Langholm Old Church Parish Magazine

No.120 Price 1/8p - with LIFE AND WORK - 8d LOCAL MAGAZINE ONLY June 1971.

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

Session Clerk: Mr. Archibald Findlay, Langholm Lodge. Tel. 453.

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

Treasurer: Mr. Donald Lamont, Royal Bank of Scotland, Langholm. Tel. 430.

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. John Scott, 54 William Street.

Text for June "The harvest of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness, and self-control". Galatians 5.22.

Last Sunday was called Whit Sunday, the name of the festival when we celebrate the bestowal of the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost when the disciples came to realise the Spirit of God or indwelling Christ in them. We read the story of the event in the second chapter of Acts, of how at the sound of a rushing mighty wind, God breathed into them His own life, qualities of His own life into very ordinary men. And they were no longer ordinary, for their lives were now inspired and directed by the indwelling Spirit of God.

One of the first consequences was a new attitude of mind, for they now found themselves possessed of, or striving to possess these qualities St. Paul speaks of in our text, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness and self-control".

Now you may well ask, are not such qualities as St. Paul is looking for in ordinary people, as outlined in our text, far too idealistic for a world like ours? Our first impression is to conclude that Paul couldn't have known much about the real world in all its hopelessness and sordidness; that such qualities might be expected among devoted religious people living apart from the world, but much too starry-eyed for the kind of world we know today. Yet the truth is Paul knew full well the kind of world we know today, the depths of degradation to which men can sink, for in the verses preceding our text he outlines failings among people in Galatia not unlike the failings we find among people today. The point is that Paul is not thinking here about what human nature is but what it can become by the indwelling of the Spirit, and claims that the qualities outlined in our text are some of the fruits that the Spirit can produce in men and women. So in this Whitsuntide message I would like to put before you this list of the fruits of the Spirit, dividing them into three groups of three in each group.

First, the harvest of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.

What Paul means by love is well defined in his 13th Chapter of 1st Corinthians which I quote from Dr. Moffatt's translation: "Love is very patient, very kind. Love knows no jealousy; love makes no parade, gives itself no airs, is never rude, never selfish, never irritated, never resentful; love is never glad when others go wrong, love is gladdened by goodness, always slow to expose, always eager to believe the best, always hopeful, always patient". This is the kind of love we would like to see being produced in human society today, the kind of love that has the stamp of Jesus upon it. And we all long for joy and peace, qualities that come in the lives of those in whom the Indwelling Christ dwells! "Love, joy, peace," qualities that are not conditioned by outward circumstances, not dependent upon health or material success. Jesus knew love, joy and peace on his way to the Cross. And Wordsworth's Blind Highland Boy did, "God was his friend and gave him joy of which we nothing know".

Secondly, "Patience, Kindness, Generosity." Fruits of the Spirit.

Patience is a quality belonging to the nature of God. Jeremiah speaks of God being like the potter. "The vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again". And this same quality is found in men and women as one of the fruits of the Spirit. We read about Abraham Lincoln, of how his military adviser Stanton despised him because of his humble origin, and behind his back called him a clown. But Lincoln took it all with patience knowing Stanton was good at his job, and his patience in the end won Stanton's admiration and devotion. When Lincoln was assassinated years later Stanton rushed to the room where the president's body lay, and looking in silence at the rugged features of the dead president said in tears, "there lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen". Yes, and how much we need a like patience in our relations with one another, for we really know so little about each other. Professor Blaikie at the beginning of a new term asked a new student in the class to stand and read a passage from the text book. He was doing so when the professor told him to hold the book in his right hand, and since he didn't obey, was told a second time. Thereupon the student held up the stump of his right arm, and Blaikie felt so bad that he went down to his side and asked for forgiveness for being so impatient.

And we need kindness and find it in Jesus. He was kind to the leper, to the woman who was a sinner, to the blind man. He praised the Good Samaritan because he was kind, and condemned the elder brother for his want of kindness. Dr. Leonard Small likens kindness to being nice, and quotes the story of the little girl's prayer, "O God make the bad people good, and the good people nice". In other words, make the good people kind.

And the final group of the fruits of the Spirit, "Fidelity, adaptability, and self-control".

Fidelity is much the same as faithfulness or loyalty and represents a prime quality in human life, without which it would be well nigh impossible to run a home or a church, or a country. We can say that this was the quality possessed by Sgt. Michael Willets who died after terrorists tossed a suitcase of explosives into the Springfield Road police station in Belfast a few days ago. He might have escaped with his life if he had not stayed behind and placed himself between four civilians, two of them children, and the case of explosives. The children escaped with cuts and bruises because Sgt. Willets possessed fidelity. Yes and without fidelity friendship has no worth or meaning. Whatever a man or woman has to face, success or failure, health or suffering, if friends possess fidelity they will come through. And fidelity is one of the fruits of the Spirit without which a home just becomes a house where people exist and squabble. Fidelity, gentleness, self-control. The Greek word for self-control is sometimes translated "temperance" and means to exercise control over ourselves, it means keeping our head in a confusing situation, like Rudyard Kipling's "If". "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you".

I want to finish by asking, does the Spirit actually produce these qualities of our text in men and women? And the only reluctant answer to such a question is - very imperfectly and rather intermittently. Because none of us give the Spirit half a chance to produce such results in ourselves.

Dr Leslie Weatherhead tells of Dr. Leslie Hunter, at one time Bishop of Sheffield once having a dream. The dreamer entered a spacious store in which the gifts of God were kept, and behind the counter was an angel. In his dream the would-be purchaser said, "I have run out of the fruits of the Spirit. Can you restock me?" When the angel seemed to refuse, the dreamer called out, "In place of war, injustice, lying, hate, tyranny, I want love, joy, peace, integrity . . . Without these I shall be lost". But the angel behind the counter replied, "We do not stock fruits. We keep only seed".

The Spirit which fell upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost only supplies the seed to grow the fruits, and the rest is left to us.

LETTER FROM THE MINISTER

Dear Fellow-Member,

Outings and Parties for Citizens

The Senior Citizens of Langholm enjoyed a delightful outing to Peebles on Tuesday, 25th May. Five coaches conveyed a company of 180 people to Peebles, and with perfect weather the journey through the border hill country made it an outing never to be forgotten. The outing was provided by a very generous donation from Mr. Malcolm Carmichael, resident in Canada, and this is the second occasion he has remembered the people of his home town in a practical and gracious way. We express very best thanks to Malcolm from all our Langholm people. A splendid meal was enjoyed at the Countryside Inn at Kirn-Law, near Peebles. We are grateful to the coach drivers for their consideration and kindness to the party, and to Mr. Alec Cowing, brother-in-law of Mr. Carmichael, for attending and supervising arrangements, and the Lady Visitors for their help.

On Saturday, 29th May, our Guild Outing was a great success. A party of 40 travelled by coach via Penton to Bewcastle Church, where they were welcomed by the Rev. Mr. Hall, Rector of the parish. The ancient church building of Bewcastle was of great interest. On the outward journey the coach party had the pleasure at Penton of watching sheep dog trials. The return journey included a visit to Lanercost Abbey, where a wedding had just taken p!ace, and the company enjoyed hearing the lovely organ. A very good meal was enjoyed at the White Lion Hotel in Brampton.

The next outing, organised by the Eskdale Old People's Welfare Committee, takes place on Tuesday, 15th }une, to Silloth. The number of 181 who have given in their names to attend, will travel by coaches leaving Langholm at 12.30 p.m., and the first two coaches will have their meal at the Silloth Cafe at 3 p.m. and the remainder at 4 p.m. This outing is financed by funds partly contributed by workers at the Langholm Mills and industries.

On Monday, 31st May, our hall was granted to the Ryton-on-Tyne Methodist Youth Fellowship, when a large company of young people visited Langholm and made use of our hall for refreshments.

On Tuesday, 1st June, a large party of over 80 senior citizens from Earlston visited Langholm, and were entertained to refreshments in our hall by the Langholm Over 60 Club. They were served with a good meal by the ladies of our Over 60 Club, and welcomed by Mrs. Flint, the Club Hostess. Mrs. McQuillen, president of the Earlston Club, spoke in warm thanks for the welcome and meal, and their delight in visiting the Old Parish Church.

On Monday, 7th June, the Carlisle Fisher Street Presbyterian Church Men's Club is bringing a party of elderly people from old people's homes in Carlisle for an outing to Langholm, and again our Over 60 Club is to serve as hosts and provide refreshments in our hall.

Services in June

The 9.30 a.m. half-hour Service is being well attended, and is meeting a real need. We are anxious to maintain good support for the 11 a.m. Morning Service throughout the summer. On Sunday, 13th June, I have promised to return to St. George's Blackburn in Lancashire, to conduct the Sunday Services. My place will be taken at the 9.30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Services by the Rev. Andrew Farms, B.D., well known to all our people for his long and happy ministry in Canonbie. On Sunday, 26th June, we will hold our annual Flower Service, which marks the close of the present Sunday School session. This will be at the 11 a.m. Morning Service, and children are asked to bring gifts of flowers which will later be distributed among the sick and aged and to the Eventide Home and Hospital. The Langholm Academy Prize Giving Service will take place in the Old Parish Church on Thursday, 1st July, when the prizes will be presented by Mr. J. Lamont Brown, Director of Education for Dumfriesshire. As this will mark the close of Mr. James Pattie's years as Rector of Langholm Academy, we hope a large number of the public will attend. The time of the Service will be intimated later. On Friday, 3rd July, I travel to the R.A.F. Station at Cottesmore, near Oakham, to serve as Hon. Chaplain to Air Training Corps Cadets from Douglas Ewart High School, Annan, and from Kirkcudbright Academy, for a week. The Services in the Langholm Old Parish on Sunday, 4th July, will be conducted by our elder, Mr. J. MacIntosh.

Coffee Morning and Sponsored Walk in aid of Fabric Fund

Fortnightly we hold short Services in Greenbank Eventide Home at 2 p.m. and in the Thomas Hope Hospital at 2.30 p.m. We now have electric organs in Greenbank and at the Hospital, and Mrs. Roebuck serves as organist with great pleasure to all attending the Services. I wish to thank her and friends who come to form a choir at each Service.

Our Church Fabric Fund which at the end of last year showed a balance of over 500 has since been largely expended on essential repairs and maintenance work in church, hall and manse. This effort is to raise the Fund to its former balance. As the hall, which is used by many organisations in Langholm, draws heavily upon the Fabric Fund for maintenance, I am asking all organisations using the premises to give our effort on Saturday, 19th June, the fullest possible support.

By the kindness of Miss Barbara Paterson, of Hopsrigg Farm, a Coffee Morning is being organised to take place at her home. The Coffee Morning will commence at 11 a.m. and members of our Woman's Guild and friends of our Church will assist Miss Paterson in running the effort. Transport will leave David Street from 10.30 a.m. onwards. Admission charge is 10p and there will be a Bring and Buy Stall, a Flower Stall, and a Cake and Sweets Stall. Pony rides are being organised for the children, and a Treasure Hunt.

The Sponsored Walk organised by the Boys' Brigade Officers and Sunday School staff, will leave the Kilngreen at 11.30 a.m. and will cover a distance of 17 miles. I will give at the close of the magazine fuller details. I appeal to all our people with cars to make them available and offer services for check points. We hope to have a large response for the walk from young and old. Cards are available for all aged eight and over, from Mr. Gavin Graham, 27 Henry Street.

The Woman's Guild will serve refreshments to the entrants on the Sponsored Walk at Hopsrigg from 2.30 p.m. onwards, and visitors will be welcomed.

Congratulations to Cornet Robert Scott Nixon

We all join in congratulating Robin Nixon on his election by an overwhelming vote of 545 as Cornet of the Langholm Common Riding in 1971. Robin has had good experience, having followed the Cornet round the marches since 1960. We all join in wishing him a very happy Common Riding - "Safe oot, Safe in".

Thanks to Mrs. Roebuck for Services Much Appreciated

As our Organist was unable to be with us on the last two Sundays, Mrs. Roebuck led the praise in the Church Services on the piano, and the congregation expresses very warm appreciation.

Sympathy With The Bereaved

David M. Lindsay passed away in the Dumfries Royal Infirmary, on 10th May, at the age of 70. In earlier years he served as a mechanic at the Farmers Store, and later in the Eskdale Garage. It was during this period he was bereaved of his wife Jessie McQueen, to whom he was devoted. Our sympathy with the relatives.

Robert Warwick passed away at 59 Woodstock Avenue, Galashiels, on 10th May, at the age of 61. He is remembered for the part he played and the interest he maintained in the Langholm Rugby Club. Our sympathy in bereavement with May Dickson, his widow, and the family of Peggie and George.

Jeannie Graham passed away at Whita Cottage on 21st May at the age of 85. With her passing the world is a poorer place, and we will miss her presence in the Old Parish Church, in the Guild, and especially at the Burns Suppers where she delighted us with her ability to interpret and recite the poetry and songs of Robert Burns. She was actively connected with the Old Parish Church and Guild for well over half a century. I well remember her robing me when I was inducted and introduced as minister of our Church, and the many occasions since then when she has never failed to have an encouraging word for her minister. Our deepest sympathy with Mary and Nellie, and other relatives.

George Graham Hunter passed away at the Cumberland Infirmary on 20th May. He was a member and elder of a Paisley Church but had lately taken up residence with Jim and Beth Hunter at Wauchope Cottage. He often attended the Old Parish, and in his own Church in Paisley served a worthy part as an elder. Our deepest sympathy with Jim and Beth.

Joseph Little passed away in the Erskine Hospital on 29th May, at the age of 78. He served as a soldier in the K.O.S.B. Regiment throughout the First World War, and had many happy memories of the friendship of those days. In the years I have known him he has suffered a lot, having had both legs amputated. He was a brave and cheerful man, spending his last six years in the care and comfort of the Erskine Hospital. Our deepest sympathy with his sister Mrs. Mary Erskine, and his brothers Alec and Robert, and all other relatives who remembered him in his days of failing strength.

Thomas Hogg passed away at 3 George Street, on 28th May, at the age of 59 - passed away very suddenly. The fact that all Langholm turned out to pay last respects at his funeral is a sufficient tribute to the high regard in which he was held in our community. I remarked to someone at the cemetery gates, what was the secret of Tom or Tag's hold over the people of our community, and the reply I was given was that "he didn't have an enemy in Langholm". If that could be said about all of us, it would be saying a lot. Deepest sympathy with his sister Margaret, and others who mourn the passing of a friend.

With warm regards to all our people.

Yours sincerely,

TOM CALVERT, Minister.

SUNDAY SCHOOL OUTINGS

The Senior Sunday School outing takes place to Mossyard Farm, Gatehouse of Fleet on Saturday, 26th June. Primary Sunday School outing to Tarras on Saturday, 3rd July. Times of coaches leaving will be intimated later.

BAPTISM

May 30 - Rachel, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Brown, 58 Cecil Street, St. Anns, Carlisle.

CHURCH CALENDAR

June 13 - 9.30 a.m. Half-Hour Service. 11 a.m. Morning Service. Rev. Andrew Farms, B.D. Flowers, Mrs. James Pattie, Schoolhouse.

June 20 - 9.30 a.m. Half-Hour Service. 11 a.m. Morning Service. Baptism at 11 a.m. Service. Rev. Tom Calvert. Flowers, Mrs. L. Ewart, 33 Henry Street.

June 27 - 9.30 a.m. Half-Hour Service. 11 a.m. Annual Flower Service. Rev. Tom Calvert. Flowers, Mrs. Jean Goodfellow, 8 Buccleuch Terrace.

July - 9.30 a.m. Half-Hour Service. 11 a.m. Morning Service. Mr. J. MacIntosh. Flowers, Miss Jean Ferguson, "Neidpath", Walter Street.

IN MEMORIAM

May 10 - David Lindsay, at Dumfries Royal Infirmary. Age 70.

May 10 - Robert Warwick, at 59 Woodstock Avenue, Galashiels. Age 61.

May 20 - George Graham Hunter, at Cumberland Infirmary.

May 21 - Jeannie Graham, at Whita Cottage. Age 85.

May 29 - Joseph Little, at Erskine Hospital. Age 78.

May 28 Thomas Hogg, .at 3 George Street. Age 59.

"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. " 2 Corinthians 5.1.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1971

(Brief Summary of Major Topics of Discussion)

Beginning with the traditional ceremony and ending in a mood of change and reform - this was the 1971 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland which ended in Edinburgh on 26th May. Before handing over to the Rev. Andrew Herron, the retiring Moderator set the mood of change with a plea for the Church to concern itself with progress rather than mere survival. The Lord High Commissioner Lord Clydesmuir in his opening address spoke about "Stability and Change", and called on the Church to take a clear lead in the new and ever changing society. The need for change was emphasised by the Moderator, the Rt. Rev. Andrew Herron in his closing address. He said there was a great deal of dynamic power in the Church which was tragically wasted because it was harnessed to "antiquated, ill-maintained and inadequate machinery".

Among the areas of church life in which he felt change was needed, Mr. Herron highlighted the multiplicity of church buildings and the parish system. Declaring that it would be "foolish and unrealistic" to recognise that the Kirk had an inbuilt resistance to change, Mr. Herron said it would be "the ultimate in tragedy" if they were to allow the Church of the living God to become "a museum of ecclesiastical antiquities".

"A reformed and a re-vitalised Kirk will in the providence of God surely emerge in this land of our love" he said. "What I do wonder is whether we have the vision and the wisdom and the faith, and above all the courage - to play our part in the reforming of it.

CHANGES IN STRUCTURE

"Keeping pace with tomorrow" is the title of the report of the Special Commission on Priorities in Mission which has been prepared over two years. After a four-hour debate, the Assembly accepted the report with some amendments. The recommendations include the setting up of larger co-operative church units, and a review of the operation of church courts and committees with reference to the Wheatley report on local government reforms. The report also suggests the desire of younger men and women to be appointed to the courts and committees of the Church. Other recommendations include - children's participation in the Church's worship, the establishment of regular courses for new elders in pre-ordination and for existing elders in post-ordination

EDUCATION

More help for parents in the Christian upbringing of their children was urged by the Rev. G. D. Goldie of Aberdeen. Rev. R. C. M. Mathers of Edinburgh presented the report of the Home Board, and spoke of the fall in church membership with understaffing of churches. He pointed out that in the Church of Scotland there are over 100 congregations today with a membership or 1200 or more being served by one ordained minister with no auxiliary help.

QUALITY OF CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

The Assembly approved two moves to improve the "quality" of the membership of the Church of Scotland. They adopted a report by the Stewardship Committee which described the standard of church membership as 'generally low", and suggested ways of improving the situation. Assembly Commissioners also approved a step towards abolishing regulations which provide for a member's name to be removed from the communicant's roll if he did not attend Communion for a period of three years. This will come down to Presbyteries for consideration.

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