Newsletter for Sunday 13th September 2026

Friends,

This week our visiting preacher (see below) has selected bible readings on the theme of Joy. The late, American novelist, writer and Presbyterian minister, Frederick Buechner offered the following thoughts on the subject*:

“We tend to think that joy is not only not properly religious, but that it is even the opposite of religion. We tend to think that religion is sitting stiff and antiseptic and a little bored, and that joy is laughter and freedom and reaching out our arms, to embrace the whole wide and preposterous earth, which is so beautiful that sometimes it nearly breaks our hearts. We need to be reminded that at its heart, Christianity is joy, and that laughter and freedom and the reaching out of arms are the essence of it.

We need to be reminded too that joy is not the same as happiness. Happiness is man-made – a happy home, a happy marriage, a happy relationship with our friends and within our jobs. We work for these things, and if we are careful and wise and lucky, we can usually achieve them. Happiness is one of the highest achievements of which we are capable, and when it is ours, we take credit for it, and properly so.

But we never take credit for our moments of joy, because we know that they are not man-made, and that we are never really responsible for them. They come when they come. They are always sudden and quick and unrepeatable. The unspeakable joy sometimes of just being alive. The miracle sometimes of being just who we are, with the blue sky and the green grass, the faces of our friends and the waves of the ocean, being just what they are. The joy of release, of being suddenly well when before we were sick, of being forgiven when before we were ashamed and afraid, of finding ourselves loved when we were lost and alone. The joy of love, which is the joy of the flesh as well as the spirit.

But each of us can supply his own moments, so just two more things. One is that joy is always all-encompassing; there is nothing of us left over to hate with or to be afraid with, to feel guilty with or to be selfish about. Joy is where the whole being is pointed in one direction, and it is something that by its nature a man never hoards but always wants to share. The second thing is that joy is a mystery because it can happen anywhere, anytime, even under the most unpromising circumstances, even in the midst of suffering, with tears in its eyes. Even nailed to a tree.

What Jesus is saying is that men are made for joy and that anyone who is truly joyous has a right to say that he is doing God’s will on this earth. Where you have known joy, you have known him.” (*Originally published in, The Hungering Dark)

Alerted by a preacher’s choice of readings, may we be attentive and grateful for moments of joy in these days,

Angus

Guest Preacher, Sunday 13th September
This Sunday we welcome Reverend Cindy Campbell as our preacher. Cindy is an Ordained Local Minister (OLM) with a unique, dual-continent ministry; she splits her year between two congregations: Christ Church Warwick, in Bermuda (October–April) and St Andrew’s, Newcastle, our linked charge (May–September). Ordained as an elder in 2008, she became an Ordained Local Ministry (OLM) in 2023. Alongside her local ministries, Cindy serves as the Presbytery Chaplain for the Church of Scotland’s International Presbytery. She also brings a wealth of secular leadership to the wider church, blending 25 years of experience as a business executive with her current role on the national Faith Action Programme Leadership Team’s (FAPLT) Resource and Presence Programme Group

Cindy’s presence this Sunday is a nice link
because there will not be a morning service at St Andrew’s, Newcastle due to road closures
linked to the Great North Run.
So, we particularly welcome members of St Andrew’s
who may join us via the livestream this weekend.

Milestone Birthday
In anticipation of Monday 14th September,
we wish St Columba’s member,
Donald Shaw,
a very happy 105th birthday.

THIS SATURDAY: Crown Court Church of Scotland, Saturday 12th September, Partners & Friends Showcase
There is a warm invite from fellow London,
Church of Scotland congregation, Crown Court,
to hear about their ambitious new plans
for building improvement and related activities.
To help with catering numbers please RSVP to futures@crowncourtchurch.com

DIARY DATE: Churches Together in Kensington & Chelsea with Churches Together in Notting Hill,
Season of Creation 2026 Ecumenical Service,
Thursday 1st October, 7.00p.m.
St Luke’s Parish Church, Sydney Street, SW3 6NH.
Everyone is warmly invited.

A Prayer for the Season of Creation

Holy God,
whose Spirit hovered over the waters at the beginning,
we gather as part of your community of all creation,
thirsty for your grace.
We give thanks for the gift of water
Yet, we confess that we have treated this gift
as a mere commodity.
We have choked the seas with our waste
and watched the warming tides rise in judgment.
We lament the cracked earth of the drought-stricken
and the salty tears of the climate refugee.
Melt our frozen hearts, O God,
and let the waters of repentance flow.

Lord of all Life,
you promised that wherever the river flows,
everything shall live.
Stir in us a calling to care for the waters —
to protect the watershed,
defend the rights of water,
and honour the dignity of the thirsty.

May your Word be a spring within us,
flowing forth for the healing of the nations.
May God our Father
who brought water from the rock, sustain us in the desert.
May Christ our Lord
who is Living Water, refresh us for the work of restoration.
And may the Holy Spirit
carry us on currents of grace,
until justice rolls down like waters
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amen.

DIARY DATE: Looking for Sleepers! CEO Sleepout, Monday 23rd November
ScotsCare CEO Shona Fleming, well known at St Columba’s, again leads a team of hardy souls who take on the challenge of sleeping out for a night to raise funds and awareness for homelessness, at the CEO Sleepout at Lords Cricket Ground. The annual event draws hundreds of fundraisers to St John’s Wood’s hallowed ground, where participants bed down in the stands, sleeping between the seats with a sleeping bag and little else. Participants don’t have to be a CEO to take part, just a supporter that wants to combat homelessness. It’s a rewarding event, with great camaraderie and sense of achievement the following day. This year Angus hopes to recruit a team of six (or more) from St Columba’s who would sleepout to support our Scots in London partner organisation, ScotsCare. If interested, please contact Angus via the Office.

Scots in London August Newsletter.
For a variety of events and activities of interest
check out the Scots in London August newsletter. https://mailchi.mp/scotsinlondon.org/aug-newsletter2026-12822222?e=a7a1f1deca Scots in London is an umbrella organisation for Scottish cultural societies, sports clubs, alumni groups, charities, churches and the Scottish military in London. Its mission is to promote Scottish culture and heritage, co-ordinate and communicate events, support Scottish charities in the capital, and contribute to the life of the city where we live.

St Andrews Book Festival,
presented by Scots in London
Update on St Andrew’s Book Festival, November 18th-22nd. We are pleased to announce that Carol Kirkwood, Andrew Lownie and Val McDermid are among the authors who will appear at the festival with most events at St Columba’s. Ticket details will follow.
The Book Festival returns to several central London venues, with St Columba’s as the primary focus of the festival. Look forward to another array of well-known and new authors bringing Scottish writing to the heart of London. Keep 18th to 22nd November 2026 in your diaries, both for attending and/or volunteering to get involved.