From the Manse – March 2010

Dear Friends

The other day I received an email from a friend in Romania. The email was about the
Falkirk Wheel. My friend was so amazed how clever and simple the whole mechanism is
that he wrote only three short sentences: ‘This is quite something.’ ‘It is well thought out.’
and ‘Who did invent it?’

I suppose he is not the only one who is so stunned by the construction. It is a piece of
engineering ingenuity and quite rightly it is counted among the World Heritage Sites. It
appears to be so simple, and fitting. It looks so obvious and effortless as it transfers boats from one level to
another. One just marvels at it and wonders, how did he or she not think of it? And then you try to understand
the simplicity of the wheel, and you attempt to get to grips with the principle of Archimedes that
makes it so simple. But then it takes a while to understand the whole structure completely. It is not enough
just to stand there and marvel at it; mind you I could watch it for hours. If you really want to understand it
you need to get into it, to experience it, maybe do a bit of background reading, and delve into
science too. Yet it still has its mystery.

My friend’s enthusiastic email about the Falkirk Wheel reminded me of the Cross of
Christ. I know, you say, everything reminds ministers of the cross, or Jesus or God. Which is
probably true, but this time it really did; I was not searching for an analogy there, honest. God
made plain His wonderful nature to us in the cross of Jesus Christ. It is a simple construction that
over-bridged the gap between heaven and earth in love. Its vertical beam reminds us that God
came down to us from heaven to open up his arms and embrace us, of which the horizontal beam can be a
reminder. There is the Gospel message, God loves us! So simple, yet so mysterious. If you want to know it,
it is not enough just to marvel at the cross, you must enter into God’s love to experience it, feel it together
with others in the congregation. And you need to delve into the Bible to read the background about God’s
love and it still will be a mystery to you and so it should be.

This Easter season will allow us a number of opportunities to know the love of God deeper. The joint
half hour short Lenten services are already held at our church on Saturdays. While for those who want to
explore fresh ways of expressing God’s love in the world as a church we have a Lenten fellowship with
folks from other churches on Sunday nights at Garelochhead Church Hall. On Palm Sunday the Church of
Scotland congregations will celebrate and worship together at West Kirk. The Holy Week services this year
will be held at St Michael’s and All Angels Episcopal Church and begin at 8:00pm each night. On Good
Friday the traditional Walk of Witness will be organised again, and in our Sanctuary we will have again the
Easter Experience display from Good Friday till Easter Sunday. On Easter Sunday we have the usual open
air service and egg rolling at Hermitage Park (bring along your hard boiled eggs!) followed by an Easter
Breakfast which will await us in King Street Hall, after which it will be time for our Easter Family Service.

After Easter we will begin our ten weeks Enquirers’ Course which will be held at Braeholm, for all those
who want to know more about God, His love for us, Jesus Christ, how the Holy Spirit guides us and how the
church works, are invited and welcome to this fellowship meal and discussion.
Please feel free to take any or all these opportunities to marvel at, get involved in God’s amazing
love. It is so simple, so mysterious and free for all.

With every blessing
Your Minister,
George

From the Manse – April 2009

From the Manse – March 2009

A great new banner decorates our King Street Hall.  It is the handiwork of Kirstie Brown.  It is a powerful reminder that in Christ we can never get lost.  How often we lose our own ways! Not even up-to-date satnavs can always gide us to the right place.  For instance on our satnav our home address does not even exist!  Or have you ever got lost sight of the truth?  Truth is like a straight line, no bends in it, no twists, just a straight line.  But in an age of spinning and weaving the truth they put so many angles on it that it becomes bigger than an octagon.  one can’t recognise the straight line any more.  So we get lost in life too, in our relationships, in our daily activities.

It is good to be reminded that in Christ we can’t get lost.  His whole earthly life, from the manger to the cross revealed the right way , brought the light of truth and offered eternal life for us.  So be encouraged, he came to find the lost, to find you too and to lead you back to the Father.

From the Manse – February 2009

 

This wee blog comes from Romania, where we are spending our holiday (only one more day remained).  It was nice to see friends and family.  The kindness and the hospitality are as overwhelming as ever!  We need some serious exercise to lose weight again!  hospitality is still the most dangerous thing in Transylvania.  It was interesting to see how local authorities try to make the towns and cities nicer, a lot of work was put into beautifying the buildings, but there is still plenty more to do.  The roads are busy with cars, so much so that at certain times of the day and some parts of the city (Oradea) traffic is almost impossible; cars are parked often on both sides of the streets.  Some traffic diversions aim to ease this difficulty.  Travelling in the country is exciting, the scenery is lovely and you never know what the road is going to be like.  In some parts it had an excellent surface, but at others you needed all your skill to avoid the potholes that threaten to swallow up your car together with you.  It was sad to see the factory buildings that once so proudly symbolised the achievements of the communist system now standing derelict and abandoned.  Only a few of them, the better ones, were reused by the new owners.  New shopping centres are popping up at the outskirts like mushrooms after rain and offer a huge range of products to any who can buy them.

We had the opportunity to worship with local Christians too, which were great experiences.  As we visited Benjamin and his family in Targu-Mures we worshipped both with his congregation where I preached twice and together with the other churches of the city as part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  This week is a very popular event in Transylvania.  It was truly an ecumenical event.  Four denominations (Reformed/Presbyterian, Lutheran, Unitarian and Roman Catholic) worshipped together at joint services in each others’ churches.  The closing service was hosted by the Lutheran congregation, since their hall was too small the neighbouring Reformed church offered up their sanctuary and the sermon was preached by a Catholic priest, over one thousand people worshipped together!

Later as we came back to Oradea, we worshipped in one of the local Reformed churches that took the advantage of having a visiting minister and asked me to preach.  The minister of the congregation told us with great joy that this winter-time the number of people attending the services, and not only at his church, but all over the town has increased.

We had some great experiences and happy times in Romania.

 

Thought for the Week – Helen Caldwell

Luke Chapter 2 Verse 7

“And she brought forth her first born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger”.

The Christmas Story seems to mean more to me, reading it from the King James Version of the Bible, than any other. It brings back so many childhood memories and I am sure many of you will think that it is a sign of old-age creeping up on me!

Happily, many of the primary schools have their own Nativity productions at this time of year.

There is something very special about seeing and hearing of the Christmas Story through the eyes of a child. This was brought home to me recently at the Dorian Choir Concert, hearing the lovely voices and seeing the bright faces of the Hermitage Primary School Choir, telling the Story in song.

In these politically correct times in which we live, how refreshing it is to know that our children are hearing the Story of Christmas.

Prayer

Dear Lord,
This Christmas, may we all take time out of our busy lives, to remember the wondrous Story of Jesus’ birth.

Amen

From the Manse – December 2008

“You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12)

I was browsing through some Christmas images to use one as an appropriate illustration of the meaning of the occasion. Then I found this by a Hungarian artist Andras Simon. Somebody remarked it is a nice picture, but one hardly can see Jesus in it. He was right, indeed He is hardly visible on it, but it is exactly this aspect that makes the image so relevant today.

There are so many images that imply the coming of Christmas. Christmas trees are decorated, homes adorned with bright flashing lights, preparations for Christmas dinner keep us busy, and in the celebration – Jesus is hardly visible.

People keep notice and are waiting for the sales and the best bargains. (The other day Sue was in one of the great retailers in Glasgow and remarked it to the lady at the counter that it was very quiet in the shop. ‘Yes – she answered – everybody is waiting for the 20% off sale that will start tomorrow.’ Well, we missed it again.) Presents are exchanged as an expression of love, and even in that – Jesus is hardly visible.

Children’s attention is focused on Santa Claus and the attractions of grottos, where – Jesus is not at all visible.

On special stamps to mark the occasion (the birthday of Jesus Christ!) it is more likely to find some wintery scene or a panto character – for Jesus is hardly visible in today’s Christmas.

It seems that the western world celebrates a Christmas without Christ; a birthday without a birth; and the coming of a kingdom without a king.

But one had to look for Him on the first Christmas night too! I am afraid I never quite appreciated enough the words of the angels to the shepherds: “You will find a baby…” What an encouragement and promise. You will surely find Him if you go and look for Him. Therefore so did the shepherds and later the magi.

Can those who are seeking more this Christmas than just the mince pies, mould wine and good time, find Him? Can they find Him in us that are called to be His followers? Let us seek and display Him in our celebrations. May we find Him afresh in our midst, in our lives, so that we will be able to show His love and power when the celebrations are gone. For we are celebrating a living Saviour whose return we are awaiting.

Have a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.

With every blessing,

From your minister, George

From the Manse – Oct 2008

My Dear Friends

This summer has been as sunny and dry as many expected it to be. Nevertheless, did you have a nice summer? For a pleasant time depends a great deal upon what did you make of it? Even a wet, dreich time can be fulfilling and pleasant if one made the most of it.

Last week, we had five students from Transylvania staying with us for a few days. For the last three summers they got into a car, well stocked with food from home, and they travelled around Europe.This year, they came to the British Isles. The weather wasn’t the best, but that did not bother them too much. One day, they rode up to Loch Ness and back! Surely sunshine would have made their trip even more pleasant, but even so they made the most of the opportunity.

During the Olympic Games we could witness how athletes made the most of their opportunities, mentioning just a few, the swimmer Michael Phelps, the runner Usain Bolt, the Scottish cyclist Chris Hoy or, coming a bit closer to home, Stephen Park who had instrumental part in coaching the British sailing team to collect five medals (three of which are gold). The British Olympic Team made the most of the opportunity also. While initially hoping to be about the eighth on the medal table, they achieved an amazing fourth place! If you think about it the conditions at Beijing were not idyllic at all. The heat and the smog did not help the competitors. Still, what mattered was to make the most of the given opportunity. And they did! We hope that the British Paralympians will also make the most of their opportunity at the Paralympics (6-11 September), in which, together with Helensburgh, we will follow with great interest the progress of young Gordon Reid in the tennis tournament.

The rich young man did not make anything of the great opportunity he received (cf. Matthew 19:16-30)! And what an opportunity he had! He wanted to get eternal life and to his question he got the answer from Jesus. His quest was over, he had the answer. He even received an invitation from Jesus to follow Him (have you noticed that Jesus did not invite everybody to follow him?). But he turned it down.

At church, we are beginning a new season that will present us with new opportunities. The conditions will not be favourable all the time, but the opportunities will be there. Will we make the most of them? Besides the usual services (Easy Worship and Morning Worship) we will have our Harvest Celebration on the 14th of September, when our retiring offering will support the RNLI, that indeed make the most in saving lives in the most unfavourable conditions!

We will also have the opportunity to celebrate, together with the pupils of Hermitage Primary School, on the 21st of September, a unique opportunity to dedicate the new school year to God’s merciful love.

We also will have the opportunity to adopt a child in prayer, the details of which will follow shortly. Our God, the Lord of all seasons, brings opportunities to us, He gave us His Spirit to make the most of them. Trust in God and in Jesus Christ your Saviour and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit to make the most of the opportunities you receive.