The upgrade will make the site more maintainable in the future.

On top of that, I hope to make some changes to the front page design, to make less emphasis on the blog and provide more static information. If you want to comment on the site design, please see the discussion in our Facebook group.

In a time when a Labour Government at Westminster taxes the poorest in a way that the better off become even better off Amos is much more than a clanging cymbal. Amos pulls no punches as he tells those in authority that God is unhappy and is coming after them, that the gravy train will come to an end. Lest we think that God is Communist in Amos he also has a lot to say about the apathy of the people towards their God and they’ll get theirs too. Overall, however, Amos is mightily concerned with social justice, the plight of the power and the powerless. Amos would remind us that those in authority only have that authority if their concern is to help those that need it. I wonder what Amos would say to Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling today? Probably something along the lines of ‘You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted vineyards, you will not drink their wine. For I know your offences and how great your sins’ Amos 5:11-12

Powerful, scary stuff I’m sure you’ll agree

Much of what he wrote is a disturbing reminder of how bad things can be in the city but he also highlighted the invaluable work that many voluntary societies have been doing, and continue to pioneer without a great deal of assistance from anyone else. It is their determination to do something to alleviate some of the problems that many of our fellow citizens face that has caught Smith’s eye and moved his heart.

On Wednesday night 30 January 2008 several hundred people from the Glasgow Baptist community met at Newton Mearns Baptist Church to pray, and pray specifically by name for those in government and councils who can help to make a difference to the troubled lives of many in the areas of deprivation in the city. It is so easy to become cynical and treat our politicians as our enemies rather than our servants. It could make a huge difference if we prayed more for them even as the Bible instructs us 1 Timothy2:1-2. Such praying is never wasted!

I was reminded of this as I was walking up a major road in the district where I live. I noticed the Christmas trees in the photograph, neatly stacked at the foot of long drives, the detritus of the end of Christmas awaiting collection by the Land Services of the City of Glasgow.

It did make me think, that in a way, as you look back over Christmas and the reminder of it by these dead and decaying young fir trees, that it is a terrible waste of this natural life just to brighten up our dark winter days as we celebrate the festival of Christmas. As I look back on that I have this regret that these little pieces of creation were prematurely cut down just to decorate with silver, gold and red balls to brighten up our winter nights.

However as I look at them again, I think of the future, they themselves have no longer any future life but in the process of recycling that we are embracing with a passion these days, and gladly so, it is hopeful to see that these trees, although their lives are complete will actually help go towards the providing nurture for those other plants that will adorn our gardens in the future summer times.

In balance, these trees have brought much pleasure to families , to visitors alike, of the various homes that they dressed during this last month or two, and they will continue to add delight to the summer gardens throughout the country.

Therefore the moral of the story is, that even though their lives have been short, and shortened unnecessarily by man’s intervention, they have brought great pleasure and delight to many people and have enabled us to put back into the planet, the very things that we have taken out.

Wouldn’t it be good to be able to do that with many more things even that which seems short lived, that it would bring not only a brief pleasure or respite in the darkness of whatever days we have to face but also have potential for the future that no one has seen, bearing fruit in its due season.

I’m not referring to the money stashed in government coffers or private banks or personal savings schemes. Though much of the unhappiness prevalent around the globe would be remedied by a fairer distribution of the world’s abundance, the issues go deeper than having enough food to put on the table. I am conscious that is easy for me to say when I don’t have to worry about whether I will eat tonight or not.

As much as feeding the poor, healing the sick and protecting the vulnerable is a core responsibility of the follower of Christ the issue of much of the unrest that is demonstrated across the globe is due to something that even Christian believers struggle with: the need to forgive. Only forgiveness can break the cycle of revenge and Kenya will need to experience this as Rwanda and South Africa have had to do before this.

As I watch with horror and profound sadness at what is happening in Kenya my prayer is that those who have been brutalised will find another way to respond other than seeking revenge. The only way I know that can happen in truth and honesty is by experiencing the forgiveness that Christ offered in his dying words to those who brutalised Him. It is not a cheap fix, it’s the costliest of them all.

Jack Quinn

So today (using Jack’s credit card) we bought £150 worth of:

• 2 pigs
• 2 ducks
• 2 turkeys
• 2 cans of worms

Brilliant gifts!

Sunday 16th December at 6.30pm

Come and enjoy our Carols by Candlelight service, accompanied by the RSAMD Brass Ensemble.

Evening commences with Hot Fruit Punch and Mince Pies

Donations towards theGlen Family Centre in Thornliebank which caters for children with Complex Learning Difficulties.

No far from it, in fact quite the opposite. I prefer to share my thoughts and feelings, within arm’s reach of the person listening to me. I’m not even that good on the phone. As a friend once described their relationship with their car, it gets them from A to B, that’s all, (and the quicker the better) whereas Jeremy Clarkson or the Hamster or the absentee personality  of James May might get so excited about a car that they wet themselves (am I allowed to say that on the Internet??) that’s the way I even  feel about the phone. Whereas for some, a two hour long chat on the phone is their idea of quality relational time, I would rather jump in my car, drive for 45 minutes, spend 30 minutes with the person, face to face conversation, and then drive 45 minutes back.

So, where am I going with all this? Well, how would Jesus use the Internet? Would he have spent 30 years blogging away to an audience of millions, or would he arrive as a baby, go through all the trials of growing up, to spend three years of close physical presence with a select few in a backwater district of the Roman Empire? I would still stick to the original script, whether he was to make his entrance in the first or the twenty first century, as John put it in his Gospel “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us”.

So although I want a new computer with the fastest broadband speed for Christmas, I much more want a Jesus who shares my humanity by coming in the flesh,  though it limits him to being almost two thousand years too early for me to see him physically but who’s coming still makes a difference to my life and the world even yet!

Jack Quinn

At long last the moment came when our pastor Jack Quinn was commissioned to give half of his time to minister to Adelaide Place and the other half to develop a ministry amongst the business community in conjunction with Business in Glasgow (BiG).

To assist the church to do this we called Ronnie Hall to be our assistant pastor and on Saturday 20^th October both Jack and Ronnie were commissioned to serve the Lord in these capacities over the next three years.

It was a moving and challenging occasion led sensitively by Rev Andy Scarcliffe, Mission Advisor to the Baptist Union of Scotland. Rev Stuart Blythe of the Scottish Baptist College challenged the gathered church when he encouraged us to exemplify the Lord Jesus in “Word and Signs” in our collective ministry.

The highlight of the evening was when members of the church and wider Christian community in the city laid their hands on Jack and Ronnie and, with prayer, commissioned them to these new ministries into which God has called them.