bannerphoto1

 

Church Magazine

Christmas 2009

CHRISTmas

Starts with

Christ

Star2

Minister’s Letter

Macduff Manse

Christmas 2009

 

Dear Friends

 

This brings best wishes to one and all for a very happy celebration of Christmas and for God’s best for 2010.  It doesn’t seem long, does it, since the world was all hyped up about the beginning of the new millennium, yet here we are almost a decade into it already!   They say ‘the older you get, the faster time goes’!

 

The background against which we wish one another Happy Christmas is not an altogether happy one.  Many people will sympathise with the comment in a recent Issue of SU’s Encounter with God which says, “For decades, things were going so well for us.  In the mid-twentieth century the world emerged from global conflict and began to move towards peace and plenty”.   It’s true, of course, that many faced very great suffering and need – one only needs to think of words like Vietnam, Dunblane, Biafra, Korea, the Falklands to be reminded of that.  “But”, that article goes on, “for most people in the developed West, life got steadily better, with great advances in science, medicine and the economy”.

 

Now, however, things are rather different.  We have seen the atrocity known as 9/11;  a hundred British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, we are threatened by global warming and we are in a so-called credit crunch.  On top of all that, we face difficult times in the Church’s mission these days, and our own Church of Scotland is in a crisis to which there seems to be no solution.   And all of that is without reference to the many trials and problems that people face at the personal level.

 

And here comes Christmas!  Is it simply a lull in the turmoil of the world’s problems, or can it make any difference?   We all know there are those who would like to push “religion” out of Christmas – and yet it is surely the message of the One Who was born at Bethlehem that is so desperately needed.  

 

It may surprise you to know that I have recently been reading a book called The Atheist’s Guide To Christmas !    It has chapters such as, “It’s Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas”, “Losing My Faith”, “How to Have a Peaceful Pagan Christmas” and “How to Stop Worrying and Enjoy Christmas” -  not to mention advice about decorating the outside of your house with so many lights that it can be seen from space.

 

Much of the book is pretty tedious and predictable;  one has the impression that many of the contributors were writing not because they had something to say but because they had to say something!   Actually, I'm not sure what I expected.  What could one expect in an atheist’s guide to Christmas  -  although it is true that one has a sneaking sympathy for them;  it must be very galling to find so much “religion” invading their irreligious lives at this time.  

 

One contributor writes about the stages through which human beings go.  As a child, you need people to look after you and then you learn to become independent.  He actually goes on, “Maybe humanity needed a parent and that was the part religion played. Maybe we’re at a stage now where we are growing up and ready to achieve a greater degree of independence”.   Such an astonishing statement evokes the outburst of a once-famous sporting figure who used to say, “You can’t be serious”!    Is he really suggesting we’ve reached an advanced stage where we don't need God?   Or is it not true that, as you look around, the need for God’s help is cryingly obvious?

 

One paragraph, however, struck me quite forcibly.  The illusionist, Derren Brown, writes about the trivialising of Christmas.  “There hangs in the air something anaemically dissatisfying when people talk about Christmas being ‘a time for giving’, or ‘a time to remember those less fortunate than ourselves’, or any other of the bloodless blandnesses that are vapidly trotted out around that time of year by priests and politicians being careful to remain inoffensive to all.  Does that not sap the true meaning out of Christmas?   Are we not missing out on its magnificence . . . “

 

Well, indeed!   Obviously there’s nothing wrong – and everything right – with generosity, but we easily miss out the magnificence of Christmas, even if not in the way that the writer of these words meant.   It is a magnificent message.  

 

It is about the great God of all creation stepping into his own creation.  It is about the author coming to be one of the characters in his own drama.  “God was pleased to have all his fulness dwell in Christ, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1,19-20).   How sad that such a magnificent message should be trivialised. 

 

Let us rather ponder anew the great message of His incarnation – this Lord who became one of us, came to seek and to save the lost, came to deal with our sin and lost-ness, came to enable people to enter into life in all its fulness, came to bring a message of eternal life – for, what does it say in that best-known verse of all:  “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3,16).

 

May you know the magnificence and glory of this message at Christmas, and find His guidance, peace and blessing in 2010.

 

Yours sincerely

David J Randall

 

O what a mystery I see,

What marvellous design,

That God should come

as one of us,

A Son in David’s line.

Flesh of our flesh,

of woman born,

Our humanness He owns

And for a world of wickedness

His guiltless blood atones.

(G.Kendrick;  MP 535)

 

 

 

Ekwendeni  Link

 

Only blankets in good condition, baby clothes and knitted teddies are received at the church hall for Ekwendeni.  Black bags of adult clothes etc. should not be left in the hall, but can be taken to the Blythswood lorry at the harbour normally on the third Friday of the month from 9 – 10.30 am.   Such items are gratefully received, along with any donations to help with transport costs.

 

We have had a wealth of missionary visitation over the last month or so, with visits from

·         Michael Cook of Mission Africa

·         Matt and Margaret Paton, with Douglas Craig of WEC;  Matt and Margaret have served as WEC missionaries in France for 45 years

·         and Paul & Hilary Gunning with their family, on a short home visit from Namibia.

News of these and other missionaries is contained in the Missionary News digest sheet, prepared by Elizabeth Law, and all missionaries value the interest, support and prayer of folk at home.   

 

We continue to pray also for the work of the CCAP mission station at Ekwendeni, including the Good Hope now sailing on Lake Malawi.   There will an opportunity to learn more about it at the Guild meeting on 11th February

 

Coming Soon

 

Grace Sufficient is a biography of Elizabeth Mantell, to be published soon by Kachere Press

 

Grace Sufficient book Cover

 

The foreword by Professor Ken Ross, General Secretary of the Church of Scotland’s World Mission Council, says:  “A woman of profound humility, Elizabeth would instinctively shun the limelight.  This is one good reason why her story has to be told.  The pages of this book are alive with the love which Elizabeth had for Malawian friends and colleagues and the love which they had for her.  To have the opportunity to get inside her thinking and motivation is the prospect offered by this enticing biography”.

 

 

Junior Church News

 

MCj04362750000[1]

It’s Christmas, it’s Christmas,

it’s Christmas once again

The birthday of Jesus born in Bethlehem.

MCj04362790000[1]

 

Just now, it doesn’t matter whether you walk along the street, watch TV or are listening to the radio – Christmas is very much in evidence.  We are constantly reminded that there are only so many shopping days until Christmas.  Shop windows have brightly coloured displays portraying all the things that we so often associate with Christmas and the true meaning of Christmas is so often overlooked.  It can be summed up in the words above – Christmas is the birthday of Jesus.  In Junior Church, we are learning what Christmas is really all about and are looking forward to sharing that as part of the Family Service on the 21st December.  That doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy all the other things that Christmas brings to mind.  We’ll be having a party, going to the panto in Peterhead and enjoying getting together but we need to remember that Christmas is about Christ – no Christ - no CHRISTmas!  Can I take this opportunity to say thank you to all who do so much within all the departments of Junior Church and to wish all of you a very happy Christmas.

 

Anna Sivewright

 

....and now a word from

 

 ALL STARS Parent and Toddler Group

 

Come along to the Church Hall on a Tuesday afternoon and you will find about 12-15 children ranging from very young babies to pre-school children.  There may be a lot of noise at times, but there is a really good atmosphere.  At present, we have about 30 families who come along, some more regularly than others.  Recently, we have introduced a team of helpers for kitchen duties and this has enabled us to work a lot more with the children.  Thank you to those who do this – your help means so much! Our party will be held on the 9th December from 1-2.30 pm at the Hall when we expect a very special visitor!  Each of the families will be given “No Tree for Christmas” - the shepherds story of Christmas suitable for pre-schoolers and an invitation to join us at church for the Family Service.

 

Kay Cronin and Edna French

 

Dates for the diary

 

Fri. 18th December         10 am               Macduff Primary School Christmas Service

 

Sun. 20th December       11 am               Christmas Gift Service, with Junior Church

                                                            (gifts distributed by Aberdeenshire Social Work)

 

                                    6 pm                 Evening Worship (Jim & Moira singing)

 

Thu. 24th December        8 pm                Parish Carol Singing (see intimations)

 

                                    11.30 pm          Watchnight Service (carols before service)

 

Fri. 25th December         11 am               Christmas Day Family Worship

 

Sun. 27th December       11 am               Morning Worship

 

                                    6 pm                 Annual Memorial Service

 

The OFFERING on Christmas Eve will be for Ekwendeni Hospital, Malawi;

also retiring offering on Christmas Day

 

 

 

Home

Church Magazine

Literature

Organisations

Notice Board

Worship and Fellowship

Beliefs Aims and Church History

Junior Church and Youth Groups

It Makes You Think

Other Information

Who’s Who

Where to find us