Rector’s letter – July and August 2026

Rector's Letter

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

 

24th June 2026

 

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

 

Rector’s letter for July and August 2026

 

Personal Notes

 

You may be happy to note I am writing one letter to cover July and August this year. I shall be away for the second half of July, so it seemed sensible to just issue a ‘summer’ letter.

 

Both Penicuik’s Hunter and Lass, and West Linton’s Whipman and Lass weeks have flown by. The weather for both was reasonable, at least there was no major drenching of any of the festivities. I was the officiating minister at the Whipman and Lass opening ceremony for the third year in a row. Last year I stood in for Rev Dr Tony Foley at short notice, as he was unwell. Although I am not sure people would notice if I gave the same speech each year, I try to deliver the same overall message but use different ways of doing so each year. For some reason I got quite a lot of positive feedback about the speech, despite it not being so very different from previous years. I was even asked for a copy of it to be quoted from in a school setting. The Kirking of the Whipman and Lass took place in the marquee on the green – this now seems to be an established part of the programme, I am happy to say. As Bishop Dagmar’s installation took place on the same day as the Hunter and Lass Parade I missed being part of those activities.

Bishop Dagmar’s service on installation was very good and the cathedral was full. The weather allowed folk to mingle on the south lawn, although there was one rain shower just as most people started heading out to the lawn. It was nice to catch up with friends within our diocese and beyond it.

A reminder that Bishop Dagmar will attend St James on 4th October and St Mungo’s on 10th January (Patronal Festival), to preach and celebrate communion.

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. The service of collation will be on 2nd July at St Peter’s, at 7 pm. is being planned. This will draw to a close my time as Interim Pastor for both of these churches.

The Diocesan Office has now moved from Grosvenor Crescent to a building within the cathedral grounds, on the north side, beside the GP surgery there. I  had a look around after the Personnel Committee meeting in May, whilst it was still being outfitted. It is a smaller space, and with no meeting rooms, so most meetings will be in other places in town. It is a much nicer environment, being all on ground level, whereas the previous offices were in the basement of the General Synod Office.

 

News and new things happening

 

St James the Less Fellowship Lunch – 5th July and 2nd August

Our fellowship lunches over these hopefully warm summer months will be a bring and share affair. Please come along and drop food of in the hall before the service.

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 the lunches in September through to December.

Rev Rob Warren Returns!

Rob is currently the Chaplain of All Saint’s Church in Rome, in the C of E Diocese in Europe. He was the Rector here from 2003-2012. We are doing a ‘pulpit swap’ and he and Caireen will be staying in the Rectory when I am in Rome, staying in his residence and preaching and presiding at All Saints. He will be preaching and presiding at St Mungo’s on 26th July and at St James’ on 2nd August.

 ‘The Teachings of Jesus’ – 10:30 am, 24th August -21st September at St James Church Hall

We know that Jesus taught through miracles and parables, but Jesus also taught in more conventional ways. His teachings are an intrinsic part of the ‘good news’, as it teaches us how we are to behave in ways that are congruent with the grand vision of the Gospel. Join us as we explore and discuss five examples of the teachings Jesus gave.

Faith Book: 31st August at 7.30 pm on line.

We shall be discussing Brian McLaren’s book, ‘The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World’s Largest Religion is Seeking a Better Way to be Christian’. Maybe this can be one of your books to read over the summer? In this book Brian challenges readers to: (i) focus on a spiritual life of love, not one focussed on beliefs; (ii) focus on the image of God as the renewing Spirit at work in our world for the common good, and (iii) organising religion to enable spiritual activism dedicated to healing the planet, building peace, overcoming poverty and injustice and collaborating with other faiths. You don’t need to agree with Brian’s message to read it and reflect on your own faith.

Consultation on Faith Development Activities

In considering what faith development activities we should be offering, to support individuals developing discipleship, it seems only right to consult the congregations. A consultation form that you can complete, is included with this letter. It will also be available in both churches to complete. It will also help both Vestries in their thinking about the profile you wish to develop for my successor, to have some empirical evidence about the congregations’ wishes and preferences for faith development activities.

Sermon Series and Faith Development Activities Starting in October

On 11th, 18th, 25th October and 1st November our sermons will be on the theme of forgiveness. Alongside that, there will be opportunities to join discussion groups to explore eight studies relating to forgiveness, using a booklet called ‘Forgiveness: Making Peace With the Past’. We shall organise sessions, but would also like to see people gathering together in the homes in self-organising groups to undertake this study at their own pace. If you wish a copy of the course booklet (you don’t all need to have one to participate) please let me know by 11th September, so I can do a bulk order from Blackwells. The course book costs £7.

 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.

 

 

In Other News…

I had a lovely long weekend in Bury St Edmunds and Cambridge in the middle of June to celebrate my older sister’s 70th birthday. I did manage to complete my review of the Diocesan Personnel Policies on the train down, helped by the fact it arrived in Peterborough half an hour late. On the return journey I managed to finish Sara Maitland’s book, ‘A Big-enough God: Artful Theology’. The cathedral in Bury St Edmunds is a lovely and light space, with whitish stone, and rather than Evensong on the afternoon I was there, the eucharist was celebrated for feast of St Barnabas. On Sunday I attended Evensong at King’s College Chapel, and as you can imagine, the choir sang beautifully. I recognised the new Dean, Revd Canon Dr Heuston Finlay, appointed after Revd Dr Stephen Cherry’s retirement. Heuston had been Vice-Dean of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, and Warden of St George’s House. I met him at St George’s when I attended the St George’s Conversations in July 2024.

 

In advance of my trip to Rome, I have booked to see Aida and Carmina Burana at Circo Massimo, lovely open-air performances on what I expect will be hot evenings. I have a tour of the Vatican Museums and some catacombs also booked. I need to dip into my guide books some more and decide what else to book. I shall use some of my time away for my retreat week and will be taking some materials with me to read through and reflect on, that will form our October sermon series and some faith development activities, and the two remaining books in our Faith Development ‘Faith Development’ series for the year.

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, we have currently suspended our services there. Penicuik Churches Together has designed a leaflet for each resident in Cowan Court to encourage more people to attend. 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 29th July. 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 9th July.

 

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:

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) – The Bishop of Norwich, who preached at Bishop Dagmar’s installation.

 

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 demitted 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

 

 

 

Consultation

Faith Development Activities

Please add any additional comments overleaf.

What the faith development activity have you enjoyed the most?
 

 

 
What made it so memorable and enjoyable?
 

 

 
Has there been anything else you have done, either here or elsewhere, that has significantly helped you grow in faith?
 

 

 
What method of engaging with faith development works best for you?

(in person, on-line, in church hall, in someone’s home, reading/studying on your own at home, etc)
In person   On-line   Home Group   Study on my own  
Other:

 
What topics would interest you?
Bible reading and studying   Bible Commentary/study guide  
Themes   Video/film & discussion   Podcast & discussion  
Other:

 
What themes or subjects would you like to explore?
 

 

 
What days are best for you, for faith development activities?
Mon   Tues   Wed   Thurs   Fri   Sat   Sun  
 
What times are best for you?
Morning   Afternoon   Evening