Dear Friends It seems a long time since the last edition of Reachout, for which I am sorry. Moira Hogg, who did such a good job of editing the

Transcription

1 Newtonhill Parish Church Magazine June 2018

2 Dear Friends It seems a long time since the last edition of Reachout, for which I am sorry. Moira Hogg, who did such a good job of editing the magazine for the past while, had to resign as editor due to other commitments and it has taken us a while to try to make other arrangements. Roy Browning has edited this issue and we will try to be more regular going forward. As you may know, I am not long back from the General Assembly. This year the theme was Peace be with you. Despite that, the Assembly was rather fractious and divided. I think it was a symptom of the kind of pressure the Church is under, because of the many difficult issues it faces internally and in society. A big chunk of ministers is due to retire within the next 10 years, membership continues to fall and like all organisations there are financial pressures. There was a struggle to envision a way forward in this kind of climate, with the strategic plan drawn up by the Assembly Council being rejected as not radical enough and them being sent back to think again. We need to sort out how to maintain worship and congregational life in very different circumstances from those we have been used to. However, the World Mission Council was clear that there are large parts of the world where the church is growing and a report on Africa south of the Sahara sought to learn lessons from such places, where they also are short of ministers but because there are so many new congregations. Bible study and prayer are very much closer to the heart of congregational and individual life in such places, with a greater practice of and emphasis on evangelism. Repentance and reconciliation are much more preached about and faith is expressed through practical social action for the needy in communities. Worship is wholehearted, joyful, spontaneous and often led by elders, lay evangelists and other members of the congregation, including the preaching. (Ordained ministers are appreciated too, where they can be found.) It may well be that as the African churches first learned from the Western ones, it is now time for us to learn from them. Nearer home, preparation for our holiday club, Teambuilders, is going well. It looks at our calling to love and serve God together, using the different talents and gifts he gives to each one of us, which is very appropriate. Please pray for it and for our Church of Scotland this summer. With all best wishes for a very blessed summer. Yours in Christ, Hugh

3 Scotland s Patron Saint We all know St Andrew as our patron saint and observe a holiday on his special day but how did he become our patron saint. While little is known about his life, we do know that he was a fisherman from Bethsaida in Galilee, brother to Simon, whom Jesus would call Peter, and probably the first to be called as a disciple of Christ. In later life, Andrew was believed to have been a missionary to Asia Minor and Greece, and was crucified on 30 November 60AD on an x-shaped cross at Patras, by order of the Roman governor Aegeas. He chose this shape of cross as he did not feel worthy to be crucified on the same type of cross as Christ Around 300 years after his death, his remains were entombed in Constantinople under the order of the Emperor Constantine. However in 370 AD they were taken to a Pictish settlement on the East coast of Scotland by Saint Rule, who was told in a vision to take the bones to the ends of earth for safe-keeping. In consequence of the vision, he removed a tooth, arm bone, kneecap and some fingers from the tomb in Constantinople. The settlement later became known as St. Andrews, and the relics were placed first in a small chapel, and then later in the Cathedral of St. Andrews, a centre for medieval religious pilgrims. Although Andrew was revered in Scotland from about 1000AD onwards, he did not become our patron saint till the declaration of Arbroath in As Scotland slowly became a nation it needed a national symbol to rally round and motivate the country. It was a wise choice to opt for the brother of Peter, the founder of the church, whose relics were already here in a place of pilgrimage. It is believed that the relics were destroyed during the Scottish Reformation. The larger part of St. Andrew s remains were stolen from Constantinople in 1210 and were moved to Amalfi, in southern Italy. In 1879 the local Archbishop sent part of the saint s shoulder blade to the Scottish Roman Catholic community, and Pope Paul VI presented further relics of the Saint in 1969, which are currently on display in St. Mary s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Edinburgh. By Colin Young

4 Stewardship. Just the word is enough to scare the living daylights out of many a congregation. But why? Is it because we are all too busy? Is it because we are all scared of change? Is it because we don t like to ask others for help? Do we not like talking about money? Is it because we are all quite happy at the centre of our comfort zone? Or???? Maybe we don t understand what Stewardship is? The Church of Scotland website describes it very well and maybe in a completely different way to what you think. Christian stewardship is a way of living in which we recognise that everything belongs to God. We are stewards of all that God has given us including our time, our abilities, our possessions and our money. There s a lot of we and our in there isn t there? No they and their. Stewardship is our personal responsibility and this is how we at Newtonhill Church are going to be looking at it. Instead of the usual Time, Talents and Money campaigns over 3 years usually running low on energy and ideas and enthusiasm by the time it comes to Money and then leaving the issue for another good few years before running it again, we will be having an annual Stewardship Season. This will run every year for the month of September. As I said, stewardship is our own personal responsibility, but it is the church s responsibility to be encouragers, managers and enablers to our stewardship. So, the onus is on you, and me, and each and every member of our church to look at how we use the good gifts given to us by God. And, if we believe what God has told us in the Bible, this is absolutely everything we have; Every talent, whatever that may be, from preacher to children s worker, gardener to cleaner, baker to craftmaker, carers and sharers; All our time, our time is given to us by God. If we do not have enough time to give back to God and His church, then we are not managing the time he gives us and we need to readdress our thinking;

5 All our money, is given by God. How we spend it and what we do with it should reflect our relationship with God. It s always a hard topic to speak about in the church, and will be just as hard for you to speak about with God, but if we can t trust God with our money, how can we trust God with our lives and are we really committed to Him? Starting this September, we will be holding specially Stewardship themed services, looking at how we can share all that we have been given with God and His church. We will be looking at what Stewardship does/should/can and will mean to our church in Newtonhill. We will be looking at what we, personally, can do to help in our church, our community and beyond. We will be looking at how our church can enable and encourage our members to take part in God s Stewardship. And we will be showing off, in a Christian way, all the wonderful ways we already display Stewardship and how you can hopefully join us. We re looking forward to September. I do hope you will join us.

6 Toybox Appeal As you will see elsewhere in this magazine, Jaffa held a very successful Valentine s Coffee and Cake Afternoon and raised an amazing 1,149 for Toybox. I have been asked to write an article for Reachout to explain a little more about the charity and what it does. In 1992 Duncan and Jenni Dyason were watching a documentary entitled They shoot children don t they? which documented the shooting of nuisance street children in Guatemala. In response, they headed off to Guatemala with their one year old daughter and set about trying to help these children. They set up a youth club, then a training centre, then a day centre and family styled homes for the rescued children. 25 years on, last year Toybox helped over 72,000 children in 6 different countries. Children find themselves on the street for a variety of reasons, family issues, trying to find a better life, orphaned, runaways etc. During the Guatemalan civil war, many thousands were displaced or orphaned. Once on the streets, children have to fend for themselves, begging, stealing, many end up in gangs leading to fighting, stabbings, drugs. Some are enticed into prostitution. The average age for a street child is and the average life expectancy on the streets is 3 years. Toybox employ street workers who attempt to befriend the children, playing football in the streets with them, talking to them and eventually gaining enough trust to invite them to the day centres for food, showers and games. In time, these children may move into the family homes, a house with a couple of adults acting as houseparents. They can then go to school, learn to read, get qualifications and find a normal life. Unfortunately, sometimes the children are not willing to trust or give up their way of life, so the street workers can only try and keep them safe when they can. Often these children have no identification, no birth certificates because their parents may not have been able to afford to register them, or couldn t get to the registry office, or just didn t bother because the child wasn t worth it, especially if she was a girl. Without a birth certificate, children can t go to school, get medical or dental help, get a job or even get married.

7 This is where our 1,149 comes in. Toybox get these children their birth certificates. It isn t easy. They have to do a lot of research, get DNA tests, find out where the children come from, travel to their home town and get permission of parents, overcome government bureaucracy and more and this costs money, around 32 each time. Our 1,149 will enable Toybox to give around 35 children the gift of a new life. They will be able to get an education, a new home, a job. We are so lucky to have so much and Jaffa was very privileged to have been able to help. --o000o--

8 The Light of the World. Oil on canvas William Holman-Hunt (About ) "I am the Light of the World; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life". St John s Gospel records Christ's proclamation which inspired Holman Hunt to paint this world famous image. This is the third version of the allegory painted by the artist. The first, of 1853, resides in Keeble College Oxford and the second, painted shortly afterwards, can be seen in the Manchester Art Gallery. The St Paul s canvas was painted over fifty years later, with the assistance of Edward Robert Hughes, and it is thought to be the culmination of Holman-Hunt s vision. This sermon in a frame became the most travelled art work in history. Thy word is a lantern unto my feet and a light unto my path. There are two lights shown in the picture. The lantern is the light of conscience and the light around the head of Christ is the light of salvation. The door represents the human soul, which cannot be opened for the outside. There is no handle on the door, and the rusty nails and hinges overgrown with ivy denote that the door has never been opened and that the figure of Christ is asking permission to enter. The morning star appears near Christ, the dawn of a new day, and the autumn weeds and fallen fruit represent the autumn of life. The writing beneath the picture, is taken from Revelation 3 Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me.

9 The Publicity Team has been active in the past few years preparing, printing and arranging delivery of cards, particularly at Easter and Christmas time. In addition, we have prepared and printed posters to advertise various church activities such as Fairs, teas, sales etc. During that time, we have been conscious that there is no consistency in the format of these items and began to consider if we should have a Brand Image to raise profile and awareness and promote church based activities and communications throughout the community and wider afield. We thought that could be achieved by standardising all our letters, notices, posters and other publications so that they become instantly recognised around the village and wider community, helping both to advertise Church events and improve our profile. To stimulate the discussion within the Congregational Board, the Publicity Committee produced a number of alternative layouts that could be used and a final logo was agreed at the recent Congregational Board meeting. Now we have agreed on our new logo, you will all begin to see it being used in all our letters, posters, news articles and, over time, on banners. I would like to thank Jennifer Leighton, Wendy Croft and Steve Hill for all the time they have spent working on this. Steve, in particular, has been instrumental in using his talents on the computer in suggesting layouts, colours and making changes to accommodate comments made by the Congregational Board to arrive at our final logo. I do hope you like it too. Ken Cruickshank

10 Jesus leads us in our storms A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped... (Mark 4v37) What is life like for you when storms hit? I don't just mean bad weather, of course though in many parts of the world that is a major problem. I mean the bad stuff more generally which happens to us, often out of the blue: redundancy, bereavement, health problems. Then there's what someone once called "the multitude of petty annoyances" more mundane things like a lost bank card, a frustrating call centre, or problems with our broadband. The incident in which Jesus calms the storm is one which is well -known by many Christians. And yet though widely-known I suspect it's also often misunderstood. There's a children's chorus that goes: "With Jesus in your boat you can smile at the storm" which I find rather trite. I don't think I'm going to be smiling at cancer or what is happening in Guatemala anytime soon. Nor, based on the rest of Scripture, can we say that Jesus will automatically calm every storm that we encounter in life. So what is going on? Here are some surprising things we learn when we read this incident closely: Jesus sometimes leads us directly into storms: This whole episode starts when Jesus encourages his disciples to go across to the other side of the lake. It's Jesus who initiates the whole sequence of events. For any Christian who believes that Jesus promises a life free from difficulty this realisation can come as a shock. Yet Jesus tells us clearly that "in this world you will have trouble" (John 16:33). Sometimes that's due to the evil of others; sometimes we can't discern any cause; and sometimes Jesus seems to lead us into it deliberately. Whatever their origin, storms can be used by God to re-shape our character increasingly into the likeness of Christ. Check out what Paul (2 Corinthians 1:8-9) or Peter (1 Peter 1:6-9) have to say. Jesus sometimes seems to be asleep in our storms: While the disciples were getting frantic about the storm, Jesus was asleep in the stern (v38). And that's often how it feels for us, isn't it? Paul Miller, in his remarkable book A Praying Life which was also written in the context of challenging circumstances comments astutely: "When we suffer, we long for God to speak clearly, to tell us the end of the story, and, most of all, to show himself. But if he showed himself fully and immediately, if he answered all the questions, we'd never grow."

11 The disciples are still fearful after the storm but in a different way: Of course, as we know, Jesus does calm this storm dramatically. The point of the incident, ultimately, is to show us Jesus' unique authority, as God incarnate, over nature. And what do the disciples do? Do they get out their guitars and start singing happy choruses? No they were "filled with great fear" and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" Fear of the storm has been replaced by a different kind of apprehension an absolute awe of Jesus. Jesus is not a comfortable travelling companion. He may lead us into storms to shock us and refine us; he may seem to be asleep. But, ultimately, Jesus is greater shockingly greater than any storm we face. And what he will achieve in us through those storms is most likely beyond our greatest imagining. Submitted by Jim Farquharson

12 Here we are nearing the end of another fantastic Jaffa year. We have done lots this year. A couple of weeks ago, we held a Jaffa Sports Relief Circuits night as an alternative to the legendary Sports Relief Mile (too many little ones this year we thought). 10 stations, ranging from keepie uppie to star jumps to running, hula hoops etc. The children all did brilliantly and hopefully the sponsorship will keep rolling in. In February we held a hugely successful Valentine s Coffee and Cake Afternoon and a massive thank you to all who baked, helped and came along and helped us raise an amazing 1,149 for Toybox charity and help around 35 street children get a birth certificate and a new chance of life. More details on Toybox elsewhere in this Reachout. We had a great time learning about the Easter story and eating lots of bread and waving streamers and branches. Dot.Com has been running fabulously with our Prayer Diaries filling up every week with loads of good and sad things to pray about. We have been learning that God answers our prayers in unusual ways sometimes In a few weeks time we will be finishing for the session with an outing (hopefully if I get something sorted) and a party to celebrate all the fun and enjoyment we have had this year. A HUGE thank you to everyone who has helped, parents who have supported and especially to Lisa, Mollie Kaitlyn, Ross, Gabi, Iona, Katie, Eden, Erin and Molly for coming along and helping (and eating all the biscuits Gabi!) week by week. It is so good to have so many willing hands and to know that we must be doing something right for our past Jaffa children to want to come back as helpers. Of course, there would be no Jaffa without our children who have been amazing and so much fun this year. Thank you all and see you at the Holiday Club? Zoe

13 New Testament Books Word Search M P H I L I P P I A N S S I R C A C T S N A I S E H P E O P O N T E D U J B Y H T O M I T L O T T M E A W S E M A J A H O M W J H W C V O P N H X P E S E S E G E K U L S E L A H S S L W S O K W J S C O T T E S I I E U D M D N O O P M E W A A H R S X G A B Q H W N M R L N P B O M I O K U T N O H C O S E E W T P R A C W T P O D N Z H H A U A Q M O Q S I E M I B W L Q M R U Z X U R W T B A A A L N O I T A L E V E R U N G I Y C O R I N T H I A N S S Matthew - Mark - Luke - John - Revelation - Romans Corinthians - Galatians - Ephesians - Philippians Colossians - Thessalonians - Timothy - Titus - Philemon Hebrews - James - Peter - Jude Acts

14 June Wed 20 th Wed 27 th Sat 30 th July Sat 7 th Diary Dates June September pm Café Kirk 2-4pm Café Kirk 1-4pm Skateraw Fair 10am-12 Car Wash August Sat 4 th 10am-12 Car Wash Mon 6 th Fri 10 th 9.30am -12 Teambuilders Holiday Club Wed 22 nd 7pm Congregational Board Wed 29 th 7pm Kirk Session September Sat 1 st Tue 4 th Wed 5 th Wed 19 th 10am-12 Car Wash 12-2pm Soupa Tuesday 2-4pm Café Kirk starts (on every Wednesday) 7.30pm Guild In addition there are the following groups: Sunday Fun Club (every Sunday at 10.00) Bible Study (Thursdays from 7.00 to 8.30pm In School term time Jaffa Club for primary age children Girls Brigade P1-3 Girls Brigade P4+ (Thursdays from pm) (Mondays 6:15 7:15pm) (Mondays 7:00 8:45pm)

15 Who s Who at Newtonhill Church (All addresses and all phone numbers are Newtonhill (01569) numbers.) Minister Rev. Hugh Conkey theminister@ Session Clerk Mr Ken Cruickshank session@ Board Clerk Mrs Myra Stewart board@ Reachout Mr Roy Browning magazine@ Sunday Fun Club Mrs Ailsa Conkey sfclub@ Girls Brigade Mrs Fiona Leslie girlsbrigade@ Jaffa Ms. Zoe Ashby jaffa@ Guild Mrs Margaret Brookes guild@ Bible Study Rev. Hugh Conkey theminister@ Publicity Mrs Wendy Croft publicity@ Treasurer Ms Zoe Ashby treasurer@ Roll Keeper Mr Ken Cruickshank rollkeeper@ Website Mr Steve Hill webmaster@ Safeguarding coordinators Mr David Platt, Mrs Pauline Platt safeguarding@ This edition of Reachout has been sponsored by Elsie Bruce, Ann Howie and the late Bob and Molly Strachan If you would like to sponsor Reachout please put your name on the list on the noticeboard.

16 Reconnecting If you are a church member who hasn t attended for a while but would like to reconnect with your fellow members, why not come along and join in with some of our activities? In addition to our church service (every Sunday 10-11am) and communion services, we have the car wash, until November- look out for the banner, the children s organisations, regular fairs at Christmas and in the Spring and we organise the teas at the annual Skateraw fair (pictured below). In all, a dizzying variety of opportunities to volunteer or just enjoy the fellowship of others in the Church family! We look forward to welcoming both old and new friends and, if you would like to get involved in any of the events or organisations in any way, please speak to anyone at the church or through our website Newtonhill Parish Church Scottish Charity Registration Number SC