NAIRN OLD PARISH CHURCH
The Congregation are invited to use this page to display their thoughts, prayers, comments or pictures. If you have something you wish to include on this page please send to John Urquhart or Evelyn Pottie.
CHURCH MAGAZINE
Gillian's daily exercise!
Good
afternoon.
I think I got the best of the sunshine this
morning on my beach and river walk. It is lovely
to be able to hear all the birdsong without it being distorted by
the noise of the traffic. I seem to be seeing more birds and they
appear less shy, which is lovely. They help to brighten my
walk.
a) The Field Mouse Ear is
starting to put in an appearance:
b) Along with the Common Vetch (I love their bright colours):
c) I have had trouble identifying
the next one, however, my research tells me I’m not alone. It is
sometimes mixed up with forget me not or borage however, it is
actually green alkanet:
d) I thought I would show you how pretty the wild flowers are looking just now:
e) Someone has been painting stones again:
Services of Worship
For details of Services and other meetings please see the Calendar page
You can visit the Presbytery website at http://invernesspresbytery.co.uk
Please note that our Kirkside building has been closed for all meetings. The KIRK VIEW Office is now temporarily located in the Eco Cabin and our secretary will be based there afternoons, Tusday to Friday. The telephone number remains unchanged.
John and Ella Mackie are retiring back to the Kingdom of Fife, leaving their friends and church family after many happy years in Nairn. Due to the restrictions in place for Coronavirus we have been unable to say a proper farewell - we will catch up later to do that - but in the meantime we were able to give them their Certificates of Long Service, acknowleging over 48 years between them as Ruling Elders in the Church of Scotland. We say a heart felt thank you and bid them a safe journey and a fond farewell.
Profession of Faith and Adult Baptism
Recognition of Faithful
Service
World Mission
If you were fortunate enough to read the latest edition of the World Mission magazine, you will know that it was all about Fair Trade.
21 years have passed since Fair Trade was introduced to our retail system. It has been a slow process but is now well established.
The idea behind Fair Trade was to help farmers and producers in very poor parts of the world who struggled to produce their goods and were then forced to sell to large co-operatives who paid them very little.
Nowadays, Fair Trade offers fair prices for goods produced. This has resulted in lifting farmers out of poverty and has seen their lives improve beyond their dreams.
Can we help? Surely!
Recently Rev Alison spoke about ‘Choices we face’ and trying to make the right choice. When we are in the supermarket, we can make a choice, choosing an item with the Fair Trade logo, even if it is a few pence dearer (not always the case) By doing this we are helping to improve the lives of our brothers and sisters across the world.
Although many now receive help, there are thousands still living in poverty beyond anything we can imagine.
Please pray for them in their struggle to live.
Historic Communion
We
recently celebrated the Sacrament of Communion, the first time it
has been conducted by a female minister. In 1900 Lady Frances
Balfour, a leading Scottish Suffragette, gifted our Communion table
to us. She was a daughter of the Duke of Argyll and a leading
aristocrat. She was married to Estace Balfour brother of Tory
Prime Minister Arthur Balfour. Lady Balfour came from a Whig
background and was a regular visitor to Nairn visiting Lord Finlay
of the Newton. The leader of the Suffragette movement in Nairn was
our first minister Rev. W. R. Pirie. Lady Frances was a staunch
supporter of the Church of Scotland and always attended the
Assembly. She was a great believer of women's position in the
church and after 116 years, a woman has celebrated communion at the
very table she gifted. Our thoughts and prayers were with the Rev.
Alison on this historic day.
VACANCY FOR ORGANIST & CHOIRMASTER
Nairn Old Parish Church invites applications for the post of Organist and Choirmaster: to play at well attended Sunday morning worship, direct our enthusiastic choir and work with our Minister, Rev Alison C Mehigan, to develop the role of music in our congregational worship.
We wish to appoint a suitably qualified and/or experienced person, who has good people skills, combined with an enthusiastic approach to leading and developing our musical praise.
In addition, the successful applicant will be expected to play at worship during Holy Week, Christmas Day, two afternoon Communions and end of term school services.
The well-maintained pipe organ was manufactured by Norman and Beard in 1903.
Remuneration is within guidelines of the Scottish Federation of Organists and dependent on skills and experience.
Job Description for Organist & Choirmaster
The Employee will carry out duties pertaining to the office of Organist & Choirmaster by:
1 Playing the organ at Sunday worship and at such services as the Employer may require. He/she will not be
PROPERTY FOR SALE
Kirkside , 1 Manse Road, Nairn.
for particulars please go direct to the Church of Scotland website. - www.churchofscotland.org.uk
The story behind the hymn tune.
A few Sundays ago we sang Hymn 342 to the tune "Une Jeune Purcelle". This is the tune used for The Huron Carol which has an interesting story to tell.
The song is regarded of one of the early carols from Canada. It was written in 1643 by father Jean de Brebeuf, a Jesuit Priest who left the shores of France to the Newlands of Canada to the land of the Huron Indian. He did not speak Wendat, the language of the Huron and he had no idea of their beliefs or they his. Wendat was not a written language so Father Jean sat down and created a dictionary, which is still in use today. When he had learned enough words he decided to write poems and songs in their native tongue. Wendat does not have the letter M or its sound which makes telling the story of Mary & Joseph a wee bit difficult, but the nearest sound was that of the French oui, so Mary became wairie. It became the Huron Carol and the original Huron title is "Jesous Ahatonhia" ("Jesus, he is born"). Usually when sang it starts in Wendat then it is translated into French as it was written and then English. The Huron Carol - checkit out in Youtube.