december 2015-january 2016DG1 4XY. Tel: 263106. An eco-friendly message As part of our eco-congregation work, the Sunday Kids have produced a col-ourful banner which ... Our Christmas

december 2015-january 2016

St Mary’s-Greyfriars’ Parish Church Interim Moderator: Colin Sutherland

Tel 01387 279954 www.stmarysgreyfriars.org.uk

Scottish charity no SC009432

Chrystal Chronicle December 2015-January 2016 www.stmarysgreyfriars.org.uk


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A golden celebration

Interim Moderator Colin Sutherland presented a Church of Scotland Long Service Certificate to David Cannon to mark his 50 years as an elder. David was one of seven who were ordained by the Rev John Melrose in Greyfriars’ Church in February 1965, and joined the new congregation when St Mary’s and Greyfriars’ merged.

From the Interim ModeratorThis is the time of year when everyone should be looking forward to Christmas and all that it means to them and to their families. Sitting just now writing this letter there are so many people who will have many other thoughts right at this moment in time.

We must surely spare a thought and a prayer for those people whose lives have been dev-astated by the horrific events in Paris. May our prayers include all those who have suffered the loss of a loved one and all who have been injured in this atrocity.

We live in an ever-changing world and for many the changes are not always for the best. We must, however, continue to live our lives as we have in the past and never allow those terrorists to even think that they can win by using their methods of terror.

Let me come now to the meaning of Christmas, the time when we all meet with our families and friends, greet them and wish them a “Merry Christmas”. To me it is rather sad that almost all the shopping malls and department stores cannot wish us the same. Instead the best they can offer us in recognition of Christ’s birth is season’s greetings.

May we remember the real meaning of Christmas and keep Christ in our Christmas greetings – not only in word but in our actions too.

So many of the Christmas cards on sale omit Christ and his birth. As Christians let us continue to maintain the true meaning of Christmas, let us ensure that we never forget the love and joy the birth of that baby born in Bethlehem has brought to this world.

One of my favourite of the more modern hymns is one that is, I think, very suitable for the start of the New Year. The hymn was written by my old friend, the former minister of Cardross Parish Church, the Reverend Andrew Scobie. It is of course: “Look forward in faith.”

This is something that we should all be doing at this time and in the weeks and months to come. May faith be the strength that carries us forward into Christmas and the years to fol-low. Faith is so very important to us and cannot and should not be devalued by the secular world in which we live.

May God richly bless you and yours over Christmas and into the New Year.Colin

Important financial informationAt its last meeting the Kirk Session agreed to send a letter to all members to highlight the cur-rent financial position of the congregation as we approach the financial year end of the church on December 31. The letter has been included with each copy of the magazine delivered and the Kirk Session would ask that you consider the contents of the letter very carefully and give it your prayerful consideration. Every member of the congregation has a part to play here in improving the current position so that the future of your church is not put at risk.

I will be happy to provide further financial information to any member if this is required.Rod Williamson, convener, finance committee

A soup and sweet lunch was held in the hall on Sunday November 15, in aid of Guild projects.

There were delicious soups on offer including carrot and courgette, broth-you-could-stand-your-spoon-up-in and carrot and coriander; and fabulous puds including trifle, profiteroles, chocolate gateau, lemon syllabub and mandarin cheesecake

Ever ything on offer was homemade, which shows what talented cooks we have in our midst.

Our picture shows just some of the fantas-tic fayre that was on offer.

Sweet success



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Church register

About the magazine Useful contactsThe deadline for our first issue of 2016 is Sunday January 24 for items through the church – and 3pm that day for those sent direct. Please include your name with all submissions.

Editor: David BennettWrite: 2 Wolfgill Drive, Dumfries DG1 4XYCall: 01387 263106Email: [email protected]

Interim Moderator Colin Sutherland ............................. 279954

Session Clerk David Matheson .............................. 252042

Treasurer Stewart Williamson ......................... 261257

Gift Aid and freewill offering envelopes Billy Simpson ................................... 252278

What’s on …DecemberWednesday 9: Garden Club Christmas lunchSunday 13: Christmas music and mulled wine, 6.30pmMonday 14: Buzz, Christmas Party in the hallTuesday 15: Guild, Christmas DinnerWednesday 16: Advent Reflection in the hall, 2.30pm Sunday 20: Christmas Service with the children, 11.30am Thursday 24: Joint service at St George’s Church, 7pmThursday 24: Joint service with Caerlaverock at Barbour Hall, Glencaple, 8.30pmThursday 24: Watchnight service, St Mary’s-Greyfriars’ Church, 11.30pm

JanuarySaturday 9: Bacon butties in the hall, 9.30-11amMonday 11: Buzz holidayTuesday 19: Guild, A musical afternoon with Robert Lind, 1.30pm in the hallWednesday 20: Garden Club, Summer Outing, Bill & Helen HollandMonday 25: Buzz, Rabbie Burns, Margaret McCaffertyThursday 28: Service and soup, 12.15pm in the hall

FebruaryTuesday 2: Guild, Go in Peace, the leadership teamSaturday 6: Buzz coffee morning

Deaths – “I am the resurrection and the life”October 8: Mrs A MarshallOctober 18: Mrs M BruceOctober 25: Mrs G AffleckNovember 5: Mrs E AndersonNovember 15: Mr T Barton

New members – “Welcome!”Mr W R and Mrs A Brown

Please let me know of any changes of address: Marion Bennett, 2 Wolfgill Drive, Dumfries DG1 4XY. Tel: 263106.

An eco-friendly messageAs part of our eco-congregation work, t h e S u n d ay K i d s have produced a col-ourful banner which is already on display in the church hall. It displays the mes-sage “reduce reuse recycle” and while making it, we talked about how we can reduce our use of the earth’s resources and what we can recycle at home.

T h e b a n n e r i s m a d e f r o m s o m e beautiful fabric piec-e s t ha t ha d b e e n kindly donated by one of our members – a good example in itself of reusing the mater ials that we have available!



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The last few weeks at the Buzz have been very musical!On October 19, we welcomed John Glover, telling us a whole host of stories and sketch-

es. One of John’s loves is old-time music hall and he sang a few songs and played on his guitar. We even got to hear him play a ukulele for some George Formby numbers! He is very talented and it was a lovely afternoon.

At our meeting on November 2, we had Mixed Bag, a company of ladies who entertain at different places. They are a very happy lot! Kate plays piano and we all get musical instru-ments to join in. They sang a lot of American music and we took part too, and we heard a few jokes as well.

On November 16 we were entertained by David Johnson, who played guitar, sang a few songs and played us some pre-recorded music too. We heard some stories about his child-hood and how he had joined the cathedral choir. His taste was very broad.

Our Christmas party is being held in the hall on Monday December 14 and we resume on January 25 when Margaret McCafferty will be telling us all about Rabbie Burns.

Freda Hunter

The Big Christmas Sing With Dumfries Male Voice Choir is taking place on Wednesday December 9 at 7.30pm in St George’s Church, followed by tea/coffee and mince pies.

The event will allow us to sing well known carols and to enjoy Christmas music from the choir. There will be an opportunity to support the Christian Aid appeal, which this year is focusing on Malaria in Nigeria (more than 250,000 children die each year of this deadly but preventable disease).

Note that this year donations to the Christmas appeal will be doubled by UKAid.

Our opening social was held on Tuesday October 20, when visiting Guilds and ourselves were treated to an evening of music and fun from the “The Old Geezers” – two guitars, full drumkit, keyboard, and four friends who obviously enjoyed making music together. The hall was rocking to sounds of the 60s, interspersed with ballads, Scottish Airs, and instru-mentals. A good time was had by all.

November 3 was our Guild project night when speaker Lily Stevenson from Dalbeattie gave a most enlightening talk on the Feed the Minds project. This was set up to help edu-cate women in Kenya about the dangers of female genital mutilation (FGM). Girls who choose not to undergo this rite of passage can be ostracised,their family shunned, and a good marriage made almost impossible. Although FGM is unlawful it is still practised in ru-ral communities, so much needs to be done to educate and inform women of their choices.

Our Christmas dinner is taking place on Tuesday December 15 at the Woodlands Hotel, by popular demand.

We have an afternoon meeting on Tuesday January 19 at 1.30pm. Our talented organist, Robert Lind, and friends will be entertaining us with an afternoon of music, so come along and be delighted. There will be a sales table at this meeting.

Anne Mackie

From the Guild

From the Buzz

Christian Aid update

Forthcoming eventsChristmas musical eveningThis event, on Sunday December 13 at 6.30pm, is the time when we look forward in the advent season to hearing our choir and friends sing a variety of songs, perform sketches and the like. Refreshments will be served (non-alcoholic mulled wine), truffles, shortbread etc. Tea and coffee will also be available, if required. Entry by donation to church funds. Come along and join in the community singing and prepare for the coming season.

Bacon buttiesOur now annual event is taking place on Saturday January 9 from 9.30-11.00am. Come along, wish those you have not seen a prosperous New Year, and enjoy your breakfast. A bacon/sausage buttie and tea/coffee will be served at a cost of £2.50 each; additional rolls can be purchased at a cost of 75p each. We hope to see you at this event!

PS …Dear FatherA time of waiting, a time of anticipation. Patience required.A new baby, a new beginning. Promise delivered.A path to follow, a life to live up to. Commitment expected.Every sin forgiven. Every person loved. Everlasting life guaranteed.For all that we have, for all that You give us, we rededicate our time, money and talents to You in the year ahead.Amen

On November 5 we sent off 63 filled shoeboxes, two large bags, and another two bags mostly filled with lovingly knitted items to be used for more boxes.

In addition £250 of separate donations were included (the cost of transporting a con-tainer is just short of £4000), so enabling disadvantaged men, women and children to feel more wanted and loved.

Blythswood shoebox appeal



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Notes of thanks

A Christmas reflection

In the garden

Animal magic

Many thanks for the lovely pot plant which was delivered to Peter James following the Harvest service. It is a lovely plant, which is flowering beautifully!

Thanks to all at St Mary’s-Greyfriars’ for the lovely flowers received on the passing of my cousin, Maggie. Your thoughtfulness is much appreciated.

Jessie Gibson

I have also been asked to pass on thanks for flowers from Mrs J Clouston; Helen Gray and the unit at Abbey Gardens; Mr and Mrs T Hannah; Mrs Wilma Harper; and Mrs Susan McSherry.

And I have been asked to convey the thanks of the fabric committee to David Graham for giving up his time to remove the tree trunk from the Manse garden. Thank you.

If we look back over the past year,What we have will become clear.We are fortunate if we have real friendship,That today in harmony still continues with us here,Creating a special bond that is warm and very sincere.But life can be unkind for many others,Only unhappiness they have gathered.

Everyone needs love and friendship,Without it, it is sad. There is no joy and no fun.Open your hearts and kindly give them some.Let’s start from this Christmas Day,Making sure that some happiness and love goes their way.

Pierluigi Angelini

A social get-together is planned for Tuesday January 12, starting at 7pm in the small hall. The evening will no doubt contain hesitation; deviation; and repetition; but the composi-tion of the programme, which requires volunteers, will be determined by the number of individual performers, and the actual material proferred will be a straightforward mono-logue of your choice, and if it’s something we’ve heard before it’s of no consequence – “play it again, Sam”.

Inevitably the choice is totally diverse, and therein lies the refreshing magic of the even-ing! An interval for refreshment is included, and admission on this post-festive night is £2.50 with all proceeds going to church funds. Contact Eunice on 263263 or Tommy on 257691 for more info. To be or not to be is not the question, as you’ll be amongst friends, and a good night will assuredly be had by all.

Tommy Jardine

Poetry and prose nightA rice recipe

Wild geese flying in skeins overhead locally are fairly commonplace, and a full range of wild birds in our garden is a customary sight for most of us.

Seeing a mouse, hedgehog or even a rabbit is everyday stuff, but for a lady member of our congregation, living in the outskirts of Dumfries, she recently has had a surprise visitor!

Recently her lovely garden has been badly scraped and marked by a badger. This member of the weasel and otter family is a nocturnal intruder and has not been seen

but the lady has her camera at the ready!

On October 28, a very dull day, we had a bright and colourful time with Isobel Evans on her topic of KLM. She made a flying start into her presentation by showing a group of mem-bers studying booklets and entitling it Keep Learning More. She showed us flowers such as Lavender, Marigolds and Unknowns which she renamed Mysteries; took us to the Kelpies and Kew; and flew us to Sydney, Brisbane, New Zealand and Singapore showing us exotic plants and animals like Kangaroo and Koala.

On November 11 we had Willie Taylor on bees. He was very enthusiastic and informa-tive. His first mention was of wasps – which he described as “the gardener’s best friend” because they feed on insect pests. He enjoyed our reaction to that! He gave us great insight into the life of the hive with its bonding, communication of finds and raising new genera-tions. It was a most enjoyable and informative afternoon. He was warmly thanked.

Bill Holland

Try out our recipe to use your Fairtrade rice (some bags still available!).

Turkey broth; ½ cup of sliced mushrooms; ½ cup sliced onion; 2 teaspoons vegetable oil; 35fl oz of chicken or turkey stock; 2 cups of water; ½ cup of apple juice (optional); 6oz of Fairtrade rice; 2 ½ cups of cooked chopped turkey pieces; 2 cups of mixed frozen vegetables.

In a large saucepan, saute the mushrooms and onion in the oil for 3 minutes. Stir in the stock, water and apple juice. Bring to the boil. Stir in the rice. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in the turkey and vegetables and cook for 5 min-utes or until the vegetables are tender. Serve with crusty bread and butter. Serves 6 people.



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A big szia (hello!) as ‘fourth goose’ visits from HungarySt Mary’s-Greyfriars’ has been twinned with Arpad Ter Reformed Church in De-brecen, Hungary, since 2013. We were de-lighted when our main link with Arpad Ter – Eva Szilagyine and her family, husband Janos, who is Session Clerk, and four-year-old Gergo – planned a visit this year.

Air tickets were purchased in May and from then onwards the excitement grew until they finally arrived on September 25. There were lots of firsts for them in their visit – first time flying for them all, a first visit to the seaside, a first experience of be-ing driven on the left-hand side of the road (they found that quite scary, especially on the M8 in the rain and the dark), first wor-ship with us where they stood for the hymns and sat for the prayers (it’s the other way round in Hungary) and a meal of Scottish fish and chips (by special request!).

On their first morning we went to a lo-cal park and became aware of hundreds of geese flying in a V formation overhead – almost at the end of their annual journey from Spitzbergen to the Solway Firth for the winter. Our Church logo is three geese flying in formation – one leading (God) and the other two very close behind (St Mary’s-Greyfriars’ and Caerlaverock). Eva told me that they felt that Arpad Ter was the fourth goose and this is highlighted on their church website – such a special link.

Eva spoke to the congregation of St Mary’s-Greyfriars’ during the Sunday ser-vice, bringing greetings from Pastor Janos Veres, and presented the church with a New Testament in English on one page and Hun-garian on the opposite page.

Following the Bible reading in English

Eva read the same reading in Hungarian. The family’s presence with us at this ser-vice gave us a great sense of the reality of our friendship, Christian love and support brought about by our twinning. At the end of the service many members of the congre-gation came up to meet them. We then had a short informal communion, which was made very special by their visit. Gergo par-took of the bread as he does at home. They were so happy to meet Janet McSherry who had been part of the Presbytery visit in April, when she stayed with a member of Arpad Ter, and went back in July for Arpad Ter’s church summer youth camp. They also met David Matheson, who had been to Debrecen in 2013.

Our Presbytery had its opening meeting during the week of their visit and we hosted a meal in our church hall beforehand. The Moderator of Dumfries and Kirkcudbright Presbytery, who had visited Debrecen in April, and the Presbytery Clerk joined us along with others who had been to Debre-cen so there were some familiar faces for them and messages were exchanged. The Moderator was pleased to be able to hand over a substantial donation to the Debrecen Churches programme for working with refugees, thus strengthening the link be-tween the two Presbyteries, and we have since heard that this had been gratefully received in Debrecen. Afterwards we all went to Presbytery and shared communion with them there.

The Szilagyi family were pleased to meet the members of our Wider Church and Christian Outreach group throughout the week. We are hopeful that now that our

twinning relationship has been strength-ened by this visit and become more of a reality that more people from our own congregation will wish to visit Arpad Ter Church in Debrecen where we know they will receive a very warm, loving and Chris-tian welcome.

The visit was both memorable and full of Joy and laughter. Thanks to Eva’s superb English/Hungarian translation, language was no barrier.

Stan and I felt so blessed having them to stay in our home for the week. The house was filled with laughter and love all week and it was a privilege to look after them, to introduce them to our congregation,

to pray daily with them, and to be able to repay some of the kindness they had shown to us when staying (twice) with them in Debrecen. We were able to go out every day for picnics and walks, to the shore, the for-ests and other local places. We were blessed with warm, sunny weather all week and we hope that they went home feeling rested and, as Gergo’s hero Fireman Sam would say, “Ready for Action”.

Liz Tanner

n Eva, Janos, and Gergo wish to say thanks for the flowers that were given to them on the Sunday they were in Dumfries. They were very touched by the gesture.

The Szilagyi family with Janet McSherry, Colin Sutherland and the bilingual Bible.


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Sunday Kids’ commitments

The Sunday Kids have been looking at the life of Moses recently and having heard and talked about the Ten Commandments have come up with

their own commitments. These, designs pictured clockwise from top left, are by Katy, Annie, Isaac and Alice.

Documents

december 2015-january 2016DG1 4XY. Tel: 263106. An eco-friendly message As part of our eco-congregation work, the Sunday Kids have produced a col-ourful banner which ... Our Christmas