WOULD SPEAK THE TRUTH. IN LOVE. Real love. Sacrificial love. He wouldn’t just go along with the culture so that people wouldn’t think he was nasty. He wouldn’t be concerned about preserving his ‘position’ in society. He wouldn’t be afraid of speaking the truth just because people would accuse him of evil. But neither would he speak with bitterness, frustration and fear. Having entrusted himself wholly to his heavenly Father, he would get on with proclaiming his word and seeking and saving those who are lost.

2018

The Editor

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LD JESUS DO NSGENDER?

Keeping Sundays as a Day of Rest is not Just About Religion BY DR. JAMES EGLINTON

in modern Scotland. An island where public Christianity and bilingualism are normal, and where social class divisions are largely irrelevant, it defies many dominant features of mainland life. This distinctiveness also includes the island’s traditional rhythm of life, where Sunday — the Sabbath — functions as a day of rest. More in keeping with continental Europe than mainland Britain, Lewis is quiet on Sundays. Churchgoing aside, it is a day of minimal activity.

In the secular community, five days of work are followed by two days of entertainment. Saturday and Sunday are days for the cinema, football and shopping. Secular rest is rationed out across the year: our annual holidays and occasional long weekends are (often unsuccessful) efforts to binge-rest. In the Sabbatarian community, Monday to Friday are workdays, Saturday is for entertainment, but Sunday is a day of rest. On Lewis, rest happens once a week, and is a communal rhythm of life.

he isle of lewis remains an anomaly

In rest, consumption and distraction stop. The world is stilled, we repose and emerge reborn, ready to face the daily grind again Media coverage of the current Sabbath debate – centred on Stornoway’s arts centre, An Lanntair, opening on Sundays — has been unimaginative, lampooning Sabbatarians as religious killjoys whose stranglehold on island culture is waning. More interesting is comparison of the different rhythms of life at the centre of these ongoing debates, which bring into focus two competing views – religious and secular – on life beyond work. In both, our life outside of work consists of distinct moments of entertainment and rest. In entertainment, we consume things for enjoyment, and in this consumption we are distracted from ourselves. In rest, consumption and distraction stop. The world is stilled, we repose and emerge reborn, ready to face the daily grind again.

Advocates for change on Lewis cheer on the secularisation of island culture, asking why this weekly rest cannot become a private, individual affair. In reality, such a shift makes intentional weekly rest a good deal less restful. It becomes a counter-cultural effort, a constant set of negotiations with new norms that simply assume willingness to work that Sunday shift, to take your child to that Sunday sports club, and so on. Mainlanders should not be surprised that many islanders dare to resist. There is nothing self-evidently superior to mainland Scotland’s rhythm of life. Perhaps the most perplexing thing in these ongoing debates is not an idiosyncratic island culture, but rather the mainland’s unwillingness to ask whether, in this regard at least, it should become more Hebridean.•

Dr. James Eglinton is Meldrum Lecturer in Reformed Theology at the University of Edinburgh This was first published as ‘Keeping Sunday as a day of rest is not just about religion’ in The Times, Monday 15 Jan., 2018

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THE LATE PAUL JENNINGS (1933-2018) BY REV. FARQUHAR RENWICK

aul jennings was born on

12th may 1933 in Knowle,

his Church globally. Clearly he was tireless in prayer. It was grand for a minister who felt he was ill-prepared for the mid-week address, but he could never be depended on. If he wasn’t on form he hardly gave 42 seconds, never mind 42 minutes. Sometimes he would go down in his spiritual experience, and on occasion it was verbalised in his prayer — just an outpouring of the sense of his own sin and selfloathing — but it all added to the tapestry of the man. He was an avid reader and his biblical knowledge was prodigious. Alongside that he had a profound interest in others. The combination of both these factors made him a man to be emulated. But he, in his self-effacing way, would have none of it. He was always a keep-fit fanatic. The years were taking their toll, but he was young at heart and he kept on the go. Eventually his daughter Helen would move back north to be with him, but in August 2015 he became quite unwell. By January 2016 he had moved down to be with his daughter Miranda and the family in Cornwall, where he would spent the next year and a half. Miranda put into play her own specialist nursing skills and it turned him around. In September 2017 he would move into Abbeyfield Housing, which afforded him a room of his own with a warden onsite. But he hankered for the north and what he called home. And for the last six weeks of his life he did return home. It was a pleasure to see him, boilersuit-clad, pottering around his old haunts and the surroundings he had come to know and love so well. We believe that when he drew his last breath on Sunday, 21st Jan 2018, it was to the sound of the words, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’ resounding in his ears. To his daughters Miranda, Helen and Rae and their respective families, and to his sister Ada and her family, we offer our deepest condolences, and we would remind them that we mourn not as those who are without hope.•

Warwickshire, the second of two children blessed to the marriage of Sydney and Dorothia Jennings. His mother was fully occupied running the home. She was a Clerk of Covenanting stock, and Paul would often reflect on the fact that he was related to the notable Andrew Clerk . The family soon moved to Edinburgh and settled in Morningside, where he attended the local school before moving on to study at Melville College, Edinburgh, from 1946-1952. After completing National Service in the Navy he studied medicine in Glasgow University. He married Jill in 1969 and they soon moved to the Inverness area. In November 1971 Miranda came along, followed by Rae and Helen in January 1974. In 1982 they moved over to the Black Isle. In 1981 the Rev. George Dunnett retired as the minister of Knockbain Free Church and the decision was taken that the old manse would be sold and a new one erected during the vacancy. The story later was that it was a terrible thing when the old Free Church manse had been sold to an atheist. But it wasn’t an atheist — it was an anaesthetist! In April 2007 he became an elder in Knockbain Free Church.Paul loved nothing better than to potter about the old manse and its environs on his days off. On 3rd March 1994, his beloved wife Jill died. It would be fair to say that he never really got over that event. After her passing he felt aimless on many an occasion. He retired from work in 1998, having worked in the Inverness hospitals for a period of 27 years. He then began to travel here, there and everywhere across the globe. After coming in contact with Andrew Ballantyne of Unevangelised Fields Mission, he ended up in Papua New Guinea, where he carried out brain surgery with the most basic of equipment. Ian, one of Knockbain’s precentors, would affectionately refer to him as the ‘absentminded professor’. And he was that! But he wasn’t all absentminded — he returned from a trip to Malaysia on one occasion suffering from a medical condition. He self-diagnosed and self-treated using leeches. Paul was a Christian gentleman loved and respected by one and all both within and without the Church. Sometimes folks would appear at his home and the lawns looked more like tropical jungle, but Paul was protecting some rare species of orchid that he’d grown to appreciate and cherish over the years. What seemed to one set of eyes a chaotic mess was to another an appreciation of God’s creation on his own doorstep. The longest prayer ever recorded at a Knockbain Prayer Meeting was that of Paul’s on the night he prayed for 42 minutes. Two lads, who were very young at the time, recorded him. But it was never boring. He would take you around the world on a missionary trip, amazing everyone with the knowledge he had of so many situations and dazzling us with the names he remembered. It was the fruit of being in touch with God regularly regarding the needs of

2018

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FREE CHURCH NEWS RETIREMENT OF JAMES MORRISON, MISSIONARY, LYBSTER REV. HOWARD STONE

of 24th June 2017, a large gathering met in Lybster Village Hall to mark the retirement of Mr Jim Morrison as Missionary of Lybster, Bruan, Latheron and Berriedale Free Church. Family members, friends and folks from other churches got together with the Lybster congregation and community to show their appreciation of Jim’s work, together with his wife, Cathy, over a period of 34 years. Rev. Duncan Macleod (Dornoch), valued friend and colleague of Jim and Cathy over many years, chaired the proceedings. The evening began with the singing of two Psalms by a group from other Caithness Free Churches. There then followed speeches and a presentation to Jim and Cathy by Mrs Alice Ross, the congregation’s oldest member, as a token of the fellowship’s appreciation of all their labours over the decades. After Jim’s reply, the gathering was entertained with poems, fiddle music and songs — including two lovely items from the Sunday School children, whom Cathy had taught — before praising God together with two Psalms and closing with a prayer of thanks to the Lord for Jim and Cathy and for their faithful service in the community. After that there was, of course, lots of good food and fellowship to be enjoyed together. n the evening

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Although Jim was not ordained, he did the work of a minister, tirelessly and faithfully serving the Lord with diligence and enthusiasm, even continuing to take services for more than three months after his official retiral. As well as serving his own congregation, Jim would visit many in the community and those in the local hospitals and care homes. He frequently ran children’s holiday clubs in the village, along with Cathy and others. He also preached and led Bible studies in other congregations — Thurso, and Tongue, Farr, Strathy and Halladale (as it was formerly), Wick and Helmsdale — during times of vacancy. Because of the shortage of elders in the Northern Presbytery, Jim had been an assessor elder in two Caithness congregations and willingly went to the General Assembly almost every year as a representative elder. We wish Jim and Cathy every happiness in their retirement and commend the Lybster congregation, which is fragile and faces an uncertain future, to the prayers of the Church. The seed of God’s glorious truth has been faithfully sown over many years and we long to see a plentiful harvest. • ‘Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.’ (Ps. 126:5-6)

MARCH

YOUTH CONFERENCE 2018

is a weekend conference from the 16-18 March 2018, for individuals aged sixteen to thirty, which aims to build up young Christians in their walk of faith. Through our main talks, workshops, times of prayer, corporate worship and even free time we hope to establish networks of communication and accountability between our delegates as we run the race for Christ together. The conference also provides the opportunity to invite non-Christians, who will be directly confronted with the challenge and offer of the gospel. Delegates representing a variety of denominations travel across the country in order to attend the conference every year. Our main speaker in March 2018 is Rev. Iver Martin, Principal of Edinburgh Theological Seminary, who, accompanied by others, will lead the teaching sessions. Iver will be leading the

main sessions and helping the delegates ‘Rediscover the Truth that Changed the World’, the Reformation. Every year a committee is appointed to coordinate the next Youth Conference. This year, the committee members bring a mix of backgrounds, vocations and gifting. John MacPherson (Bon Accord Free Church) and Craig Angus (Smithton Church) are overseeing and leading the work of the weekend. Allan MacMmillan (Dowanvale Free Church) has created a website for the Youth Conference and is overseeing communications and any technical aspects of the weekend. Christina MacMillan (Rosskeen Free Church) has been organising workshop speakers and Anna MacRae (St Columba’s Free Church) has been managing bookings and payments for the weekend. Keith Nicolson (Cornerstone, Edinburgh) and will be producing the conference brochure. With such an important event in the calendar for many, prayer is fundamental in the build-up to the conference •.

he free church youth conference

ISLANDS STUDY CONFERENCE HARRIS HOTEL, TARBERT, ISLE OF HARRIS 20th-22nd April 2018 SPEAKERS

Rev. Dr. Malcolm Maclean Greyfriars Free Church, Inverness “The Trinity in the Christian Life”

Rev. Calum Iain Macleod Back Free Church, Isle of Lewis “Living the Christian life in a 21st Century world”

Residential cost-£165 (Application in writing with £10.00 non-refundable Booking Fee per person) Booking Secretary (Hotel Residents only) Chrissie Macleod, 25A Upper Coll, Isle of Lewis, HS2 0LS Mobile: 07584 497567 Tel: 01851 820 632 Email: chrissie.macleod@googlemail.com Booking Secretary (Day Visitors for Meals/Buffets only) Kathryn Graham, 5 Catherine Hill, Vatisker, Isle of Lewis, HS2 0JS Mobile: 07833 552101 Tel: 01851 820 696 Email: bookharrisconference@mail.com Conference website: www.isc.scot

2018

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MONEY MATTERS

s part of the body of christ, the Free Church of Scotland has

a vital mission – to witness to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, both here in Scotland and across the world. While this may seem a strange start to an article about finance, it is the right place to begin. All that follows is based on that foundation – the desire to reach people with the gospel. Like every other organisation, the Free Church must deal with finance, and we try to do so in as clear a way as possible. This article will set out the sources of the funds we receive each year and explain how these funds are used to further the gospel here in Scotland and in the wider world. Overall, we aim to support ministry in as many congregations as possible and to stimulate outreach work in planting new congregations, building up smaller congregations and supporting mission activity both at home and abroad. Our budget for 2018 is £4.9m and is made up as follows: INCOME £4.946,000

01. 02.

03.

04. 01. 02. 03. 04.

CONGREGATIONS FEES & CHARGES OTHERS INVESTMENTS

81% 11% 4% 4%

Our main funding comes from our congregations, but we also receive income from groups and individuals, as well as from investments and from fees for ETS courses, camps and conferences, rents and sale of publications. EXPENDITURE £4,930,000

01.

02. 03.

06.

05. 01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06.

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CONGREGATIONS MISSION TRAINING CENTRAL COSTS FC PENSION FUND OTHER

04. 51% 14% 12% 10% 8% 5%

Our largest expenditure by far is provision of ministry in congregations (50%), with mission activities and training accounting for a further 26%. The major focus of Board of Ministry is training future Free Church ministers, while ETS provides training for both ministers and others serving in a variety of denominations as well as the Free Church. The Free Church Pension figure represents the annual cost to support the pension scheme which was closed in 2007. As the actuary has calculated that there is a deficit on the scheme, the Church must pay an amount each year until the scheme is fully funded. A congregation’s basic contribution to our central costs is calculated according to whether ministry is provided centrally to the congregation and to its level of income. If a congregation can call a minister, it should send at least the cost of stipend and related costs such as National Insurance and pension. All congregations are asked to contribute to the central costs of the Church, the training of ministers and the payment to the closed pension scheme. The size of contribution is based on their level of income, excluding income for a specific purpose, e.g. a building project. Where a congregation has a level of income allowing it to meet its obligations for ministry and administration, as well as its local costs, it is asked to use 60% of any remaining income to support the wider mission activity and 40% for local mission. This applies to around 40% of congregations. Of course, congregations are also encouraged to support specific work and projects practically, in prayer and financially, and mission contributions are encouraged. This is important as the Church centrally supports mission on behalf of congregations. There are also several other funds to which congregations can contribute, which provide small grants in time of need. These include Disaster & Relief, Widows’ and Student Hardship Funds. For 2018 and 2019, the Church recognised an additional short-term pressure as an unusually high number of new ministers completed their training and started their ministry. To cover the increase in stipend costs, presbyteries were asked to raise an additional £50,000. By 2020, it is anticipated that income will once more match costs. •

MARCH

EDINBURGH & PERTH Aberdeen Broughty Ferry Dundee — St Peters Edinburgh — Buccleuch Edinburgh — St Columba Edinburgh — Christ Church Falkirk Kirkcaldy Dunfermline Edinburgh — Leith Edinburgh — Grace Church Livingston London City Perth & Pitlochry St Andrews GLASGOW & ARGYLL Arran Ayr & Kilwinning Bishopbriggs Blackwood & Kirkmuirhill Campbeltown Coatbridge Cumbernauld Dumbarton Dumfries Dunblane East Kilbride Glasgow — Dowanvale Glasgow — Govanhill Glasgow — Partick Glasgow — City Greenock Dunoon & Strachur Lennoxtown Lochgilphead & Tarbert Mull & Coll Newmilns Oban Stirling INVERNESS, LOCHABER & ROSS Burghead Dingwall & Strathpeffer Gardenstown Elgin & Forres Fortrose Fort William Glenurquhart & Fort Augustus Inverness — Free North Inverness — West Church Greyfriars Stratherrick Kilmallie & Ardnamurchan Kiltarlity & Kirkhill Kiltearn Badenoch Knockbain Maryburgh & Killearnan Urquhart & Resolis Smithton-Culloden & Nairn Urray & Strathconon

2018

£86,612 £38,581 £53,707 £76,516 £145,159 £39,620 £35,900 £31,700 £34,397 £38,517 £33,800 £31,725 £72,161 £42,167 £31,700 £792,262

£80,430 £16,750 £41,220 £66,013 £110,815 £34,137 £36,332 £31,030 £32,400 £37,137 £33,080 £31,075 £67,674 £41,560 £26,930 £686,584

£27,500 £33,835 £30,839 £33,080 £9,558 £38,738 £32,017 £1,793 £18,050 £1,700 £30,373 £85,889 £33,800 £35,922 £78,344 £1,567 £0 £26,500 £17,950 £1,804 £34,380 £34,034 £28,400 £636,072

£26,930 £33,760 £30,374 £34,080 £4,904 £37,633 £28,243 £1,250 £26,642 £13,168 £30,000 £87,783 £33,178 £33,080 £70,611 £1,230 £0 £25,850 £23,119 £686 £33,680 £31,534 £26,053 £633,788

£11,147 £78,998 £39,450 £32,210 £31,801 £19,714 £30,515 £76,933 £29,783 £62,276 £63,878 £33,897 £4,250 £1,399 £39,175 £31,700 £49,830 £136,820 £40,225 £814,003

£4,103 £72,868 £0 £28,000 £31,160 £27,050 £27,258 £74,972 £17,076 £56,525 £70,008 £33,080 £4,150 £1,369 £39,001 £31,035 £54,400 £114,060 £36,000 £722,116

NORTHERN Assynt & Eddrachillis Clyne Bonar Bridge/Lairg Dornoch Golspie Helmsdale & Kinbrace Lybster Castletown & Community Rogart Rosskeen Tain & Fearn Thurso & North Coast Wick & Keiss

£1,353 £4,021 £30,328 £29,500 £10,041 £24,281 £1,280 £22,260 £4,021 £70,966 £66,810 £20,809 £1,260 £286,930

£1,278 £6,021 £29,728 £28,000 £10,500 £24,051 £1,230 £22,613 £521 £74,360 £60,413 £33,940 £1,345 £293,999

£33,800 £32,187 £1,688 £35,158 £35,304 £22,457 £34,845 £37,722 £43,814 £1,362 £28,033 £306,370

£33,110 £31,517 £1,678 £33,397 £35,906 £26,930 £33,670 £42,470 £44,185 £1,332 £29,933 £314,128

£114,058 £43,066 £45,886 £52,212 £67,810 £28,344 £34,800 £60,000 £59,000 £42,800 £33,800 £31,830 £33,300 £44,784 £32,590 £39,061 £19,171 £258,226 £36,481 £1,077,220

£120,854 £43,668 £41,586 £49,214 £61,960 £13,157 £35,166 £57,000 £60,500 £33,260 £33,080 £31,030 £34,150 £39,876 £31,460 £39,535 £21,171 £252,434 £37,781 £1,036,883

REMITTANCE TOTAL

£3,912,857

£3,687,498

Other Donations North America Ev. Presb, Church Donations — Individual Donations — Group/congregation Disaster&Relief/Youth Project

£3,693 £11,576 £69,465 £62,169 £16,686 £163,589

£352 £0 £104,707 £99,302 £14,368 £218,729

GRAND TOTAL Check

£4,076,445 £0

£3,906,227 £0

SKYE & WESTER ROSS Duirinish Gairloch, Kinlochewe & Torridon Lochalsh,Glenshiel & Glenelg Trotternish Lochbroom & Coigach Lochcarron & Applecross Plockton & Kyle Poolewe & Aultbea Portree Raasay Sleat & Strath WESTERN ISLES Back Barvas Callanish Carloway Cross Harris Kinloch Knock Lochs North Harris North Tolsta North Uist, Grimsay & Berneray Park Point Scalpay Shawbost South Uist & Benbecula Stornoway Stornoway High

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We continue our series of extracts from Murdo Murchison’s autobiography. “One Good Owner”.

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IN HIS HANDS

THE RECORD

MARCH

his is being written on a dull mid-december day. To be

remain there for a while yet. In the fourteen weeks of this new journey, a remarkable number of people have told me stories of miraculous total healings which defy cuttingedge medicine and, even though my natural tendency is to sceptism, I believe most of them...please keep praying. In the meantime, what can I do to promote the great news of salvation? Mid-September, a little bit bored but previously having been a total mocker of social media, I let my daughter Sarah set me up on Facebook and I started posting photos and experiences. When you have the glorious gospel to share, a Facebook page is simply not enough, so I graduated to blogging, and 1,000 people a day have been following my posts from as far and wide as Azerbaijan, Australia, Canada, Mexico and Europe (to name a few). I was never even remotely interested in writing articles pre-seizure, but God has given me an unexpected but seemingly effective new ministry. Supposing you had told me as recently as this past summer that I would be Facebooking and blogging by autumn, believe me, I would have LOL’d (similarly, if you’d told me I’d be using the acronym LOL, I would have laughed out loud at you!). What about that impending day of departure then? Leaving earthly goods behind, making wills, changing business directors, selling stuff and the responsible passing down of assets has been a nightmare as well as a huge emotional roller-coaster. My advice to you is, while keeping the comparative limited value of material blessings in perspective, sort out your earthly affairs now and give your dear family less stress should a crisis occur. My family have been great and I could not have wished for better. The business is now leased out and, for now, trades under the previous name. Both Margaret and the children have rallied round and given me the very best of help and comfort in terms of this world. There is, however, the thought of departure and that strong conviction that the place of many mansions beckons. We think of heaven as a shadow-land far more real than this lower world. I always remember C.S. Lewis in one of his books, The Great Divorce, talking of the grass of heaven cutting the feet of new arrivals. No fear then? Well, certainly there was no fear on the 5th of December when I had the surgery: God gave sufficient strength. However, I have to confess that with a degree of recovery, some trepidation reappears. What if all I have is a crutch or placebo effect? The foil to such gloomy thoughts is the logic of an inspired, God-breathed Book and a Saviour who went through the horror of death to make it painless for me. That great statement in The Shorter Catechism, ‘The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness and pass immediately into glory’, resonates now in an extremely powerful manner. However close your dear family are, you go to the grave without them, but you do have a friend who sticks closer than any brother – Jesus Christ, the righteous one. See you on the other side, then, in a world where the last enemy will have been conquered...FOREVER.•

perfectly frank with you, I am a long way removed from that great assurance of Psalm 91, ‘With long life will I satisfy him’, or the blessing to the servant of God in Psalm 128:6 (NIV):‘May you live to see your children’s children.’ Growing up witnessing the long, productive lives of my forebears it was always observed and indeed acknowledged that God had given me an excellent set of genes. Was ninety years possible? Or in the brave new world of 21st-century medical science, would it be cheeky to look forward to 100 years of life? Hopes, dreams, illusions, and even common-sense plans were totally shattered on the 30th of August when I took a massive seizure, so bad that the family thought I had died. Life is now defined and talked of in terms of my pre- and post-seizure lifestyle. Following the seizure I was diagnosed with a low-grade brain tumour. Eight weeks later, following further scans, the tumour had leap-frogged to being a grade 4, aggressive, cancerous one and I was given three months to live. Desire to remain active had previously been very strong and I was always thankful to God that both resilience and a good level of fitness had stayed with me over the decades. Born in 1958, I looked ahead just a couple of years to sixty years of blessed and varied life. Fast forward again into my sixties and who knows what great business deals I could have done! Having been blessed materially, a number of exciting future adventures could even be planned. Then there was church work. Having been involved with setting up a new church in Stirling, even more skills could have been developed and others could have been motivated. So, the burning question has to be, ‘Why, God? Why cut this off? Seriously, and with submissive respect, GOD, WHY?’ The psalmist prays, ‘My God, in mid time of my days take thou me not away (Psalm 102:24).This reminds me I am not the only one struggling. People of faith down the millennia have questioned the providence, and indeed the will of God, for them. When peace of mind goes we struggle, and it is then that the words of David resonate, ‘Amid the multitude of thoughts which in my heart do fight, my soul lest it be overcharg’d thy comforts do delight (Psalm 94:19).’ The surgeon, Imran Liaquat, thanked me for willingly allowing him to push boundaries with risk of losing motor movement in an uncommon operation called an ‘awake craniotomy’. Of course, I am the one indebted to him as there was not much to lose, knowing that the tumour had both doubled and changed course in just six weeks. Mr Liaquat reckons that with the correct combination of chemo and radiotherapy, a year of reasonable quality life may be possible. God, of course, knows. As the psalmist said, ‘My times are in thy hand’ (Psalm 31:15). I will not depart one second before his summons. So, is there any hope of a cure? YES, the God I trust could, in an instant, cure me. He is sovereign; his control is absolute; he is bringing human history to a climax and my life has played only a very tiny part. Yes, I do want to be cured and, having enjoyed working in the vineyard,

2018

“ONE GOOD OWNER” IS PUBLISHED BY CHRISTIAN FOCUS PUBLICATIONS

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THE GOVERNMENT

THREAT OF EXTREMISM BY JON PUTT

and all would currently have to withdraw from public life or compromise their beliefs. Just in our church we have school governors, doctors, teachers, teaching assistants, nurses, and council workers who would all be affected by the Equality Oath proposals. The Test and Corporation Acts of 1661 and 1672 barred non-Anglicans from holding public office and going to Oxford and Cambridge. It was a naked power play by the majority against the minority. By the establishment against the outsiders. It was finally repealed by Sir Robert Peel and the Tory government in 1828. No bishop opposed the repeal. Lord Russell argued at the time that religious liberty was a better protection for the health of the Church of England than legislating to safeguard its position. Legislating that those who hold public office or who are employed by the state should have to subscribe to a particular ideology represents a dramatic and historic step backwards. When the state demands ideological conformity in all those who work for it, it is the very opposite of progressive, liberal politics.

t is being reported in many outlets including the bbc

that Amanda Spielman is calling on head teachers to confront those who foster ‘extremist behaviour’. This is the latest in a series of ill-advised attempts by the government to combat what it perceives as religious extremism and constitutes part of an approach that is a threat to civil liberties and the civic wellbeing of our society. For example, the Equality Oath would require state sector employees and other public officials to submit to, and promise to uphold, British values (as yet undefined and little debated) which are likely to include a commitment to recognise and support the right of all individuals to determine their own sexual practice and gender identity without dissent from others. A society where people are knit together in peaceful co-existence and mutual support is vitally important; where no-one feels they are at risk of physical violence just because they are different from others, or that they will be economically discriminated against because of creed or colour. Furthermore, we do not seek to impose our beliefs concerning what is right or wrong in the arena of sexual relationships or gender identity on anyone. However, we do believe all should have the right to dissent and discuss and attempt to persuade each other of their points of view without being penalised by the state for holding that view. We believe the approach currently being undertaken to oppose extremism is, alas, far from liberal.

Extremism will not be stemmed These current proposals cannot prevent radicalisation and terror born of extremist ideology or religion, nor will they. Radicalisation can happen in the home, between friends, or on foreign trips. Private schools and the like can be covert, unlicensed, and beyond the scope of Ofsted. In an attempt to reduce or eliminate the threat posed by extremist homegrown terrorism, it is likely that the government will miss their intended target and instead prevent followers from many religions peacefully living out their faiths. At the same time, many moderates may be radicalised as they are denied the opportunity to live out their religious values in public. Many could be prosecuted who are ‘miles away’ from terrorist activity, as David Anderson QC has argued. If the target is preventing homegrown terrorists and radicalization, then it makes little sense to catch in the same net those whose faith teaches them to love their enemies, to pray for them, and to turn the other cheek when they are wronged, whilst the intended catch wriggles free.

THE CONCERNING UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF THE CURRENT APPROACH TO EXTREMISM

The marginalisation of those with minority views There are many in society who are working hard, fruitfully, and peaceably, who may not be able to enter certain professions in the future, or have to leave them if asked to take an oath to British values. Such people who now hold minority views on sexuality and gender identity are contributing significantly to their societies and communities, in places like schools and councils, and are acting to bind people closer together. They may be from any of a number of faiths or none,

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In an attempt to reduce or eliminate the threat posed by extremist homegrown terrorism, it is likely that the government will miss their intended target and instead prevent followers from many religions peacefully living out their faiths.

is doing — exercising and arguing for her ‘muscular liberal’ values in the public square — yet her approach is a denial of the fundamental elements of liberalism. As Arzu Merali notes, ‘Muscular liberalism, which Spielman invokes in her support of the hijab ban at St Stephen’s School, is code for supremacism and “illiberalism”.’ When Karen Bradley appeared before JCHR on the 29th June 2016, it was possible to determine ten different definitions of the term extremism in her answers. There was inconsistency over the terms harm, division, tolerance. Under her definitions of extremism it would be legitimate to penalise football fans (for creating and supporting division in society).

THE CONCERNING LACK OF TOLERANCE BEHIND THE CURRENT ANTI-EXTREMISM APPROACH

Confusion between violence that stems from extremism and extremism itself Dame Louise Casey likened Roman Catholic teaching on sexuality to Islamic extremism on 9th January 2017 in oral evidence to the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee. Attempting to reduce and eliminate terror attacks that stem from extremism is one goal. Attempting to ensure that everyone in Britain subscribes to the same values is another. They should not be confused. Nor should measures designed to tackle the former encompass the latter. Not all minority or extreme views issue forth in violence or harm to others. Veganism is an extreme view, measured against the majority, yet we are not assailed by violent vegans. Mother Theresa was an extremist, compared to the majority of the culture in which she laboured, yet her extreme endeavour was one of kindness and compassion. The attempt by the state to determine an ideology to which all should conform under the stated aim of reducing violent terrorism is to aim for the apple with a poisoned arrow and hit the trunk, thus laying waste to all.

These include the following: • The public promotion of an ideology which can lead to greater harms.  • The promotion of the ideology that could lead to a hate crime. • The promotion of that ideology, the public promotion of the ideology. • The preaching of intolerance, the preaching of an ideology that does lead to a form of crime, or hatred, or division in society. • The preaching of ideology which leads to harmful behaviour.  • The public promotion of an ideology that leads to harmful criminal behaviour.  • Publicly promoting an ideology, which the activity that they are undertaking is not criminal, it does not go beyond reasonable doubt, but we know that activity leads to a hate crime, it leads to a terrorist activity, it maybe leads to FGM.’ • The promotion of ideology that leads to criminal behaviour that might be hate crime, that might be violence against women and girls, that might be terrorist activity. • It is hate crime and the other harms that can be caused to society by the promotion of ideology that leads to harm. • It is the promotion of an ideology that could lead to hateful activity.

Confusion in definitions It is disturbing that the anti-extremism approach is driving forwards when there is little agreement on the terms in play. It is reported that Ms Spielman has argued, ‘Freedom of belief in the private sphere is paramount, but in our schools it is our responsibility to tackle those who actively undermine fundamental British values or equalities law.’ Will ‘British’ values reflect classic liberalism or more communitarian approaches? These British values have not been debated or agreed, nor can they simply represent majority opinion. The abolition of slavery depended on the minority voice dissenting from the majority. Furthermore, private values are worthless if they cannot be upheld in the public sphere. Ironically, this is exactly what Ms Spielman

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True Christians care for all aspects of our communities, not just those with whom we agree, and we support their right to hold and follow their beliefs. But our values underpin our attempts to care for those who need it, and our right to hold to our beliefs and points of view is foundational to our whole approach to the lives we live.

(mis)Use of power and government overreach This brings us to a more subtle danger encompassed within the current approach to extremism. Attempting to impose a set of moral values to which all in society should agree is a form of totalitarianism, not liberalism. Salman Rushdie notes the similarity between the Charlie Hebdo attackers and the desire to create safe spaces in universities: ‘Limiting freedom of expression is not just censorship, it is also an assault on human nature… Expression of speech is fundamental to all human beings. We are language animals, we are story-telling animals. Without that freedom of expression, all other freedoms fail.’ Confusion about what we need most Peter Tatchell, the human- and gay-rights campaigner, has argued extensively for the need for free speech and absence of coercion in what we say and believe. Indeed, it is this freedom that guarantees the cause of justice and progress against the status quo. He recognises what Lord Russell recognised, that the health of any particular idea or set of moral standards cannot be guaranteed by enshrining it in law, or in a political system, but by ensuring that people are free to talk, and discuss, and disagree with one another. The LGBTQ cause itself could not have been advanced without freedom of speech and the ability of the minority to challenge the majority view. Thus free speech and freedom of expression are held dear, not just by religious groups, but by many like Peter Tatchell and others who understand the fundamental importance of those values. Legislation in Parliament should never outlaw ideas or ideologies.

John Putt studied PPE at Christ Church, Oxford, He worked in the NHS in Birmingham and for a charity in Sheffield before studying for four years at Oak Hill. He is currently the associate pastor with responsibility for mission at Grace Community Church, Bedford.

SO WHAT NEXT?

This is an expression of concern from those who care deeply about the wellbeing of all in British society. True Christians care for all aspects of our communities, not just those with whom we agree, and we support their right to hold and follow their beliefs. But our values underpin our attempts to care for those who need it, and our right to hold to our beliefs and points of view is foundational to our whole approach to the lives we live. The government should not legislate unaware of the moral relativity they risk, or subject to the loudest voices of the time. Given how British values have changed over time, we should be cautious in establishing some codified list of ‘British’ values which become harder to modify in the future when their weaknesses become apparent. The real solution therefore is the virtue of tolerance, where diversity is allowed even if sometimes strongly distasteful to some. •

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR W

e received a number of letters and e-mails this month

— not all for publication. But it was good to hear from Sandy Sutherland, minister of Fortrose, that after we highlighted their new building project they received a substantial donation. Someone else wrote in to apologise for a previous letter in which they had pointed out a couple of things they thought were wrong in the magazine — only to find they had been sorted by the next one. No need to apologise! We are always looking for constructive criticism and suggestions to improve.

Dear Sir, I refer to the photo of the elders and deacons who were inducted in the Free North recently. My first reaction was, ‘The Free Church has come to a new low — where is the respect for the King of Kings?’ Apart from four who were well-dressed, the rest are, in my opinion, a disgrace. Let them ask themselves, how would they dress if meeting the Queen? S.

S., When I received your letter I thought you might have had a point. After all, we don’t want our elders and deacons dressing in a sloppy manner. There is a proper reverence and respect we must show — especially when we gather together. So, not having a photographic memory, I returned to the above photo. I must admit I thought they looked rather smart — at least by my standards — but perhaps not by yours! However, as you correctly point out, we do not go by our standards but by the Lord’s. Try as I might, I cannot find the dress code for elders and deacons in the list of qualifications given in Scripture (1 Timothy 3:1-13). And our regulative principle tells us that if we don’t find it in Scripture, we have no right to impose it on anyone else. Do you not think that it’s a slight overreaction to say that this photo demonstrates a ‘new low’ for the Free Church? Can I suggest that your understanding of sin is somewhat inadequate? These men, I am sure, like myself and your good self, are full of iniquity and sin. The absence of a tie is not one of those sins, nor would its presence cover such sin up. I’m afraid where the church far too often goes wrong is in an inadequate and weak theology — as displayed in your letter. We don’t go ‘to church’ — we are the Church. We don’t just go to meet the King of Kings on a Sunday morning — we are in his presence all the time. Even as I sit in my study just now I am in his presence; does he care how I am dressed, or is he more bothered about my holiness or lack thereof? Does he care more about a tie, or a carping and censorious spirit? I think the saddest thing about your letter is that you complained about an irrelevant and tiny thing, which, even if it were real, would be only the tiniest speck in your brother’s eye — and yet you missed the joy of that photo. Here is a church ordaining five new elders and five new deacons. These are men (some of them young enough for us to hope that they may have many years of service ahead of them) who are prepared to commit themselves to serving Christ and his church. Is that not a reason for rejoicing? Let’s not have that nagging spirit of complaint, but rather the generous spirit of Christ — sharing in the joy of his people — even if some of those people don’t share our sartorial elegance! Yours The Editor

We would love to hear from you…please write the editor at: The Record, St Peters Free Church, 4 St Peter St. Dundee. DD1 4JJ or e-mail drobertson@freechurch.org

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for a while which mocked the smart and clever kid. It was cool to be dumb. Anyone who loved learning or books was a ‘geek’ to be despised as unhip and uncool. That fashion seems to be spreading in much of our culture. What do we need learning for? Why do we need wisdom? Why bother with philosophy when you can study something useful? This dumbing down of culture is not new — it’s happened before. But in the age of the internet, perhaps it is happening quicker and deeper than ever before. Not many people are aware of this, but our education system in the West was derived from and based upon Christian principles. Our major universities, from Oxford/Cambridge and Edinburgh to Harvard and Yale, were founded upon Christianity. As they are now rejecting the rock on which they were built, one wonders if they will be able to survive as ‘universities’ — places where a variety of views are studied and discussed and where people come to learn what they do not know, rather than display what they do. But what’s the point of learning? Maybe the teenage boys who think it’s smart to be dumb are not far off the mark? After all, this week’s passage from Ecclesiastes (2:12-16) seems to suggest that there really isn’t much point in considering wisdom; after all, the wise, like the foolish, die. If death were the

end, that might be a valid point. But if this life is only a journey towards an ultimate eternal destination of heaven or hell, then we need to reconsider. It’s important to realise that when the ‘wisdom’ literature in the Bible speaks of wisdom, it is not referring to passing exams or having a good head for remembering facts. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. The psychoanalyst and friend of Freud, Otto Rank, wrote, ‘For the time being I gave up writing – there is already too much truth in the world – an overproduction which apparently cannot be consumed.’ If that was true in the pre-Wiki, pre-Google 1930s, how much more is it so today? We are swamped with knowledge but we lack wisdom. Solomon recognises that wisdom is the supreme need of the king because he has to govern. ‘Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have understanding and power. By me kings reign and rulers make laws that are just; by me princes govern, and all nobles who rule on earth (Proverbs 8:14-16, NIV).’ Future kings will have the same issues to face. Would that our politicians realised their need for such wisdom! We might be spared the dumbed-down, know-it-all, tribalistic political sound-bite culture that has developed. Solomon finds out that wisdom is better than folly. Wisdom is needed to give strength, success, and prosperity. Wise people walk around with their heads clear and they get on. Stupid people live

here was a fashion amongst teenage boys

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GOSPEL FOR TODAY’S SOCIETY

ECCLESIASTES: THE RECORD

MARCH

in secret is delicious!’ But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave. (Proverbs 9:13-18) But so what if foolishness leads to ‘the depths of the grave’ (sheol/hell)? After all, as AC/DC also sang, ‘Hell ain’t a bad place to be…’. That’s because they saw hell as the ultimate pleasure party where 70 non-virgins would meet their every need. But hell isn’t ‘welcome to the pleasure dome’. Hell is Auschwitz. We need wisdom to avoid both hell on earth and hell hereafter. To put it simply — wisdom is ultimately not a theology degree, or a lifetime’s experience, or an ecclesiastical Wiki…that wisdom is Christ. As Paul tells the Colossians: My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:2-3)

dumbed-down lives in a dumbed-down culture. But the same fate overtakes them both. Neither can avoid death. So what is the point? If Solomon, with all his knowledge and wisdom could not find meaning, then what chance do the rest of us have? Maybe it is better just to enjoy the meaningless pleasures of the moment and not spend too much time thinking about what it all means. That is certainly a prevalent attitude in our culture. Another one of our cultural icons, Malcolm Young of the great rock band AC/DC, died last year. One of their most famous songs is the rock anthem ‘Highway to Hell’. Millions have enthusiastically sung along as they proclaimed they were on their way to hell. Don’t need reason, don’t need rhyme Ain’t nothing I would rather do Going down, party time My friends are gonna be there too. The Bible would argue that the lack of wisdom, the inability to apply knowledge, is a highway to hell. The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge. She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way. ‘Let all who are simple come in here!’ she says to those who lack judgement. ‘Stolen water is sweet; food eaten

There are two ways: the way of foolishness which is a highway to hell, or the Christ who is the Way to the Father’s House with many mansions. • This series on Ecclesiastes was first published on the Christianity Today website.

WISDOM,

FOLLY. 2018

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MADNESS,

THE LATE KENNY MACDONALD BY REV. CALUM MACMILLAN

was born in Skinidin, near Dunvegan, on the Isle of Skye in 1935. Before entering the ministry, he spent time in the military, seeing active service (once rescuing someone from a minefield!). He loved his time in the armed forces, and after leaving, worked with Customs & Excise in London, then Stornoway. From an early age football was a passion of Kenny’s and he had a real talent for it. He would go on to play for Scotland’s amateur international team, and played in the FA Amateur Cup Final at Wembley before a crowd of 60,000. He was once on the books of Tottenham Hotspur. In his time in Lewis he played for Back FC in the Lewis and Harris Football League (and remains something of a true ‘Hall of Famer’ in Island football, if there were such a thing). He is still renowned for his toughness on the field of play. Someone once remarked that they didn’t know what a foul was until they had met Kenny Macdonald! His time leading Free Church Football Camps also goes down in legend – the warm-ups being too much for some campers! Kenny was known for being tough, but it was a toughness tempered by a big heart that genuinely cared. He has been described as ‘the epitome of muscular Christianity’ and it is hard to disagree. In 1985, following his studies at the Free Church College, Kenny accepted the call from the Rosskeen congregation to be their new minister, following the departure of John L. Mackay. And so began a remarkable ministry. It was marked by his love for Jesus and his love for people. He had a passion for evangelism – he enny macdonald

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longed to see people come to know Jesus as their Saviour, and, by God’s grace, he was used to bring many people to know the Lord. His ministry saw remarkable growth and knew the blessing of God. Even on his last occasion preaching at Rosskeen, in 2010, he was used as the catalyst for an individual’s conversion. He preached a Friday night preparatory service and someone came (who never came to church) because they remembered Kenny and had liked him. They never stopped attending, and became a member the following year, professing their love for Jesus! Anyone who ever heard Kenny

was a church where anyone and everyone was welcome. Kenny literally would follow the call to go out to the highways and byways and compel them to come in. It was remarked at his funeral that Kenny would hear the Master’s voice – ‘go get them for me, Kenny’ – and he would do his utmost to do that. He was direct, he didn’t beat around the bush, but people responded to him. He was honest, he cared, he had time for everyone, and he loved them too much not to share Jesus. As Derek Lamont, his former assistant minister, commented, ‘He was a true Shepherd.’ Kenny was God’s man for the time at Rosskeen. The area

preach couldn’t fail to be struck by his passion. His sermons were often short, but always powerful. His preaching was often accompanied by tears as he pleaded with those present to consider Christ. The previous issue of The Record told the story of the time someone contemptuously commented about Rosskeen, ‘That’s the church where anyone can get in.’ As the editor commented – they were wrong. It

was experiencing tough times economically following the closure of the aluminium smelter. Unemployment was high and times were hard. Kenny himself, as is well-known, arrived in Rosskeen following his and his family’s heartbreak over the disappearance of his daughter Alison in Kashmir. Alison went out for a walk one morning and has never been seen since. Kenny and Reta soon came

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to believe that she was still alive and continued to cling to that hope. Kenny was tireless in his efforts to find his daughter. He and Reta

ministered to great effect in both places. In Portree in particular he provided the tender, strong leadership necessary after a

made repeated trips to Kashmir, conducted their enquiries and did all that was in their power to help find Alison. Amid his own pain, Kenny was an instrument for the blessing and comfort of so many. Kenny shattered many stereotypes of what a Free Church Minister was like. While he wore the collar on a Sunday, he was casual the rest of the time. In fact, he was renowned/notorious for his purple desert boots. I’m told he once even painted a pair of his shoes purple. Stories abound of Kenny. The time he climbed up a drainpipe to reach an upstairs window – to the shock of the man of the house next door– to resolve a marital dispute. The time the police were called when he got the wrong house on a visit and the lady didn’t believe him when he said he was the Free Church minister. What united it all was his love for people and Jesus. His ministry in Rosskeen was cut short for health reasons after Kenny was diagnosed with MS, which had affected his eyesight. In 1995 Kenny ‘retired’, but he was not one for retirement from proclaiming the gospel, and he continued to preach. He lived in Resolis for a time, and Portree, and

painful split. Kenny also spent time back living in the Rosskeen Manse where, although retired, he again pushed the congregation on in mission and outreach. Latterly he retired to Golspie and ministered until very recently in the Golspie and Brora congregations. His passion for Christ, love for people and evangelistic zeal continued throughout his ministry right to the end. Kenny had little time for anything that he felt got in the way of reaching the lost for Christ, whether that be unproductive church committees, stuffy or critical elders, ministers, church bureaucracy or whatever. One story comes to mind as I write. At an induction service Kenny was asked to give the address to the new minister, a young single man. His advice was three-fold: get a wife (known for his brevity, I think he literally said ‘get wife’), don’t mess with the precentors, and stay off committees! Kenny was a family man through and through. Reta, his wife, was a constant support and companion. I cannot find better words than those of Derek Lamont: ‘And behind every great man is a greater woman. Reta and Kenny were always a remarkable team.

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He simply would not have been able to have the kind of ministry he did have without her. She was, and remains, an Orcadian jewel of the most precious kind. It is hard to imagine them apart.’ Kenny’s funeral took place in Rosskeen Free Church and the large numbers in attendance were testimony to the high regard he was held in. Farquar Renwick conducted the funeral, Kenny’s grandson James Forsyth gave a tribute to ‘Papa’ (as he affectionately called him) and Duncan Macleod led the congregation in a Gaelic prayer. The singing was powerful, the tributes warm, and the gospel proclaimed – just as Kenny would have wanted. Rosskeen will forever be associated with Kenny, as Kenny was with Rosskeen. And for that we are proud, and we hope we can continue in his – and that of the ministers who followed him – legacy. Our great comfort is that, though we mourn his passing, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We trust he has now heard his Master’s commendation, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ We continue to pray for his family – especially his wife Reta and his children Derek, Mairi, Sam and Alison – and commit them to God’s care. • Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. Daniel 12:3

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ACCESS COURSE: ‘THERE’S NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF!’ BY REV. THOMAS DAVIS This month we are interviewing Alasdair Macleod, a student on our Access to Theology Course. Alasdair lives on the Isle of Lewis and combines his studies with his work as an electrician and firefighter. Let’s find out how he is getting on with the Access Course. Tell us a little about yourself: your background, where you live and work, and your home congregation, etc. I live on the Isle of Lewis where I was born and brought up. I spent six years as a soldier in the British Army and then moved back to Lewis, where I now work as an electrician and retained firefighter. I was brought up in the Pairc congregation in the southeast of Lewis and I now worship at the Kenneth St congregation in Stornoway.

In what ways has the course benefitted you? There are a lot of benefits to the access course. I’d say that one of the biggest ones is the discipline of learning. When you have coursework to hand in for grading by a certain deadline, it focuses you and pushes you to do the required research and writing. Without that discipline I wouldn’t have done half the reading or research that I have. Another big benefit is that it opens up new areas of study, new subjects and new authors that I would have maybe missed out on otherwise. For example, I’ve really enjoyed learning more about Church History and have gained a greater appreciation of the importance of this area study for the Church today.

When did you start studying the Access Course? I started studying the Access Course in September 2017. What does the course involve? There is a two-hour session on Tuesday nights every week during term time. You can attend in person, or if you live too far away, you can join the class via video conference or download the lectures for catching up with later. We also get assignments to complete as the course is going on; so far there has been a book review, a written exam and a couple of smaller homework assignments. I’ve also been sent lots of fantastic books to read which cover the topics we are studying.

You have done the Saturday Course as well as the Access Course — how do these two courses compare? The Saturday course is a really good introduction to studying theology, and as there is only one session a month over eight months, there isn’t the same level of commitment required as there is for the Access course. On the Saturday Course you usually take a narrower area of study; for example, in my time we covered the Book of Daniel, The Holy Spirit, Science v. Religion and so on. In the Access course the approach is to try and give the students something a bit more bigpicture. In a strange way, I actually find the Access course a bit easier because there are weekly lectures and more assignments so you just get used to doing a bit of study every week, whereas with the Saturday Course, procrastination was a bit more of a problem for me – the essay deadlines were far more generous, so I didn’t find the same incentive to study and often left it quite late to begin studying. (I am quite a lazy student!)

What topics have you been studying? Systematic Theology, New Testament, Old Testament, Church History and Practical Theology. How have you balanced the Access Course with work and other responsibilities? It hasn’t been easy as I do have a lot of extracurricular activities. For example, my weekly training night with the Fire Service is on a Tuesday night at the same time as the lectures are being delivered. However, the technology works very well and it’s easy to catch up with lectures later on, either on my PC or smartphone. There is always some work to be done, like catching up on lectures, writing an essay or doing some reading, but it is in no way an overwhelming workload as long as you set aside a few hours each week.

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Is the Access Course hard? I wouldn’t say that the Access course is hard, but you will only get out of it what you put in. You have to be prepared to discipline yourself to do the work. As a distance learner there is no one standing over you,

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and if you weren’t keeping up with the lectures and reading you would quite quickly fall behind. The lecturers have all been excellent at taking difficult topics and presenting them in a way that is both stimulating and easy to understand. The atmosphere is very friendly and you are encouraged to ask questions about anything you may not be understanding. How has studying theology helped you in your life as a disciple of Jesus? It has helped me in a lot of ways. One of the main things is that it has helped me to think better. The questions in the assignments really force you to think about things for yourself and then articulate these thoughts in your own words. It’s given me much more confidence in knowing why I believe what I believe, and hopefully will help me to share that faith with others. It has helped me to see themes in Scripture and how the whole story of the Bible links together. I’ve also found that this study, particularly in the Systematic Theology module, really brings you to a point of praise and worship as you start to see deeper truths in Scripture than you had previously. It’s helped me not just to read Scripture but also to spend more time meditating on it, which has helped me to keep my thoughts more fixed on the Lord day by day. Would you recommend the course? What kind of people would benefit from it? Yes, most definitely! I would recommend it to anyone who wants to grow in their faith. If you are interested in doing the Access Course, I strongly encourage you to take the plunge; there is nothing to be afraid of and I’m certain that it will only benefit you in your Christian life. It’s especially suited to those who enjoy reading Christian books and have a desire to grow in their understanding of Scripture. I think our congregations should be encouraging all their members to take the Saturday Course or Access course – you get fellowship on the day, you make new friends and all the while you are growing in your knowledge of God and his Word. In my opinion, these things can only be of great benefit to the Church as a whole. • If you would like more information about the Access Course, please see our website, www.ets.ac.uk, or contact Heather Watson, ETS Secretary.

Alasdair Macleod: Electrician, firefighter and ETS Access Course student.

2018

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FROM PERU WITH LOVE BY CATRIONA MACDONALD Peruvian Juan Jose Otero has done many things in life from tennis coaching, studying economics and working in a bank to serving as a pastor in a shantytown and working as a chaplain in Colegio San Andres. He is now a postgraduate student in Edinburgh Theological Seminary. You have come a long way from Lima to Edinburgh. Yes, after almost eight years as chaplain in Colegio San Andres I was blessed with the opportunity to come over here to do a Masters in Theology. It was a win-win situation for us all. My two boys would learn a language that would be extremely useful to them for the rest of their lives, and one of my wife’s dreams has been to learn English well and speak it fluently. We have learned to deal with the differences in culture, language and particularly the weather. Against people’s warnings I managed to wear shorts and a T-shirt on a couple of occasions! I vividly remember one day in which the sun was bright, though very cold, and it started to rain, became sunny again, had a short hailstorm, was sunny, followed by sleet, sun and rain again — all in one day! How have your family coped with the changes? My wife Dolly loves it here and she has wasted no time in making friends with various ladies from church and her English classes. She has invited many friends to church and a couple of families have joined us on Sundays.

not writing in his jotter. As I explained to his teacher, I myself had no clue what a jotter was. We learned it was what we call a notebook! Caleb (10 years old) has learned to stand up for himself against school bullies. But now they have both made friends from a wide variety of countries and enjoy going to school each day. I am thankful for their ability to cope with and learn from each experience. At the end of the day we all know that God is control of everything, and many of their friends have heard the gospel and even prayed in our home for the very first time in their lives before having a meal. In my case, I am learning new things every day about the Word of God and I am very excited about the future and being able to go back to Peru and teach others all I am learning here. I actually got my research focus from talking to a former pupil who told me that he loved his time in San Andres but could never understand the school motto, ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’. It really got me thinking, yes, what does fearing the Lord really mean? So I decided to study this further.

My kids have gone from understanding hardly anything to making friends and being able to deal with most situations. At first school wasn’t easy for them. Salem (8 years old) was considered badly behaved for

Tell me about work as a chaplain in Colegio San Andres. I worked very closely with guidance teachers, learning support staff and the female chaplain to help pupils who were struggling emotionally or academically. We tried to

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have the parents involved as much as possible. With both pupils and parents we basically sat down and listened to their problems, struggles, complaints, burdens and sufferings. Then we would go to the Word of God, to a passage that would speak to their hearts, and pray with them. For many parents it was the first time they had ever prayed. I was also involved in preaching at school assemblies. I think we are one of the very few schools in Peru which has daily assemblies, and this means that our pupils hear around 200 sermons a year! We tried to encourage our prefects to give a talk at assemblies as well. All in all it was a great privilege for me to be part of such a respected school, which provides an excellent Christian education while discipling pupils in their faith. I am not exaggerating when I say that throughout its hundredyear history the school has reached tens of thousands of people with the gospel. It’s vital to keep praying that God would protect this ministry and use the school even more in its second century.

EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS BY SARAH CUMMING Kenya was part of Women for Mission’s 2016/17 project, Encouraging Education. Hugh Henderson of Mission International reports below on how the funds raised have been used to do more than just build a classroom.

astor tom in kenya said to me that he had a surprise for me.

He told me that there was something good to come from Kandaria as the project was completed. I had no idea what he was referring to, expecting a special paint job or something. However, as the photos show, it is better than that. They have managed to stretch the funds we sent to install a simple water well and storage facility for the school. Up til now Kandaria secondary school has relied on the local primary school for water, as do the rest of the local community. Since the water table is high around the school it was a fairly simple job to dig for water and pump it up to the storage tanks. The water project is a major asset to the school and the community, and is only possible due to the funding sent by Women for Mission and by the judicious purchasing of materials for the school by the local people. Thank you once again for all of the hard work you have done in support of this project. •

What will you do when you go back to Peru in May? I do not know what the Lord has in store for us all, and that is an exciting situation — I love when the Lord surprises us! My wife will probably finish her Psychology degree, my kids will go back to Colegio San Andres and I will definitely continue to write and try to publish some material. I would love to teach in the Evangelical Seminary of Lima and serve in the local church. And, who knows, I might even be invited to teach RE at Colegio San Andres one day! •

Women for Mission’s 2018 annual meeting will take place at 2pm on Saturday 19th May in Glasgow City Free Church. Join us as we give thanks for the funds raised through our Helping to Help project and as we launch our 2018/19 project. To book a seat on the bus that will travel to Glasgow from Dingwall & Inverness (with the possibility of collecting people from other places en route), please contact Janet Murchison by email at jcmurchison@hotmail.co.uk or by phone on 01456 450837 before 5th May.

2018

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Letter from

South Korea BY CALLUM BOWSIE

I was naturally taken to more than a dozen Buddhist temples. During my visit to the first temple, I enjoyed a traditional tea ceremony with a Tibetan monk. He was fascinating to speak to. He told me how in 528A.D. Buddhism became the state religion of Silla (the kingdom that would later unify all three Korean kingdoms). His history lesson on Korean Buddhism struck me, because like Korean Christianity, its momentous growth is strongly attributed to martyrdom.

Chinese ideology. They demanded an explanation from the king. Ichadon told the king to deny having made the proclamation. Instead, Ichadon falsely confessed forgery and accepted the punishment of execution. It is believed that when Ichadon was executed, the earth shook and milk sprayed 100ft into the air from his beheaded corpse — just as he had prophesied to the king. Ichadon had told the king that when this happened, the opposing royal court would be convinced by the power of Buddhism.In the same year Buddhism was made the state religion still accounting for over 15% of South Koreans today.

The rise in Korea’s Buddhism is mostly accredited to the martyrdom of one Buddhist monk named Ichadon (501–527). He was an advisor to the Silla king Beopheung. Beopheung wanted Silla to become a Buddhist state and Ichadon advised him to use his royal seal to grant Buddhism official state sanction. When the proclamation was made, the king’s court were horrified that the king of Silla would want to promulgate a

Fast forward to 1791. Korea saw its first Christian martyr when the Confucian authorities were horrified by how this Western ideology had encouraged Yun Ji-chung Paul to snub ancestral worship, as ordered by the pope in 1790. The Korean martyrs of 1801, 1839, 1846, and 1867 amounted to nearly 10,000 Christians. Although on a larger scale and over a considerably longer period, as with Buddhism, it was the martyrs of Christianity who convinced Korea that its instability could be overcome by the civic morality and transcendent power of Christianity. In 1910, a government minister and protestant activist, Yun

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n a recent tour around south korea

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Chi-ho, told the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh that Korea was at long last greatly receptive to Christianity and that foreign missionaries must come. Maybe someone from Holyrood will soon go to Korea and make the same request.

be answered properly in a column. Nevertheless, the first observation I would make — although not exclusively true – is that the Christian does not tend to seek martyrdom; rather they seek love, friendship and peace, but they will accept martyrdom

As a sociologist, I find it fascinating how much influence a martyr’s courage has over societies, be it a Buddhist, Muslim or Christian. As a Christian, it is of course the persecution of Christians that challenges me most. The scale of Christians being persecuted has historically never been greater, even to this

rather than renounce their faith. They ‘must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine’ (G.K. Chesterton). Those who unnecessarily and gladly kill themselves for their beliefs have chosen their own death and are therefore not true martyrs, for they desire death like water and drink life like wine.

out of self-interest rather than a conviction to testify truth, one is not a true martyr. However, martyrdom is not usually a concern for Buddhism and other polytheistic religions, as their beliefs can usually be incorporated into other belief systems. For example, some Hindus venerate Jesus as another deity without compromising the essence of their faith. The second observation and the more obvious question to ask is, what were the martyrs engaged in that caused them to be killed? For the Buddhist monk Ichadon, not only did he choose his death, he did so for political reasons and not religious reasons. Similarly, for many nonChristian martyrs, the general circumstances surrounding their deaths are usually that they were either engaged in or were victims of violent or revolutionary activities. This makes them either ‘enemy combatants’ or ‘casualties’, not martyrs in a religious sense. As followers of the most persecuted group on the planet, this distinction between the different religious martyrdoms is important if we are to be

Choosing to die for your faith because you want to may be a compelling testimony to your faith. However, choosing to die for your faith because you have to is a considerably more compelling testimony to the authority of one’s faith. day, with 100,000 Christians last year. In fact, more Christians have died in the last century than all other centuries combined. But it’s not statistics that I find most challenging to my faith; it is because I believe a Christian martyr is fundamentally different. So, what’s the difference between a Buddhist, Muslim or Christian martyr? It’s a difficult question and cannot

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This makes the witness of the former and latter immensely different from each other. Choosing to die for your faith because you want to may be a compelling testimony to your faith. However, choosing to die for your faith because you have to is a considerably more compelling testimony to the authority of one’s faith. Furthermore, if ‘martyr’ comes from the Greek word for witness and one’s martyrdom is

able to support and value those being persecuted for the sake of the Gospel. Despite the grief over our brothers and sisters, as Christians the joy we can find in this is that their persecution is not in vain. Not only does their witness shine light into darkness, but I believe that the Church in the West would be in an even worse state if it were not for the ‘perseverance, character and hope’ of the Persecuted Church. •

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POETRY PAGE LOVE BY GEORGE HERBERT

Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back, Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning, If I lacked any thing. A guest, I answer’d, worthy to be here: Love said, You shall be he. I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear, I cannot look on thee. Love took my hand, and smiling did reply, Who made the eyes but I?

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

Truth, Lord, but I have marr’d them: let my shame Go where it doth deserve. And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame? My dear, then I will serve. You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat: So I did sit and eat

George Herbert (1593-1633) was an English metaphysical poet, and a contemporary of John Donne

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Ath-nuadhachadh (Renewal) LE JANET NICPHÀIL

ig an àm-sa den bhliadhna,

chì sinn gu robh mòran a’tachairt ann an talamh a bha sinn a’ faicinn cho marbh fad a’gheamhraidh. Bha sinn glè cheàrr, oir an siud agus an seo, chì sinn sìthean no dhà a’ nochdadh a-mach às a’ mharbhalachd a shaoil sinne a bh’ann. Tha an Cruthaidhear a’ dèanamh obair Fhèin far nach fhaic duine beò seo. Nì E obair mhòr a-staigh ann an cridhe an duine cuideachd. Fosglaidh E dorsan ar n-inntinn gus an tuig sinn nas fheàrr iomadh nì mu dheidhinn Fhèin. Chan eil Fear-coimhid Israeil a’ cadal. Cha leig E a leas, agus tha E a’ faicinn gach nì a tha a’ tachairt anns gach ceàrnaidh den chruinne-chè. Nach math sin? Nach math, nuair a bhios sinn iomagaineach agus le eagal, gu bheil làn fhios Aige air an seo, agus gur E an aon Fhear a bheir fois do dh’ inntinnean sàraichte? Tha E, ‘àrd thar gach tìr’. Tha na h-inntinnean againne cho beag agus cho cumhang, ’s nach eil sinn a’ gabhail a-steach ach fìor bheagan den truas a th’Aige rinn, nuair a bhios sinn troimh-chèile, ri linn iomadh camadh nar freastal anns a’ bheatha-sa. Chì sinn dìreach mar a bha an sìthean beag a’ nochdadh aig an àm-sa den bhliadhna, gun tog Esan ar cridhe, gun dèan E iomadh slighe gu dol às, agus tha E a’ gealltainn cuideachd gun glèidh E sinn gu cùramach agus gun cuidich E sinn.Nach sinn mar Chrìosdaidhean a bu chòir a bhith misneachail? Bidh sinn mar Chrìosdaidhean glè thric a’ coinneachadh ri iomadh sàrachadh ann an dòigh air chor-eigin. Bheir seo oirnn’ ruith Thuige-san aig a bheil neart agus freagairt do gach tòimhseachan anns a’ bheathasa. Cuidichidh E sinn, agus ged a bhiodh sinn a’ faireachdainn marbh annainn fhèin, le plathadh de bhlàths An Spioraid tuigidh sinn gur e a th’againne ach Athair a bhios a’ cromadh sìos agus gar togail an àirde a-mach às gach doimhneachd anns am bi sinn. Abair cùram! Abair gràdh agus tròcair! A-rèist, nuair a tha dorchadas a’ gheamhraidh seachad, biodh ar sùil ri geallaidhean Dhè, oir tha geallaidhean prìseil Aige dhuinn a-bhos, agus nuair a thig an t-àm dhuinn seo fhàgail. Tha Esan a’ cladhach agus a’ toirt cumaidh oirnn’, gus am bi sinn freagarrach airson an àite a chaidh ullachadh dhuinn mus do leagadh bunaitean an domhain. An ath uair a chì sibh lusan àlainn a’ nochdadh ann an talamh nach eil a’ coimhead glè ghealltanach cuimhnichibh gur e an aon Ghàirnealair a th’agaibh-se cuideachd.

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Bheir Esan cumadh oirnn’; cumaidh E ar cridhe rinn ann an iomadh gleann sàraicht’, agus nuair a chì E Fhèin iomchaidh, bheir E sàbhailt’ dhachaigh sinn. Cò nach biodh ag iarraidh dìon agus cùram den t-seòrsa-sa? Tha e air a thairgsinn don h-uile duine anns an t-Soisgeul.

À soitheach gu soitheach nì Esan ar taomadh A shùil air an là nach fhaic sinn an taobh-sa. Bidh eagal is iomagain a-bhos anns an t-saoghal-sa. Nuair ruigeas sinn cala cha bhi sgeul air a h-aon diubh. Mar an sìthean a dh’èirich le cumadh an-dràsta bidh buillean gach freastal a’ cur mais’ air A chàirdean a-bhos air an taobh-sa, ach còmh’ ris gach dearbhadh bidh làmh tròcair le truas a’ toirt neart don anfhainn. Bheir an sìthean dhomh dòchas gun tig làithean gun àmhghar, làithean le bheannachd, le seinn a-measg chàirdean. Bidh feum air gach freastal ann am beatha gach Crìosdaidh ach cha thrèig E A ghealladh a bhith còmh’ rinn ’s gach deuchainn.•

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ome . it ’ s the sweetest of words .

It means warmth, security, love, belonging, identity. Above all, safety. It’s also the hardest of words. For many it means loss, discord, longing, imprisonment. One does not have to live on the street to feel home-less. For me home is a complicated word. Firstly: a deeply ingrained nostalgia for the country, people and even houses of my childhood. Many of us associate a melancholy with our parents’ home, especially if they have passed on. I still breathe a sigh of relief when I walk into my parents’ home: the familiar smell, the sense of calm, of being looked after. Some of you too may pine for the

‘mansion’ type of gal. But what we are promised is a place prepared for us. Our Father’s house. Our big brother is there – the firstborn among the dead, the great co-heir – walking with us. Our other brothers and sisters are there too – lots of them! There are no family disputes, no tension, no abuse in this home, no climate of fear, no slamming doors. But it isn’t right to think of heaven in terms of all the things there are not. Re-focus on the Father, wiping away our tears. Is there anything homelier than that? And, in case heaven sounds a bit remote and just too ‘other’ to sound like home, don’t think you have to wait that long to feel at home. The Kingdom of God is among us. We in the church really are a

HOME, SWEET HOME... BY DAYSPRING MACLEOD home where you raised your own children, a home now empty, full of memories but silent. Home can feel as if it belongs to the past. Secondly, for some people home is an ideal to aspire to. This can be just as painful – a thing that shimmers in a future that may never come. Some long for the spouse, the children, the mortgage that seem always out of reach. Feeling as if you’ve never quite belonged anywhere, or nowhere has ever belonged to you. Recently we’ve been considering some major renovations to our house. ‘If we’re committing to this house long-term,’ I said to my husband, ‘we have to make it feel more like our home.’ There is an element of ungratefulness in this suggestion, because I well remember moving in six years ago, looking at all the empty rooms, and wondering if they would ever be filled. Two children later, it’s a lot more of a home than it was then. But we still don’t breathe that sigh of relief when we walk in the door. Adding up all the elements of what we need to do to this house to ‘make it home’, and how much it would all cost, I had to stop and remind myself: Who promised you a home on this earth? Now, we all know we’re going to our ‘final home’ one day. Sometimes we get caught up in the imagery and cultural baggage of our idea of heaven. I wouldn’t exactly describe the idea of gold streets and choirs of angels as homely. I’m not really a

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family. We can go to a church in a new country and have communion, have community, with the believers there, because we all belong to the same Father. Many times I’ve encountered Christians going far out of their way to help and welcome other Christians they’ve never met before because, well, they’re family. We speak the same language. We have the same culture, the same morals, the same priorities. We even have in-jokes. My favourite joke is a knock-knock joke that requires a prop. ‘Knock knock!’ ‘Who’s there?’ ‘John.’ ‘John who?’ ‘John the Baptist!’ (The prop is a glass of water.) I mostly tell that joke to other Christians, because I’m not sure if anyone else will get it. Or will be offended if I ‘baptise’ them! I’m not going to lie, I still feel like my life would be better with a new bathroom, re-carpeted stairs and some rewiring. But to base my happiness on that would be to build my house on the sand, not on the Rock. In reality, the novelty of all these things would wear off quickly, things would get worn and broken and untidy, and I would long to fly off to Mom and Dad’s as much as ever! My parents won’t be here forever, and neither will their house. And maybe my own house will never be everything I want it to be. That doesn’t mean I’ll be home-less, though. I have a spiritual home to look forward to, and I have a spiritual home here and now. And you are part of it.•

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PRAYER DIARY MAR/APR 2018

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Heb. 11:1 Thurs 15th Give thanks for the life and ministry of Rev. Kenny MacDonald who went to be with his Lord in January. Pray for Reta and the wider family in their time of loss.

Sun 25th Pray for Rev. Alasdair MacDonald as interim moderator of the vacant congregation of Greenock. Pray especially today as they are scheduled to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

Fri 16th Pray for all our young folk heading to Lendrickmuir for the Youth Conference this weekend. Give thanks for our enthusiastic youth and pray they will be blessed.

Mon 26th Praise God that Rev. Derek Lamont and Catriona were able to visit Suraj and Roshani and family in Nepal last month. Continue to pray for Suraj as he works to plant churches and spread the gospel.

Sat 17th Our ministers’ wives are joining together in Greyfriars church in Inverness today for this year’s Enspire event. Pray that all who gather will enjoy friendship, food and worship and come away ‘Satisfied’, as the title suggests. Sun 18th Remember Mr Alick Stewart and Rev. Kenny Macleod as they serve the people in the vacant congregation of Lennoxtown. Mon 19th As Tearfund mark 50 years of restoring lives, many people are taking part in their Mean Bean Challenge this week. Pray that money raised will help to end extreme poverty in many communities around the world. Tues 20th Pray for men to be encouraged to serve God in the ministry of the Free Church in South Africa. At present there is no Free Church student in training. Wed 21st The so-called Prosperity Gospel is attracting some South African people away from the church. Pray about this, as it really is a return to heathenism in its South African expression. Thurs 22nd Today, on World Water Day, give thanks for our plentiful supply of fresh water and pray for those who have to spend hours fetching enough to survive. Fri 23rd Pray about the serious pollution of springs, rivers, lakes and seas by untreated sewage, plastic and other rubbish, and let’s do what we can to reduce this problem. Sat 24th Continue to pray for all the preparations for the summer camps programme. There are not many places left.

Tues 27th As the days lengthen we look forward to warmer weather; however, there are many homeless living on our streets and feeling the cold through the nights. Pray for them and the various charities that seek to help them.

Wed 4th As many of our congregations meet for their midweek meeting tonight, pray for meaningful times of learning, fellowship and prayer. Thurs 5th Pray for anyone you know who is housebound and lonely. Ask God how each of us may show God’s love in a meaningful way to such people. Fri 6th Please pray for Roddy Macleod as he spends his days witnessing to soldiers, that he would have a balanced approach and opportunity to speak truth at the right time. Sat 7th Pray with the Christian Institute that we will maintain the freedom in our land to raise our children in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Wed 28th Pray for the wives and children of imprisoned Christian men and also those who have become widows and orphans as a consequence of persecution.

Sun 8th Remember the congregation in Kingussie as they meet for worship today. Pray for Rev. Andrew McMillan, Inverness, as he serves as interim moderator.

Thurs 29th As our children and schoolteachers enjoy time off from school, pray for safety and a relaxing time for all.

Mon 9th Give thanks for the years of service that Charlie Douglas gave to the Free Church Bookshop. Praise God that we are still able to buy books from our online shop.

Fri 30th Give thanks today on Good Friday that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins. Pray that people may see past the commercialism and understand how thankful we should be.

Tues 10th Pray for the group of women in North Uist who are part of a craft club raising money for mission. Pray that in their service they will also enjoy friendship.

Sat 31st Pray for the small congregation meeting in Tobermory at 4pm tomorrow. Remember Rev. James Beaton as he serves as interim moderator for our friends in Mull.

Wed 11th As the General Assembly approaches next month, pray for Rev. Angus MacRae, Moderator designate, and Rev. Derek Lamont, retiring Moderator, as they prepare for this important week in our denomination.

Sun 1st On Easter Sunday, let us all go to worship our Risen Lord with thanksgiving. ‘I rejoiced with those who said to me “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”’

Thurs 12th The Board of Trustees meets in Inverness today. Pray for them as they discuss and make decisions on the working of the church.

Mon 2nd As the Assembly reports go to the clerks and the printers, pray for all the arrangements in preparation for the Assembly in May. Tues 3rd Ask the Lord to bless all that is said and the literature given out by SASRA to our servicemen and women.

Fri 13th Remember Rev. David Meredith in his work as Mission Director. Pray for safety as he travels around our denomination and beyond. Sat 14th Today pray for all those attending the Saturday course at ETS. Ask that they will all benefit from what they learn and the fellowship they enjoy.

Prayer requests to: ian.macdonald57@btinternet.com. Please take time to send requests for your congregation or ministry to be included in forthcoming Records. These prayer notes are prepared 5 weeks in advance of publication.

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BY CATRIONA MURRAY

POST TENEBRAS LUX

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n increasingly important

part of my job as a lecturer with UHI is teaching students I have never met. For a university founded on the principle that education should not be hampered by remote location, this is not a new concept. We have long made use of video conferencing technology to link with learners across the region. But these students have faces and voices, just like real people. My wholly online students have neither — I interact with them by email, and teach them using something called Blackboard Collaborate, which is a chat function along the same lines as Facebook, Messenger or SMS. This week, I was in the middle of just such a tutorial when a new student joined the class, using video. I have no webcam on my computer at work, so he could not see me, but I could see him. And it was oddly disconcerting. So much so, in fact, that I eventually stuck a piece of paper over that half of my screen — I didn’t want to see him, sitting at his kitchen table with a mug of tea. Why, though, was it so disturbing to see this student? There was nothing wrong with his appearance; he was not rolling his eyes at my teaching, nor was he gesturing impatiently at the camera during my longer rambles. I think it was actually because we are not used to seeing the human face of the online world. It serves as a warning to me, though, not to travel too far down that dangerous road of forgetting

THE RECORD

that there is a person at the other end of every exchange. Over the last year or so, I have spent a lot of time involving myself in conversations in the online world, trying to make sense of what it is that so offends people about the Christian message. I have said elsewhere that I think this is a mission field, because online is where, more and more, you will find the people gathered. There is all the world, into which we are meant to go with the good news. Rightly or wrongly, I feel a call to try in my own small way to place some truth there where people may just pick it up. Mission fields are often dangerous places, fraught with the possibility of harm. Beyond that, though, there is frequently a difference in philosophy or culture which makes it difficult for one party to communicate effectively with the other. The internet can be challenging for a Christian trying to reason with atheists. There is a language barrier. We use a different vocabulary, and we certainly have a different cultural approach. In discussing the Sunday opening of the local arts centre in Stornoway with some very secular-minded people recently, I realised that we have one significant area of misunderstanding which it’s hard to get around. When a Christian speaks out on such an issue — neither by waving placards nor saying, ‘thou shalt not’, but in a reasonable tone, trying to point them to something more worthwhile — they see it as

authoritarian. I think I’m being loving by telling them that there are better things to do with their Sunday; they think I’m a dictator who cannot allow others their freedom. And then I get frustrated because I know that if I had said, ‘don’t go there for your lunch, go to this other restaurant — the food’s much nicer’, no one would be howling at me for being a control-freak. It is the place to which I am pointing them that so offends. Not only does it offend but, in many cases, it seems to cause them some embarrassment, as though Christianity is a weird relic of bygone Lewis. Missionaries working anywhere have to cultivate cultural knowledge. Social media creates the ‘keyboard warrior’, the person who will say things to you online that they would have neither the courage nor the effrontery to say to your face. You have to bear that in mind and reply as graciously as possible without dehumanising them in return. But I believe you also have to challenge their perpetuation of stereotypes which may be a stumbling-block to others. We cannot allow a lie to go unchallenged. Not when that lie concerns the saving work of the Gospel. It is not because I am hurt by accusations of smugness or bossiness that I feel bound to go in amongst them. The Great Commission compels us to do that, and to exhort them with the truth. •

MARCH