No.19 22nd March 2024
Hi,
Palm Sunday this weekend which means we begin a series of services and events as we celebrate Easter. And we can also look forward to celebrating a baptism this weekend too!
'Hosanna' is a word we will use to start our service on Sunday as we begin to gather...It is of Hebrew origin and was part of the shout of the multitudes as Jesus entered Jerusalem:
“Hosanna to the Son of David!"
Hosanna is often thought of as a declaration of praise, similar to hallelujah, but it is actually a plea for salvation. The Hebrew root words are found in Psalm 118:25, which says, “Save us, we pray, O LORD!” Literally, hosanna means “I beg you to save!” or “please deliver us!”
So, as Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem, the crowds were perfectly right to shout “Hosanna!” They were acknowledging Jesus as their Messiah, as shown in their address “Son of David.”
Theirs was a cry for salvation and a recognition that Jesus is able to save. I think we can easily join in with that chorus!
If you want to WhatsApp or email the information for Easter events using this image could be a good way to get information across to people easily - simply click
here to download that.
These are just the headings - details are below.
Enjoy the mag.
M
Sunday 24th March, 10.30am
PALM SUNDAY
Jacob Ingleson
Reading - Mark ch11
Baptism and Welcoming New Members
SU Lunch - thanks!
Thank you to everyone who came along to our fundraising lunch on Sunday the 17th.
It was great to hear from some ofour young people about there involvement with SU Scotland and the work that is happening across Scotland.
We raised £493.22 just in cash donations - so thank you to everyone who donated either with cash or online.
Thank you to Jess, Sandra, Margaret, John and others who helped with the serving of the refreshments.
Jacob
This is a
link to the new SU fundraising video Your generous donations are warmly welcomed and contribute to the continued success of SU Scotland's work. You can still make a donation and mark that you are part of NM New Church Feel using this online
link.
DONATE:
If you have any kids/grandkids who would like to go along to a SU camp but you have questions feel free to contact Jacob (youth@nmnewchurch.org).
This is the camp Jacob will be leading at, feel free to chat to him if you have questions
Book Here: www.suholidays.org.uk/kx2
Getting to Church: Should anyone require a lift to Belmont House School, then please do let us know. Please email office@nmnewchurch.org
Letter from the Manse
Dear Congregation,
It will be such a blessing for us as a congregation to have one of our youth profess faith this Sunday and be baptised. We shall have an additional profession of faith next month which we are looking forward to very much also.
Look out for guests on Sunday and welcome them. We shall also welcome those who have joined NMNC from other congregations. It will be a special Sunday! I look forward to sharing in these special moments with you.
We will be facing a different direction for worship this Sunday. This will not be a new plan for us. Rather, because the school has set up a stage, we shall worship around it.
This week I will have engaged in two external ministries.
The first arose in my regular duties as chaplain to Mearns Castle High School where I have now served for thirteen years. The Head Teacher Mr Clark invited me to help reorganise chaplaincy so that there would be regular input from other faiths. It has been a pleasure getting to know the local Imam, Khurshid Khan and the Jewish youth worker, Sydney Swizter. This week we spoke to the assemblies on the death and resurrection of Jesus (Easter), Khurshid and Sydney spoke on Ramadan and Passover/Purim. Please pray that the Holy Spirit might take the words sown by Jacob and make gospel seeds ready for growth in the hearts of these young people.
As you read this magazine (perhaps on Friday evening) I will be in Dalmeny Kirk (a Church of Scotland building) near South Queensferry. I will be preparing a couple for their wedding on Saturday. Over this last year I have been meeting with this young couple for pre-marital counselling. This Saturday will be one of the most significant days of their lives. There is an interesting and I believe encouraging story behind my involvement in this marriage. I hope one day I will have an opportunity to share it.
On an interesting related point. An outcome of becoming an independent church is that I no longer have an automatic right to conduct weddings. I had to seek permission from the authorities to conduct this wedding as an independent church minister. However, to my delight, because I have completed the interview process with The Free Church (I still need General Assembly approval in May) The Free Church kindly gave me the authority to marry under their auspices!
Looking ahead to the coming week, please see all the events listed below. It would be great if you were able to be part of these as we celebrate Easter 2024 as NMNC!
With warm regards,
Scott
House Help?
Can you help? A friend of a friend is looking for a flat in Glasgow/Glasgow area for the month of May while she's between flats. She's working with International Study Abroad to help students from the US settle in Scotland. If you can help, could you get in touch with Jess Ingleson (jessfair@outlook.com) and she can pass your details on.
Ladybird Book of New Church
We gather round the Word in our meetings on Sunday and other times, and we hold to it as the revealed Word of God for us today.
Red and Black:
This is the 5th in the series of looks at God's Word from different 'angles' as we serialise Andrew Wilson's short book 'Unbreakable'
One of the key things is to have the same confidence in the Word of God as Jesus did...this week we are considering...
THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE
So far in this book, I’ve been using terms like ‘the Scriptures’ and ‘the Bible’ as if what I mean by it and what Jesus meant by it are the same – as if Jesus was carrying an English Bible around with him, complete with maps, and published by Hodder & Stoughton (also available in crimson bonded leather).
Clearly, he wasn’t.
Apart from anything else, the twenty-seven books of our New Testament hadn’t been written yet.
I’ve also been using these words as if all Christians, from that day to this, have agreed what should be included in ‘the Bible’. We haven’t.
If you look up ‘biblical canon’ on Wikipedia, you’ll find eight different lists of scriptural books, from all over the world, and well over one hundred different books (or parts of books) that have, at some point, been included in a ‘Bible’.
There are probably only sixty-six in yours.
Hmmm. What now?
Well, two things. Firstly, we should point out that the sixty-six you have are the sixty-six uncontroversial ones. The Protestant, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian Bibles all have those sixty-six books – thirty-nine in the Old Testament and twenty-seven in the New – and they have all been accepted, by all branches of the Church, since the fourth century. None of the others have. So there’s that.
But secondly and more importantly, we look to Jesus. What did he regard as ‘the Scriptures’, at the time? Did he think any other words might be placed alongside it, as a result of his ministry? If so, which ones, and how would we know?
The meaning of ‘the Scriptures’ in Jesus’ own ministry is fairly easy, because he is almost certainly talking about the twenty-four scrolls of the Hebrew Bible: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. (These, translated, form the thirty-nine books of our Old Testament.) On Easter Sunday, in the evening, he appears to his disciples to explain what is happening, and says, ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’ He often refers to ‘the Law and the Prophets’, which is a common way of referring to the Hebrew Bible, and quotes it without ever quoting any of the ‘apocryphal’ texts. He also warns his hearers, rather grotesquely, that all the blood of the prophets ‘from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah’ will be charged against them; since Abel and Zechariah are murdered in the first and last books of the Hebrew Bible, this is another clue. Because of this, we can assume that the Scriptures, according to Jesus, included just the thirty-nine books of our Old Testament.
So far, so good. But if we stopped there, we wouldn’t do justice to the way Jesus regarded his own words and actions as carrying Scripture-level authority.
Consider the way he talked: ‘You’ve heard this, but I’m saying you should do that. If you hear these words of mine and do them, you’re like a smart guy who built his house on rock – but if you don’t, then good luck with your sandcastle when the tsunami comes. You are my followers if you keep my commands. I haven’t spoken on my own authority, but the Father told me what to say. Go and make disciples, teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded you.’ And so on, and so on. If we closed the canon with Malachi, and left out all of Jesus’ words (the red letters in some Bibles), we’d miss the whole point of what Jesus was saying and doing. That’s why all Christians, everywhere, have treated the four Gospels as part of the Bible.
There’s something else, too, and it’s something we could easily miss:
Jesus didn’t think the story ended with him. In fact, when he told his followers what would happen after he had gone, he said it would be even better than when he was around. You’ll have the Holy Spirit with you, he said, to guide you into the truth. You’ll be my witnesses, everywhere. You’ll teach people what I said, and you’ll tell people what I’ve done, and you’ll be sent out in the same way as I have been. Wait here, for now. But when the Spirit comes, you’ll receive power. Go.
That Spirit-fuelled, resurrection-witnessing, apostolic work – the task of proclaiming Jesus, and teaching people how to live in response to the message, in rapidly changing circumstances – is what the rest of the New Testament is about. Without it, we wouldn’t have much idea what the death and resurrection of Jesus actually meant; we wouldn’t have the first clue how Jews and Gentiles were supposed to live together if Gentiles became part of God’s family; and we wouldn’t know how to preach the gospel, live the Christian life, be the church, wait for Christ’s return, teach good doctrine … it doesn’t bear thinking about. And Jesus knew that. So he sent out the twelve, and his brother James, and a former Christian-hater called Paul, to teach the church under the inspiration of God’s Spirit. Consequently, the things they said, did and wrote are included in our understanding of ‘Scripture’ as well.
If that seems like a lot to take in, just remember these two ideas.
One:
the sixty-six books you have in your Bible are all the uncontroversial ones, and all Christians everywhere accept them.
Two:
all the Scriptures – Old and New Testaments, red and black letters – are authoritative because of Jesus. So take up and read!
Wednesdays 7.15-8.15pm.
27th March we meet at the McDougall's
Look out for details this week on email/whatsapp
If you need a lift please email office@nmnewchurch.org.
Palm Sunday
'The Case for Christ' Movie Night
Join us to watch The Case for Christ movie based on a true story and inspired by the 1998 book of the same name by Lee Strobel.
A great event for the whole congregation. Please pray and bring along any of your interested friends and family.
Certificate PG … followed by refreshments.
We are planning to hold a drop in 'discover Easter' event on Good Friday in Belmont for families in our community.
An excellent opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus with others.
The afternoon will consist of various stations with crafts, challenges, drama, storytelling and an egg hunt with every activity pointing to Jesus and the real reason for Easter.
Can I ask you to do three things please?
1. Share the event info with families. Flyers will be available and an image which can be shared on Facebook, WhatsApp etc
2. Pray for the preparation and running of the event and that families will come and ultimately come to know Jesus.
3. Volunteer! If you are free on the day can you help with any of the following tasks: set up in the morning, car parking, welcoming, serving refreshments, helping at a craft, drama or challenge station or tidying up at the end?
If you can please speak to Pauline or Sandra on a Sunday or email Pauline - children@nmnewchurch.org
CAN YOU HELP... We're looking for the following items:
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short pieces of clean guttering
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medium/large fake leaves
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stones/pebbles for decorating
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roman soldier helmet and sword
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short pieces of wood for families to make crosses, nails, sandpaper and hammers and someone who would be happy to lead this activity!
Good Friday Service at NMBC at 8pm
We shall join with Newton Mearns Baptist Church on their premises for a Good Friday service.
Though worshipping on their premises and with them, they have kindly asked us to lead the service.
NOTE - TEA AND COFFEE SERVED BEFORE THE SERVICE FROM 7.30pm
Dawn Walk
Meeting at Rouken Glen Garden centre carpark- 6.30am...a time of fellowship as we head towards worship at church and remember that first Resurrection morning.
After the service we will sharing breakfast together at Sandra & John Mcnicols - address will be given on the day.
Easter Sunday morning service
Bemont House School at 10:30 am.
Evening ...
On the evening of Easter Sunday a group from church are planning on heading to the Origin Scotland Resurrection event at the Usher hall.
If you would like to join us but you need transport contact Jacob (youth@nmnewchurch.org).
Pre booking is required (HERE) which we would ask you organise yourself and while they do ask for a recommended donation that is only voluntary. We will be leaving Belmont at 17:30 for the event.
Any questions get in touch with Jacob or head to this link for more info
ALL THE SERVICES ON ONE IMAGE CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE
Glasgow City Mission
On Sunday 14 April at 18:30, Glasgow City Mission are hosting a service of reflection, prayer and petition
at Adelaide Place Baptist Church in Glasgow City Centre.
Their Overnight Welcome Centre provides routes out of rough sleeping in the winter and has been running for the past 14 years. This season has been the busiest yet, bringing many challenges to the service.
An opportunity to gather with Christians in Glasgow to reflect on the challenges Glasgow has faced – high numbers of homeless, a declared housing emergency, too few beds in the city, and a real feeling of hopelessness amongst many of the people we welcomed in.
An opportunity to hear from staff members as they share ministry stories, interspersed with interactive sessions of prayer, and finishing with a short time of worship together. A chance to pray for GCM guests and ask God for a breakthrough in Glasgow this year. Please register here
UFM Scottish Day Conference in April. - one of the confirmed speakers in Jayne Dumbuya.
She and her husband Lamin serve in Sierra Leone and will be inspiring to listen to.
Speak with Catherine A if you want more info about this event.
B.Y.O.C. please
CAN YOU HELP?
it makes such a difference if people bring their own cups rather than using the disposable ones each week - can you help?
Safeguarding at Newton Mearns New Church
Safeguarding – Ensuring a Safe Church for All
If you suspect or witness harm or abuse, or it is reported to you, you must immediately report it to one of the Safeguarding Coordinators:
Sue Anderson – 07970 261429
Giving at NM New Church
There are a number of ways to support the church financially. The giving page gives details - click here
A number of people have been asking if cash or cheques can now be given. From this Sunday you will have the opportunity to leave offerings in the plate or basket on the table at the back of the church.
If you have any questions please speak to our Treasurer Sandy or email him on finance@nmnewchurch.org
The New Church has a What's App Group for Prayer
See magazine no.4 for an outline of how this Pray Now group operates.
Speak to Margaret Boyd if you would like to be added to this group or email your details to mandmboyd@hotmail.co.uk
You need WhatsApp on your phone to get set up
We live stream our services on YouTube from our first Sunday. You can find the service here.
You can also find the service by searching on YouTube for Newton Mearns New Church.