Welcome...
This is the website and blog of Rev. Dr. Stewart Weaver.
I am the minister at St Philip's Church Joppa. We are a dynamic church in the Portobello and Joppa area of Edinburgh.
This website is designed to give you a flavour of my thoughts and musings and to provide some further reading on my sermons and other ideas.
I update the website around once a week, usually with a newsletter, a sermon or a prayer, and sometimes some photos.
You should also find lots of news and comment on events and happenings in and around the church.
ST. PHILIP’S E-NEWSLETTER
27 MAY 2011
COMMENT FROM THE EDITOR
Your editor was rather busy last Friday and thus no newsletter.
Busy today and thus a late newsletter.
And this week your editor has been participating in the events at the General Assembly. Historic events, perhaps.
Time will tell.
INTRODUCTORY JOKES
Because last week’s edition was cancelled, it only seems to be fair to add a couple of extra jokes. Your editor seems to have a penchant for Tim Vine’s one liners….
Most of my ginger friends are well read.
My friend started throwing words at me that started with ‘th’. I missed this, there and then, but I didn’t see that coming.
THOUGHT
The reading for this week is the parable of the true vine from John 15, in which Jesus compares himself to the vine, tended by God… click here to read more
And now a summary of our discussion on 4 May.
Purpose Driven Life
4 May 2011
Charis House
At the meeting today there were some fascinating points brought up and an excellent discussion. Here are some of the topics.
The Glory of God: In one section of the book, we are told the following:
The ultimate goal of the universe is to show the glory of God. It is the
reason for everything that exists, including you. God made it all for his
glory. Without God’s glory, there would be nothing.
For one of our number it was an excellent summary of God’s glory, references to which are found throughout the Bible. For another, it conjured up thoughts about the risen Christ as St. John tells us in Revelation. Interestingly, a 21st century Californian pastor in his discussion reflects one… click here to read more
I was invited to lead a discussion of Rick Warren’s ‘Purpose Driven Life’ at Charis House, the local headquarters of Crossreach (the social service arm of the Church of Scotland). Below is a summary of our first discussion.
Thoughts after Charis House 27 April 2011
Summary.
On Wednesday 27 April a number of us met at Charis House to discuss the beginning of Rick Warren’s ‘Purpose Driven Life’. There were a number of reasons people came along: explore faith in a different or more accessible way; to discover a bit more about Rick Warren’s work and thinking; to refresh ourselves in his thinking and our own faith.
We started with the first chapter and its primary thought: it’s not about you. To find our purpose in life, to find fulfilment we are asked to discover what God’s purpose is for us. Finding ourselves by starting with ourselves is… click here to read more
I was recently told that Abraham Lincoln used to spend 2/3 of his address preparation time thinking about the topics or subjects that the audience wanted to hear. He would then spend 1/3 of his time thinking about that which he was going to say.
What do people want to hear on Easter Sunday?
What is it that could bring to people the joyous celebration of Easter or perhaps the sense of wonder that something mysterious and ineffable happened on this day many centuries ago?
Many, I think, would like to get that sense of inspiration and joy that perhaps marked Easter Sundays when we were young. That sense of celebration with bright colours, Easter bonnets, packed churches singing robustly wonderful Easter hymns such as ‘Jesus Christ is risen today’ or ‘Thine be the glory’.
Many, I think, would want to… click here to read more
As part of our Lent Lecture series we had Dr Cecelia Clegg of New College, University of Edinburgh talk on Religion, Violence and Reconciliation. It was a fascinating evening and I thought it would be good to share the lecture and Dr Clegg has kindly allowed us to post it on the website. The full version (including footnotes) is available to view as a PDF file here.
INTRODUCTION
A Muslim community elder described to me how young Muslim women walking down the road wearing the Hijab scarf are attacked, have the scarf torn off their heads and are spat on. The speaker wasn’t describing some far off place or even England, he was telling me about some of the things his community face in Glasgow. I am sure that if you asked your Muslim neighbours in this area you… click here to read more
Two photos from Easter.
We started off with a service on the beach at 7am. Strangely, no photos of this event. Eyes too bleary.
After breakfast at 8am, a 9.30 communion and then the children met at the beach at 10am. Kites, streamers and windmills to welcome Easter. Here’s one of the set of windmills.
Easter windmills
After romping on the beach and some coffee/hot cross buns, it was an 11am service with communion. The choir contributed Bach’s ‘Christians shout for joy’ as well as key bits of the communion liturgy drawn from James MacMillan’s St. Anne’s Mass. Beautiful. And now inserted between Curtains 1 and 2 by Rachael Thomas was the Easter Banner. In front of the communion table are two kites made by the Breakfast Club during their overnight vigil and a prayer burst of sunlight. A fantastic Easter.
For our evening communion on Palm Sunday Chris Galbraith, our probationer, teamed up with Linda Small, a member of the congregation. They took the idea of a labyrinth and transformed it into a series of prayer stations.
Curtain (1 and 2) by Rachael Thomas
Introductory Thoughts by Stewart Weaver
Several months ago Rachael contacted St. Philip’s to ask if she could hang some of her final year artwork at the church. The material suggested Holy Week and we initially planned to hang the works in the southeast and southwest corners of the church. But when she arrived they pleaded to be placed more prominently.
Below you will find a general description of Rachael’s work, her description of Curtain (1 and 2) and a few ruminations from the minister. He can’t resist putting his oar in!
Underlying Principles (Rachael Thomas)
My practice begins with the collection and recognition of mundane materials. These substances, such as tin foil, cling film, chalk, cardboard and flour are steadily accumulated in my studio, their properties noted… click here to read more
A few photos of the church on Good Friday.
The curtains are the work of a final year art student at the Edinburgh College of Art, Rachael Thomas. A description of her work and some of my thoughts can be found elsewhere on the website.
ST. PHILIP’S E-NEWSLETTER
8 APRIL 2011
COMMENT FROM THE EDITOR
Your editor is running a bit late this morning (oops…afternoon) and thus it seems best to get cracking.
THOUGHT
The Edinburgh Presbytery are encouraging congregations to take part in the TryPraying initiative. On 12 April there will be a short prayer service at St. P’s from 7.30-8pm, on the same day that 15 other congregations will be having services in the city. On 14 April our neighbours at the Old Parish will host a 24 hour prayer vigil with much of the time in the wee hours offered by Rev. Andrew Patterson.
In light of this, a lovely prayer your editor happened upon recently. In this time of Lent an unusual… click here to read more
