Life & Work Magazine
Life & Work Magazine


40 mins

LETTERS

The End of the Road

I read with interest the article in the March issue by the Rev Richard Baxter, ‘the end of the road’, in which he mentions Mallaig as his end of the road. Mallaig is within the parish of North West Lochaber, and therefore the presbytery of Lochaber, which also includes Richard’s parish.

The same issue included the letter under the heading ‘Church needs to Change’ from Elaine Hough and Stacey Morrison of Ayr, about their encouraging story of growth but expressing their concern for the future and wondering if the Church is heading for the end of the road unless there are changes.

Here in North West Lochaber parish at the end of the Road to the Isles we hope that as a vacant parish we are not heading for the end of the road.

In 2012 when we were last vacant we wrote a letter to your magazine asking why it was that we were challenged to find a minister in such a beautiful part of the world. Our minister the Rev Edgar Ogston has now retired, was called to us having read that letter. What a step forward that has been for this united parish.

The presbytery has started to plan for the future and at a recent conference one approach was to consider the ‘Best Thing not on a Sunday’ Examples were: Thursday short lunchtime service; Bible studies; Messy Church/breakfast; free lunch and fellowship on Wednesday; teas and coffees over the Summer season for visitors and local people; Drop offfor ‘Lochaber Supports Refugees’ and

Table talk on Tuesdays discussing a variety of topics. These are hopeful signs in our presbytery and parish, of daytime meetings, ‘Messy Breakfast’ and drop in sessions that are a diff erent kind of Church. We were very gratified that the Christmas Eve service in North West Lochaber at the end of 2017 was very well attended.

This was due largely to the eff orts of a member of the congregation promoting the ‘Pasada’ (model nativity scene) which visited more than 20 homes around Arisaig during advent. This means that many families have become aware of the Christmas story properly told. The challenge now is how to nurture these people whilst keeping Sunday Church.

We would welcome the opportunity to share ideas to take matters forward. Are there ministers that have had success in increasing the number and diversity of people involved in worship in all its modern forms?

John Arnold, Elder, Parish of North West Lochaber

Sense of Humour

It was good to read again, in your columns of the March edition of Life and Work, a contribution from the Very Reverend Dr James Simpson and in particular about his choice of subject – a sense of humour as ‘A divine gift’.

Cartoon: Bill McArthur

The importance of a sense of humour was once summed so well by Steve Goodier, who wrote: ‘A sense of humour helps us to get through the dull times, cope with the difficult times, enjoy the good times, and manage the scary times.’

Dr Simpson referred to the lively sense of humour of Professor William Barclay, which was displayed on many occasions in diff erent places.

Still as relevant today, as they were some years ago, are his words – ‘The Christian is a [person] of joy…A gloomy Christian is a contradiction of terms, and nothing in all religious history has done Christianity more harm than its connection with black clothes and long faces.’

Much food for thought there! Ian W Thomson, Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire

Brexit View

I can sympathise with the practical difficulties faced by many because of the Brexit vote as featured in the March edition of Life and Work. I can see why this is a particularly difficult time for British people living on the continent.

Yet the tone of woe and sense of appalled dismay at the Referendum result which predominates the coverage of Life and Work and, indeed, in Church of Scotland leading comments as a whole on the issue, deserves to be challenged. At least so it seems to me, as perhaps one of the few elders of the Church of Scotland who did not adopt its long-term support of the European Union at the referendum.

The Remainer opposition to Brexit, in Church and State seems in general to have brought together the odd combination of the political Establishment who see it pragmatically as economic sense as well as the idealistic who seem to see the EU in general, as the way of the future, overcoming the vices of nationalism and associated xenophobia. Yet what is internationalist about the Customs Union being designed to act as a protection zone which for instance has a devastating eff ect on poorer countries as in Africa seeking to trade with EU countries?

Nor does the EU seem to care about its own poor. In its urgent drive, towards greater economic union, as in the euro, it has ground down the economy of Greece and caused massive youth unemployment in all Mediterranean countries. The problems of mass immigration have been ignored resulting in the poor suff ering the inevitable consequences. It is the resulting fragmentation within the EU nations, long before Brexit, that has inevitably led to the development of very nasty political parties throughout the continent. The result we see this month in the results of the Italian election.

So why the gloom among Remainer Christians? Perhaps we need to remember that Christ stood, not with the successful of the establishment, but with the poor.

True many bitter and angry people may have voted for Brexit but if we look at how the EU works throughout Europe then we can understand why they are angry and bitter. Perhaps our greatest need in Britain is to create a society not where the successful are looking in one direction and the marginalised in another but one in which we can reclaim a sense of being a society, in which we belong together.

Perhaps Remainer Christians need to recognise that God can use Brexit creatively to bring about a wiser conception, than that offered by the EU, of how nations might be true to themselves and yet live well together without sacrificing the needs of their own poor.

Alan D Jackson, Aberdeen

Graham Tribute

I was surprised to read of the death of the evangelist preacher

Dr Billy Graham.

Dr Graham was a dynamic preacher. He had not only the ability to draw huge crowds but almost have them in the palm of his hands – he was just so convincing.

Dr Graham once said that the conclusion of his life when his road ended then beyond the veil he hope to look to the face of Jesus. That we will never know.

But I would say if there is the existence of the pearly gates then Dr Billy Graham has earned his welcome.

It is good that Billy lived to a ripe old age and I am sure Dr Graham’s legacy was in the words of that well-known hymn ‘Stand up, stand up for Jesus, yea soldiers of the cross.’

Thomas Brown, Bankfoot, Perthshire

Hymnary Search

Many years ago, as a young lad, I sang in our church choir in Perth.

Out of nostalgia, I have been trying to find a copy of the church hymnary we used back then.

It was the Revised Edition, which was in use until the early 1970s, and I seem to remember that it had dark blue covers. What I’m looking for is the full choir version, with split pages.

I’ve looked in the second hand bookshops in Edinburgh and elsewhere but no luck as yet. I wonder if any of your readers could help me track down a copy.

There must have been thousands in circulation at the time, so perhaps there’s an odd copy hiding at the back of a choir cupboard somewhere.

I’m happy to purchase one or to make a donation to local church funds.

Ian Gilvear, Hughenden Valley, Buckinghamshire

Life and Work welcomes letters from readers of not more than 350 words which can be sent by post to Life and Work,121 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4YN or by email to magazine@lifeandwork.org

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This article appears in the May 2018 Issue of Life and Work

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  COPIED
This article appears in the May 2018 Issue of Life and Work