Annan Old Parish

Newsletter

Annan Old Parish Church  Newsletter                 December 2020

Message from the Manse

Dear Friends,

One of the Main themes of Advent is Hope and  Hope is something that our nation,  indeed the world desperately needs at this time.

We have some hope on the horizon of the possibility of a vaccine against this terrible corona virus and we are all crossing our fingers that we will have a vaccine soon.    We hope for the best.

Christian hope is of course a different kind of hope to the hope of this world.      Christian hope is not about keeping your fingers crossed,   hoping for the best,  maybe aye, maybe no.  Christian hope is about certainty,  Christian hope   is  something we can be sure of.

Many people look for hope in the wrong place.  We see this in the queue at the lottery counter at the local shop or the spending frenzy at this time of year.    I saw on the TV a program about a 22 year old Girl who is  £24,000 in debt and could see no way out of it.  And then there are many folk who see no hope at all and decide to take their own life.

Peter tells us that  “Christian hope rests not on things of this world,  but on God who raised Jesus Christ and gave him glory , so that our faith and hope might be in him.”

In other words,   our hope is not in the hands of fate or destiny,  it does not depend on our mood swings but is based on the knowledge  that Our Church and our lives are very much in the hands of God.   I believe that through this pandemic God is working his purposes out and that gives me great hope for the future.

Church News.

JIM WALLACE – MODERATOR ELECT      

We all offer our congratulations to Jim Wallace, on being chosen as next years Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland,   We are all very proud of Jim   at Annan Old, and  we send him all our best wishes and prayers for his year as Moderator.

PRIVATE PRAYER TIMES   

We continue to open the Church on a Sunday for Private Prayer – the   times are ….

Annan Old – 1.30 – 3.00 p.m.        Eastriggs   – 10.00 -11.00 a.m.    on 1st, 3rd and 5th Sunday of the month

Dornock Church – remains closed at present.

Many people have said “I can pray at home – I don’t have to come to Church”,   that is true  but I have personally found that praying in Church  has been a very moving experience.   My prayers have felt much deeper and more meaningful.  I would encourage everyone    Just give it a try,  come down to Church on a Sunday afternoon.

CHRISTMAS      

Annan Churches Together Group are at the moment, preparing a ‘Virtual Christmas Holiday Club’ which will include the Christingle Service.    This will be posted on line about 10.00 o’clock on Christmas Eve, and can be viewed at any time after that.

CHRISTMAS TREE AND MANGER – OUTSIDE THE CHURCH     

The tree and manger are now in place and they looks beautiful.    As in previous years, we  invite people to ‘Sponsor a Light’ in memory of someone.   The donations this year will go to Annan Old Parish Church, to help with finances.  To donate, please  contact Esther or John Bicket

ENVELOPES – Blue–freewill and Yellow-Gift Aid.

Our deficit is not great,  we are a few thousand pounds short due to the Church being closed  this means that some have not being able to bring along their weekly envelopes to church, and we understand that.      If you, or maybe a relative you know of have envelopes and would like to get them to Church, just contact the Minister (01461 392048) or John Bicket, Treasurer (01461 203551) and they will come and collect them from you.    It is not easy to talk about money and we are sorry to do so, but you will appreciate that even though the Church is closed, there are still bills to be paid.     The money has to be in by the end of the year so that we can balance the books.

CLOCK  

As you know, the clock in the steeple stopped working around March/April, and during lockdown it was difficult to get hold of anyone to repair it.    The clock belongs to the Council, but they are not prepared to pay for the repair, they do not have the £100 a year to maintain it as they need the money for other things.   Fortunately, we have found someone who knows what is wrong with it and has taken it away for repair.    Hopefully we will have it back and working by the end of the year.

 ALASDAIR   

Alasdair retired in April this year,  just before lockdown,  and so it has been difficult to arrange anything for his retirement.                                                                                                                                                                 This week I posted a nice bunch of flowers and a card to Alasdair and Maureen to welcome them to their new home in Fife.      We also sent Alasdair a Cheque and a card from us all and in addition we sent Alasdair and Maureen a beautiful bowl hand crafted by Peter Foley.