MONTHLY LETTER FROM THE MINISTER

Dear Friends

As your Locum, or part-time temporary minister during the Vacancy, my main duties are the conduct of worship, plus the care of the sick, bereaved and elderly, especially those who are in hospital.  I shall also be offering support to your Interim Moderator as and when required.

Now let us relate the work of the Church to the follow matters.  Firstly, the Church exists to preserve all that is best in life, through Christ who is the Lord of life.  Secondly, it is also there to prepare people to die, giving them a firm assurance through Christ, of life beyond the grave.  Lastly, the prophet Malachi warms us never to steal from God.  Rather should we give Him worthy tithes, offerings and service.  At St Andrew’s, you seek to hold these truths together.  How are you making out?

The motto of the late Tom Dooley, a young American doctor, who despite malignant cancer, worked 20 hours a day, until he collapsed, has relevance.  It is simply ‘get on with the job’.  As we share in the varied duties of the Church, let us get on with the job of being a Christian, whatever that entails here at St Andrew’s and in the city of Dundee.  It is sufficient.

Think of that phrase in terms of your own situation.  Consider the question of sorrow.  The work that has been done by people with broken hearts is one of the great facts of history.  We cannot forget our sorrow, but to withdraw and brood is the way to resentment and
unhappiness.  There is comfort in work, in Church and out of it.

Again in disappointment, keep on.  If you can’t get the job you want and many folk in 2009 are having difficulty here, then get on with the job you can get, for there is satisfaction in any job well done.  In success, likewise.  The New Testament tells us that the reward for work well done, is more work to do. In that way lies life.  Even when facing death, it is better to be like Tom Dooley, working hard, so long as strength lasts.  The Church and the world need people whose one aims is not to dodge the job, but to get on with it.

May we see clearly what the Lord would have us do, and then dedicate ourselves to those talks that lie closest to hand.  May you be able to express your faith in good works.

Do keep on, for the sake of Christ and his Church.

Finally, my sincere thanks to those who have welcomed me here,  and not least the coffee lady!

Warmly

John E Hawdon