From the minister

Note to those of you who are housebound: Please enjoy the following article but don’t take it to heart – the church should come to you.
The UCB ‘Word for Today’ Bible reading notes asked this question recently: “What’s your reason for not going to church?”

Before you answer, read: Ten Reasons Why I Never Wash!
1) I was forced to wash as a child;
2) People who wash are all hypocrites; they think they are cleaner than everyone else;
3) There are so many different kinds of soap; I just can’t decide which one is best
for me;
4) I used to wash, but I got bored and stopped doing it;
5) I only wash on special occasions such as Christmas and Easter;
6) None of my friends washes;
7) I’ll start washing when I get older and dirtier;
I don’t have time to wash;
9) The bathroom is never warm enough in winter or cool enough in summer;
10) The people who make soap are only after your money!

Sound familiar?

We’re coming up to one of those great “wash days” soon as we celebrate Christmas together. But just as washing is best practiced frequently so is worshipping!

This will be my last Christmas with you, so I hope to be able to worship with as many of you as possible before I move on. As the church is entering a time without a minister then it would also be encouragement for one another if numbers attending remain high in worship every Sunday. So please make it your habit to come along to church regularly.

The Psalmist encourages us by saying “Let us go into the house of the Lord” (Psalm 122.1). He knew there are truths taught in God’s house that you won’t hear anywhere else. In Church you’ll find a spiritual family to belong to, a faith to live by, and a focus to get our eyes where they should be; on Christ!

So I look forward to worshipping with you between now and Christmas, and your fellow congregation look forward to worshipping with you often as you set out together on a new part of your journey.

I pray God’s blessings will be with you.

Jamie Milliken

When I was reaching the end of my probationary period in St Kentigern’s, Kilmarnock, we began to look ahead to the next stage in our journey through ministry. So it was a day in the spring of 2005 that my family and I jumped into the car and came down to Dumfries to explore where this journey might lead us next.

Reflecting on that visit, there is much to remember but in particular I was very impressed by two wonderful Session Clerks in Sheila Wilson at Caerlaverock and Isobel Evans here at St Mary’s-Greyfriars’.

Over the three or so years that I have now known Isobel she has been a great friend and confidant and a hard-working, thoughtful, compassionate, loyal Session Clerk serving the church. I have also heard from many sources, within the congregation and Presbytery, that in the past she has helped guide St Mary’s Church through a difficult time and was a valued and effective contributor in the Union that formed St Mary’s-Greyfriars’.

Since I arrived at St Mary’s-Greyfriars’ we have had plenty of good times – and some not-so-good times. There have been some moments in our Kirk Session and Congregational Board meetings when you could cut the tension with a knife and through these testing times I have sometimes struggled. There have been several occasions when Isobel has been my strength when I have felt fragile and a wise friend to guide me when I felt lost. I also have an inkling that there were times when she sheltered me and sorted a lot of things out quietly, diffusing many a situation and bringing healing and health.

When Isobel retired as our Session Clerk on October 5 I opened the Session meeting with a reading from Matthew 20:25-28. I read from this in recognition of the servant leadership that Isobel has diligently expressed in her role over the past 10-and-a-half years. As Isobel now retires we wish her healing and good health, please take the opportunity to thank her for her dedication and years of service and look forward to continuing to serve Christ together in new areas as He leads.

We are thankful that David Matheson, our Depute Session Clerk, has agreed to serve as Session Clerk. David is a much respected member of our congregation and Presbytery and was Session Clerk of Greyfriars’ Church, so he comes with years of quality experience. David is however currently undertaking his training as a Reader for the Church of Scotland and due to these important commitments to the wider Church he has agreed to be Session Clerk until a replacement is found.

During this month we will put the mechanism into place to appoint a new Session Clerk. In this period of change please keep Isobel, David, the Kirk Session and congregation in your prayers as we seek to find someone who will bring their own gifts to the position and pray that God will speak clearly into their willing hearts.

In Christ’s Service

Jamie Milliken

Recently I found myself in an in-between place. Too early for my next meeting and too late to do much else, so I took time out in the Crichton grounds for a walk on a beautiful autumnal day. As I walked I could not resist that old habit of picking up a conker, just fallen from the tree, shining and half in its shell. It was smooth and fresh, new born, whole and filled with potential – a great tree in the waiting.
But on reflection that’s not the way I remember we liked them. As a boy we toughened them up, we drilled a hole through the middle of them, tied them up and battered them with all our might against one another.

As I rolled that new conker in my hand it seemed that our life is so like this. We are born fresh and whole, filled with great potential but soon that changes. We get toughened up, sin drills holes in our hearts, hurt tears bits off us, we spend so much of life clashing against others, people get broken.

Jesus, God with us, walked among us and as he experienced our brokenness first hand it made him so sad. So as he walked and talked he healed and restored. He took the battered and the broken and restored them; he took those who were mentally scarred and healed their minds. He taught and he told of his purpose in being with us, he said: “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)

Jesus still moves among us, he is still God with us, by his Spirit he is still healing our hurts and offering abundant life for us. So if you are feeling broken, if you are feeling that your life has been like a chestnut; your potential stolen, your heart broken and you are battered and sore then turn to the one who came to restore your life and make you whole, “a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17).

Please trust in Jesus. Let him be tender with your wounds, he comes to heal and restore. Let him begin his work of renewal. Reach out to him in prayer and you will find he is reaching out to you, read his word and take his promises deep within and let them heal your soul, gather together for communion at the close of this month and remember our giving Lord and share in his healing meal.

There is a day to come when we shall meet him face to face and we shall be made completely new and whole, shining like the sun. But until then, open up to him and let his healing warmth rest upon you and know deep within the restoration that he alone can bring.

In Christ

Jamie Milliken

I grew up in a village split down the middle. The main road that ran right through the heart of Dundonald was only about seven yards wide, but it could have been seven miles wide, or an ocean or a mountain range, because the gulf between the two was huge. People on either side of the road had a terrible distrust for one another and they defined themselves as being not like those on the other side.

When the better weather and light nights came round, some of the villagers’ differences were laid aside and those young and daft enough would join forces to ride out and fight the next village. Incidentally, that was Dreghorn where Donald Campbell (minister at Dumfries St George’s) is from - you’ll be pleased to hear your ministers didn’t get involved!

Dreghorn and Dundonald were much the same: same demographics, same major employers; same people just a different village. But for no reason, or some reason now unknown and lost in history, we fought.

I went over the hill to Marr College for my secondary schooling; it gathered people from outlying villages and different areas of Troon. There were fights there, too, between different geographical groups.

What is it with us that we choose to fall out with and fight and distrust and bad-mouth and resent our neighbours whose only difference from us is the accident of whatever side of the road, whatever village, whatever side of the hill you happen to live on?

When I was wee I wasn’t one for going to church much, but one thing that I did notice was that the church in Dundonald drew its members from both sides of the road (it was about the only body in the community that managed to do this successfully).

God knows human nature is to tear apart and that is why he encourages us to put our differences (real or imagined) behind us as members of his new community. In the Bible letter called Galatians it says of the church ‘there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women, you are all one in union with Christ Jesus’.

I really hope the same can be said for St Mary’s-Greyfriars’ Parish Church. We are a united congregation seeking to enable everyone to draw near and worship God. We are one church among many in this town and we are all part of the body of Christ. So as we enter into a new session of the church year, let’s make a point of breaking down any barriers that divide and move on as one body together to love God, love our neighbour and grow in Christ.

Jamie Milliken

We have launched into a series on the Ten Commandments. With a few detours on the way to accommodate my holidays and special services we will be studying these until the middle of September. The Ten Commandments are crucial to godly living as they lead to a right relationship with God and others. Whilst only 300 or so words long they have shaped our society and it is also reasonable to say that the unravelling of society that we are experiencing today coincides with our general lack of regard for God's Ten Commandments.

As a member of Christ's Church and a follower of his ways you will, I am sure, seek to obey God by living according to his will. However, when you have done this you will probably have found that life gets harder because you are moving against the downward flow of culture, but you will also have found that it gets better because you are living in the will of God. People look to you as a member of the church and they spot hypocrisy from a thousand miles, but they also see in you hope when you live well. It is so important that we continue to be beacons of light in our darkening world, because in us is God's hope for salvation.

Come along to Sunday services and be refreshed by His Word by taking a refresher course in the Ten Commandments and be encouraged to go and live them out authentically as followers of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

There have been a number of enquiries from people considering joining the church and to enable this we will be running another course of Christianity Explored. A course has been planned to begin on Thursday September 11. This will run for 10 evenings (which again, allowing for holidays, takes us to the end of November) and thereafter we intend to welcome new members by profession of faith. If you know anyone considering joining the church then please let them know.

The course is not just for people considering membership but also for those who want to know more of the faith we profess. If you are interested in learning more about what we believe (whether you are an existing member or just curious) you will also be very welcome.
If you would like to sign up or are looking for more information then please get in touch with me at the contact details on the front of the magazine.

Come and join us at our early all-age worship service at 9.30am in the hall or our usual service at 11.30am in the church - as always, all are welcome. Have a great summer.
In Christ's service
Jamie Milliken