Rector’s Letter – October 2025
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 September 2025
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Rector’s letter for October 2025
Personal Notes
The process of electing a new Bishop formally started yesterday, Saturday 27th September, with a preliminary meeting with the Preparatory Committee.
The next two meetings are provisionally set for:
- 7th February 2026 (meeting with the candidates)
- 14th February 2026 (meeting to elect a Bishop)
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.
Season of Creation : Taking A Simple Action – Crowdfarming!
The Season of Creation started on 1st September and we hold our final service of the season on Sunday 5th October, when we celebrate Harvest Festival. If you wish to take one simple but effective action then you might wish to consider buying food direct from growers, which means they keep a much larger percentage of the proceeds of sales, receiving a fair price for their crops. It also means that you are supporting organic farmers who are either preserving the soil and environment, or are improving it by stopping intensive farming that uses lots of nitrogen-based fertilisers and pesticides. See www.crowdfarming.com
I must admit I haven’t used this way of buying in-season fruit and vegetables but I know several people who do and are committed to it. Some share a box with friends, especially of oranges when they are in season. Crops are not harvested until an order is received, so there is no post-harvest treatment to preserve the crops which would otherwise happen.
For instance if you chose a box of grapes and bananas from a Canary Island farmer of your choice, you will see a countdown in days and hours until the harvesting is done. And if you don’t think you can use all of a 5kg box of pomegranates from a farmer in Valencia, you could find others willing to share the cost and the pomegranates.
I am mindful that this sort of system goes against buying food from local farms so as to reduce the carbon footprint of our food. However, most fruits and some vegetables can’t be grown in the UK, so buying from a producer who gets more of the income than going via a few other companies makes sense.
Season of Creation : Taking A Simple Action – What have you done?
To inspire others to take one simple action that improves our impact on God’s wonderful creation, please let me know. I hope to create a booklet of all the good things people have done and see if it will inspire others to do likewise. It could be as simple as ditching using shampoo in a plastic bottle and using a shampoo bar. It all helps. If you have made a decision to get solar panels, use an electric car, get an air-source heat pump, add thermal insulation, or other major change, your experiences would also be good to hear. Anyone willing to show people what they have done, might help others decide to take a step towards reducing their carbon footprint.
Season of Creation : Taking A Simple Action – Laundry Sheets
On the first Sunday of Creationtide, at St James I handed out six different companies’ laundry sheets for five members of the congregation to test. We shall hopefully get the testers to report back at the St James AGM on the first Sunday of December… another great reason to attend the AGM. If you already use laundry sheets, let me know what brand you use and what you make of them.
News and new things happening
Talk on the Ecumenical Christian Community at Taizé – Friday 3rd October at 7.30 pm, St James Church Hall
I will give a talk about the origins and history of the ecumenical community at Taizé in Burgundy, describe the weekly programme and offer some personal reflections on my week there in July alongside the group from the Diocese of Edinburgh. You won’t be asked to sing any of the Taizé chants. There will be some pictures… Tickets are £5 from Marion Mather. Refreshments will be provided.
Monday Study Group – 29th September at 10 am St James’ Church Hall
Tomorrow is our final meeting in this short series of discussions. We have listened to interviews with Walter Brueggemann and Rachel Held Evans, by the two hosts, Pete Enns and Jared Byas. We also heard a dialogue on teaching the Bible to children by Pete and Jared. Our last session on 29th September when we will listen to an interview with Diana Butler Bass on ‘reading the Bible as an experience and relationship’.
We meet in St James’ church hall at 10 o’clock for about 90 minutes.
We shall reflect on this type of approach to exploring our faith and make a decision whether to do a further short series at a later date.
Tuesday Afternoon Bible Study
We restarted our Bible Study in September. We have taken an overview of six books in the Hebrew Scriptures (what we call the Old Testament); 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles. There are several sections in each which contain familiar stories (Hannah offering Samuel to God’s service, Samuel hearing God’s call while serving Eli, David and Goliath, David and Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite, and so on). But, to be honest, I am not sure most of us have read these books through and reflected on the grander sweep of the stories and the wisdom they contain. We still have 1 & 2 Chronicles to discuss and then have a short final discussion of these six books. It has been good to look at the books in this way, and I hope it will encourage people to read one pair of these through. In the Hebrew Scriptures there is just one ‘book’ of Samuel. As it was written on scrolls, it needed two scrolls to hold the whole of the writing. As a result, our Old Testament retained the content in two books, faithfully using the same break at the end of the first scroll as the end of 1 Samuel. The same applies to Kings and Chronicles too.
St James the Less Fellowship Lunch – 5th October
At the soup and roll lunch on 5th October, our Harvest Festival lunch, we will be asking for donations to a project to support children living on the streets of Accra in Ghana (Street Children’s Empowerment Foundation in Accra, Ghana https://scef-international.org/ ). Marion Hunter’s daughter, Janine, has been in Accra and has been doing research there. It is nice to be able to support a project known to members of our congregation.
Every October we support a charity that works to relieve suffering, poverty, or other forms of injustice in Africa. This is in memory of Revd Dr Neville Suttle and his wife Tilly Suttle, who did so much to support charitable work in Africa.
St James the Less Fellowship Lunch – November and December
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 November and December’s lunch.
Monday Evening Study – commencing on 6th October at 7.30 pm
We shall commence a discussion of ‘Making Sense of God’s Love’ by Lorraine Cavanagh, on 6th October at 7.30 pm. This book has six fairly short chapters and we shall discuss one a week, with a week’s break on 3rd November, meaning we finish up on 17th November.
Planting Daffodils Fundraiser
To make better use of some of the Rectory garden, and to have a very close supply of daffodils for the Springtime Daffodil Tea at St James, I am asking for people to donate money to St James to cover the cost of buying a lot of daffodil bulbs this autumn and also for volunteers to help with planting them in the autumn. Please donate by bank transfer with ‘daffodils’ in the reference section, or else hand cash to John McCulloch.
Night Church at St James
These quiet contemplative sessions will be held in the church hall at 7.30 pm, with a short closing service of night prayer in the Peace Chapel at 8.45 pm. The sessions will be:
Sat 11th October – theme of ‘Life’.
Tues 18th November – theme of ‘Peace’.
Sat 13th December – theme of ‘Nature’.
Tues 13th January – theme of ‘Community’
Sat 14th February – theme ‘Love’
Tues 10th March – theme is yet to be decided
A publicity flyer will shortly be produced for the Night Church. Please do spread the word and encourage people to come along who may not ‘do church’. And, of course, come along yourself and experience it.
If you would like to support Night Church in West Linton, do let me know. It would be lovely to offer it there as well.
‘Friendship With God’
On the Sundays from 12th October to 2nd November we shall lay aside the normal lectionary readings and be exploring the theme, ‘Friendship with God’ with the following readings from scripture.
- 12th Oct: ‘God Wants You as a Friend’. Readings are: Exodus 33:7-11, James 2:19-26, John 15:9-15.
- 19th Oct: ‘Making God at Home’. Readings are: Genesis 3:1-12, Revelation 3:14-22, John 14: 15-24.
- 26th Oct: ’Knowing God’. Readings are: Jeremiah 9:23-24, Psalm 46:1-11, Phillipians 3:4b-11, John 17:20-26.
- 2nd Nov: ‘Building a Relationship With God’. Readings are: Genesis 5:18-24, Colossians 3:12-17, John 15:1-8, John 16:1-15.
Related to these themed services, we would like to invite you to join together with friends from church, and maybe invite some of your neighbours to join you, to explore Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For?’ It is a book with forty very short chapters (some a page or two long, some six pages long), and it is intended as a form of forty-day spiritual journey, where you read a chapter each day and spend time reflecting on it. For many people that may be too much, but maybe reading a chapter and taking the week to reflect on it, then meet and discuss that chapter with friends would be more manageable. The book is split into six sections, the first five have seven chapters each, the final section has five chapters. The book provides some questions for each chapter, to aid discussions, so no-one has to sweat about what questions to ask. You could form a group to discuss the first section, then after seven weeks take a wee break before coming back for the second section of seven weeks, and so on. You can buy a used copy of the book from www.bookfinder.com for between £2.70 and £5. The ISBN for the book is 978-0310-21074-0.
We Make the Road By Walking – a Year Long Quest for Spiritual Formation, Reorientation and Activation
Last month I mentioned this book by Brian McLaren. It is longer and has more material than Rick Warren’s book. For anyone that enjoys the discipline of following Rick Warren’s forty day spiritual journey, they may wish to consider this as a longer read over a year, with weekly readings. It is split into four seasonal quarters, each with 13 chapters. In the introduction Brian states: “The title suggests that faith was never intended to be a destination, a status, a holding tank or a warehouse. Instead it was to be a road, a path, a way out of old and destructive patterns into new and creative ones. As a road or way, it is always being extended into the future… To be a living tradition, a living way, it must forever open itself forward and forever remain unfinished.”
If this introduction intrigues you and you want to embark on a journey in faith, this may be a book for you. Each chapter has a couple of Bible readings to read and reflect on, and then the chapter offers a response to those passages. You are invited to respond to Brian’s interpretation and application, not necessarily agreeing with his. At the end of each chapter there are some questions to engage with, to reflect upon, and possibly use as a starting point for deeper reflections and journalling.
If this approach interests you, you may want to do this on your own or perhaps share this and meet with a few others to do one of the seasonal sections – you don’t need to do all four sections one after the other. If you wish to meet up with others from our congregation let me know – I shall put you in contact with one another. Or you may wish to invite some friends or neighbours to create a non-denominational group to explore the Bible and Brain McLaren’s approach. Used copies of the book can be bought from about £5 from www.bookfinder.com The easiest way to search for the book is to use the ISBN number: 978-1-444-70370-2.
In Other News…
It is now three months since Misty broke her rear right leg. She has recovered very well. Misty is allowed four fifteen minute walks a day. The vet suggests that might be here limit in terms of distance because of the osteo-arthritis in her hips. She would walk further if I let her, even if it would be sore, because Collie’s will just walk and run if you let them. It made me wonder what we do out of habit that might be harmful for us… For now, Misty is proving an example of accepting the need to slow down and ‘be’ for after all we are human beings, not human doings.
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 26th October.
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 8th October. 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 9th October.
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 shall be commencing our reading and study of 1 & 2 Samuel on 2nd September.
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.
Monday Study Night
We shall continue to take a break in September, whilst the morning sessions are running, but will return in October., when explore the book, ‘Making Sense of God’s Love’.
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:
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 2nd November 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. The advert for a priest-in-charge is now in the Church Times.
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