May Letter from The Rector

Christ Church

Morningside

Dear Friends,

CELEBRATIONS!

The next few weeks bring two particular times of celebration in our life together.

On Sunday 18th May we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ordination to the priesthood of Canon John Williams, a faithful and hard-working member of the clergy here for a number of years following his retiral from stipendiary ministry in the Church of England.  You will find details of this celebratory event elsewhere in the magazine.  

On Sunday 1st June we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Consecration of Christ Church.   The service will be followed by the usual celebratory refreshments in the Hall, where there will also be a display of photographs and other archive records and materials, which I am sure will be of great interest to us as we reflect on our journey as a congregation.

The foundation stone of the church was laid on 31st May, 1875, the Dedication Service was held on 4th  June , 1876, but the church was not consecrated until the debt on it and the two adjacent houses was cleared in 1908.   The Vestry have agreed that this anniversary gives a wonderful   opportunity for us to initiate an annual day when we are asked to carefully re-consider our regular giving to the costs of the developing mission and ministry of the congregation, and to the running and maintaining of the Church.  Should it be appropriate for you, a Gift Aid/Standing Order form is enclosed in the centre of this magazine for you to complete and return as directed.  There is no need to complete the Gift Aid Form again if you have done so has previously.

On the day itself we will be having a retiral collection in aid of the Eric Liddell Centre, with which we have been involved since its inception.   Nick Bowry’s sermon on Eric Liddell appeared in the last month’s magazine, and you can find further information about the Centre on their website http://www.eric-liddell.org/.  For many years we have given generously and consistently to overseas charities, but Vestry feel this is now an appropriate time to also turn our attention to more local causes.  I hope you will come prepared to give generously to this very worthy cause and Gift Aid envelopes for this specific collection will be provided on the day.

Another cause for celebration on this day is that on the actual day of the consecration, 2nd June 1908, Eddie Bowen, the oldest member of the  congregation was born!  I do hope as many of us as possible can be present for this double centenary celebration.

On another note, Michael Paterson’s curacy ends on 30th April and from 1st May he will be Associate Priest at Christ Church.  Michael will continue to work within the Ministry Team, taking a full part in the liturgical, pastoral, educational and outreach ministries of the congregation.  This transition from Curacy to Associate Priest was marked liturgically during the 10am service on Sunday 27th April.

With all good wishes,

Susan  Macdonald