Contact Details:
St Madoes & Kinfauns Church
Errol Church with Rait & Kilspindie Church
Rev Marc Bircham
St. Madoes Manse
Glencarse
Tel: 01738 860837
Email: [email protected]
Charity No: SC014964
Rev J Bruce Thomson (Locum)
47 Elm Street
Errol
Tel: 01821 641039
Email: [email protected]
Charity No: SCO15895 (Errol)
SCO10838 (Rait & Kilspindie)
Dear Friends,
When I was growing up there were two times of the year that
always seemed a little odd: summer and Christmas. Summer was
odd because no matter how much I tried to cram into every
moment of every day, it always ended too soon for me to
accomplish all the great things I set out to do before school started
again. And Christmas was odd because no matter how much I
tried to cram into every moment of every day, it always took
forever for Christmas to arrive!
Nothing I did could bring that magical moment into my life any
faster. So I would have to say that these last few weeks before
Christmas were, during my childhood, an incredible mix of
expectation and frustration. I’m not sure, but it may even have
affected my behaviour once or twice over those years!
As a child, I didn’t really understand what Advent was, and my thoughts around Christmas
were totally consumed by sparkling decorations, turkey with all the trimmings, mince pies
and of course the mysterious presents smuggled into our home and hidden in various
locations. But I am no longer a seven year old peeking into corners and trying to lift the
selotape from the corner of my beautifully wrapped gifts. I now have been grasped by the
reality of God’s love in Christ to such an extent that God’s gift of Jesus really is the “reason
for the season”.
I now choose to wait for Christmas Day in the midst of my family – in the company of the
Bircham clan, as well as in the company of God’s human family - the Church.
Over the month of December, we will have many opportunities to share the joy that is
God’s love with one another. Nothing will help us come closer together, share more deeply
and walk more closely with one another and our God than seizing these precious moments
to BE together.
So let’s consider ourselves to be personally invited by the God of Christmas to come home
for Christmas, home to God’s accepting love, home to God’s warm embrace, home to God’s
family here at St Madoes and Kinfauns.
May the love of our eternal God encircle your heart and home this season and always.
The Birchams
Happy Holidays!
Yes, I know it’s an Am*r*c*n*sm, and that lots of people don’t
like it for that and other reasons, but I’m going to say it any
way. Happy Holidays!
Come Thanksgiving Day – or nowadays come Hallowe’en –
people over the Pond use this greeting as a catch all for all the
various festivities indulged in by immigrants from all over the
world. It recognises the great diversity of the USA and tries to
avoid giving offence to non-Christians by not using the traditional “Merry Christmas”.
In multicultural Scotland it has been catching on too, as have phrases like “Midwinter
Festival”, “Winter Solstice” and the like. No wonder, with Dobbies Christmas display in full
swing well in advance of Remembrance Day in November!
It’s easy to moan about the commercialisation and secularisation of the season, but
perhaps Christian folk should see a positive opportunity to promote their faith by
considering their contribution to the Holiday Season.
In Scotland we start with St Andrew’s Day on 30th November, which really ought to be a
national holiday. Early in December, the 6th to be precise, we have St Nicholas’s Day (with
the red robes and the white beard). The Feast of the Nativity, on the 25th , may be the
centre piece, and rightly so, but we also have Hogmanay, and Epiphany, or on 6th January
(or Twelfth Night).
So this year let’s happily celebrate the holiday, or Holy Day season, in its Christian
dimension, and also respect all our neighbours of differing faiths.
To you and yours, grace, peace, love and joy.
Bruce
The Rev J Bruce Thomson
Locum at Errol with Kilspindie and Rait
St Madoes & Kinfauns Parish Church News
Super-village-goes-ballistic-effort-is-ferocious!!
When I mentioned that I’d once rowed the length of the Suez Canal on a rowing machine as
part of a chefs’ team building exercise whilst on board HMS York, I had no idea what I was
about to let myself in for. It quickly became clear at the first fundraising meeting that
Anthea wasn’t going to let this go. With her unique persuasion techniques and her inspiring
never-say-die attitude, the Fan’static’ Triathlon was formulated. If it was going to work I
would need help. With the knowledge and skills of an elite team (you know who you are)
we formulated a plan. We needed equipment, helpers, participants, sponsors, prizes,
bouncy castles, cakes, more sponsors, music, participants from our fantastic community,
donations, face painters, games, participants and of course, even more sponsors. Why so
many sponsors you ask? We needed to meet Anthea’s fundraising target - £7000!!! The
gauntlet had been firmly laid down.
We mustered together exercise bikes, rowing machines, treadmills and cross-trainers from
our fantastic community and through the generosity of Fit For Less Gym. We drafted the
idea (and changed it about six times), set a date, and then the race was on to get everything
else in place before the big day. Would we be ready? Let’s see - Pop-up café? Check. Facepainting? Check. Craft stall? Check. Carnival games? Check. Bouncy castles? Check. A bike
that makes smoothies???? Check (unbelievably). Fruit for smoothies (Thank you Tofthill
Farm)? Check. Volunteer helpers? Check. Van picker-uppers? Check. Idea generators?
Check. Candy Floss machine? Check. Music/Video? Check. Prizes? Check (and a huge “thank
you” to all those who donated). Participants? Hopefully! Sponsorship? I really hope so……..
Well, did it work? Yes! The response was magnificent. It turned out to be a fantastic
fan’static’ triathlon. The day couldn’t have gone better. It was a non-stop day of fun,
laughter, commitment, sweat, community spirit and a whopping load of sponsor money –
all £6700 of it! From the young to the old, what a phenomenal achievement! Brilliant! And
the day wouldn’t have been complete without star appearances from our very own Geoff
Brown who kicked off the proceedings and Alf Smith, who very kindly gave out the prizes to
our champion performers. All-in-all, we covered in excess of 500 miles (cue for a
Proclaimers song) covering the length and breadth of Scotland! This distance approximately
equals 8 triathlons! A HUGE well done to everyone that took part and a massive THANK
YOU to everyone who helped organise, plan, and contribute towards the day. I couldn’t
have done it without you.
Craig
St Madoes Church New Development
In December 2014, at the Perth and Kinross Council Chambers, St Madoes and
Kinfauns Parish Church were given permission to build a new Church and
Community Centre in St Madoes.
This decision came after a ten year journey, where a whole host of options have
been examined, to try to deal with the problems and frustrations of the existing
buildings in St Madoes. The Development Group concluded that the best solution
was a purpose-built Centre. As plans have developed we have become excited not
just about being able to work more effectively but also the opportunities a new
building will bring.
The new building will include a Community Café and social area, a commercialstandard kitchen, a multi-purpose worship space, an office, a soft play area,
disabled toilet and baby change, meeting rooms, a games hall, safe outside play
spaces, parking for bicycles and cars, disabled parking and drop-off point and a
garden area with raised beds. We want this Centre to be somewhere that the
community can gather seven days a week, somewhere with room for active games
and sports, somewhere that will be accessible to all and somewhere for those who
feel lonely or isolated.
As a Church we will be able to meet in a 21st Century space which will be
comfortable, safe and accessible to all. We will have facilities that will be more
suitable for the activities we struggle to carry out in our present accommodation. We
will be sharing the building with the many excellent groups who work so hard in our
community. As a Church we are looking forward to being at the heart of the
community, where people are, and it is our belief that those who wish to seek faith
will find the transition to joining with us much easier through our better accessibility.
We are now in the process of preparing for submission of the building warrant and
more comprehensive cost analyses. We reckon that we will have to raise in the
region of a further million pounds (we already have around £650k in place). We
have a plan involving approaching a variety of funders. A much smaller proportion
will come through direct giving and Fund-raising. We want to make any fund-raising
targeted as we do not like the idea of a long drawn out fund-raising campaign.
Plans and further information can be accessed through the Church website
www.stmadoeskinfauns.com. Also, don't be left with questions. Those on the
Development Group are more than happy to chat about any aspect of the project.
We would very much value your prayers for:
- stamina in all the work involved
- approaches to funding bodies to be the right ones at the right time
- us not to lose our focus on what we are about as a Church
- us to be a good witness in all our contacts and meetings
Show you care at Christmas
Traidcraft’s on-going campaign ‘Show you care,’ calls for us to spread the
word about Trade Justice. As a Fairtrade church, we can demonstrate our
commitment to this by giving even a small part of our shopping list
throughout the year to Traidcraft and make a difference. Through direct
partnership working with producers, Traidcraft does make that difference.
Christmas is a perfect time to show you care by choosing food and gifts from
the Traidcraft catalogue as well as the gifts for life, enabling business
opportunities for those struggling to scrape together a living and support
families. A small percentage or our sales will also go to our church funds.
Catalogues are always available at our stall now located in the church foyer.
Orders made on a Sunday are usually available for collection the following
Sunday. As in previous years, Christmas hampers can be made up, just
choose your items (your own basket is helpful) and your Fairtrade gift
hamper, no matter the size, will be made to order.
Thank you for your support and consideration by buying Traidcraft at
Christmas and through the year.
Sylvia, Sue & Mary
A Journey
Some members of Errol Church know our new locum minister well. After all, he has lived in
the village for 6 years and been a member of the parish Church. It is more likely that they
will know his wife Anne much better, since she has been a regular attender and is a member
of the Kirk Session.
For others – in all three parishes of the Kirks o’ Gowrie – here is a little biography.
Both Bruce (the J stand for John) and Anne were born in Edinburgh, during WW2. Bruce was
a member of Greenside and Anne of Hillside, and they met through Youth Fellowship. They
were married in Hillside Church (now The Glasshouse 5* Hotel next to the Playhouse)
Bruce has an MA and a BD degree from the University of Edinburgh, and was President of
the University Union. Anne studied at the Edinburgh College of Domestic Science (Atholl
Crescent) and worked for the NHS.
Bruce was the ordained assistant to the Very Rev Dr Hugh Douglas at Dundee Parish Church
(St Mary’s) for 3 years and in 1973 their daughter Elanor Ruth was born at Maryfield
Hospital. The following year they moved to the manse of Thurso West Church and in 1975
Ruth’s wee brother Fraser was born at the Dunbar Hospital.
After 9 years of very active ministry the family came south again to the vacant charge of
Scone Old Parish Church. By the time Bruce retired at the end of 2009, Ruth had moved to
Aberdeen, gained a BEd degree, married Gavin, and given birth to Caitlin and Callum. Fraser,
too, had left, first to go to the University of Edinburgh for his Arts degree, and then to
Glasgow to pursue his media career. There he met and married his wife, Fiona.
Having been locum in the Carse Churches for a year after he retired, Bruce is looking
forward to being part of the Kirks o’ Gowrie Parish Grouping and serving Errol, Kilspindie
and Rait.
Errol Parish Church News
Errol Parish Church
Saturday 28 November 2015
10am – 1pm
Admission £2.50 which includes refreshments
REVIVE CAFÉ
What a Noise! That was the comment of one church member as she opened the
door of The Ochil Room in Errol Church last Wednesday afternoon.
Happy noise created by the sound of happy chatter and the clinking of cups.
Welcome to REVIVE, the small café run weekly offering a blether, a cuppa, a pancake
and a cake. It is a short time of friendship and fellowship, greatly enjoyed by all.
Building on from the ever popular Good as New, which closed last summer, a
decision to keep the café site open was made and REVIVE was born in October last
year. Meeting between 1pm and 2.30pm, it has proved popular, so much so, that
this session it opened in early September and will run through to the end of June
with short breaks at Christmas and Easter.
Expansion is on the horizon. As a result of the survey carried out by members at the
church stall on Gala Day – and the closure of local eateries - plans are afoot to open
on a Wednesday morning to meet the needs of the young Mums in the village.
Watch this space!
The Revive Team
Beauty Parlour: a place where women curl up and dye
Committee:
a body that keeps minutes and wastes hours
Handkerchief:
cold storage
Mosquito:
an insect that makes you like flies better
Secret:
something you tell to one person at a time
Toothache:
the pain that drives you to extraction
Tomorrow:
one of the greatest labour-saving devices of today
Wrinkles:
something other people have
Yawn:
an honest opinion openly expressed
Egotist:
someone who is usually me-deep in conversation
Elizabeth Coutts
Christmas Collections
Errol
Kilspindie & Rait
St Madoes & Kinfauns
Rachel House (CHAS)
The Samaritans
Build a House in Nepal
FAVOURITE CAROLS
This is what the St Madoes and Kinfauns Church band said….
Gayle
'Away in a manger' - evokes a wondrous scene and I love the music/harmonies!
Christine
‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ (music by Harold Darke) because verse 4 says it all for me,
especially in this arrangement of music.
Ian
‘Silent Night’ for me. Love the simple but poignant lyrics and I find the music quite
atmospheric - especially when sung well by a choir.
Katrina
‘Hark the Herald Angels’. Just reminds me of Christmas, church and being with family
as soon as I hear it. And love playing it on the organ!
Ruth
‘In the Bleak Mid Winter’. It was my first ever solo as a performer at university.
Norma Melville
My favourite Carol is Silent Night.
Silent Night is one of the most popular Christmas Carols, its popularity owed to its
peaceful melody and simple narration of the Christmas tale. Legend has it that, the
song, first translated into English in 1858, was written for midnight mass after nibbling
mice put a church organ in Oberndorf, Austria out of action! It was first sung in that
local church with only a guitar as accompaniment. It was sung by both sides at the
December 25 truce in the trenches in the First World War, and is now an essential part
of Christmas.
Can science prove the existence of God?
John Lennox, mathematics professor at Oxford University and a science philosopher,
explains that from ancient times there have been materialists, who believe that the
Universe is all there is, and there have been theists, who believe that there is something
beyond the range of normal physical human experience, a god or gods. Atheists come into
the first category and Christians into the second.
The famous atheist Professor Anthony Flew wrote the article "Theology and Falsification"
which argued that claims about God were meaningless where they could not be tested for
truth or falsehood. Flew argued that one should presuppose atheism until evidence of a
God surfaces. These statements have been uttered by atheists like Dawkins ever since.
Flew changed his mind in 2004, and in 2007 co-wrote a book called 'There Is a God: How
the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind'. Horrified atheists immediately
claimed that he was senile but he lucidly explains himself in articles and interviews which
can be easily found on YouTube. In his book he explains how his commitment to "follow
the argument wherever it leads" led him to a belief in God as Creator and by “argument” he
means the research into DNA and the Cell.
Richard Dawkins, the well-known atheist, likes to give the impression that all real modern
scientists are atheists, which is, of course, untrue. In an interview with Dr. Benjamin Wiker,
author of '10 Books that Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others That Didn't Help', Flew
states that “Dawkins is selective to the point of dishonesty when he cites the views of
scientists on the philosophical implications of the scientific data”.
The Christian scientist Francis Collins, a famous USA physician-geneticist noted for his
leadership of the Human Genome Project, was an atheist in his earlier years, but was
given the C. S. Lewis book 'Mere Christianity'. He says he read it because Lewis had been
an atheist and “I had made a decision to reject any faith-view of the world without ever
really knowing what it was that I had rejected. And that worried me. As a scientist, you're
not supposed to make decisions without the data”. He struggled with his new insights for a
year before accepting Christ at the age of 27. He says, “I've never turned back. That was
the most significant moment in my life”.
Evolutionary Materialists like Dawkins insist that life began by chance chemical
interactions, but even some atheists like Sir Fred Hoyle, renowned as one of the twentieth
century's great scientific thinkers, disagreed. Hoyle stated that, “The notion that not only
the biopolymer (DNA structure) but the operating program of a living cell could be arrived
at by chance in a primordial organic soup here on the Earth is evidently nonsense of a high
order.” He calculated that the chance of obtaining the required set of enzymes for even the
simplest living cell was one in one followed by 40,000 zeroes. Since he estimated that the
total number of atoms in the entire observable universe is 1 followed by 80 zeros, even a
whole universe full of primordial soup wouldn’t have a chance. To my knowledge, no one
has refuted his calculations.
Plants and animals are made of living cells which are the most complex factories that the
human mind can imagine. They make complete body structures and organs, carry out
repairs and yet copy themselves with staggering ease and rapidity. The human egg cell
has an inner nucleus which holds 23 pairs of pieces of DNA called chromosomes, 23 from
each parent. One of these pairs determines whether you are a boy or a girl. The simplest
non parasitic bacteria have millions of rungs on their DNA, while human DNA contains
about 3.2 billion pieces of information and if laid out in a straight line would measure about
2 metres. This information is precisely ordered and contains all the information needed to
make a human. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, says “DNA is like a computer program
but far, far more advanced than any software ever created.”
The sides of the DNA ladder bond in a predictable way but the
individual rungs of the ladder, which hold all the information,
can just as easily bond to any of the 3.2 billion locations. This
suggested to Flew, Hoyle and many other intellectuals that an
intelligence must have arranged this. Information does not
arrange itself. In his book 'Signature in the Cell', Stephen
Meyer explains this in depth and shows how computer like, the
processing of DNA information is. He challenges defenders of
undirected evolution to have the courage to explore the
implications of the latest research.
Considering we have over 200 types of cell, specially arranged into all our body parts,
bones, muscles, brains and other organs not to mention the machinery in each cell, it is
little wonder that scientists are baffled as to how all this works. Studies have shown that
many parts of the cell are in fact molecular machines. Incredible though it sounds, the
energy in the food we eat is transformed to a chemical called ATP, which powers all our
cells’ machinery, by millions of rotary electric motors connected to ATP generators. Cell
parts are moved into place by motors which walk. Other machines cut the DNA apart and
copy it before joining it together again. There are a few short animated video clips of these
machines which I encourage you to see at www.errolchurch.uk/cell.
Some people will never be convinced of our Creator, as the Bible teaches, but those with
an open mind will agree with the Psalmist when he says, “I praise you because I am
fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well”.
Bob Tipping
A MUSICAL TREAT
It is not unusual for me to be contacted by a bride-to-be, wishing to look
over Errol Church as a possible venue for her wedding service. Nor is it
unknown for permission to be sought for a relative or friend to play the
organ for the ceremony. What is rare is for that organist to be one of the
world’s leading church musicians.
So it was that on July 15th this year, Malcolm Archer, who formerly held
posts at Norwich, Bristol and Wells Cathedrals and was Director of Music
at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London until taking up a post as Director of
Chapel Music and Organ Tutor at Winchester College, gave the wedding
guests and a few organ aficionados up in the gallery a most wonderful
feast of music, from Scottish folk songs, through traditional wedding
pieces to the glory of Widor’s Toccata from his 5 th Symphony.
Our 109 year old Miller organ, completely renovated in 2010 and tuned to
perfection for the occasion, really came into its own and showed what it
could do! Mr Archer was very complimentary about our instrument and
those of us fortunate enough to hear him play it went away feeling that it
had been a huge privilege, as well as a delight, to have been present on
such an occasion.
Doreen Beattie
St Madoes and Kinfauns Parish Church
Baptisms
‘Let the little children come to me’ Matthew 19.14
1/11/15
Eilidh Kerr
Deaths
‘Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted’ Matthew 5.4
28/08/2015
Bill Coghill
Marriages
‘Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate’ Matthew 19.6
19/09/2015
26/09/2015
24/10/2015
Robert & Brenda (Church)
Ross & Emma (The Byre, Inchyra)
Alex & Kate (Findgask Castle)
Errol Parish Church
Deaths
‘Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted’ Matthew 5.4
29/04/2015
10/06/2015
Derek Ramsay
Forbes Winchester
Forthcoming Events – All Welcome
Worship Every Sunday - Kilspindie & Rait 9:30am; St. Madoes and Kinfauns 10.30am;
Errol 11.00am.
Errol Church
Sat 28 Nov
Sun 29 Nov
Fri 18 Dec
Sun 20 Dec
Thurs 24 Dec
Sun 27 Dec
Sun 3 Jan
Diary
Christmas Fayre, Errol Parish Church
Advent Sunday
Errol Primary School Service
Family Service
Watchnight Service
Lessons and Carols
New Year Communion
Kilspindie & Rait Church Diary
Sun 29 Nov
Advent Sunday
Sun 20 Dec
Family Service
Thurs 24 Dec
Watchnight Service
(tea, coffee & mince pies from 10.15pm)
Fri 25 Dec
Christmas Day Service
Sun 27 Dec
Lessons and Carols
St Madoes & Kinfauns Church Diary
Sun 6 Dec
Gift Service
(please bring an unwrapped gift for a boy or girl)
Sun 6 Dec
Tree in the Park
Sun 13 Dec
Nativity Service
Tues 15 Dec
Carols in the Kirk, Community Service
Fri 18 Dec
St Madoes Primary School Service
Sun 20 Dec
Family Worship
Sun 20 Dec
Carol Service at All Saints’ Church, Glencarse
Mon 21 Dec
Carol Singing round Village (meet at Church)
Thurs 24 Dec
Watchnight Service
Fri 25 Dec
Christmas Day Service
10am-1pm
11am
10.50am
11am
11.15pm
11am
11am
9.30am
9.30am
11.15pm
10.30am
9.30am
10.30am
6pm
10.30am
2pm
11am
10.30am
6.30pm
6pm
11.15pm
10.30am