The magazine of Leith Churches Forum
December 2014 Vol. 52/14
Letter from the Chair - The winds of change Rev. Alex McAspurren If you were to sit in front of the manse and gaze idly upward to the clouds you would eventually notice that they tend to move in one direction, that being right-to-left. However during October you begin to notice that ever increasingly the movement is reversed. The prevailing wind is moving from south-west to north-east. This simple, and seemingly unimportant, change is the sign that summer is moving into autumn and thence to winter; it is a sign that change is coming. This reversal of direction is experienced as colder days, longer nights, falling leaves, and thoughts of endings; one year is on its way out and another approaches. Change, it's something we live with even if we don’t like it. Just as the seasons change so to does our world, and in seemingly greater haste. Sometimes the change is progress, sometimes it is history repeating itself. The church, too, is not immune to this process of change for it is a living, breathing body, and bodies change. The question, though, for the church is perhaps not whether it needs to change so as to be able to speak or engage with the society around us but ask in what ways we need to change. Culture, society, leisure, and working patterns have all moved since the church set its own ways. We no longer milk cattle (at least in Leith) before going to morning worship or give the servants (if you have them) the evening off for the 6:30pm service yet we still maintain these signs of a pre-industrial age. So what must we do? Perhaps we may take our lead from the changing and ever moving seasons of nature. Perhaps we need to allow some ideas and practices to fade into our collective memories as new ones are born. Perhaps we need to remember that we are a living body and not a bronze casting. Perhaps,like the winter wind, we need to approach the world from another direction. Like the year the church needs a time of endings, but also like the year, like winter, the church also needs its time for new beginnings. -----------The Forum Focus team wish all our readers a Very Happy Christmas and New Year. ------------
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North Leith Update Anne Lamont It has been a busy year where we have continued participation in our many regular church and community activities. Our church building again hosted Trinity Occasional Pipers’ annual fund-raising concert for Help for Heroes which this year received donations of over £2,000. Regular services take place in Lethem Park Care Home and our minister has growing contact and involvement with the local schools and the Scouting groups. This year we had a Family Fun Day in Lethem Park in June – all those who attended, young and not so young, had a great time. We have lost a number of members over the year through death, including our Elder and immediate past Session Clerk, Norman Lindsay. Norman’s ashes have been buried in the church graveyard and a plaque is to be placed nearby on the wall. On a brighter note, we have seen various new faces attending morning worship, and in June we had four new members admitted by profession of faith. We were also delighted to welcome Nicola MacRae as our new organist in August. Nicola was organist at the former St Thomas Junction Road Church between 2003 and 2008. In recent months we have been delighted to be able to mark the occasion of a number of 90 th and 90th + birthdays of some of our older members and also some significant wedding anniversaries – waistlines have been expanding after all the celebration cakes shared at coffee served after morning worship! Our Stewardship activity this year has focused on Time. This did not result in a lot of activities as in the previous two years, but rather, through the year, we have been invited to consider various aspects of how we allocate our time. The food bank has continued to see a hive of activity in our Session House as it has become gradually busier and busier. Generous donations have steadily arrived and contacts have been made with a number of interesting people with different stories to tell but all very grateful for the help received. The Kirk Session conference this year focused on the future for North Leith, and in particular its place in the Forum and wider community. A number of different scenarios were considered. We did not come up with any magic bullet answers to the challenges of decreasing human and financial resources in our church but we did agree that we need to work and plan more and more closely with the other churches in the Forum. Now we look forward again to the wonder of Christmas. The charity which will be the subject of our Christmas Appeal this year is Hovinais High School Charitable Trust which is supporting a school in Arusha, Tanzania for children & young people from families too poor to pay the fees charged by government schools. Best wishes to all of you for the coming season from the congregation at North Leith. We look forward to welcoming you to our church for the 2015 Epiphany service on 4th January. 3
Christmas Treasure Dear Lord, we're here at Christmas time To honour your sacred birth, Dear Saviour, thank you for bringing all Your precious gifts to earth. As we delight in this holiday With its bright and special pleasure, We pray to remember all year round That You are the only true treasure. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. (Joanna Fuchs) ------------
Welcome - it's not just the team! Every church needs more than a welcome team. It needs a welcoming culture. Welcome is not something we should presume is happening, either because we have been warm as a church in the past or because we assume that someone else is making sure that visitors are made to feel at home. What does a "welcoming culture" look like? Are we welcoming as individuals? (extract from "Life every day" by Jeff Lucas) -----------Leith Senior Citizens Choir Eleanore Smith The choir celebrated its 40th Anniversary in November this year. The choir began in 1974 when a group of senior citizens who had been on a day outing began to sing on their way home. One of them thought that the singing was great and that they should form a choir. They have been asked to give many concerts for various organisations in Edinburgh and the surrounding area. At present we have approximately 14 bookings for this year up to the end of March when we close for the summer. As we are an ageing choir our numbers have dropped over the past year and we would welcome some new younger members – especially men - to join us. Our practices are held in South Leith Church Halls on Tuesdays from 1.30pm - 3pm. Concert days vary depending on the organisation that has invited us but they all take place during the day. Anyone interested may contact: Kenneth Macrae (Chairman) phone 447 1506. or Eleanore Smith (Secretary) phone 551 2389. 4
Mary's Song My soul doth magnify And glory in the Lord His lowly handmaiden He has chosen over all My spirit doth rejoice Over God my saviour, For He has truly blessed me And shown great favour... Blessed and exalted Is the fruit of her womb The promise from ages past Was coming very soon I wonder if Mary, The servant of the Lord, Understood with depth The magnitude of her call. The son she brought forth Called Holy and Righteous, Blessed Prince of Peace, Forever there to guide us. Did she know that Jesus Is the name above all names? That no one else can save us And take away our shame. Did Mary know His future And who He really was? Did she know the price He'd pay Upon the blood-stained cross? Oh a mother's heart must ache To see her first born son Hanging from a wooden cross, Rejected by everyone. Did she know that He would rise And walk among them again? To eat and drink and share with them Until He would ascend. He left with us His Holy Spirit, Forever to dwell inside. I wonder if Mary ever knew The significance of His life. (M.S.Lowndes) 5
Zambian Visitors to South Leith Parish Church Rev Iain May On Sunday 19th October, South Leith Parish Church held a service of thanksgiving for 50 years of peace and unity for Zambia. Zambia gained independence from the United Kingdom in October 1964. South Leith Parish Church has had a long and well developed relationship with a number of partners in Zambia. It all started in the 1970’s, when a former Associate Minister, Rev Gavin Elliott, took up a call from the United Church of Zambia’s (UCZ) Trinity congregation in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka. This was followed in the 1990’s with a partnership with Chipembi UCZ Girls School and more recently with the UCZ Mindolo Congregation in the Copperbelt and the UCZ University College in Kitwe. Many members of the congregation have been in Zambia several times over the past 40 years, working with our partner and friends in Zambia. In October, South Leith Parish Church welcomed visitors from Zambia, the Rev Jonathan Kangwa from Mindolo and Mr Albert Chitika, Head teacher, Chipembi Girls School. In their time with us they enjoyed the hospitality of many members of South Leith. Our visitors also had the opportunity to visit the Scottish Borders and Blantyre, the birth place of David Livingstone, who travelled throughout Zambia in his missionary journeys in Africa. Livingstone's heart was buried under a Mvula tree near the spot where he died in Zambia. Ten members of South Leith Parish Church are travelling to Zambia in January 2015 to join with partners in celebrating 50 years of the formation of our partner church, United Church of Zambia (UCZ). The UCZ was formed in 1965 and was the bringing together of the Church of Central Africa & Rhodesia (a mission work of the Church of Scotland), the Union Church of Copperbelt, the Copperbelt Free Church Council, the Church of Barotseland and the Methodist church. The United Church in Zambia has 3,000 000 members in 1,060 congregations. Over the weekend of the 17 th/18th January, the visitors from South Leith will be joining approximately 50,000 others in the Hero’s Stadium in Lusaka to celebrate the 50 years of the UCZ. The folk of South Leith Parish Church have worked hard over the last 40 years to build up partners and friends in Zambia and look forward to continuing with these friendships and developing new partnerships in the years ahead. -----------“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, but love leaves a memory no one can steal”. (possibly from a headstone in a cemetery in Ireland) 6
Pecan and Cranberry Cookies Ingredients 225g softened butter 75g castor sugar 2 large egg yolks Finely grated zest of an orange 75g pecans, chopped 75g dried cranberries, finely chopped ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 200g plain flour Method Beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks. Fold in the orange zest, pecans, cranberries, cinnamon and flour until just mixed. Divide mixture in 2 and form into 2 disc shapes. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes to firm slightly. Remove from the fridge, unwrap and roll into two logs about 5cm thick. Wrap in the cling film and chill again for 20 minutes. Heat oven to 180C or Gas Mark 4. Put greaseproof paper on two baking sheets. Cut the log into 1cm rounds. Put on baking sheet about 4cm apart. Bake for 12 minutes then leave to cool for 10 minutes on the sheet before cooling completely on a wire rack. You can freeze the unbaked cookie logs for up to a month. Take them out the freezer and leave to soften for about 20 minutes before slicing. Bake for slightly longer until golden. (Recipe from Good Housekeeping) Jesus Is The Reason In Bethlehem, God gave to us The source of Christmas joy; A star shone on a miracle: The virgin birth of a boy. He was born both God and man, A Saviour for us all, The way to get to our heavenly home, If we just heed His call. So as we shop and spend and wrap And enjoy the Christmas season, Let's keep in mind the sacred truth: Jesus is the reason. (Joanna Fuchs) 7
Some services & events in the Forum congregations to which you are invited to attend. All of our congregations will be coming together for our joint LCF Epiphany on Sunday 4th January at North Leith Leith St. Andrew's Messy Church meets from 5-7pm on the last Thursday of each month. A fun, noisy, messy time for families. In December, families are invited to join us for the early Christmas Eve service at 6.30pm instead of the last Thursday. Oasis of Peace at Leith St Andrew's: Our quiet reflective prayer services on Wednesday at 10.15am. A time of peace, worshipping, sharing and praying followed by a cuppa and chat. We meet in the Church. All are welcome. Oasis of Peace takes a break from midDecember to the beginning of Lent. Details will be on our website. Mon 15th Dec: 7pm – Coffee & Carols - come and enjoying singing old and new carols and songs. Coffee and mince pies afterwards. Donations welcome for Bethany Care Shelter. (Easter Road Hall). Wed 24th Dec: 6.30pm – Family Christmas Eve Service. Wed 24th Dec:11.30pm - Christmas Eve Worship. Thur 25th Dec: 11am - Christmas Day Celebration. Sunday 25th Jan: 11am – Communion. North Leith Each Sunday during Advent we will be having a joint evening service with the members of the Ebenezer United Free Church at 7pm in the Session House in Madeira Place. Each week we will look at a different aspect of the season and what Christmas means to some of our congregations. On Christmas Eve we will be having our usual Watchnight service, beginning at 11:15pm. This will take the form of Carols and Readings by Candlelight. On Christmas Day we will be having a short, informal, service at 11am, followed by a celebration of the Lord's Supper. Pilrig St. Paul's There will be a number of different services happening at Pilrig St. Paul’s over the coming months, many of which will be at 11 am on a Sunday morning. These will all be advertised via the Events feature on our Facebook page. We do however have a number of additional services over the festive period: Wed 24 Dec: 6:30 pm - Christmas Eve Family Service. Wed 24 Dec:11:30 pm - Christmas Eve Watchnight Service. Thur 25 Dec:10:00 am - Christmas Day family Service. More details of all these services and others will also be published as Events on our Facebook page and website. 8
South Leith Worship at One at South Leith church every Thursday at 1pm – prayers for the community and the world. Sat Dec 6th: 4pm - 6pm - Family Christmas Film Show - all welcome. Sun 14th Dec 11am – Advent: 7 Lessons and Carols. Thur 18th Dec: 7pm – Joint Service of Nine Lessons and Carols Service with SLPC and St Mary Star of the Sea at South Leith. Fri 19th Dec: 11am - Leith Academy Christmas Service. Sun 21st Dec: 11am – Advent,: Abba Nativity. Wed 24th Dec: 6:30pm - Christmas Eve Family Christingle Service: 11.15pm – Watchnight service. Thur 25th Dec: 11am: - Christmas Day Reflections family service. Pilrig St. Paul's Open Doorway It is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11am to 1pm. Serving tea / coffee and biscuits. All welcome to pop in. Funeral teas at South Leith We would like to extend our services to all of the people within the Leith Community and beyond. South Leith Parish Church Halls can be booked for funeral teas. The halls can accommodate from small numbers to around 120 people. Whether it is scones and a cup of tea or a full meal, we can cater for your individual needs and requirements. If you would like to discuss this, please contact the halls on 0131 554 2578.
South Leith Halls Open from 9.30am - 2.30pm Monday – Friday. Hot meals served until 2pm Carry out facilities available. Lunch Club available for any senior citizen from 11.30 Monday - Friday.
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PORT CHAPLAIN’S REPORT Tim Bell At the time of writing, we are assembling the contents of the Christmas parcels that we make up in Leith for distribution to seafarers in Leith, Hound Point, Rosyth, and Grangemouth. As ever, thanks are due to many people from the Leith churches and beyond for their generosity. One of the local primary schools is designing a card, which will be signed by passers-by in Ocean Terminal. It doesn’t matter how many years the men have been at sea – a small show of simple kindness at Christmas means a lot to them. It is now the fifth year we have done this, and we know it is appreciated. We are very pleased to have some professional help in reproducing the Leith Madonna and Child and the Leith motto, taken from the chancel screen in South Leith Church. It has been made into a fridge magnet, and it may be made into a postcard in time for next season’s cruise liners. This device is several centuries old, but the message is clear: we care for seafarers and their families wherever in the world they are. The motto PERSEVERE strikes a chord too. Often the men need a little encouragement to persevere with their working lives away from their families, who need the money they earn. In the poor countries of the world, this is the only way they can earn enough to pay for education for the children and health care for the family, elderly parents included. To cover costs, the fridge magnets are for sale at £2, and the idea is that we will be able to give them out to seafarers. One day I came across an Indonesian seafarer, a Moslem, who said he and his wife were divorced. He forgave her the first boyfriend, and the second, but not the third. A life at sea puts a marriage under big pressure, for everyone. Then he said he was hoping to marry a Christian woman, and if this plan is to go any further he will be baptised. This was a good opportunity to give him the magnet. I hope it brings some love into his life.
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Leith Churches Together Jennifer Stark October and November are (and continue to be) extraordinarily full this year! So here’s a flavour…. Community Craft Corner @ Ocean Terminal, 13-17 October. This is the fourth such event we’ve run (including the Easter workshop earlier this year), and this time we held it in the former La Senza unit on the ground floor near the Rotunda. It’s a bigger and lighter unit which we enjoyed using, though less well-equipped at the back than the Community Space. With the recent referendum and all that it had stirred up about Scotland in mind, the team came up with a combined Scottish/ seascape/ fishy theme, so we signed on on a seascape and made thistles, Celtic crosses, fishy CD cases and our own Doves of Peace, using the template provided by the Church of Scotland’s Moderator earlier this year. Ocean Terminal were happy to advertise the event (and even let us keep the display of doves in the window for 10 days afterwards). We’d thought we might be extra busy, given the ground floor location, but in fact the numbers were about the same – c. 80 children and 70 adults over the four afternoons, with a number who had been before, or who had attended Holiday Club. The comments were as always most appreciative of the chance for parents and carers to relax, spend some creative time with their children and hear about what the churches are doing together in Leith; ‘great initiative’ as one person (a local visiting minister) put it. What always strikes me is how absorbed and content the children are – they get stuck in and we hardly ever have anything approaching difficult behaviour. The team continues to grow; we missed one or two regulars who were away that week, but welcomed others who were new, with members of 6 churches from across Leith (and Portobello). I can’t say how much the creativity impresses me every time! Mission Shaped Intro course. I’ve been delighted to be able to run this again this autumn, with a much wider geographical spread of participants than before – the group includes people from Cockenzie, Musselburgh and Murrayfield, as well as Leith, and from URC, Roman Catholic and Church of Scotland congregations. It is always enriching to hear what’s happening elsewhere and have these different perspectives offered in discussions. Thanks to Duke Street URC (and North Leith) for hosting us. 11
Seafarers’ Christmas Parcel Wrap: Friday 14-Saturday 15 November, 104 pm We’re in the final stages of organising this which, as usual, will be in the OT mall (just outside Costa’s). This morning I did a workshop for the P4 classes at Trinity Primary School, about old and new Leith, what seafarers do and how we can help them. I was presented in return with a sheaf of 60 drawings from which we will somehow have to choose just one drawing for our Seafarers’ Christmas Card. From a quick glance through them, I think this will be the toughest choice yet! Donations have been coming in from churches and also this year from some local businesses, thanks to help from a skilled member of North Leith Parish Church (you know who you are, B.B!) We aim to provide 550 gift bags this year (up from 450 last year). Come and visit us in the mall and sign one of the Christmas cards Pause for Remembrance @ OT. With the centenary this year of the outbreak of WW1, this short ceremony in Ocean Terminal will have an added poignancy. Some of the older pupils from Lorne Primary School will join us on 11 November to perform their ‘Iron Harvest’, a short silent dance which evokes the continued finding of WW1 items in the fields and woods of France. Note that this will be at the BHS end of the Mall (not the Rotunda as in previous years) - gather there for 10.50am. Food banks donation box in Ocean Terminal. I was delighted that we were finally able to launch this in October as a shared initiative between the Leith foodbanks - Trussell Trust and the Basics Bank at Ebenezer UF Church. This means that donations can be made at any time of day, as well as at the churches. It was originally located in the centre of the mall, but is currently behind the Customer Service desk, opposite Clintons. Please let people know about this if they wish to donate (if you can’t see the box, ask at the CS desk). Date for your diary: Christmas Carols @ Ocean Terminal, Saturday 13 December, 1.30 in the Mall (BHS end). All singers or small groups welcome.
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Pilrig St Paul’s Pastoral Care Team Linda McGill It is hard to believe that we are in the final quarter of 2014 and we are already thinking about our Pastoral Care Plans for 2015. It has been a busy year for the team, however, as well rewarding in many ways l. We are continuing to use our Helping Hands Cards to help people in need of pastoral care. Cards, phone calls, visits and flowers have all been used to reach out to our members and their families. In early October we held our Over 65’s Conference. We had 20 organisations offering services to those over the age of 65. The representatives explained their services to those visiting their stand and also gave out literature and samples of products to support health, safety and security. A big thank you to everyone who attended. We are delighted with the feedback from those who attended the conference with 30% of people there taking time to complete our on-line survey. The key headlines from the feedback are as follows: How would you rate the conference overall? Excellent 29%: Very good 65%: Fairly good 6%. How did you hear about the conference? The main source quoted in responses was ‘via my church’. What did you like the most?The main response here related to the range of information available in one place. Also an appreciation for the ‘cuppa’ and home baking!!! How helpful were the people you met today? Excellent 42%: Very helpful 55%: Somewhat helpful 3%. There were lots of comments about how helpful people were and the friendly atmosphere of the afternoon. General comments – People appreciated the information they had found out at the conference and were surprised about the ways in which they would benefit from the range of services available. There were also a number of appointments set up during the afternoon so that people could follow up directly with the organisations. There were a couple of questions about when the next one would be held! The afternoon was made possible through the team of 26 volunteers Technical & logistics, the ‘Meeter Greeters’, the ‘Feedback Gatherers’ and of course the Catering Team all played their part in making it an enjoyable afternoon for everyone. The early results from the post event survey with the representatives from the organisations and volunteer teams are also encouraging. Our work continues for the remainder of 2014 and we are delighted to be hosting a joint meeting in November with all Pastoral Care Teams from the other Leith Forum Churches. At the meeting Melanie Kilburn from the Bethany Christian Trust will share with us the details of a new befriending service run by the Passing the Baton for Older People project. 13
As the dark nights close in on us we are planning to launch a Book Group. This will be held via an audio link to enable those who are housebound to be able to take part. We are pleased to be joined in this initiative by Sandra Wright, Librarian at Leith Library who is keen to support us. Finally we are looking to set up and test Telephone Catch Up Groups. These will be small groups of people each led by a member of the Pastoral Care Team. They will either phone each person or hold audio meetings on a monthly basis to keep in touch with those who are housebound or feel isolated from family and friends. The meetings will offer support, prayer or Bible readings as well as identifying any issues requiring the minister’s involvement. We are passionate about the work we do and are pleased to be supporting the work of the Church in our Parish. He has no hands but our hands To do his work today He has no feet but our feet To lead men to his way He has no tongue but our tongues To tell men how he died He has no help but our help To bring them to his side. Pastoral Care Team Mark Foster - Minister; Catriona Blackwood – Elder and magazine editor;Christine Edington; Ella Gilfillan; Linda Gill – Pastoral Care Team Leader; Cathy Purdie; Fiona Rankin – Elder; Jeanette Sime – Elder and Roll Keeper; Jennifer Stark - Leader Leith Churches Outreach Project. Linda Gill Pastoral Care Team Leader 669-7409 or helpinghands@pilrigstpauls.org.uk -----------The minister was asked why he always insulted the congregation at Christmas. He was horrified and asked how. He was told “Well when we sing 'Away in a Manger' you say that the children will sing the first verse and the congregation will join in for the second verse 'The cattle are lowing'.”
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The Lord's Light Within Lord, we reflect with thankful hearts On the wonder of your birth The love you expressed when you left Your glory to come to earth For your life was like a beacon, Lord Shining brightly in the night Filling the world with the radiance of The Father's glorious light And we, too, long to have inside Your light for others to see The beautiful reflection of your grace And the wonder of your majesty For as your life indwells our hearts, We can shine wherever we are And arise to take hold of each new day With your light ablaze in our hearts So rekindle the flame within us, Lord So it will not flicker nor dim Ignite us with the light of your love, So you will shine brightly within (M.S.Lowndes ~ 2007)
The Commonwealth Games Ian Bethune The Commonwealth Games were a huge success. A multi -sport event managed to bring people together and let them share in the joy of being part of something special. It would have been good to see more of this feel good factor during and after the Referendum Campaign. There was no crowd segregation and no booing of National Anthems , purely a celebration of top class sporting events. 2 Bolts from the blue added to the spectacle towards the end. It is a privilege to be able to say I was there at Glasgow 2014.
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