Tribute Part II

This week is a bit of a joint effort and you will I hope understand. As in the Brechin Advertizer print edition;

Death is a challenge for all of us to deal with but the sudden death of a young person of good character is even harder for us. This past week has been a challenging week with the sudden passing of Andy Crowe. We will all have seen the articles in the Courier and in our local Advertiser that gave wonderful tributes and news of what has happened.

I have been chatting with the Head teacher, Mr. Dempsey, at Brechin High School and want to share some from him this week. So a bit of a collaborative effort...

“The school community especially has been affected by the tragic death of one of our pupils, Andy Crowe on Friday 29 October. Special assemblies were held on Monday 1 November to pay tribute to him. It provided an opportunity for the school to share stories about Andy’s life and encourage the young people to talk and celebrate his life and his achievements. He was an inspiration to all of us to set targets and goals for ourselves. Andy’s family have encouraged young people to talk about him and share his memories with each other. Jon Bergen and a member of the Angus Council Educational Psychology staff attended the assemblies and were available throughout Monday to offer advice and support. The pupils have responded in a most respectful way to the sad loss of a valued member of the school community.”

As I have watched the students and interacted with them I want to brag on what a great group of students I have talked with at the High School. The staff at the High School have been marvellous as well, both in support and example of how to live through hardship. I have been amazed to see and hear of the many ideas that have come out of the student body to show caring and appreciation for Andy and the support for each other and Andrew’s family.

Mr. Dempsey wanted to share some of the many ideas that have come as a tribute to Andy these include:

“On Thursday 4 November, the football team asked for the whole to participate in one minute’s applause before morning interval;

On Tuesday 9 November and Thursday 11 November, the school canteen will serve Andy’s favourite meal, spaghetti Bolognese, with donuts;

A mural is being designed for the fitness suite; a memorial plaque is to be placed in the fitness suite; Walks are being planned around some of Andy’s running routes; a cup will be awarded at Prize Giving 2011 in his honour for a sporting achievement; Running events are being planned for later in the school session.”

The funeral service was a moving, emotional occasion for all those who attended. We will never forget the tributes from Andy’s family and friends. The whole community has been affected by the events of the last week. We have been reassured by the strength and resilience shown by the young people in the way they have responded. They have bonded to provide support and comfort to each other. It was also moving for myself, Mr. Dempsey and most of all the family to see the tremendous support of students, Cadets, the Royal Marines and so many others of our fair City and area that packed the Cathedral on a bright but chilly Saturday morning to show honour for a fine young  man. I know for my part one of my encouragements was for all to look to Andy’s example and to live life to that high standard so that our lives matter and are not just wasted. Andy’s life was not wasted; it was lived to the full. How can we not desire to follow that example?

Yours in Service,

Rev. Jon Bergen and Mr. Steve Dempsey

A Tribute and Reminder

By now everyone will have heard about the death of Andy Crowe. We are saddened at the news and yet in our hearts he lives on. There will be many testimonies of the great life he lived in his 15 years. 

I was blessed to be a part of the assemblies at the Brechin High School and to have an opportunity to interact with several of our Brechin teens. I want us all to know that we really are blessed to have the great group of teens we have in our community. Andy was one of them with goals and ambitions well beyond his years. I am thankful he lived the full though short life he did as an example for us. I do hope and pray that his example will be a catalyst to move all of us to live life to the fullest.

I also shared with the students, teachers and some of the other staff that I am glad to be a minister at times like this to share the message of hope, of peace and friendship that Jesus often spoke of. I am glad to represent Jesus who was called ‘a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief’. I am glad that when he went to the tomb of his friend he wept... if it was ok for him then it is ok for me as well to sorrow and grieve. But I am as well glad that Jesus also represents hope for a resurrection for his followers. I am glad that I get to share that part of the story in times like this as well.

The hard part is finding a way to explain the ‘Why’. Or to explain how long the hurt will last. The lack of a quick answer to this is still one of the mysteries of all time. But I lean on the unchanging God to have a purpose in all of this that someday I may understand and know that even in these hard times God will still be God and as hard as that is on me, it is enough.

So my sympathy is with family and friends and I am blessed to be a part of a life lived to the full. Can you say you are living the life God gave you to the full? I hope and pray that you do...

Rev. Jon Bergen

Illusions again...

Ok, so back to the illusions of what church is or isn’t... often I find that the illusions come in pairs. The big pair that was thrown up to me not too long ago was that the ‘Church is full of perfect people” and then within a couple of breaths the idea “that the church is full of hypocrites”. So which is it really?

Well the reality is both and neither. Let’s take the second one first; ‘The church is full of hypocrites’. Aye too right too often. But are they really hypocrites? I am learning that many of the folk I know are not hypocrites so much as just struggling Christians that really need to learn what the Bible says we are to live like. We act wrong because too often we believe wrong. We somehow think if we are ‘good’ then God will love us more and be nicer to us. Truth is God loves us and will love us no matter what. But still we try to be good to get something better and God says ‘I love you so be good because you love me back.’ But it looks like hypocrisy because we are trying too hard to ‘DO something’ and we don’t always ken what it is we are to do, as much out of ignorance as anything.

The ‘Church is full of perfect people’ one is really the same problem but looks different to some because people are doing to make God be nice to us and to love us more. So we look good and smell good but have the wrong motivation too often. And then we end up talking like we have it all figured out and it ends up all show and no go.

So the church ends up in too many people’s minds to be full of perfect hypocrites... oh the joy...

Now to the reality; the church really just has normal ordinary folk who mess up. The church is full of exactly who you would expect it to be full of; liars, cheats, thieves, gamblers, drunks, adulterers, losers and well violators of all the Ten Commandments. HAH you shout with glee---‘I knew it’ all those goody goody folk are exactly what I thought they were... too right. The good news is for many of us that there is a wonderful not so wee clause that says that Jesus came to pay the debt for our sins so we can be forgiven. There is in the reality a bunch of folk who are trusting not in our ability to be ‘good enough’ to be better but rather trusting in God to change us, some days just a wee bit at a time and sometimes in bigger steps. We don’t have to live the lives we really represent, we can do good because it is the right thing to do.

It is about grace, not about doing. But if we get the grace right then we sometimes get the doing right as well... but some days we just do what you do and mess up and have to go back to that glorious well of grace for a new cup of the living water... Yes, church is for imperfect people, but ones who want to be changed by grace.

Loving Grace, because I am neither perfect nor a hypocrite,

Rev. Jon Bergen

Asking questions??? Maybe-maybe not...

Well it is for sure that time of year again. The Tattie Holidays are over and the nights are drawing in. The summer is trying to hang on but not doing a very good job of it. The harvest is coming in and much of it is well finished. The reality is that the nights are gettng chilly more than not...

But that doesn’t really mean the days get less busy. It is hard to believe that just  a few Sundays ago was Back to Church Sunday. Did you go and see if there was anything changed at your church since the last time you went? If you didn’t, why not? I know several folk did as you stopped me on the street and here, there and other places to say that you did. That really was a good start...

I also had some stop and ask me what exactly it is that church is supposed to be about. That always ends up an interesting dialogue. I got asked: what is it do you do your talk about? And that leads to an explanation of what preaching is. I don’t do ‘talks’, I preach... it is what preachers do among about 500 other things. It is that “foolishness of preaching”  thing that Paul says leads to salvation. Not because we champion certain causes but because good and great preaching centres on Jesus. Once the Jesus thing gets sorted then the response is doing good works. But like I said a few weeks ago we tend to get Christianity confused and too often it gets backwards. 

If you have a question about what Biblical Christianity is or should be do ask. You can often catch up with me out and about the City, or you can stop in for a coffee (I do tea as well some days if coffee isn’t your thing) or you can send me an e-mail question at bbfpastor@gmail.com. If I don’t know the answer I will make one up, not really, but I will do some home work and find one for you or just admit I don’t know. I get asked the one about why bad things happen to good people all the time so save that one for a face to face chat as this forum doesn’t allow enough space for that one unless I do a 52 week series. So it should make for a few interesting thoughts and before we know it the nights will be drawn in and Christmas will be here...

So ask away,

Rev. Jon Bergen

Some days doing what I do can be a really enjoyable thing. But too often I find that there really is a lot of confusion about what it means to live a ‘Christian’ life. There is real confusion about what ‘Church’ is all about.

I suspect this train of thought could go on for several weeks actually. And I know that there will be many that will take a different perspective to it than I will... which is ok... if they want to be wrong... (ok that was where you were supposed to give a wry grin and say to yourself ; Aye but what does he know? But those of you that know me also know I can be a bit tongue in cheek as well...)

I would like to focus on what church is to be about in light of the up-coming ‘BACK to CHURCH SUNDAY’ coming up. I talk to people that claim to be Christian but they haven’t been to a church service in donkeys. Sometimes for perfectly good reasons, well at least they think so, and sometimes I agree with them. But more often than not I find folk just miss the point. Somehow we have gotten confused and think church is about us, truth is it is about God, about Jesus and what he came to do. We think that if the church service doesn’t ‘do it for us’ something is wrong with it.

We were bored, it was too charismatic, not charismatic enough, the building was too hot, too cold, the singing was too loud, not lively enough, someone spoke to us and we didn’t like it, someone didn’t speak to us, the sermon was too loud, I couldn’t hear the minister. And on and on the excuses go. Just be sure you pick a good excuse, eternity is a long time to live with it.

Truth is too many folk haven’t been in years and have no idea what is going on in the church in 2010, rather it is stuck in their head that it is the same as it was in 1926 or something and they weren’t even born then. Or the opposite is true and they think the church has changed too much since 1926. And then there are many that have never been to church apart from school services and funerals or a wedding or two, but still think they won’t like it having no idea what it is really about.

Back to Church Sunday is 26 September and would make a good day to try it out. I will make a shameless plug and say the church I minister in is the best, but I suspect other ministers might say the same about their place of ministry... I won’t pretend that the church I am minister in is for everyone, not a chance. So check us out, you might be surprised.

Plan for being Back to Church on the 26th and I’ll address other confusion topics more in the future, I’m going to have fun with this one.

Rev. Jon Bergen

Illusions

It has been a wee while, OK, OK over 8 months... have I really been that busy...? I suppose not really but should at least be getting my stuff up that I do for the Brechin Advertiser most weeks... so here is one from two weeks ago and I will try in the coming weeks to do better, I know, I know--I keep saying that but... so here is a newish one anyway... (reminder to self--put this paragraph in the clipboard for future use...)

This past week I had a chance to talk with a good group of teens about illusions. The contrast of what you see compared to what is actually there. Our world is full of illusions at times that leave us a bit confused and wondering who and what we can believe. 

Religion is one of those things that too often gets confused for what it isn’t as much as what it is. Christianity especially these days is under a rather strange attack considering the long history it has had. Yet one of the problems is that ‘Christianity’ has to many become an illusion of being the same as religion. 

The reality of Christianity is far too many only see the illusion of the outer trappings of the ritual and the buildings and then they look behind the curtain and see the ‘rules and regulations’ and that is all they see. Or they see the rules and regulations and say that isn’t for me or worse say wow the hypocrisy of it when they have this stuff called sin but nobody pays attention to it. It really comes down to that it has never become personal to them. Many see the outside but never meet the personal God that is really there waiting to become a personal friend.

We celebrate the glitz and glamour of the celebrity life style and at the same time the celebrity types are trying to lock us out of the their world so we don’t see the illusion of  brokenness and shallowness of their world that they see. Yet some of them if we really knew the personal side that goes beyond the outer appearances, we would think ‘wow nice folk too bad others can’t see they are just normal. I remember well the first time someone looked at me and said; ‘Wow Jon, you are almost like a normal person.’ But then I realized I had shattered their view of what they thought a minister was supposed to be like and I said ‘thank you what did you expect green skin and horns or something?’ The problem wasn’t me it was with the illusion of what they thought from afar a minister was supposed to be, but once we got to know each other personally the image changed.

So it is with Christianity, it has its challenges and folk have illusions built up about what it is supposed to be, but once it becomes personal and the perspective changes the illusion goes away and suddenly it can make sense. I suspect that this is true of a lot of life but when Jesus becomes personal instead of a building in the middle of the town or out in the country, the whole story changes. 

Till the next time,

Rev. Jon Bergen

Where are the Prophets?

There is an interesting verse in the Proverbs that says; “Where there is no vision, the people perish...” (29:18), its parallel is in Psalms 74:9 as it says “We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, nor is there any among us who knows how long.”

I find in our current day that the crises seem to keep coming and that there is so often a knee jerk reaction from the leadership of the world. We endured in 2009 the banking crisis in which the governments dumped trillions of a variety of currencies at the banks only for them to give themselves massive bonuses for getting the world economy in such massive trouble. We saw and heard about the Copenhagen mess about 'Climate Change', which is an absolute joke of a topic in the first place if you read the Express article “Climate Change is Natural: 100 Reasons Why”, but getting off topic a bit and we see that the concern is the CO2 being dumped in to the atmosphere and how did the folk all get to Denmark? OH yeah, by carbon burning and CO2 producing vehicles and air craft... the participants and protestors probably made the most pollution in the world for that two week period...

Do we even want to go to the Nobel Peace prize recipient who’s only claim to fame is he is President of the USA? MPs that won’t change a system of benefits that amount to as much or more income than the average salary earned in the UK. Renewable energy folk protesting the clean wind and wave power they say they want... And the list goes on and on. Yet it seems there are none who have real answers to these challenges in our world as we start the New Year, even a new Decade. The answer it appears is more everything but nothing of substance. Nobody it appears is thinking long term, but rather trying to react to the polls and stay popular for the moment.

So what do we do? What can we do? Well the truth is if I really knew the answer to the mess I could write the book and save the world. So I guess I am not much help in saving the world, all I can do is try to affect the small part of the world around me. Try to make a difference in the lives of my friends and family, maybe at some level in the bigger picture of the City of Brechin. But maybe if we all get a sense of our own footprints and maybe for some of us a slightly bigger picture of what is outside our window we might at least make a difference in a small part of our world and in the end if enough of us do a little bit it adds up to something way bigger. It is that salary of a penny a day for a month doubled or £1000 a day situation where we all know that the penny doubled is the best way to go at the end of the month. Just doesn’t seem so to start. (Check out a movie ‘Play it Forward’ as well.) This brings us to Ecclesiastes 4:9-13 which points out; that if one is good, two is better and says a threefold cord is not quickly broken and ends with “better is a poor and wise child than an old and foolish king...” Let us work together in wisdom every chance we get, and maybe we can make a difference.

Rev. Jon Bergen

Thinking into the New Year

Hard to believe how fast the year 2009 has flown by. And now we are already into 2010. That double '0' was easier to type but we'll get used to the new one before it is all done. A lot has happened since the last post on the blog took place at the end of August. I wonder if all bloggers have this challenge of trying to keep something posted and up to date? I suppose so as one of my regular reads took a break and went to the archives to keep posts on theirs daily. My problem is that I haven't done enough years of this to have an archive to draw from.

So that brings me to resolutions for 2010 and the long list of things I should work on, but it seems year to year that I keep trying to make the same ones; lose weight, get organized, be nicer to the folk around me, read my Bible every day just for fun and not just for study, be a better dad, a better husband, a better sibling/son... and on and on the list goes... But like you and 6 billion others on this planet I seem to get a nice start and then I get busy and miss a day or three and that turns into a week or four and suddenly I am too far behind to catch up so start looking forward to the next New Year to start over. But the older I get the more I realise what others told me when I really was young that time flies and it seems 2009 just flew by.

So I hope to develop the gift that I want to develop of writing more and hopefully will have some things of worth to share and pass on as the year goes by. I do have several 'Thoughts for the Week' that I can put here as I do them. Some of the better ones that others write I will either quote or get a link to. Then also I can do wee short glimpses of Sunday messages here as well... so we shall see what happens and then there is the whole Twitter thing... but I am not known for saying things in less than 140 characters so not a good venue for me... LOL

So here is to a good New Year and keeping some basic resolutions as 2010 flies past...

Jon

So I left the topic of requirements for life a bit unfinished to say the least in the last post, so will pick up with the ‘Justice’ thought; We live in a world that is crying out for justice and even has many organizations that are set up to promote justice. But what is it really? Well a simple dictionary definition comes down to the idea of impartial... But at the end of the day it is something that when it is right we know it and when we are treated un-justly we know that as well.

There are days that justice would give me things I really don’t want, that I would receive the penalty of the deeds I messed up in. and there are other days I just want a fair go in life. So really what I desire in the area of justice is just getting what is fair and balanced and impartial. But we all tend to want our idea of justice for ‘me’ and let the other guy get what he gets.

But God requires us to ‘do justice’, this is about more than what we want, it is about how we live our lives. It is about how we treat our fellow man. I was reminded again of one of the great documents in history as I listened to a group of actors read the US Declaration of Independence. It has been a while since I read that document for myself, but to actually hear it read was well worth the effort and a reminder of the sense of what we are to be about. That famous line; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It gives to me a sense of what justice is, it outlines things that are essential to human life and dignity.

But too often I fear we want it for me at the cost of others, forgetting that God wants us to live this principle for ourselves but also for our community, country and the world at large. While I understand that I will never change the world as such, I hope that I can at least influence a few others around me to be better, to live justly as we try to be impartial in our treatment of each other. It will often come back to the two great commandments that say; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength and the second is like it, love your neighbour as yourself, on these two hang all the law and prophets.

But as we add living justly, treating people around as they deserve to be treated in an impartial and fair manner, to our standard of life, we must grow into the second requirement of loving kindness or as the old Authorized Version puts it, love mercy...

To be continued...

Hard to believe how fast this summer has flown by. When I originally wrote this it was just a week and the children were to be back in school, and now they are a week into the new term. Several o of the children let me know they didn't want to be reminded of that tremendous fact. Yet some are so very ready for this event to take place... the mothers.

I have on my Facebook page an album of pictures I took around the Brechin and Glen Esk area in the early spring. I vowed that I would get back to these places several times over the spring and take up-date pictures. I wanted to do so each week to show the progress of spring, suddenly I find that even the thistles are well bloomed and my Elderflower champagne is ready to drink. Where did the time fly to? I think how busy I get some days and I am sure there are too many days you feel the same way. Busy. Busy. Busy...

Even as I am trying to think of something creative to say, to make us think as we go our way day to day I have a dozen things rattling about in my head that I need to do before my day is done. And yet again I ask myself if these are the important things or just good things. If all that list are the best things or just things that need doing.

And the reminder comes flying out of Micah chapter 6 that cries out with a similar question of what does it take to please God? All my good things I do day to day, bowing before the Lord on high, maybe it is offerings given, maybe a calf...? No surely it is not that easy, maybe it is a thousand rams given or ten thousand rivers of oil offered...? Maybe it is even that proverbial first born child?

But actually it is something simpler, yet harder in that it goes against our nature some days. It is the requirement of “do Justice, and love Mercy and to walk Humbly with your God...” Just three simple things; Justice, mercy/kindness and humility in our day to day walk, with God to help us in this our life journey. Can it really be so simple? Can it really be done? Well we have to try and God wouldn’t require it if it was impossible...

To be continued...