Message from Rev. Fiona Gardner

 

  Dear Everyone,

 

 

 

   “Speak to each other with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.

    Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always  giving thanks to God the Father for everything  in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                         Ephesians 5: 19-20

 

   As we prepare for our Centenary year in 2009, we are looking forward to the future with faith and hope. It is good to think that there has been a Christian witness here in this place for 100 almost years. We express our faith in many different ways – through our deeds, in our words, in our prayers. Yet one of the most wonderful ways that God gives us to connect with Him, is through music and song. It is such a privilege to come before God and to bring out our thoughts and feelings to Him. Often it can be through the words of the psalms, or of a song, or of a traditional hymn. We all have different favourites, hymns that we really enjoy – either because of the words, or the melody, or because of past associations we have with that particular piece of music.

 

   Over the last year, as a church we have been using a Powerpoint screen to display the words for our songs and readings. This has been very popular, and really increased the volume of our singing! We are delighted now, to be at the point where we are ready to introduce the new hymn book CH4 to the church family here at South Shawlands. These books have been generously gifted, and they contain a comprehensive selection of traditional and more modern songs, with a good dose of Scottish tunes mixed in. We hope to dedicate these for worship at our communion service in September. If any one would like to purchase their own copy (words or music) and donate them to the church,  that would also be helpful. We hope that with the combination of the screen, and one more comprehensive hymn book, that this will greatly enhance the quality and variety of our singing – which is already well known for many different reasons!

 

   The words of the traditional hymn “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” reminds us that worship – our relationship with God, should be at the heart of everything we do as a church family. Our evening services this year will focus on people’s choices of songs and why they are important to them. Anyone would who like to choose 3 or 4  songs, and would like to talk about them can do so at our evening services!  Opportunity to do this would be good, for as we listen to one another, we hear the hymns and songs in a different light, as well as getting to know one another better. Let me know, if you would like to participate one evening!

 

  It has been good over the summer period to have had some good things to celebrate! On the 28th of June, Christine Wilson celebrated her 40th birthday, and it was great to see her enjoy her evening! ( read more of what she has to say  in the magazine). We also celebrated two weddings – the first in Tiree, where Julie Niven and Stewart MacLennan were married in Kirkapol parish church on the 3rd of July! Despite the weather forecast, it was a beautiful day, and all went well with celebrations well into the evening!

On the 12th of July, Jie Dong and Stuart McGregor got married here in South Shawlands church, and again it was a lovely day, and I think I might be right in saying it was the first time we had a reading from the bible in Chinese! It has been great to have these times of rejoicing in our church family, and we give thanks to God for these occasions.

 

As we approach our Centenary celebrations, we still have some spaces for accounts of significant church events from the past for our church book, so please get writing, or give us a verbal account that we can print out on your behalf.

 

Just to say that I have permission to take some study leave in the autumn – from 6th October till 4th of November, to do some reflection and some writing, as well as some preparation for the Centenary year! I will of course be back for Stewart and Lisa’s wedding, but apart from that, I will be off duty! More details about cover and pulpit supply will be available nearer the time.

                                                                      With every blessing,