From The Editor

THIS month I shall be braving the freezing cold of

PRAYER

This Christmas remember someone whom you have lost;

The perfect gift this Christmas

Why not gift the award winning magazine of the Church

LETTERS

A letter in a recent issue of the magazine referred

The Big Question

This month’s question is: ‘Have you ever given an ‘alternative’ Christmas gift?’

An appointment with redemptive destiny

Ron Ferguson considers the profound power of music as we look to ‘the child of hope’.

The heart of the Christmas story

The Rt Rev Dr Derek Browning considers the deeper messages of homelessness and poverty amid the arrival of the Christ child.

Let the story breathe again

The Very Rev Albert Bogle urges readers to rediscover their identity as they look again at the Christmas story.

From holy land to advent centrepiece

Jackie Macadam traces the journey of a Christmas crib, from a Holy Land olive grove, to sale in an Edinburgh shop.

Signposts of a living faith

In the final part of his three-part series, the Very Rev Dr John Chalmers explains why radical change is needed to reshape the Church of Scotland to serve in future.

The accidental trailblazer

Thomas Baldwin meets the Rev Rola Sleiman, the first Christian woman minister ordained in the Middle East.

The Big Picture

Digital photographs only should be sent to magazine@lifeandwork.org

An ‘Arts and Crafts’ Church

John R Hume considers the gifts and beauty of a church in the east end of Glasgow.

New pilgrimage route links Scotland and England

Lynne McNeil reports on the launch of the Forth to Farne Way.

POEM

Return to Chitambo

In 1960, Ronald and Andrew Swanson left Glasgow as young children for a new life in Zambia with their missionary parents. This is the story of their return to Africa this summer.

God with us

The Rev Richard Frazer highlights the people on the move in the Christmas story.

REVIEWS

This pocket sized hardback gathers together 40 reflections

CROSSWORD

19 ___ Lee, singer of ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas

God’s surprise of love

The Rev Lezley Stewart reflects on the gifts of Christmas

Dornoch minister ‘honoured’ to be nominated Moderator-Designate

Thomas Baldwin reports on the announcement of the nomination of the Moderator-Designate to the 2018 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

ERIC LIDDELL’S DAUGHTER SEEKS HER FATHER THROUGH FAITH

The daughter of Scottish Olympic gold medalist and

FORMER MODERATOR TAKES HOUSING ACTION ROLE

A former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church

CHURCH SEEKS DESCENDANTS OF WW1 SOLDIERS

Researchers working on a new book about Scottish soldiers

ORGANIST RETIREMENT

The final Sunday worship at Hyndland Parish Church

LONG SERVICE

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church

WORSHIPPING TOGETHER

The linked Outer Hebrides congregations of Barra and

TRAIDCRAFT SUCCESS

A group based in Kinross Parish Church is the number

PARTY FOR ORGAN

More than 200 people attended a birthday party in Kilwinning

FLOWER FESTIVAL

St Andrew’s Church, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, continued

£1.5m Church and Community Centre opens in Dumfriesshire

Thomas Baldwin reports on a long-term fundraising project initiated by a rural congregation.