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Dear Congregations

I cannot believe that we are now in the second month of the year 2018 already! TIME flies! TIME is a valued commodity, and this month, during our Stewardship campaign, we will focus on TIME.

I know that the word “stewardship” and “steward” are not words that we commonly use today. Therefore, I want to review the definition of stewardship: A steward is a person who manages and administrates what has been entrusted to him/her by another. In our case, a steward is a person who manages what has been entrusted to him/her by God. God has entrusted us with talents, TIME, and money. Therefore, stewardship of time is the careful and responsible management of the time God has entrusted to our care.

So let’s take the TIME this month to reflect on how we use our TIME; what we do with the TIME God so graciously gives us. And this is really important, because TIME is the one thing we can never get back – once a minute has ticked past, that minute is gone forever. So we should be really careful how we use our TIME…

My youngest son, Nehan, has been obsessed with time ever since he was about 3 years old. He always wants to know exactly how long something will take, exactly how many minutes he has to wait until something starts, exactly how long it will take before we reach our destination. And don’t think you can fool him – if you say that we’ll be there in 10 minutes just to keep him quiet, when really it will still take 30 minutes to reach your destination, he’ll be very upset, and complain about it for the next 20 minutes!! But the positive side of this is - if I tell him that he has 5 more minutes to play before we leave, he uses all 5 those minutes to play. He literally doesn’t waste a second, and he is never late for anything. To be truthful, he keeps our whole family (and his teacher!) on time. And I think we can all take a leaf out of his book – if you have 5 minutes to spare – USE it, don’t just sit and wait till it’s over.

Let’s use every minute we have to live our lives fully to the glory of God. This month, and forever.

May God bless you all,

Nanda

How many of us have an Advent calendar hanging in our house during December?

Do you look forward to opening the wee windows on that calendar every day and seeing what lies behind each?

Does yours have a picture? Does it have a little verse? Is there a gift? Or a sweet treat?

For some, an Advent calendar is a luxury that is out of the question. For some, even the most basic of items are unaffordable.

This is why, this year, our churches are asking you to make a 'Reverse Advent Calendar'.

How does it work?

Each day, instead of getting something for yoursself, we would love if you would put one item of food into a box.

On Christmas Eve morning (Sunday 24th Dec 9.45am at West Kirk or 11.15am at Polbeth Harwood Church) you can bring that box of food with you to church and put it under our tree. After the service, all the produce collected will be taken to our local Food Bank to ensure that many families will have something cheerier to look forward to over the festive period.

If you don't want to collect food, then you could put aside a coin each day and bring this along. Any funds collected will go to the Food Bank too.

Let's make Christmas great for as many people as possible this year!

Dear congregations

This month I would like to introduce you to a lovely girl who will be volunteering at the church for 20 hours as part of an award (Caritas) she is working towards. She will be doing a little bit of everything, so please welcome her in our midst. I feel really special that she chose our churches, and I hope that she will be able to not only give her time, but also gain a lot from being involved in such an amazing family of believers.

I’ll let her introduce herself:

“My name is Bianca, I am a 17 year old student studying at high school. In my school we have many opportunities and one of them I couldn't resist to take up was Caritas! I can imagine some of you are thinking what is Caritas? Well let me tell you all about it.

 Caritas translated from Latin simply means love of humankind. For me this meant I could help others while practicing my faith. The caritas award asks people to find their faith and use their talents to help people to the best of their ability.

I hope to be able to spread kindness and make a difference in the church. Kindness is the power to help someone, the power to inspire someone. When you start helping one person with kindness you never know how far it will go. It only takes a spark to start a fire.”

May having Bianca with us remind us all that in Christ we are loved, and therefore we should love others too.

With love,
Nanda

A date for your diary!

On Saturday 2nd September from 11am till 3pm there will be a fete and fringe entertainment held on the West Kirk church premises.

This event promises to have something for everyone!

In the grounds will be gazebos with a variety of craft stalls; bottle stall; face painting and tattoos; raffle; a variety of games to suit young and not-so-young; some requiring skill, others just a bit of luck. And who will be unlucky enough to be in the stocks??

If you thought you had to go to Edinburgh for The Fringe, you could be proved wrong. In the church itself, there will be a series of 30 minute musical  entertainments covering a wide range of interests including for a younger audience. Admission for any or all of these sessions is by donation.

Then, of course, there's the food. Refreshments of soup & sandwiches, then coffee / tea and cream scones will be available in the hall whilst outside ice cream and a BBQ cooking burgers will be on hand throughout the event.There will also be a cake and candy stall in the hall where you can take away some more goodies to enjoy at home.

The organising committee are looking to the congregation  not only for donations, but also volunteers to assist in setting up, manning events, and dismantling and tidying up after the event. All help will be gratefully accepted.