Members of the Sunday School Team will provide a simple Lent Lunch of soup and bread, followed by tea/coffee and biscuits to raise funds for “Aquaboxes”, this year’s Bishop’s Lent Appeal.

Run by Rotary International, “Aquaboxes” aim to provide, in the wake of both man-made and natural disasters, a rapid response provision of safe drinking water and welfare aid items.  They provide a fast and economical way to deliver water purification supplies to communities at risk of waterborne disease.  More details can be found at www.aquabox.org

Please come and support our Lent Lunch and give generously to this worthy cause.

What were the basic, raw, human emotions of those connected with the Passion of Jesus Christ?

Through a series of dramatic monologues on DVD, this series of Lent studies discusses the thoughts and feelings of six characters with a role in the Passion narrative.  An original and inspiring series for anyone who wishes to enrich their appreciation of our Lord’s Passion.

The studies will be led by representatives from the different churches in Maybole each week.  The Ecumenical Lent groups not only give us an opportunity for study and reflection, but time to meet and catch up with friends from the other churches, some of whom we may not have seen for a while.  Please join us, a warm welcome awaits you.

Programme as follows:

1^st March – Peter – led by St Oswald’s

8^th March – Pilate’s wife – led by St Cuthbert’s

15^th March – Barabbas – led by Maybole Parish Church

22^nd March – Simon of Cyrene – led by Baptist Church

29^th March – The Roman Centurion – led by St Cuthbert’s

5^th April – Mary of Bethany – led by St Oswald’s

Lent is an opportunity to give up things which clutter our lives, so that we can give more time for God.  If you are free on Thursday mornings during Lent, we invite you to join us.

During Lent our Thursday service will be a variety of different styles of meditative and reflective worship, all within the Anglican liturgical tradition.

Worship will be followed by a Bible study and discussion on “A faith that works”, based on the Letter of James.

Programme as follows:

5^th March

Worship – “A way in the wilderness”

Bible Study – Introduction to the Letter of James

12^th March

Taize worship for Lent

James 1.2-18 “Have we trials and temptations?”

19^th March

Holy Communion for St Joseph’s Day

James 1.19-27 “Two ears, one mouth”

26^th March

The Monastic Office of Sext

James 2.1-13 “Discrimination and judging”

2^nd April

Taize worship for Passiontide

James 2.14-26 “A faith that works”

9^th April

Iona Communion Service for Maundy Thursday

James 3.1-12 “Preventing forest fires”

During his sermon the Bishop highlighted a number of issues that were as relevant 125 years ago as they are today including foreign policy with IRA attacks taking place and concerns in the Balkans and the Middle East. “The causes of some of the conflicts we live with today are to be found 125 years ago, and when we are tempted to think that our world is either worse, or better than it was then – the answer seems to be that nothing much has changed.” Our Bishop had unsurprisingly “done his homework” on the history of our little church and it would appear the whole congregation were completely engaged in what he had to say.

“…The Christian Church is a church founded on a faith passed on from age to age in which faithfulness to the tradition is essential…It does seem to me that as we celebrate all that St Oswald’s church has stood for in the past 125 years and all the blessings received here remembered, this is a good time to seek to re-dedicate ourselves to follow in the footsteps of those who gave us the faith – Ninian and Mungo among them in this part of Scotland and to those who passed it on so that in our day the name of Jesus might be honoured and God’s kingdom come on earth as in heaven.  Here I am, here we are, here the church is – the servant of the Lord – may it be so according to His word.”

Although the building is 125 years old this year, the formation of the congregation predates that by 36 years.

The Episcopal form of church government and worship, which off and on had been the system adopted by the Church of Scotland since the Reformation, was routed in 1689 with the triumph of Presbyterianism which ever since has been the norm.

Those who adhered to ‘the old kirk’ suffered under a series of penal laws and eventually almost died out in Ayrshire.

The church was revived in 1847 when the Rev William Scott Wilson the Rector of Ayr discovered that there were 400 Irish Episcopalians in Maybole without a church.

They had been coming over to Maybole in waves during the previous years, due to the terrible conditions in Ireland culminating in the Great Famine of 1846.

As members of the Church of Ireland, the Anglican church in ‘the ould country’, the Scottish Episcopal Church was their church in Scotland.

The congregation then were mainly labourers, and in particular, weavers.

As weaving declined in Maybole, most of the congregation were involved in the shoe and boot making industries.

It was in 1883 that the congregation was able to have a building of its own and it was consecrated on 18th December by the same William Scott Wilson who was by now the Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway.

The pretty little church, seating just 90 people, is situated close to the town’s railway station.

The church began as a mission of Holy Trinity Church in Ayr and has always been associated with that church whose clergy have had responsibility for Maybole.

In the early 1960’s, Dr Bertie Collie, who was the GP in Maybole, started attending St. Oswald’s along with his family. Bertie had been a Lay Reader in the Anglican Church in the Seychelles, where he originated.

His leadership was soon recognised by the congregation who encouraged him to consider ordination.
In 1976 he was ordained a Deacon and a year later, a Priest. He was one of Scotland first Non Stipendiary Ministers which allowed him to continue to work as a GP.

Bertie soon became in effect, the Minister of St. Oswald’s in which capacity he has served until a few years ago. Even in retirement he still conducts services at St. Oswald’s.

Dr Collie’s leadership also saw the building of a church hall in 1973 which continues to a be a popular venue for many community groups.

St. Oswald’s, for a small church, has been very active in supporting the world-wide church. In 2000 the congregation raised £25,000 to provide a home for the homeless in South India.

Again in 2006 the children of the Sunday School raised £4,590 to send 17 children to school for 6 years in Byumba in Africa.

For the last few years the church has organised hundreds of shoe boxes full of little presents for needy children in eastern Europe. This has been done through the Blythswood Trust. The latest project was last month when the church raised £1500 from having the Maybole Charity Shop for a week.

This will go towards a new kitchen, which of course will be a great resource for all hall users, and for this we want to thank the wider community of Maybole for supporting us.

The church is keen to invite all friends and especially Anglicans throughout the area to be part of this outward-looking and caring church. We hope to see you at our special services next week.

The attendance on Saturday was low with approximately 10 visitors. However, it was still lovely to welcome new faces to the church and then to direct them to the hall where they could read about the history of St Oswald’s and chat to members of the congregation who were serving refreshments.

On Sunday, the official Doors Open Day, we welcomed so many more (approx 25) through the doors including quite a few children who came unaccompanied and were genuinely interested.  Below are some extracts of the comments written in the Visitors Book.

“memories of childhood, found details of baptism of relative and Bible in memory of great uncle, lovely church and friendly welcome”

“beautiful simplicity, will come back”

“lifetime of fond memories”

“I have been before but it is lovely”

“lovely atmosphere and welcoming”

“wanted to visit for ages, thanks for opportunity – lovely”

The Visitors Book remains at the back of the church.  What is evident from all the comments is how friendly and welcoming we are.  If we can take that friendly welcome out into our wider community and encourage others and tell them that every Sunday and Thursday is Doors Open Day, then maybe we can grow as a church and in our Christian community.

A big vote of thanks goes to all those who assisted in the organisation and smooth running of the Doors Open event.  Happily we have already welcomed one of our visitors to a Sunday service.

“Bring and Share” was the description given for lunch, and everyone most certainly did.  We enjoyed two courses with a great variety of savoury and sweet dishes to choose from.

“Aunty Wainwright’s” Auction

After lunch St Oswald’s answer to “Aunty Wainwright”, our one and only Anne Girvan, grabbed her porridge spurtle “gavel” and made sure the pennies parted from our pockets as she auctioned the flowers and produce that had decorated the church. 

£90 was raised for the Blythswood Shoebox Appeal.  This money will be used to help with the transport cost of the boxes.

We had a stack of hats, gloves, scarves, toiletries, stationery, toys and other small things suitable for putting in a box.  Many hours have been spent during the year by members of the congregation and friends knitting items.

Our younger members love to spend Sunday School time filling the boxes, they put a lot of thought into what each person would like to receive and fill the box appropriately for a boy/girl/lady/man.

None of this would be possible without the amazing generosity of people not just at St Oswald’s, but also at St John’s and Holy Trinity, so a very big thank  you  to everyone who has supported the appeal this year.  The wonderful news is that we have exceeded our aim of filling 100 boxes, this year we have filled 110!