Ferryhill Parish Church Aberdeen - Topic of the Month (previous topics)

You can read the special Farm Crisis Neletters written by Rev Richard Fraser (who has been seconded from St Machar's Cathedral to act as the Church of Scotland Rural Officer) for a period of six weeks on the Presbytery of Aberdeen Website:
http://www.presbaberdeen.org.uk

"Catch me if you can"

What do you think about Alpha?
From the Guardian, an in-depth two-part account of a sceptical Jewish
journalist undertaking an Alpha course run by Nicky Gumbell:
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4078844,00.html

"A Church with no walls"

Rev Peter Neilson, of the Church of Scotland's Commission for Review and
Reform, has explained to Scotsman readers the root-and branch changes
recommended in his report which goes before the General Assembly next
month. Selected quotes:

"Many of our 1,700 buildings are in the wrong place or the wrong style
and 1,200 may be enough."

"Churches are too often the last people that hurting people will go for
acceptance."

"There is a massive absence of passion for mission and evangelism. Fear
dresses up as caution. Power presents a respectable face as reasonable
conservatism. Risk is a stranger."

Full article:
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=55528

Visit the Committee Website:
www.churchwithoutwalls.org.uk

September 2000

Should the Siamese twins be separated?
What do you think?

Background
Jodie and Mary are the false names used by the courts in England to preserve the anonymity of the Siamese twins born on 8 August and who are joined by their lower abdomens.
It became a matter for the courts when the hospital in Manchester applied to separate the twins when it was realised that one would have to be sacrificed if the other was to survive.
The hospital's application to separate the twins was opposed by the Official Solicitor, acting on behalf of Mary.
Jodie is a bright and alert child but her twin relies on her for heart and lung function and lives only because she is attached to her sister.
At the High Court in London on 25 August Mr Justice Johnson gave surgeons the go-ahead to separate the girls, meaning death for baby Mary.
Mr Justice Johnson, giving his ruling in public after a private hearing, said: "For Jodie, separation means the expectation of a normal life; for Mary it means death."
Five days later on 30 August an appeal was lodged by solicitors acting on behalf of the parents.
The parents came to Britain from a remote community in Europe to have their children after it was realised they were conjoined and there was a lack of medical facilities in her own country.
In written evidence, they said: "We cannot begin to accept or contemplate that one of our children should die to enable the other one to survive. That is not God's will.
"Everyone has the right to life, so why should we kill one of our daughters to enable the other one to survive?"
The Lord Chancellor's Department said: "The Official Solicitor will not be making a separate appeal but the Health care Trust and the Official Solicitor will be represented in the appeal hearing."
The appeal was heard on 4th September.
The three appeal judges were asked to rule whether the twins should be separated against the wishes of their parents, which the court has heard would mean death for baby Mary.
Lawyers have begun making inquiries to hospitals after a senior judge suggested that a second medical opinion might be necessary in the case of the Siamese twins Jodie and Mary.
Lord Justice Ward, sitting with Lord Justice Brooke and Lord Justice Robert Walker, referred to the wide public interest in the case and added: "I cannot but wonder whether a second opinion might be of value if only to confirm the views expressed ... and to allay any public concern."
The judge said it would be of help if doctors could confirm the "wholly bleak prospect" for Mary.

So what do you think?
Do you agree with the parents that both children have an equal right to life and that one should not be allowed to live at the expense of the other?
Or do you think that if there is a chance that one child can have the prospect of a normal life, medical science should intervene to give this chance?
Should nature simply be allowed to take its course without medical intervention?
Medical science intervenes in many other situations, for example to repair or replace faulty organs such as hearts, kidneys, livers, lung, or to remove tumours. What makes this situation different?
Do you agree with the parents that it would be wrong for one of their children to die so that the other can live?
They say that this is against God's will. Do you agree?
What about Jesus' saying that a person cannot have greater love than to give up their life for their friends? Do you think that applies in this case or does it only apply where the person him or herself can make that decision?
What if any contribution does religion have to make to this situation?
Who speaks for the children in this situation? Should it be the parents alone?
What if the parent's disagreed, who would then decide?
In this situation are the parent's interests individually or together the same as the interests of the children or the interests of each child?
Who determines the interests of the children?
Legally in England it is the Official Solicitor?
On what basis should the Official Solicitor determine his/her position in relation to the children?
Should the law play any part in a case like this or should it be a decision left to the parents and the doctors?
If the law courts should not be involved, who would resolve disagreement between parents and doctors in such situations?

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October 2000

Harvest your Waste

The Christian Aid harvest theme this year is 'Waste Not, Want Not' which was the focus of our harvest thanksgiving service. Many of you will remember as a child being encouraged with these wise, if unwelcome words, to finish what was on your plate. Where food is concerned, the wisdom of these words seems self-evident and those millions who still live in the shadow of famine and hunger know their truth only too well. Yet in the developed western world, much food is wasted without those who waste it wanting for more. Such is the paradoxical and unjust inequality of much of our world and which Christian Aid and other agencies seek to remedy both by direct help as well as by changing attitudes.
The developed world operates a 'throw away' economy - our affluence means that we tend to buy new rather than repair or mend. The same attitude results in wasteful use of raw materials, of energy, land, water and other resources. Not only is this wasteful but it distances us from the needs of our natural environment and the impact on it of our profligate lifestyle. It is good therefore to stop and reflect on all of this and that is what the harvest theme asks us to do.
There are, for example, lessons to learn from the developing world where recycling of waste materials is still very much part of the rural economy. In some places simple organic farming techniques are reaping rich harvest and transforming lives and helping to make communities more self-sufficient.
There are also lessons to be learnt from our own lifestyle by considering how we can make more use of the things we throw away or indeed generate less to throw away such a paper and packaging.
It is as part of this exercise of reflecting that the church was decorated in a slightly different way for this year's harvest thanksgiving. The intention was not to buy any of the gifts we bring to decorate the church but to find them in and around our own homes and gardens with the emphasis being on using things we would throw away such as plastic bottles and containers, cardboard and paper, bits and pieces of cloth or wool, wood and metal, indeed anything that could be made into an interesting or colourful decoration or functional item. Everyone was invited to be involved in this. Apart from making us more conscious of what we waste, it was interesting to see what imaginative ideas people come up with.
There was also an opportunity at the service for the congregation to make a contribution both to the work of Christian Aid by using the special envelope delivered with this message as well as to the work of the Aberdeen Instant Neighbour Trust in the form of tinned and dried goods placed in the trolleys during the service.

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December 2000

BREVITY IS THE SOUL OF .... A SERMON?

One of the chores I have to undertake every month is the preparation of the Press Release which is issued a couple of hours after every meeting of Aberdeen Presbytery. It is seldom easy, because many of the things that Presbytery gets involved in have very little interest to people outside the Church, and others are so complicated that it is well nigh impossible to get the stories across in a concise form that will catch the attention of a busy news editor. However there was no problem after the November meeting, because we had the Revd Anthapurusha as our guest. He took a little more than the ten minutes he was allotted, and he spent most of it telling us how we were failing miserably in our task of bringing people to faith in Jesus. He was particularly critical of ministers. A good report of what he said appears in the "Herald" archives for 9th November

Anyway, my very brief press release said little more than that an Indian minister believed the Kirk had lost the spirit of John Knox, but that was enough to spark a great deal of media interest. Just a few words sufficed. Curiously one of the points Revd Anthapurusha made was that in the "good old days" a sermon lasted an hour and a half, whereas today we expect no more than fifteen minutes. He seemed to be urging ministers to hold their congregations in thrall for much longer periods. I don't know if this happens at his church in India, but I think it would have a negative effect in our culture which is dominated by the sound bite. For my radio programme (you can listen to it on the internet every Sunday at 9.00 pm) I get offered audio contributions from various sources. In one series, "ordinary" people are given one minute to explain why they believe in God. That takes some doing, but there is another series in which the time allowed is 30 seconds! The background is that this is the length of message that can be accommodated by radio stations that broadcast wall-to-wall pop music. When they are really well done, these tiny pieces can be extremely effective. I suspect that a 90 minute sermon would require a superlative performance to keep me awake, never mind hanging on the preacher's every word. I've heard Billy Graham. He wasn't brief, but I think the whole meeting, including guests and music, took less than two hours. So I hope Scottish ministers will not heed Revd Anthapurusha's plea for extended verbosity in the pulpit, and continue to opt for a few well chosen words. ..... But what do you think?

David Haggart

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January 2001

THANK YOU FOR THE DOME

So the year of the Dome has ended, but the brickbats are still being hurled. Has any previous enterprise been dogged by bad publicity to the same extent? Of course the early financial forecasts were well off the mark, and those who made them deserved criticism. But throughout the year of its existence, most media commentators have transferred their legitimate castigation of the financial planners to the project itself. Politicians have jumped on this bandwaggon, happily condemning the Dome while admitting, in many cases, that they have never taken the trouble to visit it. Well I did, and I liked it. In fact the day that my wife and I spent in the Dome was a thoroughly good experience - exciting, informative and, most of all, spiritually uplifting. Some people were disappointed by the Faith Zone, but taken along with the great celebrations of human achievement in the other Zones it contributed to a powerful feeling that it is good to be alive in the new Millennium and that there is much for which we have to thank God. The Dome made us feel better about what Man has done in the world. Apart from the spiritual uplift, the Dome also gave us a fun day, the logistics of getting to it worked well, the catering was fine and there was quality and variety in the souvenir shops. It was good to find local community groups getting the chance to perform on a special stage, and the show presented in the main arena was breathtaking - unforgettable. OK, it was a financial disaster, but part of the blame for that must be laid at the door of journalists and politicians who, by their constant sniping, probably caused many people to stay away. If you stayed away, you missed something very special. If you buy lottery tickets, you probably subsidised our visit - thank you!

David Haggart

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Fairtrade Fortnight 5th - 18th March

"We are indebted to half the world before we finish breakfast," said Martin Luther King. Many of the products which appear on our breakfast tables - tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar, honey, bananas- come from Third World countries and are grown by small scale farmers who earn very little for their hard work. Their income is often unreliable because of the fluctuation of prices on the world market or because bad weather ruins the crop. Many cannot afford to send their children to school or to pay for medicines.

But things are starting to change as more and more people in the developed world begin to demand fairly traded products, which ensure that Third World farmers get a fair price for their produce so that they can improve their lives and continue improving the quality of their products for us the consumers. The Fairtrade Mark is an independent consumer label, which guarantees a better deal for workers and producers from poor countries. Set up by major development agencies, the Fairtrade Foundation checks that products meet its standards before awarding the stamp of approval. For thousands of farmers in the developing world, fairtrade means guaranteed better prices, decent working conditions, fair wages, health and safety checks, the security of long term contracts and fair terms of trade.

By buying goods with the Fairtrade Mark on them, we can significantly change the lives of poor farmers in South America, Asia and Africa. And it couldn't be easier, as most major supermarkets now stock a range of fairly traded products along with the Third World Centre and the Oxfam Fairtrade Shop. So when you shop during the next week or two, take a moment to think about the impact of your shopping choices and look out for the Fairtrade Mark. For more information, visit the website at www.fairtrade.org.uk If you would like to try some fairly traded tea, coffee or chocolate, come to Sainsbury's on Saturday 17th March where Oxfam volunteers will be giving out free samples.

Shelagh Bain

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� Ferryhill Parish Church.
Last revised: 08 April 2007.