75 mins
From Monty Python to ministry
AN Edinburgh minister has been appointed as the Moderator-Designate of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for 2019.
The Rev Colin Sinclair, minister of Palmerston Place Church, will take up the role of Moderator next May.
He has been minister of Palmerston Place for 22 years and also has a lifelong connection with Scripture Union, which he credits with bringing him to faith as a teenager.
He said: “I am honoured to be selected for this opportunity to represent the Church of Scotland nationally and internationally.
“It will be a pleasure to encourage church members in their faith and to see the impact of their faith in communities across our country.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed being a parish minister and despite the challenges we face I believe the Christian faith is still relevant to Scotland.
“Our message is still Good News and it still changes lives.”
Colin grew up on the south side of Glasgow, the son of ‘occasional churchgoers’.
It was as a pupil at Glasgow Academy that he first became interested in the Christian faith. To escape getting into trouble after a prefect saw him taking the wrong staircase, Colin dodged into a darkened room where a Scripture Union camp video was showing.
“I enjoyed the film, thought the activities looked great and I felt I could put up with the ‘religious stuff ’, he says.
“I did love the camp and had great fun, and I liked the leaders. But to my surprise I also enjoyed the meetings with their lively singing and straightforward message about Jesus Christ.
“I went back to camp the next year and decided then to follow Jesus Christ. So started an exciting adventure of faith that has lasted over 50 years.”
His work with Scripture Union includes spending three years working as a training officer in Zambia, during which he lived out of a car, and eight years as the director of Scripture Union Scotland. With his wife Ruth, he ran an SU camp for teenagers for 27 years, and he was the organisation’s International Chair for 14 years until November 2017.
He was called to the ministry while studying at Stirling University. After training at New College Edinburgh, his first parish was Newton-on-Ayr. He left there to take up the SU Scotland director job, where he stayed until he was called to Palmerston Place, where he had earlier been an assistant minister, in 1996.
Colin has served the Church on many Councils and committees at both local and national level, most recently as Convener of the Mission and Discipleship Council from 2012-16.
Also on his CV is a summer job as an extra on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail!
The theme for his year as Moderator is ‘discipleship’, which chimes with his own dedication to seeing Christians grow in their faith and reflect it in their lives. Four young members of his congregation at Palmerston Place are currently in training for the ministry.
He says: “What’s lovely is seeing young people who started off as SU campers become leaders themselves. I have loved seeing folk grow up, whether it is to become elders in the Church or to go into vocational ministry or to take their Christian faith into diff erent avenues of public service.”
Colin and Ruth have four children (all working for the Church or Christian organisations) and three grandchildren, with another due in the spring.
Moderator-Designate the Rev Colin Sinclair
MARITIME DISASTER REMEMBERED
A special memorial service was held in the Outer Hebrides in September to mark the 165th anniversary of one of the UK's worst ever maritime disasters.
The Annie Jane was carrying about 450 people from Liverpool to Montreal in Canada when it ran onto rocks off the island of Vatersay in a fierce storm, and broke up.
A total of 350 men, women and children fleeing poverty and famine died and their bodies were said to have been ‘packed like herrings in a barrel’ and dumped into two unmarked, mass graves in the dunes behind a beach.
The death toll could have been higher because the names of child passengers were not recorded in ships’ manifests in those days.
The disaster on September 28, 1853, marked later by a simple granite obelisk overlooking Vatersay west beach, led to survivors demanding what was the first ever public inquiry into a major incident.
The Rev Dr Lindsay Schluter, minister of Barra and South Uist Church of Scotland congregations, and Barra’s Roman Catholic priest, Father John Paul Mackinnon, led the community-focused ceremony at the memorial in Vatersay.
"Circumstances at the time of the disaster meant that the deceased were not aff orded the dignity of a funeral service and formal committal," said Dr Schluter.
"The recent publication of a book on this disaster has brought awareness of this to people's minds and there is a desire to do now what was not done then.”
The service was attended by about 120 people, some of whom had travelled considerable distances. Local people were joined by others from Lewis, Glasgow and Switzerland – one of the countries aff ected by the original disaster.
Two wreaths were laid at the memorial, one specifically for the unknown children who died in the disaster.
Dr Schluter added: “In all it was a poignant and moving event. The events of that time felt close, and a connection to the deceased and those who dealt with the aftermath of the shipwreck very strong.
“Strong winds and a wild sea in the background were a very immediate reminder just how fragile life in this part of the world can be.”
Annie Jane Memorial
CHURCHES CALLED TO ACT AFTER DIRE CLIMATE WARNING
Churches in Scotland and around Europe have been called upon to respond urgently to the latest findings on climate change.
A report, released by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Monday, warns that we need to keep the global temperature increase down to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.
However, it warns that meeting that target will require ‘rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society’, with global carbon dioxide emissions falling by about 45% by 2030 and reaching ‘net zero’ by 2050.
The Church of Scotland’s climate change officer, Adrian Shaw, was at a meeting of the European Christian Environment Network in Katowice, Poland, when the report was released.
Adrian said: “The report makes clear that if we are to limit global warming then we will need to make profound changes in our lives to reduce our use of fossil fuels; in our homes, in our travel, in our consumption of ‘stuff ’
“It also makes clear that if we do not take rapid action then we face serious and possibly irreversible change in diff erent places around the world including more droughts, floods, and heart waves. The indirect risks include the loss of most coral reefs, a melting Arctic ice cap and rising sea levels.
“Delegates were shocked by the report as it was presented to us, with its careful and measured scientific prose painting a picture of increasing risk of loss and damage. They agreed to send a message to churches around Europe calling on all churches to take renewed action to respond to this challenge; in prayer, in action and in advocacy.
“In particular they called on churches to promote a spirit of more just sharing of the earth’s resources to counter the selfishness of greed and excessive consumption that causes so much of the damage we see.”
The report warns that a global increase of 2°C will lead to devastating consequences including the loss of almost all the planet's coral reefs, the Arctic Ocean frequently melting entirely in the summer, the sea level rising by 10cm more than at 1.5°C and greater risk to human and ecological systems by flooding and extreme weather.
INTERFAITH ETHICAL FINANCE DECLARATION
An interfaith shared values framework on ethical inance has been unveiled.
The Edinburgh Finance Declaration has been jointly developed between the Church of Scotland and the Islamic Finance Council UK. The declaration is thought to be the irst of its kind across the globe and has led on from an historic collaboration in February 2016 when the Church and UKIFC signed a partnership agreement to develop an ethical inance solution open to all, regardless of faith or ethnicity, built around the shared values of the two faith traditions.
The launch of the declaration at Greyfriars Kirk on October 23 marked the end of an international ethical inance conference that brought 300 experts to the city.
The framework spells out six core shared values – stewardship, love of the neighbour, human lourishing, sustainability and purposefulness, justice and equality and common good.
It has been designed to inform the development of inancial products that support an ethical economy. It also provides a values framework to help rebuild the loss of trust in inancial institutions and markets that has arisen since the global inancial crisis.
The Rev Dr Richard Frazer, Convener of the Church of Scotland’s Church and Society Council said: “Since the global economic crash in 2008 public trust in inancial institutions has been shaken, with seemingly little change as a result.
“From our Christian and Islamic faith traditions we believe that a diferent world of inance is possible, one in which ethics and economics go hand in hand.
“We believe that these shared values provide a solid foundation from which we might arrive at a inancial sector that contributes to the lourishing of all.”
The Rev Dr Richard Frazer
CHURCH GIVEN EU FUNDING FOR REFUGEE SUPPORT
The Church of Scotland has been awarded £130,000 in EU funding as part of an ambitious project to support refugee integration in Scotland.
Through the multi-faith network Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees (SFAR), and with partners the Scottish Refugee Council, WEA Scotland, The Bridges Programme and others, the Church will help refugees and community groups develop their capacity to welcome and support new Scots.
Steve Aisthorpe, Co-ordinator of Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees, said: “As well as enabling tailored advice and help to individual refugees and families, this project will enable better support and coordination of the many local groups who are working hard to ensure the best possible welcome and integration of refugees across Scotland.”
Wafa Shaheen, Head of Integration at the Scottish Refugee Council said: “We are fortunate that so many people in Scotland are keen to welcome and support new Scots and that so many community groups right across the country have been set up to do this.
“We are delighted to be able to work alongside these communities and with the expertise of our partners, to build on and strengthen this foundation.”
The project will support practical initiatives that aim to create a welcoming environment for refugees.
It will focus, in particular, on improving understanding between communities, building social connections and creating opportunities for people to meet and get to know each other.
It runs across the country from October 2018 to 2020, with regional hubs in the Borders, Highlands and Islands, Glasgow, Edinburgh and central Scotland.
Life and Work staf are available for talks to Guilds and other church groups.
Please contact us through 0131 225 5722 or magazine@lifeandwork.org
PARISH NEWS
TRAUMA TEDDIES
Members of Caerlaverock Kirk and St Mary’s Greyfriars’ Church, near Dumfries, spent the summer knitting Trauma Teddies for Police Scotland. The bears are given by police officers to very young children who may be frightened or upset, thus comforting the child and allowing the officer to do their job more easily. So far 110 have been knitted and handed over, with prayers for the police and the children who will be the recipients.
YOUNG PEOPLE TALK
The Guild of Lower Eran Churches Together celebrated the Year of Young People by inviting three students from Perth High School to speak to their last meeting of the summer.
The evening, hosted by Allan Kelman, Session Clerk and Guild Representative for Aberuthven and Dunning parish, was to highlight the Churches’ involvement with YOYP 2018.
Amelia talked about YPI (Youth and Philanthropy Initiative) and her involvement with the Cycling Without Age project; Fraser of his involvement with the Scottish Youth Parliament and the National Youth Choir of Scotland; and Heather about the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and being involved with the Perth High School Chaplaincy Team.
‘WALKING WITH’ FLOWERBED
The young people of St Andrew’s Church Dundee, known as the Seekers, spent the summer weeks working on a raised flowerbed.
It was decided to combine the Year of Young People and the Moderator of the General Assembly’s theme of ‘Walking with’ into the flowerbed.
The young people decided to use the design from the front cover of the church’s monthly magazine ‘The Wyvern’ – which was designed by a former Seeker, Helen. Her idea was that whatever path we walk, we walk together with Jesus – very much in keeping with the Moderator’s theme.
Helen sadly died 11 years ago, and the Seekers also saw the design as an important way of marking her contribution to the church.
YOUTH FELLOWSHIP ANNIVERSARY
Former members of an Edinburgh Youth Fellowship gathered to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its launch.
The fellowship was founded by the Rev James G Matheson during his ministry at Blackhall Parish Church.
Of the 35 former members who attended the anniversary celebration, two were original members in 1948, and ten still attend Blackhall St Columba’s.
They attended morning worship led by the Rev Benjamin Abeledo and the Rev Mary Morrison, a former President. As part of the service Iona marble crosses were presented to the church’s current young people, to symbolise the passing on of the faith.
VINE TRUST FUNDRAISING
The Parish Churches of Maxton and Mertoun, Newtown and St Boswells raised £4707 over three years in aid of the Vine Trust ‘Build a House in Tanzania’ project. Events included a concert by Berwick Male Voice Choir, a ‘Steeplechase’ walk alongside the River Tweed between the churches, a collection of 5p pieces, a quiz night and many donations from the congregations and the public. Martin Holt, Chief Operating Officer of the Vine Trust, received a cheque from Inez McCall on behalf of the congregations, during Café Church worship in St Boswells on September 30.
TOILETS TWINNED
All nine toilets at two churches in Fife have been twinned with toilet blocks overseas.
The congregation of St John’s and Dairsie United Parish Church was presented with a stack of framed Toilet Twinning certificates to twin all nine of the toilets in their two church buildings on September 23. The presentation marked the milestone of £1,000 raised to build up to 16 toilets in the third world.
Elyse Kirkham, the Scottish organiser for the charity Toilet Twinning attended services in both Dairsie and Cupar to present the picture certificates.
Life and Work staff are available for talks to Guilds and other church groups.
Please contact us through 0131 225 5722 or magazine@lifeandwork.org
This article appears in the December 2018 Issue of Life and Work
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