No.141.    10th February

Hi,

Hope this finds you well.

This is a special Valentine edition so if you send the link on to your sweetheart that should cover it...probably.

Quite a lot in the magazine this week  - let me flag up the prayer meeting on Wednesday. We have a speaker from Christian Institute who will layout for us some of the issues facing our culture at present.
Some of  the decisions coming from the Church of England for instance this week are so far removed from traditional, plain reading of the Bible that it's a great worry...the Church of Scotland is hardly any better. They are basically saying that our identity is our own without reference to God; that Jesus does not sanctify you, and you don't need to take up your cross and follow Him; that there is no call to holiness, and the the Truth does not set you free.
We will be looking at some of the hot topics in our culture as we pray on Wednesday. 

Last week at this time we were enjoying Ian White's concert - there was an opportunity to give to the Inspiration Orchestra and there is news of all that and more below.

Enjoy the Mag.

MB



     Sunday 12th February 2023   
     Rev Scott Kirkland
     Bible passage: Isaiah ch66:5-24
 

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From the Manse

Dear Congregation, 

At some point I will share some of my observations from the study leave I appreciated last year. The motivation for these two weeks of reading was a question; How would I begin to supporting someone who came to me with a burden of transgender dysphoria?  

That thought extended to us as a congregation. How we would come alongside someone carrying a burden like this?  However, I have come to realize that this question is only a small part of the larger question, how do we come alongside anyone who is carrying a burden?  

For those of us who have been drawn to faith in the Lord Jesus, we know that the Lord calls all who are weary and burdened to himself (Matthew 11.28). He invites us to come to Him that we might know release from the burden of sin (through His death on the cross) and to know a grace from Him that both sanctifies and sustains us daily; that includes all our “dysphorias”.  

However, we have also come to know that the Lord Jesus calls His church to be the central place of His care and comfort. The apostle Paul reminds us of this in 2nd Corinthians 1.3-5: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ." So this is one of my burdens as minister at Maxwell Mearns Castle Church; that as a congregation, we might become increasingly eager and equipped to support one another through the various trials of life.  

Anita and I came across Ed Welch back in the early 1990s when he was part of the staff at the counselling centre attached to the Seminary where we studied in Philadelphia. We had great respect for him. He has now gathered the experience of these intervening years as a counsellor and distilled them into a small easy-to-read book called “Side By Side”.  

The basic premise is that everyone needs help from time to time and that friends are the best helpers. The book hopes to equip believers to share with one another in times of trouble through gentle words of wisdom and kind acts of love. This book is written for those eager to see God use ordinary relationships and conversations between ordinary Christians to work extraordinary miracles in the lives of his people. 

Rev Kevin De Young, says; “I love simple books that aren't simplistic. This is a terrific book about loving one another, about helping hurting people, about getting help as hurting people, about being a good neighbour, and about being the body of Christ…The insights aren't new, but the reminders are extremely helpful and the points of application unusually practical and life giving.” 

“Side By Side” will be available this Sunday near the door of the sanctuary. (See below for further details.)  

Warmest regards  

Scott 

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Read Together

 

The new 'Read Together' book will be available at church from this Sunday - price £8.

This book is written for those eager to see God use ordinary relationships and conversations between ordinary Christians to work extraordinary miracles in the lives of his people.

Here is a short review...

Everyone needs help from time to time, especially in the midst of painful circumstances and difficult trials. In this short book, a highly respected biblical counsellor and successful author offers practical guidance for all Christians—pastors and laypeople alike—who want to develop their “helping skills” when it comes to walking alongside hurting people.
Written out of the conviction that friends are the best helpers, this accessible introduction to biblical counselling will equip believers to share their burdens with one another through gentle words of wisdom and kind acts of love.
— Pete Gower
Short video from Ed Welch talking about the book is here.

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If you have access to Twitter this short video has a plea from a faithful minister at the C of E Synod this week.

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"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less"

 

Last week Scott directed us to some great thinking from Tim Keller - really drilling down how we should focus on what God says about us...and avoid the danger of being superior and thinking too much of yourself, or conversely, feelings of inferiority which are equally focussed on I, me, mine.

"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less"
This booklet is so helpful in dealing with this issue - if you buy into this biblical way of thinking the relief, and release is great.
The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness can be downloaded for less that £2 here.

‘What are the marks of a supernaturally changed heart?’ ?

"This is one of the questions the Apostle Paul addresses as he writes to the church in Corinth. He’s not after some superficial outward tinkering, but instead a deep–rooted, life–altering change that takes place on the inside. In an age where pleasing people, puffing up your ego and building your résumé are seen as the methods to ‘make it’, the Apostle Paul calls us to find true rest in blessed self–forgetfulness. 

In this short and punchy book, best–selling author Timothy Keller, shows that gospel–humility means we can stop connecting every experience, every conversation with ourselves and can thus be free from self–condemnation. A truly gospel–humble person is not a self–hating person or a self–loving person, but a self–forgetful person."

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PULSE PRAYER MEETING

This Wednesday - 7.15- 8.15pm
At the prayer meeting on Wednesday  we welcome Nigel Kenny from the Christian Institute - speaking about current issues in society, incl Govt assisted suicide, abortion, trans issues etc.
 

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Ian White concert - update

Many thanks to all who came along to the evening with Ian White. 
Ian was delighted with the offering on the evening.  He said,  "The collection came to £1450 which is by far the most ever raised in one of our evenings.
 At present, we are looking at moving towards taking on a part time assistant, so all funding is hugely valuable. I am just about on the limit at 30 pupils, and we have two more enquiries just in the last week." Scott says, many thanks to all who came along and not only were blessed by a Christ-centred evening but supported the work of Ian financially. 



Sandra McN wrote a nice blog for her Wee Scoops web page on her experiences with Ian's music...here's a wee extract...
Most of the songs for which Ian White is known are the Psalms reworked. Granted, he had excellent source material. The resultant songs, because of their reworking, allowed the Psalms themselves into my mind and heart. I wonder how many people there are – across the world – who, like me, when they are reading the Psalms, come across a phrase or lyric and suddenly it comes alive with the melody and we remember that the Psalms were songs to be sung. Likewise, when circumstances give rise to a feeling echoed in the Psalms, it is very often brought to mind with Ian White’s expression of the words.

What if, in the early 80s, he hadn’t picked up his guitar and had a go at basing a song on a Psalm? 

In the pandemic, when we were first allowed back into the church building – it was an Ian White melody that my brain landed on for this Psalm: “Let us go… to the house…. Of the Lord… Let us go… to the house…. Of the Lord… I rejoiced with those who said to me Let us go to the house of the Lord…” So, on Friday, it was great to hear this song played live in a post pandemic busy venue “where the people of God go up and praise the Name of the Lord.”
Read the rest of the blog here.
 

DATE FOR THE DIARY

Valentines Day Reflection

Read  Tim Challies thoughts on Valentines Day, wives and mums - the whole blog is here...It's just a 3 min read....here is a short extract...

“I think the holiday is total crap,” says a newly married 27-year-old man from Greenwich, Connecticut. Leslie, 28, a single editor at Glamour magazine in New York agrees. “I really hate it. I think I always hated it, even when I had a boyfriend.  I’m not a teddy bears and roses kind of person.” “It’s damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” says a 40-year-old married father of three from Nantucket.
But I can’t deny that I once felt much the same. I regarded Valentine’s Day as a corporate fabrication – a holiday created to bring relief to the late-winter retail blues. I thought it was a holiday created by Hallmark for the sole purpose of marketing and selling cards, gifts and chocolate. I did my duty as a husband, but did it with little passion and little motivation beyond doing what was expected of me. I don’t know that she was convinced.

But then I read my Bible.

There is nothing special about February 14 that dictates that we must lavish gifts and attention upon our wives. But when the opportunity presents itself, why would we hesitate?

If my Bible had a home page it would be somewhere in Proverbs. I love that book. I feel at home in that book. When I do not know what to read or when I have a few moments before church begins on Sunday, I turn to Proverbs. I try to spend a full month every year reading and studying Proverbs. I love and adore the book. That Solomon guy had some good things to say. What he said is as relevant to us today as it was to him three thousand years ago.

“Rejoice in the wife of your youth,” he said. “Be intoxicated always in her love.”

“An excellent wife is the crown of her husband.”

“House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.”

King Lemuel, another contributor to Proverbs describes the infamous Proverbs 31 woman. He begins by saying, “An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.”

A wife is a precious gift. A wife makes her husband look better. A wife makes her husband act better. Her excellence, her prudence crowns a husband. She fulfills him. Completes him. Makes him what he is. Makes him more than he is.

Valentine’s Day may be a contrived holiday. There is no objective reason that I should celebrate love in a special way today rather than yesterday or tomorrow. But if this is a day where people celebrate love, should not I, as a grateful husband, celebrate my wife? Should I not model to my children a love, a passion, a joy in my wife? Should I not reflect today on my intoxication with her love? Should I not praise, honour and bless her for being just who she is: a precious, beautiful, excellent gift from God?

Valentine’s Day provides me with a day to love and honour my wife. It provides me with a day to ensure I take the focus off myself and lavish it on my wife. Why would I want to refuse that opportunity?

Tim Challies

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More evidence that religion is good for children, from Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program:

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Christy's New Album Release

Christy's new album "To the Beach" was released last week.

LINK TO THE ALBUM HERE.

Christy has written an introduction to the album which you can read in last week's magazine. (140) 

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Ladybird Book of Maxwell

 

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If you want to be added to the group to receive prayer news then simply ask Margaret and she will add your number to the list.

If you have a matter that you would like to be prayed about in this way, you can contact Margaret Boyd or Scott and they will organise for news to be sent out.   

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Car Parking

Can you help?
If you are able, please can you to start using the school car park again as we did pre-lockdown?
Numbers attending services are encouragingly high and it would be really helpful if those that are able could leave spaces in the main car park for those who have greater need.