Dear friends,

I recently took the opportunity to preach in Scotland when I was back home for Church Assessor Training. Church Assessors interview people who are exploring a call to ministry within the Church. It was a privilege to preach in the Steeple Church, Dundee, where I did my first placement at the start of my training for the ministry in 1992-93. It had been a busy year. Julie and I had got married, I had written and submitted my doctoral thesis the week before beginning my studies in divinity at St Andrew’s University. I was, to say the least, a little academically tired, and certainly bewildered leaving behind the world of starch biochemistry in higher plants to make the transition to an arts course. I was expected to read books; lots of them.

During my placement at the Steeple, I was supervised by Rev Graham Foster. Graham was an experienced minister who intuitively knew that I was struggling in adjusting to my new situation. I almost gave up my divinity studies, but I am grateful to God that I didn’t. Sadly Graham died of cancer in 1999 but I have remained in contact with his widow, Elizabeth. It was good to see her and catch up. Over the years I have had a continued interest in the Steeple Church. My predecessor in Airdrie, Rev David Clark ministered at the Steeple for 14 years. Last year, my good friend Rev Robert Calvert moved from Rotterdam, after ministering there for 19 years, to be minister at the Steeple.

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Dear friends,

We are aware more than ever that people whose aim is to spread terror can live on our doorsteps. The attack on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo, satirical magazine, on Wednesday 7^th January in Paris was shocking to see. Belgium continues to be on a high state of alert after a terrorist cell was wiped out just over a week later. Sometimes it’s hard to sit down and watch the news and stay tuned in, when we hear of horrific things happening to people in different parts of the world.  Recently, I watched some of the footage of the 70^th anniversary commemoration of the liberation the Auschwitz concentration camp. The courage, the tears and the pain of those 300 people who had returned to this barbaric place will remain with me. The scenes that the liberating troops found is too horrific to write about here; but I wonder if we have learned anything at all from our past history? The world today seems to invite the same acts of evil and brutality as ever before. If people or groups don’t agree with us, our philosophy, our ideology and dare I say our religious fervour- then they are demonised by us and can be terrorised by fanatics.

So how should we respond as Christians? How can a God of love allow such evils to pervade and destroy people’s lives or when we are confronted with suffering of any kind?

There is nothing new about evil, barbarism and human suffering- these have been with us since the Fall and they will be with us until the end of the world. There is nothing new about the sentiments that lead people to commit acts of evil or the manifestation of suffering. Perhaps because of modern media we are more aware of such things, almost when they happen and with images that are graphic. What has changed is humanity’s capacity to do such terrible things on such a grand scale and with apparent ease.

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Dear friends,

What a wonderful time of fellowship and reflection we had on the congregational outing to Ypres and surrounding memorials and graveyards. It was a very special day and I am grateful to the Kirk Session for the suggestion. Those of us who participated are grateful to those who made the arrangements.

Now that the season of Advent is upon us I am thinking about that first Christmas in the trenches on the Western front.   It is well documented by war historians that along the front peace between British and German soldiers broke out in a number of places on Christmas Day 1914. Christmas greetings were exchanged, food rations were shared, hymns were sung and even the odd game of football was played in no man’s land! It is ironic and bewildering that only days later the same men were trying to kill one another to win the war.

On the very first Christmas there were other men out in the cold dead of night. They weren’t soldiers in trenches, but shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem tending their flocks. They were exposed not to the deathly chorus of machine guns or mortar attacks, but to the sweet and glorious sound of heaven’s angels who filled their ears with a chorus of song that welcomed the Christ to earth and proclaimed the glory of God in all of his splendour. As John at the beginning of his gospel puts it ‘The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us‘ [John 1:12]. There was certainly something to celebrate in Bethlehem that night.

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Dear friends

On the 6September St Andrew’s will welcome three visitors from Christ Presbyterian Congregation, Adentan, Ghana. We have been twinned with this vibrant congregation for 8 years now and over that time relationship has grown and developed. Over these years we have sent four groups of St Andrew’s members to Ghana and September’s visit will be the fourth time we welcome friends from Adentan. We have also exchanged gifts, shared information about the life of our congregations, made new friends and deepened our understanding of Christian witness in two very different contexts.

We are grateful for Margaret Brusasco and the Twinning Committee for their continued hard work they have done to sustain and develop the twinning over the years. Julie and I had the joy and privilege of making the first visit to Adentan in 2006, where we met the congregation, its office bearers and officials from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. We were warmly welcomed by all whom we met. We have happy memories of visiting a country where so many people love and follow Jesus.

During a meeting with the congregation, one member of the Kirk Session asked me a challenging question. ‘How do we stop Christianity in Africa going the same way as it has in the Western world over the past 50 years?’ I assumed that he was speaking about the decline of Christian belief in the West, due to secularisation, pluralism and materialistic values. I wasn’t able to give him and answer on the spot and after much reflection I don’t think I could give a clear answer to the question today. What we can say is that over the past 60 years or so that the centre of gravity of Christianity has moved from the west to the Africa, Asia and China.

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Dear friends,

I recently spent some time in Scotland. When I am in Scotland life feels different from being here in Belgium.  In Belgium I am an expatriate but in Scotland I am not.  I cannot define in words why life feels different in Scotland, but it does. It always has for me, since we came to live in Brussels.

The make-up of congregations in Scotland is different too, although there is a lot of variety in terms of styles of worship, expatriates are rarely part of the congregation. Most of our congregation in Brussels is made up of expatriates and we are deeply enriched by each and every person. I keep the lists of those who have been invited to Welcome dinners and lunches over the years and have come and gone from St Andrew’s. It runs into hundreds.  For those of us who live in Belgium long term it is hard to say farewell when people move on, but it is part of life here. Over the years I have observed increasing transience as people move around the world more and more.

This summer we bid farewell to some key people who have made significant contributions to the life of St Andrew’s.  Penni Clark, our Director of Choirs, steps down from her position to spend a year with her family in Canada. Penni’s skill in conducting both choirs and her commitment to nurturing the talent of our young choristers in our church family has been outstanding. We will sorely miss Penni, Damien, Amelie and Lucy from our Church family and we wish them God’s blessing in their new adventure.

Nancy Craig, who has worked alongside me as our Ministry Associate, will complete her work among us at the end of June. Nancy came to work among us for one year and we have been blessed to have her work with us for two and a half years now. Nancy has worked hard among us, developing new avenues of service such as the ladies fellowship and the Caring for One Another Group (CFOA) which will continue to provide pastoral support along with me in the time ahead. We praise God for Nancy’s faith and commitment to the task and wish her well as she adjusts to life again in Montreal. Canada is a popular place!

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Dear friends,

The ministry of Jesus did not come to an end after his resurrection. The story doesn’t conclude with the resurrection appearances and the restoration of his relationship with Simon Peter. Jesus goes on to commission his disciples to continue to his work through their witness to his ministry.

Matthew records the words of the Great Commission in his gospel.

‘When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”’ [24:17-20]

With these words of Jesus, he called upon his disciples to work in partnership with him. After Jesus’ ascension we read the story of Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit is sent to work alongside the disciples; to strengthen them, equip them, guide them and encourage them in their task of spreading the gospel.

The task of the Church is still one of mission. Our charge is to share the gospel of Jesus in any way that we can. Just as the gospel message changed the lives of the first believers- it still has the power to change the lives of people today. The call to be a Church with a mission raises all kind of questions for me.

Firstly is our Church the kind of place where believers are equipped to live out the gospel among others? Our congregation must be a place where people feel they are welcome and accepted; where they are built up in their Christian lives. If we are to be a living vibrant community of Christians (that might be attractive to non-believers) then the depth and quality of our worship must reflect the profound nature of the encounter that we have had with Christ, but it must also be evident in the relationships that we develop with one another. Newcomers can tell a great deal about how we deal with one another, whether we show forbearance to one another and the extent to which they care.  The quality of the relationships that we develop and sustain with other people within the congregation acts a bit like a temperature gauge by which other people measure us.

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Dear friends,

In the events that led up to Jesus’ crucifixion we encounter the very worst of human behaviour. Negative behaviour spills out from those who are closest to Jesus to those who had significant power and influence in Jerusalem and Judah in Jesus’ day. One of Jesus’ disciples betrays him with a kiss while Peter, who seemed to part of Jesus’ inner circle, denied he even knew the Lord Jesus, just as had been predicted. The Sanhedrin and Roman authorities conspire together to have Jesus crucified for blasphemy (his claim to be God). It is the sins of betrayal, denial and deceit that lead Jesus to the Cross.

Yet as Christians we do not believe that the events surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion happened by chance. Jesus himself believed that he would die and be raised three days later (see Mk 8:31-37; Mk 9:30-32 & Matt 20:17-19) while the Old Testament is littered with references to the future suffering of God’s messiah. God the Father and the Holy Spirit lead Jesus to Calvary; the scriptures are clear on that fact.

Thankfully the bleakness of the Cross and the events that led up to it are not the full story.  God in his providence turns the negativity of the Cross into a positive and inspiring story. Jesus’ death, as futile as it might appear to the onlookers who were present was not the end. God’s purpose of redeeming Creation which was fallen and ruined by sin is achieved on the Cross. The human race benefits directly in a restored relationship with God through Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the Cross.

God turns the positivity of the Cross into the triumph of Easter Day. When the women go to the tomb on Easter morning they expect to embalm Jesus’ body with spices, as was the custom. But they find that the stone is rolled away and his body has gone. His broken and battered corpse has been transformed into the most amazing resurrection body that can pass through walls, eat food with his disciples and ascend into heaven.  Yet it continues to bear the wounds of crucifixion and retains some recognisable features Jesus original body. What is God telling us through this?

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Dear friends,

In the early weeks of this year we welcomed a new group of Mission to the World (MTW) Pre-field missionaries to St Andrew’s. By the time the February Church magazine is published they will have left us to head off to the mission projects they will serve (far flung places from Honduras, Nicaragua, to Thailand), or some will return home to raise more financial support before going off to their specific mission field.

Historically the Church of Scotland thought of its ministers serving outside of the UK as mission partners of a sort, serving English speaking expatriate communities.   Now all of the ministers who have serve in charges overseas are ‘holders of an office’ with the same status as any other minister in the Kirk. Having been an expatriate for over 9 years now, I believe that if you use term ‘back home’, most people think of British people living abroad; but we know that our congregations are international in their makeup. Brussels, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Geneva have particularly diverse congregations; not just in terms of ethnicity, but in a number of other ways as well.

Those of us in ministry of word and sacrament can have a strong resonance with those who are called to serve Christ in the mission-field. We share a compelling sense to service God, a call that can leave us surprised (why me?), disturbed (I must respond whatever the cost), enthralled (it is sovereign God doing the calling), overwhelmed (am I up to the task?) and frustrated (the people of God should never be put on any pedestal).  We are called to wear more than one ‘hat’ as we serve or lead. We don’t always get it right. In fact sometimes we get it wrong.

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Dear friends,

I am writing my Advent letter to you on the on the Eurostar as I return to Brussels part way through my study leave programme. I attended a Conference with other clergy, most from Anglican or independent churches (what they call ‘free churches’ south of the border, but the term means something else in Scotland). I am grateful for the warm fellowship that I shared with new friends, each of us desiring to develop skills to improve our preaching. The participants and organisers of the Proclamation Trust Conference showed a genuine interest in the work that God is doing among the Anglophone congregations in Brussels.  Many conversations began with the question “where are you from?” and the reply ‘I am from the Church of Scotland in Brussels’ usually led to the supplementary question ‘Why is there a Church of Scotland in Brussels…?’ [Read more…]

Dear friends,

A stranger to our church recently asked me about the War history of our congregation. At the back of the Church there is a brass plaque that dedicates the building as a memorial to the many Presbyterians who gave their lives on the Belgian Western Front in WW1. What does that fact mean for us as a living Christian community, with all the different events planned for 2014 to mark the centenary of the beginning the War? [Read more…]