3rd December – Advent Sunday – Sacrament of Holy Communion @ 11.00am

10th December 2nd Sunday in Advent, Service @ 11.00am – Toddlers Praise @ 2.00pm

17th December 3rd Sunday in Advent, Service @ 11.00am  –  Carols by Candlelight Family Service @ 6.30pm

24^th December Christmas Eve Service @ 11.00am –  Family Christmas Eve Service @ 6.30pm

Ladies Lunch and
Fashion Show

Saturday October 7th

12pm for 12.30pm

Westerwood Hotel, St Andrews Drive, Cumbernauld

Tickets £30 and must be
ordered and paid for in
advance by September 17th

Contact Margaret McCallum on 07799 281 876

CRAFT FAYRE AND COFFEE MORNING

SATURDAY 20TH MAY

11AM-2PM

£3 ENTRY COVERS TEA AND CAKES

£1 ENTRY FOR CHILDREN

15 TABLES OF DIFFERENT CRAFTERS INCLUDING SUE ROONEY FROM CAFE VANILLA

CORONATION LUNCH

7TH MAY, 12 NOON

STRAIGHT AFTER SERVICE

£3 PER PERSON TO COVER CATERING

PLEASE ADD YOUR NAME TO THE LIST IN THE HALL
OR CONTACT MARGARET MCCALLUM

DEADLINE SUNDAY
30TH APRIL

Psalm 34: v 6. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.

Listening
Children are taught to talk, to read and write, to walk, to run, to play.
We prepare them for competition, for achievement-we teach them to be busy; inactivity is almost a crime.
But as a child, I don’t remember anyone teaching me how to be Still.
Oh, I’ve been told, ‘Be Still. Be quite.’ What a terrible thing, to tell a child to be quiet, when we do not know how to be quiet or still ourselves.
I’ve never had a lesson in how to listen in all my life. Listening is taken for granted.
It’s assumed that if you are not physically deaf you do not need to be taught how  to listen. But can I hear the difference between a robin and a wren? Which song is the starling’s, and which thrush’s?
Listening provides so many moments of joy. So much is recognised, experienced  and recorded by the ear; the hum and buzz and click of the sounds of summer; dragon-flies, crickets, insects, bees; trees rustling, rain gurgling in gutters and pattering on windows; the sea sighing on a shingle beach, the breath and whisper
of love itself…
How often do I nod, as if I were listening, to words I cannot hear, because I’m thinking about something else, because I’m planning what I intend to say.
Yet there are those who are good listeners: a good conversationalist listens, a good counsellor or adviser listens, a good doctor listens, a good judge, a good 
friend. And you, my Lord, you listen even to my thoughts. Teach me to listen, 
that I may hear when you speak in the wind, in music, and in love.

Let us Pray

Teach us, Lord, to stand silently in your presence,
and quietly to marvel, to rejoice and to give thanks.
Amen

FISH SUPPER NIGHT

TUESDAY 11TH APRIL, 2023

CHURCH HALL, 7PM

£8 PAYABLE BEFORE THE EVENT

ADD NAME AND ORDER TO THE LIST IN THE CHURCH OR CONTACT MARGARET MCCALLUM DIRECT ON 07799 281876

THE GUILD

Daffodil tea

Church Hall

Friday 24th March

7.30pm

Tickets £4 which includes refreshments

Entertainment and Raffle

Following our last meeting we now have definite dates through the year for events so get them in your diary.

Sunday May 7^th at 12md – Coronation Lunch (straight after the service)

Saturday May 20^th at 11am – Craft Fair and Coffee Morning

Wednesday June 14^th at 7.30pm – Shine Youth Group

Saturday October 7^th at 12md – Ladies Lunch and Fashion Show at Westerwood Hotel

Saturday November 25^th at 12md – Christmas Fayre

We are also hoping we can arrange the ever popular Fish Supper Night for Tuesday 11^th April but I do need to confirm price and possibility of delivery so will get back to you all. 

Do please continue to support our Church – we can’t do these events without you.

 “Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses. “ [Ecclesiates 3 : 1]

This is so true, there is a time for everything, and this is my time to say farewell to the Church here at Condorrat. It is sad but also there is a time for pastures new for myself and for the all of the congregation. I have no real plans for the future because it will take time to settle back home and to work out what I would like to get involved in. 

It will also be hard to leave all the friends I have made in the church and in the community but we can keep in touch and I am sure that I will be back for a bit of shopping now and again. It is difficult to say goodbye as this is such a final word. However, my mind is made up and I feel the call back north very strongly. After all, “My heart is in the highlands”, to quote Robert Burns.

It has been harder and harder to leave my home in the Angus Hills and the peace of that place to drive all the way back down. I love the hills and the country side and the peace and tranquility, especially of my garden.

Though at the moment the garden is not so lovely as it has been neglected this year and that is one of my projects to go back to. Pretty soon I hope that it will be brought into shape by a gardener and then I will have the joy of planting out and looking after the raised beds. There is something so lovely and soul – enhancing about a green space, whether it is our own or walking through a park. 

I always thank God for the wonder of creation and we have all found solace in our gardens especially during covid Lockdown. There was something healing about coming closer to nature and appreciating our surroundings. 

So, as much as I love Condorrat the pull home now is overwhelming. This is my final farewell and I pray for Condorrat Parish Church that you find a new direction and that you all place your trust in God and He will guide through the years to come.

LOVING LORD

We thank You for the years ahead as we move in new directions,

We place our complete trust in You,

And ask that You always walk with us, guiding and supporting,

Into a future which is hidden from us but which holds excitement and opportunities.

Help us to grasp the opportunities open to us

And may we be broad mined enough to carry everything through.

We ask in Jesus Name,

AMEN

“The helpless call to him, and he answers; he saves them from all their troubles.
⁷ His angel guards those who honour the Lord and rescues them from danger. “ [Psalm 34 : 6 – 7]

I love this story and have used it in the church before, but it talks so much about simple faith and the help God gives in times of Prayer. Here we go:-

“The car gave a violent lurch and came to a stop. “What was that!” the children cried. Tib looked down into the deep draw below us. “I think we’ve gone through the bridge” she said. It was true. As soon as I stepped out onto the narrow log and dirt bridge straddling the steep gully, I saw that our rear wheel had plunged through the rotten timbers up to the axle.

Tib took the three kids back to solid ground. I jacked up the car, intending to fill the hole, then let the wheels back down and drive off. But searching that barren landscape produced nothing but small twigs and pebbles which fell right through the break in the bridge. Nowhere could we find rocks or logs big enough to plug the hole.

Since we had come to Africa we had never been in clearer mind of guidance. We were still fifteen miles from the village where we planned to spend the night. Behind us were miles of empty bush: all afternoon we had met one car on the winding dirt track we were following in this little-travelled district of Uganda. Thunderclouds were building up over the Nile, and night would be upon us in half and hours’ time. We couldn’t spend the night in the car for fear the rest of the bridge would collapse. We couldn’t stay out of the car because this was lion country. A mile back we had passed a fresh hippo carcass. 

And so in this emergency we did what we had done frequently since arriving on the African continent. We asked God what to do. We used a principle we had used before, thanking Him ahead of time for the answer which we confidently expected would come. Then we simply waited.

And in the strange calm which follows this attitude, the answer was there, simple and perfect. I got out the spare tyre, slipped it beneath the jacked-up wheel and found that it straddled the hole exactly. I let the car back down, and, to the cheers of the children, drove off the bridge. Just in time too, for with nightfall came the first wave of a driving tropical rainstorm.

Now it would be possible, of course, to say that we had not received guidance at all, we were just using common sense. Once I would have been inclined to agree. But not today. For our African year, from beginning to end, above all was an adventure in guidance. There where so much was strange, we found ourselves daily, hourly, sometimes, minute – by minute asking Gods direction.

[“Glimpses of His Glory”, by John and Elizabeth Sherrill]

LET US PRAY

ETERNAL FATHER,

You are strong and mighty and You save us in all the difficulties of life.

We are glad that we can come to You and that You listen,

That You also act and give us the know how or the strength

To see things through. 

Preserve us from despair and anxiety and help us to remember 

To come to You when we are enmeshed in our troubles.

We give to You the Glory and we give You our thanks

For Your Loving Hand ever reaching out to us.

We ask inJesus Name. AMEN