The name ‘church’ is full of meaning. Many  people love it, and many people hate it. As Christians we want to preserve the identity of the church, but we may also want to change it. Some say that the church is where the saints worship, but those who attend know that it is also full of sinners like themselves. This is the paradox we have when we talk about the church.

Mike Lewis, a member of the Crieff church, recently conducted and analyzed a survey of members’ views on different issues relating to the church. The results showed that the members of our church have a broad range of beliefs and opinions about our teachings and practices. Never-the-less, there is a widespread consensus that our beliefs in Christ and the Bible unite us more than our different views on biblical interpretation divide us. The outcomes of the survey were fascinating and gave us a full colour snapshot of where we are as a church in all our glorious diversity!

The Bible says that God has given us the church for a purpose. According to Eph 4:12,13 one of the main reasons that the church exists is to help God’s children grow up into His love and design for their lives. If we don’t relate to each another within a church context, we deny ourselves God’s chosen method for helping us to become mature in Him.
God needs us to help Him grow the church into a relationally healthy place. Research and experience show there are physical, social, economic and spiritual benefits when we are closely connected with God’s people. If you’re isolated, and you want to make regular contact with the Body of Christ, please let me know. We want to help you find the best way for you to be connected to the rest of His body, so that we can all grow to become more like Him.

Pastor Bernie Holford

Have you ever heard someone say – ‘I don’t like change.’ ‘It seems most change round here is just for the sake of change!’ We have a coalition government that was voted in largely on a mandate for change. Already the new political party has proposed significant changes in our system of government, as well as major cut backs in public spending, and many people will lose their jobs.

Some changes bring personal pain, but there are also good changes. A few weeks ago I managed to fix the door on our kitchen oven so that it would close properly. For months it hadn’t quite closed for the last few degrees, so it was constantly ajar, and the inner glass panel would slide out and hit you on the shins whenever you opened the oven.  I was so pleased that it was working better as I like trying to fix appliances and keep old cars going.  Repairing rather than buying new does not help the economy much, but I like to feel I’m doing something to reduce waste in the environment.

Unfortunately, within a couple of weeks, despite my best efforts to fix the problem, the door mechanism failed again.  This week the hinges broke completely and the door fell with an almighty crash, right down to the kitchen floor, where it shattered into thousands of tiny pieces! As I write this there are no more roasts, cakes or fresh baked bread in our home. There’s something about human nature. Many of us are quite happy to tinker with something to try and keep it going, instead of admitting that it’s totally kaput and it needs a radical change!

We now have a gaping space in our kitchen cupboards and a door-less and useless oven. We have ordered a new oven – and, God willing, it will arrive soon. I realised that tinkering around and making small changes might have made things last a little while longer, but what we really needed was a brand new oven!

Are you frustrated with just tinkering and trying to improve a spiritual life that needs a radical change? Don’t wait for a crash! Anticipate the future and ask God to help you make the best change. As the Apostle Paul says; ‘I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.’ Phil 3:8 NIV. We really have to desire a change with our whole heart, and the good news is that it won’t cost as much as a new oven! The new spiritual life will produce real food that nourishes your soul and the lives of others. If you want to discover how to experience the changes that God wants to make in your life, pray, listen to God through the Word and the Spirit or talk to your pastor and look for what God wants to do in your life.

Pastor Bernie

We were marooned in Slovenia when the flight ban was imposed following the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption. Karen and I had been invited there to teach on the Trans European Division’s Certified Family Life Educators’ course. We were booked to fly on Friday morning from Zagreb, in Croatia, so that I could preach in Crieff the next day. Despite frantic efforts exploring all options, there was nothing we could do to get home in time. We felt powerless. We prayed that the Lord would show us what to do and eventually discovered the best way home for us would be to take the Monday evening ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium that would take us across the North Sea arriving in Rosyth on Tuesday afternoon. Eventually we were able to book train journeys across the continent to Belgium and the ferry home to Scotland. We enjoyed what is becoming known as ‘slow travel’ – the green alternative to flying! We were so blessed to have a way to get home, while many others were still stranded in distant countries.

There were several passages of Scripture and lessons that came to mind as we were travelling back. I was particularly struck by what Iceland’s president, Olafur Grimsson, said. “In modern societies like Britain and Europe, there has been a disengagement between people and nature. There has been a belief that the forces of nature can’t impact the functioning of technologically advanced societies. But in Iceland we learn from childhood that forces of nature are stronger than ourselves and they remind us who are the masters of the universe.”

It takes an event like this to remind us of our vulnerability to nature. It is so easy to forget that our so called ‘civilised’ society, and all of its blessings, are so easily disrupted. In the last few weeks, we have had a tiny taste of the type of chaos and apprehension that the Bible predicts for the last days. Jesus and Paul said that this time will come on us ‘like a thief in the night’ (Matt 24:43 and 1 Thess 5:2) – when we least expect it.

Christ’s coming is closer than it has ever been. Let’s take some extra time to think about this last and most important journey. Now is the time to check we’ve booked a ticket on the most reliable form of intergalactic transportation that will carry us into the very presence of God forever!

Pastor Bernie

Greetings from Auchtermuchty, (pop. 2000), in Fife where I live with Karen and my son Joel. ‘Muchty,’ as the locals call it, is one of 100s of similar burghs across Scotland. If you go to the local web site http://www.auchtermuchty.co.uk you will see that its inhabitants are proud of its unique history and identity.

We have recently discovered that a couple of Seventh-day Adventist pastors have had strong links to Auchtermuchty.  The father of Pastor Bob Smart (a retired minister living in Crieff) lived here and worked as head engineer at John White and Sons Weighing Machines around the 1930s. Pastor Edgar Hulbert (1920-2003, father of BUC Communications director Victor Hulbert) was born in a small rented cottage in Auchtermuchty. At the time, Edgar’s father was a colporteur supporting an evangelistic team in Perth.

We are wondering if God has a plan for the residents of Auchtermuchty. I believe it is not random coincidence that has brought us here. If God has a plan for a relatively obscure place like ‘Muchty, then you can be sure he has a plan for every area of Scotland?

As you read this, think about the place where you live.  Are you the only Adventist in your district? Who else has lived there before you? What is God’s vision for your city or burgh?

Some think history is a dead subject, but I am increasingly fascinated by how others have changed our lives today. The past commitment of Adventists has made our current communities alive with committed and witnessing members. We praise God for the faithfulness of past and present members.

God gives us a distinct identity as Seventh-day Adventist Christians and if we follow his leading he places us in the area where he wants us to be. You are who you are, and where you are, because of Gods calling (Eph 1:11-14)!

What contribution are you making to the story of God’s working in your city, town or burgh? Please let your pastor or myself know the vision God is giving you to make the difference, wherever you live for Him.

Pastor Bernie

Spring, Resurrection and Eternal Life
Yesterday morning, outside the Crieff church, I saw the first spring daffodil opening to the sunshine. It was revealing fresh new life after the barrenness of winter. Then, after church, I had a conversation with a young man who has been coming to our church for a few months. ‘I would like to be baptised’ he said. I was so excited. He told me that he was not an Adventist and had been struggling with issues about why God allows suffering. ‘Then God revealed to me his love and I just accepted it.’ He is no longer spiritually dead, but alive and fresh in Christ.
On my way home from church I visited Pastor John Arthur in hospital. It was 7 days since he had suffered a severe stroke. The doctors had warned the family to be prepared for the worst! Yet John has experienced remarkable improvement. He now thanks God for the wonderful care he is receiving. The prayers of many people around the world are being answered. His broken body is being healed!
On Good Friday, the Christian world remembers in a special way how Christ died for our sins. With sadness we reflect on our failures that made it necessary for Him to die on our behalf. Experiencing the implications of our spiritual brokenness can be like a dark winter in our lives. Whether we feel it or not, during this black time in our lives, Christ’s love sustains us.
Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week. Today and every day we experience the joy of his resurrection. The winter of separation from God is over. We too are raised from the dead and the promise of eternal life is ours – forever!
I thank God for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and continue to rejoice as I see the new life his passion now brings into the world.
What signs of new life are you seeing in nature, in those around you and in yourself?

Pastor Bernie

Pastor Bernie
*(For those who are wondering about my competence to do this job, I should mention that I don’t compromise on safety issues, so followed all the instructions and will be calling an electrician to sign off my work.)

Pastor Bernie

I do get frustrated when journalists use words like ‘unprecedented’ to describe unusual weather conditions. It wonder if they think that just because they can’t remember a similar situation then this is a sign that things are far worse than ever! As a teenager, I remember hearing preachers using examples from the news to illustrate that life on earth is about to come to an end.

As many young people, I was a sceptic and an optimist. So much of life was getting better than it was when my parents were children during World War II. Are things really getting worse?

Just because the floods in Cumbria knocked out some bridges, does this really mean that the rainfall is much worse than on other occasions? Scientists are talking about the potentially disastrous effects of global warming. Perhaps they can be treated with the same scepticism that we have for reporters using exaggerated language to try to wake us up inevitable trajectory for our society.

Film makers are cashing in on our current uncertainty. ‘2012’ is a new film that predicts the end of the world in 2012 and worried teenagers are reported to be contemplating suicide as there is no point in living.
Christians have some great news at this time. First, Christmas is about commemorating the centre of earthly history, the coming of Jesus Christ, the love gift from God, to save the world and give us hope. When Jesus died and rose again, he proved that there is a God who can make meaning out of our life on earth. This same Jesus promised to return to save us all from the impending disaster.

So ~ was the rainfall last week really unprecedented? Philip Eden, the author of ‘Great British Weather Disasters’ says “The rains which hit the Cumbrian mountains last week were most certainly without precedent in the instrumental record, and that goes back to 1844 in this particular part of the UK.”

Global warming is pointing to a cataclysmic end for our civilisation. Am I overstating the case? We as Seventh-day Adventist Christians can say without reservation, that we are living in unprecedented times. And we can have hope that God will intervene as he has promised – just in time for us to be saved by his second coming. Let’s pray that this great day will come soon and all the suffering will be over.

May God bless you as you celebrate the first advent and look forward to the certainty of God’s unprecedented second coming.

Pastor Bernie

We all know that words are so important, and understanding them can be the key to experiencing the true meaning of a passage. Last week I became very curious when I was reading Psalm 91 and came across two words that I had frequently heard, but was not sure what they meant. In verse 4 God says that ‘he will cover you with his pinions … and that his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.’ What are ‘pinions’ and ‘bucklers?’

The pinion is the equivalent of the wrist joint in a bird’s wing. It enables a strutting bird of pray to bring its wings forward and create a circle of protection. You may have seen this on nature programmes when birds protect food from being stolen by other birds. Ps 91:4 gives us a picture of a God who covers us so that we are totally surrounded by his protection like eagle’s wings that can surround and protect their young.

A buckler is not a buckle for the armour as I thought, but a small shield that can be used both to defend and even attack someone attacking the user. Being lighter and more manoeuvrable, the soldier would have an advantage in certain combat situations over someone with a large and heavy shield. If God is like a shield and buckler this text is saying that God wants to protect us, whatever situation we are in.

As the Psalmist put it:

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.”  For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. Psalm 91:1-4 RSV

It is my prayer that we will all experience the presence of our wonderful God who will protect and defend you in all the challenges of this month ahead.

Pastor Bernie

Last week at the end of Sabbath School, I sat as a visitor in a small Adventist church in England. (My Sabbath plans had been unexpectedly changed!) There is a stereotype that ‘Southerners’ are not friendly so I expected there would be a time of quiet as the congregation waited for the beginning of the service. To my surprise, as I looked around, almost everyone was quietly talking to their neighbour. Old people were smiling in conversation with the young. Trendily dressed professionals were listening and engaged to those without work. A child was happily drawing on a work sheet lovingly supervised by a parent. Nobody was being ignored. I experienced a beautiful moment of wonder – holy awe.

The stereotype of southern coldness was shattered by the love of God showing in the members’ interactions. It did not take a degree in psychology to realise that these people really liked each other and enjoy being together. The pianist stopped playing, the worship leaders walked in, and conversations were replaced by a moment of silence as the worship time started. During the service there was a focus on teaching from the Bible and prayer. After the service ended, almost everyone stayed and talked together over drinks and snacks.

In Acts 2:42 it says after the Holy Spirit was poured out, the early church ‘Devoted themselves to:
1. The apostles teaching. 2. The fellowship. 3. The breaking of bread and 4. To prayer.

I came away from that service having experienced great teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer and I was truly blessed. How is your experience of church on Sabbath morning? What can you do to ensure that everyone leaves church on Sabbath having experienced the presence of God and the love of His family? Even though there are many different approaches to meeting together, let’s ensure that we do what the early church members did. With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and following the practices of the early church, I believe that God will really bless and grow all our churches.

Let us pray for the Spirit and love one another and trust that God will perform miracles of love among us.

Pastor Bernie