DIARY DATES. Saturday 2 nd December Messy church Abbotsgrange Church 2pm 4pm. Sunday 3 rd December Communion 11.00am & 6.15pm

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1 DECEMBER Diary Dates 3 Outreach 4 Parish Register / Prayer Promotor 5 Treasurer 7 Arthur Priestly, Interim Moderator 8 Colin Mailer, Locum Minister 9 Women s Association/Holiday Club 10 Christmas Puzzles

2 DIARY DATES Saturday 2 nd December Messy church Abbotsgrange Church 2pm 4pm Sunday 3 rd December Communion 11.00am & 6.15pm Saturday 9 th December Christmas Carol Singing Portonian Café, La Porte Precinct 11am Sunday 10 th December 11.00am Gift service - (Toys for local children) followed by invitation from Outreach to some festive food in the hall 3pm - Service for bereaved families & friends Sunday 17 th December Nativity Service 11am Sunday 24 th December Family Service 11am Christmas Eve Service 11.15pm Monday 25 th December Christmas Day Family Service 11am Sunday 31 st December Joint Service at KHR Abbotsgrange, Zetland and St. Mary s churches join us for morning service 11am. Sunday 21 st January 2018 Service for Christian Unity, Abbotsgrange Church at 7pm 2

3 Outreach at Christmas At time of writing there is a total of 710 in the bank for the Maggies Centre at the Forth Valley Hospital. This will make a welcome pre-christmas gift for them. Thanks to all who contributed via the wee jars and by buying some apples. Your continuing support of the Foodbank is wonderful. The carload of food which arrives each month impresses the folks at the Foodbank who appreciate your regular donation so much. Our last collection for 2017 is on Communion Sunday 3 rd December. Perhaps we could slip in the odd Christmassy treat along with the usual valuable and thoughtful choice of food and household essentials. Our chosen charity for our Christmas Appeal is PAPYRUS which is the national charity dedicated to preventing young suicides in the UK. PAPYRUS was founded in 1997 by a mother, Jean Kerr, from Lancashire following the death of her son to suicide. Other parents, all bereaved by suicide, began to join her in the belief that something positive could come from their own tragedy. Today, PAPYRUS remains dedicated to offering support directly to young people at risk of suicide, their parents and any one concerned about a young person they know. We hope to make a donation to them as we remember the affected families for whom Christmas is no longer the happy occasion it once was. You can donate by popping some coins into the gift bags on the pews, or by buying a tag ( 1) for the Christmas tree, where you can leave a message or a prayer. Sunday 10 th December is our Gift Sunday when we invite you to add to the Provost s Santa sack for children in the area who will not have much to enjoy at Christmas. Gifts of toys for the wee ones and suitable gifts for older children will be much appreciated. On that day too the members of the Outreach group invite you to the hall after the service for some festive food and drink and an opportunity to say Thank You for your generous support of our charity appeals throughout the year. On Sunday 17 th December at 3pm we will hold our annual service for bereaved families and friends. We will be sending a letter of invitation to the people we know about who have lost a loved one this year. If there is anyone you know who would appreciate receiving this information about the service, please give me their name and address. Betty Sutherland 3

4 Parish Register Deaths: Mr J Moodie, Thistle Cottage, Main Street, Maddiston. Our Great God! You are indeed a God of love, guidance and patience where we your people need sometimes reminded of that. A love to share freely with each other with our heartfelt words or actions. A guidance to show us through the bible how you encourage and heal us as you reveal your word to us. A patience to learn not in our time but yours and we trust you for today and provide for tomorrow. We give thanks for the two brothers in our Sunday School and the teachers keeping them interested in learning about Jesus. To uphold the folks who cannot come along to church, who are elderly, frail and house bound. You are our Great God who is pleased when we praise and worship him and in our response we go through this week handing over to him our love and thankfulness that he is a prayer away. Amen. Eleanor Neilson Prayer Promotor Church Vacancy The nominating committee is still very involved in our task to look for a minister and would appreciate everyone's continuing prayers for God s guidance in this matter. 4

5 Treasurer s Report Hello All, There seem to have been no major headlines from me for some time now which I think should be taken as good news. I have been the bearer of bad tidings so often in the past that many of you would have been reluctant to read my section of the magazine. I mean it s boring enough at the best of times, but when it s full of bad news too; well it s not exactly a happy read is it? Currently, the finances of the church are holding their own, with respect to normal income and expenditure, which is exceptional in the current economic and social climate. It is only the additional costs that we have faced and are facing this year, namely the redecoration and refurbishment of the manse, which is putting any kind of strain on our finances. I would expect there to be a reasonable decrease in our Fabric balance at the end of this year as a result of this, but this should be at an acceptable, and expected, level. Our General Fund should end the year pretty much empty, but with all of our commitments met. This should be the aim each year, so without wishing to tempt fate, I am optimistic that we are seeing our finances start to settle a little. That is not to say we are in a position where we can rest on our laurels, far from it. We must continue the hard work, and see where it takes us. On the subject of the manse, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the property committee who have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to get the manse back up to the standards required for any prospective tenant. They have been extremely inventive in finding ways to keep costs down, whether that be adapting some of the materials we already had, or cajoling suppliers into providing goods and services at more of a discount than usual. When all is said and done, it makes my job an awful lot easier when the costs are kept to a minimum, and I am very grateful that we have such a dedicated team. Fundraising Our next fundraising event will have taken place by the time you read this. Our Christmas Fayre / Fete (I can never remember the exact name!) is on Saturday 11 th November. An unbelievable amount of hard work has been put in prior to this, with more still to come, and I am sure it will be another hugely enjoyable occasion for us all. There is a wealth of talent and inspiration among our congregation, and a pool of people with a ridiculous appetite for hard work. I only hope that their endeavours are suitably rewarded by a healthy number of people attending. May I take this opportunity to thank you all for your contributions to Kirk of the Holy Rood, whether it be your time, your talent, or your financial assistance. 5

6 If I don t manage to see you before Christmas, may I wish you the very best for Christmas, the festive season and Also, if you have any questions about any aspect of the church finances, please feel free to ask. Best Wishes Stuart ***************** FUNDRAISING UPDATE ******************* The Christmas Fayre took place on Saturday 11 th November. It was a great day which was well attended and there was a lovely atmosphere in the hall of enjoyment. At the time of printing the magnificent sum of 1700 has been raised but there are still a few items for sale and these will be in the large hall each Sunday after service until all are sold so why not come in for a look. The final amount raised will be intimated after everything is sold. Well done to all who participated in any way. 6

7 Dear Friends, In the church hall, having a cup of tea after a Service, a lady made an interesting comment. Referring to Joseph going to look for his brothers at Shechem, he discovered they weren t there. Then a man said to him they have gone to Dothan. The lady said that she liked to read about the little people in the Bible, meaning the man. This made me think too of the little Jewish slave girl in 2 Kings 5:3 who knew her master Naaman had leprosy and said to her mistress if only my master would go to the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him. And so he did. There are lots of examples throughout the Bible of other little people who have played a big part in God s work. In Kirk of the Holy Rood the congregation, elders, ministers and others are just those little people too, as we seek to do God s work whenever and wherever He sends us. Our names may not appear in any Bible, but we will be remembered in the hearts of others to whom we may have brought God s message, perhaps in something we said, or something we did, or more often something we prayed for. These actions of us little people are an important part of how God operates in this world, so please do go on quietly working for Him in the background, encouraging and supporting and praying for and with other people, members and non-members alike. But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother (Galatians 4:4). So here we are again, back to the little people will be an important year for Kirk of the Holy Rood as we continue to work together with other little people ; working together towards a future which involves seeking a new minister, and getting to know our fellow Christians within the congregation and beyond the congregation, supporting each other in action, in words and in prayer. A very Happy Christmas and New Year to you all. Arthur Priestly Interim Moderator 7

8 Eternally Yours There it was, unwrapped but the very first thing I clapped my eyes on as I hurried downstairs into the living-room on Christmas Day. What was it? A Tommy Gun! Yes, a tommy gun. On reflection hardly the type of present on a day set aside to remember the birth of the Prince of Peace. But I didn t know that at the time. I was still in the infants department at school. All I knew was that week by week I looked forward, with my brother, to turning to the cartoon strips in our copies of the Wizard and Rover, the comics which came were read avidly from cover to cover. Those strips highlighted the exploits of our armed forces during World War II. They reflected the positive message, I suppose, the national coalition government sought to create throughout the nation even when things were going against us. Again I didn t appreciate that at the time. What I did know was that I was as happy as a sandboy with my tommy gun which had been crafted by my father, and by turning a wheel of sorts at the side it could be made to mimic the rat-rat-rat sound of the real thing. Christmas, of course, is a time when we should not be thinking along martial lines. Christmas is a time, not only for family gatherings, but for all of us to reflect on the reason for the season, not extravagant spending on loved ones or making military hardware. Christ doesn t want us to live like that. He wants us to live in peace and to spread the Good News. That s the best present of all. Have a Happy Christmas and a Good New Year. Your friend and locum Colin 8

9 Women s Association As we now come to December we have planned on the 6 th December a Card Making Demonstration by Marlene Dickson. Our Christmas Party is on Wednesday 13 th December at the newly refurbished Oxgang House Hotel and on the 20 th December we will have a Carol Concert in the Church Hall. 27 th December and 3 rd January 2018 are holidays and we return on January 10 th when we come together for a welcome back night. On 17 th January we look forward to welcoming as our guest Rev Pauline Robertson who represents the Seafarers Mission. Wednesday 24 th January we celebrate our Burns Night with our guests the Zetland Entertainers and on January 31 st there will be a talk about the Woodland Trust with Jim Christie as our speaker. We wish everyone at the Kirk of the Holy Rood many Christmas Blessings and thank you for the support we are given as we continue to carry forward the welcome we extend to everyone. Christmas Blessings. Mary Wood President Ecumenical Holiday Club August 14 th to 18 th 2017 The holiday club was held in Abbotsgrange Church and several representatives met on Tuesday 31 st October in Zetland Parish Church to give an update and progress report on the way forward for the 2018 Holiday Club. Somethings which were discussed was a change to the date and a change to the material used to convey the scripture content be compiled and printed using the input of the Grangemouth Churches. Another meeting is planned for January when new ideas will be welcomed and discussed. I will give a further report in the next magazine of the progress of planning the 2018 Holiday Club. Mary Wood, KHR Representative, Ecumenical Holiday Club 9

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12 With Best Wishes to all for Christmas and the New Year 12