We are streaming our Sunday Services via YouTube 

A Church of Scotland congregation, we are based in Greenbank Parish Church which is situated on the southern outskirts of Glasgow. As well as Sunday Services we have a large number of activities in the church and halls throughout the week.

On these pages you will find a list of organisations, and some of the services we offer. We invite you to join us if you’re in Clarkston at any time.

For some in our postmodern society even matters of faith are about individual choice. Yet, does that way of thinking really provide a framework for understanding the world? What about all the experiences of life which we would not and could not choose? Does such thinking provide any guidance for healthy living or for making the most difficult choices we face? How do we make choices such as whether we consent to that potentially life-saving but risky operation, or whether and when it may be best for a parent or a spouse to be cared for, or what is best for our church?

If God is the telling influence in our lives then that will be reflected in the way we make decisions and choices, large and small. So, how can we attune ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s guidance through the process which Christians call discernment? Clearly, we may spend a life-time learning about discernment, and yet there is much we can say about it. The Book of Deuteronomy takes the form of three long speeches of Moses addressed to the elders and people just as they are about to cross the river Jordan and enter the Promised Land. What Moses says in these speeches helpfully emphasises that the God whose guidance we seek is not distant but in our midst. Not far away in the sky watching us coldly from a distance but here with us and within us.

Friends, we can find God’s guidance in scripture and in the church, through other people and events, and in the silence of our own hearts. It is our job to become sensitive to the promptings of this God who is everywhere to be found, in all aspects of our lives – in the external world around us but also in our inner world of feelings, dreams, fears and aspirations. The God in our midst who does not leave us alone, but is God present with us, even in our very hearts.

When we are seeking God’s guidance for our lives, when we face decisions and choices, it helps to remember the wisdom of these words given to us in Deuteronomy: “The commandment that I lay on you this day is not too difficult for you, it is not too remote. It is a thing very near to you, on your lips and in your heart ready to be kept.”

With love and blessings,

Rev Ruth Halley (Locum Minister)