Langholm Old Church Parish Magazine

N0.90                       Price 1/2 - with LIFE AND HOME - 6d LOCAL MAGAZINE ONLY                        OCTOBER 1968.

Minister: Revd. Tom Calvert, The Old Manse, Langholm. Tel. 256.

Session Clerk: Alexander Hutton, Savings Bank, Market Place, Langholm

Clerk to Board: Mr. E. C. Armstrong, Town Hall, Langholm , Tel. 255

Treasurer: Mr. Donald Lamont, Rosevale Street.

Organist: Mr. A. C. Mallinson, A.R.C.O., L.R.A.M., 72 Henry Street.

Church Officer: Mr. W Elliot, 3 Buccleuch Terrace.

Hall Caretaker: Mr Donaldson, 7 West Street.

Text for October: “I planted the seed, and Apollos watered it; but God made it grow . We are God's fellow; workers”. l Cor. 3. Verses 6 and 9.

These words remind us that harvest is the work of many people, all playing an important part together with God. Harvest thanksgiving is thanksgiving for our food and clothing and all home comforts and it should remind us of many different people who have had a part to play in giving us these things, including God who annually opens His hand and satisfieth the desires of all living things. Think of the number and variety of poeple to whom we are indebted for what we call our daily bread. No harvest decoration of church buildings is complete without sheaves of corn which remind us of the basic substance of bread, and of the number of people who played a part in producing a sheaf of corn. First the field had to be ploughed, later the seed has to be sown and harrowed, then after a period of long waiting comes the golden grain, the reaper, the threshing, the mill and the baker and finally a loaf of bread upon our tables. Vegetables come to us in much the same way. Fish comes through the heroic labours of our fishermen who often encounter storms, who often cast their nets in vain and know well the meaning of those words from the Gospels “we have toiled all night and have caught nothing”. Meat comes through the labour of shepherds, anxious days watching over flocks and herds. Without coal our homes would be comfortless, and it comes to us through the labours of miners risking and sometimes losing their lives in their dangerous calling. Yes in harvest we are called to rernember the labours of various people in a variety of occupations working together with God in giving us all that we mean when we thank God for our daily bread. And in our text St. Paul reminds us that the harvest of the Gospel is also the result of different people of various gifts working together, and God honouring their labours with a blessed increase just as in the harvest of the earth. “I planted the seed”, says St. Paul. “Apollos watered it. God made it grow. For we are God’s fellow workers”. Paul is thinking of how bread was produced in his day in the Middle East where much of the land has to be watered by irrigation. In those days a harvest in Egypt depended upon the Nile annually overflowing its banks. We know little of that kind of need in a climate like ours, and where practically all soil is fertile.

Our text reminds us of three essential factors in the production of any kind of harvest.

First the need of Co-operation

lf the sower of the seed failed to do his part faithfully God would be hindered in giving the increase. And Paul saw how true this was in the work and labours of the Church,‘ that the work of bringing the Gospel to men and women was not one man’s work, that it was God’s work in which men are privileged to have a part, and that in this work God depends ‘anion man just as much as man depends upon God. We all know the story of Paul’s conversion and how ‘thereafter he travelled abroad preaching the Gospel and founding Churches. But Paul never stayed long in any one place and others were needed to ‘carry on the work which he had begun, the work of teaching and nourishing the hearts and minds of the new converts to the faith. At Corinthia man called Apollos was doing this follow-up work with great devotion and eloquence. Apollos was said to be mighty in the scriptures but knew only of the preaching of John the Baptist. He himself needed instruction in how the scriptures had found fulfilment in the coming of Jesus Christ. And we read of How a business man and his wife, Aquila and Priscilla, took Apollos to their home and instructed him in the Gospel. Aquila and Priscilla were not able to preach like Paul or Apollos, but they were able to do something every bit as important, to guide and encourage one who had this gift. They were able to water the precious seed which Paul had earlier sown.

Paul’s earlier sowing might have failed if Apollos had not done the watering, and Apollos might have failed to do his part aright if there had not been someone to guide and encourage him. It was through this wonderful co-operation that a mighty harvest came to the Church of Corinth in those early days. And it has been in much the same way that the harvest of our present day Christian civilisation has come to us. To begin with our land was a place of pagan and crude beliefs. Then came the early missionaries sowing the Gospel seed, and from this countless men and women down the centuries have laboured in the teaching of the Gospel to the ordering of the life of the people, and in the establishment of laws demanding justice and Christian caring. Men like William Wilberforce who as a statesman spent his days seeking after the teaching of the Gospel to see slavery abolished within the British Empire. Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftsbuiry. a statesman who laboured all his life to apply the Gospel to finding laws to bring an end to children being used as cheap labour in mines and factories. A quaker woman, Elizabeth Fry lived to apply the Gospel to prison reform. A University teacher’s wife, Josephine Butler, applied the Gospel to outlawing the white slave traffic. A country gentleman’s daughter, Florence Nightingale was inspired by her Christian faith to carry through reforms in the nursing profession and made it the most honourable of all callings. This was all at the beginning of the great harvest we are today reaping in this land which a previous prime minister said “has never had it so good”, and it has all come to us through the coming of the Gospel in the early days and through men and women working together with God.

Secondly, harvest reminds us that God has been at work in the world, and is at work in the world today.

“I planted, Apollos Watered, but God“ gave the increase”. Our work would count for little unless behind it all God was working secretly, in the world, in human history and in the minds and hearts of men and women. We know that God has been at Work in this land in this present year from the crops and yield in field and garden Man couldn’t make a grain of corn to grow, he can plant and water and then God stakes over and gives the increase A little boy asked his mother, “Mummy, What does God do all day?" She replied, “My son, God is at work”. This idea that God worked seemed rather strange to the child. so he went on to ask “but what does God do?" And the mother's wise reply was something like this, "He is making the the world and men are, continually unmaking it and spoiling it. He is at work all the time in Nature and in the seasons of summer and winter, seed time and harvest. He is at work every night in our bodies renewing them by the mysteryof sleep. He is ever at work among the sick and sorrowful,iand in Jesus He is all the time seeking to lead wayward from evil ways and to heal and repair broken human lives”.

Yes, God is at work, in the world, in human history and in our own lives. This is what we mean when we speak about the work of the Holy Spirit, it is God working in us and through us, guiding some to grrat discoveries of His hidden secrets which He unfolds for man’s good. He is at work inspiring some to create things of beauty; at work in some, seeking to lead them from the error of their ways for this is what God is seeking to do for all of us all the time in Jesus Christ.

John Masefield’s “Everlasting Mercy" tells the story of God at work in the heart and mind of Saul Kane. Saul Kane had made his life a curse to men and women and children, only bringing sorrow to those he met. But God in Jesus Christ was none the less at work, in his evil life, and every time he passed the village church he felt a sense of shame for his evil ways. One day a little child crying in the village street drew forth his sympathy and he gave the child two apples he had stolen. But the child’s mother stormed at him for daring to speak to her innocent child, and so he hangs his head and slinks away in shame, knowing full well that the woman was right. Then one day a quaker woman tells him that his evil life and foul language is an offence to, and is hurting Jesus Christ. All this leads him to ponder over his life and ask, “Is there a ploughman who can plough this stony heart of mine?” And so he is led to hand over his life to Jesus Christ to cultivate, and the poem ends with the glad story of his recovery.

O Christ who holds the open gate

O Christ who ploughs the furrow straight

Lo all my heart’s field red and torn,

And Thou wilt bring the young green corn,

The young green corn divinely springing,

The young green corn forever singing,

And when the field is fresh and fair,

Thy blessed feet shall glitter there,

And we will walk the weeded field.

And tell the golden Harvest’s yield:

The corn that makes the holy bread?

By which the soul of man is fed,

The holy bread, the food unpriced

Thy everlasting mercy, Christ.

Finally, harvest reminds us that God depends upon our help to do His work in the world.

“ I planted, Apollos watered but God gave the increase”. You see that without Paul without Apollos without Acquila and Priscilla. God could not have brought the Work of the Church in Corinth to such a wonderful harvest, just as for the harvest of the soil God depends upon the ploughman and the sower doing their work.

God needs our help, He needed Paul to carry the Gospel to Corinth and elsewhere. He needed Ninian and Columbia and Augustine to bring the Gospel to our land. David Livingstone and Mary Slessor to carry the Gospel to Africa. Carey and Duff and Henry Martyn to carry the Gospel to India, Iohn G. Paton to carry the Gospel to the South Sea Islands. He needed men like Wilberfiorce and Lincoln to strike the first blows at slavery, and in the same way He needs; our help today, not perhaps as missionaries or social reformers but to do Work that is every bit as urgent and important that lies near at hand. Remember how Jesus was helped in His great miracle of feeding the five thousand by what seemed apaltry contribution ‘given by a boy, but Without which it is difficult to see show that miracle could, ever have happened. We may not feel we are fitted to take a leading part in some grandscheme for the kingdom, but remember God’s best helpers are the people who work faithfully and prayerfully behind the scene as Aquila and Priscilla did, doing the watering of the good seed. Such helpers of God are to be found in a mother in the home influencing her child for Jesus Christ as she promised in baptism Sunday School teachers, leaders of youth organisations faithful Sunday worshippers and those who give and pray for the progress of the work of the Gospel as they are able. When Professor Sir Henry Jones was appointed to the Chair of Moral Philosophy in Glasgow University, he was to succeed the famous Professor Caird, and he felt misgiving in being able to follow this great master. But then it came to him that it was not his business to try and be a second Caird but only to make the best of Henry Jones. “If I can only fill that part with my own contribution, I will be happy”, he said. We cannot hope to play the part of Paul in God’s harvest. but any one of us can play the part of Aquila and Priscilla, watering here and there the good seed by our prayers and by our witness to others of the nleed and joy of Sunday worship, and by the service We render.

I ask every reader of this sermon to remember that God needs your help to do His work in the WorId, and that the living spirit of Iesus Christ needs our hands, our feet and our voice to find expression.

For Christ has no hands but our hands to do his work today.

No feet but our feet to lead men in his ways.

No voice but our voice to tell men how He died.

No help but our help to bring, men to His side.

LETTER FROM THE MINISTER

Dear Fellow-Member,

First my personal thanks to all who helped to make the Autumn Fair such a good success. After this letter I am giving a report on the final financial result of this effort. Here I wish to thank specially Mr. Maclntosh, the chairman of the organising committee for giving of his unquestionable origanising abilities so freely and Mrs. Nan Bell who did many journeys round Langholm and district enlisting stall conveners and people to take responsibilities for special events and efforts. Special thanks to Miss Mary Dalgliesh and her helpers in organising the Fancy Dress Parade and the children and parents for the amount of thought and work put into it. And special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. J. Barnfather for planning and carrying through the car treasure hunt, Jim Wilson for the amount of work done on the Barbecue, Mrs. Douglas Anderson for taking charge of the refreshments which everyone enjoyed, Gavin Graham for his hard work on mile of pennies, Ann Young our delightful handkerchief girl, John Scott and Richard Hill for organising a most successful games programme and the stall holders: Work, Mrs. T. Calvert; Produce, Miss Sadie Scott; Candy, Mrs. Lamont; Bottle, Mrs. Mina Carter; Cake, Mrs. T. Coulson; Flowers, Mrs. Howarth; Tombola, Mrs. Kyle; Parcel, Miss L. McVittie; Jewellery, Miss Rita Cairns; Young Wives Stall, Mrs. Elma Aitken; and Messrs T. Graham & Son, Builders, for erecting bridge overchurch wall; Mr. R. Rae for providing transport for tables and seating and for giving the fuel for the barbecue; The Langholm Town Band for leading the Fancy Dress Parade and playing in the park during the afternoon; the many hard workers on previous evening and after the event in carrying and loading tables and seating, including our Session Clerk, Mr, Alec Hutton; Mr. James Maxwell for providing the bricks for the barbecue; and all who gave so generously in kind and money. I am giving after this letter a thanks rhyme written by Miss Jean McVittie and Miss Rita Cairns for the support given to their most successful Jewellery stall effort.

Women’s Guild

The opening meeting of the Guild is on Tuesday, 8th October, which commences with a short business meeting, and followed by holiday slides. At this meeting we will have to accept with great regret the resignation of Mrs. Jean Goodfellow as Guild Treasurer. We are happy that she is making a good recovery. Mrs. Goodfellow has served the Guild in this office for many years and with great efficiency and faithfulness and we are deeply grateful for all she has done.

The next meeting of the Guild will be Tuesday, 22nd October, when we will have Mr. R. A. Thomson of the Royal Blind School, Edinburgh, showing us the film “Out of Darkness”. The new Guild syllabus is now available from ‘Mrs. ‘Wood, the Secretary, and shows a very good variety of programmes for the new session.

Sunday School

The Sunday School grows larger and we are very much in need of additional teachers, of a pianist, and a superintendent. We will be glad to have offers of service, and here I express best thanks and good wishes to many of our teachers who are leaving us at this time for business and college training.

Overseas Missionary Consultation

On Thursday, 17th October, the Overseas Mission Committee of the Church of Scotland is sending down four representatives to meet in the Old Parish Hall at 7.3O p.m. with if possible eight members of the congregations of Langholm Old Parish, Erskine Parish. Ewes and Westerkirk, Newcastleton, and Canonbie and Longtown. I am asking our Guild to provide light refreshrnents on this occasion. The chairman will be the Rev. David Docherty of St. Mary’s, Hawick.

Young Wives Fellowship

The Young Wives are leading the evening Service on Sunday, 6th October, and their next meeting will be Tuesday, 15th October at 8 p.m.

Celebration of the Lord’s Supper and Admission of First Communicants.

The elders will be round during the next few weeks with communion cards. We again have a good number of young people coming forward as first communicants and many joining by certificate of transfer. The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper will be celebrated on Sunday, 27th October at 11 a.m. and a Second Table at 3 p.m. with Communion Thanksgiving at 6 p.m. First communicants will be received at the commencement of the 11 a.m. service. I will again be celebrating private Communion in the homes of the sick and aged, and will be glad of requests for such a visit at any time in the three Weeks following the Communion in church.

Sympathy With The Bereaved

We have had many sad bereavements of members and friends of the Old Parish Church in the last. month. On l5th September, Mrs. Janet Helen Thomson, beloved wife of Andrew Thomson, 17 George Street, passed away suddenly. While members of Ewes Parish Church Andrew is a regular worshipper in the Old Parish and we extend our sincere sympathy in his sorrow and bereavement.

On Monday, 16th September, Mr. Robert Tinning, of Haywood Oaks Farm, Elidworth, Notts passed away at Douglencleuch, Westerirk at the age of 62. He was well known in the district having farmed. Allerbeck before moving south. His daughter, Mrs. Barbara Paterson of Terrona, was glad to have her parents near during her father’s illness, and we extend to her, to her brothers William and Walter, and to Mrs. Tinning our deepest sympathy in their bereavement.

On 20th September, Tom Elliot of 16 Charles Street New, passed away after a short illness at the age of 76. He was well known for his happy years farming Midknock. and during his nine years of retirement in Langholm had taken a close interest in the welfare of the Old Parish Church. Our real sympathy with his widow Netta in her bereavement.

On 21st September, Thomas Barnfather, 57 William Street, Langholm, passed away after a long illness and much suffering. Our sincere sympathy with his widow Jane Hotson and all relatives.

On Thursday, 26th September, the Rev. David Herd, minister of Heaton Baptist Church, Newcastle Upon Tyne. passed suddenly away. He was well; known and greatly loved by the members of the Langholm Old Parish Church where he served as supply preacher in the last vacancy. I have heard from many how he commended himself to everyone as a preacher and especially in his addresses to the children. Mr. and Mrs. Herd both belonged to Hawick and he was for a time an elder in Hawick Old Parish Church. Later he served under the Home Board of the Church of Scotland in the Western Highlands. After his service in Langholm he entered the Baptist Church and was ordained minister of the Berwick upon Tweed Baptist Church. About two years ago he was called to Newcastle Heaton Baptist Church, where he was fulfilling a fruitful ministry. Our deepest sympathy with his widow Winifred Burnett and their family of four, Patrick, Audrey, Ruth and Aidan.

On Wednesday, 2nd October, Mrs. Janet Davidson Hall, 16 George Street, passed suddenly away at the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, at the age of 64. She was best known as Jenny, and took an active part in the Brownies in which she served as Tawny Owl and was greatly loved by the girls. Jenny was in her pew in the Old Parish twice every Sunday, and if ever absent one could be sure she was either ill or away from home. She was well known in Langholm and her many friends are saddened at her sudden departure from us. Our deepest sympathy with her son Frank and his wife and family in their sad bereavement.

With my warm greetings to all our people.

Yours sincerely,

TOM CALVERT, Minister.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT ON AUTUMN FAIR

Income £563 4 3

Expenditure £117 3 5

Surplus £446 0 10

BAUBLES, BANGLES AND BEADS
by Rita Cairns and Jean McVittie

We’d like to thank you one and all Who gave so freely to our Stall;

We hope that you were not offended If we sold at less than you intended.

But a quick turnover was our aim. To have things left would’ve been a shame

Our venture was really most successful And we ended up with quite a purseful!

May we also thank all buyers, Quite as important as suppliers:

Without you both there’s nothing surer Fabric Fund would be slightly poorer.

CHURCH CALENDAR

October 13 -11 am. and 6 p.m. Rev. T. Calvert. Flowers, Mrs. W. Smith, 28 Caroline Street. Class for First Cornmunicants after Evening Service.

October 20 - Harvest Thanksgiving Services at 11 a.m. and 6 p.1n. Children asked to bring a gift to Morning Service and their gifts will be given to sick, elderly, Hospital and Eventide Home. Parents with babies names on Cradles Roll are asked to arrive at 10.45 a.m. for the Cradle Roll ceremony. Flowers, Mrs. Archie Smith, 44 High Street. Evening Service attended and led by Eskdale Young Farmers Club.followecl by a reception in the Church Hall when the Young Wives Fellowship will be hosts and Miss Anne Coulthard will talk and show slides on a visit to Finland.

October 27 - 11 a.m. Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and Admission of First Communicants. 3 p.m.g Second Table. 6 p.m Communion Thanksgiving. Flowers, Mrs M. Morrison, 16 Henry Street

November 3 - 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Rev. Tom Calvert. Flowers. Mrs. A. Smith, Charles Street New. The Over 60 Club will lead the Evening Service.

BAPTISMS

September 1 - Maxine Louise, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Currie, 28 John Street.

September 8 - Scott. son of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Elliott, 9 Ravenscroft Place, Gilmerton, Edinburgh.

September 8 - Douglas. son of Mr. and Mrs. George Beattie. 23 Caroline Street.

September 15 - Nathan, son of Mr. and Mrs. Elliot Bell, 21 Eskdaill Street.

September 15 - Stephen James, son of Mr. and Mrs. David Corrie, 5 Rosevale Place.

September 22 - Fiona Jane, daughter of Police Constable and Mrs. Thomas Oliphant, Police Station, Langholm.

MARRIAGES

September 7 - Robert Alexander James Trussler, 1 Newton Square, Springfield, Gretna, to Sheila Thorburn, Hillcrest, Hallpath, Langholm.

September 21 - David Yates Burns, 43 Scapa Street, Glasgow, to Pamela Jean Webb, 60 Henry Street, Langholm.

IN MEMORIAM

September 16 - Robert F. Tinning, of Haywood Oaks, Elidworth, Notts. Age 62.

September 2O - Tom Elliot, 16 Charles Street New. Age 76.

September 26 - Rev. David Herd, 29 Ivymount Road, Heaton. Newcastle Upon Tyne. Age 40.

October 2 - Janet Davidson Hall, 16 George Street, Langholm. Age 64.

“Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath. brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” 2 Timothy. 1. 10.

INTIMATION

We invite gifts of flowers, fruit and produce for the harvest decoration The church will be open all day on Saturday, 19th October, to receive gifts.