The Link - Issue 46

The magazine for the linked congregations and community of the West Kirk of Calder and Polbeth Harwood

The Link

Issue 46

Interim Moderator

Rev Dr André Groenewald 01506 884585

8 Manse Court, East Calder, EH53 0HF

Parish Assistant

Diane Stirling 01506 426887

28 Kaims Court, Livingston Village, EH54 7DB

[email protected]

West Kirk Session Clerk Stewart MacRae 01506 872486 23 Westmuir Road West Calder EH55 8EX [email protected] Treasurer William Calder 01506 871281 25 Harburn Road West Calder EH55 8AJ [email protected]

Polbeth Harwood Session Clerk Marian Kinsman 01506 871125 12 Langside Crescent Polbeth EH55 8UW [email protected] Deputy Session Clerk Irene Stevely 01506 411899 Treasurer Sandra McCabe 01506 872593

News Editor

Colin Dempster 01506 414565

[email protected]

West Kirk of Calder (Church of Scotland) Charity SCO04703 Congregation 020161

Polbeth Harwood Parish Church of Scotland Charity SC17373 Congregation 020156

www.west-kirk-polbeth-harwood.co.uk

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A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words…. Vine Trust Tanzania Project Update

You’ll remember last time, I wrote about my experiences on the first work party sent out to Tanzania by the Vine Trust. There’s been plenty of activity since July with progress being made at several sites.

In the parish of Kimashuku, the first building is now complete and is home to 14 young girls. As you can see from the photograph taken by a member of a second work party out in October, the building is substantial and of a high standard eg the three toilet/shower rooms are tiled. The cost, which included plumbing and drainage as well as finishings and fittings, was just under £18,000. Work is now starting on an adjacent second home to be built to the same plan. At the Kiwakkuki complex, the building started by the team in July is also occupied and work well in progress on another home. These homes provide two rooms and a kitchen with outside toilet facilities for the equivalent of £2,000 – a world away from the family’s previous home. Members of the October work party were busy with the early stages of building at the parish of Njia Panda, where perhaps there is the greatest level of deprivation and need. Dormitory style accommodation, with shower and toilet blocks included, is to be provided for 40 orphans at an estimated cost of £28,000.

All the pastors and elders in these parishes knew the needs in their localities; had the dreams; the meticulous plans; and the faith. These pictures show the difference financial resource can make and through generous support the Vine Trust is making a hard life much more comfortable for orphaned children. For all those who have given support to the Vine Trust in the past -‐ Thank You.

And there will be plenty of opportunity to do so again and continue to change the lives of young people not only in Tanzania and Peru but also here in Scotland as the Trust is at the forefront of raising awareness of global issues among our own young people. I have signed up to go back to work on the four projects this summer hence the advert overleaf as part of my fundraising.

Liz Dyer

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VINE TRUST COFFEE MORNING

With Cream Teas and Bring & Buy Stall

on Saturday 26 May 2012

10 am – 12 noon in

West Kirk Hall

Candy Bars

The Sunday Club and friends would like to thank everyone who supported our Candy Bar on Saturday 3 March. You helped us make this event a huge success. The winners in the children’s “Free Easter Egg prize draw” were: Gordon Forde and Rowan Calder.

Not been to a Candy Bar in a while? It is a great community event held in The West Kirk Church Hall, to which everyone is warmly invited. Tea and coffee is served from 10 am and lunch served at noon. There are also a variety of stalls to tempt you, why not give this event your support next time round? Candy Bar dates for your diary: 31 March, 5 May and 2 June.

Lorna Graham

St Mary’s Haddington to St Mary’s Whitekirk

Registration fee of Adults £5

Children (under 16yrs accompanied by adult) free

Registration forms are available on St Mary’s website www.stmaryskirk.co.uk

by emailing [email protected] or from Emily Armatage 01620 880339

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The Editorially Independent Magazine of the Church of Scotland www.lifeandwork.org

APRIL ISSUE

A Transforming Experience The Rev Denis Duncan offers an Easter reflection. The Real Cost of Easter Eggs Thomas Baldwin looks at the ethical implications of chocolate Easter eggs. Philanthropy and Public Service Jackie Macadam meets Lord Selkirk, Lord High Commissioner to the 2012 General Assembly. A Welcome Return Ron Ferguson returns to the pages of Life and Work

Making a Difference A new report highlighting the role of churches in tackling homelessness Biblical Botanicals Muriel Armstrong reflects on the symbolism of the ‘flag’ iris A Church Without Walls The Rev John Paterson highlights worship outreach in Cumnock Genesis in the New Testament The Rev Marion Dodd explores the themes of Genesis, as reflected in the New Testament. Stripped of the Royal Purple The Very Rev Dr James Simpson takes a fresh look at the central character of the centuries Plus all the regular columnists, letters, reviews and crosswords – all for just £1.80 Life and Work needs you Please send submissions for parish news, View from the Pew and The Big Picture to: Life and Work, 121 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 4YN or [email protected]

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Sunday Club is:

For children from 3yrs old to primary 7.

Held on Sunday mornings and we meet in the Church at 9.45 am

Finished at the same time as Sunday service, 10.45 am approx

Fun and friendly and always ready to welcome new children

Packed with stories from the Bible, crafts, drama, music and DVDs

Making plans for the future

In Your Church for Your community

Help us spread the word! Website: www.westkirkofcalder.co.uk

18 March Mothering Sunday, a sign and sweet surprise planned today! 1 April Palm Sunday...plans are in progress! 8 April Easter Sunday - Easter Egg Hunt 15 April - A holiday Special dates for May a work in progress….please check out the web site for regular updates. 17 June Prize giving service and Congregational Picnic

Special Dates for your Diary

Sunday Club @ The West Kirk

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Let’s give the tools to help people in poverty out of poverty Christian Aid Week: 13–19 May 2012: The power of standing together Christian Aid Week tells the story of a community in Sierra Leone that has seen remarkable change. Tenneh Keimbay’s life turned around when the Methodist Church of Sierra Leone (MCSL) started to work in her town, distributing tools and teaching farmers simple food production techniques. She talks enthusiastically about the difference this has made: ‘Now the children eat two meals all year round, whereas before it was one. They are growing well; they don’t cry around me because of hunger. They are happy to go to school because something is in their stomach.’ The benefits of regular food speak for themselves. But the effects of the food production group have been more wide-‐ranging than this. Tenneh speaks of the huge difference working in a group has made to her. Acting together, the farmers can share their skills and work more efficiently. As she tells us, the bottom line is that ‘the group work provides more food’. Tenneh speaks of the support and the encouragement that the farmers give to each other, and how much can be achieved when the community comes together. ‘What inspires me in life is unity,’ she says. ‘To me, unity means coming together to decide on one thing and take that forward.’ Now that they are no longer limited by hunger, the people of Gbap (pronounced Bap) have come together and successfully lobbied for a new school and an agricultural work centre for the community. The people of Gbap have taken their future into their own hands. During Christian Aid Week, 15,000 churches across Britain and Ireland will organise house-‐to-‐house collections and events to raise funds to enable organisations like MCSL to carry out their work transforming communities such as Gbap. Christian Aid currently works with 507 partners in 47 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, helping people to make change happen. Our donations will be multiplied many times over as many small actions come together to make a huge change. But the giving that takes place during Christian Aid Week is not one-‐way. Unity is something that our churches are not always good at, and the value of community that has inspired Tenneh is something that we can learn from and be changed by. Christian Aid Week is about raising funds. But it is also a call to unity – an invitation for churches to come together and celebrate the possibility of hope and life in parts of the world where mere survival can be a struggle. This is a challenge, because division and inequality and injustice will always be easier than unity. But Tenneh’s insistence that remarkable things can happen when we come together is not new. We see it in the actions and ministry of Jesus, who pushed against all that leads to violence and separation and called his disciples to model a new way of community. Can we use this Christian Aid Week to allow ourselves to be changed? If we can work together, with each

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other, with our churches and with our neighbours both at home and as far away as Gbap, then we may start to see huge change happen. Tenneh says that ‘when you are a group and work with focus and total commitment, you work at a faster rate; the stronger ones can help with work that weaker ones cannot do by themselves’. As we engage in Christian Aid Week, we can rejoice as we stand together in solidarity. Although we might ask who is the strong and who is the weak – and who is actually giving to whom. Be a part of Christian Aid Week this year: if, together, we take small actions we can give people like Tenneh the tools to make big change happen.

£6.50 could buy a set of four hand tools for a farmer living in the town of Gbap. £50 could pay for advocacy training for two young people in a Kenyan slum, equipping them with the tools they need to pressure their government to provide essential services.

£123 could buy a reclaimed aluminium greenhouse for women working on market gardening projects in Tajikistan, providing a vital tool for growing vegetables in a harsh climate experiencing extremes of hot and cold. Christian Aid Envelopes will be distributed on Sunday 6 May to be returned the following week or on any Sunday in May with whatever donation you can afford.

Easter Notes… How did Easter get its name? One belief is that Easter got its name from the Goddess of Spring called Eostre who some people worshipped long before Jesus was born. At that time it was thought that the sun died in winter and was born again in spring when days would lengthen and the sun’s power would return. In Europe, Eostre was honoured as the bringer of spring. When and how long is Easter?

Easter Day is always on a Sunday, but the date varies from year to year unlike Christmas which is always on 25 December. Many years ago Christians decided that Easter Day should be always on the Sunday following the first full moon after the first day of Spring on 21 March. This means that Easter can be as early as 22 March or as late as 25 April. For this reason Easter is called a movable feast.

In fact not only is Easter a movable feast, but it happens on different dates depending on where in the world you live. In western churches such as in the United Kingdom, Easter will be celebrated on 8 April 2012 whereas in Eastern Orthodox churches the date will be 15 April 2012. The reason for this is that in

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the west the date is calculated using the Gregorian calendar, which is different to the Julian calendar which is used in the east. Shrove Tuesday The day before Lent begins is called Shrove Tuesday. 'Shrove' means being forgiven for wrong-‐doings. It happens on a different date each year depending on when Easter is. This year Shrove Tuesday was on 21 February 2012.

Another name for Shrove Tuesday is Pancake Day. Long ago this was a day for feasting and having a good time. People would go to church to confess the bad things they had done and would be 'shriven' or forgiven before the start of Lent. Since rich foods such as eggs were forbidden during Lent, one way of using them up would be to make pancakes.

Many people still make pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and in some parts of the UK people run in pancake races. This custom grew up because of the legend, which dates from over 500 years ago in 1445. On Shrove Tuesday one woman was still making her pancakes as the church bells rang out. Rather than be late she took her frying pan and pancake with her. One of the most famous pancake races is held in Olney, Buckinghamshire. The race has been held for hundreds of years. Competitors need to be women over 18 years of age who must wear a skirt, an apron and head covering. They have to toss their pancake on the start line and again at the finish to prove they haven't lost it. When is Lent?

Lent lasts for 40 days (not including Sundays). It is the time when Christians prepare for Easter by thinking of the things they have done wrong. It is a solemn time remembering of the time in Jesus' life when, after giving up his work as a carpenter, he began to teach people about God. Jesus prepared for this by spending 40 days without food alone in the desert. Lent used to be a time for fasting or going without food as Jesus had done. Nowadays many people give up a favourite thing they enjoy like sweets and often give money to charity. The colour purple is linked to Lent. In some churches the altar is covered with a purple cloth, the pulpit has a purple 'fall' and the vicar's garments are purple.

Purple is chosen for two reasons. One it is the colour associated with mourning and so it helps Christians think about the sadness of Jesus’ death. The other reason is that purple is the colour linked to royalty and so it celebrates Christ’s coming as a King.

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Ash Wednesday The first day of Lent is known as Ash Wednesday. In many churches there are special services where the vicar or priest makes the shape of a cross with ash on the forehead of each person. The ashes come from last year's palm crosses, which are burned and mixed with holy water. Mothering Sunday Mothering Sunday is on the fourth Sunday of Lent. It is often called Mother's Day in Britain. On this day children often give their mothers gifts and cards as a way of saying thank you for their hard work. In church, prayers are said for mothers at a special service. In the past, girls who worked as domestic servants were given the day off work to visit their mothers. They often took a simnel cake as a present. Simnel cake is especially associated with Mothering Sunday. It is a fruitcake with two layers of almond paste. On top there are eleven balls of marzipan, one for each faithful disciple, Judas not being included as he betrayed Jesus. Holy Week The last week of Lent is known as Holy Week. It is when Christians remember the last week of Jesus' life and is the most important time in the Christian year. There are many church services and processions. Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday marks the start of Holy Week. It reminds Christians of the journey Jesus made into Jerusalem on a donkey. Jesus was going there to celebrate the Jewish festival of Passover (Pesach). Jesus chose a donkey to show that he had come in peace. On that day many people welcomed Jesus by shouting, waving palm branches and throwing branches down in the path of the donkey. They hoped that Jesus was the Saviour who the Bible had promised.

Palm Sunday is both a happy and sad day. Christians are happy because they are singing praises to Jesus but also sad because they know Jesus died less than a week after his arrival in Jerusalem. In churches on Palm Sunday Christians are given small palm crosses made from palm leaves. The previous year’s palm crosses are burned and their ashes can be used in a special service on the first day of Lent (Ash Wednesday). This ash is put on people’s foreheads. Maundy Thursday

On the night before his death Jesus had a final meal with his friends. This meal was one of the festival meals for Passover. Before the meal Jesus did something that surprised his friends. He washed the feet of every person, a task that was normally done by a servant. By doing this he wanted to show his followers that they should love one another in humble ways. Later in the meal, which is known as 'The Last Supper', Jesus passed round bread and wine. He said the bread was his body broken for them and the wine was his blood

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shed for them. He was telling them that he was going to die and that when they share bread and wine they should remember him. Bread and wine are shared at their church services all year round, but it is even more special on Maundy Thursday. Jesus also told his friends that they should love one another. It was later on this night that Judas betrayed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. As a way of showing love for others, there was a custom in England before 1689 for the king or queen to wash the feet of the poor in Westminster Abbey every Maundy Thursday. They also gave them gifts of food and clothing. In Queen Victoria's time men received clothing, shoes and stockings and women 35 shillings. Today our Queen does not wash feet or give clothing. Instead she gives out something called Maundy money, which is specially made for the occasion. In 2012 this is given to 86 male and 86 female pensioners, because she is 86 years old this year. The coins are given in special white and red leather purses. The white purse contains silver Maundy coins matching the Queen's age in pence -‐ 86p, while the red purse contains ordinary money. The service takes place at a different cathedral or abbey each year and people are chosen to receive the money because of good work they have done in their community. Good Friday

On Good Friday Christians remember the day that Jesus was killed on the cross. There are crosses in churches and many Christians wear a cross on a chain. At Easter people eat hot cross buns which have a cross shape on the top. Good Friday is a sad day and churches never have flowers or decorations on this day. The church is left dark and there is just a simple cross on the altar. It is known as Good Friday because Christians believe that Jesus gave up his life for the good of everyone.

The Crucifixion is remembered in Jerusalem even today. Large crowds of Christians take the same path as Jesus. In some countries people act out the story of Jesus' last day while others watch and think about the events that happened long ago. Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday is a happy day… Jesus rose from the dead. Death is not the end of everything. Church bells are rung and churches are decorated with flowers such as white lilies, which are associated with Easter. The colours in the church change to white or gold, which are thought to be the best colours. There are many customs associated with Easter Day, which involve eggs. For this reason Easter Day used to be known as Egg Sunday. For the last two hundred years in

Britain the custom of giving children chocolate eggs has been popular while in Europe and America parents hide chocolate eggs in the garden for children to find. In many countries children are given hard-‐boiled eggs and it is also a custom for children to decorate these by painting or dyeing them in bright colours. Eggs were always thought to be special even before Jesus was born. It is because they are associated with new life when the chick breaks from the egg. After Jesus had risen from the dead it was easy to think of eggs as a sign of new life. So eggs have always been part of celebrations at Easter.

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A FRIEND

“There is no friend like an old friend Who has shared our morning days,

No greeting like his welcome, No homage like his praise.

Fame is the scentless sunflower, With gaudy crown of gold;

But friendship is the breathing rose, With sweets in every fold.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-‐1894)

Contributions for the next edition … Contributions for the next edition of The Link Magazine can be submitted at any time by email. It is anticipated that the next edition of this magazine will be published in early Summer 2012. Your contributions are always welcome.

Paws… for thought

When you put your faith, hope and Love together, you can raise positive kids in a negative world.

Zig Ziglar

The Link - Issue 46

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Transcript of The Link - Issue 46