FROM THE RECTOR
Scottish Churches Joint Call to Prayer
A prayer from the Scottish Church Leaders Forum in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
Living God,
Creator and giver of life to all people:
We ask that you would hear our prayer for peace amongst the nations And for ending of conflict in Ukraine.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
Who shall judge between the nations:
We ask that that you would lead the nations in the paths of peace And that the dividing wall of hostility would be broken down.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
Who has inspired faith across the ages:
Grant peace in the midst of war
And bring harmony to the commonwealth of nations.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
Who gave his only Son that we might have life:
We ask that you would pour out your Holy Spirit And inspire in us hope that peace will be renewed.
Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
A prayer for Ukraine from World Vision
Heavenly Father, hear our prayers for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.
Lord, we ask for peace for those who need peace, reconciliation for those who need reconciliation and comfort for all who don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Lord may your Kingdom come, and Your will be done.
Lord God, we ask for you to be with all – especially children who are suffering as the crisis in Ukraine deteriorates. Lord, for those who are anxious and fearful. For those who are bereaved, injured or who have lost their lives. And for those who have lost loved ones. Lord, hear our prayers.
Bishop of Edinburgh Lent Appeal 2023
In the Scottish Episcopal Church we believe it is a priority to provide high-quality training to form the next generation of church leaders. We recognize how important it is to resource our Scottish Episcopal Institute and we are proud of its success. At the Lambeth Conference last year, I discovered that this is a priority shared right across the Anglican Communion, but many Provinces struggle to find a consistent funding stream for their Seminaries and Theological Colleges.
My appeal this Lent is in support of St Nicholas’ Seminary in Cape Coast, Ghana. Cape Coast is our partner diocese and I had the great joy of visiting the Seminary when I attended Bishop Victor’s enthronement 10 years ago. The Dean of the Seminary, Joseph Bain-Doodu, was in the UK last year so I learned first-hand of his struggle to provide excellent training with limited and erratic funding sources.
This water filtration project seems to me to be a wonderful example of self-help. I commend it to you and ask for your generous support. I know that the cost-of-living crisis is hitting many of us hard just now, but I hope, nevertheless, that by pooling our generosity we may help to sustain the life of a church, far away in geographical terms, but close to us within the life of Christ.
As Joseph explains, a comparatively small amount of money (for us) can make a big difference for the ongoing life of the church in West Africa.
+John
Water Filtration Project, St Nicholas Seminary, Cape Coast Ghana
St. Nicholas Seminary has been training clergy since 1975. It is the only active seminary in the Province of West Africa (which includes Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, the Gambia, and Cameroon). Alongside our own ordinands, we have also trained ministers and lay pastors for the Methodist and Pentecostal Churches in Ghana and Ivory Coast.
Over the years, we have trained over 500 priests and currently there are 40 students in training. We have four full-time lecturers, eight adjunct lecturers and ten non-teaching staff. We are affiliated to the University of Cape Coast and run programmes in Bachelor of Theology, Diploma in Theology, Diploma in Ministry, Certificate in Ministry and Certificate in Anglican Studies.
The Problem
Each diocese is expected to pay for its own ordinands, but some cannot afford to do so. With the ever-increasing cost of goods and services, alongside ongoing economic challenges, our budget is constantly in deficit. Sometimes, indeed, we are unable to feed our students or to pay our utility bills and must send our students home abruptly. This lack of financial sustainability makes it hard to attract and retain staff, and almost impossible to renovate and maintain our buildings.
An Idea
With all this in mind, we have come up with an innovative idea that will generate regular income and so offer us financial stability. There is a need for
clean water in Cape Coast, so we plan to establish a water filtration plant. This purified water will be sold to schools, university students and the general public.
The machinery will cost 187,250 Ghana Cedis – approximately £12,200.
We know this is a lot of money, but we hope you will feel able to support us this Lent. Once in full production we would expect our plant to bring in over £9000 a year. You will be helping us to help ourselves, as we seek to provide consistent care for staff and students and to prepare labourers to reap God's harvest for many years to come.
The Venerable Joseph Justice Bain-Doodu, Acting Dean, St Nicholas’ Seminary, Cape Coast
Bishop of Edinburgh Lent Appeal 2023
How to donate:
All the details for online donations will be posted on this page on our website:
https://edinburgh.anglican.org/2023/02/bishops-lent-appeal-2023/
(Under menu item “News & Issues
Holy Trinity
Eco-Congregation
An EcoCongregation respects the whole of God’s creation, encouraging its members to be mindful of humanity’s responsibility towards the natural world and the harm that we continue to inflict on the planet. Holy Trinity has been registered as an EcoCongregation since 2012, achieving Silver Award status in 2018. While the EcoCongregation movement is ecumenical, in Scotland it is administered through the Church of Scotland office in George Street, Edinburgh. There are currently some 20 registered EcoCongregations in the Central Borders, including St Cuthbert’s across the street.
At Holy Trinity our EcoCongregation activities involve a team of around half-a-dozen folk who meet periodically for discussion and to seek projects which benefit the natural world around the church precincts and beyond. We also work closely with other organisations with similar aims such as Greener Melrose. We are anxious to expand the team and to bring in some fresh faces and fresh ideas! The commitment is as little or as much as you want. If you love creation and want to help please have a chat with Ian Skinner (01835 822823). He’s waiting to hear from you.
Church cleaners 'still' needed
As we are now having more regular services in church it would be really helpful to have a few more volunteers for the church cleaning rota. If you feel you can help with this please contact via holytrinitymelrose.sec@gmail.com Thank you.
Recycle your soft plastic
The Co-op has introduced soft plastic recycling units to many of its stores including Melrose. Just scrunch your plastic packaging up tight and, if it pings back, it’s soft plastic. Please ensure it is clean before recycling it. And, if you’re not in Melrose, check where your nearest participating store is here https://www.coop.co.uk/environment/soft-plastics#find_your_nearest_recycling_store
USED POSTAGE STAMP APPEAL
This year’s stamp appeal will be on behalf of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, and will support pastors in Lebanon. There is a box in the porch for used stamps which we pass to a local Church of Scotland. Many thanks.
Old Melrose Guided Walks
These are on the first Tuesday of each month until October.
These walks visit the site of the original 7th Century Anglo-Celtic monastery founded, along with Lindisfarne, by Irish monks from Iona. Some of these are depicted on the capital of Holy Trinity’s south transept pillar.
We meet outside the Old Melrose Tearoom (off the A68) at 1.30 pm and pre-booking is essential; phone Ian Skinner. Donation £2, kids free.
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. https://www.scotland.anglican.org/spirituality/prayer/daily-offices
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
PRAYER RESOURCES ON TELEVISION AND RADIO THIS WEEK
New Every Sunday is at 7.30am BBC Radio Scotland.
This week we’re simply told “Acts of worship from different churches around Scotland”.
Songs of Praise is on Sunday at 1.15pm on BBC1.
Faith and Philanthropy
Aled Jones visits Bournville to explore the faith and philanthropy of the Cadbury family, whose Quaker beliefs guided the creation of their revolutionary factory village.
Sunday Worship is on BBC Radio 4 at 8.10am.
New life, new hope, a new future
Live from the chapel of Rugby School, where Young Chorister of the Year Naomi is a choir member.
List of all BBC programmes on Religion and Ethics
These are very varied and cater for all tastes
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/genres/religionandethics/all
Online resources
The web page for the Scottish Episcopal Church broadcasts is located at www.scotland.anglican.org/broadcast-sunday-worship.
The latest issue of the Diocesan Newsletter is now available to download at
https://edinburgh.anglican.org/publications/the-communicant/
RSCM are putting up words and music of a new hymn to sing along to each day. Have a look here and scroll down on the right for the latest one. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn-vhbQASCJhW_Gz8Fww32Nmy_XuCQmNl
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 – Is taking a break. They were due back ‘in August’ but still no sign of them. Normally, you can join the 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
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
The present series of BBC 1 Scotland’s Reflections at the Quay, the BBC Scotland service at 12noon and New Every Sunday have now finished, though several previous programmes are still available as podcasts. We will update when they return.
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