CHURCH MAGAZINE EXTRACTS

September 2009

From the Manse

I hope you all had a good restful summer even though the weather didn't quite live up to expectations for we all need to have quiet times in the middle of busy hectic lives to recharge our batteries. The Elder's did this last Saturday when they had a day together looking at the role and duties of the Eldership with Sadie Elliot who is the Elder Trainer for West Lothian Presbytery. It was a good day of bonding together while in the presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the first thing we looked at was the hymn:

Be Still for the presence of the Lord, the Holy one is here........
the Glory of the Lord is shining all around
the Power of the Lord is moving in this place

We miss all of these things if we don't sit in his company from time to time....Please pray for our Kirk Session as it moves into the winter session of this year.

Many thanks to all who made 'Kidzone' possible, it was a great effort and I know that the children all appreciated it.

We hope to have occasional Saturday mornings throughout the year to keep in touch with them all. So if you want to help, just give us your name. Please continue to pray for the children who came under the sound of the gospel this summer.

My message to you this month is how loved and valued you are to the Lord our God...keep close to him, it's the only place to be.

Shalom my friends in Christ
Christine

Sunday School

The Sunday School teachers look forward to welcoming all the children for the new session. We meet in the church hall for 10:45am til approximately 12noon. We look forward to seeing you.

Elizabeth Hamilton


Snippets
Priorities? - Funny how a £20 looks so big when taken to Church and so small when taken to the supermarket. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question everything in the Bible.

True greatness consists of being great in little things.

The sunrise is God's greeting.......The sunset, His signature.
 

Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the snake and the snake didn't have a leg to stand on.

Gambling is a sin, BET you can't give it up!

The Church - almost 2000 years old and still under the maker's guarantee.


1st Whitburn Boys Brigade
As you know we've been on holiday over the summer with all staff having a well deserved break. We look forward to starting back on the 9th of September at our usual times for each section We also welcome Grace Brown on board to assist with the Anchor Boy section this year. If any of you know of any boy whom you think may enjoy Boys Brigade please let them know where and when we meet. It would be great to welcome some new faces and I'm sure our regular boys will make them feel at ease in no time.

Liz McFadzean
Captain


KIDZONE
A huge thank you to all who helped with Kidzone. All the children had a fantastic time but that only happened thanks to many people giving of their time. We had an average of 35 children a day over the 3 age groups. It was wonderful to share their enthusiasm and see them all having such a good time. In the afternoon the teenagers enjoyed the chill time. If you were at church for the family service on the 16th August then I'm sure you would agree that a great time was had by all.

Liz McFadzean


BEREAVEMENT VISITOR
Carol Tweedie has begun her work as Bereavement Visitor and has been well received. Please continue to pray for her in this important role.
 

The Church Office
The computer room is now the church office. Helen Jewwl-Smith will work there on Monday mornings from 10am to 12noon with other volunteers doing the same Tuesday to Friday. The mobile phone number is 07851674269. This is now the 'Church Number'.

Greetings from the Guild
We are now going into our first session of 2009-10. Our theme this year is 'What does the Lord require of you?' Again, this session, we have a good and varied syllabus and we look forward to the weeks ahead. Our first meeting starts on the 10th September with studying the syllabus and doing some drama.
8th October we have Avril talking on reflexology.
22nd October is our project night with speakers from World Mission.
12th November is our silent auction.
26th November is another open night with the excellent Christian Puppets, well worth coming to see, and that takes us up to our Christmas night out.
Please take the opportunity to come along and join us.
God Bless.
Margaret Bishop

Some Poems
Nobody Knows

Nobody knows what a prayer can do
when somebody somewhere prays for you,
Burdens are lifted and doors unbarred,
nothing seems quite so bad or hard.

Nobody knows how God intervenes,
working his wonder behind the scenes,
Turning the evil away from us
In a way that is most marvellous.

Clearing a path through the tangled track,
Easing the strain on the breaking back.
When hope fades away and is lost to view,
Nobody knows what a prayer can do.

Anon.

On the wings of a prayer

On the wings of a prayer
our burdens take flight
and our load of care
becomes bearably light
and our heavy hearts
are lifted above
to be healed by the realm
of God's wonderful love
and the tears in our eyes
are dried by the hands
of a loving Father who understands
all our problems
our fears and despair
when we take them to Him
on the wings of a prayer.

Anon.
 

1st Whitburn Girls Brigade
Girls Brigade meet every Tuesday of the school term. Our session will get off to a fun start with the girls from last year going on our annual trip to Loudon Castle on 29th August. I would like to thank everyone who helped by donating items to Marys meals, we had 92 full bag packs and 4 large bags of extra items. The girls did a sponsor walk and raised £500 which we hope to present to Marys meals at the start of the session. I would also like to thank everyone who supported our Brigaders this year, they met their pledge to Project Steadfast and we will be presenting a cheque to them for £1000. This year will be our company's 20th year and for the first time since our company formed we will be fund raising for our own organisation, we would like to do something special with the girls and all money raised will go forward to paying for it. As part of our fundraising we will be continuing to collect pennies, so if any of the congregation would like to help with this, we would be extremely grateful, thank you to all who helped last year.

Anne Cartwright
Captain.