C a r l o p s P a r i s h C h u r c h
www.carlopschurch.org
N E W S L E T T E R
Volume 13, Number 8 August 2019
Services, August 2019
4 August 10am Rev Nancy Norman 4 August 6pm Rev Stewart McPherson Communion 11 August 10am Rev Stewart McPherson 18 August 10am Rev Chris Levison 25 August 10am Miss Sheena Livingstone From our Minister
It was wonderful to be able to enjoy Scotland in the sunshine and not have to travel too far for a holiday this year. Even a little over an hour’s drive to the Trossachs provides a much- appreciated break, where people will say, “If the weather was like this more often you would not have to go abroad!” Although, if the weather were much warmer more of the time, we would not have all the lochs and greenery which provide the beauty.
To cycle round Loch Katrine, row a wee boat out on Loch Achray, walk up to the wonderfully named Loch Drunkie, watch osprey fly, while also enjoying an ice-cream cone by the river at Callander, are relaxing, renewing and enlivening experiences without having to fly or cruise to other parts. Of course, other parts of the world are wonderful and well-worth a visit, but we can sometimes fail to notice or attend to the places of wonder closer to home. I recall when my children were younger, my son was shocked to realise that no one else in his class had ever been to Feshiebridge or Iona.
One of the challenges, of course, on returning from holiday, is to find those places and moments of renewal, peace and enlivening in the day-to-day. But we are all so fortunate to live in the area around the Lyne Water and the Pentlands, close to the rolling Border hills and flowing Tweed which offer such a beautiful setting that we do not have to travel far to be touched by beauty.
To be open to the glimpses of wonder around us is to be open to catch something of the nature of God. To attend to the place we are, to be present in the moment, to notice the person we are with, then we may realise we are never too far from an experience that will enliven, enrich and touch us with something of the sacred mystery.
Of course, there are also the midgies. But they are present here as well as the Trossachs and when we go abroad to avoid them, we then encounter mosquitoes!
Stewart McPherson
From the Kirk Session Monday 8 July 2019
Session noted the good progress being made with interim ministry: many people have engaged in the discussions and have found them constructive and helpful; there is enthusiasm about moving forward and confidence that we are ready and able to do so successfully. Rev Stewart McPherson’s second update was circulated with a recent Newsletter; it is also at www.carlopschurch.org > News and hard copies may still be available in the church.
Session formally adopted a Unitary Constitution, a mode of operation that makes the Kirk Session responsible for all church activity – practical, managerial and financial business, as well as spiritual matters. In fact, Carlops Kirk Session has operated in this way for many years, but a search of records found no formal minute of adoption; this is now resolved. A guide to the Unitary Constitution model is at www.carlopschurch.org > Formal documents.
Timing of Sunday services is being considered again, with the aim of enabling the minister to spend more time with all congregations after services.
Session noted with pleasure that two people from St Andrew’s Church have expressed interest in learning about leading worship in the linkage.
The financial report for January-June 2019 shows that all budgets are on target and finances are healthy. Session approved internal repair and redecoration work to take place in July 2019. Funds have already been identified for this, the first major decoration expenditure since 2009.
Session received a paper from Presbytery outlining how it views relationships between churches in its area, based upon secondary school catchment areas. Our linkage sits in the Peebles High School area, alongside: Eddleston linked with Peebles Old; Lyne and Manor l/w St Andrew’s Leckie; Innerleithen, Traquair and Walkerburn; and Broughton, Glenholm and Kilbucho l/w Skirling l/w Stobo and Drumelzier l/w Tweedsmuir. Session noted that the report is based on present presbytery boundaries; these will change as the Church moves from forty presbyteries to about twelve, as agreed by the 2019 General Assembly.
Session discussed a Presbytery proposal inviting churches to extend more financial support to the Malawian midwife whose training churches in our Presbytery funded; readers will recall Carlops’ contributing to this. The midwife is now qualified, but the Malawian government has not been able to provide a salary. He is working pro bono, with occasional help from Zomba Presbytery; he and his colleagues are delivering up to eighty babies per day. Members felt that Carlops might support an effort to raise money for a basic “salary substitute” (about £1,200 per annum) for him. Other churches could be expected to join Carlops in this. Watch this space!
Revising the church website www.carlopschurch.org
Interim ministry work, the need to adopt new software and the passage of time combine to make it time to update the church website; the present site was launched in 2011. I plan to convene a team to work on this and hope to propose a new site to the Kirk Session late this year. The aim will be to improve and update while preserving the best of the present site’s character and content; evolution not revolution
If you would like to express views, make suggestions, or be involved in the editing, please contact me, preferably by the end of August; details on back page. I am happy to answer questions and provide information at any time.
Rennie McElroy Editor
Presbytery visit to Zomba, Malawi
Members of our Presbytery will visit our twinned presbytery in Zomba, Malawi in October 2019. Funding is available for two more people to join the group, which will be led by Denis Robson of Innerleithen. If interested, contact Helen Bruce (tel 01968 601 603).
Guest article The Bethany Care van
Our friends at St Andrew’s West Linton have provided a team of helpers on the Bethany Care van in Edinburgh for several years. We are delighted to be able to publish this guest article, describing their work and highlighting a significant milestone! If you would like to become involved in this important work, contact Robert Higgins, tel 01968 660 629. Editor
A new Bethany Care van has materialised! The existing vehicle was showing its age and had become increasingly unreliable mechanically. One of Bethany's corporate sponsors agreed to start fund-raising in May 2018 and was so successful that a new van was ordered earlier this year. It has now been customised and was commissioned on 16 June. A recent TV interview with a Freeview channel may be of interest: follow this link: https://www.facebook.com/ThatsTVHeadlineNews/videos/2543033659062528/
The Care van service is a partnership with Edinburgh City Mission and local church groups which has been running for 29 years. It goes out every evening and four lunchtimes per week to provide free food, soup, hot drinks and warm clothing for vulnerable and homeless people in the city centre. Statistics for 2018 are impressive:
• 21,818 customers served • 9,800 lunches provided • 33,000 cups of tea and coffee • 750 volunteers in 50 teams
Our West Linton team goes out on the third Sunday of each month, leaving at 7.30pm and returning around midnight. An equally important back-up team prepare the homemade soup. It is a joint practical ecumenical venture with St. Mungo's. Volunteers quickly realise that homelessness can happen to anyone.
Robert Higgins Co-ordinator
We’re redecorating!
As we write (end July), Carlops Church is being redecorated for the first time since 2009. Don’t expect big changes: the colour scheme and layout will remain unchanged. The ceiling- mounted heaters will be lowered slightly, to try to reduce (eliminate?) the paint flaking that has been experienced. Work will be completed by early August. Come and see the result!
Outdoor Celtic service 4 August 2019, 3pm; Kirkurd & Newlands Church
Kirkurd & Newlands Church will hold an outdoor Celtic service in the grounds of the old Newlands Church on Sunday 4 August at 3pm. The service will be in praise of God in all creation and in all our lives. It will be followed by a picnic amid the ruins of the old church.
Meet in the church car park and bring tea, juice, cake and biscuits and sandwiches to share, as well as picnic chairs or a rug. We hope for good weather, but if it rains, we will simply transfer to the church.
We want to make this a linkage-wide service, with readers from each church; and it would be great if musicians could bring instruments. Contact me for more information and if you are prepared to read.
Jean Howat (tel 01968 660 677)
The artist and the shepherdess St David’s Church Hall, Eskbank Road, Dalkeith Friday 16 August 2019, 7-9pm
This illustrated talk by Joanna Soden (formerly Collections Curator, Royal Scottish Academy), focuses the relationship between local artist Victoria Crowe and her friend Jenny Armstrong, the Kitleyknowe shepherdess who featured in several of Victoria Crowe’s paintings. Entry free; booking advisable: call 01875 821 716 (Monday-Friday) to reserve a place.
The Column What people bring to church; the Carlops paper-chain
Leading Sunday service in Carlops Church a few weeks ago, Rachel Dobie asked us what we had brought to church with us. It was an open question and the answers covered objects, beings, feelings, ideals and desires.
We wrote our answers on gummed paper strips and linked these together in a paper-chain. I was invited to study the chain to see what message might be drawn from it …
All 29 answers were different – how about that?
Some folk brought milk, their offering, biscuits, babies, their Christian Aid week bag, music, themselves, and other people. One pivotal congregant brought the minister! Who in turn brought the ideas and the worship.
Others brought an expression of something inside: love, gratefulness, a smile, hope, gratitude, happiness, openness, patience, friendship and thankfulness.
A few brought their singing voices, someone brought good wishes from a person who was elsewhere, and someone else brought sunshine.
Still others brought an expectation: to serve the congregation, to seek peace, to have fellowship, to listen, to pray for others, to have time to worship, think, communicate and share.
It's a nice exercise to pick four or five of these answers and see how they can link together and in turn, link us to each other.
It is possible to have fellowship simply by being at worship together, but it is enhanced by the willingness of others to listen, be open and share a biscuit and a cup of coffee (with milk in this example!).
Julie Gamble
Future events
General Kirk Session Wednesday 21 August 2019, 7.30pm; venue to be determined Soup lunch Wed 25 September 2019, 12noon-1.30pm Tree of Jesse; window in Glasgow Cathedral Talk by the artist, Emma Butler-Cole Aiken. Friday 4 October 2019, 7.30pm Kirk Session Tuesday 22 October 2019, 7.30pm Soup lunch Wednesday 23 October 2019, 12noon-1.30pm Scotland’s charity air ambulance service Talk, speaker to be announced. Friday 1 November 2019, 7.30pm Man Soup lunch Wednesday 27 November 2019, 12noon-1.30pm
Material for next issue
To [email protected] by Monday 19 August 2019 please
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