Churches all over the country are having difficulty recruiting people who can play the organ for services worship. Perhaps we are going about this all wrong in the church ... perhaps we should be training people who have a good musical ear to lead worship in new creative ways. We have had the pipe organ and some may say (not me!) that it has had its day, we have had the electric piano sounding like an organ which we all would agree has had its day, we have even had praise bands that sound nothing like an organ.

Perhaps it is time to train people in the art of hand music. Click the video to play.

Altogether now "The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want..."

Do you know when you have the sinking feeling that the day is going to be one of those days?

I normally am kept quite busy in life with everything that goes on but this week, in fact, these 2 weeks, seem to be worse than normal! I found this cartoon and suddenly thought how nice it would be if there really was an intray that you could actually ignore without people coming after you with big sticks when you haven't completed something.

Oh well, we can but dream. So, where do I start?

You have to watch this!

Well, I am now back to (started again) blogging! Now with the American election upon us you could be forgiven for thinking that there is nothing else to talk about ... but I couldn't resist this one. A whole bunch of folks who think that because Obama is black he is a terrorist! And that Sarah Palin has the Holy Spirit filling her to bring honesty and integrity. Well if that is the Holy Spirit it is not the one I have been thinking about all these years.

What is even worse is that this video was taken from Aljazeera television. Does the right wing of America not realise that they have just called all black people terrorists and second class citizens not to mention unpatriotic? Whatever happened to living as God wanted? You know ... with people, caring for them, loving them, seeing them as our neighbour?

As Matt Damon said in an interview when talking about the prospect of Sarah Palin becoming President if McCain is elected and something happens to him, "I want to know if she thinks Dinosaurs were around 4,000 years ago ... She will have the nuclear codes ... I want to know". The man makes a valid point!

Well that is it, Greyfriars Church has gone 21st Century! I know it took a while - but we are officially there.

We have our new website which (hopefully) lets people know what is happening in the church as well as giving useful information about the things we at Greyfriars can offer. 

We now have a new Audio Visual setup in the church which we use each week for worship.  We have a video screen that we can put hymns, readings, movie clips, whatever we want actually to highlight the theme of the service.

 The more and more I thought about Thomas, the more I thought about how important it is not just for us to have faith but for us to have doubts as well. It is often through the doubts that we can think more clearly at the other side of our questioning. As we doubt, we question, we think deeply about the issue and we come out of the other side a stronger person, with very often, a stronger faith to show for it as well.

There are very few things in this world that are certain. Even the world of science which is very often held up to be the constant in life, the absolute, the certainty, isn't. Very often the world of science is also struggling for answers too! I would hate to live in a world where we were absolutely certain about everything. The uncertainty breeds creativity, and it is when we are uncertain that we think creatively, act creatively and be creative in our lives, in our worship and in our faith.

And very often it is in those moments of doubt that the support of a church family can make all the difference - a supportive comment, a kind action, an acknowledgment of doubt together!

So let us not be so certain as to shut out our doubts, let us celebrate the fact that we do not have all the answers about our world, our lives and our faith. 'Doubting Thomas', let's use the phrase as something to be celebrated, not something to be feared.

We are doubters .. and we are proud!