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No.170.    13th October

Hi,
Hope this finds you well and you have had a good week. 
It's been another important week in the life of Maxwell - you will see that from Scott's letter below and the report from Tuesday's Presbytery meeting.
Scott's statement was as clear as it was sad.

Church life continues of course (thanks again to all those who have sent items in) and we look forward to being together on Sunday to worship and hear from God's Word. However, whatever upset we currently face, we get another perspective when we look at our news headlines these days - we have prayer points from Muriel Pearson in Israel below.

Enjoy the mag.
MB

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Sunday 

     15th Oct. 10.30am Morning Service 
Rev Scott Kirkland
Acts 26:1-32

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Congregational Meeting

Tuesday  17th October - 7.30pm

The Presbytery Clerk has asked that the intimation below, is read on two Sundays, the 8th and 15th of October. It was read last week on 8th. 
"A meeting of the congregation of Maxwell Mearns Castle Church shall be held at 7.30pm on Tuesday 17 October 2023 within the sanctuary in order that the Presbytery may engage with the congregation on the matter of the demission of the Minister from the charge and the resignation of ruling elders from the Kirk Session."
This notice is being placed in the magazine in advance so that, if for some reason you miss worship on these two Sundays, you are still be aware of the meeting on the 17th.

An opportunity will be given at Tuesday's meeting to ask questions.

The following questions have already been handed to Presbytery (see below).  If you have additional questions which you would like to send to Presbytery (giving an opportunity to think about the answers) please send them to Scott and he will forward to Presbytery by Monday. 

• If I remain in Maxwell Mearns Castle Church what guarantee will you give that there will be worship led here each Sunday? 
• Who will lead worship each Sunday in Scott's absence?
• When Rev Adam Dillon was appointed (and no disrespect intended to Mr Dillon) was anyone at Maxwell asked to participate in that choice of Mr Dillon? We understand that it is a common courtesy extended to congregations to have some advance notice and agreement in who will be the Interim Moderator? 
• We understand that there will be virtually no elders or Board members soon - who will not just oversee, but actually undertake the day to day running of the congregation/premise?
• If I remain in Maxwell Mearns Castle Church what guarantee will you give that we get to call a new full-time minister after Scott leaves?
• If I remain in Maxwell Mearns Castle Church what guarantee will you give that we can remain in these premises for worship?
• If I remain in Maxwell Mearns Castle Church how long will it take for decisions to be made so that we can know if we can call a full minister or remain in the premises?
• If those of us who remain are small in number and there is none of our elders or Board members left, what will be our options for the future? 
• If all the elders, Board and members of the congregation remain on Scott's demission, would we be guaranteed the right to call a minister and have a full minister in our own premises?
• Would it not be helpful for the preservation of the premises to let those departing rent the premises from the start so that the buildings do not get vandalised or run down?
• Since those who are leaving are doing so because of denominational concerns and not because of any congregational issues, could those leaving not be permitted to remain in the building and even lead us in ecumenical worship (the New Church and remaining members of MMCC)? The Church of Scotland is always talking about local ecumenical cooperation - why could this not begin here immediately!? We could even ask the New Church to pay rent for the privilege. That would help finance our local congregation.
• Who will look after our tenants in the church flat if those leaving will not be around the property to watch out for them?
• Who will pay bills, organise the pay for the Playgroup staff, rent the halls and take money etc?  

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Letter from the Manse

Dear Congregation,
It was lovely to count about thirty of our congregation at Presbytery on Tuesday evening. They heard speeches pertaining to my resignation from the Church of Scotland and also the business of Presbytery in appointing an Interim Moderator to Maxwell Mearns Castle Church. As indicated before, this responsibility has now been given to Rev Adam Dillon of Sherbrooke Mosspark and Ibrox churches.

Some of you may be interested in what was said by our Presbytery Elder, David Merriman on your behalf! I was given opportunity to speak also. You will find David’s words and my own, below. I want to thank David for volunteering to speak and his extremely kind words.

More details will be forthcoming about my demission and also about the Interim Moderator. Please do take note of the details above re. a special meeting being held in the sanctuary this coming Tuesday.

With Warmest Regards,
Scott

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Glasgow Presbytery Meeting

Notes from meeting of 10th October 2023

At this week's Presbytery meeting both David Merriman (Presbytery Elder) and our minister Scott Kirkland spoke in regards to Scott's demitting from the CoS.
Below are extracts and you can read the full transcript of David's and Scott's statements here.

Extract of statement made by David:
I’m David Merriman, Presbytery Elder, Maxwell Mearns Castle Church. Moderator, Clerk, Members of Presbytery, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. I was elected chairman of the Nominations Committee when Maxwell Mearns became vacant 14 years ago. 

Twelve years on...we have been blessed with a minister who has been faithful to his Call and the preaching of God’s Word to us. His clear exposition and application of God’s Word has been a blessing to us all. Not only that, Scott has been a wonderful pastor to his flock throughout his ministry,... he has been a tremendous witness to all of us.

Normally, when a minister demits a charge, it is a sad time because he is moving away from the congregation. This is not the case here because a large number of the congregation are moving with Scott to form a new church with him as our minister. We have many happy memories of our time in the Church of Scotland and have many reasons to give thanks for the support of the Church of Scotland’s office bearers but, with a sense of great sadness, we now feel the time has come for us to leave. We want to wish the Church of Scotland the very best for the future and we will continue to hold you in our prayers. Thank you.
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Extract of Statement made by Scott regarding his demission from the Church of Scotland
For the last 27 years, I have been an ordained minister and had the privilege and joy of ministering amongst three congregations. Over these last 12 years, the Lord has placed on my heart a very special love for the people of Maxwell. I cannot express how fond of them I am.

Moderator, I suspect I will not really convey well tonight the sense of sadness and loss I have as I speak to you of my demission.
However, I must demit. because I believe the Church of Scotland has moved so far from my understanding of the Word of God as given in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments that I cannot follow the trajectory of the Church of Scotland any longer, in regard to Theology, Ethics or Practice.
Practically, I don’t recognise what we now call Presbyterianism;
When I reflect on biblical Presbyterianism, I would expect to see local congregations with the liberty to minister the grace of Jesus freely in their locations; I would expect to see a supportive network of congregations breathing a shared love of Christ and his gospel, and a desire to support one another in the proclamation of that gospel.
When I look at The Church of Scotland, I see a bureaucracy that is increasingly controlling and coercive. The “Mission Plan” is a present example of this. 
At Presbytery, we will soon be asked to agree that office bearers only have to subscribe to the Nicene Creed and Apostles’ Creed: two documents from the fourth century and one thousand years before the Reformation. Moderator, this would permit a breadth of belief among ministers and elders which would be unrecognisable as a reformed denomination.

Moderator, I have to demit tonight not because I believe what I have said tonight is true.
The reason I have to demit is because too many of you do not believe what I have said to be true. I have no place among you in the Church of Scotland any more.

I continue to pray with thanks for the many blessings I have received from the congregations of which I have been a part, and I pray for Christ’s Kingdom to be advanced through The Church of Scotland.

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Disturb us, Lord...

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

Attributed : Sir Francis Drake — 1577

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Ladybird Book of Maxwell

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McLachlan Family

We are thankful to God with the McLachlan family that little Rebekah has "rung the bell".

Having completed her cancer treatment she is currently cancer free. She has a long way to go but we share in being thankful to God for her present health. 
She has been surrounded by the prayers of many Christians from many churches.

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BLYTHSWOOD BOXES

We have just received our first delivery of shoeboxes for checking.

We will start checking Christmas shoeboxes on Wednesday 25 October.
Start time - 9.30 
Finish - 15.30
We plan to work in the same way as last year  in the room off the garage, Monday to Friday.
If you have a free hour/afternoon/ full day please do come along. Someone will be there over the lunch period and historically the afternoons have been quieter.
Tea/ coffee/juice provided.
If anyone would like to fill a shoebox there will be leaflets available next Sunday.
We would love to see our regulars and hopefully some new ones.

Further information from 
Denise Lowson or Lesley Young 
denise_lowson@yahoo.com

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Baffled in the Basement!

Denise and team have been working hard clearing the basement area and getting set up for this year's Blythswood boxes - see above.
The trolley shown below is a bit of a mystery as nobody knows who it belongs to. 
Any ideas? 

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The weekly prayer meeting is on Wednesdays at 7.15pm for 1 hour.

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Lift Our Eyes

The intention is to have a part of the magazine which helps us lift our eyes a bit and have us look outwards to the Mission field and church life across the world - Please do send in any suggestions and links for this.
This week we turn our eyes to Israel and Gaza.

The following is from Rev Muriel Pearson, Minister of St Andrews Jerusalem and Tiberias.

This is an extract of what Muriel wrote to Rev John MacGregor,  Convener of the World Mission Committee  - find the whole letter here.



At the moment we are in a ‘wait and see’ situation, but Gaza is under constant attack and all water, food and fuel has been stopped from entering. Most Israelis are totally traumatized by the horrific events of Saturday, and most will have lost someone or be concerned about hostages, or have had their faith in the military protection they thought they had shattered.

The government who have lost face massively are just now relying on massive military retaliation to rebuild confidence. The effect of this in Gaza is cataclysmic. Gaza is tiny, the size of the Isle of Arran, and has 2.3 m people, 47% of whom are children.

Something to tell Presbytery is that Christian Aid and partners, including the Church of Scotland are reviving prayers for peace in the middle east on Zoom on 24th October. A link to the Zoom can be got by emailing Andrew Tomlinson ATomlinson@christianaid.org 

Points for Prayer

· Remember the dead, the injured, the bereaved of both sides: each one made in the image of God
· Pray for leadership with vision, courage and compassion here in Israel-Palestine and around the world
· Pray for an immediate cease fire and humanitarian aid to Gaza, and for the safety of all hostages held in Gaza
· Pray for leaders on the world stage to behave with integrity, in accordance with international law and respecting the human rights of all
· Pray for those, especially peace activists who feel God has abandoned them, that hope is lost.

I find the Christian Aid prayer helpful:
Pray not for Arab or Jew, for Palestinian or Israeli,
but pray rather for ourselves,
that we might not divide them in our prayers
but keep them both together in our hearts.

With thanks,
Muriel

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Overnight Welcome Centre - Team Member

J O B  V A C A N C Y

Glasgow City Mission’s Overnight Welcome Centre is looking for one more member of staff.

Fixed Term, £12.88 per hour
 
We're looking for ONE more member of staff to join our team for this season's Overnight Welcome Centre. We're looking for compassionate, kind and caring individuals who genuinely want to see lives changed and get excited about the idea of ending somebody's cycle of homelessness.

The full job description and an application pack can be found by following this link: 
The deadline for applications is end of day 19 October 2023.

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We love to welcome guests old and new to the Coffee Club!

To whet your appetite here's the program for the next few weeks;

• 17th October Musical Medley Sandra . Maxwell Message - Sandra
• 24th October Desert Island Discs with Margaret and Marlene
• 31st October Quiz Time. Maxwell Message - Laspic  

Elizabeth

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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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Safeguarding at Maxwell Mearns