- Sunday 25 August
Services in the building at 9.30 am and 10.30 am (also live-streamed). The theme is ‘I miss you, please come home’ and the passage, Luke 15:11-32.
This is the subject and passage explored in chapter 2 of Lighting the Beacons by Jill Duff, the book the congregation has started reading together. Copies sold like hot cakes last week. More stock has arrived. They will be on sale at coffee priced £10 (RRP is £12.95) – card and cash accepted.
2) Kaleidoscope
The autumn edition of Kaleidoscope, the congregation’s magazine, will be available for you to collect on Sunday 1st of September.
3) Blister Pack Recycling.
Regretfully, the Operations Committee has decided to stop recycling blister packs. This photo explains why.
Someone brought these three bags from Edinburgh full of blister packs earlier this month for St Andrew Blackadder to recycle. Together they would fill two of the large recycling boxes we have been using. Each box costs the congregation £209. We buy them as needed. We don’t have the capacity to handle this amount of blister packs. And so, sadly, these bags were taken to the tip and disposed of.
This initiative has far exceeded anyone’s expectations. At current rates it is estimated it will cost the congregation £3000 per year – and on the evidence of the last 6 months, it will keep growing so the cost could exceed that. The Operations Committee does not think this is how your offerings should be spent. It is not convinced that this is the most cost effective way to encourage sustainability.
A final box for blister packs has already been paid for. Once it is filled up the slot in the office door will be closed and anymore blister packs will be put in the green bin and sent to landfill.
If you want to continue recycling blister packs, at the moment the simplest way tom do it is to purchase your own bag from https://zerowastebag.co.uk/?utm_source=News+Story&utm_medium=Press+Release&utm_id=Zero+Waste+Bag+Media+Launch. A small bag costs £25, a large one £39. This includes the cost of transport and recycling. You can also lobby East Lothian Council and/or local pharmacies to encourage them to provide blister pack recycling.
I for one am glad we tried this. It has made me aware of two things. First, working out the best way to live sustainably is complex. There are few simple answers. It nearly always involves weighing up the benefits and drawbacks of different options. Second, it’s shown that the costs of sustainability are significant. I now realize why no one else wants to recycle blister packs. The process of separating the different materials is expensive. So since, we all (individuals, congregation, community, nation) have a limited amount of money, how can we use it most effectively?
I hope you will talk to others about this decision and what has happened. I think this experience can help us as we each work out in practice what we can do to live sustainably.
4) Rev Eddie McKenna
Eddie was minister of St Andrew Blackadder from 1989 to 2002, when he moved to Aberdeen to serve a congregation. He retired from that charge last week and has moved to Scone. I spoke to him this week. He and Heather are well, are looking forward to this new chapter of life, and send greetings to the congregation.
5) Alison Dickson
Alison moved to a Nursing Home in Edinburgh a couple of years ago. She phoned me this week to express appreciation for the different people in the congregation who keep in touch by writing, phoning and visiting. If you would like her contact details you can get them from the church office.
6) Gather Worship Night
Organized by North Berwick Christian Fellowship, tonight, Friday 30 August at 7 pm in North Berwick High School.
7) Prayer Gatherings
Every Sunday in Prayer Room between 10 and 10.20 am
Every Monday in Room 1 between 10 and 11 am.
Every Wednesday on Zoom between for 30 minutes starting at 7 pm.
Please contact the office for log on details.
Neil
Rev Dr Neil Dougall
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