St Ternan's Scottish Episcopal Church

St Ternan's Scottish Episcopal Church St Ternan's Church, Muchalls is the oldest church and most northerly congregation in the Diocese of Brechin.(http://www.thedioceseofbrechin.org/)

St Ternan's Church in Muchalls is the oldest church building and most northerly congregation in the Diocese of Brechin.(http://www.thedioceseofbrechin.org/)

The Scottish Episcopal Church, of which St Ternan's is a member, is part of the world-wide Anglican Communion with seven historic dioceses covering the whole of Scotland bearing witness to faith today, and tracing a history back to the earliest known Christians in Scotland.

This quote is from a science fiction book call Triumphant by Jack Campbell. The story is about a fleet of space craft tr...
30/08/2026

This quote is from a science fiction book call Triumphant by Jack Campbell. The story is about a fleet of space craft trapped deep in enemy territory, surrounded by the enemy and having to fight their way out to safety. Life can feel that way sometimes, trapped with no way out, with the walls closing in. What the character in the book was explaining was that if you lose hope, you will never see the way out. If you have hope, then you will see that there is always a way out, a ways forwards. Jesus is that hope for us, for no matter how dark it may seem, Jesus will lead us on the path to salvation.

I sometimes hear the phrase "the Christian community" used to describe a group of believers. A community is simply a gro...
09/08/2026

I sometimes hear the phrase "the Christian community" used to describe a group of believers. A community is simply a group of people that share something, so the phrase is a reasonable description. However, by its very definition you are either inside or outside a community. God's community is all of God's people. The entirety of all creation. Every one of us, whether you believe or not. Nobody is outside of God's community. As Christians we need to think of ourselves as part of God's community and take the message of love and compassion to all.

I don't often dip into the Old Testament. I find the New Testament gives a clearer picture of God's message through Jesu...
02/08/2026

I don't often dip into the Old Testament. I find the New Testament gives a clearer picture of God's message through Jesus. However, I was recently reading some comments on a BBC story and all the different conflicting viewpoints got me thinking about the Tower of Babel. God saw what we could achieve when united. We had potential and then God stopped us. God created division.

Why was that I wonder? I think it was because we were not ready. Not mature enough as a species to handle the power of our potential. So, what should we do about that? We need to learn to live together. To see past the things that appear to separate us and see the things that unite us. We are all neighbours on the same planet. God didn't create a barrier, God created a hurdle, something for us to overcome and become better for it.

Frequently I will hear a song and hear the words of God in it. I think that is because love is a common theme in music a...
26/07/2026

Frequently I will hear a song and hear the words of God in it. I think that is because love is a common theme in music and love is a common theme in the bible. In the case of “Heaven is a Place on Earth” sung by Belinda Carlisle, the message lines up well. In heaven the wealth, power, and possessions that we accumulate on earth do not matter. It is love that matters. As followers of Jesus, we should be seeking to build the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth, to make this place we live, a place where love comes first.

Jesus was a radical. He was a pain in the rear-end to the church authorities of the time, who had become comfortable and...
19/07/2026

Jesus was a radical. He was a pain in the rear-end to the church authorities of the time, who had become comfortable and powerful. Jesus challenged that he preached a message of love and compassion for everyone. He didn’t care for the rules that humans had created around God’s creation. He put people at the centre of his message and his story. Sometimes it seems that the Church is back where is was, being the establishment, creating rules and structures. We need to remember what Jesus was about and be that new thing and put all the people at the centre of the story.

I saw this quote from Isaiah on my Facebook feed the other day and when I read it in my head, I found myself singing it ...
12/07/2026

I saw this quote from Isaiah on my Facebook feed the other day and when I read it in my head, I found myself singing it to the Friends theme tune. While these two pieces were written thousands of years apart the theme is the same. We can't go through life alone. We need friends to help and support us. God is there for us, all the time, come rain or shine, unwavering in support for us. God reaches out to us in many ways, we can meet God in prayer, or we can meet him through other people. Sometimes we are the people the others meet God through. No matter the interaction, when we show care and love for our fellow humans, we are doing God’s work.

St Paul had his epiphany on the road to Damascus, which seems to have been a very sudden and absolute experience, leavin...
05/07/2026

St Paul had his epiphany on the road to Damascus, which seems to have been a very sudden and absolute experience, leaving no room for doubt. For the rest of us, faith does always come like that. It can be a slower process, starting with a sense of something missing and from that faith grows at its own pace. We all take different paths, but much like the journey to Damascus, it starts with a first step.

I love the words “inexpressible and glorious joy” in this bible quote. It sums up faith perfectly for me. It is glorious...
28/06/2026

I love the words “inexpressible and glorious joy” in this bible quote. It sums up faith perfectly for me. It is glorious, no doubt about it, but no amount of words on a screen can describe it. You need to experience it for yourself. So, though you cannot see God, believe in God and see where it takes you.

I was looking for a way to finish off an address the other day when I came across these words. I found a video on YouTub...
21/06/2026

I was looking for a way to finish off an address the other day when I came across these words. I found a video on YouTube, where Elvis uses these words to introduce a song he is about to sing. The words are a paraphrase of a song by Hank Williams. The words talk about how we can never really understand another person’s perspective if we don’t have their experiences. If we haven’t lived their life. If we haven’t felt their pain. If we haven’t been excluded or marginalised. How can we judge their actions? The short answer is we can’t. If our experiences separate us, then the verse reminds us of one thing we share. We were all created equal by the same God. God loves us all, God accepts us all, God is there for us all. It’s good to remind ourselves of that.

These words are from 1st Corinthians 12, written by St Paul. The passage talks about unity and diversity in the church. ...
14/06/2026

These words are from 1st Corinthians 12, written by St Paul. The passage talks about unity and diversity in the church. It emphasizes the idea that we are all different. That we are not somehow less because we are not the same. Taking the idea of a real body, Paul asks if the foot is somehow not part of the body because it is not a hand. The body is made up of lots of different parts. All equally important. In fact, Paul points out the body cannot be without the parts. He asks if the whole body were an eye, how would it hear. It seems to me the Paul had a good handle on the things that still trouble us today. Let’s take a moment to remember that we are all one body and if we seek to exclude parts, we are all somehow less. When any part is honoured, let us rejoice.

Address

Muchalls
AB393PP

Telephone

+441224784080

Website

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