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Govan and Linthouse Parish Church

Magazine

September 2011

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Dear friends Summertime is always a peaceful and quiet time in the life of our church. Many of us went on a wee adventure and enjoyed a restful time throughout the holidays. We are truly blessed that we live in such a beautiful country where there are so many nice spots to explore. It is easy to get out of the city and soon one is surrounded by beautiful wild landscape. One of the wee adventures I experienced was the Solas Festival, which took place for the second time on the 24-26 of June, in Wiston by Biggar in South Lanarkshire. In contrast to last year’s festival most of the venues were in a different location and more people attended the small but very friendly and creative Festival. Unfortunately the weather could have been less cloudy over the weekend. However “Solas” is the Scots Gaelic word for light and as its name implies light was shining among all the participants of the Festival. It is a festival that has Christian roots and it covers a wider range of different interests: arts, politics, culture and religion. This year’s selection of speakers, workshops and artists was excellent. I especially enjoyed the performance of Harry Baker’s poems and a talk by his mother Jenny Baker about how they celebrated rites of passages as a family. There was a wide range of different styles of music performances. Some of the highlights for me were the following performances: The hip hop rhymes of Stanley Odd, the Gaelic music of the Campbell’s family and Zoetrope, which was a collaboration gig of five different bands from Glasgow. Brian McGlynn presented his legendary gospel workshop – which was very well attended. The gospel choir then performed in the Sunday morning service, which took place in the main tent. As part of this service we celebrated a simple, but dramatically and creatively staged communion. The communion table went through the whole tent and each participant’s nameplate was on it. I also had the opportunity to do two Godly Play storytelling workshops. They were well attended by families with children from different age groups. At the end of the sessions we celebrated a little feast together, at which everybody got some juice, fruits and biscuits and we enjoyed each other’s company. Frankie Campbell did an amazing job in her role as the festival’s coordinator. Thanks to her big commitment and effort Solas was again a real success! It was a truly unforgettable experience. I suggest that next year we might organise a church trip to the Festival so that an all-age group can benefit from the wide range of workshops, concerts, discussions and having simply a fun time together. Now I hope that you did enjoy an enriching and relaxing break throughout these past summer months. Many blessings, Judith

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Dear friends

Sometimes when you have an idea you aren't sure how it will work out in practice.

One of the best things to come out of my trip to Glencoe with the P7 children from Pirie Park earlier this year was when the children were asked to put questions in a box which we then answered at devotions in the evening. I saw how the children welcomed this idea and wondered if it was something we could do in school on a regular basis.

It was very clear that the children had some very profound questions to ask and this gave them a platform to do it. I asked Susan Clark and Jane Arthur if they thought we could try this in a school environment and they said yes, so I went into both P7 classes in May and simply said to the children, 'Do you have anything you would like to ask about faith (not just Christian faith) or the bible, or about how these things affect our lives?' I spent an hour and a half with the classes and when I left I had a list of 62 questions to answer! Some of them we talked about in class, some I had to go away and think about further, the children were happy with that.

It was the most amazing time with the children as they fired questions my way and I was over the moon as I left the school and went away to prepare answers for them. I also wondered; how long would they have carried these questions around if they hadn't been given an opportunity to ask them? The original idea at Glencoe had come from Susan and I was just carrying on that idea but it was clear to me that we had tapped into something very crucial. These are children who will be making the huge step up to High School soon and will leave the safety of Primary School to go into a very different environment and they have questions and issues burning inside. They are trying to make sense of the world and what religion is all about. They know that religion affects the world greatly and therefore affects their lives. They asked some great questions, questions you would never have thought about like: What religion were Adam and Eve? What language did they speak? Who wrote the bible? And interestingly – in a society which seems obsessed with Islam and blaming Muslims for all the ills of the world – they asked no questions about so called Islamic terrorism, instead they asked questions about what religion has to do with football. In some minds football and Christianity are related and this causes trouble.

I am left feeling that this was a very worthwhile thing to do and hopefully we can put a question box in each P7 class this coming session so that we can do this on a regular basis, and try and guide the children through the many questions they have. In asking the questions they did, the children surprised us and showed us the level of thinking they are doing, a high level of wondering what life is about. I feel it is our job to help them with that thinking as much as we can. Watch this space for more unexpected questions! Paul P.S. If anyone would like to see the questions asked and answers prepared, let Gillian in the office know and she will get you a copy.

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Extra Offering at Communion

Our extra Communion offering for Communion on 11th September will go to Los Gorriones orphanage in Peru. Thank you in advance for your support with this.

Sunday School

Since the last magazine the Sunday School have been to Heads of Ayr Farm Park for their annual trip. This year we shared the trip with 34th GB and the Boys’ Brigade. Everyone had a great day and it was lovely to see so many children from the organisations all together. Hopefully we will be having more outings together in the near future. The children loved the books they received at the prize giving service. Thank you to Charlotte McNeill for presenting the awards. It’s always an exciting day for the children as they wait patiently for their name to be called. Over the summer we have continued to meet for games, crafts and treats. We always seem to have treats of some sort whenever we meet. We will start the new session on Sunday 21st August. Hopefully this year we will have even more children joining us on a Sunday morning. If you know of any children who may like to come along we would be delighted to meet them. As always thank you to everyone for their continued support. We will be having a tearoom soon – our original date has been changed. The new date will be announced asap. Karen Stevely

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Guild

Today the committee of the Guild met to plan the syllabus for the session. We have managed to fill all the spaces available so it looks as if we will have an interesting and enjoyable year. During our last few meetings we had an evening with Moyna as she shared with us an interesting journey in The Holy Land. Judith spent an evening about her life in Switzerland and had us all making and eating some wonderful bread..... we also attempted to complete a quiz. We helped our bankbook by having a bring and buy sale. The session ended with our A.G.M. and cream tea. After allocating our funds, scones, jam and tea were enjoyed by all. We had our Annual outing on 6th June when we first went to Tillicoultry and then on to St Andrews where we spent time having some retail therapy. We ended up in the ‘Crows Nest’ for high tea and with great weather; we all had a wonderful time. This was a lovely ending to a successful Guild year. We resume on Monday 17th October. Our Guild week starts on the Monday and the Annual Church Service will be on Sunday 20th November. We will be hosting the tearoom on Saturday 22nd October and I do hope to see you all then. With Every Blessing Elspeth

Ladies Group

In June, the Ladies’ Group went on their Summer Outing to Burns’ Cottage and Museum. It was a beautiful day and well worth the visit, in particular, the Museum. The restaurant and its facilities were bright and attractive, and the food was varied and reasonably priced, as were the items in the tourist shop. It was also a Family Fun Day so, while adults listened to songs from popular Musical Shows played by a brass band, the children enjoyed their activities, which included face-painting and other events. Later in the afternoon, the bus made its way to Ayr, where some went shopping, while others enjoyed a walk along the promenade. After tea, the Group returned home, having thoroughly enjoyed themselves on their Outing to Burns’ Country. It certainly is a complex to be recommended, with something for everyone and suited to more than one visit. Betty Grieve.

Thank You

We would like to thank everyone for the cards, flowers and kind words of sympathy on the bereavement of my sister Marie. They were very much appreciated. Kind Regards Sandra Harvey and Family

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34th Glasgow Girls’ Brigade Some of the officers attended the Annual General Meeting of the Glasgow Division of the Girls’ Brigade in the City Chambers in June. It was a very enjoyable evening and as always it is good to see what is happening in other companies. We are already starting to think about what we would like to do in the new session. One suggestion was guitar lessons for the older girls. Virgin Trains very kindly gave us several train tickets to raise funds for the company. The money raised will allow us to pay for a guitar instructor to come on a Wednesday evening to teach the girls. You never know by the display next year we may have a guitar group! If anyone has any unwanted guitars I am sure we could make use of them. Two of our girls went away with the Church of Scotland on a Youth Holiday to Glen Kin near Dunoon for four days in July. They enjoyed a range of activities and want to go back again in September. The new session starts on Wednesday 7th September at 6.30pm in the church hall and we would welcome any new members to join us. Sandra MacDonald

Walking Group

In June the walking group went to Gourock. We walked from Gourock to Lunderston Bay Garden Centre and back. Twenty five people (aged from 4 to 91) went to St Andrews on 22nd July for the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed a weekend of sunshine. We stayed in the New Hall at St. Andrews University which was very comfortable. After arriving and unpacking we had a walk out to the harbour and back before dinner in New Hall. Saturday morning we spent around St. Andrews and then we headed for Anstruther. We walked from Anstruther to Pittenween along the coastal path. The weather again was lovely. When we arrived back in Anstruther we went in to the Fish and Chip shop for tea which we all enjoyed. On Sunday we walked all the way round the Old Course going as far as the Eden Estuary then over to the sands where some of us paddled our way back to St. Andrews. The annual outing to Cumbrae is on 13th August.

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10th Glasgow Girls’ Brigade

2011/2012 session begins

Wednesday 7th September 2011 6:30pm at Govan Old Church

The summer break is almost over for another year and it was a very well deserved break for all. Our Centenary celebrations over the weekend of 20th – 22nd May were a great success and were enjoyed immensely by everyone who took part. We had guest appearances from former members at our Display and a good turnout at the reunion on Saturday night. Our last event was an outing to the Safari Park on 28th May; the rain stayed away and everyone came home exhausted. The highlight of our celebrations was when Sandra Hoey, National Vice President, Girls Brigade Scotland presented Brigader, Kathryn Paul with the Endurance Award. Kathryn was born with the genetic condition Cystic Fibrosis. She endures a daily regime of medication and physiotherapy to keep her well but she doesn’t allow this to affect her in day to day life; she still plays sports, comes to Girls’ Brigade and is a normal teenager. I’d like to take this opportunity to say ‘Thank You’ to everyone who supported our Centenary Celebrations and who helped to make the occasion so memorable for us all. We start back again on Wednesday 7th September 2011 and everyone is welcome. Margaret Grieve Captain 10th Glasgow Company

Jimmy Giffin Sadly Jimmy Giffin passed away on Sunday 8th May aged 95. His funeral was held by the Salvation Army Major Derek Tyrell in Govan Old where he was ordained an elder by the Reverend John Symington on 21st February 1954. He had been a Life Boy as a youngster and then a leader of Life Boys in his adulthood and he stayed devoted to the church through out his entire life, he was a much valued member. He was married to Lillian for over 70 years.

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Cancer Research

Thank you for all your support. With your help, our sweat and laughs we raised £430 for Cancer Research. June and Susan

Action Aid and Mary’s Meals

Hi everyone, Your support for both of my charities is over whelming and I can’t thank you all enough. My boxes are collected by different people of which I thank them – but I’m sorry for not thanking everyone personally. Your work is very much appreciated. Hope you all enjoyed the ‘summer’ God Bless, Rose

Sponsored Cycle For Lodging House Mission

Many thanks to the people who sponsored the cyclists for the lodging house mission cycle. The final total was just over £500.00.

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Gift Shop in Govan Old

We now have some new stock in the gift shop at Govan Old. The stock has been supplied to us via Rainbow Turtle who are a Fair Trade supplier based in Paisley. If anyone has any afternoons to spare and would be interested in working in the shop it would be great if you could let us know. We are also looking for more people to help out with Guiding and Stewarding. . Please contact Gillian on 01414452010 if you are interested. The opening hours of Govan Old are 10am – 11am Monday to Friday with the morning service running from 10 to 10.25am and all afternoons from 1pm-4pm excluding Tuesdays and Fridays, if you have any time, pop into Govan Old, have a look at the stock and have a guided tour round the famous Hogback stones.

Kids Corner

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Sermon on 2 Corinthians Chapter 8 vs 1-15

Sunday 7th August 2011 by Paul Cathcart

Employers at a Detroit business office found they were having a difficult time getting

the job done so they posted the following notice on the employee bulletin board: "the

management regrets that it has come to their attention that workers dying on the job

are failing to fall down. This practice must stop, as it becomes impossible to distinguish

between death and natural movement of the staff. Any employee found dead in the

upright position will henceforth be dropped from the payroll."

This morning we think about giving, and giving generously to the work of the Kingdom.

Giving is a very general term and we usually associate it with giving of money but the

money is only part of the giving to God and his work. There are other types of giving

required of us beyond money and the first is give ourselves to the lord (8:5) We are

called firstly to give our lives to God before we even think about money giving. This

means allowing him to be in control of our lives, shaping us into the kind of people he

wants us to be. We can be faithful to God much better when we have entrusted our lives

completely to him. Remember it was Paul who said that he no longer lived but Christ

was living in him. What he meant by that was that he saw that it wasn't him who was

making the decisions about what to do or where to go, but Christ was at work in him

and he was just the vessel for him to work through. Without giving ourselves to God we

can't do the work he has called us to or be the people he created us to be. And without

giving of ourselves we become like the workers in the Detroit factory. We are standing

up but we're dead. None of what else we do has the right significance unless we are first

rooted in God and what he wants for his church. A consequence of giving ourselves to

God is that our lives change for the better. Our perspectives change as we get in touch

with God's way.

Secondly, if we want to get the job in the kingdom done, we must also excel in the grace

of giving. (8:7-9) It had been a hard winter in the Rockies. The snow piled deeper and

deeper, the temperature dropped below zero and stayed there, the rivers froze over.

People were suffering. The Red Cross used helicopters to fly in supplies. After a long

hard day, as they were returning to their base, the rescue team in a helicopter saw a

cabin nearly submerged in the snow. A thin wisp, of smoke came from the chimney. The

men figured those people in that cabin were probably critically short of food, fuel, and

medicine. Because of the trees they had to set down about a mile from the cabin. They

put their heavy emergency equipment on their backs, trudged through waist deep snow,

and reached the cabin exhausted, panting, and perspiring. They pounded on the door

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and a thin, gaunt mountain woman finally answered. The lead man panted, "Ma’am,

we’re from the Red Cross." She was silent for a moment, and then she said, "It’s been a

hard long winter, sonny. I just don’t think we can give anything this year!" Sometimes it

seems that everybody wants something from you and one of the criticisms I have heard

of the church over the years is that the church is always looking for money. So for years

if you spoke to someone about church they assumed you were going to ask them to

donate and it became a barrier.

But it's not just money we are to give to the work of the Kingdom, it is our time and

talents and energy too. Each of us can give something to the work of the Kingdom no

matter what age we are or what our background is. We have money but we also have

gifts and we are commanded by God to use these gifts. It is by God's grace we have what

we have so we are to be gracious in our giving and if we have given ourselves to God in

the first place we will naturally want to use all we have. The trouble is, we can be so

worn down by church life that we forget we are useful, or we can be so worn out

because we have been asked to do too much in the past that we feel we don't have the

energy. But this is not of God, and each day we are being made new as he moulds us by

his grace. There isn't a single person in here this morning who has nothing to give and I

want to challenge you to reflect on that especially if you feel that there is nothing you

can do. For example, who of you could take a young member of our church under your

wing and offer them your wisdom and experience? Who of you could share ideas and

experiences that others could take forward to grow the church? Who of you could

become part of a team providing meals at a children's club? These are just a few things,

there are many more. All of us can pray for the work of the church, and all of can give

something financially. The point is, that the church in Macedonia Paul speaks about

were giving more than they could have imagined because they had first given

themselves to God and some of the issues which mattered to them before no longer did.

They were free of any past grievances to concentrate on God and his church.

Thirdly, we also finish the work we eagerly began (8:11) each of us here today has come

to church at a certain point in our lives, some since birth, and others maybe in

adulthood. Whatever point we came, we started a work. I remember pondering whether

or not I should become a member of the Church of Scotland and having a real battle

because I realised I didn't always agree with the church. But I came to the conclusion

that if you want something to change you have to be part of it. There's no point moping

around on the outside having a moan. It changes nothing. If we want things to work and

to change then we must do that work. We have started a work and we must finish it. In

our church here we have much work to do, work which is exciting and will take us

forward. Over the next months and years there will be decisions to be made, work to be

done to make sure of the future of Govan and Linthouse Parish Church in what I would

consider to be the seat of Christianity in Glasgow. We will do that work together by

sharing what we can, by giving of our time, talents, money, whatever we need so that we

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will be a beacon of light to the people of our parish today and in a hundred years when

we are gone and people remember that their predecessors showed they way. And we

can do this work because God calls us to be his co-workers in building his Kingdom.

Lastly we also need to strive for equality in the kingdom work (8:13-15) we are all

equal, none of us better than the other. As a ministry team we want to take a lead but we

don't have all the answers. We need to work collectively and collaboratively to get the

job done. When we work together we fulfil God's dream and give the devil nightmares.

The church is a powerful weapon and a force to be reckoned with against the powers of

evil. We are the church and when we give ourselves completely to God for the work of

his church we work against the forces of evil which conspire against God. As his co-

workers we are made strong and are able to achieve much more than we ever thought

possible. We can build the church here and we will and we will do it together because

God commands us to. We all have something to give, even more than we already have

given. When we give all we can we are rewarded by God with even more gifts. What can

you give?

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Contacts: Rev Moyna McGlynn Minister 0141 419 0308 07532412496 moyna_mcglynn@hotmail.com Rev Judith Breakey Associate Minister 07858507282 Rev.judith.breakey@gmail.com Paul Cathcart Youth & Children's Outreach & Development Worker 01355 243970 07708396074 paulcathcart@msn.com Rev Andrew Thomson Pastoral Assistant 0141 641 2936 07772502774 thethomsons@hotmail.co.uk Elsie Donald Session Clerk 0141 883 0995 e_donald@ewkd.freeserve.co.uk Frank Brown Treasurer 0141 892 0283 frankbrown697@btinternet.com Gillian McIlreavy Communication Co-ordinator 07811332632 Church Office Tel: 0141 445 2010 glpcglasgow@googlemail.com

Please feel free to visit our website at www.govanlinthouseparish.org