news

This is the

churches' news-sheet

for April 2010

From the Manse . . .

With the close of March, the skies over the Moray Firth may be a l little quieter as the Kinloss based Nimrod Mk2s retire from service. Certainly its 'promised' replacement, the Nimrod MR4A, though still a 'Mighty Hunter' has a roar that is more subdued! The Nimrod name continues, along with a worthy reputation for success by those who fly and those whose engineering skills keep them airworthy. There are many who will recall the Nimrod with thanksgiving. Those lost at sea and rescued by the pin-point accuracy of its crews and technical wizardry. Others will remember its vital aerial co-ordination during Piper Alpha. The Cold War years affirmed its strategic role in tracking Soviet submarines that would stalk our shores. Sadly, some 'weel kent' faces will have to leave Kinloss as a result of new technology and we wish them all God's speed for whatever the future holds.

In the Middle Ages, following the death of a king, French Heralds would proclaim to the world 'Le Roi est mort, vive le roi' (The king is dead, long live the king) and so announce and assure the succession. This month, Easter also marks the ending of one dynasty and the beginning of the new, following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For Christians, the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary proved to be a sea-change in humanity and a new life for all. It is a promise which is especially pertinent at this time. In the book of Common Prayer there are encouraging words that seem especially poignant.

Assist us mercifully, O Lord. . . that among the changes and chances of this mortal life they may ever be defended by thy most gracious and ready help.

May God bless you and keep you this Eastertide

Yours aye, Duncan

What is so unique about Jesus?

Very few people today try to argue that Jesus never existed, and most would accept that he was a very good person and if we followed his teaching the world would be a better place. However, there are also many other good people in history about whom this could also be said. The difficulty with seeing Jesus as no more than this is that if we examine what he actually said he also claimed some things that nobody else has. For example, he did not say that I have come to tell you about the truth or to tell you how to live, but that

'I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me' (John 14:6).

At his trial he was asked 'Are you then the Son of God?' to which he responded

' . . . I am'(Luke 22:70).

These are unique claims that no one else has ever made. Basically Christians are those who accept these unique claims that Jesus made and believe that his resurrection indicates them to be credible. They trust that because of them they can experience the life that comes from a right relationship with the God who is his Father

The Ten Commandments: A Refresher!

You shall have no other gods before me.

This is God's demand for man's exclusive worship.

It is not necessary to worship the sun, the moon, and the stars to break this law.

We break is whenever we give to something of someone other than God himself the first place in our thoughts or our affections.

It may be some engrossing sport, absorbing hobby, or selfish ambition.

Or it may be someone whom we idolize.

We may worship a god of gold and silver in the form of safe investments and a healthy bank balance, or a god of wood and stone in the form of property and possessions. None of these things is necessarily wrong in itself. It only becomes wrong when we give to it the place in our lives which belongs to God.

Sin is fundamentally the exaltation of self at the expense of God. What someone wrote of the Englishman is true of everyman: 'he is a self-made man who worships his creator.'

For us to keep this first commandment would be, as Jesus said

to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind;

to make his will our guide and his glory our goal; to put him first in thought word and deed; in business and leisure; in friendships and career; in the use of our money, time and talents; at work and at home.

No man has ever kept this commandment except Jesus of Nazareth

[From Basic Christianity by John Stott : studied in monthly series on the commandments Kinloss & Findhorn Church of Scotland]

Giles Fraser: In defence of cash and the City

'What's money?' asks the young Paul Dombey in Charles Dickens's Dombey and Son. 'What can it do?' 'Money, Paul, can do anything.' comes his wealthy father's confident reply. The boy thinks for a mament. 'Why didn't money save me my Ma-Ma?' Here is a challenge for those of us who live and work in the City. In his brilliant book Going Sane, the psychoanalyst Adam Phillips suggests a Freudian reading of this little exchange between Dombey and his son. For Freud, genuine human happiness is the fulfillment of deep desires, desires that originate within childhood. As children, we want to be wanted: to be loved and held and fussed over. Moreover, the one thing small children have no interest in is money; for the love of money does not spring from our deepest psychological wants and cares. So, Freud asserts, the danger of money is that it can become something that we, as adults, desire so much and so powerfully that we actually lose touch with the real source of human joy; the fulfillment of these fundamental childhood desires. As Professor Phillips puts it: 'The love of money becomes the love that makes us betray our other loves'.

This is why the self-denial of Lent puts us in touch with who we really are, back in touch with true desire. But there is, of course, another side to all of this that Freud does not properly acknowledge. While it may not be part of a child's desires to seek after money, it is certainly part of parental responsibility to care for the material welfare of our children. We allow children not to worry about money because we parents do so on their behalf. Money may not meet the deepest needs of the human heart, but the lack of money i s misery for 1.4 billion people on this planet.

Freud is right in suggesting that our interaction with money is the site of many damaging fantasies we have about ourselves: fantasies of power, fantasies of glamour, fantasies of independence. He is also right that these fantasies cut us off from our true selves and deepest desires. Yet, in his wish to see everything from the perspective of the child, Freud crucially overlooks the fact that money is also the language we have to speak if, like a grown-up, we are practically to engage in the care and welfare of others. The City of London is a place of many damaging fantasies, but it also creates jobs and wealth, and puts food on people's plates and clothes on their backs. An ethic that has no sense of what something costs is little more than sentimentality.

(The Revd Dr Giles Fraser is Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral)

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SERVICES ON EASTER SUNDAY

Easter Sunday : 4th April
Outdoor Service at Carsehill by Alves at 8.00 am
followed by Coffee and Croissants in Alves Church
(Please share cars where possible)
DIRECTIONS: from Burghead take the road to Forres, continue straight on to the Crooked Inn at Alves, turn right onto the A96, then take 1st left where there's a sign about a "Tulloch development": go over the railway and when you get to CLOVES FARM, turn left(you have to); continue to the cross-roads where there is sign pointing left "CARSEHILL 1" ; follow the road which winds round and up the hill: eventually there's a roundabout (stated not to be a car park). Stop there. Sorry about the quality of the sketch map [jhw]

Easter Morning Services:
Alves Church at 11.30
Burghead Church at 11.30

Diary date:

Next Holy Communion Sunday 18th April 1130 am at Burghead.

Church Register

no entry this month

A Royal Pick-me-up ?

Tommy Cumming of Burghead has a story or two about his years in the RAF one of which is appropriate at Easter. When living in an RAF married quarter, he and his neighbours were informed that they were to pick up all leaves in from of their houses because a Royal VIP would be arriving at the base. As Tommy dutifully got to work in his garden, his neighbour was rather less enthusiastic about the order! Tommy said to him, 'You were just born at the wrong time! Had you been alive in Jerusalem when Jesus entered on a donkey, you would probably have been asked to lay down palm leaves in his path!

Tommy has graciously left out his neighbour's response. Apparently he was not receptive to the humour of the situation on that day.

Bible Wordsearch 175 the Vineyard workers

If you are reading this, you can find the puzzle at http://biblewordgames.com

the Guild

The Raven Trust are asking for the following items, as well as knits, for Malawi:
Hospital packs: towel, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, flannel, etc.
Baby Layettes and baby grows, blankets, etc.
Student Pastor packs: suit, shirt and tie, pens, Bible reading notes, study book, shoes, socks, wash kit, A4 paper, game.new or in good condition

Please leave your gifts in the Church Hall on Sunday,11th April.

If you have a query, please phone Ruth on 835 946 or Helen on 835 550.