Rector’s Letter – June 2025
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
29th May 2025
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Rector’s letter for June 2025
Personal Notes
Two weeks ago I was on a Zoom call with a group of ordained priests, ministers and pastors for a monthly discussion about being ‘pastors in the secular age’. It is always an interesting hour of presentation and chat. The presenter this month was Neil Glover, a Church of Scotland minister with a group of parishes in rural Perthshire. His book, ‘Finding our Voice: Searching for Renewal in the Mainline Church’ arrived on 22nd June, and I shall find time to read and inwardly digest it over the coming weeks. Watch out for my thoughts and how we may have some group discussions about his findings and how it can help us in both churches, at some point in the future.
The end of May and beginning of June is always a busy time, with the Penicuik Hunter and Lass week and then after a gap of a week, the West Linton Whipman and Lass week. After having such glorious weather for the last 8 weeks, I just hope the weeks are not a complete washout. Last year, acting as a steward for the Penicuik Pram Race I got soaked to the skin despite having my best waterproofs on. The enthusiasm of the pram race participants didn’t seem to be diminished (even if dampened) and they ran the course looking very happy but droochit! These two weeks do help bring people together, and there can be a real sense of community, where people identify and interact around a common theme or event.
On the 6th of June I am attending the General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church, to speak in support of a motion to add Eric Liddell to the church’s Calendar, to remember his life of service and self-emptying in the internment camp in service to the other detainees, in China where he died in on 21st February 1945. I had made the original proposal to the SEC and it has been through their committee processes to reach the General Synod for a decision. I am hoping there won’t be any opposition to the motion, but I also recognise that there is less desire to remember missionaries than there used to be. However, Eric wasn’t primarily an evangelising missionary. He originally was teacher to the children of missionaries in their compound, but was drawn into humanitarian work during the Cino-Japanese war, and then into organising the internment camp during the Second World War. I hope it does get approved. Is there someone you would wish the church to recognise and remember? Maybe they are already in our calendar? You can find the annual calendar which includes all the people we remember here.
I am taking the assembly at West Linton Primary School today, and will also talk about Eric Liddell and ask the children about who they think would be worth remembering as an example to other people.
The process to elect a new Bishop of Edinburgh formally starts the day after Bishop John retires at the end of August. On Wednesday 28th May there was a meeting at St John’s Princes Street for clergy and Lay Representatives of each charge to discuss the process. The three meetings of the Electoral Synod are provisionally set for:
- 27th September 2025 (preliminary meeting with the Preparatory Committee)
- 7th February 2026 (meeting with the candidates)
- 14th February 2026 (meeting to elect a Bishop)
Canon 4 of the Scottish Episcopal Church sets out the process. One of the main changes – for the better – is that the names of the candidates are kept confidential. So there won’t be much news during the process apart from to confirm whether the timetable is holding and there are sufficient suitable quality candidates to produce a short list for interview by the Electoral Synod. And there won’t be a puff of white smoke appearing when a decision is reached.
There is a prayer for the process of searching for a new Bishop, that we are asked to use in our own personal prayer life and in our services:
Living God, you walk with us in all seasons of life calling us to follow you with joy, hope and love as we share in your work of renewing the world; give us humility and discernment to hear your voice, that those discerning their calling and all involved in our bishop search may be encouraged in your ways and open to your creative Spirit. Amen.
Last October we chose to preach on the theme of prayer, and together we created a booklet with multiple ways to approach prayer. The Diocese were suitably impressed with the booklet, and I have been liaising with them to produce a version of it to be used as a more widely available resource. It will be published in the next week. If you wish a copy of our booklet on prayer, let me know.
News and new things happening
Whipman and Lass Activities
Ride-out on Saturday 7th June: Join us at 10.00 am in the gardens of the church to offer refreshments to people gathering to watch the ride out.
Church service in the Marquee – 11 am on 8th June
The Festival of Pentecost falls on the day when St Mungo’s and St Andrew’s join together for a service on the Lower Green, in the marquee. Please do join us for what we hope will be a great service, in lovely summer weather.
St James Strawberry Tea Fundraiser – 2 pm 14th June
A reminder that the annual Strawberry Tea with entertainment, will be held in Penicuik Community Church Hall. Please speak to Marion if you are willing to bake, donate items or help out on the day.
Music Sunday at St James – 15th June
Apart from being Trinity Sunday, 15th June will be the ‘end of term’ for the choir. It will be a service to celebrate the work of our choir and David, our organist and choir master. We have a great ministry of music, and it is right to celebrate this and give thanks for it. You are invited to bring along some food to share, for a lunch after the service.
Scripture Union Summer Club in Penicuik – 29th July to 4th August
Advance notice of the annual summer club for children. If you know any children that might want to join this summer club, do get in contact. It runs from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm each day.
Christian Aid Week – 11th to 17th May
This year is the 80th anniversary of Christian Aid. The promotional material for this year highlights the detrimental impact of climate change on communities in Guatemala. The indigenous population have done the least to cause climate crisis, but endure its impact the most. Our giving this year will support many projects that Christian Aid run, including communities such as the one in Guatemala. The donations given at the first Sunday lunch on 4th May at St James were for the Christian Aid appeal. The Penicuik Grand Duck Race will be held on 8th June. You can still sponsor a duck up to this Sunday. Forms will be in church for you to complete at a cost of £2 per duck.
Tuesday Afternoon Bible Study – The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah
We started studying Jeremiah on 18th March and we are working our way through the first 25 chapters of Jeremiah. This first half of the book contains accusations and warnings for Israel that Jeremiah had been called to pronounce against the leaders of Israel. It has been an interesting read and alongside consultation with an excellent commentary (‘The People’s Bible Commentary – Jeremiah: A Bible commentary for every day’ by Rex Mason, published by Bible Reading Foundation) we have found it nourishing. As per usual I recommend using www.bookfinder.com to search out used copies of books.
We shall restart our Bible Study in September. If you have any suggestions for a passage of scripture to study, please let me know.
Monday Study Group – ‘Superstar’
Our last session will be on Monday 2nd June. The book has provoked some excellent conversations. If you have suggestions for what to study next – starting in September, please let me know.
Monday Evening Faith Development – 5th May to 16th June
In have been reading some of David Kossoff’s short stories about the New Testament, and explored the text and what we hear in it and the perspective we gain from his approach to storytelling. We have three more sessions before we break for the summer. The stories come from ‘The Book of Witnesses’, published in 1971.
St James the Less Fellowship Lunch – Mary’s Meals
The collection of foreign currency at the lunch held for Mary’s Meals raised a truly amazing £427.28. Over half the amount raised was from old British coinage that is no longer legal tender. So, it does help to clear out some old drawers and cupboards of money. The funds raised will provide 4,273 meals for hungry children. This amount is on top of the cash donations made at the fellowship lunch.
Penicuik Churches Together ‘Songs of Praise’ – Tuesday 27th May
The congregations of Trinity Community Church, North Kirk, the Sacred Heart, and St James the Less came together last Tuesday evening. Two members of each congregation were asked to pick their favourite hymn, and to explain their choices. Each person recorded a short video which was shown prior to the gathered congregation singing their chosen hymn. Luckily for the organisers each person chose a different hymn. It was a good evening and the reaction from those attending was so positive that we shall definitely do this again next year, on the Tuesday of the Hunter and Lass Week.
From the Registers
Wedding:
Gillian Little and James Hepburne Scott, on 17th June.
In Other News…
The Diocesan pilgrimage to Taizé takes place from 29th June to 6th July, and I will be one of two leaders. We have 18 young people signed up, which is a really good number. I shall use my time at Taizé as my annual retreat, and include a few days of annual leave beforehand to spend some time in Paris. I shall be travelling by train from Edinburgh to London, then onto Paris by Eurostar, and then the ‘slow express train’ i.e. not the TVG, to Macon. Taizé is about 20 miles north-west of Macon, not very far from Cluny.
The episode of BBC Radio Four’s Ramblings, that I recorded in Holy Week with Clare Balding will be broadcast on Thursday 26th June at 3pm. I listened to the first episode of the new series last week, and it set a high bar, with a very erudite writer, Manni Coe, talking about his camino experiences. You can hear it at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002cfkp It raised my anxiety levels a bit, as I started to worry my recording would not be any good. However, what is done is done, and I put my trust in the producer to turn our conversations into something acceptable! I shall actually be in Paris that day, so will listen via the BBC Sounds app on my phone.
My daughter Lorna is visiting from the States over the next few weeks, and will be catching up with friends on the Isle of Iona as well as around Edinburgh, Glasgow and Penicuik. It will be lovely to spend some time with her. We are spending a few days in Glasgow together around the Iona Community AGM and related events.
In August I am going to Greenbelt, a Christian festival held near Kettering, and helping out at the Iona Community stand there. I shall also be catching up with friends enroute and attending the Suffolk Real Ale festival being held in the Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds. On the way back I have decided to visit Lincoln Cathedral and the Palace at Bishop Aukland. It will make a change from one day drive back to Edinburgh after a holiday down south.
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. We visit Cowan Court about once every 5 or 6 weeks. Our next visit is on 8th June.
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 4th June. If you able to join the team offering this ministry, please let me know.
Whim Hall, Lamancha: We visit Whim Hall Care Centre on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month. Our next visit is on 12th June.
If you are interested in supporting this rewarding ministry by being part of the visiting teams then please let me know. Normally three of us attend each time, so we can support and guide people through the service and have a chat afterwards with whoever attends. We use a simplified form of the Liturgy for Reserved Sacrament and sing a few well-known hymns. Your prayers are welcome for this increased activity in and for members of our local communities.
Bible Study for all
We hold our weekly Bible study at 2pm on a Tuesday afternoon, online, for up to an hour and a half. We have a break for July and August.
We come together with the common aim of exploring the texts, understanding their context, and just as importantly, exploring how it speaks to us and how it informs us today. We enjoy exploring our different understandings and learning from each other. Please do join us, we are always happy to include more people. We are currently studying the first half of the Book of the prophet Jeremiah. We break for July and August.
Monday Study Night
Our Monday evening studies take a rest during Lent as we partake in the Lent course on a Monday morning. We break for July and August.
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 2025 are:
30th June: ‘Making Sense of God’s Love: Atonement and Redemption’, by Lorraine Cavanagh (published by SPCK, ISBN 978-0-281-06403-8).
29th Sept: ‘A Rabbi’s Bible’ by Jonathan Magonet (published by SCM, ISBN 978-0-334-02506-1)
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.
I circulated the Daily Intercessions booklet we use by email on 26th February. If you would like a paper copy, please let me know.
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 3rd August 2025. 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/ I continue to meet with Revd Dr Tony Foley to discuss joint services and matters of mutual interest, in West Linton.
Diocesan and Provincial Activities
I continue as the interim Pastor for Peebles and Innerleithen during their vacancy. Please pray for both congregations as they discern their futures and the profile of the person they wish to be called to lead them. I attended a meeting of the Provincial Inter-Faith Relations Committee on 6th May.
The Ministry Team
We continue to meet monthly 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