INDEX, this past year.

A few pictures of what we've been up to...

In September, we had a welcome weekend to welcome new students to Edinburgh, and welcome back people who had been away for the summer. It's also just a good opportunity to meet new people and have fun together. We had a Saturday afternoon of sledging down a hill on bin bags, then a ceilidh in the evening, as well as Sunday Lunch after the service the next day.




On a fairly regular basis, as well as meeting for our food, worship and teaching on Sunday evenings, we met on Saturday evenings to chill out, chat and play games which have included sardines, mafia and dutch blitz. :)




In January, we had our annual weekend away. We went to Compass Christian Centre for the weekend and had quality teaching from the book of Mark, times to chill, chat and get to know one another better and game times as well as free time and times of praise.






Other moments have included a pot luck lunch before a baptism service...



... and an impromptu snowball fight on the Royal Mile with one another and passers by when snow fell heavily during the evening service and our Index meeting.



It would be great to have you join us Sunday evenings from 8.30pm, at Carrubbers, in the Oak Hall (up stairs) if you are between the ages of 17 and 30. We meet for food, worship and a time of teaching/discussion.
Join our facebook group (search "carrubbers index") to keep up to date with things going on.

Let Us Enter 2008 With Our Eyes Fixed On Christ

The title of this post is only part of a quote I wrote down in one of Wayne's last sermon of 2007. It really hit me when he said "Let us leave 2007 and enter 2008 with our eyes fixed on Christ." Happy New Year to you all. I hope each of us grows to a deeper understanding of God, His ways and His love, but most of all, that we grow in our relationship with Him, and in our love for Him.

Over the past three weeks, like most of you, I have been on holiday, and as it turns out, I've had very little to do with myself. This, as it often does, has caused me to think forwards to the future. All the more just now, as I've just spent 3 days with my brother and his wife-to-be in just 6 weeks. It has been an interesting time of thought and I just wanted to share a few things that have come up in reading, and in chats with people.

One blog I enjoy reading regularly is Girl Talk, written by Carolyn Mahaney and her three daughters. I often recommends good books, has good insights, and is generally an enjoyable read too. It's aimed at women (as you can probably tell from the title) but I'm sure men could get something out of it too? If not, The Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood is a good place for both men and women.

On New Year's Eve, Jen told me about a website run by Focus on the Family called Boundless, which has some good articles on it. Have a look around. There's lots on there!

Crosswalk also has alot of interesting articles on it, some I've agreed with, others not, but isn't that same with everything?

Also, I would totally recommend listening to John Piper's sermons online or reading some of his articles. He puts all his sermons on a podcast so that's simple to listen to.

I addition to John Piper, I've been listening to the sermons given at Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB - a church in London where Alpha was born). They too put their sermons on podcast. They also have this thing called the Relationship Pod which is worth a listen. They cover everything from divorce and bereavement, to what makes a good friend, to a discussion on whether speed dating is biblical!

I hope this will wet your appetite to think through issues and topics deeper. It may even spark conversations in addition to the ones the Index series is bringing up on Sunday nights!

Being A Christian Student/Young Worker, Part 2: Demands of the church - Demands of the individual

Following up on the previous post, this is an article written thirty years ago by a minister I had the priviledge of hearing this past week, Geoff Thomas of Alfred Place Baptist Church in Aberystwyth. What he writes should, I think, be a challenge to all of us who worship at Carrubbers - both students and non students. Again, it raises issues of church and CU involvement which I feel are very relevant to our current time and place, and which I'll be posting on soon. Moreover, it has challenged me and perhaps will challenge you. One question, certainly, resounds in my mind - are we praying for our church?

Being A Christian Student/Young Worker, Part 1: Preparation

It's never too late to learn! And it's never too late to start firing up things on the blog again, IMHO at least. This is an article I've recently read on making ourselves 'spiritually prepared' for university, although I'm sure it can be applied to all our immediate situations. Do you think the author is right in what he says? What about the stuff he says regarding the Church and CUs? Or regarding socialising and choosing friends? All I'll say is that I wish I'd read this before my first year at uni.

There will be at least a couple of follow-up posts on topics raised in this article shortly.

Learn something useful at Napier? (shurely shome mishtake)

Yes folks it's true. For the next two months at least, this leading Napier alumni can confirm that you will be able to learn something useful down at Napier's Merchiston Campus. For from October 14 to December 14, there's going to be an exhibition called 'Bound For Glory', and the blurb states 'The exhibition will celebrate the printing, publication and distribution of the Bible in Scotland in recognition of the significant role that the it played in the development of the country’s printing and publishing industries'. I think the next bit was written solely for our own chief of staff, Mikey Luehrmann: 'One of the exhibits on display will be the Bassandyne Bible, the first to be produced in Scotland'.

So get yourselves down there. If you want more blurb, or are just really interested in the printing industry, it's all here: http://www.500yearsofprinting.org/activities.php

And I can speak from personal experience and say that the typo in the date for this year's event should not come as a surprise for something related to the aforementioned industry.

Meet the ‘Team’ at the ‘Core’ of INDEX, Part 2: Anna

Name: Anna Joy Lambert
Aka: Banana, AJ, Anna Spanner, Banane, The Nature Laydee

Born: April 5th 1985 in London

Favourite Scripture: Galatians 2:20; My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Favourite Places: Edinburgh is where I love to live my normal life, Paris is where I enjoy family holidays, and Camp Wonderland, Massachusetts is my happy summer place.

Favorite books: Appart from the Bible and Shakespeare, Blue Like Jazz (Don Miller), Redeeming Love (Francine Rivers), Disciplines of a godly woman (Barbara Hughes) News of a kidnapping (Gabrièl Garcia Màrquez), and Lonely Planet guides.

Things I like: Chocolate, photography, music, brushing my teeth, dreaming, laughing, chilling with friends, children, writing, travelling, meeting new people, my bed.

Pet hates: The smell of wet dog, a messy kitchen, exams and getting up early (my definition of early.)

Favorite films: Amelie, Finding Neverland, Stage Beauty, Mean Girls, Raising Helen, Walk The Line, A Beautiful Mind, Miss Congeniality, L'Auberge Espagnole.

Interesting facts:
~ I moved to France when I was 5 and lived there for 13 years.
~ I once saw Ludacris in Paris.
~ I'm the only lefty in my whole extended family.