Dear Friends,

As I sit at my desk the sun is shining and a gentle breeze

moves the leaves of the tree outside, everything promises of

summer to come. One might be fooled into thinking that leisure

and relaxation were all that was to come. Yet the church is

facing a great many challenges at this year’s General

Assembly, discussion on who can be a minister in the church

threatens to divide us. Argument will be fierce too over the

papers brought by the Panel of Review and Reform, looking at

how the church does its business and what the

future of Presbyteries might be.

And I am looking forward to being challenged and

stretched myself as I am taking a fortnight’s study

leave to visit the First Presbyterian Church in New

Haven, in Connecticut, USA. I will be learning

there about their church and community and

finding out about the work the churches in New

Haven do together to help the poorest and share

the word of God.

I look forward to bringing back what I have

learned to share with all of you and to telling our

American brothers and sisters something of the

work we do here at St Andrew’s Parish Church,

Dundee.

It is a time of challenges, and a time of being

open to the new opportunities that change can

bring. When Jesus rose from the dead he met

Thomas, through his doubt Thomas hung back,

wanting to have proof that Jesus had risen. Jesus

showed him his wounds and Thomas was sure,

‘My Lord and my God’ he replied. So we have our

times of doubt, our times of challenge, and

through this God brings us ever closer to Him,

that we may believe, even though we have not

seen him, and live in the faith of being in His

Love, Grace and Mercy all the days of our lives.

Your minister and friend,

Janet