After years staffing the church office, former office manager, Lucy Llewellyn gave the verdict: “People come to St Columba’s for one reason, but come back for others.” Current days illustrate reasons why people might come, and why they might return – to hear an astonishingly beautiful recital of Duruflé’s Requiem by our own St Columba’s choir – to listen to the Moderator (Rt Revd Dr Shaw Paterson) reflect on the experiences of his moderatorial year.
The following reflection appeared on Revd David Donald Scott’s Blog on the Learig https://daviddonaldscott.blogspot.com/ and is reproduced with his kind permission. David, who preached at St Columba’s at the time of our Festival of Silence a year ago, offers a daily reflection on a wide range of topics – cultural, church, world events and the natural world. Today he writes:
Connections, connections! This week’s newsletter offers a whole variety of connections -possibilities for the coming weeks.
Connections to God. As part of our preparations for Christmas join others to read and discuss Rachel Mann’s book, “Do Not Be Afraid”, the Archbishop of York’s Advent book.
Connections to the wider Church. Come and listen to this year’s Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, as he speaks about his year in office and reflects on the wider work of the Church of Scotland.
Friends,
Our Old Testament lesson this week (Ruth 1: 1-18) tells the story of Ruth and Naomi, homeless refugees suffering as a result of famine. Naomi decided to return to her homeland of Judah and urged her two widowed daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, to find new husbands and security. Ruth, however, refuses, vowing to stay with Naomi and to follow her God.
What does love look like? In the centre of the story of Ruth stands someone who willingly becomes a refugee as she continues to support her beloved mother-in-law rather than return to her own family. So let us explore our understanding of what it means for us to love our neighbours today as we focus on the example of Ruth and on Jesus’ challenge to love God with all our being.
Jesus asked a lot of questions, often responding to a question with another question.
Depending how you count them, there are at least one hundred and fifty Jesus questions in the Gospels, far more than he answered. For example:
Friends,
From time to time the BBC or one of our more serious newspapers will ask the public who they regard as the greatest Briton of all time. Very often Winston Churchill tops the poll or sometimes the 1st Duke of Wellington (despite being born in Dublin so technically not a “Briton”). Both these men were military and political leaders although perhaps Wellington was less successful as Prime Minister than he was on the battlefield.
Friends,
Our gospel lesson this week from St. Mark 10: 17- 31 tells the story of “The Rich Man” who was reluctant to part with his possessions but today I’m thinking of another prosperous young man who used his money to benefit others and whose influence is still felt today, many years after his death. Douglas Macmillan was born into a well-to-do family in Somerset in 1884. He was educated at Birkbeck College, University of London and became a civil servant with the Ministry of Agriculture. He founded the Society for the Prevention and Relief of Cancer in 1912, the year after his father died of the disease, making an initial donation of £10, a large sum in those days. The charity he founded is now known as Macmillan Cancer Support and you can learn more about their work supporting cancer patients of all ages and their families here – www.macmillan.org.uk.
I was entertained this week by a church member recollecting the baptism of her child – many years ago and in a neighbouring church of St Columba’s. The vicar had removed his spectacles prior to the baptism at the large marble font – symbolically placed near the entrance to the church at the west door. Just at the key moment, the child’s mother, while handing over the infant, dislodged the clerical spectacles from their resting place – propelling them into the depths of the font. Opps! Happily, the baptism was completed, and the vicar appears to have maintained a sense of humour.
Friends,
I love cinema, especially old films such as Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and The Third Man. The golden age of Hollywood also produced biblical epics such as The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston, and more recently, Risen, starring Joseph Fiennes was a very effective retelling of the Easter story. I can’t help thinking that the story of Esther which we read in our Old Testament lesson this week would make a wonderful film. Esther was a Jewish woman, married to Ahasuerus, King of Persia. Esther was chosen as queen following a “beauty contest” when the king was looking for a new wife although Ahasuerus did not know of her Jewish heritage.
“So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.” (Roald Dahl, Matilda)
Three encounters in recent days. A gentleman discussing a family bereavement, explained a long-standing connection to St Columba’s. Born in June 1940, he was baptised in the original Victorian church, before the building was destroyed in the Blitz of May 1941. As he observed: “I got in just in time!” Another church member, formerly of the Flower Guild, returned for a special occasion. She spent much of a day arranging the floral displays, that twenty four hours later would celebrate her own wedding day. Another recently married St Columban, returns to offer the gift of his music at one of our Sounds of St Columba’s recitals. Three quite different individuals, at different life stages – but each finding, or refinding, a connection to this church at the crossroads. Illustrative of how lives weave in and out of this place; passengers/pilgrims, boarding and alighting the “St Columba’s Express”. For the continuities that this place offers, the memories and associations which it holds, let us be grateful.
Friends,
One of the consequences of the pandemic was the change it provoked to the “lifting up”, or dedication of the weekly offering, during Sunday morning worship. Pre-pandemic, we passed the collection bags along the pews; then, once assembled, carried them to the communion table, where they were received with prayer. It was a regular and recognisable feature of our worship. Consciously, or not, while it was the financial offerings that were processed forward, they represented something bigger. Each week, via this collective, symbolic act there was a recognition and thanksgiving for the gifts we receive from God – and the gifts of our time, talent and treasure that we offer to God. As a congregation we prayed for generosity and wisdom in the way that we used such gifts, serving not just our own needs, but also those of others beyond our walls.
Friends,
This Sunday we celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. This is always a very special occasion as parents bring their child into the church and promise to raise her in the Christian faith with the support and prayers of her Godparents and the congregation. But it is always important to remember that this is a sacrament of grace, a gift from God and that baptism is not something we do for God but a celebration of what God has already done for us in Christ. I am especially pleased to baptise Matilda as I married her parents two years ago, a reminder of how long I’ve been at St. Columba’s. I hope that Matilda and all children baptised into the church will find a welcome and a church family to join wherever in the world life takes them.
Friends,
Every now and again I say that I’m going to give up social media, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I sometimes find myself drawn into pointless arguments about politics, the Church, the constitution or whatever, with people who are not interested in any point of view but their own and certainly don’t want to have a reasoned discussion. But having said that Facebook is a good way of maintaining contact with cousins and old friends and although I might not be ‘phoning or writing to them every week, thanks to Facebook I know what they and their children are doing. Later than everyone else I’ve also been persuaded to join Whatsapp which is another useful way to keep in touch. One of the people I enjoy following on Twitter is Eduard Habsbsing, Hungarian ambassador to the Vatican. He recently invited his followers to post photographs of the church in which they were baptised and many responded with beautiful pictures of churches all over the world. Unfortunately I did not have a good picture of St. Ninians Old Parish Church in Stirling which I could contribute but as it is the church where my parents were married, where I was baptised and where many of my family are buried in the churchyard it is a place for which I have great affection.
This week congregation members met to continue the thinking initiated by the Congregational Away Day in September 2023. Specifically, how can we build awareness and connections between our Sunday congregation (members and visitors) and the many hundreds of people (young and old) who cross the threshold of our building almost every week of the year. In the light of those discussions, the following might be of interest – it originally appeared in Revd David Donald Scott’s, Blog on the Learig.
The Royal Albert Hall is one of St Columba’s famous, neighbouring landmarks, currently hosting the Proms, gathering its musicians and audiences from near and far. This week retired Church of Scotland minister, Revd Tom Gordon blogged on a musical theme, sharing three quotes to make us think and smile.