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June 2017 Letter
Submitted by nanda.groenewald on Thu, 01/06/2017 - 15:37WORD OF LIFE
At the end of May the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland took place. Although I wasn’t a commissioner at the Assembly this year, I followed bits and pieces of the debates via live streaming, and I attended Heart & Soul in Princess Street Gardens on the Sunday. The theme of the General Assembly this year was “Word of Life”.
Each year HM The Queen appoints a Lord High Commissioner as her representative to the General Assembly, unless she attends in person. This year, Her Majesty appointed HRH The Princess Royal. I was very fortunate to meet Princess Anne briefly at the West Lothian Presbytery Tent and I was extremely impressed by her speech. She said that if she had to choose a “word of life”, she would choose “love”. Because love is what she saw and experienced during her week at the Assembly.
And you know, that made me really proud to be a member of the Church of Scotland. Because in this broken world, we need nothing more than love. And anybody who ever has anything to do with the church, should feel and experience nothing but love. If there are divisions and in-fighting and gossiping going on in the church, how on earth will we be able to get the love of God spread to the outside world?
If there is one thing I love about the General Assembly, it is the fact that it reminds us that we are not alone here in West Calder and Polbeth Harwood. We are actually just a very small part of a huge national church, which is in turn part of a massive world-wide Christian movement…
So, if we start locally to let our lives as members of the Church of Scotland be ruled by love, this love will spread nationally and internationally. And to me, love is like glue – if we use it correctly, we will be able to mend the broken world we live in... Jesus took the first step, let’s follow his example!
With LOVE,
Nanda
Holiday Club: Registration Now Open - "Landlubbers"
Submitted by lorna.graham on Tue, 30/05/2017 - 22:15
Registration is now open for this summer's holiday club "Landlubbers" which runs from 7th -11th of August.
It is open to all children who are age to start the school this August, right up to children who are currently in P7 going into S1 in August. This is an action packed week and it's free!
Registration forms and post boxes are located in Polbeth Harwood church, The West Kirk church hall and Parkhead Primary school.
Or you can download the form, complete and save it, then email it to: clovenford@gmail.com
Spaces fill up very quickly so don't delay, book your place today on our Paradise Island this summer!
Sermon 14th May 2017: Christian Aid
Submitted by liz.dyer on Wed, 24/05/2017 - 11:10File Attachments:
May 2017 Letter
Submitted by nanda.groenewald on Tue, 02/05/2017 - 16:59
Dear Congregations
South Africa has been in the news a lot over the past few weeks. Good things happened: different political parties took hands to make their voices heard together; but bad things happened too: protests got out of hand and property got damaged and people got hurt. But it’s not only in South Africa that political turmoil is raging… It seems that almost all over the world violence and hatred is becoming the norm. But that’s not the way it should be.
Nelson Mandela said: “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People learn to hate; and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
Wow… And Nelson Mandela is probably the one person who could justify his right to hate. But instead, he chose to love. If only more people realised how strong love is.
All of us who believe in Christ have seen the power of true love in Jesus as he died on the cross, and rose to new life again. He did all of that for us, selflessly, because he loves us.
What is love? In 1 Corinthians 13 we find the answer to this question:
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Let’s choose to love.
Always, no matter what.
Even when it’s hard.
Because love is what our world needs.
May God bless you all.
With love,
Nanda