PILRIG ST PAUL’S CHURCH DECEMBER 2010
SUNDAY SERVICES AT 11AM Holy Communion is celebrated on the last Sunday of January, April, June and October at the 11am Service, and informally as announced. To contact the minister, please ring 554 1842. The “OPEN DOORWAY” is open each week on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11am - 1.00pm. Pop in or arrange to meet a friend there over a cup of coffee. Enter by the main door. Wheelchair users - Our street level entrances are in Pilrig Street.
ORGANISATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH BUILDINGS: Sundays - Sunday Club, 10:45 am for ages P1-S4 all welcome (Mark Wexelstein 665 6881) Mondays - Rainbows 5.45pm (Christine Buchanan 554 2941) Brownies 6.45pm (Christine Buchanan) Tuesdays -
The Guild 2.00pm (Jeanette Sime 552 9652)
Wednesdays - Lunch club 12 noon (Marjory McArthur 553 2323) vocal vibes 1 (p3-4) 3.45-4.45pm vocal vibes 2 (p5 upwards) 5-6pm Choir Rehearsal 7.30pm (All choir enquiries Martin Ritchie 07984 466 855) Thursdays - all Sections Boys’ Brigade (Mark Wexelstein 665 6881) In Pilrig Park School: Thursdays Rainbows (Ann Urquhart 554 8387) 6.15-7.15 Brownies (Ann Urquhart ) 6.15-7.30 Guides (Dorothy Walker 556 9493) 7.30 - 9.00 In Broughton Primary School: Tuesdays The 5th Leith Scouts Beavers 53/4 to 8 years Cubs 8 to 10 1/2 years p.m.) Scouts 10 1/2 to 14 years
(6.00 to 7.00 p.m.) (6.30 to 8.00 (7.30 to 9.00 )
DECEMBER at PILRIG St PAUL’S see also the centre pages
Saturday 4th December 12.45pm Festive Party see Linda Gill (669 7409) Sunday 12th December Tuesday 14th December
11.00am
Gift Service
2pm Guild Christmas Party 7.30pm in North Leith Church A Celebration of Christmas
Sunday 19th December 11.00am Christmas Story in Readings and Carols (Invite a Friend Sunday) Tuesday 21st December 1.30pm Pilrig Park School Christmas Service Wednesday 22nd December 10.30am Lorne Primary School Christmas Service Christmas Eve 6.30pm Carol Service for all the family (featuring Vocal Vibes) 11.30pm Watchnight Carol Service Christmas Day 10.00am Informal service celebrating Jesus’ birth Sunday 26th December
11am Sunday Worship
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PILRIG St PAUL’S CHURCH
DECEMBER 2010
Dear Fellow-members,
God is coming to a quiet corner near you! Away from the hustle and bustle - in a place you won’t expect. Great news! To see him and to be ready to respond you will need to be ready. Advent is the lead up time for you to get ready and be prepared. It starts on Sunday 28th November In church we will share in a sequence of symbolic actions and link in with the hopes and expectations of people from the Bible as they look forward to the coming of God’s promised Messiah. We’ll have the opportunity to donate small gifts to share with elderly and house bound church members and also with young people with no-one to think of them at Christmas. Come and join us! Be part of this important time of preparing for the coming of Jesus! Too busy? Too much to do getting your own family Christmas organised? Getting ready to go away on holiday for Christmas? Ask yourself the question are you really preparing for Christmas or is it just another excuse for a shopping extravaganza or a time to pamper yourself?
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The fact is that customs associated with St Nicholas and Victorian Christmas celebrations have overlaid and all but obscured what Christmas is really all about! The gift from God is the promise of a new Kingdom. A Kingdom where justice, peace, reconciliation and joy takes over from disharmony, scape-goating of people who are different, and the fear of violence and war. God promises this to all who are ready to listen and follow him. Most folk at the first Christmas were unaware of what was happening under their noses. As you struggle round the shops for all the things you think are important you too could be missing the point of Christmas! Look out for the person in need you could help - think of the small act of hospitality and sharing that you could make that will help someone experience respect and kindness they perhaps have never had before, consider contributing to Christian Aid through Present Aid or at the Celebration of Christmas event at North Leith Church on Tuesday 14th December In such small acts of kindness you embody the message and joy of Christmas. May God bless your preparations during Advent and may God’s peace be yours this Christmas.
Marlyn and John
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THE MAGAZINE Thank you for all the contributions this month. articles for February with me by January 23rd.
Please have
Catriona Blackwood ENVELOPES Christian Givings envelopes will be ready, in Church, for uplift from the !st Sunday in December. Anyone who wishes information about this should speak to us at Church or contact us at the addresses given on the back of the magazine. Ella Gilfillan Irene Wexelstein OPEN DOORWAY In recent weeks we have had a visitation from a group from Edinburgh Presbytery. During this visit the Open Doorway was seen as an important area for outreach in the community. It was always hoped that we could open on more than two days a week. However, unfortunately, due to the lack of volunteers, that has not been possible. To ensure that we can continue to open for two days per week we now need to add to our pool of volunteers. Most people who currently help are on duty once per month. If you would be interested in joining the Open Doorway Team please contact me on 0131 554 1842. Marlyn Tait
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THANK YOU Thank you to the minister and congregation for the lovely flowers which John brought me last Tuesday. They were very much enjoyed by me and my niece and her husband (Irene and Peter) who were over from Australia. Isobel Pert Christine McGonigal and family thank the Minister and Congregation of Pilrig St Paul’s for the lovely flowers which they received after the death of their dearly loved Husband and Dad, Steve. The visit firm Irene and Roy was greatly appreciated. Thank you to everyone for their kindness. I would like to thank the minister and the church for sending me flowers on my return home from hospital. It makes such a difference to know you are thinking about me. Ethel Brown Stuart would like to say thanks to everyone for their good wishes, telephone calls and visits when he managed to contract a dose of the "shingles" a few weeks ago. Things are starting to return to normal and the flowers from the church with a visit from the Minister were much appreciated - Stuart & Jeanette Sime.
CHRISTMAS GREETINGS Jean Stark would like to wish all her friends at Pilrig St Paul’s a Merry Christmas with good health and happiness in 2011. GREETINGS FORM MALLORCA Millie and Joe (Bald) would like to wish all their friends at Pilrig St Paul’s a very Happy Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year
GUILD MEETINGS FOR JANUARY 2011 11th January Revd. John Tait Communion & Guild Theme "Called to act justly" 25th January
- Scottish Afternoon 5
CHRISTMAS AT Sunday 12th December 11.00am Gift Service Sunday 19th December 11.00am Christmas Story in Readings and Carols (Invite a Friend Sunday) Tuesday 21st December 1.30pm Pilrig Park School Christmas Service Wednesday 22nd December 10.30am Lorne Primary School Christmas Service Christmas Eve 6.30pm Carol Service for all the family (featuring Vocal Vibes) 11.30pm Watchnight Carol Service Christmas Day 10.00am Informal service celebrating Jesus’ birth Sunday 26th December 11am Sunday Worship
Invite a Friend Sunday 19th December 11.00am Under the auspices of the Forum Outreach Committee we have designated our Readings and Carol Service on 19th December as our “Invite a Friend Sunday”. This is a great opportunity to encourage people you know who have not come to church for a while or indeed have never come, to come along and share with us as weshare together in the Christmas story in songs and readings. Please invite and bring along your friends and neighbours for this enjoyable and happy service! 6
PILRIG ST PAUL’S
Christmas”
“A Celebration of 7.30pm Tuesday 14th December – North Leith Church
Come and enjoy singing and listening to well known Christmas songs and carols and have the opportunity to support the work of Christian Aid. Leith Churches Forum is hosting this second Celebration of Christmas event following on the great success of the event held in Pilrig St Paul’s Church last year. We are hoping to raise even more money for Christian Aid. There will be many items for everyone to join in to sing. In addition the choirs from Pilrig St Paul’s, South Leith, Vocal Vibes and Wildfire will be singing and there will also be solo singers from North Leith and Leith St Andrew’s. It promises to be a great night! Please spread the word and invite everyone you know young and old, who enjoys singing Christmas songs and carols. As last time we are looking for donations of mince pies to enable all to enjoy festive refreshments afterwards.
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41st GUIDE UNIT The last time you heard from us we were about to launch our year of Centenary Events. We did this is style with a Parade through Leith followed by an afternoon in the Thomas Morton Hall with all the Division present. The Guides had a disco with mocktails and games. Next came Adventure 100 when we had to participate in various challenges during the Centenary year to gain points. Everyone including the adults completed it. In February we attended the Division Thinking Day Service in Leith St. Andrews Church. Many ex-members attended and our Colour was carried into Church along with all the others. A special event was organised at County level for each section. For the Guides it was a day at the Ratho Adventure Centre where along with 900 others they tried various activities. In July two of our Guides, Chantelle and Leonna attended the largest Guide Camp ever to be held in Scotland. Over the week they took part in 8 different sessions including geo-catching, arts and crafts and retro Guiding. On the Tuesday the Countess of Wessex visited and on Friday everyone went to M. & D’s where a radio road show was laid on for them. In the evenings they took part in a Disco, a Ceilidh, Talents Shows and Camp Fire. Then it was time for the Finale. It was called Vision and was held in the Corn Exchange. This was an event for all age groups. At 20.10 p.m. on 20/10, 2010 everyone renewed their Promise led by the Chief Guide over a video link-up. Three bands, more mocktails, chocolate fountain and crafts kept the Guides entertained until 10 p.m. In between all the special events above we fitted in Chocolate and Agility Badges, keep fit, Chinese New Year, April Fools night, pamper night, BBQ and baking. The Guides are now all busy leaning to juggle which is one clause of the Circus Skills Badge they are working on at the moment.
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Karen and I have been Job-Share Unit Leaders for some time now as I retire from the Unit next year. I’m pleased to say Karen will have Claire, who has just finished her training as her Assistant Also in the Team will be Hannah who is training at the moment and Lisa, one of own Guides is now old enough to be a Young Leader with the Unit. Although we were sad when we had to leave Lorne School we have increased our numbers and are doing well in Pilrig Park School. The Unit is looking forward to and planning for its 85th Birthday next year. Dorothy and The Unit Team. HALL LET CHANGES As we are getting many more requests via email enquiring about the use of the halls we have changed the contact details as from now. In order to allow more than one person to deal with the requests we have changed the website to show the email address of psp.halluse@gmail.com and a mobile phone number of 07842047093. Members of the congregation should speak to Aileen Fraser or in her absence Mark Wexelstein to book the halls. I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of myself as Treasurer and indeed from all the members of the Congregational Board to thank Irene Eprile for the work she has done over the last 9 years in carrying out this duty for the Church. Without the income generated from the use of the halls we would have an even larger deficit than we do each year. However, Irene has not managed to fully escape the post as she will still be sending out the invoices and chasing any late payments. At the November Board meeting Irene thanked all the people who had helped her over the 9 years in opening and closing the premises to allow the hires to go ahead. I am sure they will offer the same support to Aileen and myself when we ask!! Mark Wexelstein Treasurer 9
SINGCHRONICITY – A NEW YOUTH CHOIR FOR LEITH
Thanks to generous funding from all four Kirk Sessions in our Leith parish grouping, we’re going to be able to launch our ground-breaking youth choir project for S1-6 students during early 2011. Over the last few months I’ve been networking with music teachers and specialists in Leith and in the City Council and have been really encouraged by the level of interest in the idea to set up a new youth choir in Leith and district. Our first port of call for recruits will be Trinity Academy, Drummond High and Leith Academy, but the group will be open to any interested young people – male and female! – in the S1-6 age range. The group will be singing a wide range of fantastic music from many different periods and styles including contemporary pop arrangements, and the emphasis is on creating a great group that is fun to be part of and helps its members to fulfil their musical potential. Of course, this is an amazing outreach opportunity for our parish grouping, as it enables further contact to be made with teenagers in the area, and we very much hope that we can count on the practical help of members of each parish to help us develop relationships with them. The latest plan is for the choir to meet to rehearse on Tuesday afternoons from around 4.15 – 5.45pm at Pilrig St Paul’s. Although for practical reasons the choir will be “based” at Pilrig St Paul’s for rehearsal, it is our intention that it should take part in events in all four churches and elsewhere as and when opportunities come up. There aren’t too many fixed ideas at this stage! How can you help? Pray for the development of the project Consider being a volunteer to assist with supervision at rehearsals Think about whether you might know of any potential singers in your family or living near you. A suggestion has been made that we might like to consider a pre and post rehearsal cafe-style event in the Open Doorway at Pilrig St Paul’s. 10
The singers would be welcome to arrive early to have a drink and to hang out before the rehearsal starts and perhaps to stay on afterwards for a while, very much along the lines of projects that Fiona Fidgin highlighted at this year’s elders’ conference at Leith St Andrew’s. Lots to think about – maybe you could be part of it in some way? Please pray for us even if you can’t lend practical support. Feel free to contact me if you have any ideas, know someone who could be involved or would like to help yourself. Martin Ritchie Mobile: 07984 466 855 email: martinsritchie@aol.com
JOINT CHOIRS SERVICE FOR ALL SAINTS Things didn’t exactly go as planned for this event – the boiler at Broughton St Mary’s broke down on the Thursday before and a crucial part couldn’t be sourced until the following week! So the Broughton St Mary’s team asked if we’d host the rehearsal and evening service at Pilrig St Paul’s. On the Sunday morning, our time clock failed to operate and we had to transfer our service up to the hall. However, we managed to get the boiler back on in time for the afternoon, so all was well. Luckily we didn’t decide to transfer to the third church though – the Greyfriars Kirk organ broke down during their morning service!! Despite the apparent jinx on the service, when everyone rolled up and started to rehearse together for the first time, all went well and around 40 singers produced an amazing sound, well supported by Henry Wallace’s accompaniments and directed by Nancy Crook of BSM. Joanne and Laura, ministers at BSM, had created a beautiful service, including the powerful act of inviting everyone to light a candle at the front of the church to remember a loved one. They also made good use of our screens to display helpful and beautiful images relevant to the theme, which gave us a few ideas. We had great feedback from the visiting choirs, who are keen to collaborate again in the future – maybe we have the beginnings of our own wee three choirs festival! Thanks to everyone who came along to support and to the volunteers who provided tea for the drouthy singers after our rehearsal! Martin Ritchie 11
PRAYER CORNER Isabel Haig Matthew Green Mary and Jimmy Rennie Christine McGonigal and family Jeanette and Stuart Sime Peter Sinclair Stanley McCubbin Murdo and Joy McLeod Linda Connelly Jack McArthur Mairi and Robin Leach Imran and Jasmine Irshad Jean Stark The Allan Family “ Peace is a candle to show us a pathway threatened by gusts from our rage and our greed. Friend, feel no envy for those in the shadows violence and force, their dead-end course. Love is a candle whose light makes a circle, where every face is the face of a friend. Widen the circle by sharing and givingGod’s holy dare - love everywhere Joy is a candle of mystery and laughter, mystery of light that is born in the dark; laughter at hearing the voice of an angel, ever so near, casting out fear.”
Please contact Roy Eprile with any names you would like included in this section. 12
Funerals 27/10/10
Mr Derek Cornet 19 Spey Terrace
(Parish)
28/10/10
Mr Stephen McGonigal 41 House O’Hill Avenue
29/10/10
Mrs Catherine Curran 32/4 Halmyre Street
(Parish)
Mr Mitchell Wood 1/14 Madelvic Square
(District 16)
29/10/10
MINISTER Rev John Tait B.Sc. B.D. - 78 Pilrig Street (554 1842)
j.m.tait@blueyonder.co.uk SESSION CLERK John Innes - 33 Monktonhall Place, Musselburgh (665 9125) pilrig@btinternet.com CLERK TO CONGREGATIONAL BOARD Dr Stuart W. Sime -1 South Trinity Road (552 9652) stuart.w.sime@btinternet.com TREASURER Mark Wexelstein (665 6881) mark.wexelstein@googlemail.com ROLL KEEPER Mrs Jeanette E. Sime - 1 South Trinity Road (552 9652) SAFEGUARDING CO-ORDINATOR Mrs Catriona E.W. Blackwood - 4 Cambridge Gardens (554 6183) bill.blackwood@tesco.net PROPERTY CONVENER Dr Stuart W. Sime -1 South Trinity Road (552 9652) stuart.w.sime@btinternet.com HALL LET GROUP psp.halluse@gmail.com 07842047093 (Answer phone) ORGANIST and CHOIRMASTER Martin Ritchie - 18, Catherine’s Wynd, Woodhead, Culross, Fife KY12 8EU (07984 466 855) martinsritchie@aol.com SUNDAY CLUB LEADER Mark Wexelstein (665 6881) mark.wexelstein@googlemail.com CHRISTIAN GIVINGS CONVENERS Mrs Ella Gilfillan - 8 Paisley Terrace (661 2281) Mrs Irene Wexelstein - 15 Upper Hermitage (476 1385) MAGAZINE Editor - Mrs Catriona E.W. Blackwood - 4 Cambridge Gardens (554 6183) bill.blackwood@tesco.net Distribution Mrs Margaret Cameron - 35 Lorne Street (554 2139) OUR CHURCH WEB SITE www.pilrigstpauls.org.uk LEITH CHURCHES FORUM WEB SITE www.leithchurchesforum.org.uk