Lamlash and Kilmory Parish Churches

Lamlash Church and Kilmory Church, Isle of Arran

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A Word from the Manse

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Dear Friends

“Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in Him, for He shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between His shoulders.”

Deuteronomy 33 v 12.

What an affirmation of our Father’s love, care and overarching grace! In these strange times we are living through, what joy and strength it is to KNOW we are loved with an everlasting love. We have no idea when the Coronavirus will pass. We have no idea when we will be able to visit family again or be together with friends. We do not know when we will be able safely to reopen Kilmory or Lamlash churches and share in worship. 2020 is indeed an unforgettable year the world over.  As Christians, we are blessed to know that even in all the isolation of COVID-19 and throughout the ever-changing safety guidelines and restrictions, we are indeed blessed to know we can rest in the Saviour’s love.

We are

“Loved with everlasting love, led by grace that love to know;

Spirit, breathing from above, You have taught me it is so.

Oh, this full and perfect peace! Oh, this wonder all divine!

a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.”

We draw our strength, our joy, our patience from the Father who loves us. Just to be able to say every morning and every evening that I am His and He is mine lifts us above the present pandemic, lifts us to new heights of relationship with our Lord who loves us.

In Deuteronomy 33, Moses is blessing every tribe of Israel before he dies. He calls the leaders of each tribe and pronounces a blessing on them one by one. On Benjamin and his tribe, Moses pours out these words:

“Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in Him, for He shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between His shoulders.”

I wonder what do you think of when you read this verse? For me an image comes to mind. It is that beautiful sight of the Shepherd leaving the 99 sheep safely in the fold and going out to search for the one that is missing and carrying that lost sheep home on His shoulders.

An old hymn captures the Shepherd’s love and faithfulness:

There were ninety and nine that safely lay in the shelter of the fold

but one was out on the hills away far off from the gates of gold;

on the mountains wild and bare, away from the tender Shepherd’s care.

Lord, thou hast here thy ninety and nine; are they not enough for Thee?”

But the Shepherd made answer: “This of mine has wandered away from me;

and although the road be rough and steep, I go to the desert to find my sheep.”

But none of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters crossed;

nor how dark was the night the Lord passed through

He found His sheep that was lost.

in the desert He heard its cry, sick and helpless and ready to die.

“Lord, whence are those blood drops all the way, that mark out the mountain’s track?” They were shed for one who had gone astray ere the Shepherd could bring him back.”

“Lord, whence are thy hands so rent and torn?”

They are pierced tonight by many a thorn.”

And all through the mountains, thunder riven, and up from the rocky steep,

there arose a glad cry to the gate of heaven,

Rejoice! I have found My sheep!”

and the angels echoed around the throne,

for the Lord brings back His own!”

Moses blessed the tribes of Israel and we are blessed too. We rest secure in the Father’s everlasting love. We are carried on the shoulders of the Lord of Lords! The King of Kings! We are His and He is ours forever and forever! There is nothing that can ever separate us from such life-changing and life-sustaining love!  Christians all over the world proclaim, I am His and He is mine now and forever!” Wow! What a blessing!

May you and those you love know the limitless love of God the Father, the amazing grace of Christ the Son and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit working in you and through you to show the amazing love we share as lost sheep found, brought home, safe on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd, the crucified and risen Lord.

Lily

The Big Question

When will the church reopen?

The church is not a building! The church is the people who know and share the amazing love of God.

The building is closed but the church is open always!

  • We are the church wherever we are.
  • Stay safe.
  • Stay responsible.
  • Show love and care for one another and remember we are here for you.

You can use the prayer box on the church railings if you would like us to pray for you or someone you love.

We do not have a date yet for reopening the building. Watch this space!

We are checking government and Church of Scotland guidelines every day and we will reopen as soon as it is safe to do so.

Meanwhile you can contact Rev Lily on 01770 600047.

Autumn 2012 Newsletter

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Download the newsletter by clicking the PDF icon below. If you print it double-sided and fold down the middle, it should all make perfect sense!

Here is Gillean’s foreword to this year’s autumn newsletter:

Dear Friends,

One of my favourite songs is Autumn Leaves and I especially like Nat King Cole’s version. As I write this letter, it is certainly autumn. The leaves are turning into those lovely colours: bronze, and red and gold. Today I had my first robin at the bird-feeder on my balcony and the calendar on my computer is flagging up dates such as Remembrance Sunday, All Saints and Christmas! It is certainly true that as you get older the time does seem to go faster; perhaps it’s because it is so precious. I remember as a youngster finding the time between my birthday and Christmas dragging terribly, and my birthday is in November! Now I wonder with alarm which birthday is coming next!

Having said all of that, it is important to remember that, without autumn, there would be no spring. Spring and new growth comes only after the death of the autumn leaves and the darkness of winter. When I worked on the Orkney Isles the winter came with alarming speed and the darkness was complete, sometimes from as early as two in the afternoon! The compensation for these winter months, of course, is to be found in friendships and the warmth of home and fireside, time to talk and to slow down a little.

The same can be said of the autumn of our lives. Things can be less frantic and there should be more time for cultivating the finer things in life! Your faith is something that can be put on the back burner when days are busy with work or children, but if you’re approaching your latter years, the wisdom years, then what better time to get back in touch with God? The story is unchanged, although the world is changing all the time. God is not constrained by years or seasons and is always happy to welcome you back. Why don’t you give him a call today and maybe you could get to know each other a bit better as the nights draw in.

Wishing you all God’s blessing.

Gillean

Summer 2012 newsletter

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Download the newsletter by clicking the PDF icon below. If you print it double-sided and fold down the middle, it should all make perfect sense!

 

 

 

Here is Gillean’s foreword to this year’s summer newsletter:

Dear Friends,

Summer is a time for getting out and about and meeting friends old and new. As I write this the weather is glorious and it has certainly encouraged me to spend more time out of doors, sometimes enjoying the garden or the view or walking with my dog Bramble and during these walks I too have made a new friend. I meet him each evening just as it is getting dark. Same place, almost the same time. He’s an otter and each night on my last walk with the dog he crosses our path coming from the sea into the burn at the bottom of my garden. If I want to see him (and I can hardly describe the joy that meeting offers me at the end of each day), I have to watch the clock and the sky carefully. I have to allow for the slightly later sunset each day and judge the time of my walk with precision. He (or perhaps she) is the most regular of visitors to my garden. He’s utterly reliable and yet he has no watch, no clock, no diary and no visible timetable. There is no electronic beeping to wake him up and no ritual turning of off lights and closing of doors before sleep. We humans are creatures governed by these things. We are at once fascinated and trapped by the relentless hound that is time!

Midsummer chronophage clock

A new exhibit in the National Museum of Scotland is a wonderful timepiece called a Midsummer Chronophage Clock. It was made by the man who invented the switch on your automatic electric kettle! The clock is designed to slow down or even stop occasionally just to remind us that everyone experiences time differently. On the top of the clock there is a huge insect that appears to be eating up the minutes. In my worst nightmares the time consuming insect might swallow me down in one great gulp!

My friend the otter lives in harmony with the times and seasons. The sun and moon and the length of days are his clock. As creatures of the same God we travel very different paths and experience time in very different ways but in the crossing of our paths I have glimpsed something of God’s greatness that can encompass us all and that transcends time.

Timeless and ageless God of eternity, grant us the wisdom to use the time you have given us carefully and thankfully and to set aside just a little of that gift to simply wonder.

Amen.

Gillean

 

Spring Newsletter 2012

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Here is the spring newsletter for 2012. Enjoy!

Click the icon below to download the newsletter to your computer.

Minister’s spring message

Dear Friends,

It’s been a funny old winter hasn’t it? The weather has been strange and, at times, unseasonable. We had become used to Arctic winds and lots of snow, and so in the approach to winter this year we all got ready! At least we did in the Manse. We scrubbed our deck and put away our plants; we got stocked up with coal and wood ready for our new stove. We got a new car and made sure it was winter-ready. We
bought some salt in readiness for the icy conditions. It was a sensible thing to do and we felt secure in the knowledge that we were ready for whatever was to come.

It just didn’t happen!

So, did we waste our time and our money?

During Lent and Easter we consider the promises that Jesus made to his disciples. One of them was that he would come back again. In the Church we call this “The Second Coming.” This kind of talk conjures up visions of men in sandwich boards announcing that THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH! Well, despite these gloomy predictions we’re still here aren’t we? Year follows year and these predictors of doom have had to change their date more than once. But that doesn’t mean we should become complacent.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that we must be ready.

But how do we prepare for the promised “Second Coming”? How will we know when it is going to be?

Well, of course we don’t know, no one can. Being ready for it though is incumbent on us as Christians. Jesus taught us, in his life on earth, how he wanted us to behave towards each other. He asks us to be ready always to go the extra mile for other people, to care for those that others turn away from, to be a neighbour to all. He asks us to help those less fortunate than ourselves, to be honest and trustworthy and in faith to work towards peace and unity and acceptance in our churches and in our world.

Being sensibly ready for winter is always a good idea even if the winter we expect doesn’t come. Being ready for Jesus Christ is always a good idea. It can only be good for us to practise what we preach and it will surely benefit those around us. What better time to start afresh than Easter!

Wishing you all God’s blessing.

Gillean

Gillean’s message for autumn newsletter 2011

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Dear friends,

The Bible tells us there is a time for everything under the sun, but it doesn’t tell us just how quickly the time passes sometimes. The familiar cry of ‘where has the summer gone?’ is something that we will all have heard said in the last few days. Many of those plans that we had for clearing out cupboards and re-arranging gardens and organising ourselves for the winter to come are still just that — plans! Of course ou may have done better than I, but in my case it’s pretty much the same each year. I plan to do so much during the warm summer weather and either the weather doesn’t live up to expectations or the spare time is soaked up by something unexpected.

Is there something we can at least learn from this?

Perhaps the most important lesson is to remember that time is just about the most precious thing that we have. We have been given just a short time to spend on this lovely earth and, as Christians, we believe that God, as the author of all things, is also the creator of time itself. It’s up to u to use our time wisely and compassionately!

As we approach autumn and contemplate the shorter days of winter, is there some way we can spend our time helping someone else? For busy people the time goes just too fat, but for those dreading the loneliness of long dark days, or who are too elderly or infirm to get out the time hangs heavy. There are opportunities to help with our visits to those in Cooriedoon or to be a part of our monthly services at our sheltered housing complex in Lamlash. Please think prayerfully about how you can share just a little of your precious gift of time this autumn and winter with someone who would really appreciate it.

Bless you all,

Gillean

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