Scots Fellowship

Scots Church Fellowship Report for May 2016
Fellowship met on Thursday April 7th - just a small group, but sharing a really great time of fellowship together. Ruth Goldsworthy on duty in the Kitchen made us a cup of tea or coffee, and over lunch we enjoyed a chat, catching up with news of each other and also some of those people not able to be with us. Our minister, Peter, joined the group for lunch, and Cressida (who is Administrative Assistant while Deb is away) came into McGregor Hall and was introduced to us all.

Facillitator, Mary Thomas, read a Devotional prepared in 2010 for the book 'Food for the Journey" by our former member the late Joan Chinner, when she was living in Canberra. It is entitled "Fellowship - what a beautiful word": and concludes with a Prayer "O Lord, may we in our UCAF share in fellowship with you, our Lord, and in friendly fellowship with one another".

We were reminded of forthcoming events - the launch ofACW's Community Concern Morning Teas will be on Friday 13th May at Pilgrim Hall - each year a group is chosen as the recipient of donations received, and they share their story - this year it is "Encounter Youth” - a not-for-profit organization seeking to be a positive influence on young people in the community. On June 27th at 10.30 am there is a Film Morning at The Regal (formerly The Chelsea) — it sounds a very interesting film “Florence Foster Jenkins “a new release featuring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. Tickets will be available soon from Rev Norah Norris - $15.

Many interesting items as a treasured memento were brought along by members and their story shared with members - Margaret showed photos of her group training to be a Deaconess at Rolland House. She still keeps in touch with her friend Beth, now retired after many years as a Missionary with the Church of South India. Alleyne has a beautiful carved glass bear, - it looks like a block of ice - her family gave it to her after their trip to Sweden! Mary brought a photo of her mother originally taken in 1915 and re-produced in the 1970's when this method of re-production was quite new - since then she has had many many old family photos re-produced which give great interest and joy. Ruth shared the story of 4 cassettes - A Collection of the World's Most Loved Classics - "Concerto For My Love" given to her when she first met Ron, her late husband. She still plays them. Kath has a fascinating book - The Book of Psalms in Pitman Shorthand - printed in 1891. It was given to her some years ago. We did not realize we were in such distinguished company until Audrey told us her story - in 1954 her husband Bert (the late Rev R J Scrimgeour) was Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Tasmania and they were invited to many functions when the Queen and Prince Philip visited Hobart. Audrey and Bert and family lived at Bothwell so it was quite a journey to get to Hobart. She and Bert were presented to the Queen and Duke at a Ball and had quite a long conversation with both of them. Audrey read a detailed letter she wrote to her parents about the celebrations. Norah told us of a family photo, taken professionally when she was quite small, and how proud she was of her green and white very best dress and matching green ribbon in her hair - to discover that the "touch up" in colour of the finished photo (no colour films then) made the dress and ribbon pink and not green!

It was a really lovely afternoon of sharing - next meeting is on Thursday, 5 May. BYO lunch at 12 noon - Facilitator is Margaret Morey, and Audrey Scrimgeour is on Kitchen Duties. We will each contribute a short story appropriate to Mother's Day, so why don't you join us? Everyone is most welcome.   Mary Thomas

State Mission Fellowship
The March meeting was as usual a most interesting time of fellowship together. On arrival we are greeted at the door by Committee Member Cynthia Gifford, and in the foyer Dorothy Harris who will be 102 years old in July takes the orders for the light luncheon which is follows the meeting.

Convener Lesley Williams was the Leader and introduced the guest speaker, Wendy Perkins, from the Synod Office. She has been the Disaster & Recovery Ministries Co-Ordinator for the Uniting Church in SA for nearly three years, but she said that Disaster Ministries has been around for a long time, we have heard something of her work in "Talk" - the February issue had an article about bush fires and in particular the disastrous fire that started at Pinery. The Committee is established to respond to any event of a disastrous nature, and offers advice and assistance to the Moderator and Synod in the event of a disaster - particularly in the areas of funding and disaster recovery.

Wendy said there is something negative about the word "disaster" and the trend these days is to use the word "emergency" - a crisis which affects the community, making normal life impossible. So if it affects the community at large it is an emergency. It could be a natural disaster - fire, flood, earthquake, a storm or a major traffic disaster e.g. a bus accident. Spiritual care is needed for those people affected by the emergency, so there is a need for specific training to ensure the best care is offered during the recovery period. Chaplains are trained in a 2-day specialized course, and in the event of an emergency Wendy is contacted by Housing SA, and Chaplains are activated to assist.

The recent Pinery bushfires which burned more than 80,000 hectares claimed two lives and left others seriously injured - 20 Chaplains from different denominations were called upon to be with people at a relief centre established in Gawler. Wendy used Psalm 23 as an example of what the Chaplains would do in this situation - being with the people as long as they are needed, and listening - sometimes they just want to talk. Recovery is often long, there are various stages in the recovery period, and so people are still supported throughout this period.

Margaret Morey gave up-to-date news of Frontier Services and Pastor Paul Glazbroolc ministering to the newly combined Patrol of Parkin/Sturt - "Talk" has had informative articles about this situation. Pastor Gary Ferguson has bought his Frontier Services vehicle and will use it in his placement as minister at Ceduna U C.

I commend State Mission Fellowship to you - it meets at Scots on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 10.30 am.    Mary Thomas