encourage | inspire | challenge | No. 14 | November 2011

Augustine United Church, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EL 0131 220 1677 www.augustine.org.uk Scottish Charity no. SC000385

Minister: Rev. Fiona Bennett minister.auc@gmail.com 07552 162 717

Church Administrator: Paul Lugton administrator@augustine.org.uk 0131 220 1677

Editor: Bill Stevenson newsletter@Augustine.org.ukDesigner: Sonja Meyer sonja.meyer@gmail.com

Seeds

In this edition 1. Releasing the Past.

2. Getting to know you.

3. The Peace table. The Peace candle. Children’s Bible Exam.

4. Stories from Palestine. Family of folk.

5. 150 Year Anniversary: Lectures at AUC.

6. Modernisation and the Bible of 1611.

7. Seedlings.

8. Calendar.

There once was a little girl who ate a rosy red apple. It was sweet, crisp and juicy, the nicest apple she had every eaten. Once she had finished it she could not bear to throw away the remaining core because she had loved it so much, so she stored it safely in her treasure box.

Over weeks, as the girl looked in the box to treasure her memory of the most delicious apple, she began to feel sad as the core shrunk and shrivelled away.

Eventually the decaying sight in her treasure box began to spoil her memory of the apple, and one day with sadness the girl threw the rotten core out of her bedroom window.

Released from the mausoleum of the treasure box, and allowed to die in the earth on which it landed, the apple core rotted into

the soil. It disappeared beyond any recognition, until the following year saplings began to grow, which over time bore many sweet crisp apples.

This November we are celebrating that our building has stood on George IV Bridge for 150 years. Over that century and a half our building has been a place which has held treasured memories in many lives, but the changes and developments throughout the building indicate that it has never been held as a mausoleum. Old comforts (such as the pulpit) have been allowed to die in order for new life to be born.

In 2011 we are looking forward to the future of Augustine; listening for the breath of the Spirit of God as she releases yet more new life from our old memories and old building.

By Fiona Bennett

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Releasingthe Past

2 NOVEMBER 2011 www.augustine.org.uk

Getting to know Katrina TweedieI spend my time . . . A brisk trot through — I have been

teaching for 21 years; at present I am teaching a delightful class of Primary 3s. I enjoy my cycle to work along the Water of Leith cormorant, honeysuckle!

I would love to claim jogging as my hobby, but the opposite is true; I indulge in anti-jogging – my favourite pastime is going for a stroll. Very occasionally, Pat, my wife, agrees to come with me – she has yet to learn the art of the slow walk; but Princess, our Siamese cat, is an excellent companion stroller, her route deviating from mine to go under cars and bins. Finally a scent demands more of her attention, and she’s off up some garden path and I’m on my own.

My favourite hymn: I enjoy Taizé chants and African hymns.

 

Seeds | GETTING TO KNOW YOU | A PRAYER FOR REMEMBRANCE DAY

Sing one and all a song of celebration,Of love’s renewal, and of hope restored,As customs yield to ferment of creation,And we, the Church, obey our living Lord.

Rejoice that still God’s Spirit is descendingWith challenges that faith cannot refuse;And ask no longer what is worth defending,But how to make effective God’s good news.

We need not now take refuge in tradition,Like those prepared to make a final stand,But use it as a springboard of decision,To follow Christ whose Kingdom is at hand.

Creative Spirit, let your word be spoken!Your shock of truth invigorates the mind;Your miracles of grace shall be our tokenThat God in Christ is saving humankind.F. Pratt Green J

1 <

A Prayer for Remembrance Day

Agnus dei,

Qui tollis peccata mundi,

Miserere nobis.

THE OPEN FELLOWSHIP | On Thursday 20th October we had an entertaining session with Steve McGill of Lothian and Borders Police. We received some useful advice on keeping safe in our homes. In November (17th) we will have Councillor Maureen Childs (East Edinburgh) to speak to us on the work of a councillor. We hope to see you there. We are a small gathering but the future of the Fellowship is in your hands. I find it difficult to ask people to speak (no fee) when I cannot guarantee a reasonable audience. FROM DELLA

A MESSAGE FROM BUNGIE | Dear friends, This years’ Nativity Carol event will be in St. Andrew’s Square on Sunday 27th November at 4.00pm. As usual the service, hosted by the City Council, will be led by some of our Edinburgh Church Leaders, the music once again coming from Origin, in partnership with schoolchildren from Edinburgh.

Although this event was cancelled last year due to the weather, in previous years we have gathered a very large crowd of shoppers and passers-by. So please let your congregations know, and also pass this message on to other churches in your neighbourhood who may not be on this mailing list. Look out for information in the local paper and in City Council publicity which will be released shortly.This event provided a seasonal opportunity to have a public witness in the heart of the City.

NOVEMBER 2011 3www.augustine.org.uk

Children’s Bible ExamBY MANDY

Children were asked questions about the Old and New Testaments at a nameless school. The following are statements about the bible written by the children. They have not been retouched or corrected; incorrect spelling has been left in

1. In the first book of the Bible, Guinessis, God got tired of creating the world so he took the Sabbath off.

2. Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. Noah’s wife was Joan of Ark. He made an Ark and the animals came on in pears.

3. Lots wife was a pillar of salt during the day but a ball of fire during the night.

4. Samson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the apostles.

5. Moses led the Jews to the Red Sea where the made unleavened bread, which is bread without any ingredients..

6. The Egyptians were all drowned in the desert. Then Moses went up to Mount Cyanide to get the Ten Commandments.

7. The first Commandments was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.

8. The seventh Commandment is thou shalt not admit adultery.

9. The greatest miracle in the bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.

10. David was a Hebrew king who was skilled at playing the liar.

11. Solomon, one of David’s son’s, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.

12. When Mary heard she was the mother of Jesus she sang the Magna Carta.

13. The people who followed the Lord were called the 12 decibels.

14. The Epistles were the wives of the Apostles.

THE PEACE CANDLE | CHILDREN’S BIBLE EXAM | Seeds

BY MOLLY GLEN

The Peace TableIn 1995, once the Church was refurbished, and the

stained glass windows brought down from the gallery to the Sanctuary, the question arose: what to do with the war memorials lying up in the gallery, seen by no one, with no suitable place for them downstairs? My sister and I went to ask the officer in charge of the shrine at the Castle if he could help us with our problem. He was positively incensed that we could possibly be considering moving the memorials, and sent us back to Augustine feeling very guilty!

So then Eleanor Bailey and I decided on a Peace Table. As we had just been given the communion table from the recently closed Churches of Christ in Musselburgh, this seemed to be the obvious choice. The table was dedicated and installed in the Sanctuary, where our Peace Candle burns every week. J

The Peace CandleIn 1986 a group of American Christians were visiting an

Orthodox Church in Russia. On their leaving the service, an old woman thrust three roubles into one of the visitor’s hands, asking him to buy a candle and burn it in his church as an act of Peace. An interpreter explained what she had said and her wish was carried out in a church in York Pennsylvania.

The congregation was so moved by the story that they decided to send candles to all their neighbouring churches, who of course did likewise. Finally in 1987 a candle arrived in England.

On hearing the story the then Moderator of the United Reformed Church decided to take a Peace Candle to every church he visited during his year of office. It was not long before the URC church in Dalkeith Rd, Edinburgh received a candle which was lit every Sunday as a sign of Peace and Justice.

When we left Dalkeith Road we brought our candle and the story with us to Augustine; and though it is no longer the same candle, it still burns each Sunday on our Peace Table.

Little could that old woman in Russia have dreamt how far her wish would travel. Candles have now been received by candles of all denominations throughout the world. J

4 NOVEMBER 2011 www.augustine.org.uk

Seeds | STORIES FROM PALESTINE | FAMILY OF FOLK

People’s lives must go on even though this part of the world is a war zone. I’ve learned that beauty and enjoyment of simple things are not taken for granted so easily when checkpoints, humiliations and restrictions meet the person at regular “turns” of the day.

When a totally unexpected surprise – like a small fragile flower pushing itself through a cement block – meets the eye, I experience a certain sure bliss, an “instant vacation”. For a moment, all is well; my breath stops, and I experience a moment of awe, and at times bittersweet feelings. The following “vacations” are continued from the October issue.12. The Palestinian woman pouring perfume on

my face (a good tonic for tear gas) when I was choking and crying from the gas.

13. Small visiting Jewish children attentively watching the Palestinian potters as they paint their wares.

14. A Jewish shopkeeper crossing the street to have coffee with his Palestinian neighbour.

15. Children skipping up and down the stairs which lead onto a violent street.

16. A Palestinian mother refusing to allow her son, who has just been beaten, to be dragged behind a military gate.

17. Large groups of internationals coming to see for themselves if all this Occupation “stuff” is true.

18. Israeli, Palestinian, and International folks working together for peace in this land.

19. Rain falling in May!! How happy the farmers must be to have rain since their crops must now survive without irrigation pipes which have been cut by the Military.

20. Four teenage Palestinian youths smiling every morning at me as they have just been stopped once again for an ID check. J

Moving Stories from Palestine Hebron: “Vacations” from the Occupation By Paulette Schroeder

Family of folkSitting in Church before the service, why not look

around and ponder on your being related to everyone in the congregation.

Consider Bill Bryson’s book, A Short History of Almost Everything, remarking that, but for your parents, you would not be here; and that your parents owed their existence to their own parents – and so on “obviously and indefinitely”, as he says. Go back just eight generations to about the time that Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born, and already your existence depends on over 250 people. By the time of Shakespeare and the Mayflower Pilgrims, you have over 16,000 ancestors from whose marriages you eventually appeared.

In 30 generations, your total number of forebears –not cousins and aunts and the like, but parents only, and parents of parents in a line leading directly to you – is over one billion. If you go back to the time of the Romans the number of people on whom your

existence depends has risen to several thousand times the total number of people who have ever lived. How come?

The answer, says Bill Bryson, is that your line is not pure. With so many millions of ancestors, many times over, a relative from your mother’s side of the family will have joined with some distant cousin from your father’s side. In fact anyone who is in partnership now with someone from their own race and country is almost certainly at some level related. In fact when you look around you now at everyone else in the Church, the chances are that you are all related.We might discover that we are descended from Charles II or Shakespeare. The arithmetic says that you almost certainly are. The trouble is that to prove it you would have to trace back to over 16,000 family lines – a huge task even if all the records exist – which they don’t.

Nevertheless if, like me, you have an interest in genealogy then it is both exciting and somehow comforting to think that somewhere back in time we have a common ancestor. Peace be with you, Cousin!

NOVEMBER 2011 5www.augustine.org.uk

150 YEAR ANNIVERSARY LECTURES | Seeds

The First Lecture. 24th October 2011: Dr. George R. Wilkes on “Patterns of Global

Conflict: the Tension of Intervention”.After a century and a half of Augustine’s church

building in George IV Bridge, a wide-ranging series of lectures has been planned, not to celebrate the varied history of the church itself, but to illustrate something of the range of concerns it holds.

Dr. Wilkes opened the series with a challenging discussion of the complexities of his subject, and it would be foolish to attempt a summary in the space available here, since he took us into the thoughts and arguments of some of the more serious philosophers who have delved into the problems faced by nations and their governments who are inclined to intervene into serious crises faced by other countries. The key to his comments was perhaps his opening statement that he would not attempt to propose a definitive solution, since disagreement on such matters was part of the essence of the problem.

What forms of intervention by one nation into the affairs of another are permissible? Which international laws apply in these cases, or can rule, these situations? Is it possible to exclude one’s own national interest – our own citizens, industry, oil – from such decisions? Who, or what body, has the power or justification, to decide? Dr. Wilkes carefully avoided expanding on particular cases – Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, or Palestine or Congo, which he has personal experience of – only touching on, but pointing to, such age-old problems as: If the result is beneficial, does it matter if the purpose were

The lecture was challenging, but, judging by the audience’s lively and thoughtful response afterwards, an undoubted success, making us look forward with expectation to the next. For details of this, see the notice opposite. J

 

Lecture Series 150

YEARS

The Spiritual Challenges of Environmental IssuesWed 9th November 2011, 7-9pm @ AUCThe survival of our planet is about more than recycling our ink cartridges, it is about a radical change of the way the world produces and consumes power. This lecture and discussion offers an opportunity to deepen our understanding and explore our response to the health of our world.

Banking: Deal or no deal?Thursday 24th November 2011, 7-9pm @ AUCWhy we have found ourselves in the global economic situation we are? This lecture and discussion offers an understanding of our current economic situation and opportunity to consider some of the moral and ethical implications of our banking world and explores how we can respond to this justly.

Speaker: Dr Alastair McIntoshAlastair McIntosh is an Isle of Lewis-raised writer,

broadcaster and campaigning academic best known for his work on land reform on Eigg, in helping to stop the Harris superquarry; also for developing human ecology

as an applied academic discipline in Scotland.

Speaker: Prof. Charles Munn Charles Munn is the current chairman of the Customer Contact Association Academy. He is also a lay member

of the Investigations and Professional Enforcement Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants

of Scotland. He is currently writing two histories of financial services companies. He received the OBE in

2005 for services to banking.

Patterns of Global Conflict and the UK’s role within it: The Tension of Intervention Monday 24th October 2011, 7-9pm @ AUCFrom Afghanistan, to Iraq, to Palestine / Israel, to Libya, to Congo... this lecture and discussion aims to offer a picture of global conflict over the last decade, the UK’s role within it and explore some of the moral and ethical dilemmas of intervention or not.

Speaker: Dr George R WilkesDirector, Project on Religion and Ethics in the Making

of War and Peace, Edinburgh University

To celebrate the 150th birthday of our building, the congregation of Augustine United Church is hosting 3 public lectures. These lectures followed by discussions, are open to all and we hope will offer the opportunity to better Understand and explore topics which are very significant in our world today. All Welcome!

6 NOVEMBER 2011 www.augustine.org.uk

Seeds |MODERNISATION AND THE BIBLE OF 1611

As the year ends, we are taking one last look at the Bible ordered by King James VI/I. Again and again, it is labelled out of date, and new translators set out to “modernise” the four hundred-years-old book . Again.

They were all modernisers, those sixteenth-century translators, from Tymdale in 1526 onwards; all following the great Dutch scholar Erasmus’ longing for the scriptures to be in the hands of all people in all lands.

Time after time, the 1611 Bible defeats its modernisers, even the more traditional scholars of the Revised Standard or the New English Bible. They are seeking a way out of old structures – “Thee “ and “Thou”; “goest” and “cometh”; “go ye not” – and look to find an “everyday English” (Good News Bible). In the process, they hamper themselves by the self-imposed need to sound modern, which can lead them into a mixture of formality and slang.

They miss the point. The 1611 Bible is a book of its own, with its own style, not a “popular” style, the style of the pamphleteers of 1600. The earliest translators, Tyndale and Coverdale, set a superb example. The common idiom of their day was available, but not a trap by a self-imposed demand to be “popular”, though they could use careless idiom if they chose, as when the prodigal’s elder brother grumbles: “gavest thou me never so much as a kid”. King James’s scholars of the sixteenth century, well schooled in rhetoric, unlike ourselves and from youth, lived with the rhythms of prose, knew how to write well, and how to vary their style, and that is what they did. They were producing the most serious book of all, and wrote appropriately. Lines, scanning like a verse couplet, would come naturally to them:

“Her ways are ways of quietness,And all her paths are peace”They were not infallible, as when young Ahimaaz

(2 Samuel 19:22) cries, awkwardly, “But howsoever, what if I run?”” – unlikely words from an impatient

youth. Not the least influence on the 1611 Bible is the

fact that its scholars, in the fortunate absence of photocopiers, had to read their work aloud to one another. Sometimes clumsy expressions could not be avoided, such as “thereof” or “of the same”, which had to be used because the word “its” was not yet in use. The common rhetorical practice of doubling up, as in “erred and strayed”, “devices and desires”, sounds well and good, but can be wordy. But on the whole, they had learnt to write in a style that sounds well, and says what it means, unlike much writing today.

Luke ch.12 provides some good examples, such as the brevity and balance of verse 22, taken direct from Tyndale:

“Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; Nor for your body, what ye shall put on”.Compare the Good News Bible: “Don’t worry about life, wondering what

you are going to eat. And stop bothering about what clothes you will need”.

Familiar idiom, yes, but quite forgettable. Some phrases, are difficult for anyone to express.

Luke 12:2: “that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets” Machiavellian court intrigue vividly, but has proved tricky to every translator. The word “whispered” is fair, but not sharp. “In closets” (Tyndale’s even in secret places] is a problem for all. We have “in chambers”, “within four walls”, “in secret”, “in hidden places”, “in a closed room”, in various popular translations. Perhaps the best version of a difficult Greek word is in those versions based directly on 1611, NRS and the REB;. both offer, “whisper behind closed doors”. Take your choice.

In brief, the attempt to recreate the Bible in language accessible to the modern ear is a noble ambition; but it is no surprise that the version of 1611 continues to project a magnetic veil around its readers. J

Modernisation and the Bible of 1611 BILL STEVENSON

NOVEMBER 2011 7www.augustine.org.uk  

 

Sparkle pine conesMaterials:• Pinecones… ..the longer ones are nicest • glue • sparkles • plastic bag Instructions:• Paint or roll the pinecones in a mixture of 2 parts school glue and 1 part water. • Put some sparkles in the plastic bag and then put in the pinecones • Shake the bag to coat the pinecones • OPTIONAL: tie a ribbon onto them and hang them up!

SEEDLINGS| Seeds

There’s a lot happening this month - the season of remembrance, All Saints Day, Bonfire night and Advent!

Try this craft activity to brighten up the darker days of November – ask someone to help you get things ready.

 

 

 

WINTER PICTURE Here is a picture to colour in. Can you see what it is yet?

NOVEMBERMon. 1st 7.30pm Meeting with Holyrood representative.

Sunday 6th 11.00am 150th Anniversary Service.

6.00 - 8pm Book Group meets.

Mon. 7th 2.00pm Women’s Union at Saughtonhall: John Cameron, “Victorian humour”.

Wed. 9th 7.00pm 150th Anniversary Lecture Dr. Alistair McIntosh: “The Spiritual Challenges of Environmental Issues”.

Sunday13th 10.45am. Remembrance Sunday.

12. 30pm Church business meeting.

Mon. 14th 2.00pm Women’s Union in Saughtonhall, “Bring & Buy”.

7.30-9.00pm “Exploring Church Membership,(1)” at AUC.

Tues. 15th 7.30-9.00pm Contextual Bible Study.

Wed. 16th 7.00-9.00pm Interfaith Women discuss the future – venue to be decided.

Fri. 18th 8pm - midnight NiteKirk at Greyfriars.

Sunday 20th 11.00am Transgender Remembrance.

Mon. 21st. 2.00pm Women’s Union in Saughtonhall “ Walk the Water”.

7.30-9.00pm “Exploring Church Membership (2)” at AUC.

Thurs 24th 1.00-2.30pm “Muslim/Christian relations in Egypt after the elections” (part of Alwaleed centre Autumn seminar). 7, George Square, room F21.

7.00-9.00pm 150th Anniversary Lecture by Prof. Charles Munn: “Banking: Deal or no deal?”.

Sat. 26th 7.00-9.00pm Our Tribe: Advent begins tomorrow: how do we prepare? Led by Maxwell Reay.

Sunday 27th 11.00am First Sunday in Advent. (Deadline for SEEDS material).

Mon. 28th 2.00pm Women’s Union at Saughtonhall: Rev. Mitchell Bunting “UnderwaterPhotography”.

7.30-9.00pm “Exploring Church Membership (3 )” at AUC.

Wed.30th 7.00 pm Transcendence: A quiet pre-World Aids Day (1st Dec) Vigil: to reflect on the impact of HIV and Aids in our own lives and on those around us. Led by Maxwell Reay. Note: no Our Tribe or Transcendence meeting in Dec. 2011.

Please note that the next edition of SEEDS will be the Winter edition for December-January. The deadline for material for this issue is November 28th, William Blake’s birthday. Material can be sent to Bill Stevenson by hand or at newsletter@Augustine.org.uk

DISCLAIMER: Although we check all information in the newsletter, as ever with these things we can give no warranties as to accuracy or relevance and encourage active checking before you make any decisions. The views expressed in our newsletter are those of the individual contributor, they are not necessarily those of AUC or the editor.

AUC Worship: Services at 11am at AUC, George IV Bridge, unless otherwise statedCalendar