Moffat, Maybole, Mayfield – and places in between

Another varied weekend as illustrated below. First to St John’s Moffat on Saturday where 16 members of that charge and its sister, All Saints Lockerbie, spent a day thinking about their diaconal service to elderly members of the congregation and community.  Together we looked at ‘being purposeful‘, ‘being present‘ and ‘being prayerful‘ in the exercise of pastoral care. The sun came out at lunchtime, so the photo is of our al fresco sandwich eating. A good day; much learning and sharing.

Then by bus and train to Kilwinning – a ‘miracle’ occurred on that second leg of the journey which deserves its own post in due course – for an overnight stay at the home of Jeanette and Ivan Jenkins. Wonderful hospitality for the weary; thank you.

Preached at St Oswald’s Maybole on Sunday morning. This is a feisty, faithful wee congregation, currently working hard with the Mission Core Group to discern its mission goals; in Mission 21 terms, it is indeed a ‘small healthy charge’. The sermon turned out to be about the Diocesan Growth Strategy (but then that is the air we breathe here at present), so here, for once, is what I said. Sermon for St Oswald’s Maybole 12.09.doc 

Lunch was with the South Ayrshire Team in a restaurant with a fabulous view across to  Culzean Castle. This is the last photo you will see of the Team in that format, for just three hours after this was taken, they were joined by the Revd Nick Cox (seen below in the dalmatic), ordained Deacon in a packed Holy Trinity Ayr. A wonderful service; very moving (particularly as it was Bishop Gregor’s first ordination), with exuberant preaching by Dave McCarthy, and much fine singing by the choir.

So … home at last to Mayfield for a hasty repacking of the case; this week sees three more Growth Strategy meetings, for the Galloway, Ayrshire and Glasgow NE Regions. (And I thought the LCM job was peripatetic!)