Ministers page
The busy season of Christmas is now over. Our various services and social events were well-attended and inspiring, so thank you to all who participated in any way. We step forward into the New Year, knowing that God will continue to be our Guide and Companion.
The New Year began with a ‘bang’! The storms which hit Scotland have caused some damage to our buildings. The largest damage was caused to the Church Centre, with part of the roof being ripped off in the extreme weather. Thankfully, the eye of the storm passed over in the early hours of 2nd January, so no-one was in the building or walking along the pavement at the time. In the meantime, the Centre is closed. Our Fabric Convener is in constant communication with the insurers.
CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM YOUR MINISTER
As we move towards the end of this year we may look back on the difficulties facing our nation and our world, and it may have been a difficult one personally for us and our families. One of the messages of the Christmas story is that God is not distant from our human experiences of joy and suffering. God has come near to us in the birth of Jesus Christ – a child in a working-class family, a child in a land under occupation by the Romans, a child in a family who became refugees, fleeing to Egypt from a violent ruler who massacred children.
The Christmas message gives an answer to those who ask where God is in the midst of human suffering. He is here. He is with us. He is with the family of the homeless child seeking temporary accommodation. He is with the family of refugees in a camp in north Africa. That is why one of the names given to him is “Emmanuel” which means “God is with us”. God is here. The Nativity Story is not a sentimental, distant story. It is a real-life story of all the love and hope that surrounds the birth of a baby. The amazing thing is that this baby shows us God is with us. God is here. He is not distant. He is not untouched or unmoved by human life. He is here because He loves us and wants us to know that He is with us all of the way.
Wherever we are on our journey of life, may we all know something of the peace of the child who is Emmanuel, God with us.
May God’s blessings be upon you and your loved ones during this year’s Christmas celebrations and beyond into 2012!
Sarah Nicol.
Minister’s Letter for September 2011
If you and your families had the opportunity to take a holiday during the summer months I hope you had an enjoyable and restful time!
We had a great time at sea, meeting interesting folk, seeing new places, taking part in a variety of activities and, of course, enjoying the food!
I came back to a week full of pastoral calls, reminding me that not everyone had been relaxing in the previous fortnight. Our thoughts and prayers are with those of you who had a difficult summer.
The country, too, was embroiled in a week of turmoil – with rioting in some cities and the Stock Exchange taking further tumbles. We live in difficult days as a nation and a world. Let us be sure that we as a church continue to show our Christian concern for those around us who are finding it hard to cope with the present economic crisis and with their own personal struggles. We are part of a much bigger ‘society’ than the one our politicians are trying to get us to identify with. We are part of the People of God who are trying to live in His Kingdom, ruled by His standards of righteousness and mercy.
COME ON – LET’S BE ‘THE GODLY SOCIETY’!
Thinking of our journey through the Bible, we have moved on two books since the last summary in July’s magazine. I skipped over Song of Songs (read it and you’ll see why I left that one for private reading!) We looked at Isaiah, that wonderful Old Testament prophet so often quoted in the New Testament, used by Jesus Himself as the starting point of His Mission. Isaiah spoke to his own people at times of their political and religious crises, challenging their injustice and hypocrisy, interpreting political decline in terms of their spiritual decline, yet also offering hope that God would come again to rescue them.
In an inspired and inspiring way, Isaiah’s words also spoke directly to the people of Jesus’ day, and have continued to speak to Christians ever since then. Amongst other things, Isaiah introduced us to the idea of the Suffering Servant Messiah, fulfilled supremely in the Ministry of Jesus Christ and in His crucifixion.
During the high points of our liturgical year – in Advent and in Holy Week – the Church across the world, in every tradition, reads great chapters from this amazing prophet. Let’s read beyond those well-known passages, allowing God through Isaiah to speak to our political and personal situation!
With the children we have completed the Bible Alphabet. Well-done to young and old alike for your searching homework – and some surprising discoveries!
Don’t forget that ‘the People’s Bible’ project (see last Frontier if you have forgotten what this project is about) is coming to the Oak Mall in Greenock on Saturday 24th September. At least one of our elders has already written two verses while on a visit to Aberdeen. Let’s make sure that a good number of us from Kirn contribute to the digital writing of the Bible in this 400th anniversary year of the King James Version of the Bible.
Hope to see you there as well as in the pews of Kirn!
With every blessing,
Sarah Nicol.
Minister’s Letter for July 2011
We are now more than two months into the linkage of our three churches into the Charge of Central Cowal. This is a time of adjustment for all of us. You may be enjoying a variety of worship services with Glenda and myself alternating where we are! For myself, I am very aware that I now only get the chance to greet and speak with worshippers at Kirn Church every second Sunday. Even that timetable may sometimes be varied, depending on sacramental services or other special occasions arising in the three churches.
This ‘peripatetic’ style of ministry also means that our journey through the Bible is slowing down somewhat!
In the month of June we only progressed one book along the way, Ecclesiastes, since my other Sunday in Kirn was a family service for the Sunday School Prizegiving. As you know this is the 400th anniversary year of the publication of the King James Version, so we thought it appropriate that the children were all presented with a New King James Version from their congregation.
At this service we thought about “the people’s Bible” project, set in motion on 19 June by the Bible Societies in the UK. That date was chosen as it is the anniversary of the birth of the boy who became King James VI of Scotland.
Beginning at Edinburgh Castle and Westminster Abbey a new digital writing of the Bible began a journey that will take it across the UK, with interested people having the opportunity to write out two verses of the Bible in their own handwriting. This digital image will go up on the internet for people across the world to look at, and hopefully read!
The project is due to come to Greenock on 24th September, so I will be encouraging folk from our three churches and schools to go over that day and ‘make their own mark in history’. I wonder which verses from which book of the Bible it will be our privilege to write out?
Returning to Ecclesiastes, we were reminded that the book is not all doom and gloom, nor is that famous passage about ‘a time for everything under the sun’ the only part worth reading. It may seem that the writer of Ecclesiastes , who calls himself the philosopher, is a bit of a ‘Rev. I. M. Jolly’, but if we read the book in the light of the assurances of Jesus Christ then we do not need to feel despondent about the direction of our life.
As we observe life, yes, we will notice that it does not always run smoothly. Yes, we will acknowledge that sometimes life seems to all about hard work, and we may ask what it is all about. There are many different lessons that we need to learn through life. One of them should be the lesson affirmed several times by the philosopher, that we should work hard and enjoy the fruits of our labours while we can, with gratitude to God for the blessings of our life. With a generous spirit, too, we can be glad that we have the wherewithal to share these material and spiritual blessings with others.
As we go into summer holiday time, keeping hopeful that summer suns will shine, may we all make TIME to be refreshed and give THANKS to GOD for the TIME of our life!
With every blessing,
Sarah Nicol.
Minister’s letter for May
Since the last edition of the church magazine we have celebrated Palm Sunday and journeyed through Holy Week until we reached the joys of Easter Day with its empty tomb and encounters with the risen Jesus.
We had a wonderful Easter Day Service – with lots of visitors, many because of the baptism of Matthew James Anderson-McGlin. The Sunday School put on a puppet show about the Easter story and taught us a new song. The Table was decorated with a cross and Easter Gardens with an empty tomb. They also gave out crosses, which the older group had made, to every person in the church, and brightly decorated cakes were offered to people as they left the church.
Our progress through the Bible has therefore been slow, meeting only Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther since I last reported in Frontier.
Ezra and Nehemiah were part of the returning exiles from Babylon, committed to the hard and even dangerous task of rebuilding their city walls, homes and temple. Nehemiah was the steady, reliable governor while Ezra was the priest who led the people in a reformation and revival of their faith and worship practices. We thought a little about our own building project – much smaller, but needing as much commitment and sacrifice. Are YOU willing to be a part of our CHURCH HALL BUILDING PROJECT?
Esther was a Jewish woman who won the heart of a Persian king, thus becoming his queen and finding herself in a position to save her fellow Jews from what could have been an ancient holocaust. We were maybe surprised to learn that Esther is only one of two books in the Bible that do not mention God, although its story does include Esther fasting and praying before interceding with her husband on behalf of the Jews. She made us think of all people who might be persecuted for their faith, and helped us think forward to Jesus’ unjust suffering on the cross.
With the children we have reached the letter ‘M’ in the Bible alphabet quest. Many people were remembered – Moses, Miriam, Micah, Malachi and Melchizedek in the Old Testament, and Mary, Martha, Matthew, Mark and the Messiah in the New Testament. There were mothers to think about, and messengers and masters, miracles and mysteries, manna and mercy, so many marvellous words begin with ‘m’!
Now that we are in May, the linkage of the three congregations of Sandbank, St. John’s and Kirn, which has for a few years been in the background as ‘deferred’, is now real. We continue to have our separate congregations and sanctuaries, but we share a minister and a deaconess. We will continue much the same as we have been, but we will also be a little different. There will need to be some ‘give and take’ for all of us. We have had a good start with the joint services and social events of the past few years, so we are not strangers to each other’s churches and traditions. Let us move forward into this new stage of our life as part of the Church in Central Cowal, rejoicing that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Even though we have different ‘worship places’ we are worshipping the same Lord!
To mark our linking we will be having a joint service in St. John’s Church on Sunday 8th May at 10.15am (please note the earlier time).
The Presbytery are also planning a special service to mark the linking, but because of busy General Assembly and Presbytery schedules in May this will need to be later! June is also turning out to be unsuitable – because of various holidays for office-bearers! Looks like Presbytery will only get round to us in July. That service will be held in Sandbank Church (remembering that the Induction Service was held in Kirn Church).
In the month of May there will be significant ‘organising’ or administration work for me to do as we begin the linkage, but our deaconess and our elders will, as usual, be on hand to help with pastoral visiting. I know that you value the role of your own elders as they visit you in your homes to offer personal support. They are a great support to me, too!
If you feel that someone is particularly in need of ministerial support please get in touch directly or via your elder.
Glenda will also be involved in the leading of worship, moving around the three churches as required.
On occasions we will come together in the different churches for united worship. The ‘Preaching Rota’ will be published in the monthly magazine, so that you know where we are, even when you don’t see us!
With Christian love and blessings,
Sarah Nicol.