Christ Church, LanarkNovember 2015

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LUNCH CLUB12.30 every Tuesday in the Church Hall (£2.50) All welcome

DECEMBER SERVICESSunday 6 December10.30 Holy Communion

Sunday 13 December10.30 Family Service

Sunday 20 December10.30 Holy Communion 6.00 Christingle

Thursday 24 DecemberChristmas Eve11.00 Midnight Mass

Friday 25 DecemberChristmas Day10.30 Family Service

Sunday 27 December10.30 Christmas Music Sunday

NOVEMBER SERVICESSunday 1 NovemberAll Saints10.30 Holy Communion

Sunday 8 NovemberRemembrance9.30 Shortened Communion Service10.30 Ecumenical Service at St Nicholas church

Sunday 15 November10.30 Family Service

Sunday 22 NovemberChrist the King10.30 Holy Communion

Sunday 29 NovemberAdvent10.30 Holy Communion 6.00 Advent Carol Service

Bible StudyEvery other Wednesday at 7.30 we meet to discuss a bible passage.Contact Peter Clark 01555 660175

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CHRIST CHURCH NEWSVacancyThe vacancy has been advertised in the Church Times and on the Diocesan and Provincial websites. A Parish Profile has been prepared and can be viewed on our church website (www.christchurchlanark.com).The closing date for applicants was 31 October and the Vestry is meeting with the Bishop on 2 November to look at the applicants and arrange interviews later in the month.

Remembrance Sunday, 8th NovemberPlease note that the Christ Church service will be shortened and will commence at 9.30am to allow people to attend the Ecumenical service of Remembrance at St Nicholas

FinanceBobby is pleased to be able to report that he came back from holiday to find a cheque from the Diocese for £3500 being a grant for the toilet under our MAP Year 2.

As South Lanarkshire Council has terminated its grant to pensioners for a Christmas meal, Vestry agreed to award the Lunch Club a grant of £200 towards the Christmas Lunch.

Last Sunday CollectionsThe collections for the last quarter for New Beginnings raised £500.

The final quarter’s collections and the Christingle collection will go as usual to Children in Distress. The charity has been in ‘distress’ itself as it has struggled to raise enough funds to carry on with funding the essential, pared-down commitment to treatment, nursing and running costs of caring for children who are terminally ill, those who are incurably ill, infants with handicaps and the children with little help and less hope. As we in Britain enjoy the excesses of Christmas here, let’s spare a thought for this amazing charity which is caring for Europe’s forgotten children in Romania.

Advent Carol ServiceOn Sunday 29th November at 6.00pm there will be an evening service of Advent Carols and readings followed by mulled wine at the back of the church

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Christ Church, Lanark, 20 September 2015 (Pentecost 17)Sermon preached by Rev Eamon Rodgers

I have been instructed by my nearest and dearest to make sure to record this evening’s episode of Downton Abbey. Personally, I think that the various plot lines in this glorified soap were long since squeezed dry, but I suppose we’ll watch it nevertheless. It invites one to bask in the insidious charm of a world where everyone knows his/her (especially ‘her’!) place in the pecking order, a system that works satisfactorily on its own terms, and is consequently never questioned, or occasions the least embarrassment. I myself spent some time many years ago with a family in Spain, who thought of themselves as benevolent and compassionate Christians (and they undoubtedly were), but to whom it never occurred that this should involve paying their servants a decent wage. Giving lifetime employment, shelter and food was tacitly regarded as justification for tolerating gross inequality.

A moment’s perusal of today’s gospel reading (Mk. 9:30-37), which shows the disciples arguing about who was the greatest, suggests that such attitudes have little to do with the Kingdom of God. Jesus did not want to be remembered as a superior person, or merely as a wonderworker, but as one who preached a message about the nature of the Kingdom of God. This is why he constantly urged his followers not to reveal his identity or speak about his works of power, a theme which Mark emphasises more than the other evangelists.

This reticence about his role as Messiah is the explanation for the tetchy comment Jesus makes earlier in this chapter, in response to the father of the epileptic boy: ‘You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you?’ (9:19). Jesus is irritated by the father’s expectation that he will perform a work of power on demand, and he is also annoyed by the failure of the disciples to do works of healing because of their lack of faith.

Juxtapositions and contrasts are important in the Bible, and it is significant that Jesus’ works of healing are placed alongside the first prediction of the Passion. The disciples are arguing about status because they don’t understand that the coming of the Kingdom entails humility and service to the weakest, which in turn involves suffering and sacrifice. To press home this point, Jesus chooses the example of one of lowest-status categories: children.

Now there is a tradition in Christian preaching, a very bad one, in my view, and one not confined to any one denomination, which privileges ignorance and anti-intellectualism, which assumes that the more childlike, naive and immature one is, the nearer one is to God

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Many Christians are content with a view of Christianity which has not progressed much beyond Sunday School, or, at best, the Confirmation Class.

But that is not what Jesus means. In Jesus’ time in Palestine, and throughout the ancient world, children were of no account as persons. They were regarded only as an economic resource and, in the case of male children, as a guarantee of the continuation of the family line. In ancient Athens, for all the much-vaunted civilisation of Greece, female children were frequently exposed on rubbish-dumps to die, as they were considered a liability. One possible way of making sense of the story of Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of Isaac, which seems so repellent to a modern sensibility, is to be aware that not only did parents have the power of life and death over their children, but that children were expendable, and could be replaced.

Consequently, when Jesus speaks of becoming like a child as a precondition for entering the kingdom of Heaven, he has in mind the most powerless, most vulnerable and least esteemed members of society, lower in status even than the poorest, least educated adult. Children stand here for all the disempowered, the poor, the rejected and the oppressed. It is only when we draw closer to such people and renounce the will to power and riches that we begin to express the values of the kingdom.

Now we may persuade ourselves that we are getting this more or less right. Is not our political and social culture committed to the pursuit of the ‘equality agenda’? Maybe, but within a church context we are beset by particularly insidious temptations. Calvin once remarked’, ‘church is a dangerous place’. The Church is not the Kingdom, and what passes for service to the Kingdom can be a cloak for the desire to maintain our place in the congregational pecking order.

The New Testament upholds the vision of a world where there is no pecking order, no hierarchy, where what we think of as service is not the secret justification of our own position. If this sounds too radical, even anarchic, within an Episcopal church, perhaps we should recall that in this respect, as in others, the New Testament builds on a tradition which is central to Hebrew prophecy:

‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’ (Isaiah 55:8–9).

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New Beginnings Christmas Appeal

New Beginnings is this year planning to create food hampers to distribute to enable families to enjoy a good quality Christmas meal. Please fi nd below the items required to make up these hampers. Any items you can donate will be very gratefully received. Please remember to check use by dates on all foodstuffs donated.

StartersQuality soups e.g. Baxter’s, Breadsticks, oatcakes

MainsCanned meats e.g. Ham or ChickenCanned potatoes, Canned vegetables

SweetsTrifl e spongesCarnation milkCanned fruitCanned/Packet custardChristmas puddingsLong Life MilkJelly

Donations will be received for 6 weeks between Sunday 1st November and Sunday 6th December.Many thanks for your continuing support. Please note that any helpers to join the band of volunteers to assist with wrapping gifts or making up hampers will be very welcomed on weekdays during December at The Bridge. Please see Connie, or contact by ‘phone (01899-308764) who will co-ordinate with New Beginnings.

Advent PoemAdvent, Advent,A Light is sent.

First one, then two,Then three, then four,

Then stands theChrist Child at the door.

ExtrasDiluting juiceJuices e.g. Schloer, sparkling juices etcCakes; mince pies; biscuits with long shelf life Sweets e.g. after eightsNapkins; crackersWrapping paper & ribbon

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The Vestry gave Emma Black, one of our Sunday School members, a gift of a necklace when she was chosen as a Lanimer maid. Emma has sent us this lovely ‘thank you’ card

Christingle Service

The planning for this year’s Christingle Service has started,and the children and young people involved will be thinking about what they can bring to it, starting with the first gathering to hear about it,and grow it, on Friday 6th November in the church. Anybody interested in getting involved, or just helping out, will be welcomed with open arms.Contact Lenore Rickards:- 01555 870329 or Rachel Hill – 01555 662190 to find out how you can help. The theme this year is ‘Christingle is not just for Christmas’ and it will be happening on Sunday 20th December at 6.00pmfollowed by mince pies and mulled wine in the Hall for our traditional start to the Christmas celebrations.

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Christ Church Flowers

Many of you have commented on how beautiful the church garden is and what a wonderful job Joan and Brian East are doing there.

Jane Milliken does our church flowers on a weekly basis and she too has been producing glorious arrangements which beautify our church.

I have selected a small sample of photographs which show how lucky we are to have these talented people volunteering. Many thanks.

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Jane Milliken would like to thank all the members of the congregation who helped her with arrangements for our Harvest Festival service.

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The Gabriel Window

As most of you know, Rev Dan was all in favour of the new toilet being created at the rear of the side chapel but was very unhappy at the thought of the double stained glass window which shows Gabriel appearing to Mary in the Annunciation, being split, with the Gabriel window staying in the toilet. The solution was to remove the stained glass in the Gabriel window and replace it with similar coloured glass as that in the church porch and then recreate the Gabriel window in a specially built ‘Light box’ which will be placed on the new rear wall of the side chapel adjacent to the Mary window.

Bryan Hutchison, a stained glass expert has been working in the church to replace Gabriel and make the window ready for the light box.

Bryan was keen that anyone interested in this process should come along and watch him at work

Joyce McGregor, who is an expert in calligraphy, has volunteered to do a plaque to go beside the Gabriel Window when it is moved to the light box in the side chapel.

Bryan prepares the template for the new window

The coloured glass diamonds are set in the lead flashings

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With Remembrance in mind, here are some observations on war…The tragedy of war is that it uses man’s best to do man’s worst. - Anon

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. - John F Kennedy

Let men who delight in the cruelties of war remember that their day is coming. - Louis Mumford

In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers. - Neville Chamberlain

Bryan begins the process of soldering the lead,

Meanwhile, his assistant Alison cleans up the decades of grime from

the Gabriel indow

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Laughter is the best medicineWith applications and CVs pouring in for our Rector Vacancy, let’s hope we don’t get too many howlers like this!!!

When applying for a job, get your CV right…(These comments were found in real CVs... wonder how many applicants went on to get the job!)

~ Personal details? - I am married, 1992 Chevrolet.~ I have an excellent track record, although I am not a horse.~ I am a rabid typist.~ My intensity and focus are at inordinately high levels, and my ability to complete projects on time is unspeakable. I was instrumental in ruining an entire operation for a Midland chain store.~ I had exposure to German for two years, but many words are not appropriate for business.~ Personal interests? Donating blood. 15 gallons so far.~ Strengths: My ability is to meet deadlines while maintaining my composer.~ Don’t take the comments of my former employer too seriously, they were unappreciative beggars and slave drivers.~ Qualifications: no education. My experience is probably not good to mention.~ Cover letter: “Thank you for your consideration. Hope to hear from you shorty!”

The new ministerThe new minister was visiting in the homes of his parishioners. At one house it seemed obvious that someone was at home, but no answer came to his repeated knocks at the door. Finally he took out a card, wrote ‘Revelation 3:20’ on the back and stuck it in the door. When the offering was processed the following Sunday, he found that his card had been returned. Added to it was this cryptic message, ‘Genesis 3:10’. Reaching for his Bible to check out the citation, he broke up in gales of laughter. Revelation 3:20 begins “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” Genesis 3:10 reads, “I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid for I was naked.”

“....and don’t forget we’re coming into Nativity Play season - make sure we have extra tea-towels in stock.”

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Christ Church LanarkDiocese of Glasgow and GallowayBishop: The Very Rev Dr Gregor DuncanRector:VacancyChurch Office: 01555 663065

Lay Readers: Robert (Bobby) Burgon, Richard EvansPastoral Care Co-ordinator: Sheila Cardwell 01555 728802Adult & Child Protection Officer, Connie Johnstone 01899 308764

Vestry:Jamie Hill - Rector’s Warden 01555 662190Sylvia Russell - People’s Warden 01555 662676Rachel Hill - Lay Representative 01555 662190Peter Clark 01555 660175Richard Evans 01555 664236Peter Glancy 01555 661859Gemma Patrick 01555 664040

Hon Secretary - Anne Glen7 Andrew Place, Carluke, ML18 5UD 01555 772720Hon Treasurer - Robert Burgon141 Hyndford Road, Lanark, ML11 8BG 01555 662986

Please remember Christ Church in your will as an act of thanksgiving for the Church.For confidential advice please speak to the Treasurer

Church Flowers: Jane Milliken, 01555 751514Web site: www.christchurchlanark.comMagazine and Website Editor: Sylvia Russell: 01555 662676E-Mail: sylvia_russell@btinternet.com

Registered Scottish Charity: No SCO 1493716