19 January 2026

Yesterday,  over a hundred people worshipped together in Pittenweem Kirk. This was the third Sunday of the new union between Pittenweem and St. Ayle.  On this occasion, we were joined by the local Episcopalian congregation, St. John’s.

When the kirk at Pittenweem united with their neighbours in Cellardyke and Anstruther, they took with them this very precious relationship. It is a distinctive gift – a significant ecumenical dimension which enlarges our vision of the Church and inspires us to look beyond our own natural boundaries.

For many people in the Kirk, the Radical Action Plan which was agreed in 2019 has brought a lot of turmoil in terms of readjustment, impacted by the Covid virus and the delays in reaching agreement across the different parishes.

It has been a negative experience in some respects but in one major respect it has been  very positive. It has encouraged parishes to look beyond their historic boundaries and to reconnect with their neighbours to seek greater unity.

When it became known that Pittenweem Kirk had to sell its church and hall,  St. John’s Episcopal Church offered the use of their church building for kirk worship. This hasn’t been necessary yet for the buildings haven’t been sold but it was an enormously encouraging gesture.

This was born out of a relationship which had been nurtured over many years between the two congregations. It demonstrated the importance of establishing good relationships in time of plenty to secure a richer life in time of famine.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

  4 November 2025 Two months before his death, Archbishop Oscar Romero   wrote in a Mexican newspaper, ‘ As a shepherd I am obliged by Divine Law to give my life for those I love, for the entire Salvadoran people, including those who threaten to assassinate me. If they should go as far as to carry out their threats, I want you to know that I now offer my blood to God for justice and the resurrection of El Salvador.’   A   death squad was ready. On 24 March 1980, the Archbishop was celebrating mass in a hospital chapel. He had just finished preaching his sermon.   He had come to the Liturgy of   the Sacrament. He picked up the bread, ‘ This is the body of Christ which is broken for you!’ he said. Suddenly, a   man with a pistol aimed his gun at Romero. A shot rang out.   The Archbishop fell down at the altar with the broken bread in his hands. The gunman ran off to a waiting car. People rushed to the Archbishop’s assistance but he was dead!...
Read more
  17 October 2025 I was making a purchase on the internet. The item was no longer in the shop. The shop-keeper had failed to remove it from the   internet but was able to source   another. I discovered it was coming by ship from New Zealand. I wondered whether to continue with the purchase? It turned out that the shop was in   Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. Somehow that made a difference. It had become part of our corporate history. I confirmed my willingness to   wait and said how we remembered the courage of the people at Enniskillen. She thanked   me for my encouraging words. I remember the town well. The bombing immediately came to mind. It was at the War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday 1987. An IRA bomb exploded killing 11 civilians and a policeman. 68 were injured. The IRA made a mistake. Their target was a parade of   soldiers marching to the war memorial. Among the dead was a young nurse Marie Wilson. She and her dad, Gordon, a local dra...
Read more
  23 October 2025 Sunday is going to be a day of reckoning. There are   seven crucial votes taking place in two corners of the Presbytery. The first   two are in the North Fife Cluster where I have been working as Facilitator. Balmerino and Wormit and Creich, Flisk and Kilmany are voting to unite. Balmerino and Wormit have already united. Once this union takes place, there is a third to negotiate with Newport.   Newport has a minister in post and so any union will be dependent on more than the agreement of the two Kirk Sessions. The second five votes are taking place in three congregations – Crail, Pittenweem and St. Ayle (Cellardyke and Anstruther). St. Ayle is already a union and it is voting to unite with neighbouring Pittenweem where I am Interim-moderator . If the union goes ahead, they will each be voting to link with Crail. The linked charge will be an appealing   prospect for a minister. It is a hugely attractive parish – four villages   se...
Read more