March 23, 2025
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.
We have created a mini-website to keep everyone up to date with the latest news and updates on the progress of our Legacy project, and our fundraising efforts.
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A message from our Minister
Dear Friends,
I was watching a Hollywood blockbuster recently in which the main character was a kind of government spy. He was quite a character whose life was a story of broken relationships, complications and tensions. He saw himself as a ‘professional’ and he was portrayed as a bit of a maverick. Always out on a limb, he seemed to be up against the establishment, getting the job done by colouring outside the lines. Yet he always came out on top in the end and was proved to be right. He rescued the good guys and destroyed the bad guys. He was the kind of hero who knew that violence is necessary and that if the good guys are to be saved then the world needs people like him. He knew that it is important to get your retaliation in first, to use whatever weapons you have, to be cunning and ruthless and save the world from the bad guys. I’m sure you recognise that kind of 21st century screen hero.
However, have you ever asked yourself, as I did, how this screen hero was different from the bad guys he wanted to eliminate? In what way was this hero a hero I asked myself. Well, I did come up with few suggestions. He was stronger, faster, fitter and he was better looking. His character was played by a famous actor. After that I was struggling. He operated outside of the law, and just like the bad guys, he used violence, cruelty and force. He deceived people, trusted no-one, and in a nail-biting car chase he recklessly drove vehicles off the road and smashed others. In short, there was havoc and violence everywhere he went – just like the bad guys. The
only way in which this hero was really any different was that he was on the ‘right’ side – at least that was what the film seemed to be suggesting. But, are there really two sides in life, black and white, good guys and bad guys? Do the ends justify the means and can we really be saved by violence?
These are important questions for us because they are not just about Hollywood blockbusters. They are about world events like the situation in Gaza. On 5 February the Secretary General of the United Nations made a statement about the right of Palestinians to live in their own land. He stated that nothing justifies the horrific Hamas attacks of 7 October nor the catalogue of destruction and unspeakable horrors we have seen unfold in Gaza over the last months. The nearly 50,000 people – 70% of them women and children -who have been reported killed.
My friends, the question of whether violence can save us is a pressing one in terms of world events, and it is also one we need to ask ourselves in our everyday lives and the way we treat those around us. ls it okay to do bad things so long as we know it is in a good cause? Jesus said: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Rev Ruth Halley (Locum Minister)
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