PILRIG St PAUL’S CHURCH MAY 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 )
MAY in PILRIG St PAUL’S All services are at 11am and will be taken by Rev Sara Embleton The Vocal Vibes performance of One Planet Future will be in Pilrig St Paul’s Church on Sunday 19th May at 4pm.
The Singchronicity performance of Bugsy Malone will be in Pilrig St Paul’s Church Hall on Saturday 25th May at 7.30pm. PLEASE COME AND SUPPORT OUR YOUNGSTERS, THE LEADERS AND VOLUNTEERS, WHO HAVE WORKED VERY HARD TO BRING YOU THESE PERFORMANCES Flowers in the Sanctuary May 5th Ella and Ronnie Gilfillan 12th Joyce Loughlin 19th Margaret and David Fraser 26th Eric Fisher If you would like information about providing flowers for the church, please contact Aileen Fraser.
Thank you all for your contributions to the magazine. The variety of articles this month shows just how much is going on at Pilrig St Paul’s! Please see the centre pages for details of Leith Churches forum, Leith Churches together, the Guild Summer meetings, and other events. The deadline for June (the last before the summer break) is Sunday 19th May Catriona Blackwood 1
From the Interim Moderator, I trust I find the congregation is good heart as we journey through the vacancy process. The closing date associated with the advert in Life & Work is fast approaching and then the Committee will either be dealing with notices of interest received or looking to re-advertise. They have thought through their approach to the next stage and so please continue to support your Committee with your prayers and let us see if God’s choice and timing will allow this vacancy not to be too long in coming to a happy conclusion. As your Interim Moderator can I ask you also to be prayerful for the whole church as we approach the forthcoming General Assembly. The reports in what is called ‘The Blue Book’ (because of the traditional choice of colour of its cover, and to make sure it was never confused with football’s ‘Wee Red Book! That’s a joke, by the way) have now been published including the long -awaited report of the Theological Commission on Same-Sex Relationships and the Ministry. If anyone wishes to read the reports they are made available online at the Church of Scotland’s website at www.churchofscotland.org.u This report has again not come to a unified conclusion but presents two points of view: to proceed or to retract and thus will divide the Assembly into those who favour one or other of these paths. Whatever course the Assembly decides on will leave behind ministers, Kirk Session and even congregation who may seek to withdraw from the Church. This debate will be held on Monday 20 May (and I hope everyone gets the irony here) following the celebration of the Sacrament of Holy Communion! The whole day has been set aside for these proceedings. If you wish to follow these proceedings then again you can online through the Church’s website. There will be more to this Assembly that this issue, though the national media will certainly not give that impression. And many issues indicate that the challenges facing the Church at this time from many directions are immense and prayer is certainly needed if the whole Church, acting together, is to find a way through them. 2
Also in May many congregations will engage in Christian Aid Week. The traditional door-to-door collection associated with this week is becoming harder for some congregations to sustain due to the congregation getting older and smaller or housing having the kinds of barriers that prevent easy access. But the campaigning side of Christian Aid is greatly increasing and their website offers the opportunity of concerned individuals and groups to get involved. www.christianaid.org.uk/scotlan Finally, I express my apologies to all the elders for forgetting to put the date of the last Kirk Session meeting into my diary which resulted in my unexpected absence. Oops! Until we meet again: The Lord bless you and keep you. Jack Holt
A Helping Hand Would you like to help us? We are looking to set up a team of members who would be willing to visit other members who are housebound or in hospital. We know that visits like these can be vital to those in that situation. A friendly face chatting over a cup of tea can make all the difference and you would also feel that you are playing your part as a member of our congregation. You would be paired up with another member visitor and visiting members who express an interest in receiving a visit. Sara Embleton, our locum minister, has already undertaken a number of pastoral visits and so this activity will provide wider support to our members. Please consider if you would be willing to get involved even if only on a trial basis to see how you feel It is of course important that we establish that visits would be valued by our members and so we would like to hear from members who would appreciate a visit, someone to talk to over a cup of tea. Perhaps the visit could simply be reminiscing about days gone be and to hear the latest news of people in Pilrig St Paul’s. It would of course be arranged in advance at a time that suits both you and your visitors. 3
If you would like a visit please contact Catriona Blackwood or Linda Gill. We would also be interested to hear from you on this topic even if you are not looking for a visit to take place. We have formed a small committee to look after the Pastoral Visiting programme for our Church and we are keen to have feedback from you whether you are interested in being visited, names of people you think would appreciate a visit from our of our team or would like to join our visiting team so please contact me by phone or e-mail as below.
We look forward to hearing from you. Linda Gill (669-7409 or dgillfamily@sky.co) and Catriona Blackwood
From the Clerk’s desk Our vacancy continues, some progress towards selecting a new minister has now been made.
The advert has been published, the Parish Profile is ready, the Nominating Committee has been elected and has met a couple of times to sort out all the procedural stuff. All we are waiting for now is the applications to arrive, then we can begin the task of determining who will be the minister of our congregation for the next five year or more. We have said farewell to Maggie Hunt as she finished her time as our locum at Easter; I’m sure we’d all like to wish Maggie all the best with the rest of her studies and as she begins her placement in Haddington. We also need to welcome our new locum Rev Sara Embleton who began her time with us at the beginning of April. Please take the time to get to know Sara as she gets to know us. I’m conscious that we are in something of a limbo just now, the long period between John Tait retiring and us appointing a new minister is a difficult time for the congregation. However we do need to work hard at ‘being the church’. Nothing we do in our normal church lives has stopped, all our outreach and other work continues, so we all need to pull together to maintain our momentum. 4
There is a whole raft of people working very hard for the congregation, keeping the property in good order, handling the hall lets, staffing the open doorway, chaperoning the Vocal Vibes etc along with the many activities which go into making Sunday worship a pleasant experience. We all need to carry on doing those things and support each other as much as we can. Those of you who have been to the church recently will notice that the new side doors have now been grained by George Russell and they are looking pretty good. That completes another phase of the refurbishment work started last year and there isn’t much left to be done now so the buildings are in good condition for the start of a new ministry. John Innes Session Clerk
Introducing myself……. My name is Sara Embleton and I started as your Locum Minister at Pilrig St Paul’s on 1st April. I am from Ireland but have lived in Edinburgh for almost 30 years, having come here originally to study Divinity at New College. I liked it so much I decided to stay! I am married to Brian who is minister at Reid Memorial Church and we have a 19 year old daughter called Victoria. I also have 2 step children who are 29 and 32 years of age. I started my ministry as an Associate Minister in Currie before moving on to hospital chaplaincy work in both the Royal Victoria and the Royal Infirmary. From 1999 until 2010 I was parish minister at Leith St Serf’s and I have just completed stints as Locum Minister at Polwarth Parish Church, South Leith and Leith St. Andrew’s. I am an Associate Member of the Iona Community and feel energised by the spirituality and the engagement with the world that are at the heart of Iona’s vision. I believe passionately that the Church needs to find new ways of sharing the Good News of God’s love with those who are outside the institutional Church. I am convinced that one of the challenges facing every congregation is that of empowering church people to share their faith stories with the people with whom they come into daily contact. I love reading, walking, knitting, card-making, the sea, music, Radio 4, gadgets, learning new things, cooking, meeting friends for lunch or coffee, seeing new places, old re-runs of New Tricks and As time goes by……………I could go on but suffice it to say that I am never bored! 5
I am working two days per week as well as Sunday mornings and would be pleased to hear from you if I can be of any pastoral assistance to you. I look forward to getting to know you over the coming months and to being part of your life and worship. With best wishes Sara
LEITH CHURCHES TOGETHER (LCT) The annual general meeting will be held on Tuesday 28th May in the Acorn Centre, Junction Place at 7pm for 7.30pm. If anyone would like to attend, please inform me to check final time and venue. Summer is upon us and for L.C.T. it means we will be rolling out our Ships Visitors to the 50 which are due to call into the Port of Leith. The Ships Visitors help the crew in many ways, not least in offering top-up cards for their mobile phone which allows them to have vital time with their loved ones many miles across the oceans. We also hand out Bible readings and the much loved woolie hats. Many thanks to the ladies for their constant supply, we never get too many. Eric The Faith Foodbank started recently. If you can be one of the helpers from Pilrig St Paul’s, or if you are able to be a representative to LCT, please speak to Eric. (Eric Fisher (552 8982)
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Christian Aid week is 12-18 May Please look out for information in the weekly intimations. If you would like to get involved with the organization of Pilrig St Paul’s Christian Aid week events, please see John Innes.
THE GUILD We will again be holding summer meetings. May 14th 2pm June 18th Lunch 1pm July 9th 2 pm September 10th 2pm For full details, see Irene Wexelstein or Jeanette Sime
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THANK YOU We would like to thank the Congregation for the lovely cards and flowers we received on the arrival of our Granddaughter Sophie. They were very much appreciated. Frances and George McPherson I was delighted to be handed a lovely bunch of daffodils after the Easter Sunday service by Aileen Fraser. They were much appreciated and brought a little bit of spring into my home. Fiona Rankin Dear All Can I please thank everybody for the beautiful flowers that were given to me at the Church on Sunday. The colour is like having the Sun in my living room! It was a very kind thought after my foot operation, which I am glad to say, is now well on the way to recovery. Many thanks again for all the kind thoughts and best wishes that have been sent in the last few weeks. Kind Regards Kathleen Christie Barbara Graham was delighted to be given flowers by Margaret Cameron last Sunday. ‘it was very nice, thank you’ Betty Kerr would like to thank the Church for the flowers she received and she also had a visit from Sara – she said it was really nice to be remembered. Jean Stark was delighted to receive flowers from the Guild delivered by Maureen Eunson, and from the Church delivered by Lily Gilhooley. This marks her 97th birthday – congratulations from us all, Jean!
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MINUTES OF THE STATED ANNUAL HELD ON SUNDAY 24TH MARCH 2013 IN THE SANCTUARY
MEETING
The Session Clerk, John Innes Constituted Meeting with a prayer. The minutes from last year had been published in the magazine and were taken as read. They were approved by Jeanette Sime and seconded by Eric Fisher. John Innes then gave the Congregational Report This has been a year of loss, in June Stuart Sime passed away leaving a huge hole in the congregational life of Pilrig St. Paul’s church. He was very heavily involved in the church as Elder, Clerk to the Board, Property Convener and so much more and we’re all still feeling the repercussions of his passing. We have a new clerk to the Board in Aileen Fraser and Maria Croall is chairing the Board. We have a new Property convener in Eric Fisher. We also saw the departure of our Director of Music Martin Ritchie as he began his studies for the ministry but we are delighted to have been able to appoint Colin Gray as our new Director of Music. In October, we saw the retirement of John Tait as minister and we also feel the loss of both him and Marlyn who did so much work here too. We have had a couple of major property projects this year, first was the rewire of the church and the installation of the new chandeliers, then we replaced both the central heating boilers so thanks to everyone who was involved with those projects. We have also installed a new printer in the church office which replaces the Risograph and the photocopier, the office has also been refurbished, with new carpets and furniture. Thanks to John and Mark for emptying the office and sorting through all the surplus stuff which had accrued there before putting the useful stuff back again. We are now well into our vacancy, the Interim Moderator is Jack Holt, Gary Peacock was locum from November through to the end of 2012 and we presently have Maggie Hunt as our locum but only until Easter, after which, we have appointed Rev Sara Embelton as locum to see us through the remainder of the vacancy. The Nomination Committee has been elected and the adverts for the post along with the Parish Profile have been prepared ready to send to applicants. We are trying very hard to keep everything running as best we can during the vacancy but the extra workload is putting a lot of strain on John Innes and Mark Wexelstein. 9
As a congregation, we need to all work together to maintain church life during this period of uncertainty and change. Our principal outreach activities centre around the Open Doorway and our music outreach with Vocal Vibes and Singchronicity. I would like to thank all the office bearers for their hard work during the past year, in particular Mark Wexelstein as treasurer but he also wears many other hats and is working long hours for the church. I would also like to thank Aileen Fraser for taking on the clerk’s role and Maria Croall for stepping in as chair, Eric Fisher for his work as property convener, Catriona Blackwood for safeguarding, and editing the magazine, Jeanette Sime for roll keeper, Ronnie Cameron for beadling, Roy Eprile and Ian Bethune for setting up the heating, the duty teams for providing a warm welcome at the door and seeing to the offerings, our cleaners Paul and Ruth for keeping the buildings in good order. The work of the church comes in many different guises and the folks who staff the crèche, make the teas every Sunday, make up and deliver the magazine, deliver flowers and provide flowers in the sanctuary, staff the open doorway, chaperone the children for Vocal Vibes and Singchronicity, open the church halls for users,. So thanks to all of those and anyone I’ve missed! Mark thanked John for all his hard work during this time.
Mark Wexelstein then gave the Treasurer’s Report Page 1 of accounts all the trustees are noted and have agreed and are responsible for them. OFFERINGS are up 4.7% 2011 31,183 2012 32,159. Gift aid is also up by 3% 5,284 2011 to 5,442 2012. Hall lets are our best income and they are up 23% 29,817 2011 to 36,674 2012. In 2012 we only had 1 week in the fringe with the American High Schools. We hoped to have them for 2 weeks in 2013 but unfortunately they have had 3 schools pull out and are only able to come for 1 week again. But we are hopeful that we may get someone who is interested in the halls for the 2nd week. The youth choir money no longer comes through Pilrig St. PAULS accounts it is direct from the Forum accounts. The law has now changed for P.A.Y.E due to other commitments as it has now to be done monthly I am unable to carry this out so the accountants have agreed to take this on for us at no extra cost. This is due to them doing other churches accounts, but charging us more for the same work. 10
John Innes thanked Mark for all his hard work. The Roll Keeper Jeanette Sime then gave the Congregational Statistics Number on Congregational Roll as at 31.12.2011 Added by Profession of Faith 2 Certificate of Transfer 1 Restoration 2 Removed by Profession of Faith Certificate of Transfer Death
4 0 10
Number on Congregational Roll as at 31.12.12 Supplementary Roll Adherents
259
250
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Election to Membership of the Congregational Board Ella Gilfillan, Ann Gowans, Michael Head, Nikki Macdonald , Fiona Nicoll are due to come off the Congregational Board. Ella Gilfillan, Ann Gowans, and Michael Head have agreed to stay on the board. Nikki Macdonald is leaving so unable to continue on the board. Fiona Nicoll has already left. Moira Fergie and Alex Fleming have agreed to join the congregational board.
As no one else is wishing to come on the board we require power to co-opt members during the year. This was all agreed. There being no other business, the meeting closed. Aileen Fraser Clerk to the Board
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PRAYER CORNER Ina Grierson Jean Stark Isabel Hannay Matthew Green Mary and Jimmy Rennie Jeanette Sime Peter Sinclair Murdo and Joy MacLeod Linda Connolly Jack McArthur Morag Davidson Lillian Kane Helen Greig Olga
Margaret Scott Barbara Graham Cathie Galbraith Frances Chambers Marion Thomson Maurice Wexelstein June Welsh Charlie and Joyce Forman Phil Howe Helena Aide Isabel Pert Agnes MacAuley Diane Davies
Please contact Roy Eprile with any names you would like included in this section.
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MINISTER Vacant Locum Minister - Rev Sara Embleton (0131 667 3981) srembleton@gmail.com 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@gmail.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 Gray (07901 556 217) colingray@hotmail.com SUNDAY CLUB LEADER Mark Wexelstein (665 6881) mark.wexelstein@gmail.com CHRISTIAN GIVINGS CONVENERS Mrs Ella Gilfillan - 8 Paisley Terrace (661 2281) Mrs Irene Wexelstein - 15 Upper Hermitage (476 1 385) 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