Minister’s Message for Sunday 24 November 2024
Dear Friends,
As you can read in the full vote count in the intimations, last Sunday each congregation of the future Kinross-shire Parish Church: Cleish, Fossoway, Kinross, and Orwell & Portmoak, voted to accept the basis of union, team ministry, reviewable tenure, and, in the case of the other congregations, the election of Alan Reid as minister. This has started the final processes towards the union. It is hoped that the new church will officially begin on the 1st January 2025, with a united service on Sunday 5th January to mark the transition.
So we find ourselves both at the end of one era as a parish church and at the start of something new. How apt, then, that we should be finishing our journey through Joshua this Sunday. In one sense, the hard work is done for the Israelites and they can now enjoy the fruits of the promised land. On the other hand, this marks a new way of being a people. No longer slaves, nomads, or conquerors; instead, they are inhabitants of the land.
While the Israelites have been successful in their conquest, we know it has not been without hiccups and challenges along the way. Indeed, as we close out the book, certain vulnerabilities remain as the tribes on the west of the Jordan fear those on the east have already broken the command to be faithful to God. Even once that is resolved, Joshua seems pessimistic about the faithfulness of the people as he calls them to recommit themselves to the LORD.
As well prepared as we are, we are under no illusions that we go forward as the people of God and as Kinross-shire Parish Church with challenges ahead. We acknowledge too that our history records our previous bumps and scrapes. Yet, like the Israelites, these imperfections do not overcome our faith in the grace of God; in the capacity for the Holy Spirit to shape us and guide us in our participation in the Kingdom of God.
Every blessing,
Alex
Probationer