PILRIG St PAUL’S CHURCH FEBRUARY 2013
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. 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. Our wheelchair 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 (Irene Wexelstein 476 1385) Details of the New Session in the October Magazine *Pilrig Choristers 4-5.30pm Session Room *Pilrig Chorus at 7.30pm. Wednesdays - Lunch club 12 noon (Marjory McArthur 553 2323) *Vocal Vibes and Singchronicity youth choirs 4-5.30pm Halls *Contact Colin Gray 07901 556 217 In Pilrig Park School: Thursdays Rainbows (Ann Urquhart 554 8387) 6.15-7.15 Brownies (Ann Urquhart ) 6.15-7.30 Guides (Karen Wood 554 5493) 7.30 - 9.00 In Broughton Primary School: Tuesdays The 5th Leith Scouts (Pilrig Edinburgh North East) Beavers 53/4 to 8 years (6.00 to 7.00 p.m.) Cubs 8 to 10 1/2 years (6.30 to 8.00 p.m.) Scouts 10 1/2 to 14 years (7.30 to 9.00 )
FEBRUARY in PILRIG St PAUL’S ALL SERVICES IN FEBRUARY ARE AT 11am IN THE SANCTUARY AND WILL BE TAKEN BY MRS MAGGIE HUNT THE GUILD 2pm IN THE SESSION ROOM February 12th Mrs Boa Quilting and sewing February 26 Nan Robinson Games and singing
FLOWERS IN FEBRUARY 3rd February Nancy & Alex Fleming 10th February Marjory McArthur & Hilda Winton 17th February Fiona Rankin 24th February Flower Fund Inside this magazine pages 2 and 3 letters from the locum and the Session Clerk Pages 4 and 5 Thank you pages 6 and 7 letter from the interim moderator page 8 Music News page 9 Prayer Corner Thank you to everyone for the contributions this month. Please may I have articles for March by February 17th? Catriona Blackwood
1
FROM OUR LOCUM Hello, My name is Mrs Maggie Hunt and I am your locum minister for the next few months. I am delighted to be journeying with you all as we travel through the church seasons of Epiphany and Lent and look forward to Easter, Springtime and all that the future holds here at Pilrig St Paul's Church. I look forward to meeting you all over the coming weeks. I am available for pastoral visits and meetings most weeks - please contact me on 0131 620 1314 or let your Elder know that you would like to speak to me. Yours in Christ, Maggie Hunt FROM THE CLERK’S DESK
FEBRUARY 2013
Well, a new year has begun and I’m very busy with all the admin which surrounds the vacancy. I’d like to thank Gary Peacock for the short period he was with us as locum, it turned out to be a very busy time spanning Christmas and the New Year. We now welcome Maggie Hunt as locum for the next few months up to Easter and I’m looking forward to working with her and enjoying her leading our worship. Our Electoral Roll has been made up and ratified and the Kirk Session is busy putting together the Parish Profile which will go out to any prospective applicants for the post as Minister of Pilrig St. Paul’s. Creating the parish profile has meant many hours in front of a keyboard for Mark Wexelstein and myself and the draft will have gone to the rest of the Kirk Session for comments by the time you read this.
2
From the Clerk’s Desk Once the approval of the Reviewable Tenure comes back from Presbytery we can move to electing a nominating committee and I hope that everyone in the congregation will give prayerful consideration to being part of this small but important committee which has the task of determining if applicants for the charge are the right people to work with the congregation to take forward our mission in the parish. The Church isn’t just the work of a single person, there are dozens of people who organise and deliver flowers, make tea, staff the crèche, count the money, welcome people at the door as well as the office bearers keeping the Roll, doing the accounts, attending to the property and so on and I’d like to thank all of them for their continuing contribution to the life of the church. I really appreciate the help I’ve received in the vacancy so far but there’s so much to do over the coming months and I know I can’t do it all myself, so if you can offer to take on some of the smaller tasks that will free up some of my time which is in pretty short supply. January is the month when the church statistics are collated. I’ve been gathering information on the congregational roll, how many have joined and how many have died or left, how many elders and how many Board members, how many funerals, weddings and baptisms which all serves to give a snapshot of the life of congregation. The next major task will be the records inspection in March when all the minute books, roll book, safeguarding register, property register and church accounts go for inspection by the Presbytery. John Innes Session Clerk
Please turn to the centre pages for a letter from the Interim Moderator, Jack Holt.
3
THANK YOU Francis Chambers sends her thanks for the Christmas gift. Mrs Cairns of Halmyre Street thanks us for her Christmas gift. Irene Wexelstein would like to say thank you for the lovely flowers she received on her 80th birthday, and thanks to everyone who sent a card. I had a very pleasant surprise last Sunday when I received a beautiful bunch of flowers given to me by Jean Ramage. They are much appreciated. Thank you very much, Sybil Muir Thanks to the congregation for the lovely flowers I received on Sunday 16th December, Ina McRae. Thank you very much for your gift, Ian Stobie Thank you form Mary Currie for the lovely flowers. They were much appreciated. I would like to thank my friends at Church for the beautiful flowers I received while attending service today. They are much appreciated. Helen Greig Andrew Forrest was delighted to be remembered by the congregation at Christmas. Special thanks to Fiona Rankin for taking the gift to Livingston and for her visit. Sadly, since we received this, Andrew has had a stroke and is seriously ill in hospital. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family at this hard time.
4
Dear Friends, Thank you so much for the beautiful flowers you sent following the death of my grandpa, Jim Bowie. He was such a keen gardener, and would have loved them - as we did too. Grandad had so many good friends at Pilrig St Paul’s. It was lovely of you to think of us. Kind regards, Jenny Robertson. oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo From Circle Supporting families in Scotland Dear Eric, I am writing on behalf of the parents, staff and children at Circle Scotland to thank you and the congregation of Pilrig St Paul’s Church for the toys that you kindly donated to us at Christmas. I know that they were much appreciated by the parents, who at this time are finding Christmas harder and harder to deal with, and whose children would have had very little if it was not for you and the kindness of other Church members. May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year, and many thanks once again, Yours sincerely, Mae Duncan Under 5s worker. Thanks to everyone who donated gifts at christmas and also all those who delivered them to housebound members, homes and hospitals. many thanks, Eric
5
FROM THE INTERIM MODERATOR Happy New Year! Through the good work of the Locum and the elders I hope the congregation enjoyed a worshipful and celebratory festive season. I thank Gary for his leading of worship until the year’s end. He has now passed the baton on to Maggie Hunt who I recently met and who I know is looking forward to sharing the journey of Pilrig St Paul’s for the first few months of the year. With regards to the vacancy, the situation is as follows: the Presbytery approved the Reviewable Tenure of the congregation at its last meeting in December. This was then passed on to the Ministries Council for their approval, which should be a formality as it is in line with the Presbytery Plan. However I will not be notified of this until late January/early February. At that time we move to what is the most important moment in the whole process: the congregation will hear read edicts calling them to a meeting following a Sunday service at which they will be invited to propose (and second) people from the Electoral Register to serve on the Nomination Committee. I will chair this meeting. It is the task of this Committee to advertise the vacancy, to invite interest, to interview and observe leading worship interested parties and finally present to the Kirk Session the name of a Sole Nominee to preach before the congregation. They would then vote in favour or not of that person becoming the next minister of the parish. The Presbytery decides how many persons will serve on this Committee; in this case 11. It is important that the makeup of the Committee reflects the whole congregation in terms of gender, age spread, etc. It needs to have more than elders and other leadership roles sitting on it. It needs people who simple attend worship on a Sunday. And if someone has other commitments within the congregation these should be set aside for a season to allow the right people to form the Committee. At the meeting I will call for nominations. Those who are proposed must be willing to serve. There needs to be a seconder. If a person is nominated who is not present at the meeting, written confirmation of their willingness to
6
serve must be presented. If the nominations exceed 11 then those present will be asked to vote. They each have 11 votes. After the count persons with the lowest numbers are eliminated until 11 remain. It is so important that serious thought is given to who is nominated. In churches the same people tend to be asked to do everything. So certain names come immediately to mind. But these might not necessarily be the right people for this kind of work. And as I said before the Committee does need to include people who don’t do much in the church for balance. So can I ask everyone to give prayerful consideration to who should be nominated. The Committee has to have a Convener and a Secretary. The Convener chairs the meetings while the Secretary keeps minutes and corresponds with the prospective candidates. So keep these skills in mind as well when thinking of nominations. I, as Interim Moderator, may attend meetings of the Committee as an observer and to offer advice. A vital tool supporting this work is the Parish Profile, a document that presents to prospective candidates a description of the parish, the church buildings and manse, the life and work of the congregation. It would also give a picture of what kind of church Pilrig St Paul needs to be according to the Presbytery Plan and indicates the tasks of ministry required to be undertaken by the incoming minister. This document is created by the Kirk Session and at the time of writing they are busy with an initial draft. The first meeting of the Nomination Committee is with the Presbytery’s Advisory Committee. This team of three under the convenership of the Rev Scott McKenna has already met with the Kirk Session and their task is to share the vision of the Kirk Session with the Committee, explain the process, to offer helpful suggestions and to be of further help at any stage throughout the process. I hope this will allow everyone to participate fully and with understanding in the next stage of the vacancy procedure. I look forward to renewing my acquaintance with you at that time. Jack Holt Interim Moderator.
7
MUSIC NEWS Church Choir Colin Gray is now established as our new organist. If you would like to join our Church choir, please contact him on 07901 556217, or speak to him at Church.
Pilrig Chorus welcomes new singers! Pilrig Chorus would like to welcome anyone interested in joining the choir. Rehearsals are at 7.30pm every Tuesday evening at Pilrig St Paul's church. The choir will be performing a concert of choral works including Fare's Requiem on Tuesday 26th March. No audition necessary - just come along and sing. Further information is available from the choir director, Colin Gray tel: 07901 556217
8
PRAYER CORNER Ina Grierson Jean Stark Isabel Hannay Matthew Green Mary and Jimmy Rennie Jeanette Sime Peter Sinclair Murdo and Joy MacLeod Linda Connollyy Jack McArthur Morag Davidson Lillian Kane Helen Greig John Michael Jacobson Donald Nisbet
Margaret Scott Barbara Graham Cathie Galbraith Frances Chambers Andrew Forrest Norman Lawrence June Welsh Charlie and Joyce Forman Phil Howe Helena Aide Isabel Pert Agnes MacAuley Alan Black Diane Davies
Please contact Roy Eprile with any names you would like included in this section.
9
MINISTER Vacant Locum Minister - Mrs Maggie Hunt 0131 620 1314 SESSION CLERK John Innes - 33 Monktonhall Place, Musselburgh (07563 248722) pilrig@btinternet.com THE CONGREGATIONAL BOARD CLERK Aileen Fraser (07936 716 765) aileen.fraser@btinternet.com ASSISTANT CLERK Maria Croall (07747 071 545) croallm@hotmail.com CORRESPONDENCE to: The Clerk to the Congregational Board Pilrig St Paul’s Church, 1B Pilrig Street, Edinburgh EH6 5AH TREASURER Mark Wexelstein (665 6881) mark.wexelstein@googlemail.com ROLL KEEPER Mrs Jeanette E. Sime - 1 South Trinity Road (552 9652) PASTORAL CONVENER Mrs Linda Gill (669 7409) PASTORAL LINK ELDER and SAFEGUARDING CO-ORDINATOR Mrs Catriona E.W. Blackwood - 4 Cambridge Gardens (554 6183) bill.blackwood@tesco.net PROPERTY CONVENER Eric Fisher (552 8982) 104 Crewe Crescent HALL LET GROUP psp.halluse@gmail.com ORGANIST and CHOIRMASTER Colin Grey (07901 556 217) 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 - see above Distribution - Mrs Margaret Cameron - 35 Lorne Street (554 2139) Scottish Charity no. SCO07277 www.pilrigstpauls.org.uk www.leithchurchesforum.org.uk