The snow returned this week – it made the Church look very beautiful!
Welcome to Church today – after all of the celebrations of the last few weeks with first John Cairns and then Laurence and Catherine Whitley it must seem as though we are back to ‘auld claesand parritch’ – we’re not, of course, for every Sunday is a celebration and we welcome those who are with us for the first time; perhaps you are just visiting or perhaps you are here to see about a wedding. Why ever you are here, we are glad that you are. With the Pewspaper today there is the February edition of ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ with news of what will be happening this month. If you keep each of these – there is one every month – it will grow into a useful souvenir of this special year.
A quick look back at what has been happening this week: on Sunday after Church we had the congregation in the Manse for lunch – not everyone came across (there were a hundred and seventy in Church, I’m told) but it was still a tight squeeze! We enjoyed soup, haggis, neaps and tatties and a sweet and after everyone had left I took Laurence and Catherine for a wander around – they were particularly pleased to see the loom on which their Kessog tartan rug had been woven.
On Monday evening the Bible Study group met. Having completed our History of the Reformation project – appropriate because last year was the five hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Calvin and this year is the four hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Reformation in Scotland – we have decided to start to work our way through Luke’s Gospel and this too is appropriate because Luke is the lectionary Gospel for this year.
On Tuesday I was at the Presbytery. There was a good turn-out and it was a busy meeting without being earth-shattering. John Harvie, a minister who has achieved a huge amount in Govan and with the Iona Community, spoke to us about stress in the ministry. More and more this is being recognised as a very major problem and now grants are available to enable ministers to receive help in dealing with it. I should also say that on Tuesday I was visited by BBC Radio Scotland who were preparing a programme to be broadcast on 1st. March. I think it is a kind of history magazine programme and while they were here they prepared a six-minute news item about our fifteen hundredth anniversary concentrating, naturally enough, on the story of Kessog.
On Wednesday my main task was to chair the Board and Session at Arrochar – the snow came down and it was quite a job just getting there! But I was glad I did get there because I was able to learn that last year we paid our bills, our offerings kept up with our target and our expenditure was a little bit less than our estimates. All in all that was good news – particularly as we now seem to have got our heating and lighting bills under control. At the Session we talked through our plans – this year is a Stewardship Year and we will be looking at ways of ensuring that our giving is appropriate and in response to God’s goodness to us. Of course, you may be thinking that as we paid all of our bills what need do we have of a stewardship campaign – the answer is that between us – Arrochar and Luss – we still only actually contribute less than half the cost of a minister to the central funds of the Church and obviously if we want to have a future we have to put that right.
I’d hoped to get up to Arrochar for the Guild on Thursday but I got caught on a pastoral matter and then on Thursday evening Robbie and I met with some of the members of the Hall Committee at Luss. We talked about some of the ways that we, as Trustees, could support them as they seek both to raise funds and to get the hall restored. Seeing all that is happening in Arrochar underlines the need in Luss for such a community facility and it would be fine if by the time of the Burns Supper next year we had a newly restored hall (not that the hall didn’t look fabulous this year, thanks to Ray and Jennifer’s hard work). On Friday I went to see a statue being carved. It is a wooden representation of Kessog which is being prepared for Saint Kessog’s Day on 10th. March. I then went into hospital to see Elma who was most insistent that I remembered to thank everyone for their good wishes, prayers and kind thoughts.
This week the Bible Study group meets on Monday evening (do read through the first couple of chapters of Luke’s Gospel if you can). On Tuesday the Luss Guild meets in the Manse at 7.30 p.m. when the speaker is Bill Hannah who will be describing a very special journey on the Orient Express. I have a meeting on Tuesday about the publication of John’s book and at sometime during the week there will be a meeting about the exhibition in the Church later in the year. The Luss Senior Citizen’s Committee meets on Wednesday at 7.30 p.m. to plan the annual meal and to think about a possible trip later in the year. I am hoping to get a bit of time this week to get the Church books for which I am responsible up-to-date (they have to be inspected by Presbytery at this time) and also to close the accounts for last year! On Friday students from Acadia University in Nova Scotia will be arriving to stay with us at Luss. They will be with us for ten days and May will be delighted for any offers of help while they are with us. We continue to get a great deal of interest in what is going on in our parishes through our web-site. Several people have told me that they have enjoyed listening to the words of both John Cairns and Laurence Whitley on the web-site. If you haven’t been there already, why not visit www.lussonline.net some time soon. Have a very good week!
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