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From the Manse

Dear Congregation,

It has been quite a week in the Scottish Parliament!
 
The good news emerging from Holyrood is that the combination of the speedy roll-out of vaccines and the (seemingly endless) lockdown, is working. The number of people being infected daily by Covid-19 is reducing as are hospital admissions. That is truly good news. This is even more encouraging given the recent news of the efficacy of the vaccine. Have we thanked God for these mercies?
 
The bad news emerging from Edinburgh is that our Parliament seems to be at “logger-heads” with one another over what did (or did not) happen in the Government's conduct towards a former First Minister and what should (or should not) happen as a result.  We have yet to see how this saga concludes.  Have we prayed for truth to emerge and justice exercised? 
 
Somewhere in the middle of the good and bad news was a budget. In this economically unstable moment it seems to me that this budget is of huge significance for the nation. Have we prayed for the financial outcome of this finacial plan?
 

Who would want to lead in these times?

As a congregation our political loyalties are multi-coloured yellow, blue, red and maybe even green (what colour are the independents?). However, our attitudes, thinking and prayers should be coloured chiefly by our citizenship in Christ’s Kingdom and His Lordship over us.
We have a biblical obligation as Christians (not only to vote and voice opinions) but to pray for those in authority over us – regardless of our/their party politics.  Imagine if God determined that the health of the nation corresponded to our prayerfulness for the nation? Is that far from a biblical truth?
It is a most interesting statement of God to Jeremiah that when disastrously exiled to Babylon, a godless and immoral place, not only should he act for the welfare of the city but he should pray for it (Jeremiah 29.7). The Lord seems to indicate that by the prayers of Jeremiah (and perhaps others) the city will be blessed (and Jeremiah will be blessed in that blessing).
“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

And of course, we know Paul is explicit with Timothy about praying for those in authority. The implication from what Paul says is that the sovereign Lord will indeed change things on the ground when Timothy (and perhaps others) pray.
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way (1st Timothy 2.1-3).

Physical health and economic prosperity are important to any nation. We should pray for that reason. However, let us also pray for a move of God’s Holy Spirit in the nation that there may be eternal prosperity. Paul adds in his instruction to Timothy; This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Let’s pray.
Warmest regards,
Scott
 

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Rebecca in Kenya

Rebecca has provided an update of her time in Kikuyu Hospital -it's in her newsletter which you can see here.



Since Rebecca wrote the newsletter she has been invited to be involved in teaching the Bible at the local mission school on a regular basis. This is for a class of young teenagers (see photo)
Bible teaching is thin on the ground in Kenya and it's a great opportunity and responsibility for Rebecca - she has some plans for teaching the 2 Ways to Live course alongside some Bible stories and songs. Pray for her to know how best to use her time in this situation and for wisdom throughout.
 

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This year the Art for Easter competition is online. Feel free to pass this information on to any children you know who might want to take part.
 

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Quotable

Sometimes we have quotes from classic books but this week it is from a new book not quite released. Although you can get a free sample on your Kindle...really worth having a look here.

Andrew Wilson is one of the most engaging writers around just now - great at unpacking Bible stories and Christian Doctrine. In this book he takes a look at things that are all around us...dust, earthquakes, tools, livestock, gardens, pots, clothes etc.
Here is a little taster on DUST:

Dust speaks to us of decay....And God says to us, you are made of that. It doesn’t sound very encouraging. Dust evokes decay, decomposition, and death, in Scripture as much as for us, which means that at least part of what it is to be dust people is that we will one day be dead people. When humanity falls, choosing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ahead of the tree of life, the curse upon us—“for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19)—is clearly a reference to mortality. In a world where people pursue the elixir of life as enthusiastically as ever, whether in the form of cryogenics, transhumanism, genome editing, or any other death-denying fad, the Bible makes the certainty of dying as clear as it can be: “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). We came from the soil, and one day we will again be part of it. People sometimes talk as if Christians believe in immortality and secular materialists don’t.

The reality is almost the opposite. The certainty of death is integral to Christianity—our future revolves around not immortality but resurrection—while those most eager to postpone or even escape death are usually those with no resurrection hope whatsoever. Early churches met in catacombs, surrounded by corpses. To this day, churches have graveyards and are filled with memorials and crypts for the faithful dead. Our message centers on the one who died and was raised, not someone who carried on living indefinitely in suspended animation.
 

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Wonder Walks #4

The Scottish Bible Society have created a Wonder Walks series for Lent and Easter. 
 

The Forsters enjoyed a Wonder Walk last Sunday afternoon. We played Pooh sticks as we talked about Jesus' baptism, discussed what it means to follow Jesus when spotting birds and learnt Mark chapter 1 verse 11 while we made lovehearts out of sticks. 
Pauline
 

As we lead up to Easter use these to help you focus on God when you are out for a walk or in your garden. On each map you will find something to read from the Gospel of Mark, questions to think about, games to play, and ideas to pray about. You don’t need to prepare anything in advance, just download your map and head off for your weekly Wonder Walk! 
We'll include each walk in the magazine (click here for the Wonder Walk  pdfs) or visit their website to download and print. 

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SPRING HARVEST 2021 - 4th to 8th April,

It will be strange again this year not to be sending our team to Spring Harvest with David Cameron as Chief Steward as in a normal year!
 
SH will be going online with ‘Unrivalled: Why we worship’ and will be exploring why we worship, which starts with who we worship. Every new challenge we face brings a new opportunity to tune into God and join in with his mission. Whatever comes our way, our God is unchanged, our God is unshakeable, our God is Unrivalled and we will worship him. It’s the perfect time to consider how and where we worship, whether on our own, together, all the time and everywhere, in singing, in silence, in service and in the soundscape of our whole lives. If we need to discover some different ways of worshipping together, we will!
 
Spring Harvest Home is far more than online teaching and worship. Using a new platform, it's the first Christian event of its kind in the UK. It's exciting, interactive, family-friendly and a brilliant shared experience!

Tickets at £55 from the Spring Harvest web page will access all the brilliant content online, both live and on demand until the end of April. You can access Spring Harvest Home on two devices (laptop, desktop or smartphone)

Sue
 

Q29. How can we be saved?

Only by faith in Jesus Christ and in his substitutionary atoning death on the cross; so even though we are guilty of having disobeyed God and are still inclined to all evil, nevertheless, God, without any merit of our own but only by pure grace, imputes to us the perfect righteousness of Christ when we repent and believe in him.