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www.mpnchurch.org.uk
Scottish Charity Number SC004271
David
GOD’S GOOD GIFTS. Every good action and every perfect gift is from God. James 1:17. Ever feel like you have nothing? Just look at the gifts (God) has given you. He has sent his angels to care for you, his Holy Spirit to dwell in you, his church to encourage you, and his word to guide you .. Anytime you speak, he listens; make a request and he responds.
He will never let you be tempted too much or stumble too far. Let a tear appear on your cheek, and he is there to wipe it. Let a love sonnet appear on your lips, and he is there to hear it. As much as you want to see him, he wants to see you more ... You have been chosen by Christ ... He has claimed you as his beloved. From Max Lucado— ’When Christ Comes’.
1st PRESTWICK BOYS’ BRIGADE SPONSORED CHALLENGE
The 1st Prestwick Boys’ Brigade choose a charity each year and this year we have chosen Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue, near Beith. Hessilhead rescue, treat, rehabilitate and release animals and birds back to the wild. They have the facilities and experience to treat all species of Scottish wildlife and treat over 3000 creatures a year. Resources at the Centre include an intensive care unit, a swan/seal hospital with indoor pool, a hedgehog unit, a surgery and more than 60 outdoor aviaries, enclosures and release pens. The centre has a 24hr emergency service, and is available to give advice on wildlife problems throughout the day. To raise money for this worthwhile cause, the boys and officers will be doing a sponsored 3-peak challenge by climbing three hills in South Ayrshire on Sunday 3 April. The Anchor Boys will climb Kildoon Hill, Maybole, the Junior Section will also climb Kildoon Hill plus Cornish Hill and the Company Section will climb Kildoon, Cornish and up to Straiton Monument. We are looking forward to the challenge and are hoping for a dry day so that we can take some photographs along the way and hopefully show them at our Display night on 6 May.
CAFE
C U L T U R E.
People love going out for coffee, meeting up, catching up and having a relaxing time. It seems we live in times where people like to socialise in coffee shops. Yes there is definitely a new and growing ‘cafe culture’. The number of cafes and coffee shops are springing up everywhere. What an opportunity for us as a Church to provide a coffee place where we can show God’s love to others. When I moved to Monkton I didn’t know anyone and when I heard there was a local church coffee shop I used it as an opportunity to meet people and build relationships with people. When I was approached about volunteering at the cafe I almost laughed. I had absolutely no skills or experience working in a cafe. I had never used a ‘till’, well not since my wee Post Office set when I was 7 years old!! I had never served tables, had no idea what temperature hot food should be or how cold fridges and freezers should be. There were plenty of people on hand to support and pass on all the information I needed. I quickly realised the most important skills I needed were to smile, chat and make both volunteers and visitors to the cafe feel welcomed. The cafe has not only given me wonderful friends but also a great opportunity to get to know and develop relationships with church family and people in the wider community oh! and I can now use a ‘till’. I feel God at work in the cafe. He certainly has given me patience, understanding and opportunities to share what God’s love has done in my life with others. Whether I’m working in the cafe or in as a customer I love meeting everyone, from the wonderful, kind people who bring their home baking week after week to the people who do the shopping, each and everyone vital to the running of the cafe. My idea of a CAFE ‘culture’ is this: CAR I N G ALL W ELCOM E FR I EN DLY EN COUR AGI N G Now that’s the kind of ‘culture’ we’d all love. Irene Smith.
Margaret Cranston one of our regular contributors found this in her newspaper. JOKE OF THE DAY A group of elderly ladies walks into an eatery in Llangollen. One asks the waitress: ‘Excuse me, could you say the name of where we are, but slowly so we can learn how to pronounce it?’ The waitress takes a deep breath and replies: ‘ Burrr....Gurrr....Kinggg.
1st PRESTWICK BOYS’ BRIGADE COFFEE MORNING to be held in
Church Halls, Monkton Road, Prestwick on
Saturday 5 March 2016
from 10.00 am - 12 noon
STALLS: Home Baking; Toys/Games; Books; Hand Made Cards; DVDs/CDs
TICKETS: On Sale from B.B. Officers and Boys or Pay at the Door
PRICE:
Adults - £2
Children - £1
DISPLAY NIGHT – FRIDAY 6 MAY 2016 The 1st Prestwick Boys’ Brigade will be holding their annual display on Friday 6 May when our Inspecting Officer will be Major Sir Richard Henderson KCVO TD. The display allows the boys to demonstrate to their parents, friends and Church family all that they have done and achieved throughout the session. We warmly welcome everyone to come along on 6 May. The Company will fall-in at 7.00 p.m.
Alan and I would like to thank the members of the Church Family who were kind enough to send us their good wishes with cards and flowers on the occasion of our Diamond Wedding Anniversary. We also received the Church flowers which had been arranged and brought to us by Margaret Ferguson—they were an absolute delight and lasted for a long time! We are so very fortunate to have been together for so long, and we had a great celebration with many friends and family. Thank you once again and God Bless. Margaret and Alan Brown.
There is nothing on this earth to be prized more than true friendship. St. Thomas Aquinas. Laughter is a smile with the volume turned up. Friendship is something that cannot be bought but can be treasured
FOR
REFLECTION .
Mark Barrett OSB is a monk at Worth Abbey, which was the subject of the BBC TV documentary The Monastery. Too Busy .....? A member of his congregation shared with Archbishop Anthony Bloom, who was widely (and rightly) regarded as an authority on Christian prayer, the concern that although she had prayed all her life, both in the public liturgy and often for hours in private devotions, she had never for a moment had any sense of the presence of God in her life. Were her prayers not heard? Was she not loved by God to whom she was praying? After talking with his visitor about her prayer practices and about her life in general, Archbishop Anthony offering her this advice: when you next come to your time of prayer, don’t kneel, don’t recite any prayers or psalms, but simply sit down in your favourite armchair by the fire, relax, and see what happens. Sure enough, the woman followed the Archbishop’s guidance, and simply relaxed by the fire in her sitting room. A committed and busy person, she had not usually allowed herself the ‘luxury’ of time apparently wasted in this way. ‘What a lovely room’, she reflected, as she looked about her at the ornaments, the furniture and the pictures that had accumulated in the many years she had lived in this house. She had never stopped to look at the room in this way before, but now she was suddenly aware of how blessed she was in the symbols of family and friendship that surrounded her. She was warmed by the fire, supported by the cushions on her chair, and delighted by the views from her window. Gratitude and joy for the richness of the life she had led were the emotions in her heart. Just as she had been instructed, she made no special effort to pray, but inevitably, she thanked God for all that this room and its contents represented to her. Gradually, she realised that it was as if she was listening to God speaking words of love to her— and every aspect of her life was one of those words, mediated to her by the physical contents of that room in which she was sitting. Finally, it dawned upon her that this was what the Archbishop had intended to happen: she had been so busy in every dimension of her life that her busyness had carried over even into her prayer—she had talked to God, praised and thanked him pleaded with him and complained to him, but never listened to him. Never had she stopped to allow her own life to become the word of God to her. This is what the Archbishop had discerned as he listened to her dismay, and his solution was to tell her to stop, to listen, to reflect. CROSSING MARK BARRETT OSB. (many thanks to the contributor for this thought provoking article Valerie)
1ST MONKTON AND PRESTWICK GIRLS BRIGADE We have had a wonderful start to our year with a fantastic response to our major fund raiser for Ayrshire Cancer Support. Thank you everyone so much for contributing to a very good cause and supporting our Girls Brigade Company with a superb turnout. We have raised over £300 for Ayrshire Cancer Support with money still being donated. The girls carried out their duties very well indeed, working as a team, washing and drying dishes and clearing tables and with the smaller girls passing around plates of home baking. Our older girls manned the tables selling goods and helping out. I am very proud of their conduct as they were very well behaved and very well turned out. At this moment I am preparing our girls for the Divisional Competition which takes place on the 19th March at New Cumnock We had a successful visit to Prestwick Library which was very educational and showed the girls the different facilities and activities which are available for them . We are also going on a visit to the ten pin bowling at Kilmarnock at the end of February. Our speaker this term was Margaret Goodlad who very kindly came and told us all about Fair Trade. The girls enjoyed the talk very much and Margaret was presented with a small gift from us by our Senior Junior Georgia Milton. Our topic for March is ‘Singstars’ and we will be learning lots of new action songs /worship songs/ camp fire songs etc. As our Company has no official song book I am starting to put one together with all our favourite songs and I will be asking the girls for their ideas to design a front cover with our badge, motto and name of our Company. I hope to get this printed off by our Display Night so that we can use it. Another of my projects this March is to put together a Ist Monkton and Prestwick Girls Brigade Book of Prayers and already some of the girls have contributed to this and I am sure that we will receive a lot more prayers over the next few months. Again I will try to ensure that this is ready for our Annual Display so that everyone can see the girls’ work . The Juniors Leader , Gayle Reid is leaving us in May and so I am seeking some new volunteers . Our Girls Brigade Company is a healthy 34 and we desperately need some more helpers. I have had to start a waiting list as we are full at the moment to the ratio of adult leaders. Thank you for your continued support. Susan Christie Captain
Many thanks to the girls of the Girls Brigade for the following prayers.
Dear Heavenly Father
Dear God and Heavenly Father
We thank thee for this day. We thank thee for our medicines that save lives and for looking after people that are in hospital. We are very lucky to be on this earth and will fulfil our promise to be like you and never sin.
Thank you for creating me but please help to clear the sin and war of the world. It seems men are not content until they cause suffering and disruption. Amen.
Amen.
Rachael Archibald aged 9.
Isla Robinson and Star Barbour aged 10. Dear Father
I hope that all of the people that are poorly get well soon and I hope that this summer will be very sunny and people don’t get bad burns and need to go to hospital. Emma Gouk - aged 9.
Dear Heavenly Father and God I shall help the poor in my community and be kind all year and help my friends and I shall praise you any time I want and I shall help hurt people on every occasion. Aimee Nicholson aged 7.
Dear Father in Heaven Thank you for dying on the cross To give us new life and please Can you forgive us our sins and Help us to become closer to you. Elly, Maja and Basia The GB Brigaders.
Elaine’s Childminding Services Registered Childminder 26 years experience in Early Year Education Open Days available on request Contact:Elaine Wardrop 155 Adamton Road South Prestwick 01292 857153 Mobile 07526128194 wardrop.elaine@gmail.com
Our MP held a surgery at Monkton recently and Robert managed to get her details if anyone needs to contact her.
THE GUILD We have enjoyed a variety of talks this year. Our last meeting was more energetic when Fiona Young instructed us in Fun Zumba – lots of exercises for our arms and legs all done to music while sitting in our chairs – it was fun! We have two more meetings – On 3rd March at 2pm The Rev Eddie Simpson the Chaplain of Barlinnie is our speaker which should be interesting and the final meeting is our AGM and Daffodil Tea on the 17th March. All welcome. Extra Meetings are: - Thursday 9th March at 3pm – the Spring Rally at St Meddans Church when the speaker will be The Moderator of the General Assembly. Thursday 19th May at 2pm the Annual Business Meeting & Buffet at the Carlton Hotel. We are supporting 2 Guild Projects this year – Street Pastors and Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Thank you for the congregation’s support in the special collection. February the 6th was the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM and on this and every other day the genitals of 8000 girls will be mutilated – usually at the behest of parents and communities as a rite of passage from girlhood to womanhood. Nearly 3 million girls were mutilated last year and it lead to a lifetime of pain, health problems, human rights violations and for some, death. The practice is widespread in Sub Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. It also occurs in many developed countries such as Norway and Britain. Between April and September 2421 cases were reported in Britain, a country where the Government is committed to ending this abusive and illegal practice. In Norway the Government and Civil Society Organizations have been working with communities practising FGM with very good results. In 2015 the International Community committed to eliminating FGM everywhere. It is already outlawed in many countries but difficult to enforce. The United Nations aim to end this harmful practice against women and girls by 2030. The best results are achieved by working with communities to raise parents’ and girls’ awareness of the serious consequences of FGM and teaching the benefits of protecting girls from this harmful practice. So far 15,500 communities have abandoned FGM. If one child can be protected then she will not allow her daughter to be ‘cut’ and so the practice can be stopped in one generation. The money being spent and the efforts being made to stop this practice are vital. Margaret Goodlad.
Margaret Goodlad
FLOWER LIST Flowers Donated by:
6th March 13th March 20th March 27th March 3rd April 10th April 17th April 24th April 1st May 8th May 15th May 22nd May 29th May 5th June 12th June 19th June 26th June
Margaret Goodlad Margaret Paton Jim & Hazel Ann McLauchlan Patricia Casey Mr & Mrs J. Mckay Pat Simpson Linda Welsh Anna Vassie Alice Crombie Valerie Greig Anne Wilson Evelyn McHarg / Mrs I. Sheilds ----Elspeth Manson May Cumming Nan Dagostino Molly & John Paterson
Delivered by:
Pat Riach Eleanor Johnston Tom & Lilly Dougan Morag Hamil Nan Dagostino Susan Campbell Margaret Ferguson Elizabeth Ewing Jeanette Munro Katrina Carswell Ann Leckie Lorna Fraser Margaret Goodlad Linda Welsh Margaret Thomson Leslie McCarrell Elaine Wardrop
The Church flowers are delivered every Sunday after the morning service to members of the congregation who are ill, housebound or bereaved. If you hear of any situation where flowers would be appropriate please get in touch and I will arrange for flowers to be delivered. Please give me a call. Tel: 01292 479472 Margaret Ferguson Flower Convenor. Flower Convenor.
C H R I S T I A N
A I D.
This year for Christian Aid each local church was tasked by the Prestwick Committee to do something different. The team here at MPN Church wanted to do something that would attract a new audience to complement the existing activities and events supported by many of our local community. Acoustic Rain is an exciting new fundraising concert featuring Christian musicians from across Scotland, and will be hosted by local Christian singer-songwriter Scott Nicol. This is the first time we have run this event so it would be great if you could come out and support it. There are no tickets Required, doors open at 6.45 pm and donations will be taken on the door going towards the work of Christian Aid. (See poster for all the details).
We will still be having the Christian Aid Fun Day, this year at St. Quivox Church, on Saturday 14th May; penny jars will be collected across churches on Sunday 15th May; and we will be having our door to door collection from 15th to 21st May, with envelopes being collected on the 22nd. Look out for more information on other events such as Salvation Army Praise Night and Fundraising Celidh in the next few weeks. Thanks
-
Scott Wardrop.
FAIRTRADE FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT is from 29th February to 13th March and the theme this year is BREAKFAST. The average breakfast will include products from many different countries e.g. Tea from India, coffee from Malawi, Sugar from Mauritius, Raisins from South Africa, Orange Juice from Spain, corn from the USA, Rice from Bangladesh, Chocolate from Ghana and oatmeal and milk from Scotland. Each year the Prestwick Fairtrade Committee organise a competition in the local Primary schools. This year the children have to design a 3D ‘Breakfast Plate’. Prizes will be presented at ‘THE BIG BREAKFAST’ at Kingcase Church Hall on Saturday 12th March from 10am to 12noon. All are welcome to join us for Fairtrade cereals, bread, jam, marmalade, geobars, biscuits, bananas, coffee and tea. Donations will be welcome for the Traidcraft Exchange Charity.
Traidcraft support very poor producers to improve their agriculture and find markets. Traidcraft has produced a new cereal bar – a White Chocolate Raspberry Ripple Rice Crispy Bar – quite a title but it is very good and at 50p good value. The rice comes from Myanmar, (formerly Burma) which used to be a large exporter of rice. Decades of dictatorship, economic mismanagement and ethnic conflicts have taken their toll and now it is one of the poorest nations in Asia. Traidcraft is working with a producer group in the Irrawaddy region to improve their rice growing methods and using their rice in the new cereal bar. Fair trade will help these poor communities to transform their lives. By spending a few pennies more to buy Traidcraft or Fairtrade everyday products you will help poor people work their way out of poverty. There will be a Traidcraft Stall at the BB Coffee morning on 5th March and after morning worship on the 6th March. Margaret Goodlad,
MONKON PIONEER CAFE.
Do you want a relaxed place to meet up with friends for coffee or lunch? Do you want to be served by friendly, helpful staff? Do you want a bit of company or someone to chat to? THEN LOOK NO FURTHER! ! ! The church café offers all this and food! Homebaking, Homemade Soups and a range of lunchtime meals
We’ll be there Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 10am – 3pm – so when will you be there? (Closed on Thursdays until further notice).
COFFEE BUDDIES
Coffee Buddies continues to meet every second Wednesday in Sainsbury’s Café from 1.30-2.30pm. Friends from Sutherland House and MPN come along and this is a wonderful opportunity to build relationships and just enjoy spending time together. We are very grateful to the lovely staff in the café who welcome us and allow us to expand tables and move chairs so we can all sit together to enjoy a wee coffee and each other’s company as we chat. If you have any free time on a Thursday afternoon, please come along and join us, we guarantee you will receive a warm welcome and will be richly blessed getting to know our wonderful friends from Sutherland House.
HELP! The AV Team are looking for help! We have recently had some new equipment installed and will be doing some training in the next few weeks. We thought this would be a good opportunity to encourage some new people to join the team and we can all learn together! If you would like to join us, or are interested in finding out what’s involved please let us know or call Elaine on 01292 857153. There is no need to be skilled as training will be provided. We need volunteers to operate laptop, cameras and sound equipment, there is no obligation to do all three, if you are particularly interested in one area, that is fine. Please strongly consider joining us and helping us to serve in this way. Thank you. The AV Team
Friendsheep Knitting Group Our Friendsheep Knitting Group meets each Wednesday in the Session House from 2.30-4.00pm. We are an all age, all ability group who enjoy a cuppa and fellowship whilst sharing our skills. We continue to knit squares for blankets, children’s clothing and other knitted items, everything is stored in the Friendsheep boxes in the Session House, the CIA Foodbank and Street Pastors are able to access these if they come across someone in need. If you know of a particular need please let us know and we can make up a parcel for you to distribute. Our items are also available to buy at a very reasonable price. A couple of our very talented ladies have been knitting beautiful baby hats, we are now delighted to announce that we are going to be supplying the labour suite at Crosshouse with these on a regular basis. These beautiful hats with matching mitts are also available to buy. If you enjoy knitting or would like to learn, please come along and join us, you will be made most welcome and we’d love to see you. If there are any projects you’d like us to get involved in, please let us know. We can also take orders for knitted items. For more information please call 01292 857153 or speak to Elaine Wardrop or Catherine McCormick. Friendsheep Knitting Group
It’s The Little Things! When life’s a struggle and things are getting me down, I know You’re right behind me and yet I forget to look round. Still, You don’t tell me I’m doing wrong, You just make it easy and speak to me in a song. It’s the little things! When life gets too busy and I fail to give You time, You come and meet me where I am to tell me I’m doing fine. You turn up in places I don’t expect You to be and speak in a small voice and I know You’re speaking directly to me. It’s in the little things! I love the way you weave our lives when things look to be in a mess and when we wonder why certain things are happening and we still try hard to guess. We try our best to bring things to You yet still try to solve them as man when all along You’ve got our backs, then we realise it was all part of Your plan. It’s through these times You watch us as we grow through Your Grace We look back and realise our world wasn’t falling apart but falling into place. It’s the little things! I see You in different situations, some of them good and some of them bad, I often wonder how things would seem if Your love was something I never knew I had. What a privilege it is to call You my friend and to have the assurance that this love will never end. It’s the little things! I see and hear You through people close to me, in my family and friends who are so dear I hear You speak through each of them to show me You are near. What a blessing to have brothers and sisters in Christ to encourage and love one another as we journey together, on this wonderful adventure, this life with You…forever. It’s the little things! So Heavenly Father as I try to live this life serving You, I thank you for sending Jesus to show me what to do. I thank You for all the blessings and opportunities that living life with You brings and I pray for courage and boldness to share with others… all of those little things!
Many thanks to Elaine for this lovely poem.
Pioneer Cafe The new year at the cafe began with the annual deep clean. We had a fantastic turn out for which we are very grateful. There was an amazing amount of cleaning done, that has made such a difference with the whole place looking fresh and many of the dark dumping places thoroughly sorted. This along with the new worktops drew many admiring comments from our regulars so thank you to everyone who came to help. Your help was much appreciated. Later that week we had our annual volunteers night when we get the opportunity to propose local charities to receive the tips collected throughout the year. In 2015 our customers donated ÂŁ700 in tips and this will be divided between Sutherland House, The Ark and Centrestage Music Theatre. We were able to get The Ayrshire Post to come to take a photo of the presentation cheque being received by 2 of our younger volunteers Catherine Whannel for Sutherland House, Ewan Torrance for Centrestage, and by Heather Thomson for The Ark.
Unfortunately
due to continuing staff shortages we have had to take the very sad decision to close the cafe on Thursdays. Our new opening hours will be Mon-Wed 10am-3pm, closed Thursday and Friday 10am-3pm.
Our
Messy Church Christmas Party had to be postponed due to boiler issues so was instead held in January. Despite this everyone had a great time. We had chosen a snowman theme so it still worked. One of the party games involved dressing Scott Wardrop (on the left) and David Clarkson (on the right)as snowmen, very effectively I think you'll agree
Our next Messy Church should be Sunday 27th March but as this is Easter Sunday we have decided to delay a week so it will be on Sunday 3rd April instead, hope to see you there.
MINISTER Rev. David Clarkson Telephone : 01292 471379 Email : minister@mpnchurch.org.uk
BIBLE STUDY Wednesday 10.30 am Margaret Thomson Telephone : 01292 477045
SESSION CLERK James U Riach Telephone : 01292 476458 Email : james@jriach2.fsnet.co.uk
BOYS’ BRIGADE Friday pm (Various) Pat Simpson Telephone : 01292 477289
TREASURER/HALL BOOKINGS Robert Gibson Telephone : 01292 479248 Email : property@mpnchurch.org.uk
GIRLS’ BRIGADE Monday 6.00 pm Sue Christie Telephone : 07751219601
ORGANIST David Watson Telephone : 01292 314867
GUILD Thursday 2.00 pm Margaret Goodlad Telephone : 01292 470903
CHURCH OFFICE Telephone : 01292 678810 Email : office@mpnchurch.org.uk KIRK SESSION
COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVES Discipleship Sam Gilmour Telephone : 01292 470614 Fabric & Finance Allan McBain Telephone : 01292 479092 Outreach Margaret McBain Telephone : 01292 479092 Pastoral Care Jim Riach Telephone : 01292 476458 Worship Scott Wardrop Telephone : 01292 670513
KIDDIEWINKLES Monday 10.00 am Elaine Gilbert Telephone : 07734806812 TOTS-TOWN Wednesday 10.00 am Monkton Community Church Leigh Flanagan Telephone : 07545050190 THE YOUNG CHURCH Sunday 11.00 am Lesley McCarrell Telephone : 01292 477779 Duncan Campbell Telephone : 01292 435020