As you can see by the heading of this email, I am somewhat taken aback by how near Christmas is…

Our last meeting of the year is to be on Tuesday, November 14th.  As usual we will meet in Lochiehead Barn, Auchtermuchty KY14 7EH from 7.30 – 9.30pm.  Tea, coffee and baking served from 7.30pm – please try not to arrive early, as we like to be able to pray for a little while before it starts and it isn’t easy to welcome people at the same time!  Our speaker will be Ken Jeffrey, who used to be the Minister of Cupar Old Parish Church and is now the Director of the Centre for Ministry Studies at the University of Aberdeen.  We are delighted to have him with us and I’m sure there will be a few familiar faces he’ll be pleased to see among the listeners.

Last month we were very happy to welcome Paul Davie, Head of Alpha Scotland, who started  his talk by reading the very last bit of the Bible to illustrate to us that it is good that we know how the story ends, that God wins in the end.  He quoted the saying which comes in the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, (which might have originated from either John Lennon or Paolo Coelho, nobody is sure which!) “Everything will be all right in the end.  If it’s not all right, then it’s not the end.”  Paul reminded us that God is desperate to reach us with His grace, with His love, and He wants to make us part of His family, not part of His religion.  So often all through the Bible is the imagery of flowing water used;  for instance, in John, Chapter 7, Jesus says “Whoever believes in me…… rivers of living water will flow from within them.”  In each one of us, the spring of living water can rise and flow and like the journey of a river that begins with little trickles of water, the more people that have this stream within them, the greater the whole river becomes until it’s a torrent to flood the kingdom with God’s grace and grandeur.  Let it flow.

I hope we’ll see you on the 14th!