Summer 2021 Rector Curate of of St Columba's & St Columba's & St Peter's St Peter's
Rev'd Christine Barclay Rev Peter Woodifield
Contact Number Contact Number 07964 175914 07747 023108
www.stpeterslinlithgow.co.uk
www.stcolumbasbathgate.org.uk Dear Friends,
I write this letter as we approach mid-summer and the end of the school year. Since our last edition of Life Together we have journeyed through Lent, Easter and Pentecost and now find ourselves in that lovely period of ‘Ordinary Time’, not that anything is ever ordinary with God or in church life! These are the words that I wrote at the beginning of my letter in Summer 2019 and at first glance they still fit as the school and Church years roll on in spite of pandemics and other life changing events. But of course, nothing has been quite the same for the past two early summers and we mourn not being able to celebrate the different annual traditions of Bathgate and Linlithgow at this time of year, hopefully next year there will be fantastic celebrations to make up for the two lost years. Well done to the Deacon’s Court for organising a virtual Marches for this year, keeping the tradition going.
And as life begins to open up again, we are now able to make plans for holidays, trips and visits, enjoying long awaited catchups, and maybe a hug or two, from family and friends. Living where we do, we are so fortunate to have so many opportunities for days out, walks, leisure activities and lots of green space, not to mention the coffee shops and ice cream parlours. No need to travel far this summer.
Who would ever have thought we would be so excited to sing in church, behind our masks, but that was what we are able to do now that we are in Level 1 and what a joy it is, even though most of us are a bit rusty! I do hope that we won’t take these small yet so important aspects of our lives for granted ever again.
Sadly, it will soon be time to say farewell to our curate Peter. He is leaving us on Sunday 25th July to return to his ‘sending’ churches of St James and St Mungo’s down the other end of the Edinburgh bypass to complete the final 15 months of his curacy and then remain as a priest in those churches. On one level it seems no time since Peter arrived with us back in the autumn of 2019 and his ministry with us has been very much overshadowed by the pandemic. This brought many challenges but also lots of opportunities and Peter has enjoyed a very rich time with our two churches, we have learned so much from him and I know that he has learned so much from us too. Among his many gifts are those for preaching and teaching, gifts that he will be taking back to his home congregations. We don’t know how or when but we are planning to have a little farewell party for Peter when restrictions allow. Whatever you are doing this summer I wish you fun and happiness hopefully some good weather in which to enjoy it.
With love and prayers
Christine
Special Collections During Lockdown
The coronavirus pandemic has raised many challenges, including not being able to make special collections in church. Instead, we asked donors to pay directly to the church bank accounts and St Peter’s set up a Just Giving account, which it shares with St Columba’s, to permit card payments to be made on-line. Below summarises the amounts collected and disbursed, including Gift Aid of 25%, during the pandemic. Amounts raised at St Peter’s, including some from St Columba’s via Just Giving: Harvest Thanksgiving: £240 was donated to the Falkirk Food Bank Sunday School Christmas Appeal: £280.00 donated to CHAS. Bishop’s Lent Appeal 2021: £732.36 donated to the Anglican Community Fund (Friends of ACF). Sea Sunday 2021: £233.75 donated to Mission to Seafarers, Scotland
Amounts raised at St Columba’s, excluding what was donated through Just Giving, and including Gift Aid of 25%, during the pandemic:
Harvest Thanksgiving: £153.50 donated to West Lothian Food- bank Sunday Club Christmas Appeal: £87.50 donated to Aberlour Children’s Charity Bishops Lent Appeal 2021: £278.75 donated to the Anglican Community Fund (Friends of ACF). Sea Sunday 2021: £125 donated to Mission to Seafarers, Scotland Summer Prayer
The warmth of the sun's embrace, the gentle breeze swept in by incoming tide, the rhythm of seasons, of new birth, death and recreation. All these speak so clearly of your love, your power and your beauty. All are expressions of your creativity, and more importantly of yourself. As an artist might share his personality within each brushstroke, so within the myriad colours of a butterfly's wing you share the exuberance of your love
That we can glimpse you within creation is a beautiful thought, but also tells us that you desire to be seen, to be found and known. Open our eyes, Lord, as we walk through this world, feel the wind and sunshine, see the majesty of creation unfolding before our eyes. Help us to see you.
Amen
From our Service Register
Thursday 27th May 2021 Funeral of Margaret Winifred Shaw in West Lothian Crematorium.
Sunday 6th June 2021 Internment of Ashes of Evelyn Clarke in St Columba’s memorial garden. The new Crab Apple Tree in St Columba’s Garden was planted in memory of Rev Peter and Betty Kirk and blessed on Sunday morning after worship. St Peter’s family’s picnic in Rosemount Garden on a lovely sunny and warm Saturday lunchtime. It was wonderful to catch up with some of our children and parents face to face. How the young people have grown during lockdown! And after our picnic we enjoyed a game of rounders. A soon to be repeated occasion I hope…. St Columba’s Sunday Club picnic in the Church Garden on a lovely sunny and warm Sunday afternoon. Again it was so good to catch up with people after so long. And funnily enough the young people here too have shot up during lockdown! After our picnic we enjoyed a surprise delivery of ice lollies and then games on the grass. Another gathering to be arranged later this summer, there was even talk of a BBQ.
Life Together Autumn 2021
Article Deadline Date
12th September 2021 New Treasurer for St Columba's
From next month Danielle Dewhurst will be taking over from Ron Buchanan as St Columba's treasurer.
Ron and Sandra are moving down to Wales to be nearer to their daughter Kate and while we wish them well we will miss them both very much.
Both Ron and Sandra, and Sandra's late mum Everlyn, embedded themselves in so many aspects of the life and worship of St Columba's, supporting events, singing in the choir, Sandra's wonderful baking as well as Ron keeping the finances in very good order so all is ready to hand on to Danielle.
Thank you
Danielle. A Hug
It,s wonderous what a hug can do A hug can cheer you when your blue A hug can say “I love you so” Oh “how I hate to see you go” A hug is “welcome back again” And “great to see you where,ve you been” A hug can soothe a small childs pain And bring a rainbow after rain A hug---- There,s just no doubt about it We scarcely could survive without it A hug delights and warms and charms It must be why God gave us arms Hugs are super for Fathers and Mothers Sweet for Sisters, ,great for Brothers And chances are some family Aunts Love them more than potted plants So stretch those arms without delay And give someone
A HUG TODAY
Doreen Starritt Bruce Jamieson Lockdown History Talks Lockdown History Lessons – Bringing The Church and Community Together on Zoom
The talents of our own Bruce Jamieson, history expert and raconteur were utilised recently during lockdown to educate and entertain the local community to the great delight of young and old.
Following a brief mention in the St Peter’s What’s App group that he had delivered an online lesson to his niece’s primary class in America, the opportunity was seized to recruit him for our own church children. To educate them in the history of our town and bring to life events from the past. What followed was a series of fantastic fact filled lessons delivered professionally online for free with wonderful pictures and photographs. The success of these lessons grew week to week as more children and adults joined the sessions hosted by Bruce.
Children from the Sunday School and wider community who may have had no church connection whatsoever were included. These lessons did more that educate us all in history, they brought together a group of individuals young and old (or slightly older) to share fun times online and revel in the gory details of some of Bruce’s tales. Who knew that Mary Queen of Scots head didn’t come off straight away!
Topics covered were History of Scotland, WW2, The Romans, Mary Queen of Scots, Victorian Linlithgow and the final one in this series, The Titanic.
This could have been the first introduction that some of these children have had to fun history lessons which came alive and prompted them to ask questions and laugh. A welcome break from home schooling struggles during the final weeks of the Covid 19 Pandemic Lockdown of 2021.
Thanks again to Bruce for the amazing content of the lessons and for engaging the children and wider church family.
A fantastic opportunity to show that St Peter’s can reach many in difficult times to offer support.
Sarah Gahagan GLEANINGS FROM THE GAZETTE
The closure of the local history library has made it difficult for me to research information about Linlithgow. In order to find out a detail regarding a Black Bitch article I was writing, I looked up the British Newspaper Archive. £7-80 didn’t seem too high a price to join so I duly pressed the “purchase” button. To my surprise (Dot expressed another emotion) I discovered that the price was in fact £78-00. However, that was for a year’s subscription, so I reckoned that it was a good investment and set about looking through many old newspapers. In the course of my browsing, I came across the following snippets of information about the early years of St Mildred’s Church.
So, did you know that:
Calvin Coolidge was president from 1923 -29
US President Calvin Coolidge made a donation towards the building of St Mildred’s. This was made during Bishop Walpole’s tour of America; to help raise money in Linlithgow, sales of work were held in the Masonic Hall, the Longcroft Hall and the Baird Hall (built as a school in 1863, now a private house at 224 High Street) ;
The Baird Hall before its conversion in 1973
Other sales were held in private residences in Edinburgh including one at 37 Polwarth Terrace Edinburgh – the home of Lady Christison - which was opened by Mrs Maconochie of Avontoun House and another at 26 Royal Circus, Edinburgh, where 80 attended including a coachload from Linlithgow and Bo’ness. The house belonged to Linlithgow expats Mr and Mrs Spence. Their son Alex, Deacon of the Fraternity of Dyers, acted as host;
In May 1927, the Gazette announced that there would shortly be three new saints in town: the new houses on the site of the old brewery were to be called St John’s Avenue; the Bo’ness Road was to be renamed St Ninian’s Road, as far as burgh boundary, and a new church would be called St Mildred’s;
St Mildred’s was due to be opened on February 2nd, 1928, the Feast of the Purification, but Bishop Walpole’s illness led to a postponement. This was just as well as on April 27th the Gazette reported that church was looking pretty but a good deal of finishing work was still needed;
The first ever baptism in St Mildred’s took place in the evening of the opening of the church, May 30th, 1929. The preacher was Canon E. Brereton OBE, Vice Provost of St Mary’s Cathedral;
A jumble sale was held in October 1929, opened by Dr Dorothea Walpole, daughter of the bishop who had died in March. The funds went towards paying off the £500 still outstanding on the cost of building the church;
Bishop Somerset Walpole and his daughter, Dorothea, a Corstorphine GP
St Mildred’s was to be dedicated by Bishop Walpole but his death on March 4th, 1929, meant that that the ceremony was conducted in April 1930 by Bishop Harry Reid of Edinburgh and Bishop Edward Reid of Glasgow and Galloway who, in his address, claimed that St Mildred’s was the only church in Scotland dedicated as a memorial to a woman;
In September 1930, St Mildred’s played host to 60 members of various masonic lodges and the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes. The service was taken by the Rev W. S. Snow, Provincial Grand Chaplain of Edinburgh and the East of Scotland;
In December 1931, a sale of works was opened by the Dean of Edinburgh, the Rev William Perry, who announced that he had often officiated in the “Old” St Peter’s Mission in Linlithgow. The profits went towards installing heating in the church;
St Mildred’s welcomed 23 members of the 40th company of the London Boys Brigade who attended Sunday Service in August, 1936. They had travelled to Scotland by sea on board the “Royal Fusilier” and were staying in the Star and Garter, The Rev Stretch conducted the service and was welcomed by a fanfare from the Company’s buglers;
The first ever “Service Wedding” in St Mildred’s took place in November 1939 when Flight Lieutenant George Denholm married Miss Betty Tooms who strangely had previously worshipped in St Mildred’s in Tenterden in Kent. As the bride entered, RAF pipers played “Highland Wedding”;
Before the Good Friday Service in 1943, St Mildred’s church bell rang again for the first time since 1939 when it was ordered that the ringing of church bells was only to be carried out in the event of an enemy invasion;
In 1949, at a service to commemorate the church’s 21st birthday, Bishop Kenneth Warner preached and claimed that the face of Mildred in the stained-glass window was actually that of the wife of Bishop Walpole. The bishop’s daughter, Dr Dorothea Walpole, presented the church with a set of hymn books; Lady Christison presented an altar reredos and a frontal while Bishop Warner presented a chalice and paten. The service was then blessed with the baptism of Mildred Hazel Baird by the Priest in Charge, the Rev. Leslie Stratton;
The Church held a 21st birthday party in Avontoun House - the home of Sheriff of the Lothians, Charles Cornelius Maconochie and Mrs Maconochie. The profits of the evening went on a carpet for the sanctuary and new light fittings;
Mrs McPherson at the door of the Customs House Hotel – now gone
St Mildred’s Sunday School children were entertained to a soiree in the Customs House Hotel at the West Port, courtesy of the publican, Mrs McPherson. The children had tea and then a programme of games and dances.
St Mildred’s in Tenterden, Kent.
Bruce Jamieson Sunday School Pictures
This is done by Lucy Bell from St Columba's - it is a Pentecost picture. It was inspired by the Pentecost reading from Acts 2 when the God's Holy Spirit filled the house where the disciples were staying.
Lucy and I read the story and this is the image that she was inspired to create! - Rachael
A lovely Pentecost creation from Hannah Mains from St Columba’s Kara drew the picture to represent her feelings during lockdown and when the restrictions started to lift just before Easter. She said she felt very happy when the schools started to go back but she was sad that her year group wasn’t initially included. She also said she was feeling confused about covid.
I think that Kara's drawing and words reflect what so many of us feel Christine St Peter’s front door planters
These two planters have been my babies for the last 15 years, so you can imagine my dismay when I realised I couldn’t look after them this year, following my ankle operation. But fear not, a knight in shining armour named Bruce came to the rescue!
This is what he volunteered to do: 1. Pick up the summer plants from the Burgh Beautiful base at Clarendon on delivery day 2. Clear out the spring plants from the planters. N.B. These were looking very sad indeed because of the very dry weather this spring 3. Top up the soil level and add fertilisers 4. Use his hidden artistic talent to plant the red and yellow begonias in the centre and the trailing bacopa around the edges 5. Finally, give everything a good drink of water. Quite a job, and I think you will agree that Bruce deserves his gold star!
Now for a bit of history, it being a Bruce related article... St Peter’s funds the plants, but we benefit from a substantial discount, thanks to Burgh Beautiful’s twice yearly bulk order with a local nursery. 18 000 plants were delivered in May for all Linlithgow’s street displays, and it is no mean feat of organising an army of volunteers, to unload, sort out, and ferry this number of plants to their various locations. We should be quite proud to be a part of this, and to contribute to the enhancement of our town, for residents and visitors alike. A cheerful display of flowers will always brighten up someone’s day! Corinne Anderson
On the 30th April we held a Quiz night over Zoom hosted by Andrew Gerrard.
We had 4 rounds two consisting of general knowledge, a photo quiz of famous pubs in T.V programmes and a Whiskey quiz with David Graham -Service and Duncan Sinnet getting top marks (they both like a dram or two)
This event raised £110.00 plus gift aid.
In total the Zoom Socials have raised over £650.00.
I would like to thank everyone who helped me make the nights possible by entertaining us and donating to the events.
Hopefully our next social event will be back in Church later in the year and here are two photo’s to remind us of the fun we had.
Jackie Jackson A few more recipes from the St Columba's Coffee morning's sweet treats from Sandra Dobson and Liz Frew Sandra's famous tablet and Liz's Lemon Drizzle cake.
I hope some of you enjoyed making the Sausage Cannelloni I thought I would include another recipe you may like to try like Flatbreads that I have seen demonstrated over zoom.
Jackie Jackson Two Flatbread Recipes
We’re giving you two flatbread recipes for the price of one! Both follow the same method for mixing and cooking but the vegan version is for those who would prefer to avoid dairy or prefer slightly fewer calories.
Basic Flatbread (Vegan alternative in brackets)
300g bread flour or plain flour plus extra for dusting. ½ teaspoon salt 50g butter (2 tbsp olive oil) 185 ml milk (200 ml water) 1 tbsp oil or 15g butter for frying.
Heat the butter and milk together until the butter is just melted – on the stove or in the microwave. Sieve the flour and salt together onto a large board or into a bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour the liquid mixture into the well in the flour (pour the water and olive oil directly into the well) and stir with a fork, gradually incorporating flour from the sides walls. Once combined (the fork will come out clean) and still quite moist, turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface, knead for a few minutes to form a soft dough. Rest at room temperature in a covered bowl or in cling film for about 30 minutes. Dust your work surface with flour, cut the dough into 4 pieces and roll into balls, then roll each ball into a round flatbread about 1/3 cm thick. Heat a little olive oil or butter in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Place a flatbread in the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes when it will start to bubble up then flip and cook the other side. Keep the cooked flatbreads wrapped in a clean tea towel – the moisture will help to keep them soft
The dough can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days; roll into rounds and separate with baking parchment or cling film.
Cooked flatbreads can be frozen.
Breakfast Fillings Bacon, fried egg and mushrooms Avocado and bacon Scrambled egg and smoked salmon Sausage and tomato chutney
More ideas Higher heat and thinner dough gives a crispier crust – more like a naan – very tasty with curry Drizzle with melted butter (or olive oil) and minced garlic for amazing garlic bread Fill with pizza sauce, cold meat and grated cheese for an Italian Stromboli Use instead of pitta bread to wrap a kebab
Lemon Drizzle Tray Bake
225g soft margarine 225g caster sugar 275g self raising flour and 2 level tsp baking powder sieved together 4 eggs 4 Tbsp milk 2 unwaxed lemon zest grated finely
Preheat oven to 160 C / 325 F / gas mark 3 Line a greased 12 x 9 x 1 1/2 inch baking tray Place all ingredients into a bowel. Beat together to smooth batter, 2 mins in machine or by hand Turn into baking tray Bake middle of oven 35 - 40 mins Allow to cool a few mins in tin. Turn out into baking wire tray and remove grease proof
To make topping
175g granulated sugar Juice of 2 lemons
Mix together and spoon over traybake while cake is still warm.
Swiss Milk Tablet
INGREDIENTS
1 kg granulated sugar (Tate & Lyle) 200 ml milk 100g butter 200g (1/2 tin) condensed milk Vanilla essence
Dissolve sugar slowly in milk and butter, bring to boiling point and add condensed milk. Boil gently to soft boil stage (116 c) stirring to avoid sticking. Remove from heat, allow to settle, add a few drops of vanilla essence and beat with a wooden spoon till it starts to grain. Pour into a greased tin, mark when set and break apart when cold.
Make sure sugar has dissolved before boiling.
Tate and Lyle sugar makes the best tablet. Corinnes rose planted, fed and watered
A pic of Ian 's Garden open day. The spinach cake was amazing! A view of St Peter’s Garden from the patio where, one Sunday morning while people were gathering for worship in the church and others joining via Zoom, Rev Peter and I stood gazing up at the beauty of the floral spectacle and the large cross at the top of the garden and as God saw when he looked at all he created, we looked and saw what Bruce and others had created and tended and it too was good….very good.
Christine Picture from Bruce’s Resurrectionists talk THE RESURRECTIONISTS
Back in April, Bruce Jamieson decided to present an illustrated lecture on Zoom and to ask those who wished to see and hear it to donate a sum of £5-00 towards the funds of St Peter’s Church. All members of the congregation were asked to participate, and 20 members of the St Peter’s family took up the offer.
Bruce also had lists of locals who had tuned in to one or more of his other presentations which he had delivered in aid of the Linlithgow and Bo’ness Probus Club, the Linlithgow Burgh Trust and the Linlithgow Museum. This attracted another 60 viewers and, with the final addition of family and friends, almost 100 people switched on their Zoom application on April 21st to watch “The Resurrectionists” – the historical tale of graverobbing through the centuries, focussing on the body snatchers of the 19th century. Fully illustrated, and with several references to local, historical accounts, the 35-minute “show” met with wide acclaim and brought in (with gift aid) the sum of £581 for church funds.
Perhaps other members of the congregation could adopt this fund-raising medium and launch a St Peter’s, pay-to-view, Zoom Magazine. We could have Christine delivering a memorable sermon; Margot reading some of her legendary limericks; Corinne or Jenny lecturing on how to keep hens; Pete “the Pod” giving footcare advice, Judy delivering a one-woman drama; Gordon Beetham with a selection from his fund of funny stories; Jane delivering a heartfelt piece of prose; David Lovelock giving us travel tales from his days with Rabbie’s Tours; Jean Overton’s Rambling Reminiscences and Ian Wallace’s Anecdotes from the Operating Theatre. The list is endless.
It’s worth a thought!
St Peter’s now has its own zoom account for all future events - so come and talk to us about any event and lets see what we can do. Junes beautiful creation for the Feast of Pentecost
Junes needlework celebrating Ascension of Jesus
Yasmine’s Painting for the day of Pentecost is a Dove in the flames of Gods Holy Spirit Junes Easter needlework
Easter garden done by the Duncan family in St Peter’s church From Rev Peter Woodifield Sermon
The storms of life? We’ve all experienced them in one form or another, haven’t we? COVID for starters – let alone the ones that recur time after time, year after year. The loss of a loved one, a broken relationship, physical accidents, a major illness, redundancy, homelessness, refugees fleeing a war zone – the list is almost endless and I’m sure you could all name your own personal ones as well.
In our Gospel reading we read of an actual storm, a major storm that left experienced fishermen convinced they were going to drown. I don’t know about you, but I have mixed views of storms. I slept through the great storm of 1987 that killed 18 people and uprooted thousands upon thousands of trees, on the other hand three years ago I was a victim of the last spasm of the Beast from the East. But unlike the disciples I have never felt my life threatened by a storm.
We don’t know why Jesus was so keen to get to the ‘other side’ of the lake that he and his disciples had to sail overnight. What was the rush? What we do know is that Jesus spent much of his life going to the ‘other side’, mixing with people the Jewish religious authorities wanted nothing to do with.
Crossing the lake is a metaphor for whichever version of the insider/ outsider divide you might care to think of. And most of the time his disciples, who were themselves outsiders almost by definition, went willingly with him. And Jesus also invites us to go to the other side – to cross over from a life that drains us to a life of abundance. And notice that Jesus doesn’t tell the disciples to go to the other side, he said Let US go to the other side. And the invitation is couched in identical terms today. In other words, this is not a crossing we do on our own.
What’s particularly interesting about Mark’s version of this story compared with Matthew and Luke is that when the storm erupts Mark has the disciples saying – don’t you care that we are about to die? – while the other two Gospel writers have them ask Jesus whether he was aware that they were about to die – a big difference.
Mark’s version cuts to the chase, doesn’t it? Deep down we worry about whether God really does care for us individually. The answer is of course yes, but we don’t always feel so sure of that when we run into one of life’s storms, do we? Jesus is unimpressed with his disciples. The NIV spares our blushes but verse 40 could equally be translated Why are you such cowards? But this passage forces us to think which is scarier – being in the middle of a storm that could kill us or being in the presence of the Lord God Almighty who has the power to control the elements just like that. The reality is Jesus is criticising them for thinking the demons of the sea were more powerful than him when they had only just seen him control demons in people.
Storms are the recurrent theme of three of today’s four appointed lectionary readings. In Psalm 107, the psalmist writes of four different storms of life and in each of them ‘they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. And that’s followed by thanksgiving ‘Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, and for his wonderful works to humankind.’ A good model for us to follow.
And in our Old Testament reading, when God starts to put Job in his place, it starts ‘Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm… the literal translation is out of the whirlwind. In four chapters God makes clear that he has created a wild world, which humanity is not at the centre of, and which humans cannot control. In other words, as Genesis tells us, forces of chaos are part of creation.
So what is Mark saying here? Quite clearly, I think, that Jesus can be directly equated to the God of Israel. That when the disciples are in the presence of Jesus they are in the presence of God. No wonder they are still afraid after Jesus calms the waters and say to each other – Just who is this guy?
Fear is at the heart of much of this passage, which I will come to in a moment. Faith might be described as trusting and trusting in God should help us overcome our fear. But life isn’t always like that is it. When we’re afraid to the extent that we’re almost paralysed trusting tends to go out of the window. Teacher don’t you care is a fear-induced question.
Yet it seems to me there is some really good news in this passage for us. I know I worry about my spiritual adequacy and I suspect I am little different from most Christians in that. But this passage tells us that our deliverance from the storms of life does not depend on the extent of our faith. God is there caring for us even when out of fear we accuse him of not caring. For most of us, that is very good news indeed. Perhaps we need to remind ourselves and each other when we are hit by the storms of life, when life is even harder than we anticipated, of all those verses in the Bible, particularly in Isaiah, where God says Do not be afraid for I am with you. We need to reassure each other that God will come and still the storms.
But what if Jesus is the storm bringer as well as the storm calmer? I want to explore for a moment what happens when Jesus and the disciples get to the other side of the lake.
Once the storm is over and the disciples are sitting/lying in the boat soaked to the skin, what must they have been thinking? Let me suggest some of the thoughts going through their minds. How could we have forgotten the nets breaking when he told us where to lower the nets, how could we have forgotten the healings, how could we have forgotten when he told the dead man to get up and walk?
How about us – do we also suffer from spiritual amnesia? Do we forget those moments when we have had an intense experience of God, those times when we have had a sense of presence, those glimpses of the true glory of creation? Does the humdrum of everyday life numb us to the glory and greatness of God? Perhaps sometimes we need a storm to wake us up?
I want to turn briefly to the first part Chapter 5 because it fits all of a piece with our theme of storms. Luckily, it’s not in the lectionary so I am not pre-empting my sermon for next week. The locals knew all about Legion. He was an outcast, he was unmanageable, he was possessed, he was a self-harmer, let’s stay away as far away from this man as we can and get on with our lives. But then Jesus turns up and suddenly they see this unmanageable man sitting calmly with Jesus, the storm stilled as it were, job done
But what was the cost of stilling the storm? In a word -– enormous. Mark tells us there were 2,000 pigs in the herd. Let’s assume for the moment that these pigs were the same size of the typical Scottish pig currently being bred for the supermarket shelf. Calculations I made suggest that you could be talking about anything up to a million pounds worth of pork. That’s a lot of livelihood over the cliff for the people who owned the pigs. That’s financial security out of the window. That’s a serious storm – all for the sake of one man. Imagine the scene – a Jew going to a place where pigs were being bred on an industrial scale. By any normal Jewish standards that was unacceptable, but it didn’t bother Jesus going to a place that by Jewish standards was unclean because that was where he was needed at that time.
Perhaps unsurprisingly the locals were put out and afraid and asked Jesus to leave. What might he do next, they must have asked themselves. But look at it another way. Basically, Jesus has challenged them to rethink what is important. Will they engage with what Jesus has done and what he has to teach them? Will they embrace Legion?
Not a chance, it’s all too frightening, it’s too dangerous. After all, change is challenging, and Jesus is all about change and so they ask him to leave. So he does, but makes Legion the first evangelist to the Gentiles, telling him to go back home and declare what God has done for him. So another storm will follow the storm created by Jesus as he challenges their outlook that pigs are more important than people, their failure to celebrate Legion’s healing.
If Jesus does bring a storm into our lives, we have a choice – we can either ask him to leave and let us get on with our comfortable lives or we can ask him to help us endure the storm and the changes of heart and mind that it demands. His storms challenge our forgetfulness about how big and mighty God truly is, they jolt us out of what can be a complacent, comfortable existence. But we should remember that while storms can be scary they can also be invigorating and transforming. The question we would do well to ask ourselves is whether we are willing to let Jesus bring it on.
Peter Woodifield
Regular Weekly Services & Events
St Columba's, Bathgate
Sunday 11.15 a.m Sung Eucharist (Second Sunday of Month is a Family Service) Last Sunday of Month 6.30 p.m Choral Evensong Monday 9.00 a.m Morning Prayer Second Monday of Month 7.15 p.m Film Night Wednesday 10.30 a.m Said Eucharist (followed by coffee and natter) First Wed. of Month 12 noon Community Lunch Thursday 11 a.m 4C's - Cuppa, Chat, Company & Crafts
St Peter's, Linlithgow
Sunday 9.30 a.m Sung Eucharist First Sunday of Month 6 p.m Choral Evensong Tuesday 10.30 a.m Said Eucharist Thursday 9 a.m Morning Prayer 9.30am Sunday Youth Group Meets Monthly at Fenwicks
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * St Columba's Episcopal Church, Bathgate is a registered Scottish Charity, no. SC023269 Church Copyright Licence 613874, Music Reproduction Licence 613898 St Peter's Episcopal Church, Linlithgow is a registered Scottish Charity, no. SC023190 Church Copyright Licence 2103801, Music Reproduction Licence 2103818 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *