Friends,
As I write this letter, much of the South of England is flooded. We once had our kitchen flooded by a burst cistern and that was traumatic enough; I can’t imagine what emotions people feel today as they watch the flood-water rise through their kitchen floor and destroy their belongings and, for some, their livelihood. These are turbulent times.
That would be true of so many people and situations that I see around me just now. We live in turbulent times as a nation, preparing for the referendum in September – what will our future be? We live in turbulent times in the Church for a number of reasons, with the same question in our minds – what will our future be? As a congregation, we face some unsettling times: are our buildings fit for purpose? Who will take on certain jobs and responsibilities? For many of us, personally, the times are turbulent: facing up to our frailties and vulnerabilities is painful.
Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat. The problem – the boat was caught up in one of the sudden squalls that hit the Sea of Galilee regularly and some of the disciples were scared witless! “Save us! We’re going to drown!” They should have trusted Jesus more; He woke up, calmed the storm and everything was fine again. “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” But fear was a quite natural reaction, given their circumstances.
“Lost for words” is a state of mind in some of these situations. We’re put on the spot by our friends: “Where is God in all of this?” and we find it hard to answer that question. We struggle to articulate what we think and believe about God, even for people who want to know the answers to these big questions. We’re embarrassed by our inability. We struggle at times, even to put our concerns into the words of prayer, so that we find it hard to tell God what we think and how we feel.
“Lost for words” is also a 6-week course designed to help us speak about our faith naturally to the people we know. There are more details about the content of the course in the Church Wednesday leaflet; please come to take part. There is also part of the course designed to help us understand hard questions. It is clear to me: there are no easy answers to any of these turbulent times. If anyone offers you pat answers, they neither understand the reality of the world, nor the reality of God Himself.
One thing I will say: God’s relationship with the turbulent world in which we live is shaped by the cross on which Jesus died. The Father watches His Son suffer and die; the Son cries out in agony when He knows that God has forsaken Him for a time; the world holds its breath, waiting for the resurrection on Easter Sunday. In a turbulent world, God knows what it feels like. Where is God? Right here in the middle of our turbulent world, walking the road alongside us, sharing our pain, helping us not be afraid. Trust Him more; He deserves our trust.
Jim
Treasurer’s Report
Stewardship: Our Stewardship Campaign for 2014 is Giving Time and Talent. Throughout the year there will be opportunities to give your time and your talent to the work of the church so watch this space!
Accounts for 2013: The deficiency I estimated in the December Church News of £7,000 turned into only £5,000 as we made £500 more at the Christmas Fayre than I expected and the cost for repairs to the Church Roof of £1,500 were not completed by the end of the year. Although an increase in the value of our investments helped to reduce the shortfall in the Accounts we cannot afford to make a deficit each year. Please therefore consider your Givings for 2014 and increase them if you can. An increase of at least 2.5% is required in our Offerings this year.
R Douglas Buchanan
Treasurer
New Church Logo
In this edition of Church News we launch our new church logo, designed by Marc Jones. Our Mission Statement is “Building Christ’s Church in the community” and this logo is symbolic of that mission aim. It shows the cross in amongst a group of people, symbolic of our desire to be the Church of Jesus Christ in amongst the people of our community. The logo will appear on Church News, our headed notepaper and on the screens; a black and white version will be on the Sunday order of service.
BALERNO CHALLENGE
We have been challenged to a golf match against Balerno Parish Church on Thursday 5th June from 1.45pm at Baberton Golf Club followed by supper in the clubhouse. Ten golfers are required to fulfil this fixture so please get in touch with me as soon as possible if you would like to be part of the team.
Douglas Buchanan
Halls Cleaning
This goes on as usual, though again, we are struggling to keep the teams fully staffed. In spite of this, the team members work very hard, and compliments have been received about the standard of cleanliness in the halls. Anyone interested in joining one of the cleaning teams for a stint of cleaning once every six weeks, please get in touch. We offer equal opportunities for men and women, so, men, do not think this is not for you!
Elaine Wilson.
441 3490,
Nativity Hunt 2013
The nativity hunt (when the Church Nativity characters went into the local shops!) was a great success with children peering in our local shop windows searching for each of the characters. The prize draw at the Last Minute Christmas Fayre gave us 3 winners – Daniel Ryrie, Anya Ramsay and Jamie Elliot. Well done to each of them and to all who took part in the fun. More great news is that between us all we raised £76 for the SickKidsHospital! Thank you for joining in.
Gill Hales
Youth Group in Juniper Green
Over the last year or so we have been growing as a youth group within the church. Aimed at young people in Primary 7 upwards, we meet at the same time as Kids’ Church on Sunday mornings. We have several regular members who are a pleasure to teach God’s word to. We may be a small group but we have a great time and spend time laughing, praying and talking together.
Over the last year we have studied various different topics and areas; from inspiring women in Ruth, Sarah and Mary, to heroes in Moses and Joseph. Recently, we spent a couple of weeks having some really encouraging conversations about the Ten Commandments and how they can be relevant to all of us, how we can help each other recognise what they mean today and how we can apply them to our lives.
The group has also been thinking about how they can become more involved in church life and what we can do to look after our worlds – with the adoption of a big cat being a particularly popular idea!
Please pray that our young people will grow in faith and knowledge and that more young people may come to join our happy group. Please pray also that, as leaders, Alison and I can help to make God’s word relevant and exciting.
Fiona Elliot
WFO’s. Are they for you?
Around 80 members think so. Should you join them?
Weekly Freewill Offering (WFO) are sets of envelopes dated for each Sunday of the financial year and are an easy way of maximising your donation to the church because Gift Aid can be applied to the amounts given by members who pay income tax. At present this would add 25% to your giving. It is claimed from HMRC quarterly by our Treasurer.
Planning is underway for the 2014 – 2015 financial year and new sets of envelopes will be ready for distribution from mid-March 2014. Please consider taking a set of WFO envelopes.
The start of a new financial year is an excellent time to join this scheme, but you can start anytime. Just ask me about it. I am in church most Sundays and I sit in the choir area. Alternatively speak to Douglas Buchanan, our Treasurer. You will find our contact details included with this magazine.
Many of our members prefer to give by Standing Order. If this is your choice, please speak to Douglas to arrange for one to be set up.
Lesley Grieve, WFO Administrator.
Friendship Counts
At the end of January, the Church of Scotland congregations met for the annual JointValley service. Some 230 people gathered to worship together and to hear that Friendship Counts. The Rev John Chalmers, Principal Clerk to the General Assembly was our guest preacher and John reflected on the theme of friendship in a number of ways. He spoke of Jesus’ love for His friends, a love in which He was willing to give His life for His friends; he reflected in the friendship that he and his family had received from people across the Church when his son JJ was seriously injured in Afghanistan some two and a half years ago. He ended by challenging us to be the agents of Jesus’ friendship among the lonely and the downcast, so that by your friendship people might also encounter the love of Jesus. A truly inspiring morning!
James Dewar
Brownies are 100!
Not the girls…but the Brownie section of Girlguiding! From January until June Brownies will be celebrating their special birthday with various events and outings. The 2 Brownie units in Juniper Green have already taken part in an ‘astronaut’ craft day in Currie High School, gone for an adventure walk along the Water of Leith in the dark and are due to take part in a Division Thinking Day service here in church, along with completing special tasks for badges. The highlight of our celebrations will be on 14th March when up to 2000 Brownies from all over Edinburgh will take over the NationalMuseum in Chamber Street for an evening of fun and excitement. We are all looking forward to being part of this 100th Birthday party.
We in Juniper Green have much to be thankful for so we are raising money to twin the church toilets, through TEARfund, to some in Cambodia so that girls will be enabled to have an education – part of the millennium goals. So far we have raised enough to twin one loo – we are aiming for another two by June!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROWNIES!
Jean Dewar
Leprosy Mission
I would like to say, once again, a big thank you for all who support the Leprosy Mission (Scotland). This Guild of Friendship, their family and friends and, of course, the members of the congregation who fill the phials placed at the front of the Church above where the hymn books are. These collections were started at Guild meetings years ago. Then I was given the privilege to continue this necessary work after Sally McFadzean retired as President. It started with a 1p and 2p collection in a large coffee jar which was passed round each table at Guild meetings and, often as not, was filled to the brim (yes, very heavy). These collections have increased considerably as has membership of the Guild. Collections now include small silver coins and everything is appreciated no matter how big or small.
The letters of thanks and some of the stories about the Mission work can be found on the Guild of Friendship notice board in Hall Two. Our collections from January 2013 to January 2014 is – wait for it - £291.64 – how amazing! This has proved to be a well worthwhile cause.
Again sincere thanks to everyone involved.
Sheena Blair
Developing Future Preachers
“I give you this charge:Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” 2 Timothy 4
For the past few years I have been a member of Edinburgh Young Preacher’s Group, a group of young Christians from across Edinburgh who have a desire to better understand scripture and be able to communicate it to others. The group have received training and mentoring from Peter Grainger, the former Senior Pastor at Charlotte Chapel, as well as had the opportunity to preach and receive feedback on sermons that we have developed.
We have preached a number of series at the Old Schoolhouse Christian Fellowship, Kelty Evangelical Church and Ichthus Christian Fellowship and are about to embark on a series at Kelty looking at the parables. We each prepare one or two sermons as part of the series and, as well as delivering these, we also attend when other members are preaching to provide support and feedback on their preaching.
Being part of the group has also helped greatly in my role on the Worship team at Juniper Green, which has given me further opportunities to put what I have learnt into practice. I have to thank Jim for giving me these opportunities and providing assistance when I am preaching.
We don’t know where God will take the group in the future but we see this as the beginning of an exciting work of God in connecting young preachers with a need in the church. We would ask for your prayers for the group and those who support us as we prepare for our next series at Kelty. If you would like to find out more about the group please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.
Martin Elliot
READ IT AGAIN! READ IT FOR THE FIRST TIME!
LISTEN TO AN AUDIO VERSION ON THE WEB SITE!
Did you want to read the Minister’s Sermon from last Sunday? Did you miss it? Were there bits of it you didn’t understand? Go to the Church website at and follow the link to ‘sermons’ and you will find them there.
Alternatively, go to the Library area for paper copies. There are also sets of Sermons from the past in folders for read and return.
Pastoral Care Scheme at Juniper Green Parish Church
A meeting of all pastoral carers was held on 5th February. There was an excellent attendance and Jim reminded the meeting that the basis of our care scheme is the 3 Cs of Contact, Communication and Care.
Our members had made a choice of how they wished to be contacted – either once annually, three times per year, at the Church, by email or by telephone. Whatever the contact choice made, we aim to Communicate and Care for those on our list.
Jim produced papers in which he described the bereavement practice in JGPC and a list of resources to help with pastoral care. The bereavement paper indicated how the pastoral carers might interact with the bereavement team.
Over the next few months, Juniper Green will have an influx of new residents and it was suggested that a Welcome Pack of Information, similar to one produced some years ago, should be resurrected. This Pack, containing information about the village, shops, bus time-tables, etc. could then be handed out to any newcomer to the village.
The Community Council has also expressed a wish to visit newcomers so there is a possibility of a joint venture. If anyone wishes to help with this task, please let me know.
Cliff Beevers,
Pastoral Care Co-ordinator
453 4517 or
GUILD OF FRIENDSHIP
The Guild of Friendship has been enjoying a varied programme, three meetings having taken place since January. We started the year with our annual Communion service, conducted by the minister,
followed by talks on “The Four Schools of Juniper Green” and “Riding for the Disabled at Ravelrig” . We have a full programme till May, ending with our AGM and lunch on 1 May.
At present we are planning a coffee morning on Saturday April 12 to raise money for church funds and some other good causes, and so we are hoping for a good attendance at that event.
Attendance at meetings is usually 25 – 30, so there is room for more, and anyone, men and women, will be made very welcome. Our programme of meetings, on alternate Thursdays, is displayed in Hall 2.
Elaine Wilson
Secretary.
MEN’S FELLOWSHIP
Chris Grieve, was the Speaker at our second Meeting of 2013/14, his topic being “Music in My Life”. Chris took us through his music career from starting in Primary School learning to play the Cello and Chanter, joining the Glencorse Pipe Band at age 10 and then in Primary 7 playing with the Edinburgh Schools Primary School Orchestra. Chris is now in his final year at Edinburgh University studying for a Music Degree having recently played at the 2011 World Pipe Bands Competition and changed from the Glencorse to the Dysart & Dundonald Pipe Band in 2013. Chris is often asked to play his bagpipes at Weddings and Funerals. All present enjoyed hearing of the challenging journey people with musical gifts have, whether with Cello, Bagpipes or another instrument.
At the time of writing a Dinner Meeting is planned for 6 March 2014 in the Baberton Golf Club with the speaker Sam Orr, member of the UCCF: Christian Union Team at Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt Universities. His talk is titled “UCCF: 110 years of making Christ known in British Universities”. Also, a Breakfast Meeting is planned for Sunday 27 April when the speaker will be Drew Wightman.