March TheThe SentinelSentinel 2018 Volume 56 No 2 Magazine of Giffnock South Parish Church What is it? When and why. All is revealed on page 2 When is it? and who determines the date? All is revealed on page 2 This is the theme of the Lenten Bible Studies taking place on four Wednesdays at 11am in the Y@GS room. 21st and 28th February & 7th and 14th March. Put these dates in your diary NOW Going to Liverpool in April? This is your chance to see the Terracotta Warriors see page 5 for details. Page 2 We make no apology for presuming a general ignorance regarding Lent and Easter - The explanation (hopefully you will understand what an ‘ecclesiastical new moon’ is) certainly filled some holes in the Editorial staff’s knowledge and hopefully be of some interest to our wider readership. Ed Contributions for the March edition of Th-e Sentinel should be sent to the Church office or emailed to [email protected] by 11th February 2018 GIFFNOCK SOUTH NEWS News from Pollokshaws Men’s & Ladies’ Lunch Clubs Thee next men’s lunch at BABBO’S will be at 12.30pm on Tuesday 6th March and those wishing to attend should inform Graeme Whyte or Ronnie Mcintosh. The next ladies’ lunch will be on Tuesday 27th March at 12.30pm and ladies who wish to attend should sign the sheet on the corridor POLLOKSHAWS PARISH CHURCH noticeboard or contact Morag Steven, tel. 638 2454 or Myra Rao, tel. 637 5353. Congratulations go to Rev. Roy Henderson, who has been nominated to be the next Moderator of Glasgow The next ordinary Session Meeting will be on the 21st March Presbytery. at 7.30pm. Early Christians observed "a season of penitence and fasting" in preparation for the Paschal feast, or Pascha, the season now known as Lent (from an Old English word meaning "spring," the time of lengthening days) has a long history. Originally, in places where Pascha was celebrated on a Sunday, the Paschal feast followed a fast of up to two days. In the third century this fast was lengthened to six days. Eventually this fast became attached to, or overlapped, another fast of forty days, in imitation of Christ's fasting in the wilderness. The forty-day fast was especially important for converts to the faith who were preparing for baptism, and for those guilty of sins who were being restored to the Christian assembly. In the western church the forty days of Lent extend from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday, omitting Sundays. The last three days of Lent are the sacred Triduum, of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Today Lent has re-acquired its significance as the final preparation of adult candidates for baptism. Joining with them, all Christians are invited "to the observance of a Holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word". Before 325 A.D., Easter was celebrated on the Sunday immediately following the first full moon after the vernal (spring) equinox. In 325 A.D., at the Council of Nicaea, the Western Church resolved to established a more standardised system for determining the date of Easter. This year, Easter Sunday is on 1st April. As astronomers were able to approximate the dates of all the full moons in future years, the Western Christian Church used these calculations to establish a table of Ecclesiastical Full Moon dates. These dates would determine all of the Holy Days on the Ecclesiastical calendar. Although modified marginally from its original form, by 1583 A.D. the table for determining the Ecclesiastical Full Moon dates was permanently established and has been used ever since to determine the date of Easter. According to the Ecclesiastical tables, the Paschal Full Moon is the first Ecclesiastical Full Moon date after March 20 (which happened to be the vernal equinox date in 325 A.D.). Thus, in Western Christianity, Easter is always celebrated on the Sunday immediately following the Paschal Full Moon. "Pascha" is a transliteration of the Aramaic word meaning Passover. The date of Easter is determined as the first Sunday after the "paschal full moon" falling on or after the Spring Equinox (March 21). ... The first day of each of these lunar months is the ecclesiastical new moon. Dear friends CHURCH Page 3 This year the month of March is full of major festivals, St DIRECTORY Patrick’s Day, Passion Sunday, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Day. Our church will be very busy! The Minister: Rev Catherine Beattie BDMin During Lent we travel with Jesus, following the accounts of his work in our Gospels, hearing the words he spoke, 0141 258 7804 sharing in the joy of the disciples and their despair on 07709 086 767 Mobile Good Friday. The Cross casts its shadow on the last days of Jesus’s life, and he is laid to rest in a tomb guarded by [email protected] soldiers. The Minister’s Then Easter Day dawns, we see the empty tomb, and our Letter Alleluias ring out, Church Office Hours: “Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.” Peter Millar expresses the wonder and mystery of the resurrection in his poem, The church office is open in The Invitation of Easter: the mornings from Monday to And across our beautiful, evolving world, Thursday from 9am till noon another Easter dawns, 0141 638 2599 tenderly inviting us to ponder upon wider truths and alternative visions. Truths of both heart and mind that find their roots [email protected] in the practicality of God. Basic truths illumining our often uncertain journeys – allowing us to reconnect with the energies of Christ: Session Clerk: that life does come from death; that hate is not the final word; Alison Fenton that the broken continue to sing with joy; 07713 242 080 Mobile that the trees and the mountains clap their hands; that forgiveness resides in the heart of the human condition; Church Website: that love, with its multiple faces, remains our companion. So Christ is risen! www.giffnocksouth.co.uk Risen again in the midst of a broken world. facebook/giffnocksouthparish risen again so that we too may be a people of hope Scottish Charity:SCO007807 who walk in the light of Christ, restored by resurrection. Enjoy a cup of tea or The month of March is full of the new growth of Spring: coffee before and may we find joy in the newness and promise of Easter after the service and the grace of Christ risen. every Sunday. Every blessing TEXT OF Catherine THE Every Friday at 10.45am throughout the season of Lent, Giffnock South will be open for a short Lenten Service followed by tea and coffee. All are invited to MONTH come and will be made most welcome. Lent Bible Studies based on ’The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ will be held at Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the 11am on each of four Wednesdays - 21st and 28th February and 7th and 14th March bread of life. Whoever comes to in the Y@GS room. Everyone is welcome. me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never There will be an informal Communion Service during the morning be thirsty.’ service on Sunday March 4th. John 6: 35 There will be a Contemporary Evening Service at 6.30pm on Sunday 11th MARCH. Page 4 annual curling bonspiel The Guild We will be holding our Annual We extend a warm welcome to all our Curling Bonspiel at Greenacres members on 7th March at 2pm when our own once again this year on Friday 9th Joy Blair will be telling us about "Shetland" , while on MARCH at 6pm, cost £11.70. Wednesday 21st, also at 2pm it is a Guest Afternoon and If you need any information, Nannette Pollock will come and talk about her whether you are a complete novice experiences in the Police Force. Nannette has appeared or a regular on the ice, then please recently on television and is a fine and accomplished speak to me anytime - Alan Smith speaker. A date not to be missed! ( 0141 887 4900). I look forward to seeing you on the ice. The 'Martha Table' will be set on 7th March. See you Alan [email protected] there! MR CrossReach Information Eastwood court care home ‘Groundbreaking’ Campus in Erskine The March Service at Eastwood Court Care Home is CrossReach has announced ambitious plans to open a ‘first class’ education campus. The new development in Erskine on Tuesday 20th at 6.30pm. This will be our Easter will provide a high standard of education for around 30 Service and will be led by our own minister, the Rev. children, aged 8-16 years. The campus is being delivered by Portakabin Scotland and comprises of modular buildings, Catherine Beattie. As always, members of Giffnock which will be built off-site and craned into position in April. South and friends are welcome to join our informal CrossReach Chief Executive Viv Dickenson, who broke the ground at the and varied 30minute act of worship. The residents site at Erskine Waterfront to formally seem to enjoy our company. PC start the building work said: “This is an exciting day for CrossReach as work commences on our new education campus. Our existing staff team and their The art club pupils are looking forward to moving into bright, modern classrooms containing all The Art Club will mount a display the facilities they need to make it a first of new works in the Eglinton Hall class learning environment for children, who for various reasons cannot live with on Saturday, April 14th from 10 their families.” Over the last four years, a.m.