Minister’s message: Big Brother
I was scammed last week, writes Rev James Gatherer. That is, all those on my email contact list were scammed. They received an email – not from me – telling them that I had a bad throat, couldn’t speak to them on the phone, and so could they reply to this email as I had something important to tell them. Those who didn’t notice the dodgy English and strange email address attached to my name and who were kind enough to reply then received another email – not from me – telling them about my niece with stage
four cancer etc, etc.
Fortunately, most of my contacts saw through the scam and many were kind enough to warn me of what was happening. But one elderly relative phoned me very concerned about my health and that of their ‘non-existent’ great niece. It appears that it is the elderly who are most often taken in by the scammers.
Forty years ago I was a young, naive, innocent student minister getting ready to be let loose on the Church of Scotland. What changes I was about to unleash on unsuspecting congregations! My first sermon on that first Sunday of 1984 was, of course, on BIG BROTHER. I cannot remember what I said but even although we were on the edge of the new ‘computer age’ there were warnings afoot that BIG BROTHER and the THOUGHT POLICE were well on their way.
Who of us, forty years ago, would have believed then how true Orwell’s 1984 would become. With smart phones and smart televisions there are scammers out there who not only know who our friends and contacts are – they also know what television programmes we watch and what kind of 10mm self-tapping screws we are thinking of buying. Apparently, according to the news items I have read, sometimes the Scottish Police visit folks homes after they have posted a thought on their mobile phones.
In the fabulously screwed-up Victorian Age there was a still living – but dying – belief in TRUTH as if it were something constant and unchanging and capable of being used to weigh things. Today truth is relative – you have your truth and I have my truth and my truth changes as required.
On Sunday mornings at 9.30 in our church hall and 11.00 in the big church across from the Art Gallery a group of us meet to listen to the teachings and promises of the Lord Jesus. They are the same today as they were when he first spoke them two thousand years ago. And although there have always been religious scammers I am still doing my best to be faithful to what the Lord Jesus actually said even though it occasionally results in me being accused of ‘thought crimes’.
A beautiful Light shone from the Lord Jesus and still shines from him today. Everyone is welcome to slip in at the back of the church– you can arrive late and leave early – you will not be pounced upon. Do think about it – it’s an invitation to come and listen for yourself to something that is true and good and still shining.
James Gatherer
• Photo by Lianhao Qu on Unsplash