St George's-Tillydrone Church of Scotland

Letters from Kenya & Canada

Christmas in Canada-Ezzy reflects

Cleaning update

Back to Home Dear Friends Letter from Kenya... ...and from Canada Diary
A Different Christmas Open Door Cleaning News Snippets Information 

Have you found yourself thinking about time recently? I expect you have, because we have all been through the Millennium celebrations. On our first Sunday service in the Year 2000 AD, we began with the words of Psalm 90: "A thousand years to you (God) are like one day". Even as we walk in the front door of our church now, we have a new plaque above it, reading: "The Millennium is Jesus Christ's 2000^th birthday. Come and worship Him - now".

I had a further opportunity to think about time when on a week's holiday in London. Among all the possible sights to visit, I knew I wanted to go to The Story of Time exhibition in Queen's House, Greenwich. The exhibition was addressing questions such as: "What is time? How is time structured? Where does time go? Is time the same for everyone? Was there a moment when time began? Will time ever end?" Nearly 550 objects from around the world had been assembled in an attempt to explore those questions, and they were fascinating. And yet I could not find any explanation for the great Christian division of time into "BC" and "AD", which was the implementation in AD531 of the astronomer Dionysius' work. That seemed rather strange in an exhibition arranged to coincide with Millennium celebrations. Probably you too were often left wondering where the "time" of Jesus' birth came into these.

We may have been stimulated to consider time, but I wonder if we have been equally stirred to consider eternity? Our problem in the Christian church in Western culture is that we rarely live consciously in the light of God's timelessness. We are well aware of our citizenship on earth; we are much less tuned in to citizenship of heaven. The old saying probably can't be applied to many: "He is so heavenly-minded, he is no earthly use"!

On Sunday mornings we have begun a new series in Ephesians under the overall title: "How to be rich in blessings". The teaching of this jewel of a letter is there to help us realise (know and experience) the riches God the Father has for us when we live in union with Jesus Christ, whilst at the same time, living in Aberdeen, or wherever. Paul wrote: "In our union with Christ He has blessed us by giving us every Spiritual blessing in the heavenly world", and he prayed for the believers to have their minds opened "so that you will know what is the hope to which He (God) has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings He promises his people, and how very great is His power at work in us who believe" (Eph 1: 3,18,19).

As we move on into this New Year, with all its many challenges in terms of church and individual life, let's realise how rich we are in Christ. Do you know how "rich" you can be?

Mary and Malia Mumo in Kenya write ...

It is good to hear that Paul arrived safely back in Aberdeen. We are well and Malia is doing so well - she is adjusting well to the ladies that are helping me out. I am settling in with my teaching. Beside teaching there are other responsibilities within the College. I thank God for such an opportunity to be part of the team of teachers who God is using to train these very special students for the future ministry of the church in Africa and worldwide. Please pray that the Lord will help both the teachers and the students to do His will. We do miss you all but we do pray for you often. Do pass our greetings to the dear ones at St George's. We do miss you all.

God bless,

Before we got to Russia we were in Scotland for Jeremy’s summer internship. We headed north to the Granite City—Aberdeen, to an Urban Priority Action Area. We stayed at St. George’s Tillydrone and quickly won a home in many people’s hearts. Laurel was delighted at the placement because her Great Aunt lives in Aberdeen and it meant they could get together often. The Scottish people are super-friendly. In fact, at the end of our time there, one “loon” drove us down to Edinburgh so we wouldn’t have to take the bus (a good three-hour drive). Also, the church held a Scot’s night in our honour. They had a group of fiddlers and someone who called the dances for Scottish Country dancing. It was great fun and well-attended. Throughout his 2.5 months, Jeremy gained lots of experience conducting up to three services a Sunday and doing pastoral visits

Diary

 Dates

Every year, children in Africa await the Christmas season with great expectations, for that’s probably the only time of year when they can look forward to having a new pair of trousers and or a shirt. Many families need to save up so as to afford a good meal over the festive season. As compared to the west, my people don’t really exchange gifts, but we spend time together appreciating each other and sharing what we have. In a nutshell, Christmas in Africa is a time when friends and family come together to reminisce about the events of the past year and look forward to a better tomorrow.

Christmas for me was different this year. It was my first Christmas away from home, and I wondered how it would be. I was able to travel to Canada to visit friends and I must say it was a wonderful experience. The snow-capped mountains and the beautiful sites of British Columbia were a sight to behold as I arrived at Vancouver airport. This was really going to be a different Christmas.

It wasn’t long before I was up and around the shopping malls on Christmas eve. The rush was on, everyone doing there last minute shopping. I noticed people were buying gifts for friends and family, carefully considering each others tastes as they went about their shopping. “Santa’s” lap was busy all day as he spent time with the kids either posing for photographs or just talking to them. As the evening drew nearer, the Christmas lights came on all over the place. The malls were beautiful, but what really caught my eye were the Christmas lights on people’s houses. It all seemed like a competition. Also every home tried to out-do the other. That was new to me, I had never seen anything like it back home.

On the big day, it was time to exchange the gifts. Everyone was right into it, opening what they’d received. The fun part was the surprised look on people’s faces as they discovered their gifts. The jokes and board games that followed thereafter brought a sense of closeness to everyone therefore bringing the joy of Christmas. To crown the day, we had this huge Christmas turkey dinner. Everyone enjoyed that, and the conversation around the table was humorous to say the least. The big day was over.

For me, it was an eye opener, to see how other people celebrate the birth of our Lord. There were many differences as compared to how I celebrate the birth of our Lord in Kenya, but the basic message of Christmas remained the same....love. I hope you too had a wonderful season, in your own special way.

Ezzy.

Points for Prayer

There are a couple of vacancies on our church cleaning rota. This involves a couple of hours work on a Saturday morning, once a month. It can be quite fun! Sign up quickly with Kenny Williamson to avoid disappointment.

Our thanks to Jane Henry for her assistance with cleaning — we wish her well as she moves to Garthdee.

Brief news of people and events

Jane Howitt is in Scotland at present for a break from service with SU in the Baltic States.