Category: News

Picture by Susan Pym

Friends,

Last Sunday our young people and their team of “grown-ups” treated us to a telling of the Nativity, with a musical dramatization entitled, “It’s a Party!” It certainly was. Culminating with the release of balloons during the final song, unleashed youthful energy delivered sacred spontaneity and a little anarchic joy. Memorably, the production earlier included the fainting of a youthful Joseph when told the news of Mary’s pregnancy, as well as a beautiful solo sung by teenager Beth Stokes. In short, we had a bit of everything, scripted and unscripted. Congregationally, we spend a lot of time lamenting the absence of our young people from church life. All the more special therefore to see them up front and involved – at the heart of our worship.

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Friends,

In recent days, Revd David Donald Scott (visiting preacher and film shower, Sunday 19^th November) posted the following piece https://daviddonaldscott.blogspot.co

“I am not sure whether our most recent ‘Statistics for Mission’ have been published but I read a report by Ed Thornton about the figures for the Church of England. There were three areas highlighted – attendance at worship, social action and age profile.

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(pic left) St Andrew’s, Newcastle – (pic right) St Andrew’s, Jerusalem

Friends,

Happy St Andrew’s Day, and particularly to the members of our linked charge at St Andrew’s, Newcastle

https://www.standrewskirknewcastle.org

Also in mind, St Andrew’s Church in Jerusalem; built as a memorial to Scottish soldiers who died in Palestine in the First World War. (The Church of Scotland has had a presence in the Holy Land since the late 19th century, initially through its medical mission in Tiberias.) Today, Thursday 30th November, the Friends of St Andrew’s, Jerusalem will hold their annual service at St Cuthbert’s, Edinburgh. The service, will be livestreamed from 2pm, led by the Very Rev Dr Andrew McLellan, convener of The Friends of St Andrew’s.

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Prayer space & sketching at Festival of Silence

Friends,

“A moment to reflect on beauty; to slow down; a restorative day; wonderfully gentle and helpful. A good silence. Silence is powerful. Silence, I have leant today, is empowering. Silence is God healing.”

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Friends,

Time is transfigured, opened out
and ample,
It touches on eternity. I stay
Awhile within this quiet church: its simple

Furnishings, and storied windows say
More to me of heaven than the pale
Abstractions of theology. A day

Spent in an empty church has been as full
Of goodness as an age elsewhere. I feel
Its peace refresh me like a holy well.

Malcolm Guite, from David’s Crown: Sounding the Psalms

Almost two years after the idea was suggested, the Festival of Silence takes place at St Columba’s this Saturday. It certainly represents a step into the unknown. At its heart is the belief that our beautiful building holds a silence that is precious. As a visitor commented: “The silence is already here. It is up to us if we want to enter it.”

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Friends,

Sometimes when you haven’t heard of someone before, then a name is mentioned twice in close succession from independent sources, you get the sense that you should pay attention. Recently, the name of Howard Zinn, an American historian, playwright and philosopher cropped up days apart, via a book and a blog. In a week when a visitor to St Columba’s observed: “The world seems to be on fire at the moment.” In a week preparing for Remembrance Sunday, with its summons to look back and look forward – to remember, then to determine to live well – in a week such as this, I hope Zinn’s words might be an encouragement.

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Friends,

November is sometimes referred to as “The month of the dead”, with All Saints Day on 1st November, All Souls Day on 2nd November and Remembrance Sunday, the Sunday nearest to 11th November when we remember those who have died in two world wars and numerous conflicts since 1945.

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“There is nothing to fear in choosing a period of solitude.” So write Malcolm Doney and Martin Wroe, joint authors of Hold On Let Go: How To Find Your Life. “At the kitchen table, with the radio turned off. In the bedroom, when everyone else has left the flat, smartphone exiled. A lunchtime walk from the office, turning through the doors of that building we rarely look twice at.” Doney and Wroe reference Michael Palin, former Monty Python member, taking a lunch break after being cross-examined in a court case in London. Not permitted to talk to anyone, he wanted somewhere to sit quietly and get himself together. Unable to find a seat that didn’t involve eating, drinking or some commercial transaction, he stumbled upon the Church of St Dunstan-in-the-West in the heart of Fleet Street. “I was never so grateful for a place of repose, an oasis of peace and quiet in the midst of the mayhem,” Palin said.

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Friends,

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem”, said the Psalmist and Jerusalem and the Middle East seem to be more in need of our prayers today than ever before. There is the real fear that violence will spread to neighbouring countries and throughout the region as well as the possibility of terrorist attacks here in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe. It is a heartbreaking situation, especially for those of us who have visited the Holy Land or who have Israeli or Palestinian friends here in London. We must pray that there will not be an escalation of violence but that wise counsels will prevail.

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The Cutty Sark, launched in Scotland, 1869

Friends,

The theme of the week seems to be “Launch.” On Monday we welcomed our new Office Manager, Stef Christ. As introduction Stef writes: “I am from Lyon in France; on my Dad’s side, my family comes from Alsace, and from Madagascar and Corsica on my mother’s side. I studied Theatre and Dance as well as Communication and Marketing at University before moving to London, originally for one year to learn English – but that was sixteen years ago! I now have a dual nationality, as I decided to apply for British Citizenship a few years ago.

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“Come, you thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest-home”.

Henry Alford’s great harvest hymn reminds us of God’s generous provision amid the changing seasons of life.

For many people Harvest Thanksgiving is a highlight of the church year and I remember as a child going forward with the other children to present our harvest gifts at the front of the church. And, of course, it is a joy to see the church so beautifully decorated for our Harvest Thanksgiving Service.

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“God, my imagination is faithless, and my faith is unimaginative. How often I fail to see and use what is right before me! How often I impatiently discard the very thing you have patiently provided to help me in my need! Overcome all my impatient rejections with your patient acceptance of me in Jesus Christ. Amen.”

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Last Sunday, worship, hospitality, music recital, an outing to St Columba’s Tennis Club and tickets on sale for the Scots in London Gala Concert & Reception (Wednesday 11th October 2023) offered a faithful, life-affirming and happy St Columba’s Sunday. We are incredibly fortunate, able to enjoy such varied strands to congregational life. Meanwhile on weekdays, schools, Support Groups and many others are back for their autumn activities. So much goes on within our building throughout the year; so many people cross our threshold. Much of the activity is independent of the congregation. But that it takes place here is because there is a worshipping Church of Scotland congregation with a visionary building, created and maintained by the love and labour of many different people, across many decades.

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If your spirits are dented by the recent fortunes of Scotland’s sporting representatives, outgunned by South Africa’s rugby giants and England’s footballers, do not lose heart. To restore morale, we are delighted to announce that this autumn St Columba’s, in collaboration with others, is at the heart of a new initiative, to celebrate and widen one part of our shared identity.

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An Imagined Future – Creating a Positive Shared Story: Congregational “Away” Day, Saturday 30th September 2023

“Churches are often good at governance and maintenance, but often not so good at vision and imagination.” So writes Revd Russell McLarty, who along with Place for Hope colleague, Dr Magdalen Lambkin, will lead our Congregational “Away” Day (at St Columba’s) on Saturday 30th September.

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Dear Friends,

This Sunday we will celebrate the sacrament of Holy Baptism. It is always a real pleasure to welcome a new member into God’s family. Of course, most of those we baptise at St. Columba’s are infants, but it is never too late to be baptised and in a previous congregation I baptised a lady in her 70’s. It is important to remember that baptism is not something we do for God, but rather a celebration of what God has already done for us in Christ, whatever age we are.

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