The linked Charge of
Eddleston, Peebles:Old, Stobo & Drumelzier
7 October 2021

Dear Friends,
Sole Nominee

On 26 August 2021 the Nominating Committee unanimously elected the Revd Aftab Gohar of Abbotsgrange Parish Church in the Presbytery of Falkirk as Sole Nominee. Acceptance in writing was received on 10 September 2021.

A joint service of all three congregations (Eddleston, Peebles:Old, Stobo & Drumelzier) will be held at 10.00am on Sunday 24 October in Peebles Old Parish Church, when the Revd Aftab Gohar will conduct worship and preach as Sole Nominee. Voting will take place immediately after the service and the result of the count conveyed immediately to the Sole Nominee, the Kirk Sessions and the congregations.

This is the only opportunity to vote and all congregation members are therefore urged to attend the Joint Service. There will be no postal vote, although the service will be recorded and made available on our website. Following the service there will be ample opportunity to sign copies of the Call which will be available in all three churches, so those who have been unable to attend in person may nevertheless have the opportunity to add their names to the ‘well-signed Call’ which we hope to extend to Mr Gohar.

The Procedure
The Session Clerks/elders from all three congregations will be at tables in the vestibule of the Old Parish half an hour before the start of the Joint Service. Congregation members should collect their numbered ballot papers from their Session Clerk, the name then being scored out from the Electoral Register to ensure no double voting. The ballot papers are simply numbered in sequence; there is no record of an electoral register number and so confidentiality of voting is also ensured. All ballot papers are combined in one ballot box.

Completed ballot slips are folded and placed in the ballot box in the vestibule as members leave the service.

The count will take place in the MacFarlane Hall immediately after the service in the
course of a Joint Kirk Session, at which a Presbytery representative will act as observer.

The results of the count will be conveyed to Mr Gohar and then announced to those
members of the congregations who have remained in the church. They will then be published on the TOPCOP website and displayed on parish noticeboards.

We look forward to a full church for our combined Joint Service on Sunday 24 October.

Warm regards,

Pamela Stachan
Interim Moderator

https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/news-and-events/news/2021/articles/churches-invited-to-take-part-in-a-national-giving-day

We are invited to invite!

Contributions from members and friends. For local church purposes, and not counted as income for M and M giving calculations

We will have resources appearing regularly. In the meantime, this is a giving day Psalm to meditate on.

A Giving Day psalm

(Rev Jenny Adams)

Hear our cry, O God,
listen to our prayers.
The world is wounded
by coronavirus,
by isolation,
and by inequalities made worse by the pandemic.

There is so much injustice, God,
with people excluded because of skin colour, gender, and debt,
and harmed by violence, wealth and climate crisis
here, nationally and across Your world.

Creation herself groans,
crying out to You in brokenness.
And while we cry out,
the injustices and inequalities go on,
against Your will, O God,
though, we confess, not always against our own interests.

Yet in our losses and failures,
we know we can cry to You,
and that You listen to us and love us.
We know that You promise to be with us always,
and that You are beside us in all the mess.
We know we can pray for Your ways to come,
and that You invite us to join You in changing the world.

You are a faithful God,
walking with us through 2020 and 2021,
as You have walked with people for millennia.
So in our woundedness, we trust in You for healing.
In our unjust behaviours, we turn to You for transformation.
In our uncertainty, we seek Your presence to guide us to new life.

For all this we give thanks for You:
God of love, God with us, God of life,
thank You.

And may we hear Your call, O God,
to seek peace and justice,
to love tenderly and fairly,
and to listen and learn humbly
for ourselves and our communities,
for all people and Your whole creation.

May we hear Your call, O God,
and respond with all that we have and all that we are,
being transformed
and so helping change the world.
AMEN