PILRIG St PAUL’S CHURCH ADVENT AND C HRISTMAS
DECEMBER 2018 1
INFORMATION re PILRIG St PAUL’S MAGAZINE We welcome articles and thank you letters from members and friends. These are published in both the printed magazine and on-line, unless otherwise arranged with the editor, (eg where personal information is concerned, including the names in the prayer corner, it would normally be omitted from the on-line version). All contributors must provide their name, please, which is normally attached to the article. We reserve the right to edit articles. Changes other than spelling or grammar will, where possible, be discussed with the contributor. Some copies of the printed magazine are available to the public in the open doorway. The views expressed are those of individual contributors and not necessarily those of Pilrig St. Paul’s Church or the Church of Scotland.
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CHRISTMAS SERVICES 2018 AT PILRIG St PAUL’S CHURCH Sunday 2nd December 11am – Guild Service We celebrate the work of The Guild th Sunday 9 December 9 December – 11am – Gift Service Includes the dedication of gifts for Circle Families. th Tuesday 11 December Guild lunch See Jeanette Sime Sunday 16th December – 11am – Lessons and Carols traditional service of readings and music SUNDAY 23rd DECEMBER – 3PM CHRISTMAS FAMILY SERVICE – ALL AGE WORSHIP TUESDAY 25 DECEMBER – 10AM – CHRISTMAS DAY SERVICE CELEBRATE CHRIST’S BIRTH WITH US 30 December – 11am – Morning Worship THERE WILL BE NO OPEN DOORWAY ON 11 TH, 13TH and 25th DECEMBER and 1st JANUARY 2019
JANUARY 2019 6 January – 11am – Joint Epiphany Service at North Leith Parish Church THERE WILL BE NO SERVICE IN PILRIG St PAUL’S TODAY Sunday 13th January 11am – Morning Worship Sunday 20th January 11am – Morning Worship Sunday27th January 11am Communion see page THE FOODBANK DONATIONS BASKET IS IN THE VESTIBULE We are collecting……… Plastic milk bottle tops. Blue or green with a 2 or 3 on them, please give to Maureen Eunson. Other colours and sizes please give them to Evelyn Torrance. Flower bags Please hand them to the person sorting out the flowers after the service. Stamps: see page 6
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PROVIDING FLOWERS IN DECEMBER 2018 2nd Guild, 9th Margaret and David Fraser th 16 Norman Leithead, 23rd Aileen Fraser 30th Mgt Cameron Please speak to Aileen Fraser about providing Church flowers. CHURCH ACTIVITIES AND INFORMATION SUNDAY - 11am WORSHIP in the Sanctuary, followed by tea or coffee, and a chat, in the Session Room. There is a creche for younger children, while those of school age join the congregation, including taking an active part in the all age 'Time to Talk’. ACTIVITIES Alternate Tuesdays - The Guild 2.00pm Every Tuesday and Thursday 10.30-12.30 come to the open doorway for coffee, a chat, and quiet time in the sanctuary Wednesdays - Lunch club 11.30 Beavers, Cubs and Scouts 5 3/4 - 14 years The 5th Leith Scouts Edinburgh North East (Evelyn Torrance 552 1657) For Rainbows, Brownies and Guides please send all enquiries to www.girlguiding.org.uk . We have two groups associated with Pilrig St Paul’s THERE ARE MANY OTHER ACTIVITIES HELD ON OUR PREMISES, PLEASE SEE THE NOTICE BOARD IN PILRIG STREET (MIDDLE ENTRANCE) TO RENT OUR PREMISES, PLEASE CONTACT psp.halluse@gmail.com OUR WHEELCHAIR ENTRANCES ARE IN PILRIG STREET 4
From the manse … Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." – Isaiah 40: 1 – 5
Dear All, Advent is my favourite season in the church year, especially when it comes to the hymns. They speak of new beginnings and the prospect of new adventures, new hopes and new dreams for all God’s people, which are all strong themes at the heart of the Advent message. As a Kirk Session we have been reviewing our services for Advent and Christmas, in the light of dwindling numbers at the traditional Watchnight service and growing numbers at the Family Services over the past few years. We have decided to cancel the morning service on Sunday 23 December and instead hold a special family friendly service at 3:00 pm on the same day – similar to last year’s arrangements. This service will take the place of our previous Christmas Eve and Watchnight celebrations. We feel that such a service fits better with today’s commitments of work and family lifestyles and we hope that you will not only support this service by coming along on the day, but also encourage your family and friends to attend this special celebration of the Christmas story. 5
As a congregation we should never become set in our ways, but always be stepping out in new ways as we respond to God’s love in our lives. Let us not become entrenched in the bunkers of “this is how it has always been done” but encourage ourselves to dream up new ideas, experiment with change, and pursue new adventures as we seek to be the community of faith that God is calling us to be. This year may the glory of the Lord be revealed through our worship, and that all people see it together. Shalom Mark
A FUTURE DATE On Saturday 16th February 2019 our Church is hosting a concert with international singer, songwriter BRUCE DAVIES at 2.00pm. His music is well known throughout the UK and also in Canada and the U.S.A. where he is called Scotland’s John Denver. Tickets will cost only £5 and can be bought at the Church any Sunday. All profits will go to the work of our Church. Bruce has made 24 albums, over some 30 years, as a professional musician and I can guarantee a great time at this concert. See also the poster on page 14. Eric Fisher
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Greetings Tree This year we will have a tree in the Session Room where members and friends can pass on Christmas Greetings. See more details on the poster on the back cover. Helping Hands As we head towards the end of this year, we are delighted to have undertaken all pastoral requests received by the team. It is however, only with your help and support we can do this, so please accept our thanks for your willingness to keep us informed with news of members of the congregation and the wider local community, supporting us with making phone calls and visits to those in need of support. The delivery of flowers from the service each Sunday are always a welcome gift, both the flowers and the visit are appreciated so a hug thanks also goes to the team of people who undertake this for us as part of our overall Pastoral Support. Please remember to let us know if you would like a visit or phone call from us or would like to arrange this for a member of our congregation you feel would appreciate this type of support. All you need to do is complete a Helping Hands form and pop it into the box in the Open Doorway of the Church or speak to any of our team. The flower delivery rota for 2019 will be available from the 3rd December so please make sure you get your copy from me. Dementia Friendly Congregation Work is still under way to explore how we might be able to be approved as a Dementia Friendly congregation. If you would like to be involved in this project, please let us know. 7
Join the team If you would like to get more involved with Pastoral Care for our congregation and the wider local community, please let us know. We would be delighted to have a few more members on the team. For more information about what is involved please speak to any of our team members. Pastoral Care Team Mark Foster - Minister Catriona Blackwood – Elder, Safeguarding Co-ordinator and Magazine Editor Christine Edington – CrossReach Co-ordinator Linda Gill – Elder and Pastoral Care Team Leader Michelle Muhammad – Congregational Board Member Cathy Purdie – Contact for Special Needs Fiona Rankin – Elder Jeanette Sime – Elder and Roll Keeper Linda Gill Pastoral Care Team Leader 669-7409 or helpinghands@pilrigstpauls.org.uk THE MAGAZINE Thank you for all the items I have received this time. Please see the information on the inside front cover re articles for publication in the magazine. May I have items for the February edition by Sunday 20th January 2019? Thank you. Catriona Blackwood
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Christianity Explored We have been running a 7-week course covering the material from Christianity Explored based on the gospel of Mark. We gathered a group of people who agreed to lead the course – Bill Wright, John Innes, Dot Melville and Paul Singh, then we advertised and waited to see who would come. In the end a total of seven people came to explore Mark’s gospel with us. The whole enterprise has proved to be very rewarding, allowing us the space to think more deeply about the various aspects of Jesus’ life and ministry and to begin those often-difficult conversations about our faith and what it means in a modern world. We have all found our understanding of the gospel has improved as well as our understanding of how we relate to Jesus and to God through the material presented throughout the course. Our fellowship was developed through having an away-day at St. Andrews Leckie Church in Peebles one Saturday where we were able to consider several themes more deeply and enjoy a lunch together. I’d like to thank everyone involved in the project from its initial conception by Bill Wright, support from the Minister and Kirk Session, the table leaders and most of all the people who came along and made it all worthwhile. The question on everyone’s lips at the end of the course was ‘what are you going to do next?’ well, we haven’t decided that yet, we’ll take some time over the Christmas period to explore what material is available and suitable for our needs and hopefully there will be some news nearer Easter next year. John Innes For the Christianity Explored Team
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World Mission 2018 Stamp Appeal. The proceeds of this year's appeal are going to The Reformed Church in Ukraine, where they will be used to help support day care centres for young children with disabilities. Used postage stamps should be cut out (leaving a 1 cm margin) and handed to Maureen Eunson. Leith Community Knitting Bee This month we lost one of older members, a great character who kept us all entertained at our Knitting Bee meetings and always managed to find a story to tell us. We are thinking about her family and close friends, some of whom were also members of the Knitting Bee. We plan to have a meeting in December to chat through our plans to raise funds in her memory for the charity Mary’s Meals, a cause very close to her heart. We are also finalising our Christmas Project that is taking the form of ‘random gifts of kindness’ gifted to people attending our services over Christmas as well as Foodbank and Open Doorway visitors. Leith Community Cinema We were delighted with the attendance and plethora of new ideas generated at our Annual Planning Conference in October. The ideas covered some key areas for the development of the cinema across the following headings – Screening Programme for 2019, Funding ideas, Materials and Equipment ideas and potential new Collaborations. These are all going to be collated into action plans for each of our sub groups to take forward in 2019. These key themes were presented at our AGM that was also held in October. The AGM went well with a number of new members approved as 10
well as a walk-through summary of the past year and many other items from a fairly packed agenda. The same weekend we also held a double screening when we welcomed people along to see La La Land in the Session House and Main Hall. It went well with very positive feedback and good attendance at both screenings. This month we screened, in collaboration with Leith Creative, a selection of archive films from Edinburgh and Leith. We welcomed the film maker and had a panel of invited guests who were able to talk about the films being shown. It proved to be a very popular screening with spaces being booked out quickly. As a result, we have decided to repeat it as part of our 2019 programme. We finish our programme this year with the screening of Nativity on Friday 7th December. Tickets can be booked via Eventbrite or by completing the sign-up sheets in the Open Doorway and Session House.
Doing on-line shopping?
See the notice board outside the Session Room Using text to make your offering You can make your offering by texting PSPC10 ÂŁ5 to 70070 (You can change the ÂŁ amount as preferred). To receive our news (Intimations) by email every week please visit: http://eepurl.com/bXxvVn 11
The Minister and Kirk Session of Pilrig St Paul’s Church invite you to The Sacrament of Holy Communion on Sunday 27th January 2019 at 11 am This is the Lord’s Table. Anyone who loves God and responds to Christ’s invitation to join together in this feast is welcome to join us in the celebration. As well as wine the serving trays have individual cups of plain water for those who prefer this.
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DECORATION AND TIDY UP
The Community Cinema have been offered volunteers from the Royal Bank of Scotland to decorate the Session Room in January 2019. The Board have agreed to this and there will be a small group setup to decide on the colour scheme and help organise the equipment that will be required for this. At the same time, we are looking to clear out under the stage in the main hall and hopefully use this to store what is currently in the Den. Due to the double red lines and greenways it isn’t easy to get a skip, so we are looking for other means to dispose of items no longer required. Due to this it makes sense that we get rid of anything in the buildings that isn’t required at the same time. We may also be able to get help from the volunteers with this. The tidy up will take place on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th January. If you are able to help, please put these dates in your diary. If you know of anything that could be disposed of please let Mark Wexelstein or Aileen Fraser know and we will keep a list of what we know can be removed prior to that weekend. 13
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THANK YOU Moira Fergie would like to thank Linda Gill for the beautiful flowers she received on the 4th November. The good wishes and support are very much appreciated. Jean Ramage would like to say a big thank you for the lovely flowers she received after Church recently. And for the bunch she received back in September for her 85th Birthday. On both occasions they brought some beautiful, natural colour to the house. I would like to thank everyone for their kind wishes over the last few months and for the flowers I have received from the Church. Irene Wexelstein Many thanks for the flowers we received. They really helped to brighten our day. Margaret and David Fraser We were delighted to receive flowers from the Church. They were beautiful, certainly cheered us up and were very much appreciated. Ella and Ronnie Gilfillan Thank you for the lovely flowers, delivered by Irene Eprile, which I received when I was unwell recently. They lasted a really long time. Catriona Blackwood GREETINGS FROM 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. Many thanks for the lovely flowers received from the Church. Your continued support via cards, texts and telephone calls is very much appreciated. Margaret Cameron
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Prayer Corner Please remember in your prayers members and friends of the congregation who are ill or infirm at this time. A full list is available in the printed version of the magazine. Please let Roy Eprile know if you would like someone included in the prayer corner and also make sure Roy knows about any changes, thank you.
CONTACT DETAILS PILRIG St PAUL’S CHURCH 1b Pilrig Street Edinburgh EH6 5AH www.pilrigstpauls.org.uk Church Office 0131 553 1876 Scottish Charity no. SCO07277
www.leithchurchesforum.org.uk
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WE HAVE A GREETINGS TREE THIS YEAR!
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PLEASE PUT YOUR MESSAGE ON A GIFT TAG AND FIX IT TO THE TREE IN THE SESSION ROOM