Tuesday 13 November 2018

News, contacts, info Tues 14 - Wed 28 Nov


The Minister will be unavailable from 
Tues 14 Nov to Wed 28 Nov


Urgent pastoral cover will be provided by the Rev. George Shand of the Tinto Parishes. His number is 01899 309400.
For general parish queries, please contact Heather Watt, our Session Clerk on 01899 850211

What's On?
Morning worship:
Sun 18 Nov, 10.30am: we welcome the Rev. Dr Anne Logan who will be conducting worship this week and next.
Readings/ 1 Sam. 1:21-28  Hebrews 10:11-25   Mark 13:1-8

Sun 25 Nov, 10.30am: worship with the Rev. Dr Anne Logan.
Our readings this week are: 2 Sam 23:1-7  Revelation 1:4[b]-8  John 18:33-38[a]
and/
Evening worship, 6.30pm will be held in Leadhills Village Hall. Jen Nicholls will be leading.
All are welcome to this shorter, more informal time of worship. Home baking and a cuppa will be available after worship with the chance for a blether.

Remembrance Centenary poppies: many thanks to everyone involved in our poppy project! It was a great response, and the display looked stunning. The Centenary has passed, and the display is now down. The poppies will be extracted from the nets and gathered together, and we'll be offering them for donations of £1 minimum, from October, 2019, in the lead-up to next year's Remembrance Day.
Monies raised will be given to Poppy Scotland and Help for Heroes. Once again, thanks for your generosity of time, wool, and creativity.

Parish magazine: the Christmas edition - our usual call for volunteers to help with the distribution of our parish magazine. If you can deliver some to neighbours in your street, or several streets in your village...or to outlying areas, please see our Editor, Dee, who is coordinating areas. Huge thanks in advance - we can't do this without you, and always appreciate the willing offers of help!
The magazine should be available to collect from the 18th Nov.

Food Bank Box: 
Matt. 25:35 ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, 
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink’ 
2 December, our food bank box will be appearing in the vestibule once again for donations of dry/ tinned goods/ toiletries for the Clydesdale Food Bank. If you have items to donate, that would be excellent: we shall make sure they get to their destination! Slightly longer ‘use-by’ dates would be helpful. The box will be uplifted after the 16th, to ensure items can be given out before Christmas.

2 Dec, 10.30am: We mark the beginning of Advent with our quarterly Communion service.
Please let friends and neighbours know. And, as ever, all are welcome at the table.

Monday 12 November 2018

Remembrance Day 2018

In the lead up to Remembrance Day, people from around the villages knitted and crocheted poppies. There were used to make a display marking the Centenary of the end of WW1. Some of the fruit of our labours can be seen in these photos, which were take after worship.
Thanks to everyone involved in creating the display.

Following the pattern of these centenary years,
as we moved toward our Act of Remembrance, this year we reflected the events of 1918 and thought of the act of remembrance itself, through the following poems:

Roderick Watson Kerr
1893 - 1960
w. March 1918, German Spring Offensive:
From the line
Born in Edinburgh, Kerr served as a Lieutenant in the 2nd Royal Tank Corps. he was wounded, and won the Militry Cross  during the German Spring Offensive. Surviving the war, he worked as a journalist at the Scotsman, and for the Liverpool Daily Post...

The 'Teddy' window:
representing families affected by war -
sons lost, or fathers. And also those innocents
caught up in the conflict, who lived in towns
and villages where fighting took place.
The poppy buttons are very tiny teddies...
John Munro
1889 - d. April, 1918, German Spring Offensive:
Our heroes who fell in battle
John Munro was born in Lewis, and educated there and at Aberdeen University. Munro volunteered at the outbreak of the War, serving in the ranks of the 4th Seaforth Highlanders before being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1916. He, like Kerr, won the Military Cross. However, unlike Kerr, Munro was killed in April 1918 during the German Spring Offensive.
He primarily wrote in Gaelic

Wilfred Owen
1893 - d. 4/11/1918
Anthem for doomed youth
One of the most famous of the soldier-poets was Wilfrid Owen. Owen was born in Oswestry on the Welsh Border. Living in France and working as a tutor at the outbreak of the war, Owen arrived in the trenches of the Western Front in the bitter January of 1917, acting as a Second Lieutenant. Almost immediately he was thrown into heavy fighting. He was hospitalised in May, and later sent to Craiglockhart Hospital in Edinburgh, suffering from shell shock. He composed nearly all of his poems within the space of a year while convalescing, from August 1917 to September 1918, when he returned to France and to the war. He won the Military Cross, and died just a week before the peace, on the 4th of November.

Marion Angus
1865-1946
Remembrance Day 
Marion Angus was born in Sunderland, of Scottish parents, and spent her formative years in Arbroath. Before the War, she ran a private school. During the war, she joined in the war effort by working in the canteen at Stobbs Camp.

Rounding off these readings, as is our usual practice, we heard In Flanders Fields by John McCrae.

After the Act of Remembrance, we continued our time of worship.
Below are the bible readings for the day, with the sermon.

Bible readings:
Numbers 1:4, 45-54; John 15:9-17

Sermon:
May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of all our hearts,
be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen

It was a different world.
It was the age of Empire
and the age of innocence;
a time long-ago and not far from living memory.
It was golden summers on chamomile lawns,
and the dark grime of progress and industry.
A time of prosperity and plenty,
yet a time of unthinkable poverty.
There was hope in the air,
good neighbourliness and kindness,
a twinkle in the nation’s eye.
The knowing sense of being great and powerful.

In that time long-ago, in a far-away land,
another great empire held sway over many countries,
some who chafed at the bit,
who resented being ruled by the Emperor.
The resentment festered,
until, at an opportune time –
all because of a wrong car turn –
a shot rang out,
killing the heir of the Empire, and his wife.
Interlocked within a complex system of alliances,
the Empires and nations moved swiftly.
Five weeks later, Britain was at war –
defending ‘little Belgium’ from the Germans.

Some were already soldiers;
some joined up, eager for adventure;
others joined simply seeking work and a wage.
Patriotism mingled with new songs –
and surely, surely, this would all be over by Christmas?
Why not see a bit of Europe and have a jolly time of it?
Pack up that old kit bag:
smile...
smile...
smile.
And so, from all over Great Britain,
and across the Empire,
they gathered,
were counted,
formed fighting units.
This was war on a scale none had seen:
truly, a world war –
so many nations involved.
A war with a grand purpose:
this would be the ‘war to end all wars.’
Surely, a worthy aim –
something to be proud of, to be able to tell your children –
or, of families sending sons, to be able to have a quiet pride, and tell the neighbours.
In one’s, and two’s
and ten’s and hundreds,
and thousands upon thousands,
off they went to war.

War is a numbers game:
the more people you have at your disposal,
in theory, the more advantage you have.
And this was very much a war of numbers –
a war of attrition,
as both sides began to get bogged down in
the mud, and the blood, and the wire of trench warfare.
And as reality began to set in,
and as men poured out of trenches
in the face of machine guns,
and their life-blood poured out of them,
the counting began again in earnest  –
not just the counting of how many new recruits,
but a darker, grimmer counting:
the sheer human cost of war fought on an industrial scale.
Not one, but four Christmases came and went,
and another was looming,
before that great, terrible conflict came to an end.
Number of deaths: about 10 million fighting,
and around 7 million civilians caught in the middle of it all.
Number of wounded: over 20 million.
If it truly had been an age of innocence before the war,
innocence, along with human lives, had been thoroughly broken.

From the perspective of hindsight and long history,
sometimes it’s easy to wonder at the seeming naivete of those who went to fight.
But, for all who did, in the great and terrible darkness of war –
on land, in the air, or by sea –
in the horror of it were formed bonds of friendship and care.
Of course, some looked out for themselves;
but how many stories have been passed on of acts of enormous courage:
of scrambling through wire and under fire
to bring back wounded comrades?
Of men like Wilfrid Owen –
diligent, to the last, in his duty of care for his men –
determined to get them ‘home’ to safety after seeing action...
losing his life in the final week of the war;
men like Laurence Binyon who wrote the poem containing the stanza
‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.’
Not a soldier – too old – and so, he volunteered instead,
in the Red Cross on the Western Front –
putting his life on the line
to help patch up the lives of those on the Front line.
In the darkness of war, still, there was love:
the greater love that Jesus speaks of,
that dares to offer up your life in the service of others.

One hundred years has passed since that ‘war to end all wars’.
It was a grand ideal –
the very thought of no more war.
And yet, counting numbers again:
since then, over 160 million people –
those in the forces, and ordinary men, women, and children –
have died in wars.
Such numbers are incomprehensible.
Perhaps a way of trying to understand is to focus in on individual lives instead –
Kerr, Munro, Owen, Binyon, and others...
to hear their stories, and maybe learn from that more focused viewpoint,
something of the whole?

Over the last several weeks, we’ve looked at the story of Joseph and his family,
and as we’ve done so, we’ve touched on thoughts of reconciliation:
of mending fences,
of healing broken relationships.
Reconciliation and love were at the heart of Jesus’ life and ministry –
it’s the gospel message.
Our text from John sees Jesus once again addressing these themes:
reminding his followers – and us – of the bonds of love:
of God’s love for us –
of that love being the springboard for us to love God, and to love others –
to remain in God’s love.
That is the love the inspires us to small and great acts in the care of others –
it’s even a love that dares us move beyond seeing some as ‘enemies’
and instead, seeing all as made in God’s image:
precious and beloved.
And perhaps, it’s as we look deep into the face of another, even an enemy,
and can see God,
that is when we can put down the guns,
to turn our spears into pruning hooks,
and find a way forward together to that place of peace,
where there is felt no need of war...
to be reconciled to each other,
just as God, in love, through Jesus, was reconciled to us all. Amen.
------------------------------------------

Finally, in line with many other churches throughout the UK,
at 12.30pm our church bells were rung...

Around the parish, other Acts of Remembrance occurred at the Memorials in
Wanlockhead, Leadhills, Crawford, and Crawfordjohn

Sunday 4 November 2018

Sunday sermon - Part 3 Joseph: 'A tale of two families'

Part 3 in our 3 part series on Joseph

READINGS: Luke 15:11-32 Genesis 43:1-5; 45:1-18

SERMON
Let’s pray: may the words of my mouth and the thoughts of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen

It started with a 17 year old dreamer.
A lad who seemed a little too full of himself;
a lad who enjoyed the favour of his father,
but who endured the hatred of his brothers.
Family relationships were tense.
Actually, family relationships were beyond that:
they were broken, fractured.
The selling of their brother Joseph
demonstrated that in a major way.
Joseph’s dream seemed to have become a waking, walking nightmare.

We followed his story – a story that took him to Egypt,
where he served as a slave to Potiphar.
Things initially went well – but life can turn on a knife’s-edge:
a false accusation from Potiphar’s wife, and Joseph was thrown into prison.
Opportunities came his way –
guards and prisoners alike respected him, trusted him.
In the prisons of Pharaoh, Joseph did a lot of growing up.
He also met two men from the Palace who had been having dreams –
dreams feature big in the story of Joseph.
Having interpreted their dreams,
Joseph spends another two years in prison until...
there’s someone else who’s had some dreams.
That’s where we were, last week:
thirteen years after having been sold by his brothers, Joseph finds himself in front of Pharaoh –
a Pharaoh who’s been having dreams...
who needs Joseph, the dreamer, and the interpreter of dreams, to help him.
When we last left Joseph, he had indeed interpreted the dreams,
and having done so, was amply rewarded by Pharaoh –
from languishing in prison,
Joseph was made the most powerful man in Egypt second only to Pharaoh himself.
Tasked with the great responsibility to prepare for famine while still
in the time of plenty, Joseph excelled at his job.
In his personal life, the family he’d lost had been replaced by a family of his making –
a wife and two sons.
His work saw an overflowing of grain in the grainstores –
and when the famine came, so Egypt was more than prepared –
able to feed its population, and, with enough to spare,
so that it could sell to other nations and people living near Egypt.

Just before our reading begins today,
like so many others caught up in the famine,
Jacob has sent his sons off to Egypt to buy grain.
A steady stream of human traffic moves to and from that great land –
the land that holds the promise of food and survival.
Arriving, they go to the distribution centre.
Joseph is there, ever-diligent, overseeing the work.
And then his whole world turns upside down:
he recognises his brothers.
What to do?
In another story, we might expect sudden and violent retribution:
Joseph avenging himself after the mistreatment of his brothers.
‘An eye for an eye,’ and all of that.
Expressing that very human feeling of:
‘you hurt me, so now I’m going to hurt you.’
Except, that doesn’t happen.
Mind, he doesn’t let the off scot-free:
he does test them.
‘You’re spies’ he claims.
They protest their innocence.
And so, to prove they’re telling the truth he asks them to go home and get the
young brother who is still there if they ever want any more grain again –
while leaving one of their number in Egypt as surety.
Laden with grain they head off with heavy hearts –
their father Jacob will never agree to this.
And he doesn’t.
With brother Simeon festering in Egypt,
the family works its way through the whole of the grain supplies.
Only when they’re running low, is the matter of returning to Egypt raised once more.
What to do?
And that’s where we join our story once more.
Hard decisions.

Jacob finally gives in, after much protesting –
sending not only Benjamin, but gifts of honey, fruit, balm –
hoping to find favour from this powerful man in Egypt.
And so, in search of grain, they head off once more to Egypt.
They are taken to see Joseph:
and what awaits them is something entirely unexpected:
Joseph quizzes them about home,
about their father,
and finds himself overwhelmed when he sees young Benjamin.
He leaves for a moment to compose himself, comes back,
and then a great feast is served.
To their astonishment, they realise that they have been seated in order according to age –
how could this Egyptian have known this?
And then they find out.

The truth is told – and Joseph claims his brothers:
the ones who had sold him –
the ones who had planned to kill him.
And, instead of retribution,
he reaches out his hands in reconciliation:
forgiven.
He has seen how they care for young Benjamin,
seen how they can’t bear to cause their father distress;
seen how, not only has he been transformed over these long years,
but so have they:
regrets have haunted them ever since that fateful day thirteen years before.
They have lived with the shadow of what they’ve done ever since –
no peace, but carrying plenty of guilt.
And it’s Joseph who releases them through the power –
not of his position as Pharaoh’s second-in-command –
but through the power of being the one who’s been wronged.
It’s Joseph who can see the light of hope
within what had been a dark, dark place –
for Joseph, God had rescued the situation.
And here, now, was a chance for a new beginning,
an opportunity for healing old wounds,
mending fences,
a chance to be reconciled and restored as a family.
Looking for light in the darkness, Joseph found it,
and so was able to let go of his hurt, his anger, any bitterness...
and in turn, was offering this gift of letting go to his brothers.

With the gift of forgiveness came the gift of a new life –
Pharaoh, genuinely pleased for Joseph,
invites the whole family to come to Egypt to live off the fat of the land –
to be blessed, just as Joseph had been a blessing upon Egypt.
It’s a story of a family who,
having been at loggerheads,
having been jockeying for power,
having been... thoroughly dysfunctional,
are now whole.

We also heard another story about a family earlier –
the well-known story of the prodigal son.
Two stories of two families;
two stories about younger sons –
two sons who had each lost their family:
one through the cruelty of his brothers,
the other, through his own choice –
he was bored, didn’t want to stay on the farm,
wanted to go and explore the world,
and in the doing of it, caused his father to break up the farm:
land and families and inheritance –
always a difficult combination.
Two stories with a twist in the tale, and in the twist,
becoming two stories with happy outcomes:
families restored and made whole once more –
rejoicing;
living off the fat of the land,
or feasting on the fatted calf.
In Joseph’s story, it is he who offers forgiveness;
it is he who stretches out his arms to his family.
In the prodigal’s story, it is the Father’s forgiveness
that enables the son to come home again.

From Genesis to the Gospels, through to Revelation,
God’s story has always been one of offering forgiveness and friendship to humanity;
of letting go of hurt and pain and bitterness –
of being faithful to the promise made with Noah:
that, tempting as it might be at times to smite the whole of humanity,
there would be no more vengeance,
no more destruction and retaliation.
For God is in the business of reconciliation –
of restoring, of making whole,
of healing hurts
and mending the broken...
In both the stories –
of Joseph
and of the prodigal,
we see a loss of love;
a walking away,
that brings near potential destruction.
In the story of God’s relationship with us –
God has never stopped loving,
has never stopped calling us:
to let go the regrets,
to start truly living...
freely, fully, wholly;
to find our home in him.
He offers us welcome, freely given,
he loves us for who we truly are,
he desires us to walk in the knowledge
that as much as we are his...
he is ours.
His is a love that will never let go;
and as we’ve seen in Joseph’s story,
his is a love that finds a way, even in the darkest places;
his is a love that has no conditions placed on it –
no strings attached...
Like Joseph’s family,
like the young prodigal,
all we have to do
is let go of the regrets,
the self-recriminations,
and let God be...
to let God in,
and, in so doing,
to experience the grace of transformation that only God’s love can bring.
For, where there is forgiveness,
there love can be found,
and from there, a new beginning...
for ourselves,
our families,
our neighbours,
and for the world.  Amen.

Friday 2 November 2018

Remembrance Centenary project update

Like many groups around Scotland, Upper Clyde organised a project
to mark the Centenary of war's end, 1918-2018.
A request to knit or crochet poppies has been met with a brilliant response from
all around the parish. Sunday 28th was the final Sunday to get the poppies in,
so that we could begin to make our wee banner for the church.
Given the response, some window decorating will also be done making use of the
remaining poppies, including a window representing others caught up in the conflict,
such as children - who may have lost a father, or both parents, family members,
or even their own lives.

Huge thanks to all who helped in some way, the response has been humbling.
On Wednesday a small team gathered in the hall, and began the task of assembling
the banner. In the pic. below you'll see them mid-banner.
The banner itself is now hanging in the church in the days now leading up to
Remembrance Sunday itself.

Shortly after the service on the 11th, all poppies will be available for a minimum donation of £1, and monies raised will be divided between Poppy Scotland and Help for Heroes. Let us know if you'd like
any via the 'Contact us' form on the side bar of the page.