Stewart Weaver

The latest round of church photos has inspired one of our members, Angela Stewart, to send in two new photos of the church during the last bout of snowy weather.  More reminders of the beauty of our building  and the talents of our congregation.

On 29 January 60 of us gathered in the hall to enjoy some Scottish crafts, a bit ‘o Burns, some dancing and a few turns.  We then heard some Tam O’Shanter before digging into the haggis, neeps and tatties.  One of the crafts included a ‘design your own tartan’ and here are two excellent examples:

And Anne Russell has provided some photos capturing St. P’s during those heavy snows.

Garry Small has provided a number of lovely photos of the church which beautifully present the church.  Here are three that are too good to keep to myself.

This week we have a guest blog from David Brackenridge. David has worked with the youth of St Philips’ Breakfast Club for the last ten years with his wife Carol.  He has just completed theNational Three Peaks Challenge with assistance from Carol who dutifully drove him o’er hill and dale to the highest mountains of Scotland, England and Wales.

He did this to raise money to help fund a trip to Africa for one of our Breakfast Club alumni to volunteer for six months. His efforts raised over £2000 towards the cause.  Here’s what David had to say…

I completed the Three Peaks Challenge over the bank holiday weekend by scaling the highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales all within the space of 24 hours.  To make the “challenge” a little more difficult I opted not to complete the challenge with the assistance of a… click here to read more

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On Sunday 15th November members of St Philips and friends from near and far gathered to take part in the Children in Need’s Sing Hallelujah project.

Sing Hallelujah is a nationwide event which encourages people to find their voice and discover the joy of singing through Handel’s famous “Hallelujah Chorus”

At the 11am service the choir performed the chorus, led by Sandra Anderson who put a great deal of hard work into corralling (choralling?) the chorus into shape. Fiona Carlile accompanied splendidly on the organ.

Kenneth Anderson gave an informative and entertaining presentation on the life of Handel before the choir launched into the chorus. The congregation were encouraged to join in the singing a second time around.

Many thanks to all involved!

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… click here to read more

A Different kind of communion service…

There were rugs on the dais and cushions and a few chairs and some candles. The dais was enclosed by large swathes of cloth hung from wires.

We shared some stories: from Jean Vanier, Anthony de Mello, Jonathan Sacks.  We shared some poems: from Seamus Heaney.  Michelle Brown told a wonderful tale of the Good Shepherd using techniques from Godly Play. And Paul Brown offered some fantastic music.

A wonderful, atmospheric communion.

After all, many of the stories on which our faith is based were passed along around the fire.

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