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May 2006
To :- The Congregation of Holytown
The lighter evenings have arrived and at long last the weather appears to be getting a bit warmer. Of course this is the right time of year for all of this to happen. Thankfully the summer is not too far away now.
Since the last edition of the Magazine there has been some rather slow progress with regard to the appointment of an Interim Minister. Presbytery have been informed by the Interim Ministers Task Force in Edinburgh that the basis of linkage between the two Churches has to be in place prior to the appointment of an Interim Minister being made.
This was not what my understanding of the situation, and it was not Presbytery's impression either. However, this is now what we need to do, and to that end a preliminary meeting has been arranged to begin the process of working out the basis of linkage. This meeting will take place in the early part of this month.
Unfortunately this will mean that the Induction of the Interim Minister will now take place probably in the latter part of September of this year.
We are now approaching the time of Pentecost in the Christian calendar when we remember that the Holy Spirit came upon the Disciples as they were gathered together. It appeared to them as tongues like flames of fire, dispersed among them and resting on each one of them. They began to talk in other tongues or languages as the Spirit gave then the power of utterance.
Let it be our hope and our prayer that the people involved in the meetings are indeed guided by the Holy Spirit. This would then enable the meetings to move the process forward. May they be able to talk together in the same language and that they are not affected in the same way as the Disciples were at the first Pentecost.
I do hope that we can reach an early understanding and enable Presbytery to approve the basis on which the Churches can move forward together Thereby, enabling the beginning a new chapter in the life and witness of the Congregation here in Holytown and at Wrangholm as well.
It is and has been a very long and at times difficult period for you all. I trust that you will in the not too distant future be truly blessed as you start a new Ministry here in Holytown.
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