Content for the April 2025 edition of Word from the Cross should be sent to the editor no later than Friday 21 March 2025.
Web version of the magazine www.bearsdencross.org
Dear Friends,
Storm Eowyn crashed on to our western shores on Friday 24th January, bring winds in excess of 100mph and chaos and destruction in its’ path. I closed and locked our front and rear storm doors, and I suspect like most of you, tried to whether the storm unscathed. The Drymen Road outside was fairly quiet with only a few cars going past, however there were also a few ‘brave’ (I use the word advisedly) souls out for their morning walks ... stepping over the large branches that had fallen onto the pavement. The Church and Manse escaped with the loss of a few tiles, but I know of many others whose fences came down, and the flats at St Germains came in for some punishment, sadly.
The storms of recent weeks have been both literal and metaphorical. The change of Presidency in the United States has brought its own storms of chaos and instability – the effects of which are being felt far beyond their own shores. Those ‘storms’ began on the second day, when the, Right Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, urged President Donald Trump to “have mercy” on people who are “scared now” during the inaugural prayer service at Washington's National Cathedral, including families with LGBTQ+ members and immigrants. Her sermon concluded ...
I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. And that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honour the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and our God
for the good of all people. Good of all people in this nation and the world.
In response, Trump demanded a public apology from the Episcopal Church and from Bishop Budde, who he called a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater” who was “ungracious ... nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.”
One Republican Representative shared a clip of the sermon on X (Twitter) and wrote, “The person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list.” Another said it was “un-Christian”, and there was, “No Jesus. No Bible.”
Did he really say, “No Jesus. No Bible”? Here’s Bishop Budde:
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus of Nazareth exhorts us to love not only our neighbours but to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us, to be merciful as our God is merciful, to forgive others as God forgives us. And Jesus went out of his way to welcome those whom his society deemed as outcasts.
That’s not Bible? There is something going on in this discourse in the States that should deeply trouble us, and should be called out whether it be in the States or closer to home. And the issue is this. Trump and his allies want to remake the Bible in their political image, rather than be challenged by, and live by, the actual words, and the truth, of Scripture.
In the words of the Sermon of the Mount’ (Matthew 5), or Jesus’ ‘Nazareth Manifesto’ (Luke 4), in his healing of the blind man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5), or his compassion for the widow who gave her ‘mite’ (Mark 12), to quote just a few examples, Jesus clearly expressed his priority for the unseen, lost, afflicted, outside, poor, hopeless, rejected, despised, overwhelmed. Jesus is for and with people. Hungry people, blind people, desperate people, grieving people.
And so, as much as some might try to bend the words of scripture for their own narrow political ends – Jesus words, and mission, and priorities, are unambiguous and clear. The work of heaven begins, and belongs, on earth – in lives and in communities. The time is always now. ‘Heaven shall not wait’ … for politicians, or for us.
Storms, literal and metaphorical, are nothing new, and we will continue to encounter them in the future. But I take great comfort in the words of the 14th century writer and theologian, Julian of Norwich (who was a ‘she’!), who wrote: -
He did not say, “You will not be storm tossed”, but he did say, “You will not be overcome.”
Shalom Graeme
Celebration of Communion
The celebration of the sacrament of Communion is a central part of our faith life and experience – a way of connecting at a deeper level.
Home Communion
We will next celebrate the sacrament of Communion on Sunday 9th March at 10.30am and at 4pm.
I know that for some of you, getting to church can be difficult or even close to impossible. If that case, then the church can come to you!
The Minister is always willing to bring communion to your home if you wish. He would be accompanied by your Elder, or another, to celebrate the sacrament together with you and this is a way in which to remain connected to the church and its life, even when you are less physically able to
The Minister’s Communion ware – from the shores of the Sea of Galilee do so.
If you would like to arrange for Home Communion to be brought to you then please contact the Minister on 0141 942 0507 or email him at gwilson@churchofscotland.org.uk,or contact your Elder.
Graeme
Bible Basics – Exploring the Old Testament
The Old Testament can be a fairly daunting subject to try to grasp (even for the Minister!) due to the wide nature of the people, places and subjects covered. The writing styles range from the poetic to apocalyptic, and from the historical to the farcical (Jonah). The Old Testament can perhaps be best understood as a ‘library’ of books ... with some quite obscure titles! What is Deuteronomy? Why Numbers? Who was Jeremiah, and why and what was he ‘lamenting’?
Unlike most books we might pick up, there doesn’t seem to be any kind of a clue as to how we might read the Old Testament. What is it, actually, all about? Why was it written? Who wrote it? Is there some key to the order of the books? In ‘Bible Basics’ this year we will try to explore some of these wider questions as well as looking at some of the books and key passages in a bit more detail.
‘Bible Basics’ is intended to be a fairly gentle and non-threatening entry into Bible Study and is aimed at those curious to find out some of the basic stories and themes of the Bible. ‘Bible Basics’ will take place on Tuesday mornings at 10.30am in the Guild Room and will last around 60 – 90 minutes. I will provide all of the relevant materials.
These will be the final dates for this season of ‘Bible Basics’.
Date Topic
Tuesday 4th March
The ‘Torah’ – 5. Deuteronomy
Tuesday 18th March ‘History’ – 1. Moses to David
Tuesday 1st April ‘History’ – 2. David to Exile
Tuesday 15th April ‘History’ – 3. Exile to Restoration
Graeme
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER
The annual World Day of Prayer service is taking place on Friday 7 March in St Andrew's Church, Bearsden at 2 pm.
The service has the theme 'I Made You Wonderful' and has been compiled by Christian Women of the Cook Islands.
A speaker at the service will be Mark Booker from Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund – SCIAF.
All attending are invited to enjoy tea and coffee after the service.
Alisdair Meldrum
Funday Friday (and Sunday!)
Funday Friday continues with our very regular attendees and we are looking forward to supporting the Guild by baking for their coffee morning. We are also hopeful that with the lighter nights and maybe (fingers crossed) better weather we will be able to venture into our garden and start the spring clean-up.
As we run up to Easter our focus will also be on the important messages of Palm Sunday and Easter itself. In line with the school holidays we will finish on the last Friday in March with Easter egg themed activities.
All ages up to P7 welcome and further information can be obtained from Anne
Lesley
TMC continues to meet on the last Monday of the month, in Massimo's at 7 for 7:30 to enjoy food and fellowship. All ladies please feel welcome to come along.
Each month we donate to charities with the Salvation Army and RNLI being recent recipients. February's charity is DEBRA
Many of our members continue to communicate daily via our WhatsApp group. If you would like to join please send either Gwen or me your mobile number and we will do the rest.
Anne E Henderson
Phoenix Circle
Monday March 3rd John Broadfoot will talk about bridges across the river Clyde. Monday March 17th. Our last lecture this year will be by Dr Elizabeth Swain on Albania.
Our A.G.M. is on Monday 31 March (Everyone’s favourite meeting - but we do have fish & chips).
Our meetings start at 7:30pm. Everyone is welcome. Refreshments will be served after the talk.
Jo Moody, Secretary
The Guild
The Guild meetings continue on Monday 24th February with a discussion about flower arrangements in Milngavie. On Monday 10th March we have a talk from Hamish Livingstone about The Men’s Shed, so we hope to have men attending as well.
The most important date for you to remember is our Coffee Morning which is held on Saturday March 8th from 10am to 12noon. In the Church Hall. I do hope you will all try to attend it. There will be the usual stalls, home baking, books, and bottle stalls as well as tea and coffee and cakes, so plenty of time for chat!
Our AGM takes place on Monday 24 March and will be followed by afternoon tea.
June Macdonald
Men’s Group
Following the success of the first Curry Night, and subsequent evenings in Massimo’s and Garvie’s, it has been decided to keep meeting as a Men’s Group for conversation and company. Our next gathering will be at the Ashoka restaurant, New Kirk Road on Thursday 6th March at 7pm. We realise that curry might not be everyone’s favourite, and so we will continue to rotate venues going forward. Please let me know if you are interested in coming along so that we can book accordingly – email gwilson@churchofscotland.org.uk – or, please just turn up on the night.
Looking forward to seeing you on Thursday 6th March at 7pm Graeme
The Kirk Session has established a free ‘Taxi Service’ to enable people to come to church who might not otherwise be able to do so due to a lack of transport. The ‘Taxi Service’ is now ‘live’: -
1. Those interested in using the taxi service should contact the Church Office on 0141 942 0507 to register with Church. Leave a message on the answerphone if there is no reply.
2. You will then be given a Password, which is unique for the church account, which is ‘Bearsden Cross Church’.
3. Once registered you can then phone Station Taxis on 0141 942 4555 for a taxi to church, giving the account name ‘Bearsden Cross Church’ and the unique password. This can be pre-booked the previous day, or up until 10am on the Sunday.
4. Return taxis can also be booked for after the service.
5. If there are a couple of folk nearby each other then perhaps taxi sharing might be considered when booking.
6. There will be no charge for this service. The cost will be borne by the Session Fund, which exists for purposes such as this.
I hope that this service will enable people to get to church who might not otherwise be able to do so, and I look forward to seeing people back in church on a Sunday morning where they belong!
Graeme
Glasgow City Mission
Top headline for this month must be the Quiz Night organised and presented by Gwen Stokes on 1st February, in aid of Glasgow City Mission. That was a terrific evening of fun, imagination (!) and good fellowship that was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone who attended. Many thanks to Gwen and Paul for all their hard work, to the magicians in the kitchen for the delicious light supper, to donors of items for the raffle, to the general helpers and, of course, to all who bought tickets and came. They all know who they are! The overall winners were the team from New Kilpatrick, and the total amount raised for the Mission was £880, a quite fantastic sum!
Thanks also to those who are still contributing items to the box in the Assembly Areatoiletries, men’s underwear(new, please) and socks and some knitted hats, scarves and gloves. These have been much appreciated, so please keep them coming.
Facts and figures from the Winter Project (formerly Night Shelter) team are encouraging. To date the GCM Housing Officers have encountered 286 individuals needing urgent help with housing. As Glasgow Council is desperately stretched to find even very unsuitable temporary accommodation at short notice and has a very long waiting list of homeless people all the year round, there are always delays in getting responses from it. However, the Mission has made its own arrangements with several Glasgow hotels to keep emergency rooms available for especially complex and vulnerable cases and is very grateful to those hotels for their prompt and willing help. 112 people so far have been accommodated there. Every effort is made by the Housing Officers to obtain more permanent homes for all the homeless guests and, since December 13, guests have obtained actual tenancies and 7 are in temporary furnished flats. Along with other charities dealing with homelessness, GCM is in constant negotiation with local and national Government to get more social housing built but that doesn’t look likely to happen any time soon.
In some cases, the GCM team has had to help people who have been abused, exploited and vulnerable, which they do with deep compassion though it places great demands upon them. However, they have lighter moments too. Where guests have moved into tenancies, the Mission team helps them with furnishing. Thus, sometimes they’ve been helping to lay carpet tiles or, on one occasion, trying to get a sofa up narrow stairs. Reckoning that only half the sofa would make it into the flat, they just phoned the Project Centre which arranged for the other half to go to another guest! (But how do you split a sofa?) And have you heard of Street Soccer? This charity offers free football to those experiencing homelessness or loneliness and every Friday afternoon about 25
GCM guests have so far taken part. The word is they’ve set their sights on the Homeless World Cup in Norway in August!
All these activities are done with Christian love and made possible because of the donations from churches like ours, of goods and money but also of time as volunteers in the drop-out. Elyse, the organiser of the GCM Winter Project, has no doubt that the church volunteers, talking to the guests over a meal and making them feel welcome and appreciated, are doing a vital job. After all, as she says, they are the Mission’s first point of contact for those in need and without them there, who knows how many guests might just leave without getting help, and not come back?
So there is much to thank God for so far this winter and also much to pray for – the guests themselves, of course, that they may be helped, and teams of GCM staff and volunteers, for wisdom and grace, but also for our local and national leaders who control policy on housing. Elyse asks quite simply that, as people who have homes to live in, we pray for “a move of God to happen within the housing crisis”.
Katie Thomson
A Big Thank-You
Friends, thanks to your generosity I am able to send £870 to GCM, to help with the fantastic work they do to help those who most need it. Thank you for every pound and every raffle donation.
We had a great turnout for the quiz night on 1st February, with ten teams battling it out over ten varied rounds. They were fortified by a hearty fork supper most ably supplied by a small team in the kitchen.
Heartfelt thanks to those who helped on the night to make this such a success; Mary Munro, Marlene Waudby and Barbara Skett for their hard work providing us with an excellent hot buffet, Anne and Alastair Henderson, Anne Reid, Katie Thomson, Christine Taggart and of course my fab husband, Paul.
Unfortunately I forgot to take some pictures, but I have fond memories of smiling, if sometimes puzzled, faces and happy chatter. A night to remember. It wouldn’t have worked without everyone who donated and came along – humble thanks to you all.
Gwen Stokes
Although this is still February, Christian Aid Week is creeping up on us with increasing speed. The actual week is 11-17 May but before that the Kiltwalk takes place on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th April and the slots are already filling up, so if you wish to take part in any of the three lengths of walks, do check for information and then register at https://thekiltwalk.co.uk/ You can also register to support Christian Aid at the same time, and start looking for sponsors. On registering, you will be given a sponsor page on which your friends can make their donations, with Gift Aid if they wish, thereby adding 25% more to their gifts. Please do consider taking part if you can’; I know our members always give very generously.
Although a specific focal point for Christian Aid Week has not yet been published, its clear concern at present is the way in which climate change is accelerating and the amount of damage that it caused in 2024. You can read full details of the droughts, floods, winds and fires that have affected countries around the world in Christian Aid’s latest report “Counting the cost 2024: a year of climate breakdown”. No part of the world was spared and Europe alone experienced 3 of the top 10 costliest disasters with Storm Boris in central Europe and floods in Spain and Germany costing a combined $13.87 billion and killing 258 people. (I wonder how much Storm Eowyn cost last month?) Patrick Watt, CEO of Christian Aid, has commented “The human suffering caused by the climate reflects political choices” and so we are being urged to do all we can to make sure our governments take action to maintain the green transition, reduce emissions and fund the promises they have made.
And as well as that, the needs of war-stricken countries such as Sudan continue, plus the problems of the Middle East. There is a wide range of activities in which Christian Aid is involved and, like many other charities, it has been shocked by the recent reduction in support worldwide from USAID.
We expect to have the usual distribution of Christian Aid Week flyers around the parish and hope to have as many volunteers as possible for this, please. The Christian Aid Quiz will be for sale and there may also be a Coffee Concert in aid of CAW. More details next month! We certainly won’t solve all the problems listed above with our church’s contributions but remember the little boy who was laughed at for trying to help starfish stranded on a beach. He was asked what difference he thought he could make when the beach was covered with them, at which he picked up one, threw it into the sea and said “Well, it made a difference to that one.” And remember too that Christian Aid was founded by churches, and it was Jesus who said (Matthew 25. v. 40) “Truly I tell you: anything you did for one of my brothers here, however insignificant, you did for me.”
Katie Thomson
Church Flowers
“February is the border between Winter and Spring“
Terri Suillemets
Many thanks to members of the congregation for their support.
February 2025
Provided by :
Arranged by: 2nd. Mrs. Libby McLean. Mrs. Lesley Whyte 9th. In memory of Ramsay Morton. Mrs. G. Stokes 16th. In memory of Gordon Anderson. Mrs. E. Anderson 23rd. From Funds. Mrs. K. Edmond
So uplifting to see the snowdrops in bloom then all the Spring bulbs in glorious flower to follow.
Christine Taggart.
COFFEE CONCERTS
In an unexpected change to our previously advertised concert, we are absolutely delighted to welcome back Alasdair Young for a morning Coffee Concert recital on Saturday, 15th March. His concerts are always deeply satisfying and hugely enjoyable. His chosen programme of works by Bach, Mozart, Schubert and Chopin is a varied selection from the classical and romantic periods and concludes with the heavenstorming ‘Heroic’ Polonaise by Chopin. As usual, the recital will take place in the church at 11.30 am, preceded from 10.45 am by fresh coffee, tea and home baking in the small hall. Tickets, priced £12, will be available at the door – cash only please. Tickets for children, accompanied by an adult, are free. This will be one of the highlights of the season – do come if you can for what will be a most enjoyable Saturday morning.
Lyndsay Ross
...........and it is SO easy !
As you know, the Bearsden & Milngavie Macular Support Group meet each month in our Large Hall.
Recently our Speaker was Anne Royle, founder of ‘Pathfinder Dogs‘. Anne is totally Blind but she, and her team, train German Shepherds to be Guide dogs for blind people.
Anne’s talk was inspiring. She was born with sight, lost it and then regained it for fourteen years. During that time she was in the army and was training dogs to search out landmines, drugs etc.. And then she lost her sight permanently and had to retire from the army. So, what to do next? Well, she could train dogs, so why not train dogs to be Guide Dogs for the blind and that is what she now does.
But of course that costs money. A lot of money. And Anne raises money in many ways. But the very easy way in which we can all help is by saving the plastic MILK BOTTLE TOPS.
For years, I have reluctantly put my milk bottle tops into the landfill waste. What joy to find a really useful way to dispose of them.
Please BRING YOUR MILK BOTTLE TOPS TO CHURCH and put them in the box provided in the Assembly Area. We will then send them on to Pathfinder Dogs, who in turn are able to sell them to a factory who make useful objects from them.
Even if you have only one milk bottle top each week....please bring it ....they all add up!
I have been given labels which I will attach to each package of TOPS we forward to Pathfinder Dogs and they will be sent at NO postage charge.
Please note, ONLY MILK BOTTLE TOPS ARE ELIGIBLE. No other plastic tops please.
I look forward to your contributions. Thank You.
Joyce B Deans
THE BAD STORM AND ‘THE GOOD LIE’
The Monday after the big storm of a couple of weeks ago we received an email telling us that we would have to vacate the block of flats in St Germains where we live ‘for at least a week’. We were to find accommodation with family, friends or in a hotel. Quite a package for a Monday morning!
It was the block adjacent, and attached, to our own that bore the brunt of the storm, the roof being entirely torn off. Our own block was affected only at the top level. Our poor friends next door indeed moved out with little firm indication about when they would be able to return to their homes. The latest is that, as in Oliver Twist, the authorities are ‘assessing the situation.’
As for ourselves, the only thing affected was the absence of our TV. So, until I have managed to manoeuvre the intricacy of the BBC iPlayer, we are discovering how little our TV was used. No great loss then since we have much music on our hard drive (many concerts from the BBC Proms back to 2017 plus much else) and many DVDs. Just now we are dawdling through Dickens and tripping (trundling?) through Trollope. Some good discoveries late in life.
One of the films we have been watching is called ‘The Good Lie’ which is about ‘the lost boys of Sudan’. The story, a true one, goes back to the civil war there in 1983 when, four years later, the thousands of children made orphans began to walk the almost one thousand miles to safety in Ethiopia or Kenya. The film is about a family of five, called Deng, who were suddenly bereft of their parents murdered by the Islamist Sudanese soldiers. This long walk to freedom for the young Deng family involved meetings with lions, crossing a swollen river and hiding from the soldiers. At one point the eldest (‘chief’) of the family, a young boy called Theo, gave himself up to the army and become a ‘boy soldier’, thus protecting the rest of the family hiding in the elephant grass. He sacrificed his own life so that the younger members could live to continue the journey. Eventually the small family reached Kenya and were ‘settled’ at Kakuma Refugee Camp together with 100,000 others. They were there for several years before, in 2000, the US offered to take 3600 refugees from the camp and resettle them. Among those chosen were the Deng family, now four in number. However, they could not (US State policy) be housed together so their sister Abita was placed with a family in the different State to the three boys. How they took to the very different life in the US, found jobs (to pay back the plane fare) and began education (which they also had to pay for) is a story in itself; this, as a frequent visitor to the US for many years, I can appreciate. This is a very different country to Scotland yet alone mid-Africa. Due to the kindness of some, the
family was united but the ‘crunch’ of this story has yet to come. As I mentioned last month some will see where this is going! Read on?
It is this. After a few years it was discovered that former boy soldier Theo was present in the Kukuma Camp. One of the boys Mamare, went back to Kenya to find him. Some task in a camp of that size! Eventually the two ‘boys’, by this time in their late twenties, were united. But how to get Theo to the US to join the rest of the family? Impossible. The US no longer took such refugees (a consequence of 9/11) and no other country would take him. Mamare gave Theo his own passport and documents, giving up his medical studies. Theo objected; I am not you; it would be a lie. Indeed, but it would be ‘a good lie.’ Theo went to the US in Mamare’s place. As the latter said, ‘you gave your life for me, now I give it back for you.’ Is not this what we should do for the Christ who died for us? Give back our lives to a life of service and witness?
The thing that challenged me about this story was the natural informal way these ‘lost boys’ talked to their Lord. They, we too, can pray to our Lord, talking to our Friend, wherever we are, even in those hard ‘desert’ places, and whatever we are doing. Then, there was the value Abita placed in her battered Bible, the sole possession she carried all those miles. These characteristics of the life of African Christians, informal prayer and a love for the Scriptures, are something that we have always greatly valued. Our years spent as young Christians in Africa have left their mark on us both. During this post-storm period we have been visited by friends from our two previous churches. They never left without praying with us, talking to the Lord about our situation. One even offered to take Pam to hospital the next day.
Jim Parratt
This not the desert the Deng family walked through but near enough. Imagine walking nearly a thousand miles through this in bare feet.
Recordings of the Services
An audio recording of each morning service is made, and circulated weekly to those who have expressed an interest in listening, To be added to the distribution, please email secretary@bearsdencross.org.
If you do not have email, we can let you have the recording in any way which suits you, please speak to the Minister or Session Clerk.
Anne Reid
Submissions to the Magazine
Contributions to the April 2025 edition of the magazine should be with the editor no later than Friday 21 March 2025. Contributions reflecting all aspects of the life of the Church and congregation are welcome, including photographs! It would assist editing if contributions could be prepared in Calibri font, size 14.
Also, please only send photographs that are of sufficient resolution to print clearly. Do not send multiple photographs asking the editor to choose (select those you would like included and send only those).
All contributions should be sent to: MagazineEditor@bearsdencross.org
