Call to Prayer

Once again, this Sunday (29th November), Christians across Scotland will join in prayer at 7pm in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We come now to a significant place in the long journey that we have made over these past months and the place we have come to is where the season of Advent begins.

The season speaks of Hope and, though it begins with a recognition that we still face the darkness, brings with it the promise of light. The first Sunday in Advent will, in years past, have echoed to the singing of ancient and inspiring words:

O come, O come, Immanuel/and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here/until the Son of God appear.
The words express the longing of the people of God to know the coming of God amongst them. In anticipation of this promise being fulfilled, the people of God sing out:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
shall come to you O Israel.

In our hearts, the promise still resonates and so we await the coming of God. Indeed, we may say that the season of Advent is a season of waiting and anticipation and one that yields the promise of God: ‘From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.’ (Isaiah 64: 4) We wait and we pray.”

We pray:

God of the Advent promise,
We come on our journey to the place where the promise is renewed.
Even in the darkness,
We look for the light of your presence to be revealed.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

 

God of the Advent promise,
We come on our journey to the place where hope is renewed.
Even in the midst of all that we have faced in times past,
We trust in the hope that does not disappoint.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

 

God of the Advent promise,
We come on our journey to the place where we must wait for a time.
Even though we have waited in times past,
We gladly do so again trusting that our waiting shall yield the coming of God.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

 

God of the Advent promise,
We come on our journey to the place of anticipation.
Even though we do not yet see,
We anticipate the good gift that you will offer.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

 

God of the Advent promise,
We come on our journey to the place where we resolve to journey on. .
Even though we have travelled through hard times,
We go forward, trusting in the promise: Immanuel, shall come to us.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Postage stamps

The 2020 World Mission Postage Stamp Appeal is on behalf of the Women’s Development Centre at Kandy, Sri Lanka. This provides support and training for women and girls who have experienced abuse or domestic violence, enabling them to lead safe and productive lives. Our stamps are collected through a local Church of Scotland and are greatly appreciated. As we approach Christmas and cards start arriving don’t forget to save the stamps, leaving a small margin around each, and drop them into the recycling box in the porch (preferably in an envelope). Thanks. Ian.

Let’s talk about climate emergency – December 2020

‘A low carbon Christmas’

Although Christmas 2020 will certainly be different it remains a wonderful time of the year, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus and the coming of the Light into the world. The streets are decorated with coloured lights and the shops are filled with all sorts of things that advertisers suggest you must buy to make your Christmas perfect. Crackers, cards, wrapping paper, fancy string, tinsel, decorations, tree lights…Not much of these are able to be reused so will end up in the landfill bin. Many of these Christmas “essentials” contain a lot of plastic and can’t be recycled.

 And as for food – there will be no big Christmas parties this year but most of us do go a bit over the top when stocking up for the festive season; we will soon reach the limits of imaginative ideas for leftover turkey and sprouts.

QUESTIONS: Do Christmas presents need to be brand new? Would you consider giving something second-hand/used/refurbished? How would you feel about receiving one?

Maria von Trapp sang in praise of “Brown paper packages tied up with string” – do you really need so much glitzy Christmas paper and yards of sellotape? Would brown paper not do instead?

What changes could you make to the kind of things you buy to use at Christmas in order to reduce your carbon footprint?

How will you deal with leftovers from Christmas dinner? What are your favourite leftover dishes?

Ruth’s Fundraising for John Khonje's training to be an occupational therapist 

​

Fund raising has been more challenging over the last few months but in August I started to bake fresh bread and scones and have them available in our front porch, together with jam, chutney and greetings cards, on Wednesdays and Saturdays for people to help themselves for a small donation. We are at Langsyne in Lindean and all are welcome to pop by without compromising social distancing or coming in! 

Sunday Eucharist

Our Sunday Eucharistic Service are premiered on Sundays on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/holytrinitymelrose   at 11am. 

​

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.

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

Diocesan Online Services for Younger Children

From David Lyons and the team at St Mungo's Balerno

St Mungo's has been developing this during lockdown. It's called ‘Mighty Mungo’s’ (apparently some species of mongoose are called mungos - small but powerful!) and is available for anyone to share and use on the St Mungo's website, YouTube or Vimeo. It's full of life, energy and bright ideas, and features great contributions from children themselves. Check out the trailer here and from there a link to the services:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtXEsQLiS2g&feature=youtu.be

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

New Every Sunday is on at 7.30am on Radio Scotland and Sunday Worship at 8.10am on Radio 4. Both will be available afterwards on BBC Sounds.

BBC 1 TV. Songs of Praise usually Sunday afternoon 1.15 or 1:30hrs.

RADIO 4 LONG WAVE Daily morning service Mon-Fri 09:45. Sunday. 08.10hrs

Eucharistic Service - Wednesdays at 12

If you are coming to a Eucharistic Service – these are only on Wednesdays at 12 noon (on Sundays there are only the online services at the moment) please read the attached protocol and guide to filling in the doodlepoll. You must tell us in advance so that we can seat everyone safely. If you wish to come on Wednesday please fill in the doodlepoll at: https://doodle.com/poll/aaamnurnkgfib3km?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link

Please read the protocol and guide to filling in the doodle poll in the column to your right. 

Get in touch & tell us your news

Holy Trinity 

From the Rector

Advent

Next Sunday marks the beginning of Advent. We will have the following additional services and events online to mark Advent:

 

1) 29th November - 5.00pm An evening service of readings and music

2) 6th December - 5.00pm A talk on the music of Advent and Christmas

3) 13th December - A socially distanced recitation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol"

4) 20th December - A service of lessons and carols

 

Thank you for your suggestions and ideas for Christmas. The following will take place over the Christmas Season:

 

Wednesday 23rd December - 12.00 Eucharist 

Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th December - church will be open during daylight hours (as much as is possible - volunteers will be needed!)

Thursday 24th December - 6.00pm - Vigil service for Christmas

 

There will also be online services going out on Christmas Eve at 8.00pm and Christmas Day at 10.00am.

 

There may be additional notices to come for Advent, so keep tuned!

 

Church opening for private prayer - Now that the darker and colder weather is coming we are hoping to make life a little easier for those who bravely volunteer to sit in the church and keep it open for private prayer. Bearing in mind the little uptake of the opportunity of coming into the church, we are reducing the hours at the moment to Friday and Sunday for an hour, 1.00pm to 2.00pm.

 

The Vestry and the Rector have been thinking over what to do for Christmas. It is hard to know how to prepare as the situation may change, but we have to assume that there will be little change from how things are now. The difficulties we face are:

 

1) Only a small number of people able to be present at any one time - ie 23 individuals or couples

 

2) Only being able to admit people who book in advance, ie having to turn away folk who are not booked.

 

3) Being unable to sing any hymns or carols

 

4) The need for disinfecting the church after each service, which takes time.

 

The current proposal is as follows - it would be very much appreciated if you would email or contact the Rector with your thoughts about this.

 

1) An online service for Christmas Eve (going out at night, but probably not midnight)

2) An (almost identical) online service for Christmas Day

3) One evening service in the church, similar to our current Wednesday services.

4) Additionally, for the 23rd and 24th, keeping the church open during daylight hours, with the church decorated for Christmas and carols playing in the background so people can come in and pray.

 

This is the current plan, but it is important to know that the church belongs to all of us, and you may have thoughts about this, and ideas about how it might be made better. If so please do speak to the Rector either via email philipblackeldge@gmail.com or 07977330074

 

​New protocol for public worship in the church and how to add your name(s) to the doodlepoll.

​

  1. On the notices each Saturday there will be a doodle poll published. This is simply a link which you can click on to put your name down for reserving your place. The link changes each week so please ensure you click on the latest one from that week’s notices. If there is more than one of you in the household that wishes to attend, please simply put both names in the same box. It’s really easy to do.

  1. Click on the link and this will take you to the doodle poll.

  2. When it appears click on the pen at the top of the column

  3. Type your name(s) into the box

  4. Click the circle to the right hand side on the name box

  5. Click the green box below the poll that says send. It will take you to another page and ‘thank you for participating’. Ignore ‘add to calendar’ but click ‘back to poll’ and you’ll see your name has been added to the list and you have been counted in.

If you can’t manage to add your name then you can phone Pip (07977 330074 ) or Jane Barley (0777 9023931) If you are on the church roll you do not need to give any more information than this. If you are not on the church roll, you will be asked to provide contact details when you come to church, so that testing and tracking can take place in the event of a Covid diagnosis.

2) We will have to fill up the nearest available seats, from the front - no waiting for our favourite seats to become available! Please take a liturgy booklet with you and keep it as your own for subsequent services. This prevents us from having to print new ones each week. Please sit in the middle of the pew rather than just next to the aisle, so that we are appropriately distanced from each other.

3) We are only permitted to sit one household per pew - observing which pews are for use and which aren't. There are a total of twenty two places (individuals or households) available. The remaining place goes to the rector.

4) There will only be one person leading the service, and possibly one reader.

5) When it comes to communion, I will be required to don a mask, and to give communion in one kind only. I will come to you, moving down the pulpit side of the church, then back the other. This enables us to keep social distancing.

6) When the service is over, please leave from the front, via the side door. We can speak to one another at appropriate distances outside, but obviously we need to be sensible about this - this would be helped if we made sure we were not congregating around the doors but taking a few steps into the garden.

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.

 

Church Open

The church is open for private prayer on Friday and Sunday between 1.00pm and 2.00pm.

A leaflet will inform you of the requisite guidelines. When you pick up this leaflet, please do not put it back - either take it with you or place it in the recycling bin by the rear exit.

There is a video on the Holy Trinity Youtube channel which talks you through the process.