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The
Kirk Session met on Wednesday 5th. September to consider the
congregational programme for our new session. This year everything
will be leading forward to a six week series of meetings on the theme
of 'Discovering Our Faith' which will run each Wednesday evening of
Lent - i.e February 13th, 20th, & 27th. and March 6th, 13th, &
20th. Each meeting will start at 7.30 p.m. and conclude by 9 p.m.
This
programme will lead into our Holy Week services which will be each
evening from Palm Sunday through to Holy Saturday at 7.30 p.m. On the
eve of Easter it is planned to hold a vigil service in the Church at
11.15 p.m. and there will be an Easter Communion soon after dawn (or
at least very early in the morning!) by the Lochside.
In
the run up to Christmas the Bible Study Group will study the first
eleven chapters of Genesis (this was the decision of the group at its
final meeting last session.) Meetings will be on Monday evenings in
the Manse at 7.30 p.m. The dates for this programme are: September
17th. & 24th; October 1st, 8th & 15th; November 12th, 19th.
& 26th; December 3rd, 10th. & 17th.
There
will be a film night each month in the run up to Christmas. We shall
look at films which tell the life story of Jesus and begin on
Wednesday 26th. September at 7.30 p.m. in the Church Hall. Further
film nights have been planned for Wednesday 17th. October and for
Wednesday 28th. November.
A
Carol Singing event is being planned for Sunday evening the 23rd.
December. Teams of carol-singers will start from different parts of
the parish and will end up in the Parish Church for refreshments and
a final sing.
Folk
from the Church and community will again be invited to put a 'memory
star' on our Christmas tree this year - a star with the name of a
loved-one who has died and who is missed at Christmas. This year
there will be a service at which loved ones will be especially
remembered. This will be in the Church on Sunday evening 30th.
December at 6.30 p.m.
Our
annual Service of Celebration and Rededication will be on Sunday
7th. October at 10.30 a.m. This will be followed by lunch in the Loch
Long Hotel. It was agreed that prices should be held at the same
level as last year (£7) and the Congregational Board be asked to
subsidise any extra costs. It was also noted that our friends from
Luss would be with us on this Sunday and it was hoped that they would
all join us for the celebration meal.
A
Service of Songs of Praise was agreed for the evening of Sunday
23rd. September at 6.30 p.m. It was thought that this might be the
first of a number of such services and as such this one would be led
by members of the Kirk Session. Each Elder agreed to choose a
favourite hymn about which he or she could say a bit about why it was
such a favourite. Readings and prayers are also being prepared by the
Kirk Session team.
Finally,
in a discussion about communication the Kirk Session commended the
weekly Pewspaper and the monthly Stewardship News. It agreed to
consider the possibility of a quarterly magazine and endorsed the
setting up of a Church Web-site (on which you may be reading this report.)
The
only regret at this meeting (at which there was, as usual, a full
turn out of the Session) was that it had not been possible to hold an
open-air Sunday morning service due to the inclemency of the Arrochar
summer weather! |