REMEMBERING THEM
PILRIG ST PAUL’S CHURCH NOVEMBER 2019 1
The Foodbank is urgently seeking the following items: tinned meat, tinned fish, tinned fruit, tinned vegetables, tea/coffee and UHT milk. If you are able to donate any of these items, it will help reduce our weekly spending costs. Thank you. The donations basket is in the vestibule,
INFORMATION re PILRIG St PAUL’S MAGAZINE
Cover photo Catriona Blackwood
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.
2
PILRIG St PAUL’S CHURCH NOVEMBER 2019 Sunday 3rd November 11am Morning Worship Wednesday 6th November, 2pm Knitting Bee Sunday 10thth November 10.50am Remembrance Service, please note the earlier time. 3pm LEITH COMMUNITY TREATMENT CENTRE See page 4 Tuesday 12th November 2pm The Guild, Session room Guild memories Wednesday 13th November 1pm– Ebenezer Church LCT short service followed by a light lunch Sunday 17thth November 11am Seafarers Service South Leith Parish Church THERE IS NO SERVICE IN PIRIG St PAUL’S TODAY Community Cinema The Secret Life of Pets 2 and Toy Story 4. p12 Thursday 21st November 7.30pm Board meeting, Session Room Sunday 24thth November 11am Morning Worship Tuesday 26th November 2pm The Guild , Scotch Afternoon THURSDAY 28th NOVEMBER – SUNDAY 1st DECEMBER CHRISTMAS TREE FESTIVAL SEE PAGE 5 PROVIDING FLOWERS IN NOVEMBER 2019 3rd November Moira Lomon, 10th November Flower Fund 17th November Service in South Leith 24th November Catriona Blackwood Please speak to Aileen Fraser about providing Church flowers, and to Catriona Blackwood if you are able to go on the delivery rota.
3
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’. OPEN DOORWAY EVERY TUESDAY AND THURSDAY 10.30-12.30 come to the open doorway for coffee, a chat, and quiet time in the sanctuary.
2nd and 4th Tuesdays - The Guild Marjory McMahon (669 7972) The 5th Leith Scouts Pilrig (5th Leith) Edinburgh North East (Evelyn Torrance 552 1657) Beavers, Cubs and Scouts 5 3/4 - 14 years Wednesdays - Lunch club 11.30 (Alex Allan 554 3174) Guides Rainbows and Brownies 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
There is on-street parking in Pilrig Street and Leith Walk (no restrictions on a Sunday). We have a step free entrance to the church via our side door, or the Hall entrances. The welcome team, standing at the steps and in the Open doorway, will be happy to assist. The church is fitted with fixed pews, there is an area suitable for a wheelchair at the front left hand side. 4
From the Manse Silence (A sonnet for Remembrance Day) by Malcolm Guite ©2011 November pierces with its bleak remembrance Of all the bitterness and waste of war. Our silence tries but fails to make a semblance Of that lost peace they thought worth fighting for. Our silence seeths instead with wraiths and whispers, And all the restless rumour of new wars, The shells are singing as we sing our vespers, No moment is unscarred, there is no pause, In every instant bloodied innocence Falls to the weary earth, and whilst we stand Quiescence ends again in acquiescence, And Abel’s blood still cries in every land One silence only might redeem that blood Only the silence of a dying God. Dear All, Remembering is important because our memories help form us and have an impact on who we are as individuals and as a society. However remembering is not just an opportunity to visit the past and dwell in distant memories; it is also an opportunity to let those memories shape our lives and future actions. In the Church we should be used to this process. We practice it every time we celebrate Communion. “Do this in memory of me” said Jesus, and we do so not to dwell in the solemnity and heartache of that final evening Jesus of Nazareth spent with his disciples, but in celebration of Christ’s presence in our lives today. This month we enter into the season of Remembrance, including All Saints Day, All Souls Day, and Remembrance Sunday. It is a time 5
when the veil between time and eternity becomes thin and we are offered the opportunity to reflect on the past. We are called not to dwell there. Instead we are faithfully invited to recall the service, sacrifices, and examples of discipleship of others. Then, in turn, be inspired to be better disciples and spurred onwards in our pursuit of justice and peace for our world today. Blessings Mark CHRISTMAS CHOIR I am hoping to organise a choir to sing at our family Christmas Service. It would be great if members who cannot commit to every Sunday were able to take part and join me, Eric and Catriona. If you would like to find out more, please speak to me after any service. Colin Gray, Organist The Leith Hospital Service of Remembrance will take place in the Leith Community Treatment Centre (Outpatients Dept) 12 Junction Place at 3 pm on Sunday 10 November.
PASTORAL CARE As ever, thanks to members and friends who keep us up to date so that we can send flowers, a card or visit members who are celebrating a milestone, recovering from illness or housebound. Pastoral Care Team Contact - the minister
6
Christmas Tree Festival 2019 This year we will be repeating our successful Christmas Tree Festival in the church from 28 November to 1 December. We will exhibit trees that have been sponsored and decorated by a number of local businesses and groups. The Church will be open for visitors to come and view the trees, vote for their favourites, and have a cuppa and a chat. On Sunday 1 December we will worship among the trees as we begin the season of Advent and we hope that friends and supporters from the local community will join us for this special service. This will be followed by a concert in the afternoon by Bruce Davies. Watch out for more details and announcements over the coming weeks. There are a number of ways in which members can help. We will be looking for teams of volunteers to help with stewarding, serving tea/coffee, etc. during the three days of the festival. We will also be looking for some help with publicity, organising, leafleting, etc. in the run up to the event. And we are looking for your prayers for the success of this venture. If you are able to help in any way then please speak to Aileen Fraser, Eric Fisher, or the Minister.
28thNovember-1st December
1st December 2pm 7
USEFUL INFORMATION 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. Please see Evelyn about other items she can use for Beavers meetings. Flower bags: please hand them in at the end of the service. Stamps: used postage stamps should be cut out (leaving a 1 cm margin) and handed to Maureen Eunson. To receive our news (Intimations) by email every week please visit: http://eepurl.com/bXxvVn Using text to make your offering You can make your offering by texting PSPC10 £5 to 70070 (You can change the £ amount as preferred). Cards for sale: Evelyn Torrance has handmade cards for sale at £2 each. These are on sale after the service. Crossreach provides Social Care Services in the Church of Scotland. Copies of their magazine are available outside the Session Room.
YOUR ONLINE SHOPPING CAN HELP RAISE FUNDS FOR PILRIG ST PAUL’S
Please see the notice board outside the Session Room to help raise funds on-line for Pilrig St Paul’s. 8
Leith Community Knitting Bee Everyone enjoyed our outing to the Botanic Cottage for Afternoon Tea on the 11th October, the weather was kind to us other than a brief shower just when Irene Eprile went out for a wander! Here is the perfect poem that Fiona Rankin found for us to use for our time together. “Kind hearts are the gardens, Kind thoughts are the roots, Kind words are the flowers, Kind deeds are the fruits, Take care of your garden And keep out the weeds, Fill it with sunshine, Kind words, and Kind deeds.� Henry Wadsworth Longfellow During the afternoon we took some time to reminisce about Jeanette Sime who was a member of our group and over the years contributed many beautiful and much appreciated knitted items for us to gift and for our projects. We also all remembered her amazing pancakes. Here are some photos from the afternoon. Thank you to Christine Edington who kindly donated some delicious home baking for the event.
9
Attention is now turning to our projects for this year and we have identified two different causes. Firstly, we will be knitting Trauma Teddies. The teddies are made and donated free of charge to children who need a smile due to trauma, illness or difficult circumstances. They are gifted by emergency services and other organisations in the course of their work.
We are also following in the footsteps of Cardonald Church who undertook a huge progarmme of knitting 460 pencil cases for children in Kumpala in Uganda. Our aim is to knit and fill as many pencil cases as possible and gift them to refugee and asylum seeker children in Leith. If you would like to help out we would be delighted with donations of pencils, rulers, erasers, sharpeners and colouring crayons
We are delighted that some residents from Victoria Manor are continuing to knit since our road trip visit to them earlier this year. We are hoping that they will take part in our projects for this year. Wool and the patterns for both items are available so please let us know if you would like to join in. 10
As ever, all are welcome to join in and come along to our regular meetings too – even if only for a cuppa and chat. Here are our meeting dates for the remainder of this year and next. We meet in the open doorway from 2pm-4pm. 6th November 11th December 15th January 5th February 4th March 8th April 13th May If you would like to be involved and help out with our projects please let me know. Linda Gill THANK YOU We have received thanks from many members for prayers, flowers, cards, visits, phone calls, texts and support received following celebrations, bereavements and accidents. Providing flowers in Church and delivering them. Aileen Fraser arranges the rota for providing Church flowers, and Catriona Blackwood the delivery rota. Please speak to us for further information. These lists will be made up for 2020 very soon, so it would be good to hear from anyone who would like to take part. If you feel unable to continue, please let us know as soon as possible. Thank you for all your help. 11
More than Bricks We are in the third year of our Stewardship cycle and members are being asked to think about their financial giving in support of the work of the Church. In his second letter to the Corinthians Paul says: "Each one should give as much as he has decided on his own initiative, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor 9: 7). Elsewhere in the New Testament, both Paul and Luke describe the support that the early Christian Communities were able to provide to others in need because of their shared giving. The same is true today. By giving from our own resources we can make a huge difference in the lives of others. Across Scotland, and beyond, there are countless numbers of people who are being served in Christ’s name by the Church of Scotland on a daily basis: those in Care Homes or attending Day Services for the elderly; those in hostels instead of sleeping rough on the streets; those receiving help and counselling for addiction, depression, or stress; those receiving help and support from the Church’s HIV and AIDS project; mothers being supported by the Bluebell Perinatal Depression service; families being supported by the Sunflower Garden project; and many others who receive the support and services of the Church for baptisms, weddings, funerals, etc. The Church works hard to ensure that your money is spent wisely and effectively. For every £10 put in the collection plate or paid by Standing Order approximately £4.20 is kept by Pilrig St. Paul’s for all sorts of costs (from maintaining our buildings to mission and worship); approximately £4.88 is used to ensure that the Church has ministries in every part of the country; and the remaining 92p is used for the support, administration, and running of the Church at home and abroad.
12
The Church of Scotland makes a huge contribution to society and to the individual lives of millions of people – all thanks to the generosity of members and supporters of the church like you. In the words of St. Paul, we would ask you to use your own initiative – not reluctantly or under compulsion – to consider increasing your financial contribution towards the work of the Church. Thank you. MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success. This three-line advertisement was placed by Ernest Shackleton in several London based newspapers in 1900. Shackleton later said of the response from volunteers that “it seemed as though all the men in Great Britain were determined to accompany me, the response was so overwhelming.” Like Shackleton we are always looking for volunteers to help with the mission, outreach and work of the church. However, despite the fact that the risks of volunteering for the church are far less dangerous, we rarely seem to get the same response for help as Shackleton did. We are indebted to all those who currently give of their time and skills to help with The Open Doorway, The Guild, The Foodbank, The Community Cinema, and the various Sunday rotas for door duty, flowers, and tea/coffee. We couldn’t do all these things without your commitment. None of these are closed groups and new volunteers are always welcome to lend a hand. Please just ask. We are also delighted that at the last Kirk Session meeting, Eric Fisher volunteered to take over the role of Church Officer for Sunday worship, and Maria Croall volunteered to take over the role of Foodbank Co-ordinator for the congregation. Please help support them in these roles. 13
We are currently looking for someone to take on the role of Roll Keeper. Could this be you? The Roll of members is kept securely in digital form and we are looking for someone with a computer, an internet connection and basic word processing skills. The Church will pay for any costs of having your computer securely encrypted and making sure you have the up-to-date software required. We can even do this for you. The Roll Keeper’s job is to liaise with the Minister and Pastoral Care Team to make sure that the roll of members is kept up to date with any changes of information e.g. change of address, contact details, deaths, etc. At the end of each year a copy of the roll is printed off and a note of any additions and removals is given to the Session Clerk for attestation by the Kirk Session. There is no more to it than this. If you are interested in volunteering for this role, or have any questions about it, please speak to the Session Clerk, John Innes, or the Minister.
Leith Community Cinema Update
By the time you are reading this we will have held our AGM and enjoyed reviewing our progress in 2019. There have also been some changes in the team. Scott Gillies has retired from his role as trustee, secretary and Logistic Team Lead. We pass on our thanks to Scott who played a key role for us gaining our charitable status with OSCR, ensured that the set up happened for every screening as well as undertaking our sectrariat role. We also send our 14
thanks to Bill Wright who was in our Logistics Team and has let us know that he is moving on so will no longer be able to help out at the cinema. Work is already under way to work out how we replace both Scott and Bill in the team. The 2020 Development Plan will also have been discussed as part of the AGM meeting where we will set out the screening programme for next year as well as collaborations, partnerships, resources we would like to acquire and funding opportunities we would like to explore in 2020. Details will be shared once they are finalised. Of course we still have screenings happening in 2019. Here are the details On 2nd November we have been invited to be part of the 10th Birthday Celebrations for Tailor Ed with a special screening for their families. It is great to be part of this celebration. The families are going to make the film choice and we hope to also welcome families from Autism Scotland. Sunday 17th November we are screening The Secret Life of Pets 2 and Toy Story 4. Sunday 15th December we are screening Miracle on 34th Street and potentially Nativity Rocks (just waiting on the film producer to confirm availability of the licence!). Linda Gill Leader, Leith Community Cinema
15
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 the minister§ or me know of someone to include in this section. Catriona Blackwood
CONTACT DETAILS PILRIG St PAUL’S CHURCH 1b Pilrig Street Edinburgh EH6 5AH www.pilrigstpauls.org.uk
Church Office 0131 553 1876
TO RENT OUR PREMISES, PLEASE CONTACT psp.halluse@gmail.com
Scottish Charity no. SCO07277
www.leithchurchesforum.org.uk
The Magazine Thank you for all the articles this month. May I have emailed articles for December by 17th November, please? As there is no service in Pilrig St Paul’s that day, any cards should be handed to me by 10th November or posted to the church to arrive by 16th November. Catriona Blackwood 16
Caring Christmas Trees are sold by the Bethany Trust, a national charity whose mission is to relieve the suffering and meet the long term needs of homeless and vulnerable people. From mid November their online service for Christmas Trees will be open. Local Offices are: The Bethany Shop Charity shop Duke St · 0131 561 8957 Bethany Christian Trust Hostel 12 Couper St · 0131 467 1010 Bethany Christian Trust Non-profit organisation 65 Bonnington Rd · 0131 561 8930
17