A Prayer Nook.

With a brand new project in the works, the end of last week and beginning of this week included renovating an old office into a completely innovative fresh modern prayer space for all of the community at the Leith Acorn YMCA Center. This has been my favorite venture so far for several reasons. It included more painting (just for you, Circuit staff), decorating an entire area from scratch, and creating a space to be consumed by prayer in various forms. The process included fabric shopping, painting shopping, thrift store shopping, and IKEA shopping…all with a common theme and personal favorite, shopping! I mostly free-hand painted the prayer tree on the wall in the picture and the final product makes me so happy. Thank you, Leith Acorn Center, Kerry, Hayley, and staff for letting us contribute to the great work you do in ministry there! I can't wait to see how God fills that space...

blessings and cheers.

Hands Held.
I, and my teammate, Lis, were in charge of planning and leading an entire "all age" worship service at one of the local churches in the community of Rosyth yesterday morning. The service included an array of pieces from the call to worship, introductions, hymns, prayer, teaching a Seed's song with sign language (shout out to Highway56), scripture readings, and I was given the wonderful opportunity to give the homily, "Hands Held" (see a clip above). I touched on the many uses of our hands, the importance of prayer, and how our hands can aid in unity. To my complete surprise in fellowship shaking hands with people after the service concluded several people told me these words, "What an incredible message" and "That was something I will remember for a very long time". Wow. I mean, wow. I was so taken by the overwhelming impression my words made in just sharing the gospel from my heart. It astonished every one of my senses and left me whirling in joy. I wish I could have bottled that exact feeling I felt in that very moment as a reminder for the times I do not feel effective at all in ministry. God's ways revealed through his people are always so exquisite when we let go of our own agendas and fully invite them in.


On the same morning in two other "boroughs" of town, two pastors, Mack and Jeff, and 12 boys from my church at home with my common link preached in two of the Methodist churches here I am working with in the Circuit. Following the services and controlled chaos in the web of moving people from one place to another, my team of 4, Andrew, his wife, Belinda, Jeff, and Mack met for lunch. It was a grand highly-anticipated sight as my two worlds collided around one table over a shared meal connecting two Methodist communities with my great hopes to build a long lasting partnership in ministry together. 'Til again...blessings and cheers!

World Cup 2010...
Yesterday was the start to football festivities all over the world. We went to a local pub to watch and be right in the action of the game, USA vs. England. The best part was that the Scots would rather root for anyone besides the English so 99% of the pub was cheering on the Americans, it felt like a taste of home, but with soccer, a severely unappreciated sport in our part of the world. We enjoyed taking in some of their love for the sport, it was full of excitement, indeed!

Happenings over the past couple of days...

We put our painting skills to the test for several days being renovators for the oldest Methodist church in Scotland where John Wesley, himself, preached long ago. Lots and lots of paint! A fun project, indeed.

We explored a "Women in Mission" seminar during the festivities at Edinburgh 2010. The picture highlights a canvas of prayers from people all over the world with the Methodist church in the background.

We were provided "VIP" tickets to the closing ceremony service for Edinburgh 2010 Mission Conference that was held in the exact same venue at the Edinburgh 1910 Conference, 100 hundred years ago. There was an incredible African choir, music for all over the world, descendants of people from the 1910 conference that spoke, and a beautiful Indian dance depiction of two different scriptures. It was such a powerful authentic unifying picture of the world representing one mission: the love of God.

With a great local guide, Mike, our fellow painter, we went off the beaten path to discover some hidden wonders of Scotland. The is a shot of the Hales castle.

One of my favorite things are lighthouses. They are such beautiful structures and are beacons of light for the nautical world (I just love their purpose in life). In conversation with Mike about these navigational shelters of light, he knew one that was close by to stop in for a visit...it was a very sweet moment.



We had a great evening of worship and music on Sunday with "The Weatherfolk and Ice Cream" sharing in lyrical offerings and good community.

After a couple of days of enriching meetings with our Scottish minister friends and engaging Circuit events, our team shared dinner and dessert last night in the "Grass Market" part of town, my local favorite spot. This was by a landslide the best strawberry cheesecake I have ever had in my entire life, hands down delicious!

Finally....videos to share!

United Community.
Helping lead a litany in a Sunday morning worship in Kirkcaldy (on the North side of the Bay) with Rev. Letby (our "Scottish boss") with Lis accompanying a great hymn on violin. It was a very special moment for me. (Hwy56 - me in true action here ;)).


Feast of Celebration.
We had the honor of participation in the 122nd Anniversary of Cockenzie Methodist providing worship for their event. The team brought prayer, songs, Scripture, and an energetic mediation of praise (by Lis) finishing with a fellowship of cakes and tea. It was a magnificent evening of shared celebration!

Sick.
I apologize for a lack of blogging over the past couple of days. I have been pretty ill in bed with a nasty bug the past two days, and it is driving me crazy not out helping my teammates and our Scottish team with our tasks. I cannot stand it, but I have been sick for over a week only getting worse. So even though I am quite stubborn, I am very thankful to Dan, Lis, Casey, Ken, Barbara, Hayley, Jo, Geoffrey and Andrew that have taken care of me, offered words of healing, and made me completely stop my normal speed to get well again. Thank you to my friends and family back home for your "feel better" words, too! I cannot wait to get back out helping in Scotland.

(In the photo...my very sweet boy back home sent me beautiful flowers to brighten my sick days)

Listening and Hearing.
The end of last week included great discussion between visionaries to help facilitate using our best gifts with the most potential. With a stuffy head, I took a walk around the city including sitting in the park to just take in my surroundings. Saturday, we enjoyed a Seafood festival outside of town as well as finding a new hot spot in town called the Grassmarket, full of cafes, shops, pubs, and a big central courtyard.

Sunday morning began with two girls on their way into town to participate in another new service and thriving congregation in the heart of the city. However, missing a vital piece of information as to the name of our bus stop where the church was located lead us scrambling for our phones, but we both came up empty-handed, phone-less and map-less in the middle of the city. SO we put our old school navigation skills to the test...hail a taxi ;). Finally arriving at the church with a quarter of an hour to spare, we took some breaths with last minute preparations for the morning. The church and service were beautiful and going quite well until I disrupted with a violent coughing fit. I quickly proceeded out of the back of the Sanctuary nearly hurdling over some congregants to get out as fast as possible not to draw too much attention to me. A very sweet lady, Jackie, immediately came to my aid providing water and stayed with me to make sure I would be ok after almost choking. We shared some of our over-lapping stories from the States only confirming how small the world is in each interaction. I observed the rest of the service from outside the Sanctuary. The church has a very diverse and welcoming community; we were grateful to a part of it that morning. It was that afternoon that I was confined to my room by my teammates due to a week of fighting sickness.