Mearns Kirk

Dear friends,

I think, but am not sure, that we are making progress in our cluster discussions! The  Presbytery’s Mission Plan Implementation Committee called a meeting of all five  churches in our cluster on 5th November in Orchardhill Parish Church.

This meeting  was chaired by Claire Herbert, vice-convenor of this committee, who set out the options open to us which in practice come down to a choice between…

• a triple union of the 3 vacant churches with one
  minister (which could be topped up with an
  additional locally-funded post),
• or an eventual 4-way union embracing Broom as
  well, with two ministers working as a team.

Claire told us that her committee wanted each Kirk Session to choose one of these options and send an extract minute, indicating our agreement, to Presbytery by the  30th November. Our Kirk Session met on 6th November and we agreed to the first  option but also agreed to consider the other option if circumstances change (e.g. at  Broom or Eaglesham).

However, as I write this, none of the other Kirk Sessions has yet sent their extract  minute to Presbytery and, in fact, three of the Sessions have still to meet. So we  have not sent our extract minute either since it would show more unity for them all to  arrive at the Presbytery office around the same time.

Yet by the time you read this I hope that all five congregations will have responded to Presbytery. Then it will be up to Presbytery to approve the Plan (if we have all said  the same thing) and Presbytery would then get back to us to discuss buildings (the  Plan expects the five churches to reduce from 5 to 4 places of worship).

Once that is agreed a Basis of Union document would be drawn up. Each  congregation would then hold a vote to approve the Basis of Union, including its  clauses relating to buildings and the name of the united charge.

Once these  congregational votes have been taken, and if approved, a date could then be set for  a Service of Union. Then the vacancy process could begin and Claire said that she expected the united charge would be allowed to call a minister on unrestricted tenure  (not just for a certain number of years).

Obviously the building question is very important to us all. But each congregation will  have the opportunity to make a case for its place of worship, as long as we can show that we are economically viable for the next 5 years or so, and have the resources to  maintain our building.

So this is where we are as I write this in Mid-November. And once again, I’m afraid,  I’m asking you to wait, to wait and see what the future holds for Mearns Kirk and you, the people who have loved and served and worshipped God in this congregation  over many years. 

None of us really likes waiting. But if waiting can be called a virtue, it is one that in  the pages of the Bible and through the witness of the ages, God asks us to embrace.

And every year, as we wait to celebrate the good news of Christmas, we mark Advent as the season of waiting. We wait to see what will happen to a world torn apart by violence and conflict, to a church undergoing the biggest changes any of us have  seen in our lifetimes, and to ourselves facing our own worries and uncertainties.

But we know what the good news is that we’re waiting for. We’ve heard it every  Christmas. It’s the assurance that God is with us, not far away just watching it all  happen. It’s the promise that God knows us by name and we belong to a God who  loves us dearly. It’s the invitation, when we’re weary and over-burdened, to draw close to Jesus who is gentle and humble in spirit and, no matter what we have to do, he will give us rest and he will give us strength.

All we have to do, at Christmas, is keep our eyes fixed on the manger and see how  close our God always is and always will be. In the words of a prayer I love, which  was written nearly 40 years ago for Christian Aid: Every blessing to you all this  Christmas. 

Blessed art thou,
O Christmas Christ,
that thy cradle was so low
that shepherds,
poorest and simplest of earthly folk,
could yet kneel beside it,
and look level-eyed into the face of God.

Every blessing to you all this Christmas.