Scottish Churches Joint Call to Prayer
“The Apostle Paul offers us a way of seeing things differently. Instead of saying: ‘Seeing is believing!’, it is almost as if he reverses this and says: ‘Believing is seeing!’
We pray:
Everlasting God,
Whose way is known to those who live by faith,
Grant us that we might walk by faith
And so live for you
That our lives reflect the glory of God.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Everlasting God,
Whose way is known to those who live by faith,
Grant us the assurance that, as we walk by faith,
We are not alone
And that we walk in the company of your Son.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Everlasting God,
Whose way is known to those who live by faith,
Grant us the knowledge
That we walk in the company of your people
And in the community of your Spirit.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Everlasting God,
Whose way is known to those who live by faith,
Grant us that we might see
The complexity of this world
Through eyes enlightened by faith.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Everlasting God,
Whose way is known to those who live by faith,
Grant us to see, by faith,
The image of God
In each life shaped by your hand.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Everlasting God,
Whose way is known to those who live by faith,
Grant us that, at the last,
We will come into your presence
And share in the life everlasting.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Sunday Eucharist
Our Sunday Eucharistic Service are premiered on Sundays on our YouTube channel at 11am.
For this Sunday’s service please go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHtJmS3lliw
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 June 16th
https://doodle.com/poll/889xvmh8sixhz2ib?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link
Let’s Talk about Climate Emergency – June 2021: Healthy Transport
This month’s subject is Transport. Where you live and where you work will make a difference to the kinds of transport you use. Those in cities with good public transport links can count themselves lucky but we in rural areas with fewer bus routes must rely more on our own cars or perhaps bikes to get about. If you don’t have far to go from home to work or the shops you can simply walk but can’t carry heavy loads.
Some types of transport have a larger impact on the environment than others. Engines that use fossil fuels have a larger carbon footprint and so do more harm to the planet than electric vehicles. In nine years’ time the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will be banned in UK. But electric vehicles have heavy batteries made with rare minerals like cadmium and lithium and many people don’t have garages or off-street parking so will have to rely on public charging points. Using public transport if available is better as one engine gets many people about. Active travel by foot and bike is even better still; it’s healthy for us and the planet too.
QUESTIONS: How do you prefer to travel for short journeys? Do you make the same choice if you have to travel a long distance? Has lockdown changed the way you prefer to travel?
What encourages you and what discourages you about using public transport? Has your view of public transport changed since the pandemic?
Have you ever tried car sharing? Is it something you would consider if a scheme were set up locally?
Scottish Churches COP26 Pledge: Divestment and the Just and Green Recovery
EcoCongregation Scotland has urged all member churches to sign this Pledge and, following encouragement from the Diocese and Vestry approval, Holy Trinity is doing so. The Pledge states that:-
“We wish to demonstrate the support of the Scottish Churches for urgent action in response to the climate crisis and to support a just and green recovery from Covid19 as Scotland prepares to host the UN climate talks, COP26 (1-12 November 2021).
“We believe it is unethical for Churches to invest in an industry that is harming the planet, as seen in ever more extreme and life-threatening weather events locally and globally.
“We support the campaign for fossil free Churches and are conscious of the increasingly severe impact of the climate crisis, especially on people living in poverty and on all life in our common home.
“We recognise the urgency of the need for a just transition from fossil fuels to clean alternatives that offers jobs and wellbeing to people in Scotland and across the world.
“We commit ourselves to using our financial resources to contribute to the flourishing of God’s creation, both now and for generations to come. THEREFORE:
“As Congregations we call on our national and regional Church bodies to divest from fossil fuels and will work towards divestment of our own funds as soon as possible, seeking alternative ethical investments where possible.”
The Pledge can also be signed by Denominations (the Scottish Episcopal Church has done so) and by Individuals although people with investments must make their own decisions in this matter.
FROM THE RECTOR
Important Changes to Services on Sundays
As restrictions are gradually lifted, at Vestry it was decided that once a month we will have a live service in church at 11.00am on Sunday. As we now have the technology installed in church, this will also be live streamed on YouTube as currently. We are still only permitted one singer, one reader/intercessor and a socially distanced congregation, ie 22 households, but we hope that these restrictions will be lifted as things progress.
The Sundays when we will be live will be the last Sundays of the month, ie 27th June, 24th July, 29th August. Hopefully before then, if more restrictions are relaxed, we will make decisions when we can about the further opening up of the church.
Attendance to these Sunday services will be via a doodle poll as per the Wednesday service.
Side Chapel
As you will notice, both in our Sunday 11am service, and in the BBC service on the TV Scotland channel, our side chapel’s long-hoped-for renovations have begun. The lovely ironwork screen is now in place, currently with a temporary curtain.
The question of consecrating the Chapel has been raised, especially as the Bishop will be visiting us in the Autumn to bless the renovated Chapel and to license two Lay readers, Liz Williams and Ed Creaney. Currently the side Chapel has no “name” associated with it. It has sometimes been known as the Kelsey Chapel, as there is a plaque to the Rev’d Henry Kelsey, one time Rector of this church. However, places of worship can only be named after those who are recognised by the church as saints, or after God (ie the Holy Trinity, Holy Spirit etc) – and it is not believed to be a good idea to get Rectors into the idea of naming parts of the church after themselves!
At Vestry we discussed various options for the naming of the Side Chapel: St Cuthbert and St Boisil were offered as choices, as they are the local saints to Melrose. As the Chapel is by the Pillar of Saints in the church, the suggestion of All Saints was made, as was the more traditional naming after Mary the mother of God. Alternatively, we can keep it unnamed.
We would welcome your views on this. Please email or call the Rector, or John Williams, the People’s Warden, if you wish to express an opinion.
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 on 01835 822823. Donation £2, kids free.
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
Volunteer(s) needed!
Recent months have been difficult for us all; but during that time our Church has worked hard to maintain a positive Christian presence locally and - via our online services - beyond. At a recent Vestry Meeting, we identified a number of steps to help us all move closer to a more normal and familiar church life.
One immediate task is to keep our church building and its surrounding grounds looking welcoming and “loved”. There is an established group of church members willing to help with the care of the church grounds – what they lack is someone to organise them into a rota.
Interested? You don’t need to mow the grass - or even know one end of a mower from the other - you just need the time to check names on the present list, add some others - we hope - and draw up a new rota. Or perhaps you would prefer simply to join the current group of volunteers?
To help with either task, please first speak to:
John Williams, People’s Warden
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
-
Imaginative prayer
-
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 11:30 am 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/02-06-21ii.pdf
Among other things it gives the latest on:
Provincial Youth Week
Faith in Older People Mental Health Seminars
Get in touch & tell us your news
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