Musings – September 2026

A Message from the Manse …

AUTUMN FALLS FAST … BUT IT’S NOT DOWNHILL FROM HERE !

September seems to have come round very quickly this year!  Schools are back in full swing and the season shifts into shut-down mode.  Everything around changes … leaves fall, flowers droop, temperatures drop, winds rise, days shorten.  After the joys of the Summer, the drudgery of routine kicks back in.

For the church, we start The Season Of Creation – a time when we celebrate the world around us, reflecting on the good things which surround us and how we are called to be stewards of those good things.  I know many of you were challenged by the screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing video which the Dunscore Church Eco Group put on.

This September we will hold HARVEST ALL Together on 13th with our service followed by a Bring & Share Lunch.  We thank God for the harvest and “all good things around us”.  Donations of food (tinned goods preferred) or money will go to help the work of the local Food Bank.  Join us to celebrate this ancient festival, as we mark the change of seasons together.

We then welcome Rev David Coleman (Chaplain for Eco-Congregation Scotland) to join us at a special CREATION CELEBRATION on 20th – a joint service with our friends from Glencairn & Moniaive.  David will bring his unique mix of wisdom, insight and song-writing to share with us the importance of caring for the world around us.  This is a reminder of the first job given to humans in the Bible, to work and take care of the Garden of Eden!

Our celebrations across September end with a great BLUEGRASS GOSPEL WORSHIP at St Ninian’s in Moniaive (part of the Moniaive Michaelmas Bluegrass Festival).  In the midst of the chaos, uncertainty, and complexities of life, we come together to give thanks for all the good things we have.

The Bible challenges us to have an attitude of gratitude, to consciously be grateful for the good, even in the face of the bad.  Many of the Psalms are written in the face of personal trauma, national crises, or general bewilderment at the state of the world, yet time and time again they remind the reader to give thanks, be grateful and re-focus on the good.  By doing this we can all begin to play our part in making the world a better place.

Autumn is about being ready, storing-up what is needed for the future, paring back and simplifying.  Are you ready to live simply so that others may simply live?  Are you looking beyond this life to what is still to come?  Is satisfying your wants outweighing, overwhelming, and frustrating the meeting of your basic physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs?

Join us on a celebratory journey through the maze that is life.

May God Bless you,

– REV MARK SMITH, DUNSCORE PARISH CHURCH