‘The Lord is near to those who call on Him…’ (Psalm 145:18)
Have you called on the Lord today?
‘I know the plans I have for you…’ (Jeremiah 29:11)
What plans does God have in place for you? What destiny has He in store for you? Take time now to come to the Lord and enquire of Him the path that He would have you take.
‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart…’ (Proverbs 3:5)
How easy do we find it to trust someone? What does a person need to do in order to gain that trust? How do we feel if that trust is then either abused or betrayed? Is it possible to truly trust another person with all of our heart?
Questions like these, although we may not be openly conscious of them, are ones that we all face in our daily lives in our many situations and interactions with other people and the answer to each of them may vary depending on that person or that situation, causing us all sorts of dilemmas.
With the Lord, however, there should be problems or know dilemmas. Through His Son God has fulfilled His promises to us once and for all, revealing His great love for us and reconciling us to Himself. Therefore, we have no reason whatsoever to not trust the Lord. But do we trust Him with all our hearts – or do we hold back at times?
Our next online Bible Study will take place on Wednesday 16th March at 7.00pm, looking at John 2:13-22
If you would like to join in please email the minister on Andrew.Graham@churchofscotland.org.uk
‘With the Lord there is unfailing love…’ (Psalm 130:1)
Just take a few minutes to reflect on this short verse – and then give thanks to the Lord for His great love for us.
‘ I look up to the mountains – does my help come from there…’ (Psalm 121:1)
Where do we find help as we go about our busy lives? I suspect from many sources. But if we continue to read the rest of this much loved Psalm, we find that our one true source of help is from God Himself. Family, friends, neighbours – they all offer us so much every single day of our lives; they enrich our lives in so many ways and without them our lives would not be the same. However, only God can give us all we need – My help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth !
Presbytery Restructuring
You may have been aware of some newspaper articles recently referring to changes within the Church of Scotland which may result in a number of churches having to link, unite and even close, and naturally this has caused a certain amount of unrest. So I would like to just give a brief update on what is actually going on at this time.
The General Assembly has instructed Presbyteries to engage in a revised from of presbytery planning, known as Presbytery Mission Planning. Each Presbytery has been instructed, by 31 December 2022, to prepare, and have approved by Faith Nurture Forum and General Trustees, a Presbytery Mission Plan, setting out how presbytery intends to carry out the mission of the Church within its bounds.
In preparing this plan, each Presbytery must take account of a reduction in the number of Full Time Equivalent Ministries (FTE), which will be financed by Faith Nurture Forum. The present FTE allocation to the Presbytery of Dunkeld and Meigle is 11.3. However, this will be reduced to 6.5 by 31 December 2025, which, as you can see, represents a significant reduction. At the moment Presbytery is considering how we will achieve this and consultation papers have been sent to our Kirk Sessions for them to respond to by June.
However, please note that any changes recommended by Presbytery will not affect the current tenure or status of any Minister currently serving in post within our Presbytery.
Running alongside all of this is the merger of Presbyteries within Scotland, a process that has already taken place in some areas. For us here this will mean our Presbytery of Dunkeld and Meigle merging with the Presbyteries of Perth, Stirling, Angus and Dundee. The new Presbytery – the Presbytery of Perth as it will be known – should be in place by the beginning of January 2023 and again discussions as to how all this will work are well advanced and an overture to this effect should go to the General Assembly this May.
I hope this is of some help and I will of course keep you updated as we progress through all of this. However, if anyone does have any questions or any concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.
God Bless,
Andy
‘This is what God wants you to do; believe in the one He has sent…’ (John 6:29)
What does it mean to believe in someone or something? To have trust in that person or in that situation? To have faith that your life will be the better for having that belief?
In whom and in what do we believe in as we live out our daily lives? Our loved ones – families and friends? In our own strength, abilities and judgement?
But what about God? Do we believe in Him? Truly believe in Him – more than anyone or anything else?
‘I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord…’ (Jeremiah 29:11)
What plans does the Lord have for you in your life right now? What direction would He have you take?
Take time today to come to the Lord, to commune with Him and to allow His Spirit to guide you along the path He would have you take.
‘The Lord is with me, I will not be afraid…’ (Psalm 118:6)
We are living in fearful times today, particularly so the people of Ukraine. Fear is one of the most powerful emotions any of us can experience and it can take hold of our lives in such a way as to completely overwhelm us. At times like this the words of the Psalmist can seem meaningless and we can understand why that might be so. However, if we take time to remember that the Lord is always with us, that he will never abandon nor forsake us, then we can take some comfort, strength and reassurance in that. The source of our fear might not suddenly disappear, but knowing that we are not facing it on our own, that the Lord is always with us, can make all the difference.