Dear Friends,How many different congregations are there in St. Andrews? There are three kirks – and if you include Dunino, Cameron and Strathkinness which belong to the St. Andrews’ Cluster, there are six.In addition, there are two Episcopal...
Read More15th August 2021: Letter from the Locum Minister Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends,As many of you will know, last week I travelled to the South of England to conduct the funeral of a very close friend. I had known Hazel for 44 years and her home was my second home when I lived in the south. She had been ill for...
Read More1st August 2021: Letter from the Locum Minister Rev Marion Paton
Dear FriendsAddressing a letter to friends is always a privilege, and every week as I write to you, it is very special to be able to call everyone who will receive this letter, whether here in St Andrews or halfway across the world, a friend. But...
Read More25th July 2021: Letter from the Locum Minister Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends,‘Father, we thank thee for these thy gifts. Bless them to our use and ourselves to thy service for Christ’s sake. Amen’. So began every meal in my childhood home, and I can still hear my father saying grace when we sat down to eat...
Read More18th June 2021: letter from the Locum Minister Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends,I have just finished writing this week’s service and, as usual, my last job was to insert the hymns into the script to go out by email. In order to save time, I use a website and copy the words of the hymns. But many of you will have...
Read More11th June 2021: Letter from the Locum Minister Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends,Talking to a friend the other evening, I remarked on the fact that it was quite difficult to write a letter every week to go out with the emailed service, and that what I was going to say this week was still something of a mystery...
Read More4th June 2021: Letter from the Locum Minister Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends,One evening, just before the great Music Hall star Mary Martin was about to go on stage in ‘South Pacific’, a note was handed to her. It was from Oscar Hammerstein who at that moment was on his deathbed. It read: ‘Dear Mary, a bell...
Read More27th June 2021: letter from the Locum Minister Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends,When I lived in Dundee, my study window gave me a wonderful panoramic view over the city to the River Tay. I could see the boats going up and down the river, and away in the distance Newport and Wormit. With my binoculars I could...
Read More20th June 2021: letter from the Locum Minister Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends,This Sunday in Holy Trinity we shall welcome two more little children into our Christian family by Baptism. It is always a joy to celebrate and to welcome new life into our fellowship. We hear parents and godparents making vows about...
Read More6th June 2021: letter from the Locum Minister Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends,Whatever happened to a pen and paper and face to face meetings? We are now living in a digital age which is supposed to make everything easier. And of course, contacting all of you in this way is much easier, as is sharing our...
Read More30th May 2021: letter from the Locum Minister Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends,As we are gradually and carefully being released from the restrictions that Covid has placed upon us, it has been interesting to talk to people who have found this whole period very testing. There have been those who could not wait...
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