Rector’s Letter- June 2026
St James the Less Penicuik and St Mungo West Linton
Scottish Episcopal Churches
The Rectory
23 Broomhill Road
Penicuik
EH26 9EE
01968 678254
07950 607574
Rector.pandwl@gmail.com
28th May 2026
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Rector’s letter for June 2026
Personal Notes
We have just finished the Easter season, with the celebration of the Feast of Pentecost. It is more than an excuse to eat a birthday cake in celebration of the forming of the Christian church. It is a time to refresh ourselves and to discern what the Holy Spirit may be asking of us. It is a time to feel celebratory whilst also feeling the unsettling nature of the power of the Holy Spirit, as it asks us how we are going to respond to its call. How each of us plays a part in being the body of the church, where each part is important and brings strength.
The church would not work at all well if we were all the same. We need to have diversity; people who are not alike, but, in faith and love of Jesus, want to come together. Diversity gives us a strength, we can all share our unique gifts to contribute to the whole. The Holy Spirit has the ability to create unity out of our diversity, to fashion and mould us in to something for this time and this place. How, I wonder is the Holy Spirit challenging each one of us today? At St James’ and at St Mungo’s we depend on volunteers to support our worship and our mission outside of the building, amongst our community. How may the Holy Spirit be calling you to share you gifts and talents?
Bishop Dagmar has been invited to both our churches, and will attend St James on 4th October and St Mungo’s on 10th January (Patronal Festival), to preach and celebrate communion.
I have just had ten days looking after my sister’s dog, an old greyhound called Lopi. I forgot how large he is, and given his size, realising that when he wants to stop walking and turn for home, there is nothing I could do to encourage him to continue a bit further. He liked coming to services at both St Mungo’s and St James, and liked the attention he was given. Due to his arthritis he needed a ramp at Waverley to get on the train to go home, and the station staff couldn’t have been happier to oblige.
I am going to be looking after a neighbour’s Jack Russell for ten days, almost the exact opposite of a greyhound! I may bring her to church and see how she gets on, but she may not be as relaxed and chilled out as Lopi was.
I am also looking after my daughter’s Cocker Spaniel, Maisie, for a few days in June, so not short of dog company just now.
This Saturday Bishop-elect Dagmar Winter will be installed as Bishop of Edinburgh at St Mary’s Cathedral. Please pray for Bishop Dagmar as she prepares to start her ministry in this diocese. I am hoping the good weather holds, so the cathedral maybe slightly warmer than its normal cold temperature for the service.
The Rev Fee Reynolds, the current Advisor for Christian Life in the Diocesan Office has been appointed as Priest-in-charge of St Peter’s Peebles and St Andrew’s Innerleithen. A date for her collation is being planned. It is hoped to be in June. Please pray for Fee and the congregations of St Andrew’s and St Peter’s. This will be the end of my time as Interim Pastor for both of these churches.
I took in a very full carload of books to the Christian Aid book sale in George Street. I even managed to take about twenty off my shelves and give them to the sale too. Boy, was it tough to do.
News and new things happening
Farewell to Ian and Brigitte Fuge – Sunday 31st May
There will be an opportunity to say a formal farewell to Ian and Brigitte Fuge at our service on 31st May. There will be a bring and share lunch that day, after the service. Ian and Brigitte have been members of St James for about 42 years. They will be attending church a few more times after the end of May, but this seems an ideal time to mark their time with us and all they have contributed to the life of St James.
Whipman and Lass Events – starting 5th June
The Installation of the Whipman and Lass takes place on Friday 5th June, followed by the ride out on Saturday 6th. Please do come and join us in the garden of St Mungo’s to watch the ride out and share refreshments with others. On Sunday 7th We shall be holding the church service in the Marquee on the Lower Green at 11 am. Please do come along and support this service, as we hopefully engage with people who are not regular attenders at any church, at this service. The Crescendo Choir, who rehearse every week in St Mungo’s, will be singing at the service.
St Mungo’s, Service of Prayers for Healing – Sunday 7th June at 5pm
The first occurrence of this new service at St Mungo’s was held on 3rd May and was well attended. It will be held on the first Sunday of each month. It is a quiet, reverent act of worship with opportunity to join in prayer for others in need of healing or to pray for ourselves and/or be prayed for by others.
St James the Less Fellowship Lunch – 14th June
Yes, I know, it is not on the first Sunday of the month in June! Our fellowship lunch will follow a service for ‘Music Sunday’, a celebration of the part music has in our worship.
St James the Less Fellowship Lunch
We ideally need three volunteers each month to make soup for about ten people each. The soup is to be vegetarian and gluten-free. Please contact me or Marion Mather if you wish to help out for any of the future lunches during the year.
Assisting at Care Home Services
Due to the changes in the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme, only people who have clearance for working with ‘adults’ for the church can attend and assist at these services. If you would like to help out but do not have clearance we can arrange to make an application for a PVG. It is mostly completed online which makes for a speedier process. You do need to obtain a Scot Account, which is a Scottish Government site that confirms your identity and through which Disclosure Scotland interact with you in the processing of the PVG, and the notification of clearance. My most recent interaction with the process, to add the SU Summer Club I will be involved in to my PVG membership was reasonably straightforward, and it was processed in a few days. I was impressed at its speed.
In Other News…
Of course, it goes without saying that I was very happy that Arsenal won the English Premiership, and look forward to the European Championship Cup Final coming up. A good friend of mine who lives close to the Emirates Stadium had a great night out celebrating the win and invited me down for the open top bus celebrations on 31st May. I had to decline due to work, of course, but rather hopefully I said I could attend next year’s celebratory tour. My friend is as confident as I am of a consecutive win of the Premiership and I have my bed booked already!
Nick Bowry
Regular Activities
Ministry in Care and Nursing Homes
Cowan Court, Penicuik: We have been part of a rota with the other Penicuik churches, visiting Cowan Court on a Sunday afternoon for the last year. Normally, we visit Cowan Court about once every 5 or 6 weeks, however, it is not quite to certain just now for a number of reasons. Penicuik Churches Together has designed a leaflet for each resident in Cowan Court to encourage more people to attend. Our next visit is peniciled in for 28th June. Due to the changes in the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme, only people who have clearance for ‘adults’ with the church can assist.
Aaron House, Penicuik: We are part of a rota with the other Penicuik churches, visiting Aaron House on a Wednesday afternoon at 2pm. As with Cowan Court we will visit once every 5 or 6 weeks. Our next visit is on 17th June. The same issues related to PVG’s applies.
Whim Hall, Lamancha: We visit Whim Hall Care Centre on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month. Our next visit is on 28th May.
Faith Development ‘Faith Books’
When we have a fifth Monday in the month, we hold a discussion at 7.30 pm about a book as a way of introducing people to different authors which may pique an interest to read more of their work (or not!). In looking for new or used books, I have often used www.bookfinder.com I am sure there are other search sites that will help people find the books on our reading list. The books we shall be discussing in 2026 are:
29th June: ‘A Big Enough God: Artful Theology’ by Sara Maitland (published by Mowbray ISBN 0-264-67331-X)
31st August: ‘The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World’s Largest Religion is Seeking a Better Way to be Christian’ by Brian McLaren (published by Hodder & Stoughton ISBN 978-1-473-62677-5)
30th November: ‘Places of Enchantment: Meeting God in Landscapes’ by Graham B Usher (published by SPCK ISBN 978-0-281-06792-3)
Morning and Evening Prayer
We meet online Monday to Friday at 9.00 am and at 5.30 pm. It is a good way to start and end our day, coming together for worship, with daily readings including the psalms; a good rhythm for worship in the Anglican tradition of saying the Daily Offices. Please do consider joining us.
If you wish to access the Daily Office liturgy with the daily scripture readings, go to the Provincial Website, www.scotland.anglican.org and place your cursor on the ‘Spirituality’ heading. A submenu appears and you can select the appropriate Daily Office from the right-hand side of the page.
Mid-week evening services on Zoom
On the first Wednesday of each month, at 7.30 pm, we hold a service of Prayers for Healing online. If you wish someone or a situation to be prayed for, send an email to me or Marion Mather.
At 9pm every Wednesday evening we hold the service of Compline. Please do join us for this short service of calm and settling prayers before sleep.
Continuing our Mission: Leading Your Church into Growth Prayer
Each weekday morning, we pray for growth in our church. If you are not able to join us online for Morning Prayer at 9 am, can I encourage you to pray this once a day. The prayer is given below.
God of Mission, who alone brings growth to your Church,
send your Holy Spirit to give:
vision to our planning, wisdom to our actions, and power to our witness.
Help our church to grow:
in numbers, in spiritual commitment to you, and in service to our local
community, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
In Touch Magazine for St James the Less and St Mungo’s
In Touch is circulated to all on email and is issued in paper format to those who do not have email. The cost of a paper copy is £2 for an A4 version, and about £1.50 for an A5 version. We print a very limited number of paper copies to keep out costs down, and to reduce our consumption of paper. If you receive an email version but would also like a paper copy, please let Sue Owen know and we invite you to make a suitable donation (preferably by bank transfer rather than in cash) to cover the cost. The deadline for content to be submitted for the next issue is 2nd August 2026. I would like to encourage you to submit something for inclusion in the magazine; a poem, a review of a book or a film, an article on a subject of interest. If you wish to submit an article, please send them to intouch@stjamesthelesspenicuik.org
Financial giving to St James the Less or to St Mungo’s
If you are able, can I ask you to prayerfully consider setting up a recurring monthly payment to the church via on-line banking, to contribute financially on a regular basis. Details of the bank accounts are given below for each of the churches.
St James the Less:
Monthly donation by bank transfer (include your name in the reference line when setting this up – only the Treasurer knows the name of the donor). Bank details are: St James Episcopal Church Penicuik, acct no 17117264, sort code 80-22-60. If you wish to make a donation by cheque, please make out the cheque to ‘St James Episcopal Church Penicuik’.
St Mungo:
Monthly donation by bank transfer (include your name in the reference line when setting this up – only the Treasurer knows the name of the donor). Bank details are: St Mungo’s Vestry, acct no 00817851, sort code 80-09-39.
Ecumenical Relations and Community Involvement Work
The Penicuik Ministers continue to meet every month in the Storehouse for a chat. Once a month the Penicuik Churches Together (PCT) has a joint Sunday evening service. The schedule detailing where the services are each month is on the PCT website. http://penicuikchurchestogether.org.uk/ The Revd Dr Tony Foley demits office from West Tweeddale C of S parishes on 31st May. There will be a time of vacancy, their Interim Moderator will be Rev Graeme Astles from Penicuik North Kirk.
Diocesan and Provincial Activities
My time as the interim Pastor for Peebles and Innerleithen during their vacancy draws to a close as Fee Reynolds takes up her post. The Diocesan Personnel Committee next meets in late August. I complete my term as a trustee of the Iona Community at the AGM on 29th June.
The Ministry Team
We continue to meet to plan for the coming months; planning services and faith development activities as well as exploring other aspects of what is offered to the congregations and to our local communities.
Zoom Links for Services
We have a regular pattern of services. Details of these are set out below. You can access them using the Zoom links.
Morning Prayer at 9 am, and Evening Prayer at 5.30 pm, Monday to Friday. (Zoom only)
https://zoom.us/j/6289561588?pwd=aGtNeE1ZM3l1Tkluckp3bVJtZkRHQT09
Meeting ID: 628 956 1588 Password: 040775
St Mungo, Holy Communion at 10.30 am on Sunday.
https://zoom.us/j/93417190423?pwd=K1ZoS0xKUWpRVENGTzFYL3NvakFHQT09
Meeting ID: 934 1719 0423 Passcode: 062021
St James the Less, Holy Communion at 10.30 am on Sunday.
https://zoom.us/j/92002197798?pwd=REp5NHQwVEdSd3A4a09lN1lHOUdnUT09
Meeting ID: 920 0219 7798 Passcode: 040775
1st Wednesday Evening Service at 7.30 pm (not July or August) (Zoom only)
https://zoom.us/j/96303841875?pwd=YmZiYkdNNzZJeWI5cmtZL2RLUWc1Zz09
Meeting ID: 963 0384 1875 Password: 040775
Wednesday Evening Compline at 9 pm (all year) (Zoom only)
https://zoom.us/j/95345457224?pwd=TDNoT20vR2dYMVQ5STdsS0lzR0dMQT09
Meeting ID: 953 4545 7224 Password: 040775
Zoom Links for Activities
‘Monday Evening Studies’ at 7.30 pm (Zoom only)
https://zoom.us/j/97670406222?pwd=WWUzL0dLNHdWdFJ0YVNnLzdvY2w2Zz09
Meeting ID: 976 7040 6222 Passcode: 202101
Use this link for Monday Evening Studies and the ‘Faith Book’ discussions.
Weekly Bible Study: Tuesdays at 2pm (Zoom only)
https://zoom.us/j/92510962481?pwd=L1hsaCtiWTh0ZFFib3N0WlluaVlaUT09
Meeting ID: 925 1096 2481 Passcode: 040775