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FORUM FOCUS

The magazine of

Leith Churches Forum

March 2012

Vol. 41/12

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From the Chair

John Tait

Picking up on the changes and new opportunities that are ours to take forward with joy and hope we begin our journey together into 2012.

May I take this opportunity to wish you all every blessing in this new chapter in the life of Leith Churches Forum!

Since last I wrote Elizabeth Youngson has left Leith and taken up her new charge in Aberdeen.

Many of you I’m sure had opportunity to say farewell and to wish Elizabeth and Graeme every blessing for the future.

Elizabeth made many significant and important contributions to the life of Leith St Andrew’s Church and to Leith Churches Forum and we will all miss her.

So Leith St Andrew’s Church is now travelling onwards in vacancy and looking to find a new Minister. We wish them every blessing under the guidance and support of their Interim Moderator, Rev Dr. Russell Moffat, Minister of St Martin’s Church and their Locum Rev Sara Embleton.

South Leith Church, as I write, have a Sole Nominee and are looking forward to hav-ing their new Minister in post before Easter. We wish them also every blessing as they come to the completion of their vacancy journey.

Pilrig St Paul’s will also face changes in a few months as I retire in October and Or-ganist & Choirmaster Martin Ritchie moves on, following God’s call.

So together we look to practical rebirth in our working together in the light of East-er when Jesus brought new life and hope to those who wondered what the future held for them

Let us continue to draw closer together as fellow Christians in Leith - let us be more open to share our thoughts, our fears, our hopes and our joys. So may we more truly know God’s presence among us and have our hearts burn within us as we share the Good News of God’s love with the people in our community. May God bless you all!

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Ministry Team Report

Jennifer Stark

As 2011 becomes ‘last year’, the Ministry Team keeps moving forward! Our No-

vember meeting was a smaller group than usual, as Elizabeth Youngson had just left

Leith St Andrews, and Alex McAspurren was ill; but for the first time in some

months, we had a ‘South Leith’ presence in Dawn Birkinshaw. It was good to have

the chance to get to know her better and hear news from South Leith first hand.

We decided not to meet in December, but our January meeting was back to full

strength, with Dawn representing South Leith and Ronnie McAlister (deputy Session

Clerk) joining us from Leith St Andrews, as well as Sara – past and present locum!

This gave us all a chance to worship and talk together, exchanging news eg. on the

Presbytery Plan and common challenges such as church heating systems!

All of us feel that the Forum Epiphany Service went very well indeed, with

thoughtful team-led worship and lots of people involved. We were very grateful to

Pilrig St Paul’s for hosting, and particularly for their musical input. We spent some

time discussing children and young people’s work: more than one church is finding

it difficult to recruit leaders and/or build up their younger membership. On the

other hand, initiatives such as Messy Church provide spiritual input and community

within a church context for many children and families, even if they do not come on

Sunday. Part of the answer may lie in integrating children more into the main ser-

vice. We explored the idea of more joint work, either as a Forum or with the other

Leith churches, and affirmed the benefits of looking at what other churches are

doing - there are many ideas and resources that can be shared across denomina-

tions.

Outreach Team Report

Roy Eprile

There was a successful night at south Leith halls on Saturday 26th November with

an excellent buffet meal with Rev. John Bell as our guest speaker, who was present-

ed with a Scottish silver quaich as a thank you.

The team has not met since the end of November but will meet in February or

March when I will be stepping down as chair.

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In Appreciation of Rev. Elizabeth Youngson

Valerie McIntosh (Session Clerk, Leith St Andrew’s)

I am delighted to have been given this opportunity to write a few words about Rev Elizabeth Youngson, a warm, caring and outgoing lady who always puts other people first in her list of priorities - the most important being her Lord.

After her ordination in Aberdeen and preaching there she joined the Presbytery of Edinburgh in 1999 and was initially minister at St Martins church at Bingham / Magdalene. In June 2006 Elizabeth was inducted in Leith St Andrew’s church and from then we have been blessed with a minister who has been like a breath of fresh air in our church. Over the years she has greatly endeared herself to our congregation and I personally consider her as one of my special friends

Elizabeth came among us bringing a character filled with generosity, energy, commitment and above all her love of Jesus. With her tremendous faith and in-spiring leadership she has made life in our church, our parish and Leith communi-ty more interesting, more meaningful and, as laughter is one of life’s greatest gifts, more fun.

She has been an extremely enthusiastic minister with a passion for preaching which could be most challenging and innovative making the gospel relevant to this day and generation. She holds a broad theological outlook and promotes an all-inclusive ministry. Being a gifted leader and motivator she always encouraged the involvement of the congregation (including the children of course) in wor-ship. She also has a lively mind, and is well read bringing a wealth of learning and experience to her preaching.

It was in pastoral work that Elizabeth excelled, being interested in and relating to all age groups and was a regular and welcomed visitor to schools, hospitals and homes. It was her mission to serve her Lord and to shepherd His flock - an im-portant contributor to the life and growth of Leith St Andrew’s especially with the most successful union with St Thomas Junction Road church in October 2009. The church has also welcomed many other new members over the last few years. In Mission and Outreach Elizabeth set up Messy Church four years ago which still continues its success in encouraging young families to be fully involved, There is always a ‘busy buzz’ about Messy Church and the numbers attending prove that church is not exclusively for Sundays. On Wednesday mornings she initiated the popular Oasis of Peace - a tranquil and friendly time for worship, fellowship and prayer requests.

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We also have a crèche on Sunday mornings, a Mother and Toddler group and a Young at Heart Club (for the not so young )- all ventures inspired by Elizabeth.

Over the last five and a half years Elizabeth has tended to our sick and to our departed, baptised our children, married our parishioners and become one of our family - indeed proved to us we are all members of a larger family – God’s family . She has helped us come to terms with tragedy and also helped us celebrate our successes. The evidence of Elizabeth’s hand is everywhere. And now she has gone to Mastrick church in Aberdeen. She is going home. Elizabeth has given so much of herself that we are going to miss her dreadfully. Together with her husband Graeme they are a couple who deserve not just the greatest respect but our genuine and grateful thanks and admiration. Everyone at Leith St An-drew’s wishes Elizabeth and Graeme health, happiness, fulfilment and lots of love in the new ministry in Aberdeen.

Preparation for Easter:

Were you there..... when they crucified my Lord?’- A Lenten Study Course at North Leith Parish Church, Session House, 1a Madeira Place: Thursdays, 7.30pm (23rd February- 29th March incl.)

Please join us for one or more Thursdays to look at the people that were inti-mately involved with the events of the first ‘Easter’- and the crucifixion of our Lord. Learn from the Gospels what their experiences can teach us today.

You do not have to buy any resources, or bring anything with you - other than yourself and a desire to know God better. All will be made welcome. Any que-ries should be passed to Alex, the minister at North Leith Parish Church.

A minister asked a little boy if he said his prayers every night. “Yes, sir.” he re-plied. “And do you always say them in the morning, too?” the minister asked. “No, sir, I am not scared in the daytime”, the boy replied.

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Heart and Soul 2012 — Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh -

A celebration for the whole Church on Sunday May 20,

2012, 1pm-6pm.

Following on from last year, we have just about doubled the amount of space in the gardens that we have available which means there's room for even more people! Are you coming? There will be a whole range of music & worship styles, drama, storytelling, interviews, messy church, labyrinth, clowning … culminating in closing worship at the Ross Band-stand – all the ingredients that make for a great atmosphere and a chance to meet old friends and make some new ones from around the country.

Enrol for the massed choir.

A”Heart and Soul” story to tell? If your congregation has a story to tell about how it is, or aspires to be the “heart & soul” of the local community why not share that story with everyone in Princes Street gardens? John Tait, chair of Leith Churches Forum, is keen that we could be involved in this. Do you have any ideas? Contact John.

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News of God’s Call to Martin Ritchie

John M. Tait

Martin Ritchie came to work with Pilrig St Paul’s as Organist & Choirmaster in January 2008 and throughout the past 4 years he has given ‘heart and soul’ in his enthusiastic and committed work for the congregation , for the life of Pilrig St Paul’s Church and Leith Churches Forum His skill and en-thusiasm have brought to reality his vision of music being recognised and used as a vehicle for Christian outreach.

Martin studied at New College a few years ago and was awarded a BD degree. Before coming to PSP, Martin had already been considering seek-ing ordination within the Scottish Episcopal Church.

Over recent months, Martin again experienced God’s call to Ministry and he is currently engaged in a 6 month period of assessment, by the Church of Scotland following which a decision will be made regarding his ac-ceptance as a Candidate for the Church of Scotland Ministry of Word and Sacrament.

During this 6 month period Martin will continue to work as Organist & Choir-master of Pilrig St Paul’s Church fulfilling all the areas of work he currently covers.

However, thereafter, if accepted as a Ministry Candidate, Martin will be re-quired to undergo a period of post graduate study and will also have a se-ries of attachments to other congregations to widen his experience and complete his training.

This will make it impossible for him to continue to work as Organist/Choirmaster of Pilrig St Paul’s and the Kirk Session has accepted that Mar-tin will step down as Organist/Choirmaster of Pilrig St Paul’s Church as of the end of June 2012.

We are now looking towards continuing our work with young people in Vo-cal Vibes and Singchronicity and also our outreach work through the Pilrig Chorus. To this end we are looking to appoint a new person or indeed a small team in time to start the new session following the summer holidays.

We wish Martin every blessing as he works towards this new phase of his life in God’s service.

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Some services & events in the Forum congregations that you

are welcome to attend.

Stations of the Cross in St Mary's Star of the Sea at 7.30pm on Friday

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April.

Easter Day services in all churches at 11am on 8th

April. Leith St. Andrew's Messy Church: Last Thursday of the month from 5 - 7pm; A family friendly, fun and noisy, messy time of games, crafts, stories and worship and a light tea. March 29th, April 26th and May 31st. Oasis of Peace at Leith St Andrew's Our quiet reflective prayer services began again on Ash Wednesday 22nd February at 10.15am. A time of peace, worshipping, sharing and praying followed by a cuppa and chat. We will probably meet in the Easter Road Hall to begin with as it is cosier! All are welcome. Young at Heart at Leith St Andrews First and third Tuesday of each month from 2 - 3.30pm.: A time of fellow-ship, making new friends, learning new things, just a space to be...Anyone in receipt of a senior bus pass is welcome to come and join us St Andy's Teeny Tots - change of meeting time : We meet on Wednes-day afternoons in the Easter Road Hall at Leith St Andrew's from 2pm - 3.30pm for fun for babies and toddlers and their parents/carers. Cost is £1 per session which includes tea/coffee for parents and a healthy snack for the children. We now have a waiting list so if you want to join the list

please email us at standysteenytots@gmail.com

Coffee & Cake for Christian Aid

A coffee morning will be held at Leith St Andrew's on Saturday 12th May from 10am-12noon to raise funds for Christian Aid. Entry of £2.50 includes coffee or tea and home baked goodies. We hope to have a baking stall, a book stall and possibly live entertainment!

Easter Services at Pilrig St Paul’s

5th April @7.30pm: Maundy Thursday Reflective service in Open Door-

way.

6th April @7.30pm : Good Friday Evening Service.

Easter Sunday @ 8.30am: Early Morning Easter Service

@ 11.00am: Service celebrating –Jesus is risen!

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South Leith Worship at One at South Leith church every Thursday at 1pm – prayers for the community and the world. Mid week services at South Leith halls at 7pm. on second Tuesday of the month. Short alternative services. Fair Trade Tea & coffee afterwards and a chance to chat & discuss the service.

Holy Week services

Monday to Thursday services in the Halls at 7pm and the Good Friday

Service at 3.00pm in South Leith Church.

Pilrig St. Paul's Open Doorway Tuesdays and Thursdays 11am to1pm. Serving tea, coffee & biscuits (donations welcome). Fairtrade goods on sale. Church is open and all are welcome. Coffee & home baking at South Leith halls every Saturday 10-12. Near-ly New stall every second week. The Perc U Up Café at South Leith Parish Church has just signed up to a Loyalty Card Scheme through Edinburgh Community Cafés. The idea is that you purchase 5 soups and your sixth one is free - what more can a body ask for? Also, if you want to visit lots of different cafés - a few in Leith, you can enter into a prize draw.

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Leith Churches Together/ Ocean Terminal – January 2012

Jennifer Stark

Leith Churches Outreach Project

Our LCT Christmas Carols @Ocean Terminal (on behalf of *Dr Bell’s Fam-ily Centre) went just fine, raising c. £75 for this local charity. We had a prime afternoon slot on Saturday 17 December and had a good shot at putting Santa’s Grotto out of business for an hour! Some of Dr Bell’s staff/supporters came along to add to the mix and the repertoire included a new carol by John Bell to the tune of ……a well-known modern Scottish song (title known to anyone who came to the Forum St Andrew’s Night event). I would like to thank everyone who came to sing, chat to onlookers or hand out leaflets, and particularly Martin Ritchie who gave up his Saturday after-noon to conduct us from the keyboard. Given the current economic cli-mate, I was struck by the number of people who went out of their way to donate.

The Christmas Prayer Tree in the mall again collected a large number of prayer or remembrance cards (slightly fewer than last year, perhaps due to the less central position) and the prayers were circulated to some of the Leith clergy to include in one of their Christmas services. In January, for the first time in some years, Leith Churches Together marked the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with a united service, hosted this year by St Mary’s Star of the Sea. The theme and liturgy is devised each year by a different country. This year’s was the work of the Church in Poland, and took as its theme, ‘We shall all be changed’, a theme made poignant by the transformations, often violent, that Poland has experienced over the centuries. St Mary’s was a welcoming, peaceful place for us to worship together and it was good to meet old and new friends afterwards over re-freshments in the Parish Centre.

* Dr. Bell’s is on Junction Place and runs a small café Mon.-Thurs. – worth a visit for its home made soup…..

I've learned.... That opportunities are never lost; someone will

take the ones you miss.

I've learned.... That when you harbour bitterness, happiness will

dock elsewhere

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A healthy Church Part 2:

Sara Embleton (Locum minister at Leith St. Andrew's)

In the last magazine I introduced the idea of measuring the health of our congregations by applying a set of 7 signs or marks. These signs were dis-tilled from a process of consultation with C of E congregations as they re-flected honestly on their own congregations and asked the question: How can we be more effective as a Church in this area? Here then, in a little more detail, are the 7 signs of a healthy Church.

A healthy Church:

1. Is energized by faith; rather than just keeping things going or trying to survive.

Worship and sacramental life move people to experience God’s love

Energy comes from a desire to serve God and others

Engages with Scripture in creative ways that connect with life

Helps people to grow in faith and share their faith.

2. Faces the cost of change and growth rather than resisting change and fearing failure.

While embracing the past, it dares to take on new ways of doing things

Takes risks: admits when things are not working and learns from experi-ence

Crises: responds creatively to challenges that face the church and commu-nity

Positive experiences of change are affirmed and built on.

3. Seeks to find out what God wants: discerning the Spirit’s leading rather than trying to please everyone.

Vocation: seeks to explore what God wants it to be and do

Vision: develops and communicates a shared sense of where it is going

Mission priorities: consciously sets both immediate and long-term goals

Able to make sacrifices, personal and corporate in bringing about their goals and living out their faith.

4. Has an outward-looking focus with a whole-life rather than a church life concern

deeply rooted in the local community, working in partnership with other de-nominations, faiths, secular groups and networks passionate and prophetic about justice and peace, locally and globally

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makes connections between faith and daily living responds to human need by loving service.

5. Operates as a community: rather than as a club or a religious organisation.

Relationships are nurtured, often in small groups, so that people feel accepted and are helped to grow in faith and in service.

Leadership: lay and ordained work as a team to develop locally appropriate ex-pressions of the seven marks of a healthy church

Lay ministry: the different gifts, experiences and faith journeys of all are valued and given expression in and beyond the life of the church.

6. Makes room for all: being inclusive rather than exclusive.

Welcome: works to include newcomers into the life of the church.

Children and young people are helped to belong, contribute and be nurtured in their faith.

Enquirers are encouraged to explore and experience faith in Christ.

Diversities: different social and ethnic backgrounds, mental and physical abilities, and ages are seen as strengths.

7. Does a few things and does them well: focused rather than frenetic.

Does the basics well especially worship, pastoral care, stewardship and admin-istration

Occasional offices; makes sense of life and communicates faith

Being good news as a church in its attitudes and ways of thinking

Enjoys what it does and is relaxed about what is not being done.

Are we brave enough for such a process of honest reflection?

Shall I not watch with You one hour?

Now?

Thank you Lord. I have watched, and seen, and passed through sorrow into re-lease: as if through death to resurrection.

Why is it, Lord, that I keep denying myself by denying You?

(Godfacts by Dick Williams)

In the Garden of Eden, when challenged by God, Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent who didn't have a leg to stand on.

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Port Chaplain

Tim Bell

The LCT Parcel Wrap for seafarers was very successful. Together we made well over 600 parcels, which were distributed in Leith, Hound Point, Grangemouth, Braefoot Bay, and some elsewhere. It was a joint project with Sailors’ Society, Mission to Seafarers and Apostleship of the Sea – who jointly financed it – and it was all ably held together by Jennifer Stark. We were particularly pleased with the Christmas card designed by a girl from St Mary’s RC School. Thanks to all who made a contribution of whatever kind.

January was a very quiet month for Leith as far as cargo ships were concerned, but we had several oil-field and other specialist ships tied up for a good few weeks. The men usually work 12-hour days, so they don’t have much time or en-ergy (or money!) to get into town, but I know they think of Leith as a friendly place. It’s cold, and, for them, expensive, but we can’t do much about that!

We are expecting more cruise ships in Leith this summer than last year – that is, almost forty – so the team of volunteer visitors will be kept busy. Approaching its third season, the project has come to the attention of the ecumenical workers in the Church of Scotland, as well as the Merchant Navy Welfare Board, and we are being encouraged to keep it going. It’s good to know that projects like this are springing up around the country, which helps give the companies the confidence to agree to us coming on board, and it certainly gives the crews something to look forward to.

When her daughter, Kelli, said her bedtime prayers, she would bless every family member, every friend, and every animal (current and past). For several weeks, after they had finished the nightly prayer, Kelli would say, 'And all girls.' This soon became part of her nightly routine, to include this closing. Her mother's curiosity got the best of her and she asked her, 'Kelli, why do you always add the part about all girls?' Her response, 'Because everybody always finish their prayers by saying 'All Men'!'

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Pilrig Chorus Notes A big thank you to everyone from the Forum who came along to support our Christmas concert with Singchronicity on 11th December. The sum of £800 after expenses was shared between Christian Aid and Pilrig Chorus music fund. A great effort! Thanks also to the folks who helped with front of house and cater-ing – it was a big job managing such a large crowd. We should also thank the performers too for singing and playing so entertainingly and movingly – many people have commented on how much they enjoyed the varied repertoire.

Our next concert is on Saturday 31st March at 7.30pm in Pilrig St Paul’s. The programme is a beautiful and inspiring selection:

John Rutter Requiem

Gabriel Fauré Cantique de Jean Racine

Gabriel Fauré Messe Basse

Howard Goodall Love divine all loves excelling

Admission is free with an opportunity to give a donation towards the Chorus music purchase funds.

Singchronicity – Grease!

Our Forum youth choir, Singchronicity, are working away on our production of the musical show, Grease, which will be performed on Saturday 24th March at 2.30pm and 7.30pm in the Church Hall at Pilrig St Paul’s.

As you know, the hall is quite small so please contact Martin Ritchie soon to re-serve tickets. Tickets are £5 each and we need to sell out to balance the books on our youth music projects this season. Please come along and consider in-viting friends and family. You’re guaranteed an entertaining time, and we’ve got some great talent on show!

Martin Ritchie: mobile: 07984 466 855 or email: martinsritchie@gmail.com or see me on a Sunday morning at Pilrig St Paul’s.

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that the congregations of North Leith and South Leith have agreed to join Pilrig St Paul’s in this venture and to make it a shared Forum project.

Basically, we are looking for volunteers to host a couple of the young people on the nights of 14th and 15th June. More detail will be provided as soon as it’s available, but we expect the group to be of teenage age range. American church youth groups tend to be excellent ambassadors for their country and are very well behaved, so be assured that you’d most likely be charmed by their company rather than stressed out!

The group have been hosted by various Edinburgh congregations in the past and it was lovely to be approached by them for 2012.

As the project is to be a Forum venture, we’re planning to have a “Church Con-cert Crawl” on the evening of Friday 15th June, when the choir will perform in each of our churches for around 30 minutes, then move on to the next building for another wee concert. Each performance will contain different repertoire and will give audiences the chance to experience the choir in our very different build-ings, each with its own distinctive ambience, or to hear the group in only one venue if they wish. We’d hope to round up with a social gathering at the end of the last performance.

South Leith vacancy update

Dawn Birkenshaw

The Nominating Committee has been working hard over the past few months. Interviews were held in November and possible candidates for the post of our new Minister were heard over a few Sundays in January. As a result of all of this activity the Committee asked the Rev. Iain May to preach as Sole Nominee on Sunday 19th February. I am pleased to say that the vote to accept him was unan-imous

Due to the advanced position that South Leith has found itself in with it's vacan-cy process, our Locum Minister, Rev. Sara Embleton, was asked to take up a simi-lar position at Leith St. Andrew's with effect from 15th January. South Leith said goodbye to Sara during our New year's Day service. During her time with us Sara introduced some new initiatives e.g. a monthly All Age Service. We are sad to see her go just as we were getting to know her, and wish her well as she crosses the Links to her new charge.

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Your Representatives

Co-ordinating Team Outreach Team

Stuart Duffus SL Andrew Campbell NL

Lily Gilhooly PSP Colin Cunningham SL

Margaret Gray SL Alex Edington PSP.

Norman Lindsay NL Roy Eprile (chair) PSP

Stuart Lithgow Lst.A Ewan Lawson LSt.A

Valarie McIntosh LSt.A Jennifer Stark LCT

Rev John Tait (chair) PSP

Mark Wexelstein PSP

Forum Focus Team

Joanne Baird LSt.A

Ian Bethune PSP

Stuart Duffus (editor) SL

Isobel Evans SL

Jimmy Hudson NL

Sigrid Lithgow LSt.A

Dawn Moloney LSt.A

www.leithchurchesforum.org.uk

Feedback or articles and information for the June Focus should be given to your representative by 21

st April for the editor. Alternatively e- mail to the

editor at stuart@duffus.org.