CANONGATE KIRK
THE KIRK OF HOLYROODHOUSE
August 2007
MinisterRevd Neil GardnerTel: 5563515
Session ClerkMr David CroftTel: 620 0063
TreasurerMrs Jenifer DavidsonTel: 667 4221
OrganistMr Richard Neville-TowleTel: 467 0066
Care Co-ordinatorMrs Fiona GrantTel: 478 0100
Flower ConvenorMrs Anne BakerTel: 660 1852
CaretakerMr Jimmy RobertsonTel: 556 9668
Events AdministratorMrs Marion BrownTel: 666 2000
Manse OfficeTel: 556 3515
Office e-mail
Web Site
CHURCH SERVICESThe usual times for Services are:
10.00 amFamily Service
11.15 amParish Worship
Normally, the Sacrament of Holy Baptism is conducted on the first Sunday of the month, the Sacrament of Holy Communion on the last Sunday of the month.
MINISTER'S LETTER
You wouldn’t know it to look at it, but at this time of year the Harry Younger Hall is totally and utterly transformed. Our familiar and rather utilitarian church hall next to the Manse has become within the space of a few days a most effective little theatre. Renamed “Venue 13” for the purposes of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, it is run by the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, whose students not only put on a variety of productions, but by putting together every aspect of the theatre themselves learn the art of stagecraft. The first thing they must do is hang thick drapes around the walls so that absolutely no light gets in at all, and it’s suddenly pitch dark!
By contrast, visitors to our church often comment on how light and bright it is, with the natural sunlight streaming through the clear glass windows. I think that’s a good thing too, and not just aesthetically but theologically. For it means we’re constantly aware of the world around us even as we worship. Whether we occupy pew or pulpit we’re confronted and challenged by the needs and attitudes of the world beyond our walls and windows,and reminded of our place in it all. Not just at Festival time, with theatre in the hall and music in the Kirk,but all year round.
PARISH REGISTER
We were glad to welcome Órán Alexander Cromar Salmond, infant son of Sandy and Alison Salmond (Black Watch), into the family of the church at his baptism on 29 July.
Congratulations to Ailsa Templeton and David Clarke who were married on 7 July.
Helen Aitken, Christina Coltart, Donald Davidson, Jacqueline McFarlane and Thomas Murray were ordained and Stuart McFarlaneadmitted as elders on 24 June.
LECTIONARY READINGS
Sunday 5th August/Trinity 9
Hosea 11:1-11: Colossians 3:1-11
St Luke 12:13-21
12th August/Trinity 10
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
St Luke 12:32-40
19th August/Trinity 11
Isaiah 5:1-7: Hebrews 11:29 – 12:2
St Luke 12:49-56
26th August/Trinity 12
Isaiah 58:9b-14: Hebrews 12:18-29
St Luke 13:10-17
CONCERTS IN AUGUST
Saturday 4 & Saturday 18 August 7.30pm – Edinburgh Symphony Baroque will perform Handel's Semele.
Wednesday 8 & Thursday 9 August 7.30pm – Ludus Baroque Bach's B Minor Mass.
Sunday 12 August 5pm – Brian Bannatyne-Scott and Lorna Anderson with Songs of Scotland.
Monday 13, Wednesday 15, Friday 17, Monday 20, Wednesday 22 and Friday 24 12 noon – David Hamilton will give recitals of Buxtehude's complete organ works.
Tuesday 14, Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 August 5pm – Airy Delights by St Clement's Wind Ensemble.
Sunday 19 August 8pm – Vivaldi's Four Seasons will be played by Edinburgh Symphony Baroque.
Thursday 23 August 7.30pm – Mostly Marimba by Siona Watson.
Saturday 25 August 5pm – A Capella Allsorts.
Monday 27 August 7pm – Music of the Japanese Biwa.
Sunday 2 September 5pm - The Really Terrible Orchestra's annual concert – sadly already sold out!
For more details on all these concerts see the coloured flyer.
OPEN KIRK
Have you seen our smart new donations box? Don’t forget to sign up on the rota if you can spare a few hours to welcome visitors to Canongate Kirk during the busiest part of the tourist season. People really do appreciate finding the doors open – please help if you can.
LIFE AND WORK
The ColossusofRoads The 250th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Telford, one of the giants of British engineering is celebrated this month. Describing the role of the Church of Scotland in Telford’s formative years, the Revd Bob Milne, whose parish includes Telford’s birthplace, writes: “In an age when social mobility was not as easy as it is today it could be said Telford was lucky in having relatives who were prepared to pay for him to attend the parish school, lucky in having members of local landowning families take an interest in him and give him books and employment. WorldChurch This month’s profile features the Revd Dr Samuel Kobia, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches. The WCC brings together more than 340 churches, denominations and church fellowships in over 100 countries and territories throughout the world representing some 550million Christians. The Gospel of Reconciliation In her first piece for Life and Work, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Revd Sheilagh Kesting explains how there is much to learn from the ongoing peace process in Northern Ireland. “As we continue to keep the people of Northern Ireland in our prayers, they have much to teach us as they travel this long and difficult road to living out the Gospel of reconciliation,” she writes. One World One Promise Douglas Aitken reflects on the 100th anniversary of the Scouting movement which will be celebrated at a Jamboree in Essex. Beginning 100 years ago with an experimental camp for 20 boys on BrownseaIsland on the Dorset coast, the movement now has 28million Scouts worldwide. Fringe Benefits Thomas Baldwin outlines the involvement of churches in this month’s Edinburgh Festival and Fringe. Twelve Church of Scotland churches as well as the Assembly Hall will provide venues for a wide range of events and concerts. One Size Fits All Douglas Galbraith considers the dilemmas involved in trying to make weekly worship services relevant to all those who attend. His answer is for more services not fewer. - ’More will bring more. This is a time of variety.’ And more…. Comment, book reviews, travel, finance, lively letters, news from far and near, monthly prayer, prize crosswords…. all for £1.60 available at the back of the church!
Also in this month's edition is an article by the Minister's brother, Ian Gardner, Reconnecting with the Past in whichChurches across Scotland are urged to prepare for 2009 – the “Year of Homecoming”, a tourism initiative encouraging ex-pat Scots and their descendants to return to the land of their fathers.
The names of our new elders are included on the Registers page.
ART EXHIBITION
Many members of the congregation will already have seen on the back wall of Canongate Kirk the current exhibition of pictures and prints by local artist and former Principal of Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Myer Lacome. The wide range of familiar Edinburgh scenes includes images of royal and military events on our doorstep and striking new representations of the Kirk itself and of the Robert Fergusson statue outside. Copies of these – and of all the other prints featured in the exhibition – are available to order, with some of the proceeds going to church funds.
WEBSITE ADDRESS The new website is up and running thanks to the sterling efforts of Craig Cross. The new address is
ELDERS IN AUGUST
LtCol K McIntosh
Gen Sir Michael Gow
Mrs D Marshall
Col R Watson
Mr R Moodie
Mrs F Grant
Mrs M Anderson
Miss R Wright
Mr D Armstrong
Mrs J McFarlane
Mr S McFarlane