Minister’s Letter
Friends,
Scotland’s relationship with the Church is changing! For generations, the Church in Scotland has been an institution at the heart of Scottish life and most Scots recognised that and accepted it, even if they didn’t share our faith. Culture and society was shaped by Christian values in what has been described as Christendom.
2011 Census statistics have just been released and they tell us what we probably already knew – Scotland is changing. If our community were a village of 100 people, 39 of these people would belong to the Church of Scotland and 37 of them would say they had no religion at all. Add to that, proposals in Parliament about marriage that drive a coach and horses through the traditional Christian view and you have another example. Change is afoot!
There’s a fascinating piece in the letter to the Hebrews that talks about Jesus suffering outside the city gate. “The security of earthly cities, establishments and institutions… is illusory” (Philip Hughes) and Hebrews goes on to remind us that our ultimate hope is in Christ. He suffered disgrace, but is still the Saviour of the world. Jesus lived, served and died at the edge of the society in which He lived; He challenged the powers that be; He taught a different set of values and lived by these same values; He changed the world by His life, death and resurrection.
I heard something the other day on the News: “the church is only one generation away from extinction.” For the BBC that was a news headline; for anyone with any understanding of God and the gospel, we know that the Church is always one generation away from extinction. That is the very nature of the Church. God has not gone away; the Spirit is still at work in the world; people are still asking questions about faith and many are still coming to faith in Jesus. The challenge for the Church is to tell the next generation about Jesus and pray that the Spirit will inspire that new generation to believe.
“The word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood.” (John 1:14) This is Jesus! He came to live in our world. But was He born to a life of power, wealth and privilege? Was He the darling of the religious establishment and the political power-brokers? Of course not; He was born in a stable, visited by shepherds and foreigners, and forced to become a refugee for fear of a tyrant. Yet, the world was never the same again after Jesus; He transformed people’s lives and changed the world.
He is still changing people’s lives. The Church still proclaims that “Jesus is Lord” and from the edge of our society we can still change the world in the name of Jesus.
My family join me in wishing you all a happy Christmas and a new year full of grace and peace.
Jim
Session Notes
The Data Protection Act is the reason why we no longer publish member details such as home address. The Act protects the privacy of individuals and regulates how personal information must be handled and dealt with, mainly in strict confidence, on a ‘need to know’ basis. We are allowed to keep essential records such as a membership Roll, financial records, pastoral care lists, etc. But we must restrict access to such records and allow any member to see information on themselves if they so wish.
Also, we must not keep records with subjective information such as comments from pastoral visits, observations on character or details of family life. The reasons against are many – such comments might be wrong personal observations and could cause harm, upset or embarrassment if seen by others or read by the named person. Similarly, we may think it interesting to know that a member has moved to a new address. But, other than in essential records, that is none of our business. Someone might have moved to escape a relationship – we might cause harm by publishing their address!
So, please be assured that any information we hold on members is dealt with under the Act. This is now of such importance that we are learning all the time from Church of Scotland Law Department circulars, guidance from the Presbytery Clerk and seminars run by the central church.
Charles R Godon,
Session Clerk
TREASURER’S REPORT
Stewardship: Our Stewardship Campaign for 2013 ‘Time for Giving’ was well received and we had a very enjoyable coffee morning and evening meal on Saturday, 28th September. Many thanks are due to everyone who contributed their time to make the day so enjoyable.
Accounts for 2013: I have estimated that we will have a deficiency in our Accounts for this year of around £7,000 unless our Givings are very much above average in the last few weeks. This has been due to exceeding our fabric budgeted expenditure by about £8,000. All the property costs were necessary, however, and our fabric cost will only continue to increase as we maintain our buildings to the level required.
Charities: The three charities we have chosen for the Retiring Offerings after the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Services are:
CLIC Sargent (Scotland):
Cystic Fibrosis Trust (Scotland):
Richmond’s Hope:
R Douglas Buchanan
Treasurer
HALLS CLEANING
Cleaning work has continued with six teams, thanks to two new volunteers who just saved us from having to reorganise to five teams. We are very grateful to them and to those who gave up after years of service. Because we have at least three members in each team, we are able to maintain a good standard, though new volunteers would be welcome to bring all the teams up to full strength, as well as help out by covering for others when required.
Thanks to all who cleaned this year, and a Happy Christmas and healthy 2014!
Elaine Wilson.
CHURCH MUSIC LIBRARY
The Music Library continues to be available with a variety of over 50 CDs. It contains a selection of Christian CDs from artists and bands from all over the world - ranging from Hillsong United from Australia to Vineyard from South Africa - offering a great combination of traditional and contemporary praise and worship songs.
Another successful year draws to a close – it’s wonderful how you always manage to donate things! Everything is most gratefully received. We will have a break in January then continue again till summer with –
February 2nd Dishes & Cutlery
March 2nd Cleaning things/Light bulbs
April 6th Bedding
May 4th Curtains
June 1st Towels
As always, items can be left on any Sunday in the box at the right hand side of the Church vestibule.
Thanks again for your continuing support.
Marilyn Godon
Choir Notes
Christmas – the very word brings to mind – “carols”. The first Christmas carol was sung from the sky – Luke Chapter 2 vv 13 and 14.
“Glory to God in the highest.
And on earth peace to men on
Whom his favour rests”
We can all enjoy praising God in singing carols and this year there has been a good response to the choir’s appeal for more voices for the Christmas service. Carols are fun to sing and some carols retain hints of their original purpose which is thought to imply dancing.
The choir is always open to receive new members – not only singers but also instrumentalists. We all appreciate our two string players – Chris on cello and Muriel on violin. Do come along and join us for choir practice at 9.30am on Sundays.
Florence Kinnear
A short story
A sweet maker in Indiana wanted to make a sweet that would be a reminder of what Christmas really means, so he made the Christmas Candy Cane. He used many symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ.
He began with a stick of pure white, rare candy. White to symbolise the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolise the Solid Rock, the foundation of the Church, and firmness of the promise of God.
The sweet maker made the candy on the form of a J to represent the precious name of Jesus, who came to the earth as our Saviour . It could also represent the stass of the “Good Shepherd” with which He reaches down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who, like all sheep, have gone astray.
Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the sweet maker stained it with three red stripes, symbolisong the Holy Trinity. The red colour of the stripes id for the blood shed by Christ on the cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life.
Unfortunately, the candy became known as a Candy Cane ~ a meaningless decoration seen at Christmas time, but the meaning is still there for those who “have eyes to see and ears to hear”. I pray that this symbol will again be used to witness the Wonder of Jesus and His Great Love that came down on that first Christmas, and remains the ultimate and dominant force in the universe today.
Pastoral Care Scheme at Juniper Green Parish Church
As reported in the last magazine Juniper Green Parish Church now has 5 teams dealing with pastoral care as follows:
Team 1 led by Ross MacKay covering Currie and Balerno;
Team 2 led by Ann Brown covering the West end of the older part of the village;
Team 3 led by Nancy Toner covering the East end of the old part of the village;
Team 4 led by Michael Grieve covering the newer part of the village on Baberton Mains; and
Team 5 led by Douglas Buchanan covering Colinton, Kingsknowe etc.
Each team leader is supported by a number of carers and in all we have 34 pastoral carers in current service. The pastoral care scheme has had an injection of new blood and we are thankful for the services earlier this year of Christine Laing joining team 1 and Sylvia McAnna, Marjorie Holt and Sarah Rhynas strengthening team 5.
It’s also good to report the new arrival of Jim McNair into the scheme replacing Ian Marshall who has left the district, welcome Jim to team 3.
As the teams have settled down their leaders have been checking on the needs of their team members, what training might be helpful, what improvements can be made to keep all the members better informed. In early October the five team leaders met and proposed a meeting in the New Year of all pastoral carers. This meeting has now been set for Wednesday 5th February 2014.
As the process of visiting continues we hope we can improve on what has been a way of making contact, enhancing communication and generally caring. In the meantime, if you would like to know more about the Pastoral Care Scheme please let me know by phone or email given at the foot of this short report.
Cliff Beevers,
Pastoral Care Co-ordinator
READ IT AGAIN! READ IT FOR THE FIRST TIME!
Do you want to read the Minister’s sermon from last Sunday? Did you miss it? Were there bits of it you didn’t understand? Go to the Church website at www.jgpc.org.uk and follow the link to ‘sermons’ and you will find them there. Alternatively, go to the Library for paper copies.
Emeritus Elders
An ordained elder is an elder for life but an elder is not necessarily a member of a Kirk Session for life! In some churches elders never actually resign; they just move into some sort of resting mode; still Session members but have no duties and never attend meetings. However, the Law Department has just advised that that practice has dangers in that such elders remain Trustees and could be held personally liable for decisions in which they had not participated.
It has been long practice in our Session that retiring elders resign from Session membership this being formalised at a Session meeting and minuted. Therefore, we should be fully in accord with Law Department advice. But, if any emeritus elder has any doubts as to their status they should speak with me for clarification.
LADIES BADMINTON
Should anyone care to join us to play or just for a social chat with some coffee, we are in the large hall every Wednesday from 10.00am until 12.00noon.
Alison Buchanan
The Green Strollers
It has been a good summer for the Green Strollers; the weather has been excellent, if at times a bit too warm; the walking varied, ranging from fairly easy to rather more challenging, and best of all it has been fun.
Our walks have taken us to the Pentland Hills, Loch Leven, Tyninghame, the Forth Bridge and the Fife Coastal Path. The Strollers have now reached Kings Barns in Fife and plan on completing the stretch from Kings Barnes to St. Andrews early in the year. Once this has been achieved, we will have completed the full length of the Fife Coastal Path.
The Strollers also spent four days in Melrose in October. The weather was fairly kind and the walks challenging. The theme this year was Halloween, and a great time was had by all creating masks to suit the occasion. Great fun!
A huge thank you to all the Green Strollers who made this such an enjoyable year. Thanks also to the leaders who made it all happen so smoothly. Come and join us - new members always welcome.
Happy strolling into 2014 and beyond.
Jeanette Campbell
Beth Walker
Pountain Family
The Pountain family added so much to church life and are missed by many. Therefore, it was with delight that the Session received a note from Naomi (Pountain) Kelly saying how much our church meant to her and her sister Hannah and thanking us for many kindnesses to her late parents Charles and Eleanor. Naomi has been training for long distance running and was thrilled to complete a 10K fundraising run. That resulted in cheques for £210 being given to MacMillan Cancer Care and to our church.
Hearing Naomi's note brought tears to several eyes as we remembered her parents with great warmth. The note is on the Hall 2 noticeboard in the Session section. We thank Naomi for her generous donation, congratulate her on her running prowess and wish her every blessing as she begins training for ministry in the Salvation Army.