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Welcome to Connections March 2019

The Minister’s Letter: In this edition of Connections, our Minister Peter explains why Jesus found his friendship with Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha so valuable and asks if we cultivate friendships with the depth and quality that they enjoyed? New faces: We welcome a couple of new additions to the Ministry Team. Read on to find out who they are!!! And much, much more: A date has been set for our AGM and there has been another development in GDS Diadem.

Connections

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Message from the Minister Rev Peter Barber

Dear Friends, True Friendship... Reading the gospels and witnessing Jesus’ journey towards Jerusalem for that final Passover celebration, when ‘Christ our Passover lamb’ (1 Corinthians 5:7), gave Himself, for the sins of humanity, it is impossible to avoid a sense of the increasing loneliness and isolation of Jesus, from the rest of the disciples and even, ultimately, from His Father. What kept Jesus sustained through the course of that journey? What gave Jesus that sense that there were people who held Him in their hearts, even when everyone else stepped back? I think, in part it was knowing that there were those who were there for Him unconditionally and who, no matter what happened, would support Him in prayer and with love. The little family group which comes to mind were Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha, who lived in Bethany. They opened their home to Him, as well as making room in their hearts for Jesus: Martha was the fuss-pot, stressing over hospitality for Jesus, Mary was the dreamer, who sat at Jesus’ feet, soaking in every word. Lazarus was a fairly typical man: in the background, happy to have Jesus in his home, but quiet, reserved. You have the sense that Jesus made straight for this place, whenever He was in the area and that it was one of the few places where He was accepted as Himself, and not just as the Rabbi or even more than that, the Messiah. Bethany was just a short distance east of Jerusalem, but it was far enough that it gave Jesus a refuge, when things were overwhelming. Surely, it was because of the true friendship that these three members of this family gave to Jesus, that He was drawn to their home for a short time of refreshing, time and again? I wonder if we cultivate friendships with that depth and quality? Friendships which go beyond the differences we have with one another to prize the bonds which unite us in the Lord? Sometimes it seems that we do not persevere with friendships the

way that we should do: we grow distant, we have our fall-outs, and we move on to seek new friendships, and so the cycle of superficiality continues. As a result, we rarely, if ever, go deep as friends - and where that is so, we are all the poorer for it, and so is the Church. ‘Jesus wept’ - the shortest verse in the Bible, but one that was inseparably linked to the friendship Jesus had with these three, for when Jesus came to Bethany and was taken to the tomb where Lazarus had been laid, after his death from a sudden, severe illness, Jesus could not contain his emotions: not only because of the death of his friend, but also due to the devastation He had seen in the two sisters He loved, and the agony He felt for the human condition, where so many suffered without hope, in the face of death. Once the stone had been rolled away, at His request, Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’, and the dead man came out.’ Take off the grave clothes and let him go’, declared Jesus. Lazarus became something of a celebrity after this remarkable experience. Indeed, so much so we are told that the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus, ’for on account of him, many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.’ Lazarus did one day physically die, along with his sisters. But because of their faith in Jesus, they had spiritual life, which meant they would never really die. Jesus said, ’I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.’

And their friendship? It is for eternity. What of yours and mine?

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Once Only Opportunity! Tricia Kingston, Session Clark Well, the only opportunity this year anyway! If you want to keep up with all that's going on across our large parish and three buildings, please put 7pm Wednesday 27th March in your diary because that's when we'll hold our Annual General Meeting in the large hall at GDS Gorgie – as always, refreshments will be served!

• We'll hear exciting news about our youth work

• Special events planned for the coming year • News from our Ministry Team • Updates on the Care Shelter at Diadem • Progress reports and stories from Saltyard • New initiatives being discussed for Diadem • The challenges of balancing our annual

income and expenditure • …..and much, much more!

This is a time to hear about the opportunities and challenges within the parish of GDS and beyond, and how you can affect them. The meeting is open to all who worship with us and who care about how we approach the forthcoming year as a family of God's people taking Prayer, Love and Service into our community. Introducing the Martindales – February 2019 Trevor Martindale, Assistant to the Minister I am delighted to have been asked to introduce myself and my family in this issue of ‘Connections’ so soon after coming to fellowship at GDS. Within such a short time, we have discovered this congregation to be so warm and welcoming, and I have the added privilege of being appointed as “assistant to the minister” in the work of ministry to the Lord and His church here in this parish. While I am overjoyed at this opportunity, I am so conscious that my family comes to this congregation with an attitude of friendship and love as we relate to each other primarily as brothers and sisters in Christ. We are eager to get to know everyone; so with this in mind, let me offer some details about us.

My wife, Dandan, and I came to Edinburgh as singletons in September 2009. Although we each hail from afar off (Dandan from mainland China and myself originally from South Africa), we have found this city to be a most charming home. God has exceedingly blessed us in these past 10 short years. Amazingly, Dandan agreed to be my wife in 2010 and we are somehow coping with having two rambunctious additions to the family since then; Arielle is 6 and Theodore is 4 next month (...where does the time go?!). Dandan is currently training to be a school teacher while I am pursuing my own postgraduate studies in theology part time. In our free time we enjoy exploring the beautiful Scottish countryside, including its castles, beaches, monuments and other historic sites – we've even recently been caught ice-skating around the Melville Monument in the middle of St Andrew Square Gardens at Christmas! In short, I am so thankful that God has placed us in this church “for such a time as this”, and we will be so pleased to get to know you more as we share in the life of faith together over the coming weeks and months. Yours aye, Trevor Martindale

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Introducing Zoltan Zoltán Sáfrány, Trainee Minister

Hello, my name is Zoltan. I am from Hungary, however have been living in Scotland for more than 8 years. Introducing myself, first I would like to share is that I am an "unworthy, but called servant of the Lord Jesus Christ".

In my childhood, I had no connection with the church. When I was in high school, one of my teachers invited me, along with my classmates, to take part in a youth worship service which I really liked and from then on I attended the youth worship service every Saturday. I made a definite decision when I was 16 to accept Jesus’ love and follow Him. When it came time to leave high school, understanding God’s calling to the ministry I gave up my childhood dream of being an archaeologist and went to study theology at University. In the third year of the Seminary – in 1997 - our bishop gave me a special permit to start as locum in a small diaspora of five tiny congregations. I spent a blessed 6 years in this community. During this time I finished my studies and was ordained in 2000. After 13 years in ministry I applied for 1 year study leave and came to Scotland to learn English. We chose Scotland because my brother has lived in Aberdeen and when we visited him there we fell in love with this beautiful country. By the end of this period I decided to remain in Scotland. Understanding my calling I looked for how to serve God’s Kingdom here, but I still had to improve in

English and this limited my opportunities. Moving to Armadale from Aberdeen I applied for a job in the Church of Scotland and I have been working as a development worker in Bathgate: St John’s Parish Church for 5 years. About two years ago there seemed to the need for the existence of a Hungarian Christian community. In August 2017 we gathered in a flat in Edinburgh to learn God's will from His word. At the first Hungarian bible study two families attended and it was a small increase in the next year. We had bible studies regularly, not in Edinburgh anymore but in our home in Armadale. God blessed our intents and since last Christmas we have an informal Hungarian Church of about 45 people, 20 kids out of them. In the last few months we gathered in St John's Church's Hall because our living room was not big enough anymore. In November 2018 for transition to the Ministry of the Church of Scotland I attended an Admission Assessment Conference in Dunfermline and I was accepted. Now I am spending my 12 month familiarisation in your church. I am very thankful for the warm welcome, and praying for God’s blessings upon us for this time together.

“The Micawber Principle” Tricia Kingston, Session Clark Fans of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield will recognise the dictum of Wilkins Micawber, “Annual income twenty pounds (£20), annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six (£19.19s.6d), result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds (£20), annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six (£20.0s.6d), result misery.” Unfortunately the annual accounts of Gorgie Dalry Stenhouse (GDS) fall into the latter category – result misery! We have been running at a deficit in recent years and have now begun to dip into our capital reserves, held on our behalf by the Church of Scotland's General Trustees, to fund our outgoings. Our expenditure currently outstrips our income by tens of thousands of pounds. We continue to pay in full to the national Church, our annual Ministry and Mission contribution which pays the stipend of all parish ministers and some other ministries, such as our Outreach Worker.

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The Kirk Session took the decision that the salaries of the gifted people in our Ministry Team, and the committed employees at Gorgie and Saltyard, should be funded locally by GDS to ensure that the work to be done in God's service would have a firm foundation. At the time of the Union with the former Stenhouse St Aidan's (SSA), most of that parish came to GDS and a fairly large section was allocated to St David's Broomhouse, a small section was added to St Michael's who in turn gave a small section of their parish to Polwarth Parish Church – I hope you haven't switched off! Following the sale of the SSA manse, all four congregations were given 25% of the sum realised. GDS' Kirk Session agreed that our share would be put towards the building work at Diadem required to create the Care Shelter in the first instance. We hope to continue developing Diadem when funds allow by upgrading the kitchen and toilet facilities, reconfiguring the corridors, and creating a new, welcoming reception area, but a decision has yet to be made on when these phases will begin. On a day-to-day basis, we now have the running costs and maintenance of three suites of buildings in addition to general expenses. Although Mr Micawber was relentlessly optimistic in his guiding principle of, “Something will turn up”, in the interests of good stewardship we are obliged to take seriously the words in the letter of James chapter 2 verses 14 -17, where we read the compelling words that 'faith without works is dead.' The date of our AGM is given elsewhere in this issue of Connections, please try to attend this meeting to hear about the exciting things happening in our parish which we want to continue or expand, but which require us to address our financial situation now. 'Faith and works, prayer and action' - let's put together a plan that will glorify God in its outworking.

The Beds Have Arrived! Ruth Longmuir, Care Van and Care Shelter Manager The Care Shelter now has beds for the first time in its 22 year history – an exciting development indeed! On 31 January 75 small single beds, mattresses and headboards were delivered to Diadem and laid out with bedding, ready for the guests to arrive in the evening. This evening we went to the shops

Rumours had spread that the beds had arrived and guests strained to get a look round the door just before doors opened – there was much anticipation. As people came in, their faces had smiles on them and there were lots of exclamations of wonder and excitement. One young woman jumped up and down saying “I have a bed! I have a bed!” She had a massive grin on her face. One man was overwhelmed and gave a staff member a big hug – he was lost for words.

For some people it would have been a very long time since they slept in a proper bed, for others only a night or two, but all benefit from the upgrade. One individual who has problems with his hip said that the beds make a big difference for him as they are much more comfortable. A big thank you is due to all who helped on the day the beds were delivered. It was no small task carrying the beds and mattresses from the lorry across the road and into the building, then carrying them through to the sanctuary, unwrapping them, sticking protective felt onto the feet and placing them in rows with all the necessary bedding. A special thanks to Michael and Andy who worked all day to get the beds into place.

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A Night in the life of a Care Shelter Volunteer Colin Ramsay, GDS Diadem Care Shelter Volunteer Following on from Ann and Peter McNee’s article in the February edition of Connections about their evening volunteering for the Care Shelter on Christmas Eve, I felt inspired to share with you what goes on behind the scenes in preparing for a night on the Care Shelter. As you may know by now, GDS Diadem was opened on Friday 21 December 2018 and is the permanent venue for Bethany Care Shelter. Each evening, a different church will prepare, cook and serve a meal to the Shelter users before they bed down for the night. It is the turn for us in GDS Church to serve on the first Monday of every month. I was on the catering team for our recent slot on Monday 4 February, and it was my first time serving on the Care Shelter in the new location at GDS Diadem. Co-ordination of the evening is usually done by Graham Kilpatrick with Gill McLean overseeing the administration duties such as the mailing out of rotas and forwarding on any Bethany related communications. Graham will ensure that the correct quantity of food items is purchased ahead of the evening so that we are in position to work on the food preparation as soon as we arrive at Diadem. Once the catering team is in place, Graham will co-ordinate who does what. There are a lot of potatoes to peel, mushrooms to slice and chicken to dice but when we work as a team we soon get through it all. One of the noticeable differences when cooking in Diadem as opposed to the kitchen in the Gorgie Building is the size and power of the cooker. It has a huge hob space and is fan assisted which helps us cook that chicken real quick. We usually make two chicken dishes which comprises chicken and mushroom with white sauce and the other being hunters chicken which is basically chicken in a barbeque sauce. We serve this with vegetables to ensure that the shelter users have a nice balance in their meal. The team will also ensure that a vegetarian option is prepared which is a must in this day and age. For dessert we make a Graham Kilpatrick special…chocolate brownies and custard. I sampled

one of the brownies and I must say that they taste amazing. With the food prepared and ready to serve, it is taken from the kitchen to the main hall on a trolley as the shelter users begin to arrive at 9pm. Meanwhile someone in our team will volunteer to drive the Care Shelter mini bus to a designated point in the City Centre and pick up any Shelter users who didn’t make their own way out the Diadem. They too are served a meal on arrival at the Shelter. We are encouraged to interact with the shelter guests and they are always so chatty and appreciative of the service that they receive. Those of us who serve refreshments have the best opportunity to have a conversation. It’s all hands to the pump for the last part of the evening as the guests bed down after 10pm and the catering team have the delightful task of washing up those pots and pans!

Here we see Brian Fleck hard at work sweating over a hot stove

Ann and Sandra busy making those delicious brownies

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Numpty’s Guide to Lent Gordon Cooney Welcome to The Numpty’s Guide, the section of Connections magazine that aims, in 400 words, to shed some light on those bits of ecclesiastical jargon that are often used and less often truly understood. Our topic this time is Lent.

The word Lent is actually a shortened version of the Old English ‘Lenten’ which simply referred to the spring season. The Latin, Quadragesima, and greek, Σαρακοστή, while much harder to say, are also more informative as they refer to the 40 day period on which Lent is based, that being Jesus’ 40 days of fasting and temptation in the desert at the start of his public ministry. In practice, Lent is not strictly the 40 days before Easter Sunday as you might expect, but rather a period of religious observance that lasts between Ash Wednesday and the church’s Easter observations.

The traditional calculation of Lent ends on Holy Saturday of Holy Week and actually comprises 46 days in total, but since Sundays are not counted... Well, you do the maths. This approach has become the most popular in the Western church across denominations, but in other traditions the 40 days is often taken more literally with Sundays included in the count. So, how is Lent observed and by whom?

Many today believe that observing Lent means giving something up, usually something you would probably be better off without, such as fatty foods, smoking, or alcohol. In truth, fasting is only one of three ways in which Lent can be observed. Lent is less a time for ‘giving things up’ and more a time for taking up good practices we often let slip. The three traditional practices to be taken up during Lent are prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and charitable giving (justice towards neighbours). As such, many Christians choose Lent as a time to take up new spiritual disciplines to help them draw closer to God, such as reading a Lenten daily devotional and, while giving things up, choose to give the money thus saved to charity.

Lent is observed in the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, Catholic and some Presbyterian, Baptist and Evangelical churches. In other words, Lent has transcended denominational tradition in modern Christianity and many, from all kinds of faith backgrounds, find Lent to be a helpful time in which to re-focus their lives on Christ in the lead up to Easter.

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Regular Events Sunday

10.15am Early Prayer Meeting 11.00am Morning Worship 11.00am Youth Groups 5.30-7.30pm GDS Youth Club in GDS Gorgie 6.30pm Evening Worship in GDS Saltyard

Monday 1.30pm The Fellowship in GDS Gorgie 7.30pm Small Group. Fortnightly in (Colinton and Shandon)

Tuesday - Friday 12.15pm Prayer and Worship in GDS Saltyard Tuesday

2-4pm Singing Group for those with Dementia & their carers (GDS Diadem 1st & 3rd Tuesdays)

Wednesday 10.00am Coffee morning in GDS Gorgie 7.30pm Small Group at GDS Gorgie 7.45pm Small Group at Myreside

Thursday

10.30am Small Group in GDS Saltyard 6.15pm Gorgie Youth Choir in GDS Gorgie 7.30pm Small Group at GDS Saltyard 7.45pm Small Group at Blackhall

Friday 9.30am Mums’ Moments in GDS Saltyard

Dates to remember Thursday 28th February 2:00pm: Café Church Service in GDS Diadem Friday 1st March 2:30pm World Day of Prayer – ‘Come, everything is ready’ by the Christian Women of Slovenia. In St Mary’s Episcopal Church, Palmerston Place Friday 1st – 2nd March: Women Walking With God Annual Conference in EICC Saturday 2nd March 11:00am: Men’s Prayer Breakfast in GDS Saltyard Sunday 3rd March 11:00am: Communion Service in GDS Gorgie Tuesday 5th March 7:30pm: Kirk Session in the small hall GDS Gorgie Wednesday 6th March 7:30pm: Fellowship Meal in GDS Saltyard Thursday 7th March 7pm: Diadem Steering Group in GDS Diadem Wednesday 20th March 7pm: Songs that Wonder in GDS Saltyard Wednesday 27th March 7pm: Annual General Meeting in the large hall GDS Gorgie Saturday 30th March: Clocks go forward one hour tonight! Sunday 31st March: Mothering Sunday

Gorgie Dalry Stenhouse Church of Scotland GDS Gorgie, 190-192 Gorgie Road, Edinburgh, EH11 2NX

t: 0131 337 7936 www.gdschurch.org.uk, e: contactus@gdschurch.org.uk GDS Saltyard, 158 Dalry Road, Edinburgh, EH11 2HB t: 0131 313 4757 GDS Diadem, Chesser Avenue, Edinburgh, EH14 1TA Edinburgh: Gorgie Dalry Stenhouse Church of Scotland Reg'd Charity No: SC009146

Articles for the next magazine should be emailed to Colin Ramsay (colinramsay2000@gmail.com) The next edition will be available for distribution on Sunday 24th February 2019. Items for the church website and the large screen in the church should be sent to the general church email address which is news@gdschurch.org.uk