Dear Friends<\/p>\n
Here we are again at the beginning of another year \u2013 how does it feel?\u00a0 I\u2019m quite sure we all have mixed feelings about 2015 depending on what has gone on in our lives and what we\u2019ve seen happening across the world, but hopefully the good is able to outweigh the not so good.<\/p>\n
Our first Sunday of the New Year has the theme of Travelling Hopefully and reminds us of the journey made by the Magi to find Jesus in Bethlehem.\u00a0 They thought He would be in a palace and headed for Herod instead \u2013 how wrong they were!\u00a0 Thankfully they realised their I\u2019d like to mistake and set off to the right place where they gave their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.\u00a0 As I read this story, just as I have so often in the past, I was aware of these gifts and wondered what I could take to this King.\u00a0 Is He looking for precious metals or smelly candles?\u00a0 No I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the kind of gift He wants.<\/p>\n
Our theme for the Watchnight Service was Love, how Love came down at Christmas and how it often can be forgotten as we prepare for the festivities or are left on our own with nothing and no-one to celebrate it with.\u00a0 And yet, the total offerings from the Candlelight, Watchnight and Christmas Day services was over \u00a3600 double what Roger Gann had been aiming for \u2013 the money will be distributed equally to the Lodging House Mission, Glasgow City Mission and Church House in Bridgeton.\u00a0 What a sign of love for our fellow human beings \u2013 this is the kind of gift Jesus desires.<\/p>\n
He always had a heart for the poor, the marginalised and rejected because He could see they needed support, encouragement and most of all a love which would show itself through action as well as words.<\/p>\n
As we begin to look forward no doubt there will be anxious times because of health, family, friends and financial issues but there is someone who will walk this road with us \u2013 we will not be on our own as Jesus has walked His own path of despair, fear as well as hope, He was after all, like us in so many ways so He does understand.<\/p>\n
We have an amazing gift in the form of Prayer and through the power of the Holy Spirit, even when we don\u2019t know how or what to pray, He will know how we are feeling in the deepest part of our being and will raise that to the throne of God.\u00a0 Please continue to pray for our Nominating Committee as they work towards finding the Minister for Clincarthill, pray they will be led to the person who God has chosen to take us forward.<\/p>\n
I wish you a peaceful and hope-filled 2016, may God bless and guide you throughout this year.<\/p>\n
Love and Blessings<\/p>\n
Joan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Friends Here we are again at the beginning of another year \u2013 how does it feel?\u00a0 I\u2019m quite sure we all have mixed feelings about 2015 depending on what…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8z2vw-cc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3464,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/third-sunday-in-advent-12th-dec\/","url_meta":{"origin":756,"position":0},"title":"Third Sunday in Advent (12th Dec)","author":"admin","date":"18 December 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"CHRISTMAS GIFT SERVICE Our Christmas Gift service is on Sunday 12th December at 11am. The service will be led again by Rev Willie Black and the service will include a contribution and music by our Puppet Team. In terms of gifts, as always monetary gifts are much appreciated and these\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":540,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/letter-from-our-session-clerk-dec-2014\/","url_meta":{"origin":756,"position":1},"title":"Letter from our Session Clerk – Dec 2014","author":"admin","date":"10 December 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Friends in Clincarthill, Our Bible study on the Beatitudes was inspiring and thought provoking. As promised I have included for the magazine the poem written by Anne Stoddart\u00a0 about the Beatitudes and Linda wrote a song which we sang during the weeks we were doing the study. You can\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":728,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/letter-from-our-session-clerk-dec-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":756,"position":2},"title":"Letter from our Session Clerk \u2013 Dec 2015","author":"admin","date":"7 December 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Friends in Clincarthill, We are now in the season of Advent and preparing to remember and celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 It is such a special time of year and we need to take time in the busyness to remember the meaning of Christmas. Our church\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":688,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/message-from-our-locum-joan-kilpatrick-sept-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":756,"position":3},"title":"Message from our Locum – Joan Kilpatrick – Sept 2015","author":"admin","date":"13 September 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Friends I hope you have all managed some time to yourselves over, what we have been told, was our summer!\u00a0 The weather may have left us feeling frustrated and down because we were unable to be outside as much as we would have liked, but it may have given\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3487,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/prayer-event-this-week-20-22-jan\/","url_meta":{"origin":756,"position":4},"title":"Prayer Event this week (20-22 Jan)","author":"admin","date":"16 January 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The sanctuary will be open for private prayer this coming week: Thursday 20th Jan: 7.30pm - 9.00pm; Friday 21st Jan: 1.00pm - 4.00pm; and Saturday 22nd Jan: 11.00am - 2.00pm. Please come along for as long or short a time as you like. There will be a quiet space for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":511,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/letter-from-the-session-clerk\/","url_meta":{"origin":756,"position":5},"title":"Letter from our Session Clerk – Oct 2014","author":"admin","date":"11 October 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Friends in Clincarthill, During this time of vacancy, it is my intention to write a short note each month to keep you up-to-date with our progress and events in our church. Each of us deeply feels the loss of Mike as our minister but we will go forward in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":757,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756\/revisions\/757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}