Kirk Reflections 16th March 2025.

Rev. Kenneth Brown brings this week's reflection from Kirkliston Parish Church, Scotland.

Crafting a Rule of Life from John 15. 
Chapter 15 isn’t at first glance the easiest part of John’s Gospel to get your head around. It needs a wee bit of knowledge from the imagery of the Old Testament to get you started. At that point the language and the theme  begin to open up. And we discover in verses 1-8 one of the great foundations of the Christian life – to be a disciple of Jesus requires us to be both faithful and fruitful…”

Kirk Reflections 9th March 2025.

Rev. Frank Ribbons brings this week's reflection from Kirkliston Parish Church, Scotland.

Hello again,
I’m very much looking forward to being with you on Sunday to continue the series on “Practising the Way”. Our text is from Mark 2, verses 13 to 22 and contains two very different episodes. The first is the call to the tax collector Levi, and the second is a discussion about fasting, in response to the question to Jesus about the fact that his disciples didn’t. Our task will be to see the connection between the two sections, for there certainly is one. Mark may have been brief in his account of Jesus’ life but he is not haphazard in his organisation of material. I am very fond of Mark’s Gospel because it was through reading his account that I came into Christianity. The very fact that it is short, brief and to the point makes it a compelling read in my view.
Warmly,
Frank

Kirk Reflections 2nd March 2025

Rev. Dr. Stewart Gillan BSc, MDiv, PhD, minister of St. Andrews Jerusalem & Tiberius brings this week's reflection from Kirkliston Parish Church, Scotland.

Born in Newfoundland and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada, Stewart’s first ministry was in South Africa from 1986–98. It was a pivotal period, from the final years of apartheid, through the time of transition, and into the first years of a new South Africa. He served as parish minister in four townships in Gauteng and partnered with the South African Council of Churches and Institute for Contextual Theology. His final two years saw him working with the Commission on the Restitution of Land Rights as a researcher, following doctoral work at the University of Edinburgh, whose field work was conducted with communities that had been forcibly removed from ancestral land under apartheid. Upon his return to Toronto, he became the Executive Director of the Churches’ Council on Theological Education in Canada, 1999–2004. 
In Scotland since 2004, Stewart served as parish minister of St Michael’s Parish Church, Linlithgow (2004–18) and St John’s Renfield, in Kelvindale, Glasgow (2018–22), and shares married life with Sarah Ormerod Gillan, Head of Music at Kelvinside Academy, and their children Imogen and Alexander.
It was on a visit of the Middle East Committee of the then World Mission Council in October 2007 that he first felt the stirrings of a call to the ministry of the Church in Israel and Palestine. He took up the post of Minister of St Andrew’s Jerusalem & Tiberias and Mission Partner Jerusalem in December 2022, and shares ministry with the Rev Muriel Pearson, seeking prayerfully to serve our congregations and partner with Church, Interfaith and Human Rights organisations on both sides of the wall on the long walk towards a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land. In this, Stewart seeks to bring together spiritual and strategic dimensions of peace work with people who have been working for justice and peace in God’s name all of their lives. 

Kirk Reflections 23rd February 2025

Revd. Erick du Toit brings this week's reflection from Kirkliston Parish Church, Scotland.

PRACTISING THE WAY: IV PASSENGERS

Do you prefer driving or being the passenger?

I guess it depends, doesn’t it: can I trust the driver? Is he/she familiar with the road? Do they have any penalties like reckless driving or speeding?

What I do know, is that Jesus didn’t simply call us to be passive bystanders on the journey. He calls us to be proactive and participatory passengers with a zeal to learn and know more about the terrain we’re surrounded by.

Kirk Reflections 16th February 2025

John McPhee brings this week's reflection from Kirkliston Parish Church, Scotland.

PRACTISING THE WAY: III SLOW LEARNERS

I wonder what you think about your life and where it’s come from.

The truth is that all of us are formed by something – and not always good things. Our DNA, our school, our family, the friends that we’ve made, the hobbies that we have,the things we watch: that makes us who we are. And whether we like it or not, we’re being formed into something; and I want to unpack that a bit and challenge you.

Are you ready to be transformed by becoming an apprentice of Jesus? That’s what the Gospel is about.

Kirk Reflections 9th February 2025

Revd. Erick du Toit brings this week's reflection fromKirkliston Parish Church, Scotland.

PRACTISING THE WAY: II TRANSFORM

Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
(Romans 12:2 NIV)

We are constantly being influenced by our environment, the relationships we are in, and the stories we believe about ourselves and the world.

You ARE being shaped and formed; whether you’re aware of it, or not. Whether it happens intentionally or Unintentionally. There’s no way around it. This is probably why Paul is so keen to encourage the kirk in Rome to transform more into Christ’s likeness rather than simply ‘conforming’ to the culture they are in. 

It seems that not a lot has changed. People are still inwardly focused, keen to accumulate and build their lives on efforts to be bigger and better – to dominate. Jesus calls to become aware of this pitfall. That our culture will try to lure as away from the true meaning of life: giving yourself away as a living sacrifice. 

But what does that even mean? And why is it vital in our approach to healthy rhythms and habits as we pursue God’s heart for an everlasting Kingdom here in this place? 

Kirk Reflections 2nd February 2025

Revd. Erick du Toit brings this week's reflection from Kirkliston Parish Church, Scotland.

PRACTISING THE WAY: I APPRENTICESHIP
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said.
(Mark 1:17)

We are constantly being formed by the world around us.

Kirk Reflections 26th January 2025

Revd. Erick du Toit brings this week's reflection from Kirkliston Parish Church, Scotland.

WALLS.
“Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
(Nehemiah 8:10)

Walls.  We all need them. 

Whether to weather stormy winds (like we saw this week!) OR to keep the warmth inside.

But what happens when we build walls that keep others at bay? Far from who we really are? Can it be detrimental to our spirituality and emotional health when our tall walls prohibit others from seeing us for who we truly are?

Might barricading ourselves in the name of safety lead to self-inflicted estrangement? 

The gospel of Christ calls us to disarm and surrender our old ways; to build bridges instead of walls to include those who don’t already feel safe. In a world obsessed with bigger borders to keep OUT the foreigner and alien… could we dare to be ‘open’ and ‘hospitable’ to the stranger…

remembering: that we were all visitors at some point!

Kirk Reflections 19th January 2025

Revd. Erick du Toit brings this week's reflection from Kirkliston Parish Church, Scotland.

WATER INTO WINE.
“Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” (John 2:10)

I grew up in the town of Wellington, SA, surrounded by vineyards.

For this reason, drinking wine was something we got use to from a young age. And by that, I mean from about 15/16 or so. My dad started pouring us kids a glass of red cabernet sauvignon or shiraz with our Sunday roast.

Initially, I didn’t like it that much – but it grew on me.

Only later at Uni did I discover that in order be a real connoisseur you had to spit out the wine after the swirling and the whiff of aromas. It all felt a wee bit pretentious (and wasteful!) to be honest.

I hope that’s not one of the reasons that wedding banquet in John 2 ran short of wine!

Jesus as the Master of the Banquet transforms water into wine to introduce to us another side of himself: one that is not simply

And He’s constantly busy transforming us if we allow him to through his Spirit… that we in turn, can become the proverbial ‘best wine’ the world has ever tasted by sensing and seeing Jesus in OUR lives.

Kirk Reflections 12th January 2025

Revd. Erick du Toit brings this week's reflection from Kirkliston Parish Church, Scotland.

YOU ARE MINE.
“Do not be afraid, for I am with you!” (Isaiah 43: 5a)

If ever we need reminding of God’s promise of love and security; it is now. At the start of a new season, in a world that seems chaotic beyond measure, it’s always helpful to check in on our true/ genuine identity… knowing that we belong to Jesus – and that nothing will ever be able to change that!