Minister's Update

“Be doers of the word and not hearers only.” So says James, the brother of Jesus in his letter (1:22). It remains good advice.

There are various ways in which we tend not to be doers of the word. One way is to think that we are being good Christians if we are good listeners – if we listen to sermons, read our Bibles and Christian books. If we are not doing anything with all that knowledge, we are being hearers only, not doers.

Another way in which we tend not to be doers is to think we are good Christians if we are good talkers. We all like to talk. “It’s good to talk”, as the saying goes. It’s doubly good for Christians to talk. God is the God of talk. He made us talkers with the gift of speech and language. He talks to us in the Bible and he delights that we should talk to him in prayer and talk with each other.

But he is not only the God of talk. He is the God of action. There is nothing that displeases him more than that his children should be all talk – all talk and no action. But so often that’s what we’re like. We’re like the typical spectator. We talk a good game. But put us on the pitch and we couldn’t cope. Or we’re like the reviewer or critic who can criticise but can’t create.

God wants some action. And there is a great need for action. There are so many things to be doing in the work of his church – witnessing, helping, supporting, administrating, caring, giving, teaching, leading, cleaning, inviting, writing, visiting, organising . . . . the list is endless. But sometimes it’s not easy to find people willing to work. We are slow to volunteer.

How different is Jesus. He is the ultimate volunteer! He did not need to come into this world and die for our salvation. He volunteered for it. He didn’t just talk about it – he did it.

How different was Isaiah. The Lord asked, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?” Isaiah responded, “Here am I. Send me!” (6:8)

We have talked the talk. Now we must walk the walk.

Alex MacDonald

Assistant Minister's Update

These last two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) I have had the pleasure and privilege of attending the 3rd Scottish Ministry Assembly in Glasgow at St George’s Tron. The main speakers were Sinclair Ferguson of the Tron, John Piper and Ralph Davis from America and Ravi Zacharias from India. The title of the conference was Advancing the Cause of Christ in a Complacent Society. It was a great encouragement for me to hear these men speak and to meet old friends and make new friends among those dedicated to the work of the gospel in Scotland.

For the second time, I heard Rico Tice speak about evangelism and discipleship. He helped develop the Christianity Explored Course that we have used at church. Rico explained the gospel of Mark using 4 words: Blindness, Identity, Mission and Call. Apart from God’s grace we are blind to his truths. To enter into a new relationship with God so that our eyes may be opened, we need to recognise who Jesus is (identity), why Jesus came (mission) and his demand on our lives (Call). Read Mark 8:22 – 38 to see how these themes come together.

The message is not difficult, but the message is absolutely essential. Apart from Jesus there is no salvation. Have you received the gift of eternal life, have you responded to Jesus’ call on your life and finally are you taking seriously Jesus’ command to go and tell everyone everywhere what he has done.

Rico’s passion for reaching the lost with the message of Jesus is contagious! He raised serious questions about our commitment to the Gospel and our concern for the souls of men and women. Is evangelism a priority of our church and is sharing the gospel a priority in your life?

In October we will run the Christianity Explored Course again – please start praying now about who you would like to invite to come to the course. There will be training in September for those who will be involved in the course and for those who want to be more confident and effective in sharing their faith.

Bob Akroyd

News

New Members & Baptism
At last month’s communion we were delighted to welcome Nick Middlemiss, Bianca Mariana and Christine Flint into our congregation by profession of faith. Nick was baptised at our morning service on 25th of May. We thank God for them and may he richly bless and strengthen them in their walk with Christ.

Bereavements
We mourn the death of Iain Brand and assure Helen, her children Janey and John and grandchildren Fiona and Iain of our prayers and support.

We also are saddened by the death of Anne Macleod (Bruntsfield). We remember Ian, Andrew and Katrina at this sad time.

We extend our sympathy to Jonnie McCrea and his family on the death his Aunt Edna. She was very active in children’s evangelism in her local church in Northern Ireland witnessing to countless young people of the love of Christ.

To all who mourn, remember “the Eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deuteronomy 33:27)

Welcome Back
Calum and Liz Ferguson return from Turkey on 16th June. We are delighted to have them back in Edinburgh and look forward to hearing about their experiences in Turkey.

In Hospital
We remember in prayer Andrew Mackay (Margaret Mackay’s Grandson, cousin of John and Fiona) who was injured in a road accident in Australia. Andrew has had two operations so far. Please remember his parents Alastair and Kath who have gone to Australia to be with him.

Free Church Camp News
Currently the senior boys football camp is in need of about five campers to make it viable. The camp runs from 10-17 July at Johnshaven priced at £150. If interested could you get them to contact the Free Church office.

Farewell
We have to bid farewell to Sîan Owens who is returning to Wales to begin her first job as a speech therapist. (Well done on passing all your exams!) We wish her all the best and hope she’ll come back to see us!

News from Friends

From David and Kelly Richter

Dear Friends,

I’m not sure where to begin. Kelly and I have been incredibly blessed through our time with you at Buccleuch. Three months ago we showed up on your doorstep as bumbling Americans, and you took us into your community. You befriended us, fed us, housed us, drove us around, and prayed for us. We couldn’t have asked for a warmer welcome or imagined a better situation in which to work.

We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the wonderful hospitality that you have showed to us. We will miss each of you greatly and look forward to possibly returning someday. Kelly and I are moving to St. Louis, Missouri at the beginning of July in order to start school at Covenant Theological Seminary. We would love to keep in touch with you and continue to pray for you during our time at seminary. Please feel free to write or email us anytime. We would love and look forward to hearing from you.

Once again thank you so much for your kindness and friendship. We thank the Lord daily for the opportunity that we had to share with you.

In Christ,
David and Kelly Richter,
djr8@hotmail.com, therichter2@hotmail.com

And a latest update:

Kelly and I are doing well. We stayed with Kelly’s parents for a couple of days last week. It was fun to see her brother graduate from high school. Then we drove to my parent’s house in Tennessee. This week I am going to general assembly with my dad and brother in law. It could be pretty boring, but at least I’ll get to spend some time with my dad and see some friends. Kelly, on the other hand, is going to the beach with my mom and sister. Lucky girl! Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you! I had a scholarship meeting on Monday and ended up getting almost a full ride to seminary. This is huge considering we weren’t really sure how we were going to pay for college. The grant will pay for almost all of our tuition and living expenses. The Lord is good!

In Christ,
David

From Catriona MacDonald (now back in Edinburgh)

“Ming marta raxmat!” or as we say in English, “Thanks a million!” Thanks for giving me such a warm welcome since my return from Central Asia a month ago. It’s wonderful to be back home after my four and a half year stint abroad. I really appreciate all the prayers, emails, letters and gifts I received from those in the congregation over this time.

Along with others in my team, I was privileged to see God do amazing things in the lives of local people. One woman, Karomat, was freed from being a fortune-teller when she became a Christian while Gullia was provided with a job to provide for her four girls. Mysafar’s faith was restored after a period of backsliding, so much so that he’s now the part-time pastor of the small group of Christians in the town. Near the end of my time there, my best friend’s mum and two sisters asked to become Christians on the night of my last visit to their family! The stories go on and on and are still happening. Through your prayer and financial support for me, you played a part in the building of God’s kingdom in this remote part of Central Asia. Believe it or not, the Christians there will thank you for sending me when you meet them in heaven!

Now my immediate plans are to get settled into life in Scotland and to enjoy all the luxuries of an inside toilet and real news in the newspapers. I’m also hoping to speak about my work and experiences around the country. After that, my future is still somewhat vague, although I’m planning to return to Central Asia at some point. I’d really appreciate your continuing prayers for guidance concerning employment and study opportunities.

From the Reanos (in Columbia)

We are still settling in our “new house”. Finally we managed to rent a house, in a part of the city where the children can have access to school transport, at decent hours. This change has meant a reduction of 90 minutes (an hour and a half a day!) everyday in coming and going to school. The house is big and comfortable, and has a gorgeous view of the city. It even has a garden and has allowed us to give in and buy a dog for the kids; it’s a two-month-old Labrador (those of you who have dogs can sympathise with us, but the children are happy and have taken seriously their responsibilities to take care of it).

The school situation seems to be settling too, although new changes loom in the horizon. Catalina finally begged to be taken out of the school where she was, after almost 6 months of expecting it to improve. I had to admit that it was not the proper school for her, and started looking for another one. We took her to the Jewish school, and miracles starting happening: she was taken to 7th grade, and immediately promoted to 8th, with some catching up to do in science and maths. However, although she has not finished her catching up, she’s managed to get first place in her category in a maths competition organised by a local university among High School students.

Cristi and Benji are doing very well at their school, but Cristi has started considering changing into the Jewish school too. Looks like the school they go to has a particular kind of students, extremely reluctant to accept whatever or whoever is a bit different (a particular trend of the Medellin culture). To make things worse, our children seem to be showing some of the distinct difficulties of so called “Third Culture Children”, who can’t develop a proper sense of belonging, always feel like “the odd one out”, and end up by behaving in a way that makes it very difficult for them to fit in.

Patricia is extremely busy lecturing in the seminary, doing lots of counselling, and heading the department of institutional welfare (Bienestar Universitario). On top of that she’s doing a course on inner healing in a local church, which has turned out to be an incredible opportunity to evangelise and disciple a group of ladies.

Manuel has just finished a course on Homiletics at the seminary, preaches eventually and is training a group of lay preachers. In June he’ll represent the seminary at a conference organised by the mission which founded the seminary almost 60 years ago. This week he’s expected in Edinburgh for what we think will be the last batch of trials prior to his ordination as a Free Church Minister. All going well, he should be ordained on May 28th. Sadly, no member of the family can be with him in that important day. [Note: this took place in Buccleuch and went very well.]

The country is quickly walking into a deep polarisation, and the confrontation gets more and more cruel and bloody. The levels of pain and frustration the Colombian society is facing is enormous, and the numbers of dead, maimed and displaced mount up.

So here’s a short update from us. Please accept our apologies for our long silence, but the multiplicity of fronts in which we found instability and uncertainty in our lives made it almost impossible to find the proper time and attitude to communicate with our friends. Things have started to relax now, and we can attempt to reclaim some level of normality for our lives. We know many of you have been faithfully praying for us regardless of our silence, and we are very thankful for that. We are including a letter the seminary’s letter with prayer requests.

May the Lord bless you all.
Manuel & Patty Reano, for the family.

The prayer requests of the seminary are: That they would faithfully fulfil their ministry, economic provision for the students and their families, for their life in the community and for physical and spiritual protection.

Congregational Strategy Update

As indicated in previous newsletters, the Kirk Session has been examining the responses received from the congregation through the reports prepared by the individual groups appointed by the Session. At the May and June meetings the Session considered the recommendations contained in both the Worship Group and Outreach Group Reports. Among the decisions which resulted were:

Worship Group

Prayer Meetings
That the Minister should make the introductory prayer at the Wednesday evening meeting and encourage others to pray shorter, more focused prayers than at present so that more people might pray and more topics might be covered.

That there should be more sharing of needs and prayer topics, either in printed form or through use of an overhead projector.

That the district Bible studies and Saturday prayer breakfasts should be highlighted as opportunities for open prayer.

Congregational Praise
That the Ministers should give teaching on worship and the reasons for our form of worship. They could also give a word of explanation while introducing some psalms.

That the congregation should stand for all singings at Sunday services, and sit for all prayers, except the first one.

That new tunes and psalms should be introduced in a planned and organised manner following on consultation between the Ministers and precentors.

That a rota should be drawn up for precentors, so that the precentor can prepare beforehand, especially when new tunes are to be sung.

That singing practices should be arranged in order to learn new psalms and tunes before they are sung in services. One new tune might be introduced at a Wednesday prayer meeting in preparation for use at a Sunday service. Renewed efforts ought also to be made to encourage part signing.

That precentors should encourage singing which reflects the meaning of the psalms being sung.

That the first and last psalms and tunes at Sunday services (and all psalms and tunes at guest services) ought always to be well known.

That A4 sheets with the new psalms in large print in plastic pockets in a folder should be prepared for visually impaired people.

Conduct of Worship
That a children’s address should be given at all morning services.

That children’s addresses should be given from the precentor’s table (possibly with the use of a radio microphone) with the children being invited to come to the front which would result in better communication with them. Visual aids might be used.

That the order of service might be changed occasionally, especially for guest services, when a printed order of service would be provided.

Sermon
That consideration be given to preparing worksheets for children who attend services when there is no Sunday School.

That a “suggestion box” be placed at the back of the church so that people can suggest topics and subjects for sermons.

Communions
That the current communion dates be switched to the third Sunday in February, May, August and November respectively thus avoiding the tendency of holiday times clashing with the current dates. The Monday evening service to be discontinued at all communions.

That the elements be placed on the communion table from the commencement of the service.

That parents with very young babies be encouraged to sit at the table with their children.

That tea and coffee be served after the communion service

Outreach Group

International Students
That steps be taken to arrange hospitality for and thus befriend international students.

Health Sessions for the Over 50s
That the Outreach Work Group should explore the feasibility of forming such a group in the congregation as a further possible point of contact with the local community.

Babies and Toddlers
That the existing Mother and Toddler activity be extended to allow members of the congregation to introduce friends to the church and also to act as a point of contact with the local community.

Christmas Coffee House
That such an event be organised which would provide an opportunity to invite those who, in general, would only come to church once a year, to hear the gospel.

Wonderfully Made: Ice Sheets & Glaciers

The smallest snowflake weighs less than a small bird’s feather. The weight of a glacier is measured in millions of tons. Snowflakes, frost and glaciers are all ice in different forms, coming into existence when the temperature of water or of moisture in the air falls below 0 degrees C.

Sea-water, because it contains salt, freezes at about - 2 degrees C. Salt is put on roads to help melt frost and additives are used in car radiators to lower the temperature of the coolant and keep it from freezing in the winter.

When water freezes, its volume increases. If 11ccs of water freezes, it expands to become 12ccs of ice. Frozen water pipes may split open in winter if the water freezes and car radiators may be damaged if the coolant freezes. Ice is also lighter than water and will float on it as ice cubes float in a glass of water or lemonade.

Ice-sheets
Greenland and Antarctica are the only ice-sheets that now exist, but in the past the evidence indicates that similar ice-sheets covered a large part of North America and much of North-West Europe.

The Greenland Ice-sheet covers about 500,000 square miles within a mountainous rim. The actual ice-sheet is about 8000 feet thick and the temperature in winter may well fall below -55 degrees C. The Antarctic ice-sheet varies in thickness from 1000 feet near the coast to 6000 feet towards the interior forming a plateau 9000 feet high. It covers an area seven times greater than that of Greenland. The ice-sheet overruns the coast and spreads over the ocean as shelf ice.

In contrast, the Arctic is not a land mass, but a frozen ocean at sea-level.

Smaller ice-caps are to be found covering large areas of Iceland and Spitsbergen.

Glaciers
Where mountain peaks protrude through caps of highland ice and the supply of ice is less, a network of connected glacier systems may develop and lead to valley glaciers. Rather like river systems, there may be a trunk glacier and tributary valley glaciers which flow into the main glacier. The flow may be only a few feet per year.

Smaller valley glaciers are confined to single valleys and usually originate in corries, deep armchair-shaped hollows at the head of the valley.

Glaciers move very slowly. The mechanism of skating helps to explain glacier flow. A skater glides in a narrow groove of water formed momentarily under the intense stress applied to the ice by the thin blades of the skates. As the skater passes, the water immediately freezes again. The movement of the deeper parts of the glacier carries the rigid surface crust along.

Where the valley narrows, the rigid crust is compressed on the sides forming pressure ridges. Where the valley opens out or where there is a change of slope, the ice is stretched and cracked into a series of deep crevasses.

Rock fragments, often shattered by frost, fall on to the ice and are carried away. This material is known as a moraine. The sides of a glacier have lateral moraines. Where two glaciers flow together, the inner moraines combine to form a medial moraine. At the end of a glacier there will be a terminal moraine.
Many features of the Scottish landscape have been shaped by glaciation.

W. M. Mackay