Gorebridge Parish Church

29/08/2026

This week our church will host the gathering of Faith Curran's family and friends. This precious 11 year old girl died after an accident in the Gore Glen. Along with all the generations who have gone before us we deal with the ultimate questions of life and death and what, if anything, follows. Stood atop the Shank Bridge where flowers, soft toys and messages of condolence have been left in memory of Faith I was struck by the tragedy and sense of loss felt by many in our community at this time. I was also filled with the conviction that in those last moments Jesus was there. He is the one who holds the keys to death and hell, he is the one whose body was broken that we might be healed.

This week in the book of Hebrews we will be meditating of the crowning of Jesus, that he experienced death that we might not have to. We go through physical death but what happens after us is profoundly changed because of his presence in our fall, in our dying to self and in rising to new life. May the radiance of God's glory, our precious Jesus, fill our worship tomorrow and a warm welcome back to everyone who has been waiting for techs of God to arise and restore the livestream. I look forward to joining with you tomorrow.

Welcome back to our livestream with our second week in the book of ...

22/08/2026

Hebrews. That is the answer to where we are going next. The question is how can we follow up meaningfully on our season in Isaiah? Hebrews is an amazing book. It is fully of imagery, Jesus our Great High Priest, the anchor of hope holding behind the veil of the Temple, faith as the substance of things unseen, Moses' house and many others. All of this is sketched on the broad sweep of salvation history, of creation and fall, of Israel and worship, of Jesus and the inbreaking of the fulfillment of every promise God makes to his people, the fulfillment of the promises made in the great prophetic books like Isaiah.

We will learn about our Jewish roots, we will see the challenges faced by the early church which we share in, we will have new, deeper and refreshed understandings of the greatest of God's acts in our world through Jesus and we will be challenged to stand up and be counted in our time, our place, our generation. There are warnings alongside the promises for the wise to heed.

Though we don't know who wrote Hebrews' 13 chapters, we know that they were Jewish, that they were active in the early church, that they probably knew the teaching of Paul, that they had interacted with the eye witnesses who shared Jesus' teaching of the Kingdom. And this author had joined with his disciples going out into the world to terraform it, to reshape it in Jesus' name and likeness.

And that is where we find ourselves here in Gorebridge, Temple and beyond... sharing the reality of Jesus' love and presence with a barely aware world full of family and neighbours too busy with other things. Then in the midst of it all the radiance of God's glory (1.3) appears by his Spirit, and is experienced through his people, his body on Earth. So bring your Bibles. Open your hearts. Ready your bodies. Engage your minds. Tomorrow we worship together.

15/08/2026

For those of you with a long memory you might remember me showing Isaiah using a structure where the really important part of what he has to say is in the middle, not at the end of the passage where we expect it. The last chapter of Isaiah, chapter 66, is really an extention of God's words in the previous chapter. Read them, it is well worth it. But we have a more important passage to visit tomorrow. It is in the middle of the book. For our Isaiah finale I want to go back to one of these. We find it in Isaiah 43.

Many of us know the opening of this chapter by heart,

Do not be afraid for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, you are mine.
Isaiah 43.1

The Lord continues - water and fire won't harm his chosen people, they are safe in his keeping. Whatever happens his presence with them is assured. He's got them. This is the core message of Isaiah, that God's love is so fierce that nothing can separate them from the love of God. That is the ultimate assurance and it is given to Jerusalem ahead of their exile. No matter what happens the destiny of the faithful is sure. They will be redeemed. Indeed they are already redeemed.

Paul assures us this is true for us too. What was promised to the Jews is true for us too through Jesus.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8.38-39

It is through Jesus, the suffering servant who gives up his life to redeem us prophesied in Isaiah 53 that we are made children of God, the same Jesus yet lives again and will "see his offspring" (v10). Through him we become children of God (John 1.12).

When we say to God "here I am, send me" (Isaiah 6.8) we are safe, whatever floods or fires we pass through. Through Isaiah the story of the Gospel is foretold in all its cosmic majesty. This is so clear that when the Ethiopian official reads these words in the Judaen wilderness, at least 600 years after they were written, Philip could point him to his rabbi Jesus, Immanuel, God with us (Isaiah 7.14) lived, died and rose again to redeem him, and baptise him in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit.

We get to bathe in the wonder of this as we worship together tomorrow, held in the reality of his love, his life restoring, purpose defining, future remaking love. For we are called by name, we are his.

11/08/2026

🌸 Get it in your diary! 🌸

Our Flourishing Women’s Conference is returning this year for another amazing day of great company, worship, inspiring teaching, meaningful discussions and so much more! 💕✨

📅 Saturday 26th September 2026
⏰ 9:30am–4pm
📍 Gorebridge Parish Church
🎟️ Tickets £20

We’d love to see you there! 🤗💕
To book, email: [email protected]
or text: 07969 269795

24/07/2026

23/07/2026

Good morning!!

A reminder we are showing the film “David” tonight! (find trailer attached)
7pm, entry by donation.
We look forward to seeing you there! 😁

Now Streaming: https://www.angel.com/guild/join/david Listen to D...

18/07/2026

Stage'n'Slam Midlothian has now taken place and what a week it has been. My heartfelt thanks to Joel and the team along with our Exodus volunteers from Northern Ireland. In addition thank to everyone joined Maria in prayer. The Prayer Room is amazing. Tomorrow you will find out how many young people stood up to say "yes!" to Jesus for themselves. We hope some of them will be joining with us.

So we gather as a church family to give thanks, to pray for those who have come to faith and to hear a word from an unexpected preacher! We will also be interviewing the oldest couple on the Stage'n'Slam team. All will be revealed tomorrow! See you there and come ready to give thanks.

Also this coming Thursday 23rd July at 7pm there will be another film night @ GPC, Angel Studio's animated story of "David". A family film you can watch the trailer here:

Now Streaming: https://www.angel.com/guild/join/david Listen to D...

11/07/2026

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me.." Isaiah 61.1

As the team prepare to lead Stage'n'Slam 2026 we will be commissioning the team and praying for the week to come through the lens of the most amazing passages in Isaiah 61 and 62. Praying with the scriptures is a wonderful way to embed God's Word in the everyday and to see his Kingdom come and his will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.

So come ready to pray, to trust for what is not yet, that once a again young people who do not know Jesus will meet him. What an amazing church family we have. But there is always room for more. See you there!

04/07/2026

"Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save." So we read in Isaiah 59 as the Lord speaks to Jerusalem about his faithfulness, the covenant of Word and Spirit he has made with them and what he will do in the midst of wicked world to rescue them. However that brazen rebellion is present among his people and there will be a process of refining, an exile in Babylon to endure.

Ultimately God's people will learn that they are incapable of keeping the covenant God made with them through Abraham and through Moses on Sinai. They will need someone to keep the law for them, someone to fulfill that covenant of grace offered to them, someone who will put on the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of truth and fight on their behalf (v17) and then call those who put their trust in him to do the same (Ephesians 6.10-18). But this will take a reformation of the heart. Jesus aludes to in his story of the Pharisee and the tax collector ( Luke 18.9-14) Each one of us must go through this ourselves. Our pride must be unseated.

All of this speaks of the Father's desire that we are embeded in the Messiah even as his Spirit is in us, enfolded in the Being that breathed all being into existence. That is the reality of Jesus' love. That is what we are called to live in. And from that place we engage in the Great Commission to be disciples who encourage others into that same life giving Life. As we give thanks for Edinburgh Stage'n'Slam and prepare for Midlothian Stage'n'Slam here in Gorebridge, as we prepare brothers and sisters to go through the waters of Baptism, as we have engaged with the truths that bring us Freedom in Christ, let us remind one another that life in all its fulness, living water and the refiring of the Spirit are all here for us to partake and be restored into the likeness of Jesus. And in doing so we will know that saving arm of the Lord reaching out and embracing each one of us. Join with us as we are joined with Him.

27/06/2026

The Story of Everything, a film event @ GPC, Thursday 9th July, 7.00pm

The Story of Everything is a cinematic exploration of the cosmos that reveals the hidden hand behind our universe. From the precise laws that govern the stars to the intricate patterns found in every living cell, the film traces evidence of intentional design throughout nature. Whether examining distant star-forming clouds or the spiral structure of DNA, we discover a consistent signature woven into the fabric of existence. Entry will be by donation.

The Story of Everything is a cinematic exploration of the cosmos th...