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JANUARY
2013
Volume 51 No 1
Magazine of Giffnock South Parish Church
Why’s this funny big beardy dressed like me?
SEE PHOTOS OF ALL THE CHRISTMAS celebrations
Fairies-in-waiting
Pictorial Edition
As ‘The Sentinel’ went to print before the Nativity Play we
could only show some photos from
the rehearsals
ON Page 2: The Guild Christmas fayre ON Page 7: the centenary CEILIDH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PARTIES ON EGAP: Bellshill salvation army band AND OPEN DAY AT THE MANSE & the choir
I spec you saw us at the Sunday School Nativity Play. More photos next month
Contributions for the FEBRUARY edition of the Sentinel should be sent to
the office or emailed to [email protected] by 13th January, please.
Page 2
LEFT:These miniatures were a popular addition to the Art Club sale
Ready to book you—the Cochran family bookstore - every one a bargain
Once again we are deeply indebted to all those brilliant snappers with their cameras at the ready to enable us to bring you a pictorial record of all that went on leading up to Christmas—and there was plenty and such a variety to suit all tastes. We had the religious and the secular, the joint churches Advent Service and the Lessons and Carols Service on the one hand and a wonderful sound from the new community choir, ‘In Harmony’ accompanied by the
men’s brilliant close harmony and Alastair McDonald followed by Bellshill Salvation Army Band on the Thursday. A veritable superabundance of enjoyment and all those responsible for these and the other events deserve our sincere thanks. Ed
One of Santa’s helpers
Waiting to serve you
Ready to serve you
Happy to greet you
Santa with his elves and a customer
Happy New Year to One and All! After all the rush and bustle of Advent and Christmas, here we are now in the Season of Epiphany; many of you may wonder – what is Epiphany? The church is very good at using these names that no one really knows any more! It is actually a time when we remember the coming of
the wise men to see Jesus. We all know the carol, We Three Kings of Orient are… it is interesting to see what the Bible really says about these three kings.
Firstly, they weren’t actually kings. The Bible calls them Magi – wise men. They were probably priests who travelled from Persia and whether they came on horseback or on camels as our Christmas cards show – who knows.
Secondly, we are never actually told there were three. Some old legends say there were twelve, but these days everywhere seems to come down to three. Maybe that’s because there just wouldn’t be enough old dressing gowns and tea towels to go around if the Sunday school had to kit out twelve of them – of course in Giffnock South this year we had three wise women! I wonder how that might have changed history if it had been three wise women. What would their gifts have been? Probably Dettol, clean sheets and a casserole, much more practical than Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh! My guess is there are three because three gifts are mentioned – for we assume they must each have brought something.
The most important thing for me, however, is not who they were, how many there were, or even what they brought to Jesus, the important thing is that they were searching for something. Reaching out beyond themselves for something, somebody, to give meaning to life – even after 2000 years that’s what Jesus offers us, not just in Epiphany but throughout the year!
We have had a brilliant centenary year with a host of events so a huge thank you to all who have taken part in any way whatsoever. This coming year in Giffnock South we will continue together to reach out to those around us. May I wish every one of you a joyful and peaceful New Year.
With every blessing, Catherine.
Page 3 CHURCH DIRECTORY
The Minister: Rev Catherine Beattie BDMin
0141 258 7804 or 07709 086767 [email protected]
Church Officer: Mr Graham Morton
638 3594
CHURCH
OFFICE HOURS
The church office is now open in the mornings from Monday to Friday
9.00am to 12noon.
Tel:- 638 2599. Email:
Session Clerk: Tony Ireland
CHURCH
OFFICE HOURS
The church office is now open in the mornings from Monday to Friday
9.00am to 12noon.
Tel:- 638 2599. Email:
Session Clerk: Tony Ireland
0141 639 6532 Home
07831525513 Mobile
01563 522137 Work mornings
CHURCH WEBSITE:
www.giffnocksouth.co.uk
Scottish Charity:SCO007807
See your Sentinel online in full
colour. Go to the church website and
click on ‘Sentinel’.
Come along, enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and a chat in the hall before and after the service every Sunday.
TEXT OF THE MONTH
Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol Him, all you peoples.
For great is His love towards us, and the faithfulness of the Lord
endures for ever.
(Psalm 117)
On a cold but dry evening on Friday 30th November the Family
Group organised a Ceilidh, as part of our Centenary celebrations. The age of participants ranged from babies through to our youngest 90 year old, May Watson. The solo piper, our own Adam Black, braved the elements to warmly welcome all to the Carmichael Hall venue where the Rusty Nails band entertained us with many traditional tunes and some very interesting 'dancing sets' coupled with games for the younger age group. The buffet supper went down well, to be followed by our own folk group who treated us to several well known Scottish numbers featuring some amazing backdrop shots of our beautiful country that matched the lyrics of the songs. It was a very enjoyable evening and the Family Group would like to thank everyone for their support and contributions to a very interesting and entertaining evening. RB
CENTENARY CEILIDH REPORT
The Minister’s
Letter
support the prince & princess of wales hospice and enjoy an evening with the city of Glasgow chorus
under the leAdership of graham taylor, performing
faure’s ‘requiem’ and otheR choral classics
at giffnock south parish church on Sunday 24th februaRY 2013 at 7PM
TICKETS £10 OR
PAY AT THE
DOOR
Church House celebrated 70 years in 2012 and continues strong to this day surviving many changes around it. In the past six weeks, the club has been booming with an average of 50 children turning up each night. There is still a great need, not only for finance, but for helpers to spare a couple of hours one night each week to help out with activities. Project Leader is Margaret Beaton (tel: 554 8045) who will be delighted to hear from anyone interested.
On Sunday 27th January 2013 at 6.30 pm LHM will hold a Homeless-ness Sunday service to which an
invitation is extended. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided after the event along with an opportunity to chat to service users and staff.
Our lunchtime service is on a Wednesday at 11.30am. There is no Lunchbite till the New Year
Leisure and Learning is at 2pm.
Page 4 The Guild
Eastwood Court
JANUARY DATES AT A GLANCE Wed 9th 2pm: The Guild— ‘Chicks’
7.30pm: Session Meeting
Tue 15th 6.30pm: Service at Eastwood Court
7pm: ‘In Harmony’ Community Choir
Wed 23rd 2pm: The Guild—Pathfinder Dogs
Sun 27th 6.30pm:Homelessness Service at LHM
FEBRUARY DATES
Wed 6th 7.30pm: The Guild— Margaret Anderson
Sun 24th 7pm: City of Glasgow Chorus
The first meeting of the Guild for 2013 is on Wednesday, 9th January, at 2pm, when we will learn about the charity “Chicks” which gives six-day respite breaks to children who suffer extreme poverty and provides full-time carers. The break allows them to relax, meet new friends and recharge their batteries. Patrons include Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Alan Titchmarsh and Kate Winslet.
On Wednesday 23rd at 2pm, Ms Anne Royale will tell us all about “Pathfinder Dogs” and on February 6th at 7.30 pm, Mrs Margaret Anderson will return to the Guild to give us the “Sites & Sights of Glasgow Part II”. As always, all church members and friends are welcome at all our meetings.
The Guild thanks all for being so generous at our Christmas Fayre when we raised £1105 for Church of Scotland projects. One project, dear to our members’ hearts, is “Passage from India”. Thirteen women, including Catherine learned of how self-help groups among Indian women overcame poverty and now the Church has established six Self Reliant Groups in Glasgow. These groups work together to develop skills to lift women out of poverty and are already proving very successful, building confidence and self-respect. The Church wants to support 50 such groups throughout Scotland in the next three years.
Another project is “Out of Africa—into Malta”. Refugees fleeing conflict in Africa arrive in Malta destitute and miserable. St Andrew’s Scots Church in partnership with other charities is providing food, clothing and shelter as well as helping people into meaningful employment to restore health and hope.
These are two of three projects the Guild will support this year; the third will be announced later and, as usual, the full list of the Guild’s charitable giving will be published in the June Sentinel .
The January service organised by the Outreach Group and Choir members for the residents of Eastwood Court Care Home will take place on Tuesday, 15th at 6.30pm. We always have a Scottish theme in January and this year we will celebrate David Livingstone. The act of worship lasts only 30 minutes and members of the congregation are welcome to join us.
GIFFNOCK UNITED REFORMED CHURCH NEWS
We reproduce here the full text of one of the two interesting projects being funded by the Church of
Scotland referred to in the Guild article above.
LODGING HOUSE MISSION
CHURCH HOUSE
Following the recent 'mini' display of the Art Club in the Church Lounge on the day of the Guild Fayre, a cheque for £200 has been sent to Church House to
help with activities. (See above)
The Giffnock Art Club
PASSAGE FROM INDIA “The Self-Reliant Group is a good
way of getting something off the ground...it’s a good idea to get a group of women together and to put ideas into a pot and see what comes out. I never expected all this to happen so quickly…” (Liz, Provanmill SRG)
Passage from India began with a life-transforming journey by 13 women to India in January 2011. They interacted with women who did not allow the harsh poverty to crush their aspirations for a better life for themselves and their families or wait for someone else to make change happen for them. Following their return, the women began six Self Reliant Groups (SRGs) in Glasgow based on the Indian model. Some 40 women—many of whom are on benefits—are involved in the SRGs and the increase in the levels of self-belief, resilience and confidence has been amazing! The ethos of the SRGs is built around the notion that those who are striving to overcome poverty have a greater chance of doing it collectively and that women have a key role to play in the economy, their families and communities. The project aims to establish 50 SRGs (involving over 500 women) over the next three years and support them by providing training in life skills, business planning and small business loans (called microcredit). It also aims to build the capacity of other organisations to start similar SRGs across Scotland.
EXTRACT FROM KIRSTEEN gray’s NEWSLETTER from Romania
Page 5
We hope you had a wonderful Christmas season with your many Congregational and district events and we wish you a very Happy New Year from all of us in Pollokshaws to our friends in Giffnock South.
First of all, on behalf of the organisers, thanks to all those who came along to our Christmas Fayre and helped make it an enormous success. The sum raised was £2,408 which was a wonderful result.
Secondly, with regard to our vacancy, we have now formed our Nominating Committee of 13 including two from Giffnock South namely: May Robertson and Ronnie McIntosh. Strictly speaking their appointment to our Committee was a Presbytery decision but we are delighted to have two friends on board who have such close connections with us and we look forward to their contribution to our work. We would ask you to be thinking of us as we begin the task of seeking the right person for the ministry in Pollokshaws and to remember us in your prayers.
Lastly, some news concerning our Twinning. Both Giffnock South and Pollokshaws were approached by the Transformation Team of the Church of Scotland who are making a DVD of their various activities with Priority Area Parishes, one aspect of which is Twinning and who else would they turn to but us? Actually, we are asked from time to time to speak to others about the success of our Twinning experience! We thought it would be a good idea to highlight an activity supported by both of our Congregations rather than discussing Twinning generally and it has been agreed to feature the Sewing / Textile Group which has members from both our Churches as well as ladies from other neighbouring Churches and one or two from the local community. The filming will take place in January and we can all look forward to viewing the completed film either on the DVD or on the website in due course. AS
NEWS FROM POLLOKSHAWS
by Archie Sinclair
Having spent the past few weeks trawling through some other church magazines we discovered the
following gems which are reproduced for your delectation.
The Fasting & Prayer Conference this week includes all meals.
Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house.
Bring your husbands.
Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days. At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice. Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones. Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon. The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement on Friday at 7 pm. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
< Two of the newest band members
Kirsteen with two of the orphan babies >
Page 6
The Lord’s Day or Any Other Day? Thomas Baldwin asks whether Sunday is still special in Scotland
A Faithful Band Church of Scotland Deacons celebrate 125 years of ‘a ministry of service’
Diplomat, Evangelist and Missionary Jackie Macadam explores the life and legacy of Saint Columba, who arrived in Scotland
1450 years ago this year
A Musical Ministry Jackie Macadam meets Thursday’s Child – two ministers who are using music to en-
gage with important faith questions
The Forgotten Fathers In an introduction to a new column, the Rev Angus Morrison explains why history mat-
ters
Compassion Above All Else The Rev Scott McKenna introduces a series examining challenging passages of scripture
‘A Listening Ear’
The Rev Laurence Whitley highlights the importance of preparation in leading prayer in
worship
The Rhythm of Rest The Moderator calls on us to make time to relax
Plus all the regular columnists, letters, reviews and crosswords – all for just £2.
JANUARY EDITION OUT NOW
Life and Work can be delivered to
you with your ’Sentinel’ - just phone
Allan Gray on 639 1401
Date 6 January 13 January 20 January 27 January
Office Bearers Team 10 Team 11 Team 12 Team 1
Tape Recording Alastair Campbell Neil Grimmond Tony Ireland Charlie Hunter
Café Rota 1 Lesley Burgess
Margaret Whyte Bett Coutts Sylvia Miller
Café Rota 2 Christine Gray
Robert Beattie
Alison Fenton
Robert Beattie
Joy Blair
Sheila Dunbar
Karen Cromer
Brian Cochran
Flower Delivery Eileen Crawford Sheila Dunbar Anne Gilchrist Margaret Gray
Parish Register
Duties
It was felt that this interesting and modern interpretation of the 23rd Psalm by Toki Miyashiro was worthy
of being published anew.
The Lord is my pace-setter, I shall not rush; He makes me to stop and rest for quiet intervals. He provides me with images of stillness, which restores my serenity. He leads me in ways of efficiency, through calmness of mind. And His guidance is my peace. Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day I will not fret, for His presence is here. His timelessness, His all-importance will keep me in balance. He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity By anointing my mind with His oils of tranquillity. My cup of joyous energy overflows. Surely harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of my hours, For I shall walk at the pace of the Lord and dwell in His house forever.
Funeral: Well done thou good and faithful servant. Rest safe in the Lord
On 21st November Betty Gates
On 11th December Phyllis Wighton
On 21st December Alistair Robin
Baptism: Suffer the little children to come unto me.
Phoebe Kitty Scott on 2nd December 2012
Joining: We extend a warm welcome to:
William and Anna Dalby. (Apologies for typing error last month)
Leaving: We say goodbye to:
Bev Abel
To ensure that we comply with the Data Protection Act, we will no longer publish addresses in Sentinel.
Anyone who requires further information about any of the intimations above should contact the Roll Keepers.
If any of your personal details change, please notify the Church Office at:
4 Greenhill Avenue, Giffnock, Glasgow G46 6QX telephone 0141 638 2599
email: [email protected]
Page 7
You’re never too young to enjoy a ceilidh (or too old!)
Here’s a haun
But it’s awful tiring this dancin’
At The centenary ceilidh
Sunday school
party time
Would you look at these Chrismassy
cupcakes!
Tartan’s appropriate
We love parties!
Snapper snapped Here’s lookin’ at you
Bye, folks
Gyles Brandreth eat your heart out. How about this Alpaca creation from South America modelled by our Jack?
The choir pictured after their successful rendering of carols at the Lessons and Carols Service on Sunday 9th December
The Bellshill Salvation Army Band gave a popular carol concert on Thursday 13th December
It was open day at the Manse on Sunday
afternoon, 16th December and the lucky visitors enjoyed mulled wine, coffee, tea, mince pies and other goodies
Seasonal cupcakes
Thanks to the many talented photographers for these images