36 mins
The Big Question
“Luke 12:34 tell us ‘where your treasure is, your heart will be also’. I was only 10 years old when I first started attending church. I didn’t go with any of my family except on high days and holidays and as we weren’t from the area we never went to the local parish church. So when I first started to go, I was very much alone. It took me three attempts to get the courage to go in, mind you, but I’m so glad I did.
Connor MacFadyen, NYA Youth Rep and member of Tranent Parish Church
“There is no hiding anywhere in my church and they immediately noticed this tall strange looking guy sitting up the back who couldn’t say the Lord’s Prayer.
“But the welcome I received was unparalleled and still, to this day, when I go in that door I always feel so welcome.
“I now have more adopted grannies than I could ever have thought possible, I have several church mothers too. They encouraged me in my growth within my faith and with God. They encouraged me to join the church; they nominated me to the congregational board and put me forward for the vacancy committee.
“One of my church mothers also encouraged me to go to the National Youth Assembly – a decision I am indebted to her for. Then my church family expanded and I now have a band of very close friends thanks to the NYA.
“So, what do I like about church? Yep it’s a safe place and it’s allowed me to know and learn about God. But I like church because of my family. For they are my treasure.”
“Church for me is a way of life.....and has been for as long as I care to remember.
“It all began when my Dad first took me to our local church, where he was an elder and beadle.
“I followed his footsteps into both of those roles becoming, at that time, the youngest ever elder and beadle.
“However, as I matured in my faith, church has become much more than simply a way of life and somewhere to go on a Sunday morning.
“Indeed church has become life itself affording a place of sanctuary, peace and quiet contemplation.
“But the Church is not the building. As the hymn reminds us: ‘I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together.’
The Rev Ian Gray, Locum, Edzell Lethnot Glenesk, l/w Fern Careston and Menmuir
“In this wonderful but challenging communion of humanity, it’s the people who have become so very important and special to me.
“They form part of one’s spiritual journey in their words of encouragement, support and very often a shoulder to lean on.
“In fact, they become part of ones inner self, a second family.
“It is a great disappointment to me that as few as 5% of Scotland’s population attend church on any given Sunday.
“The other 95% miss out on so much of what the church has to offer.
“Nearly four years ago, I was ordained to Local Ministry which was, for me and perhaps for my Dad too, the fulfilment of a dream.
“And the journey continues!”
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The Rev Ken Froude, minister at Kirkcaldy: St Bryce Kirk
“The warmth, the welcome, friends meeting friends, looking out for the newcomer, the visitor, familiar faces in familiar places, the sense of community.
“The noises, greetings and chatter, music, the organ playing, guitars, the congregation in full voice, a swelling refrain catching the rise and fall of a much loved hymn, music and words in perfect partnership, children’s voices, the clumping run of a toddlers feet excited by the space and freedom to run.
“The crying baby, suddenly calm and quiet after Baptism, the whole church family singing the blessing, ‘The Lord bless you and keep you’ : the tears of love and gratitude in the mother’s eyes matched by those in the eyes of her own mother.
“The shouted response from an enthusiastic child answering a question in a wonderfully inappropriate way, indulgent, knowing smiles spreading from face to face.
“The morning sun streaming through the Rose window throwing puddles of colour on the carpet.
“The smells, the flowers, the books and pews, the coffee and baking.
“The rhythm it gives to a week like a heartbeat, gathering in and pushing out, oxygen for the soul, reflection and guidance, a place to belong, people serving and caring.
“The soaring ceiling, rich dark wood and gold painted bosses, looking up in prayer and wonder, lifted up in mind and spirit.
“The listener who on leaving, quietly bends forward and says: ‘Thank you, every word of that was for me today.’”
“What do I like about Church? There must be as many different answers as there are different expressions of church.
“The congregations I am privileged to serve are Inverkip linked with Skelmorlie and Wemyss Bay so last Sunday I asked them the same question beginning with the children: It’s fun, we learn about Jesus, we care about each other, we like coming here.’ The grown ups also added: ‘We are refreshed and renewed, we listen to the word being preached, we go away feeling closer to God, we feel closer to each other, there is a sense of joy knowing that Jesus is with us’.
“All of these are wonderful answers and no one said: `I come to church out of a sense of duty’.
The Rev Archie Speirs minister at Inverkip l/w Skelmorlie and Wemyss Bay.
“What do I like about church?
“Simply the folks I have been called to serve, because in each one I see the risen Christ.
“We journey together and I always feel that the people of `The Way’, the church, give me more than I give to them, they have supported me in the difficult times which ministry brings, and I have shared with them not only the difficult times life brings but also its joys.
“But most of all what I like about church is the sense that the Lord Jesus Christ journeys with us.
“I think we would all agree that church is more than one hour on a Sunday, but in that hour our souls are refreshed and our spirits lifted in a way that no other than Jesus can do.”
“What I like about church is the people that make it.
“Don’t get me wrong, the space, and serenity that some church buildings can offer is wonderful, sometimes sermons can transform lives, hymns and prayers can be comforting or uplifting in times of sadness or joy.
“I have recited liturgy that has made my hair stand on end in the knowledge that Christians have shared the same words for hundreds of years, I have found great comfort in the tides and seasons of the Christian calendar, the way in which advent and lent, Christmas and Easter can frame the year.
Andrew Tomlinson, member, Stirling: St Mark’s
“All of these are wonderful things that I would not be without, but as we are reminded on a regular basis Church is not the building.
“Church is the community of people gathering together to encounter God with and through one another, and it is these encounters that I prize the most.
“I love hearing people’s stories, their interests and their passions, their gifts and their talents, and discovering how extraordinary the ordinary can be. These companions for the journey, this assorted bunch of people stumbling along trying to follow Jesus and support one another in doing the same, are wonderful.
“It is these imperfect attempts to live out the kingdom of God, to break bread, to share community to be the body of Christ that are an inspiration and a blessing to me and are first and foremost what I like about church.”
This article appears in the May 2017 Issue of Life and Work
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