The climate emergency is one of the greatest injustices we face. Together we stop this climate crisis.This year's Christian Aid week is focussing on the Climate Crisis. You can find out more about the appeal by visiting the Christian Aid web site.

Normally at this time of year a number of events raise money for Christian Aid, notably the Skirling Green car boot sale. Unfortunately this year these cannot take place but as always envelopes for donations have been distributed to all houses in our parishes. If you wish to donate please put your donation in the envelope and drop the envelope in at the Broughton Village Store, in Skirling Village Hall, at Skirling Church, or give it to any of the church elders in your area. 

Thank you for all of your generous donations.

Decorated Easter Eggs - Easter 2021

The Easter tradition of rolling decorated boiled eggs down hills has been passed down through the generations with many remembering their granny boiled eggs in onion skins to get deep colours, drawing wax pictures or tying string around the eggs and waiting to see what creation would appear.  

Now you are able to buy special egg dyes, and use a variety of pens and paints - and apparently nail varnish - good luck trying to crack that egg!   The rolling of the egg is  symbolic of the rolling away of the rock from Jesus Christ's tomb before his resurrection. 

Tweedsmuir has kept up the tradition, decorating eggs during the Easter service and (before coffee and cake)  rolling the eggs down the steep slopes at the Kirk.   Under Covid restrictions, other hills have been sourced but the tradition  of decorating and rolling eggs continues through the generations. Happy Easter.

Christine Parker

Tweedsmuir Kirk

Images from the Minister's Walk - 2016

On 4th June 2016, a group of around 20 or so members of the congregations of Parishes of Upper Tweeddale and their families and friends gathered at Tweedsmuir Kirk at the start of a 23 mile walk through the four parishes. The walk which had been organised to celebrate the retirement of Bob Milne, our minister, proved to be a celebration of our fellowship as a church community, as we enjoyed each other’s company and the wonderful hospitality our congregations have always offered, but it was also an appreciation of our churches and their places within the landscape.

Each church and church community has its very own character. Over the years I (and I am sure many others in our congregations) have come to appreciate and to love each one. Each church evokes different memories and now that the Parish of Stobo and Drumelzier is leaving the Parishes of Upper Tweeddale to join a new linking with Eddleston and Peebles Old, it seems like a good time to remember each parish as I recall our route from Tweedsmuir to Skirling in June 2016.

First Stop – Tweedsmuir Kirk. Bacon sandwiches in the village hall to set us up for the day.

Tweedsmuir Kirk holds the Church picnic in June each year. In the past, I recall that this was often held in the old school. This has now become the ‘café style’ service, which is remarkable for its ice cream with an amazing array of toppings. The Christmas Eve candlelit service in Tweedsmuir Kirk is a perfect start to the Christmas celebrations. When attending Sunday worship as a member of the worship workshop, I remember a very young Robert Parker, taking the offering. After the service coffee was always an opportunity to chat, I recall enjoying this so much that I would sometimes forget that I had to leave time to make the journey to Stobo.

Second Stop – Drumelzier Kirk. Lunch break in the Village Hall.

When I have managed to get to a service at Drumelzier Kirk before anyone else, I have always been struck by the complete silence in the building. The church is lovingly cared for by Julian and Rosalind Birchall, who in addition to doing regular cleaning and checking of the building, also prepare the church for the services. The annual lambing service has usually involved the inclusion of real or (cuddly) toy lambs. Another Christmas highlight in Parishes of Upper Tweed is the Candlelit service in Drumelzier Kirk.
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The Easter 2021 edition of the Church Magazine, Kirk Matters, was distributed to the residents of Upper Tweeddale a few weeks ago.

If you haven't seen a copy then it is also published here for you to enjoy.
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With limited numbers in the two of our churches that are currently open, we are facing a growing challenge to fund our services, pastoral care and support, and the maintenance of our buildings and facilities.

The Church of Scotland has a web page which allows you to contribute specifically to the local funds required for this work. If you would like to help out please go to the Donate to the Church page, click on Donate to a Congregation, type in the name of the congregation and proceed from there.

If you buy from Amazon then another way of donating is through Amazon Smile. Skirling and Broughton are now registered with Amazon Smile so if you click on one of the links below and place an order then a commission will go to our churches.

The Presbytery World Mission Group have been exploring possible links with Lebanon for a few years. This came out of links that Earlston made with Tripoli and continued with Marina Altounian visiting in Augist 2018. Our locum minister, Rev Pamela Strachan, also went out in October 2018 for a 3 month study leave course at the Near East School of Theology (NEST) based in Beirut. We are making progress and hope to bring a report with recommendations to Presbytery in the near future.

As part of this process, the committee had a zoom call with Rev Dr Rima Nasrallah, a lecturer at NEST and also a pastor in a local church in Beirut. She and Pamela struck up a friendship when Pamela was at NEST. Rima was able to give us apersonal update on what the situation is in Lebanon, Beirut and NEST which was distressing in its detail. She described 3 crises. The first last year when political unrest led to the Government having to resign and a new one formed, then COVID hit an already fragile infrastructure. Finally the blast in the port area of Beirut in August which destroyed most of the port, killed and injured hundreds, made 1000's homeless and destroyed the stores of wheat which normally feeds the nation over the winter. With the world gripped in a pandemic and political storms waging in that part of the world, aid has been slow and the Lebanese people face an extremely difficult winter.

We in Melrose and Peebles Presbytery cannot hope to sort the problem but Rima asks that we as a Presbytery pray for our brothers and sisters in Lebanon. The fact that we are concerned and remember them in our prayers goes a long way to help people realise they have not been abandoned. If nothing else this pandemic has made us all realise how small the world really is and how interconnected we all are.

Some Possible Prayer Pointers:

Please share this request with your family and your church family and on behalf of the World Mission Committee, I pray you have a safe Christmas and look forward in hope to 2021.

Best wishes,

Fiona Burnett - Chair, Presbytery World Mission Committee

• News from the Joint Christian Committee in Lebanon - 6th December 2020
• From the Ashes We Shall Rise Again - Film from Beirut - 30th August 2020
• News from Lebanon: Disaster Strikes Beirut - 11th August 2020

The current presbytery plan proposes that three churches in Upper Tweeddale (Skirling, Broughton and Tweedsmuir), will be linked in the fullness of time with the three churches in the West Linton group (West Linton, Carlops, and Newlands and Kirkurd).

There are still a few hurdles to be cleared before that comes into effect. However in anticipation of new relationships with our neighbours, and to help to find out more about the three churches in the West Linton area we have been publishing the latest editions of the Carlops Church newsletter, the Newlands and Kirkurd newsletter and the West Linton newsletter here and churches in the West Linton area will make our own Kirk Matters available to their community.
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