Details of our Holy Week Services

Fellowship Coffee Morning 2015

St Johns’ Fellowship held a coffee morning on 14th March with a raffle and a cake and candy stall. The money raised for this year’s charities will be over £700.

Graham Taylor interviews Most Rev David Chillingworth

On Mothering Sunday, 15th March, we welcomed our bishop, David Chillingworth, to preside at our Sung Eucharist. Families with young children were particularly welcome and children handed out posies of flowers to the congregation at the end of the service.

Instead of preaching a sermon, Bishop David was interviewed by our rector Graham about his faith journey.

After the service there were refreshments in the Threshold, including home-baked cakes.

Mothering Sunday congregation

During Lent there have been no sermons at the Sunday morning Eucharist service. Instead, different members of the congregation have been invited to share their faith stories.

Graham Taylor and Lillian Fleming in conversation

Graham Taylor and Lillian Fleming in conversation

This is proving to be a source of encouragement for all of us.

Putting together a programme for an organ recital was always going to be a challenge for me. I’m much more of a pianist and a romantic, and there’s a conspicuous shortage of romantic organ music.

The seed for this concert was planted back in April when I realised that Star Wars Day (May the fourth) fell on a Sunday this year, and indeed on an Alive for Christ service day. I then went looking for Star Wars sheet music to play, and in doing so found a lovely looking piano arrangement of the Imperial March (from The Empire Strikes Back) which I thought would adapt beautifully to the organ, but was much too difficult for me to learn in a week. I then remembered that when Alison was arranging the recital series in 2013 I had said something about ‘maybe next year’…

So what else to play? For me it was a very short step from the music of John Williams to the music of Jeremy Soule, the ‘John Williams of video game music’ and another series close to my heart: The Elder Scrolls. This involved more searching on the internet, and as even less of this has been published as sheet music even a little transcription by ear. I hope you agree that the resulting organ arrangement of a couple of pieces has come out quite well.

Obviously I needed to write something, and so I’ll be playing the world premiere of my new Organ Sonata. I don’t really want to say too much about it, I’m always more interested in hearing other people’s thoughts on my music than writing my own.

Franz Liszt is one of the few, perhaps the only, truly great romantic composer to write extensively for the organ, and produced some really wonderful organ music. Much of which is very long and fiendishly difficult. I’m going to play two Church Hymns, which are based on plainchant, and a chance to showcase just how quiet and delicate the organ can be.

The whole thing will be rounded off with Widor’s mighty Toccata, which I’ve played a couple of times this year and you’re all probably heartily sick of by now. I promise to put it away after this… at least for a bit!

If you’re interested in what I’m doing on the piano at the moment, I do now have a website. Given that there is already an American musician with my name on the internet I am publishing my music under my middle name: Ilmar. If you head along to ilmarmusic.com you can hear some of what I’ve been writing and playing recently.

The latest issue of Quest is now available for download.

In this issue:

• Welcome to Our New Rector!
• Farewell to Bruce and Elaine
• Christmas Services at St John’s
• A new L’Arche Community – in Perth?
• Choir Rehearsal with added Birthday Party

St John’s was packed with over 200 people on Thursday 30th October to celebrate the institution of Rev. Graham Taylor as our new rector by Bishop David Chillingworth in a joyous and inspirational service. The congregation of St John’s was joined by many members of Graham’s former congregation at St Mary’s, Carden Place, Aberdeen; a large body of clergy and lay readers from several dioceses; local clergy from other Christian churches; and representatives from the civic authorities, including Provost Liz Grant and other councillors.

David Rose, the Rector’s warden at St Mary’s, Carden Place, read the epistle and Rt Rev. Bruce Cameron read the Gospel. As a former rector of St John’s before his consecration as Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney, as well as his recent time as Interim Pastor of St John’s, Bishop Bruce is well known to Graham and to both congregations. The sermon was preached by the Very Revd Gerald Stranraer-Mull, Dean Emeritus of the diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney.

Many people commented on the inspirational music during the service, which included Howard Goodall’s anthem ‘Love Divine’ after communion and the Toccata by Charles Marie Widor as a closing voluntary. Our thanks go to Alison Grant as director of music and Robin Miller as organist.

This was the first time many clergy from the diocese had seen inside the church since its redevelopment, and they were impressed by the spacious interior which was enhanced by some beautiful floral arrangements.

After his institution Graham recognised the input from so many members of the congregation and thanked everyone who had played any part in enabling the service to be such an overwhelmingly positive occasion.

The service was followed by refreshments at the Royal George Hotel in Perth, which provided an opportunity for guests to mingle and share in fellowship.

The latest issue of Quest is now available for download as a PDF.

In this issue:

• Welcoming our new Rector
• Referendum Prayer
• Traidcraft Christmas Catalogue
• Commemorating the First World War

About twenty of us, young and old, travelled across to St Serf’s church, Comrie for a day together at the end of the school holidays. Our plans for a picnic outside were looking a little uncertain due to the weather but on arrival we found that Kate Sainsbury, St Serf’s Lay Reader, had thoughtfully rearranged the furniture so that we could picnic inside the church building. She showed us key points of interest in the building and told us a little about the activities that take place there.

After an informal time of fellowship over lunch Kate suggested that we walk the prayer labyrinth that is maintained in the glebe land next to their church and gave us leaflets about the history and purpose of labyrinths. Unlike a maze, a labyrinth has only one path which leads both into the centre and out again: there are no dead ends. Some people walk the labyrinth as an aid to contemplative prayer or reflection; others enjoy the physical experience of tracing the path as it twists and turns. Walking it as group also offers the experience of unexpected encounters as the path brings people close together for a moment before they move apart again. In many ways this experience mirrors life!

Taking advantage of the afternoon sunshine, Kate then guided many of us along the Lednock Millenium Footpath, a level all-ability path which leads alongside the River Lednock below Comrie Golf Course with informative panels on the area’s history and heritage. After pausing by a small dam where children and dogs were enjoying the water, we successfully negotiated steep steps to a viewpoint where we paused to enjoy the view before following a more gentle gradient back.

We all appreciated the opportunity to see a little of life in the diocese outside our own boundaries and all enjoyed our day out. We expressed our gratitude in a letter to Kate enclosing a small contribution to St Serf’s church funds.