Good morning its a beautiful day. I've been out and about on my bike early this morning. Here's a view from the top road that runs around Bo'ness. To me its an open picture. Its saying your welcome.

It got me thinking about those words of Jesus. 'The fields are white unto harvest, but the labourers are few. When God calls you to work for his Kingdom you don't have a choice regarding which field your going to work in. He calls you. If only God's people could learn that lesson. I often think  we behave like children  when it comes to helping around the garden.  When the task gets difficult they give up  and run off to play.  I wonder how many of God's people called to be disciples  are playing  rather than working.  I know there is nothing wrong with playing  however  when you become an adult as paul says you put away childish things.  Anyway that's by the way.

At last I've got round to making my first post on the blog since retiring as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland a couple of months ago.  I took a few weeks break from work and just recently returned to my post as minster here in St Andrew's Bo'ness. During this time I decided to switch off from technology and have a break.  you know what I've quite enjoyed not having emails to answer. The only thing is that there is quite a backlog on the other hand my garden is looking good.

For the past couple of weeks i've been trying to catch up with all the changes that have happened in the church over the past 16 months.  Nothing in life ever stays the same yet sometimes you think it has stayed the same.

I think there is a line from a Larry Norman song that echoes such an idea ' Nothing ever changes yet everything remains the same we are what we are till the day that we die"  Mmm I'm not sure about that lyric. I'd liike to think that we all move on a little and grow in grace and understanding as God's Holy Spirit works in our lives. However it would appear that some people never seem to change.

Yesterday I was out filming making a series of short podcasts for the church web page.  Check this week's podcast out  at www.standonline.org.uk  I'm trying to encourage more people to come along to church on Sundays so I had a brain wave . I thought why not have a short trailer on the chuirch web site promoting the theme of the Sunday service. Perhaps it will prod someone to start attending.

I was just about to conclude my fourth and final reflection  to camera . Just at that point a member of the public came and sat on the bench very close to where we were filming.  " Go ahead,`' the man said," Don't mind me, I'm tired, my legs need a rest."   When we had finished he immediately started a conversation with us about the role technology plays in our lives. He was remonstrating that technology will soon leave us all with nothing to do. He was asking  where's the progress if we end up with millions of people unemployed?

Well there is no progress and in reality there never will be any real moral progress. Progress is the language of politicans. They are continually trying to tell us that things will get better. Progress is supposedly comiing. In fact Mr Cameron was on the news yesterday highlighting the fact that he believes we are making progress with crime figures. I believe there is a 9% drop in crime rates throughout England and Wales. However the same news programme pointed out that rape crimes had increased by 29%.. The truth is you can use statistics to prove or disprove most things. For Christians the problem is with the human condition. We need to have a right spirit renewed within us and that is te work of God. So any progress we make isn't self initiated it is by God's grace.

So what about the sermons you ask?  I was hoping the man on the bench would have been so caught up with my podcast that he  would have said, "I'll see you on Sunday"  No such luck.

Over the next few months I hope to encourage all of us who attend worship at St Andrew's whether online or in person to begin to allow ourselves to engage with God's invitation to a needy world to draw near to his presence.

The first four sermons will deal with the truth of the matter that we can do little  it is God  who from beginning to end  invites us to find a place to be, to serve to live.  It is God who invites us to a place  we cannot refuse.  Why would we refuse because it is in that place we will encounter the living God.  Have a look at the fields around your area.