Join us in prayer – this Sunday 9th May
This Sunday, Christians across the country – and further afield – will once again join together in prayer and reflection at 7pm in response to the pandemic.
We pray
Living God,
You call us to love because we have first of all been loved.
May we know that love abides in you
And is expressed in your love for the world.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
You call us to love because we have first of all been loved.
May we know the depth of your love
In the contemplation of the life and death and resurrection of your Son.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
You call us to love because we have first of all been loved.
May we hear the call to live by a new commandment
And so bear the mark of a disciple.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
You call us to love because we have first of all been loved.
May we know what it is to be embraced and affirmed
And called a friend of the One who has given his life for us.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
You call us to love because we have first of all been loved.
May we, who have been embraced and affirmed,
Reach out to the lonely that they might know true friendship.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
You call us to love because we have first of all been loved.
May we know the abiding presence of your love
In the life we share in the community of the Risen and Ascended Lord.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Sunday Eucharist
Our Sunday Eucharistic Service are premiered on Sundays on our YouTube channel at 11am.
Sunday May 9th https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zem8Q7DypA
Little sanitised pots of more consecrated communion wafers are available in the church porch. Please let us know if you can’t get there.
DVDs and CDs of the services are available for anyone who has no internet access. Just let us know.
Wednesday morning services are all in church at 11am. Please remember that you will need to sign in on the doodle poll and this will change each week.
Doodle poll for Wednesday 12th May at 11am. https://doodle.com/poll/zm4eryer7z67x83x?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link
LET’S TALK ABOUT CLIMATE EMERGENCY – MAY 2021: PLASTIC. FANTASTIC?
The “Let’s Talk” topic for this month is plastic; in the middle of the 20th Century plastic was greeted as the solution to so many perceived problems – cheap, versatile, waterproof and durable. However this durability is the root of its own problem. Vast quantities of plastic material finishes up in our rivers and oceans where it eventually breaks down into microplastics and enters the food chain. Indeed most human beings already have microplastic traces in our bodies from the food we eat!
Happily there is a growing recognition of this issue and many supermarkets are actively promoting the use of paper or reusable nylon bags. God wrapped bananas and other fruit in their own skins so there is really no need to add a further layer of plastic packaging.
You may not think that you wear clothes made from plastic but many fabrics contain a mixture of acrylic or polyethylene; have a good look at the label.
QUESTIONS: Are there any plastic items that you would find difficult to do without?
How do you feel about the use of plastics in medical settings such as for PPE? What other issues about the use of plastic did you encounter as a result of the pandemic?
Should we stop using all plastic items or only new plastic items? Should we replace our plastic lunch boxes and cups with metal or bamboo ones?
ECOCONGREGATION Scotland – Gathering and AGM 2021
This took place on the morning of Saturday 24th April on Zoom as last year, attended by over 120 people. After an opening reflection by the EcoCong Chaplain, David Coleman, Mary Sweetland took the Chair and welcomed everyone. The first guest speaker was Rev James Bhagwan of the Pacific Conference of Churches with a recorded video from Fiji on the impact of climate change on Pacific islands. Then Kat Jones, COP26 Project Manager for Stop Climate Chaos Scotland spoke about plans for events taking place in Glasgow in November, details of which will be available on the “Climate Fringe” website. EcoCongregation Scotland’s website also contains a monthly COP26 update commencing this month which includes ideas on how churches can get involved whether in the Glasgow area or not. Other speakers included Dave Pearson from Star Renewable Energy telling about a new heat pump project on the River Clyde and Jane Herbstritt from the campaign group Global Justice Now; her message was that a “return to normal” after Covid cannot be expected because “normal” was part of the problem.
The formal AGM followed in which Mary Sweetland apologised that some subscription cheques last year had got lost in the post! Nevertheless in 2020 income exceeded expenditure by over £8,000 mainly due to reduced travelling due to Covid (2019 having shown a £4,000 deficit). The treasurer, Mark Kilbride who lives in Orkney, is standing down so a new treasurer is being sought. During the year two gold, four silver and two bronze awards have been given. A new category of individual membership is being introduced.
The zoom technology worked quite well but let’s hope next year we can have a “live” meeting!
Post Pentecost Zoom Study on transition time – led by Rev'd Andrew Cooper (St John's Episcopal Church, Jedburgh)
It will be loosely based on The Space Between: The disruptive seasons we want to hide from and why we need them by Rev Mark Bradford.
The Space Between: The disruptive seasons we want to hide from, and wh – BRFonline
Reading the book is not really necessary as I will bounce ideas from it but it’s not a bad thing either... its only £10 from BRF.
I think it could be an engaging starting point to share ideas, concerns and questions as we begin the transition into a post pandemic world.
More details from the Rev'd Andrew Cooper stjohnsjedburgh@outlook.com
God’s invitation to relationship (an introduction to ways of praying)
A four-week short prayer course to support people into a deeper prayer life through
– facilitators’ input (all trained spiritual directors with the Epiphany Group)
– guided prayer experience
– sharing
Outline
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General introduction to prayer, stilling and examen
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Praying with Scripture – Lectio Divina
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Imaginative prayer
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Praying with art
Next Course on Zoom
Wednesdays 7.00 -8.30 pm: 2nd , 9th, 16th , 23rd June
Follow-up sessions: 30th June & 7th July
Enquiries: Contact: Pirjo Little
waysofpraying@epiphanygroup.org.uk
Prayer
The Scottish Episcopal church puts up the official liturgy for daily prayer online every day - Morning prayer, evening prayer and compline are arranged each day for that particular day.
Choral Evensong online
Available whenever you want it. https://www.choralevensong.org/uk/where-and-when-are-evensongs-streamed-online-around-britain-and-ireland.php
Online Services for Children
Diocesan service from St. Mungos Balerno. Join us for Mighty Mungo’s focused on families and primary age at 10am Sundays. Every week our team are producing high quality resources for our families to engage with as we seek to support our kids in this season. Our resources are here: https://stmungos.org/ Look down the page for Children and Youth and select Pre-school video resources or Primary video resources or Youth video resources
Provincial Children’s Chapel - You can join this week’s Children’s Chapel from 8am at: https://www.scotland.anglican.org/broadcast-sunday-worship/ scroll down to Children’s Chapel and choose either Facebook or Youtube
Other Sunday options for worship
The Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) is broadcasting video coverage of Eucharistic services via its website, social media channels and YouTube channel. The web page for the broadcast is located at www.scotland.anglican.org/broadcast-sunday-worship .
For those who are not online the Archbishop of Canterbury has set up a Freephone Daily Hope service of hymns, prayers and readings. It is available 24 hours a day on 0800 8048044
Prayer resources on Television and Radio on Sundays
On BBC 1 Scotland Reflections from the Quay at 11:15am this week.
On BBC Scotland at 12 noon a service of worship.
Songs of Praise is at 1:15pm on BBC 1 this week.
New Every Sunday is on at 7.30am on Radio Scotland
Sunday Worship is at 8.10am on Radio 4. The latter two will both be available afterwards on BBC Sounds
The Communicant
The latest issue of the diocesan newsletter is now available to download here file:///C:/Users/patbl/Downloads/05-05-21.pdf
Among other things, it includes the latest Diocesan Youth and Children’s Newsletter where “there's a snapshot of some of the exciting and creative ways we celebrated Easter, and a round-up of latest news and resources. For teenagers in your church, there is long-awaited news of the Provincial Youth Week! ”
Please tell us about your news and events. Simply complete the details on the form and submit to the Communications Team for publication. Please complete all boxes and ensure information is as accurate and complete as possible.