Around this time of year, within cooee of Christmas, old people with serious intent wander around muttering to themselves (since no one else will listen!) – “tempus fugit”.
Now, as every Baby Boomer remembers from their Latin lessons this is translated as “time flies”. So, this is no new idea and has been around since biblical times. It’s just another irritating fact of life and for some people a wake-up call that more shape should enter their existence. At its most banal it’s like the old joke “Some people make things happen, some people watch things happen, and most people wonder what happened.”
At First Church under the skilful and knowledgeable tutelage of Jim Veitch we all try to be a bit less aimless. You all undoubtedly know that Jim was/is a veteran colleague of Lloyd Geering, that famous/infamous clergyman who took the official church establishment on. He and many other scholars and reformers could see the writing on the wall for orthodox Christianity. It wasn’t hard to see why. Even ostensibly intelligent adults when asked about their idea of God seemed to view him as a benign and venerable character, with a beard, lodged spatially somewhere up in the ether. And they saw hell as an extremely hot place.
Jim has improved on these childish notions and spends much of his time and effort putting old and new testament stories into modern context bolstered by contemporary scholarship and historical research.
Of course, introducing intelligence and metaphors into the equation can be unsettling and many/most people who scoff at organised religion find the going intellectually too tough. But as renowned scholar C S Lewis once tartly observed, “Christianity is not a bunch of soft soap. It is as tough as nails and requires effort”.
So a review of 2025 at First Church would have to have Jim Veitch with the gold medal for keeping our noses to the grindstone. Also of great note was the final departure of Bob Bargh who had for eons been the musical backbone of our caterwauling psalms and hymns. We’re still looking for his replacement!
And then there’s the loyal and industrious rank and file who trundle out successful fundraisers like the Spring Fling year after year. Not to mention the scones and pikelets which make their magical appearance each Sunday.
Happy Christmas to believers and non believers alike.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Saturday 6th December Kirk Fair in First Church Community Hall 10am – 2pm. See advert in the Star. For donations of goods please contact Sylvia 3048813 or Veronica 0274586257.
Sunday 21st December – First Church Christmas Carols Service, Weld Street, starting at 2pm come along and enjoy singing Christmas Carols, followed by afternoon tea. All very welcome.
Thursday 25th December – there is no service on Christmas morning.
January 2026
Sunday 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th – Service at 10am, with morning tea at 9.45am, held in the Church Hall. All very welcome.
