St Augustine's, Dumbarton - Scottish Episcopal Church

It’s with great pleasure that we can announce that the Community Fair raised over £1050 for church funds, with some more yet to come in. Various other groups raised money too, with Yorkhill Children’s Trust, Lennox Children’s Trust, the Gambia Fund, and David & Sharon’s Project in India all being beneficiaries.

Well done, and a big “thank-you” to all who made the day so successful. Pictures are to be found in the Multimedia Section, under “Events”.

It’s with no apology that I repeat the little parable from Fr Gerard Hughes, (of God of Surprises fame),  preached recently.

He asks what you would do if, one evening, there was a knock on the door and, when you went to open the door, there was Jesus standing there. Jesus is grinning from ear to ear and says to you, “There you are! At last I’ve found you! How wonderful to see you! How much I love you!” And you smile from ear to ear in return and you invite Jesus into your house.

“Out comes the best china, the tea and the cake . . . and you and Jesus have a really wonderful evening. Now, good Christian that you are, you invite Jesus into your life and you insist that Jesus must stay with you and become part of your family.

And that’s when the trouble starts. Before you know it, Jesus has invited the local homeless person to join in with your family. And then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, one day you come home to find that Jesus has invited into your house all the local lads who go around the community stealing cars and destroying
other people’s property.”

So what do you do? “You decide you need to put a stop to all this, and you politely invite Jesus to step inside the cupboard under the stairs. [When he does, you proceed to] lock the door [of the cupboard] with Jesus inside and very probably you nail it shut just for good measure.

You then proceed to decorate [the door] possibly with a cross and a candle and maybe even some sort of  liturgical  cloth for the appropriate time in the church year. And every time you walk past the cupboard under the stairs, you bow to it reverently and say a prayer. The net effect of this is that you’ve got Jesus, in your house, in your life but most importantly of all you’ve got him where he can’t cause any more trouble!!”

This may sound like a bizarre little parable, but Father Hughes has hit us where it hurts. It’s the story of the tabernacle I suppose, in a lot of churches…… we can keep Jesus in the tabernacle and he won’t bother us! Jesus, or God, lives in the church, and the way we behave in church, in front of him then becomes a little different from how we behave elsewhere!

This sort of thinking rears its head from time to time in St Augustine’s, especially when we are having events in the church building. There seems to be some sort of invisible line which sorts out the things we can do and the things we can’t do in the church building.

I know some people think that there is nothing acceptable in the church building except prayer and silence, and although I challenge that, I respect that position. At St Augustine’s, however, as we have evolved, that’s not really an option.

There is the other view that only some things are acceptable in church, and there are things which are just not right to have in a church building. This is the position that I don’t understand.

If it is wrong to have things like a tombola, or to sell raffle tickets in church, then it is obviously wrong to sell them in the hall too?

It’s a “tabarnacle” theology which is more than a little inconsistent. God is in church, it proclaims, in that building, and it’s almost as if we can get away with stuff in the hall where God doesn’t see things and will therefore not be offended!

However, God breaks free from our tabernacles, from our cupboards, and is there in our lives, on our streets and in our homes, challenging us at every opportunity. There is no escape from Him, and if something is wrong, then it is wrong, and we should stop doing it altogether!

He is certainly in our hall too! As I look at some of the groups who are sharing premises with us, and the people they are serving and reaching out to, Jesus is indeed around in the hall!

There is no hiding place, however hard we may try to get rid of Him or compartmentalise Him! Jesus is undoubtedly present in a very special way in the Blessed Sacrament in our tabernacle, but we ignore His presence in our everyday lives at our peril!   

Uploaded today the pics from Saturday’s Community Fair in Multimedia/Events. The August Magazine is now, also, in it’s proper place in Multimedia!

In the Hall.

David Revie to Michelle Moran.

We are celebrating St Augustine’s Day! Revd Fred Tomlinson is preaching at the 11am. Today is Gift Day! Please give generously to help with the upkeep of our parish. Gift Day envelopes are available. Why not link your gift to Gift Aid?

Please note the change of date! The Friends Big Fundraiser: Follow the Monoblock Road to the Land of Augz! Dorothies, munchkins, lions, tin men et al! A dinner/entertainment night which will be unmissable! Just remember last year’s Pantodine!

Friends Event: With DPT. Start off with a pre-theatre meal in St Augustine’s Community Hall, then off to the thespians!

Friends Event: Culinary excitement mixed with the buzz of lifting enormously extravagant prizes. Not to be missed!