No.146.   17th March

 

From the Manse

Dear Congregation
I know so many of you love to receive the magazine each week. Martin Boyd supplies the majority of content ordinarily and publishes it on our website.  
Due to Martin’s sudden ill-health this week and the funeral of his father today (Friday), this will be a shortened magazine.
Our prayers are with Martin for both his physical well-being and also for him and the family in their time of bereavement. 
For Sunday...
I am looking forward to Sunday's passage from 1st Peter. What a helpful book of the bible 1st Peter is for us at this time in Scotland. 
One of the expressions that we will meet on Sunday is “Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honour the king". 
The bible frequently uses the word "everyone" or "all". It is such a frustrating word because it blocks us from quickly gravitating to our natural instincts and seeking loopholes to avoid the command we know we will be hard to enact.
In regard to Peter’s command, it clashes with our generation where "respect" is sadly lacking at every level of society. However, for Christ’s Church, those of us "born-again" by the "living and enduring word of God", we have not only this command to give respect, but we also have the power. The Spirit of God is as  real and present in every believer, as the believer's own breath!
When the Spirit of God takes up the Word of God in our souls, everything is possible: even respect for those we might ordinarily find difficulty with.
When we find ourselves lacking respect for others (perhaps as Peter says, even for those in authority over us) we need to go to the Lord for forgiveness and the help necessary to live this new strange and alien Christian life-style. This Christ-centred life-style which Peter highlights is marked by respect, love for believers, reverence of God and honour for the "king" (would we translate this word "king" as the "First Minister", "Prime Minister", "Scottish and Westminster Parliaments" as well as King Charles?). I have highlighted just one short sentence from 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 17 and I have to confess these few words send me to my knees for forgiveness and help! How we need to pray for one another as a congregation so that these marks of a Godly people would be true for us at Maxwell. As we shall hear on Sunday, we want to always show Christ!
With much respect,
Scott

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We are planning to organize another Messy Church to begin our Easter celebrations!
This will take place next Sunday afternoon 26th March. Further details to follow. If you are able to be involved in any way (serving refreshments, AV, welcoming, manning an activity stations etc) then please speak to me!
Thanks 
Pauline  

Hong Kong In the Barras

It has been lovely getting to know some of our new neighbours who have recently come to the area from Hong Kong. They have been getting to know Scottish culture. 
There is an opportunity for us to learn some Hong Kong culture. 
The Barras will be turned into a Hong Kong street market on Saturday 25th and 26th March. This will be a lovely opportunity to taste and see a bit of Hong Kong life. 
You can read about here and also here. 
Scott
 

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The Word One to One app is coming soon!

The Word One to One app is coming soon!
Find out more about Word121 here.

This great resource is growing and they have developed an app - can you get involved?

Here is the what they are saying...
Last week, we announced that we're launching a new app which, God-willing, will be released by 30th March 2023!
We'd love the app to help as many people as possible discover the joy of exploring what John's Gospel says about Jesus with their friends – and for that to happen, we need your help!
 
Here are three simple ways you can help us launch it:

1. Test the app

Thank you to everyone who has tested the beta version of the app already – we really appreciate your feedback! If you haven't managed to yet, you can still request to download, test and share your feedback about the beta version. Do that here.

2. Pray for us

Please pray for the team who are responsible for developing and delivering the app. We'd really appreciate your prayers for:
God's provision of wisdom and grace throughout the final stages of developing the app
A successful release and for many to hear about this accessible and relational experience
Our Lord, by His grace, to take the app far and wide across the world to make His name known!

3. Save and share the date

By God's grace, we plan to launch the app to app stores by 30th March 2023. Could you please set a reminder in your calendar and spend ten minutes telling a few people about it?

We'd especially appreciate it if you could let your friends in hard-to-reach and poorly-resourced places know about it!

Thank you for your interest and for all who have supported us to this stage.  We're so excited about all the new possibilities that the app could open up, and we can't wait to see how God uses it to help you and many others share His Word around the world!

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A Christian In The Market Place

In 2005, prior to moving to the Bahamas one of my final acts which I considered significant at Brightons Parish Church where I was ministering, was to bring onto our Kirk Session a new elder. His name was Brent Haywood. 
Brent is a mature Christian man and a very competent lawyer.  He describes his type of law, this way; "I am what is optimistically called a Dispute Resolution lawyer. It’s a nice way of saying that I’m a litigator. Put simply, I represent people and organisations in conflict."
In an article in the Scotsman this week (13th March), I believe we see a fine example of a Christian man bringing his Christian values very positively into the workplace in a most natural but helpful way. (John Dickson whom he quotes is a very able Christian author from Australia.) Read Here.

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Heather Malloy - Memories

When Heather Malloy retired from Playgroup leadership last year we gave her a small gift as a token of our gratitude for her years of wonderful service. Heather has shared with us how she used this gift to retain memories of her time growing up in Kelso.
Scott


Album Launch

Christy's album launch is next Saturday. Details below. The photo shows her rehearsing with the band in the church.


Album Launch - Saturday 18th March
Time: 7:30pm. Doors open 7pm.
Place: 13th Note, 50-60 King St, Glasgow G1 5QT
Tickets:here

and...


For people who don't venture out to down town concert venues Christy has
another concert on Friday 24th March at Selkirk Baptist Church at 7pm
which will be live-streamed from their YouTube channel 

Stories in Song - Friday 24th March
Time: 7:30pm.
Place: Selkirk Baptist Church 35 Back Row Selkirk TD7 4LP
Tickets:here
Livestream: Selkirk Baptist Church YouTube channel

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Pray Now  is a WhatsApp group for Maxwell members

It sends out occasional requests for prayer. In particular those which might be regarding things more acute or immediate.
Speak with Margaret Boyd is you would like to be added to this important ministry at MMCC, or just to find out more.

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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.

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INFO

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 Safeguarding at Maxwell Mearns