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The
Kirk Session met in the Church Hall on Wednesday 9th. January to
make plans for the new year. As usual every member of the Kirk
Session was present for the meeting which began with the lectionary
reading for this week from Matthew's Gospel - the Baptism of Jesus -
and allowed us to meditate briefly on our own Baptism as a gift from
God by which we are brought into the family of the Church. After a
period of prayer in which we considered both the needs of our own
parish and the concerns of the wider world, we turned our attention
to a very full minute of the previous meeting, presented by Eric our
Session Clerk. Many different activities had been planned - all had
happened - and collectively we were delighted by how well all of our
Christmas activities, celebrations and special events had been
received and supported by our congregation and community. All of the
special services had been extremely well attended, mention being made
particularly of the Services of Readings and Music for the Christmas
Season and of the Service at which we remembered those we loved who
were no longer with us. Tom and his team were thanked for the work
which they had put into producing our new magazine 'Boundless' and
Tom indicated that a new edition, full colour again, would be
available for Easter. Finally under the minutes it was noted that
while Mission didn't appear as a special heading on our agenda,
everything we were planning was about mission - the priority on which
we had agreed for 2002.
Consideration
turned to the decision to appoint Elders to link with those groups
which used the Church premises. It was decided that Church
organisations should have an elder who does not belong to that group
while non-Church organisations, where possible should have an elder
who belongs to that organisation. Elders will visit their group twice
a year and report to the Session once a year. In the case of
non-Church groups, this report is on how we can help them, not, of
course, on the running of their activities! The following
appointments were agreed:
Sunday
School - Margaret Kelly
Youth
Clubs - Stella Campbell
The
Guild - Jim Kelly
Bible
Study Group - Eric Davidson
WRI
- Hettie Craig
Computer
Group - Retta Deerin
Arrochar
and Tarbet Community Development Association - Retta Deerin
Community
Council - May MacLachlan
The
Slimmers - Anna Carmichael
The
Gala Committee - Tom Stewart
The
Pantomime Group - Jamie MacTavish
Now
the Session turned to a discussion of how often and when we should
celebrate Holy Communion. We discussed the practice in the early
Church tracing down through the middle ages to the days of the
Scottish reformation. We talked through the priorities of the
reformers and compared our current practice with that of sister
denominations. We looked at the way our service is designed and
talked about a rediscovery of the Christian Festivals and the rhythm
of the Christian year. After discussion we agreed that our Communion
Seasons would be Advent, Easter, Pentecost and Covenant Sunday (which
will coincide with the celebration of the refurbishment of the
Church). In addition there will always be Communion on Christmas Day
and on Maundy Thursday. The Session agree that we experiment with a
regular afternoon service of Holy Communion, perhaps every two months
or so and that the first of these celebrations will be in April.
Now
we started to consider plans for the Songs of Praise Service to be
held in the afternoon of Sunday 3rd. February at 3 p.m. An invitation
was examined and approved. This to be available for distribution this
Sunday. Each elder agreed to choose a favourite hymn and either a
Bible passage or a prayer which they will share at the service.
Everyone will share in preparing things for afternoon tea which will
be distributed from the hall although folk may have to take their tea
back into the Church to get a seat. Transport will be arranged by
Jamie and by Jim. The hope is that people in the parish who
cannot come in the morning will take this opportunity of joining us
for a special service.
Attention
turned to our plans for our Discovering Faith programme which will
run from Wednesday 13th. February to Wednesday 20th. March, 2002. It
is a six week Wednesday evening course designed for existing Church
Members to help deepen our Christian Faith. The aims of the course
are to help us grow in friendship and openness in discussing matters
of the faith; to provide background knowledge to underpin our
Christian Faith and to help us to explore what it means to be a
disciple of Jesus.
Each
evening will have a period of social gathering, learning input,
discussion and worship. The timetable for each evening is
7
p.m. Meet and Eat
7.30
p.m. Learn
8
p.m. Share
8.30
p.m. Worship
8.45
p.m. Coffee
9
p.m. Home
The
agreed programme is:
Week
One: A Bird’s Eye View of the Old Testament (What it consists
of, how it came to be written, the story it tells and its importance
for us today).
Week
Two: A Life of Jesus (What the Gospels tell us about his life,
Jesus’ challenge to the people of his day, The wonder of Easter,
what the Bible teaches us about who Jesus really is).
Week
Three: How the Early Church Grew (What the Bible tell us about the
early Church, what the early Church believed, how the Good News
spread throughout the world, what we can learn from the early Church).
Week
Four: The Tools of a Christian Life (The Bible, prayer, worship,
Church, giving, pilgrimage (the Christian Life-Style).
Week
Five: The Challenges of a Christian Life (The problem of pain and
suffering, why him? why her? why me? Does God intervene in the World?
The Work of the Holy Spirit).
Week
Six: A Church for the Twenty-first Century (Parish or Congregation?
Minister and Members or Team of Disciples? A Small Remnant or a
Dynamic Force for Good? How do we get from here to there?)
The
Kirk Session was pleased that our programme leads into Holy Week and
a full week of services and special events so that the impetus of the
programme will not be lost. We shall plan to follow up this course
with one for those outwith the Church at present.
It
was agreed that May would co-ordinate the food for the first part of
the programme with help already volunteered by Hettie and Anna. Tom,
Retta, Margaret, Anna and Stella would be happy to be discussion
group leaders while Retta will also co-ordinate the final coffee
slot. The role of worship leader for the worship spot will be shared
around the Session. A leaflet will be prepared to advertise our plans.
Now
thoughts turned to Holy Week. It was agreed that there would be a
Service each evening from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday at 7 p.m. On
Good Friday there would be a worship activity between the hours of 12
noon and 3 p.m. - this might involve the use of a film. On Easter
Sunday morning there would be an early morning service by the pier on
the lochside at Tarbet at 8 a.m. followed by coffee and sausages in rolls.
Our
final item of discussion was the Year of the Child. Together the
Video produced by the Church of Scotland was watched and enjoyed. It
was noted that following the initial launch of the programme material
we had invited young folk to join our decision-making bodies. This
would be re-examined with a view to encouraging children to come to
share with us on such occasions. It was noted that we had committed
ourselves to take part in the Whole People of God programme for
Children and in its successor programme 'Seasons of the Spirit.' It
was agreed to invite children to choose favourite hymns and speak
about them at the forthcoming Songs of Praise; to meet with children
to hear from them how they would like to see the Church develop; to
invite them to share in the preparation and leading of a morning
service; to plan a special family communion service, to consider
setting up a new Christian Aid Committee and to invite children to
play a big part in its decision-making and activities and to commit
ourselves to arranging a special event to mark this Year of the
Child. It was noted that all of our Child Protection measures were in
place and up-to-date and it was agreed to place a further discussion
of what we shall do during this year at our next meeting once these
proposals had been investigated and explored with children themselves.
The
Session noted that the dates agreed for future meetings were
Wednesday 10th. April, 14th. August and 13th. November, each at 7.30
p.m. in the Church Hall.
The
meeting ended with the Benediction at 9 p.m.
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