Langholm Old Church Parish Magazine

LANGHOLM OLD PARISH CHURCHchurchFounded 1703, present Church built 1846

N0. 19. MARCH, 1962.

Minister: Revd. TOM CALVERT, The Old Manse, Langholm. Tel. 256.

Session Clerk: Mr. JOHN TYMAN, National Bank Buildings

Treasurer: Mr. R. A. BLACK, 35 Eskdaill Street.

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

Motto text for March "Thou art the man" 2 Samuel 12,7.

Letter from the minister

Dear Fellow-Member

The sermons preached in Churches every Sunday completely fail unless we apply these words of our Motto Text to them. I have read of a man who on returning from Church said the sermon was just what his wife needed, buthe was wrong for if he only could have realised it the sermon was for him. We should never apply the sermon to someone else but think of it in terms of our motto text, "thou art the man". On Sunday, August 5, 1860, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote in his diary, "John Ware of Cambridge preached a good sermon. I applied it to myself."

What a wealth of meaning our motto text has when applied to the words of Jesus. When we asked the question, "who was it that the Son of Man came to seek and to save", our motto text gives us the true answer, "Thou art the man," or "the woman." When we read the Gospel words, "and you will not come unto Me that you might have life", we do not need to ask, "who will not come?" For we have the answer right here in our motto text, "thou art the man".

Of the Call to Follow

Over nineteen hundred years ago Jesus said to some fishermen by the Sea of Galilee, "follow me, and I will make you to become fishers of men". But we must not assume those words were only intended for Andrew and Simon and John. Thou art the man or the woman to whom Jesus is speaking those same words today. His eyes are upon you is that call is sounded forth today. In the days of the first world war there were recruiting posters stuck up in all public places. On these posters there was a picture of Earl Kitchener, with his finger pointing. And as you looked at the poster you felt that his eyes were fixed on you, and that his finger was pointing to you, and then below you read the words, "your King and Country needs you". These words of our motto text bring home the Call of Jesus to us in that way, and we know that he is speaking not to somebody else and that "thou art the man".

During this month of March we are going to be calling upon men and women of our congregation in the Langholm Old Parish to come forward for election to the Congregational Board. It would be easy for any member to say, well that means so and so, or so and so, but I ask you to consider our motto text, "thou art the man", or "thou art the woman". The Call of Jesus and His Church is just like that, it is not to somebody else, for "thou art the man".

The call of the Church Bell

Every Sunday our Church bell rings out a call to the people to come to worship. Church bells have sent forth this call in our land for hundreds of years, and those who have responded to this call had been richer and happier in life for the hours spent in God's house. For as the old rhyme says, "A Sunday well spent brings a week of content". But I often think that the reason why our congregations are often a bit thin is that many people as they hear the bell ringing think of it only as a call to others, and if only they would keep our motto text before them — "thou art the man", there would be fewer empty pews, and the minister would be greatly encouraged. A good illustration of what I'm trying to say is given in the story entitled "The Fountain of Milk", told by Rita Snowden in one of her books.

" The town of Cintra in Portugal is a beautiful place, with two big castles—one high above the town, one in the square, a town with lots of sunshine, trees and flowers. Once, King John the third of Portugal thought up a lovely plan for giving his people a treat. He arranged that on a certain day all the schools and shops should close, and everybody should have a holiday. And for that day of rejoicing the fountain in the square instead of flowing water, should flow milk. The people of Portugal are very fond of milk and this gave universal pleasure. So King John called all the important people together and told them of his plan. King John told them that everyone was to bring a jar of milk and pour it into the reservoir that supplied the fountain. This fountain normally supplied cool sweet water. So the great day came, and the people got up early in the morning and put on their best dresses, and came to see the beautiful sight the King John had planned. The important and rich people came, and the poor people came, and everyone waited for the great moment. But when the fountain began to play it was not milk but water that came out of it— just the same as before. There was no milk for anybody. Whatever had gone wrong? Just this, the first to hear of King John's plans had said to himself, "Now milk is very costly". If everybody brings jars of milk it won't matter if I bring a jar of water— one jar of water won't matter. So the great day came when everybody was looking, and he popped into the reservoir is jar of water. But unfortunately he was not the only one to think of such a bright idea. One after another the people of Cintra said to themselves, Now milk is very costly, If everyone brings jars of milk it won't matter if I bring a jar of water. And so the King's plan was a failure. The day that began so full of happy hopes ended in a very disappointing way. There was no milk in the reservoir, and the fountain only flowed forth water as usual. And all the people felt sad that things have turned out like this. But the saddest of all was King John. That night as he went on his bed he kept saying to himself, "My silly people, of course one matters"&mdash"of course one matters". Now the question of importance is what would we have done if we had been one of the people of Cintra? Well, I could tell you the answer right away if you would tell me what you were doing about your Church every time you hear the Sunday morning bell ring. If you say it doesn't matter whether I go or not, there will be plenty of others there, well of course the same thing would have happened as happened in the town of Cintra. On the day of the party,— the fountain would have flowed forth water instead of milk, because one matters as much as that—if one fails then dozens of others who had the same idea are not there. So I leave this story to speak for itself.

Events Importance in March

Apart from five weddings, the two important events of the month of March are the Women's Guild Annual Sale of Work on the 10th of March, and the first Annual Meeting of the Langholm Old Parish Church Congregation on Wednesday, 21st March.

The Women's Deal Sale of Work is given a full report below, and I hope that this year it will be very generously supported as the Guild has been called upon to undertake increased financial undertakings in aid of the Church and Hall funds. The Sale is to be opened at 3 p.m. by Mrs M. S. Paterson of Terrona Cottage. Owing to wedding engagements that day I find I will not be able to be present at the opening of this Sale, but look forward to coming later. Please give this effort to your fullest support to make it the record it deserves to be this year.

On Wednesday evening 21st March, meeting at 7:30 p.m. I would like as far as possible to see every member of the Langholm Old Parish Church present at our first Stated Annual Congregational Meeting when you will be called upon to nominate and appoint a number of members to serve along with the Kirk Session on what will hereafter be referred to as "the Board", which shall consist of the Minister, the Elders and a certain number of Communicants over 21 years of age. The Board after being appointed by the Congregation, will meet at stated times to administer the financial and other temporal affairs of the Congregation. At this Meeting of the Congregation we will also hear reports from the Church Treasurer, and from the leaders of the various organisations of our Church, and had the opportunity of discussing the progress and any problems in the various activities of our Church. The Women's Guild will serve refreshments, and a programme of entertainment will be provided by the Youth organisations.

Appointment of Session Clerk, Mr John Tyman, as Lay Reader

Mr John Tyman, M.A., LL.B., Session Clerk, is shortly to be appointed by the Presbytery of Hawick as a Lay Reader of the Church of Scotland. It is hoped that Mr Tyman will be set apart for this office by the Moderator of the Presbytery on Sunday, 20th May at the Evening Service in the Old Parish Church of Langholm. There after Mr Tyman will be eligible to be called upon to conduct Divine worship in Churches within the bounds of the Presbytery of Hawick. I would like to express congratulations to Mr Tyman on being selected by the Presbytery for official recognition in this work, and to say what a valuable service this is in view of the number of vacancies in the Church of Scotland at the present time. We all join in wishing Mr Tyman much happiness and encouragement in this ground work he is undertaken, and for which we are convinced he is admirably suited and gifted.

Sympathy with those who have suffered bereavement.

During the past month we have lost three members of Congregation and express our deepest sympathy to those near and dear to them. Andrew F. Beattie, living with his daughter Mrs Laidlaw, at 34 Henry St, on the 10th February at the age of 84. He was for a long time a member of the Old Church Choir, and the man who played a great part in the community life of Langholm. On 20th February the funeral of Mrs Eleanor Jane Callister Roddick at the age of 64. She passed away after a period of great suffering. On the 21st February the funeral of William Thomson Telfer, suddenly, and at the age of 80. He was a man with whom I had many delightful conversations about his life and work in earlier days. To the relatives of departed friends we express our deepest and heartfelt sympathy.

With warmest greetings to all our people.

Yours sincerely,

TOM CALVERT, minister

Women's Guild

On February 7th members of the Parish Church Guild were entertained by the Erskine Guild in their comfortably heated hall. The evening was given over to a series of plays which conveyed the wonderful and comprehensive work of the Women's Home Mission.

The Erskine Guild were invited to "A Matter of Opinion" organised by the Parish Church Guild on February 27th. The Panel, Miss Barbara Paterson, Mrs Wood, Mr John Elliott, and Mr James Pattie very ably dealt with an assortment of questions, light-hearted and otherwise.

A further reminder of the Sales in March

Jumble Sale

The Jumble Sale is on Friday, March 9 at 6:30 p.m. The hall will be open during the afternoon from 3 to 4:30 p.m. to receive jumble for the Sale. Jumble will be collected if we are notified, either the secretary or Mrs Calvert at the Manse.

Annual Guild Sale of Work

The annual Sale organised by the Deal will take place on Saturday, March 10, to be opened at 3 p.m. by Mrs M. S. Paterson, The Cottage, Terrona. The Hall will be open from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday morning to receive goods of all descriptions for the Sale. We appeal for a special effort from all our friends this year to help to make the Sale a big success.

Women's World Day of Prayer

A Special Service for the Langholm Churches will be held in the Erskine Church on Friday, 9th March at 8 p.m. The ladies of the Parish Church are invited to attend and share in his annual Service when we will be joining with the women of many nations in prayer for the work of the Church's throughout the world, and for the leaders of the nations.

Miss Violet Willis Concert

On Tuesday, March 13, Miss Willis is to favour us with a musical concert. Miss Willis is well-known and popular in many parts of the country and we all remember her last visit to Langholm with much pleasure. On this occasion Miss Willis is bringing a quartette and will render pieces from "Gilbert and Sullivan". We would like this to be made well-known throughout the district so that all music lovers will have the opportunity of joining with us that evening.

Church Calendar

March

18th—11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Revd. Tom Calvert. Flowers, Mrs Scott Morrison, 49 Henry St. Elders, Morning—J. McIntosh, W. Smith, J. Tyman, D. Anderson, M. Armstrong, M. Douglas. Evening—J. W. Wood and R. K. Neill

25th—11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Revd Tom Calvert. Flowers, Mrs M. Armstrong, Marlsyde. Elders, Morning—W. Hosie, A Smith, J. Maxwell, C. Constable, R. K. Neill, J. Pattie. Evening— M. Douglas and J Tyman.

April

1st—11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Revd. Tom Calvert. Flowers, Miss Burnet, Holm Cottage. Elders, Morning—A Smith, Ken Douglas, R Douglas, D. Hendrie, L. Ewart, and R Black. Evening—M. Armstrong and J.W. Wood.

Special dates for March

Sunday, 18th March, the Langholm Town Band will provide the music for the 6 p.m. Evening Service under the leadership of Bandmaster Chapman.

On the same date classes for First Communicants will commence at 7:10 p.m. in the Church. The Minister invites all who wish to become full members of the Church to attend this class.

Baptism

February

25th— David, son of Mr and Mrs Robert Henderson, 25 Holmwood Drive

In Memoriam

On 10th February—Funeral of Andrew Beattie, 34 Henry St, aged 84.

On 20th February—Funeral of Eleanor Jane Callister Roddick, Glenmayne, Rosevale Street. Aged 64.

on 21st February—Funeral of William Thomson Telfer, 7 Eskdaill St, aged 80