Oh happy day!

Oh I can’t tell you how good it was to be back at work today. I feel as if I’ve been away for 6 months, not 6 weeks, and it was lovely to catch up with folk. It seemed appropriate to be going back at the beginning of term, as it were. (Mind you I did forget to take my correct uniform with me in all the excitement so I’m afraid the lacy alb was worn when it should have been plain. But I think I got away with it so sshhh!)

The candle was lit.

The child knew what to do.

O Come, O Come and Lo, he comes.

No 3 microphone wailed.

A little Bach Chorale to soothe the soul.

From the step a toddler solemnly watched.

Our Father who art in heaven, Harold is thy name…

Deep, deep purple satisfied.

The Body of Christ – and one was missed.

Dawn and evening celebrate your glory…

Music and muttering

Oh its good to be home.

And in all the excitement what I didn’t do was thank Bishop Alan and Fr Alex for looking after my little flock so well. It made such a difference to know they were in safe hands. Thank you boys. Put your feet up now, why don’t you? Mother’s back in charge!!

And tonight the group who were doing the Adventures in Faith course have put together a service of Darkness into Light at 6.30pm.  It is strange for me to go to something I’ve not had a hand in but I’m looking forward to it. (I don’t mind not being in control, really!)

Advent Fair photos

‘The best yet!’ was the response to this year’s Advent Fair. We raised a magnificent £1600 and a big thanks to Nicola for all her organisation. There were the usual Christmas crafts and nearly new, books and DVDs, cakes, jams and chutneys and a wonderful cake to raffle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year we also had a chocolate fountain, tile painting and snowboarding on the Wii. Yes, your Priest took part but did not win. Let it be known she is a Wii virgin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A big thanks to all who took part, who prepared the church and put it back together again, and those who worked and those who bought. We couldn’t have done it without you all. I am so proud of you, little flock.

Prayers ascending for a busy weekend

It has been a busy week and this weekend is going to be even busier. So take a deep breath and plunge in, why don’t you?

Firstly, you could come and admire our new signs. Yes, finally they are up and looking gorgeous (photo to follow). Now perhaps Nikki will get off my back as every time we meet for a coffee in the Blue Bean she has a go about those tatty old ones.

Secondly, we will be interring the ashes of Canon John Paul, past Rector of this parish. John and Susan have been a great support to me over the years and I have got to know them better since I came here and they popped in from time to time. Rest eternal, grant unto him O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him.

Thirdly, the day has dawned on the WOTY (Wedding Of The Year) which has been in the planning for what seems like a very long time indeed.  The date was moved to accommodate the Provincial Conference which never happened.  And should the Rapture happen, or a very large fire at St Mark’s this afternoon, there will be no young people left in the Scottish Episcopal Church. For yes, I think every member of the Provincial Youth Network will be seen hobnobbing with a Bishop and a number of clergy and a whole host of family and friends to Caroline and Andrew today at 1pm.

Note: the incense is brought to you by Rose Mystica today so you have been warned.

So let us pray for those who mourn the passing of a loved one after a full and loving life together.

And let us pray for those who are beginning their life together that God may bless them and keep them ever loving.

Amen

Back to Church Sunday 2009

This year we were one of six churches in the Diocese of Edinburgh asked to take part in a pilot for Back To Church Sunday.  Throughout September we heard stories from people who’d first come to church with a friend, and thought about why we might want to invite someone along.  So there has been 4 weeks of a build-up and the danger with that sort of thing is that nobody turns up, including the normal congregation, and its all a bit of a damp squib.  Really I should have had more faith.  Lots of new friends and great singing and delicious muffins.  Want to see some photos?

Parish Outing

We had glorious sunshine for our parish outing to Lindisfarne on Saturday. (Sorry there are no photos but the church camera decided not to play game.) Arrived just in time to get to the Parish Church and after a quick change into the most gorgeous chasuble (take note, I would love one) we had our Eucharist in the choir stalls with some visitors joining in. Then we all went our different ways to explore the island. As I’ve been before I just did a little gentle pottering round the shops and eateries, finding a few pressies for friends so that was good. Many went out to the castle and explored the abbey ruins.

Stopped off at Oxford Farm for tea on the way home and what a wonderful repast they laid on for us. Thoroughly recommended.

A great day, lots of fun, well organised (thanks J & A for all your hard work) and can I just say the reason I didn’t win the Bible Quiz on the bus was because I didn’t take part. Well, it wouldn’t have been fair, would it?

A Blessing when Leaving Lindisfarne

To the prayers of our Island Saints we commend you.
May God’s angels watch around you to protect you.
May the Holy Spirit guide and strengthen you for all that lies ahead.
May Christ Jesus befriend you with his compassion and peace.

Lord, be a bright flame before us.
Be a guiding star above us.
Be a smooth path beneath us.
Be a kindly shepherd behind us.

And the blessing…

Listening to the stories

Once a month a group of our wrinklies meet on a Tuesday afternoon and listen to a speaker, socialise and have a cuppa. They call themselves the Tuesday Fellowship. Quite.  Yesterday was the first meeting of the season and usually we have a Eucharist and I give a wee talk.  Of course, I couldn’t do either so the lovely Fr A got their hearts a-fluttering again by presiding at mass. There is something about a powerful deep voice which commands attention, right enough.

As I couldn’t give a talk, I asked them to tell me the stories of how they first came to church. At the end of the month we will be taking part in Back To Church Sunday so I wanted to find out how they all came to church.  Because of the age profile of the group (all past retirement except for one other and me) their stories were mostly of family expectations of going to church, not always with parents.  I couldn’t find one example of someone who had been invited to church by a friend.  (Although J who is not a member or even Pisky was invited to the Tuesday Fellowship by her friend, so that must count.)  But I suspect if I asked a group of younger people I may find a different story.  Oh, and I was delighted to hear that A only joined the Piskies because there were good looking boys in the choir.  You just never know what lurks beneath those schoolma’am exteriors!

They then got on to talking about being perceived as the ‘English Church’ and how some hated that but for others that was how they found us.  Some saw us as a link between the Prots and Catholics and thought that was a good thing, something to be proud of.

Then the conversation moved on to Evacuation, this being the anniversary of the first evacuation during WW2.  Many were evacuated away from Portobello because there was a perceived danger living near the Power Station. They didn’t go far, however, mostly just being sent a few miles down the coast and mostly with mum.  Most of the stories were of positive experiences living on a farm or a big house, but walking a few miles to school didn’t go down quite so well. But it got me thinking, with Child Protection regulations and Health & Safety and all that jazz, would evacuation happen today?  Can you imagine young children being put on to a train with no knowledge of where they’d end up?  And who checked the adults who took them in? Often they were treated as cheap labour and surely there would be a hue and cry if that happened today. How times have changed.

Sometimes its good when you lose your voice and can’t speak. Then you have to listen to the stories and there was enough material in there to preach a good few sermons.  Thank you, Tuesday Fellowship.

Quiet Sunday

Arrived at Church just before 8am on Sunday, greeted D who is always first, only to find out that I had no voice.  The cough that Son #1 had given me has clearly taken a dislike to my vocal chords and strangled them until they sound three octaves higher.  Thank you to John the server who read the whole thing while I did the actions a la ventriloquist’s dummy. It was quite surreal.

Fortunately I wasn’t preaching at 10.30am but I did have to phone Fr A to bring his alb and preside for me.  I saw some of the ladies swoon just at the thought of Fr A presiding. He does have a rather lovely rich bass voice and is one of those priests who really does it like he means it, you know?  I sat twitching in the congregation for not being in control is really not my thing.  Great sermon by Fr J, btw, on the four aspects of love.  Well you don’t get Song of Songs often enough in the lectionary, do you?

The next hurdle was that I was invited to preach at my old stomping ground – St Columba’s Bathgate for the 10th anniversary of the rededication of the building.  It is always great to go back and catch up with old friends so you don’t turn those invites down.  I phoned Fr Pip and squeaked the dilemma to him, suggesting that I bring the sermon and he read it.  Instead he preached and offered copies of mine.  I was asked to do a prayer of blessing at the Lectern which I dutifully squeaked to stifled sniggers.  (The irony of it being the Lectern and all about the Word was not lost on me.)  And guess what? I was invited to concelebrate again with all clergy past and present.  Geez! But even that could not mar the experience of getting together with friends after over a huge bunfight.  (You’d have found me hovering over M’s meringues.)  And oh, how those children have grown.

So it turned out to be a busy but quiet day. I staggered home and wolfed down a few Jakeman’s to no avail.  And just to let you know, ladies, Fr A is doing a repeat performance at this afternoon’s Tuesday Fellowship Eucharist.  I’ll be the one alternating between bass and soprano.

Baptism in stereo

Yesterday at St Mark’s we were baptising two cousins of the Rostron clan. It was a joyous occasion with a church full and so many well behaved children too. Not a peep was heard throughout the whole thing.  As there were two babies Bishop Alan and I took one each and did the whole thing in stereo-ish. Not easy to choreograph, I have to admit. Well you don’t want them banging heads over the font, do you?

Some good baptism hymns sung and a flying exit to God is our Strength and Refuge (Dambusters tune). It was  just one of those really joyous occasions when everyone was happy and didn’t want to leave at the end.

Boogying on down in church

Yesterday was the last day of Junior Church before the summer holidays. We gave out good attendance certificates with lots of applause and I got some lovely thank-you cards (in purple of course).

We always do something special for the children on the last day. So far we’ve had a Teddy Bear’s Picnic, a magician and this year we had a Fischy Music concert. It was a first for me and what fun we had, stamping our feet, whooping, waving our arms. The kids loved it – and grown-ups too, I think.  What I really liked was that most of the actions were actually sign language – beautiful.

I bought their new CD ‘Down to Earth’ with all the extras (videos showing actions, teaching notes and activities, music arrangements, lyrics) so you can expect to hear some more. Some of the kids knew Fischy from school where they do affirmation songs and stuff about anti-bullying.

And go see them if you haven’t already.

The sun shone on the Garden Party

Three days of glorious sunshine and then the day of the annual Garden Party dawned. And it dawned with an east coast haar and a distinct chill in the air. But as the hour approached the sun broke through and the chilly temperature rose to a fairly chilly but not exactly freezing.

The crowds arrived, the sandwiches curled, and the chocolate cake was divine. Nobody played basketball, sadly. Now, that would have been a photo opportunity. The cups and saucers were plundered from the depths of the garage and have now been washed, dried and packed up again for next year.

Garden Party 2009

Garden Party 2009