CHURCH Family Worship
Date and Time :
10th January 2010
-
11:00am
What’s happening in Church today?
Content of Worship
The Rev Jack Holt, Parish Minister, will conduct the service.
Anne Silcock will read the Bible passages.
Susan Zappert will provide our musical accompaniment.
Today is the First Sunday after Epiphany (6 January) and the theme is The Baptism of Jesus. The readings are: Isaiah 43:1-7 and Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22. Our worship uses visuals which include the hymns, readings, and congregational responses.
What’s happening in Church this week?
Ladies Exercise Class
They were back on 4 January eager to lose those extra pounds gained over the festive season. Meeting on Mondays at 7pm for an hour, this group is open to any woman interested in fitness using DVD programmes. All welcome.
Strategy Group
Weather permitting the Group will meet on Thursday in the Meeting Room at 7.30pm. The agenda will be forwarded by e-mail as will any last-minute decision to cancel the meeting.
Next Sunday
The service at 11am will be led by the Rev Jack Holt. The theme will be: Changing Water into Wine.
Fireside reflections
The LORD be with you…And also with you. Jack writes: Good morning! And a belated Happy New Year to all readers and especially those who have been prevented attending our worship services due to the adverse weather conditions: ♫“Oh, the weather outside is frightful!â€â™« I hope you have enjoyed a relaxing and enjoyable festive season and that the snow has not been too much of an imposition on trying to return to the normal routine. Our thanks to Ian Hector who has managed to keep our church car-park useable and the manse road passable.
Here in the manse Sandra’s car won’t start but with the snow it has been difficult to get anyone out to tow it to a garage. But with the state of the roads she has not been willing to drive my car and so hasn’t returned to work after the New Year. Luckily with the schools unable to go back I had no appointments this early in January and so have also being staying close to home. I can hardly believe how long this snow has persisted.
The news from Thailand is that Sarah has enjoyed a short break at the New Year with her fellow volunteers on an island where she has deepened her tan which has made her hair blonde and made her stand out on her return to her home village of Phana. She saw the New Year in on a beach singing Auld Lang Syne with tourists and locals before joining them in the sea for a celebratory plunge. In her classes she had been teaching the children about this thing called Christmas, and they knew that on Christmas Day (just another Friday at school for them) they knew she was going to be opening presents. So that morning, early before school, the kids turned up to see what she got. Among the gifts she displayed was a chocolate Santa. But the kids thought she was giving it to them. So she had to sit and watch them devour her chocolate treat!
I shared with the congregation recently that Sandra’s friend, Sarah Dickinson, from Stonehaven, was involved in a car accident with her family. The most seriously injured was her 17 year-old son, Sam, who broke his neck and needed surgery with the chances of him walking again not hopeful. He was then transferred to the specialist Spinal Unit in Glasgow where a little movement has been discerned in his hand and a toe which may give a grain of hope to those praying that Sam will make a recovery from his injuries. Once again Sandra is asking that those who can will join her in praying for this young man’s being able to walk again.
On New Year’s Day I was invited by Birse Community Trust to officiate at an event to mark the end of the first decade of the New Millennium. Despite the snow around 70 people aged from infancy to elderly were there to hear me give thanks for the many substantial local achievements of the past 10 years and to contrast that with the many global problems that have been created and many global challenges that have not been met in the same time span. I invited the local communities to see their own actions as a sign of hope of what can be attained when people work together for the common good. And to mark it we once again watered the Millennium Standing Stone, as a seed of hope for the coming decade and reaffirmed our commitment to the Millennium Resolution: Let there be respect for the earth, peace for its people, love in our lives, delight in the good, forgiveness for past wrongs and from now on a new start.
And finally, at the time of year when people make their own resolutions for the New Year, I have been thinking deeply again about the church and our life together as a community of faith in the unfolding year of 2010 and beyond. I hope that this thinking will guide what will be the subject of these Reflections in the coming year. May I leave you today with the words that concluded our first service in this New Year: I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year, “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.†And he replied, “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.†May that Almighty hand guide and uphold us all in 2010.
Until next week…The Lord Bless You and Keep You.
Content of Worship
The Rev Jack Holt, Parish Minister, will conduct the service.
Anne Silcock will read the Bible passages.
Susan Zappert will provide our musical accompaniment.
Today is the First Sunday after Epiphany (6 January) and the theme is The Baptism of Jesus. The readings are: Isaiah 43:1-7 and Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22. Our worship uses visuals which include the hymns, readings, and congregational responses.
What’s happening in Church this week?
Ladies Exercise Class
They were back on 4 January eager to lose those extra pounds gained over the festive season. Meeting on Mondays at 7pm for an hour, this group is open to any woman interested in fitness using DVD programmes. All welcome.
Strategy Group
Weather permitting the Group will meet on Thursday in the Meeting Room at 7.30pm. The agenda will be forwarded by e-mail as will any last-minute decision to cancel the meeting.
Next Sunday
The service at 11am will be led by the Rev Jack Holt. The theme will be: Changing Water into Wine.
Fireside reflections
The LORD be with you…And also with you. Jack writes: Good morning! And a belated Happy New Year to all readers and especially those who have been prevented attending our worship services due to the adverse weather conditions: ♫“Oh, the weather outside is frightful!â€â™« I hope you have enjoyed a relaxing and enjoyable festive season and that the snow has not been too much of an imposition on trying to return to the normal routine. Our thanks to Ian Hector who has managed to keep our church car-park useable and the manse road passable.
Here in the manse Sandra’s car won’t start but with the snow it has been difficult to get anyone out to tow it to a garage. But with the state of the roads she has not been willing to drive my car and so hasn’t returned to work after the New Year. Luckily with the schools unable to go back I had no appointments this early in January and so have also being staying close to home. I can hardly believe how long this snow has persisted.
The news from Thailand is that Sarah has enjoyed a short break at the New Year with her fellow volunteers on an island where she has deepened her tan which has made her hair blonde and made her stand out on her return to her home village of Phana. She saw the New Year in on a beach singing Auld Lang Syne with tourists and locals before joining them in the sea for a celebratory plunge. In her classes she had been teaching the children about this thing called Christmas, and they knew that on Christmas Day (just another Friday at school for them) they knew she was going to be opening presents. So that morning, early before school, the kids turned up to see what she got. Among the gifts she displayed was a chocolate Santa. But the kids thought she was giving it to them. So she had to sit and watch them devour her chocolate treat!
I shared with the congregation recently that Sandra’s friend, Sarah Dickinson, from Stonehaven, was involved in a car accident with her family. The most seriously injured was her 17 year-old son, Sam, who broke his neck and needed surgery with the chances of him walking again not hopeful. He was then transferred to the specialist Spinal Unit in Glasgow where a little movement has been discerned in his hand and a toe which may give a grain of hope to those praying that Sam will make a recovery from his injuries. Once again Sandra is asking that those who can will join her in praying for this young man’s being able to walk again.
On New Year’s Day I was invited by Birse Community Trust to officiate at an event to mark the end of the first decade of the New Millennium. Despite the snow around 70 people aged from infancy to elderly were there to hear me give thanks for the many substantial local achievements of the past 10 years and to contrast that with the many global problems that have been created and many global challenges that have not been met in the same time span. I invited the local communities to see their own actions as a sign of hope of what can be attained when people work together for the common good. And to mark it we once again watered the Millennium Standing Stone, as a seed of hope for the coming decade and reaffirmed our commitment to the Millennium Resolution: Let there be respect for the earth, peace for its people, love in our lives, delight in the good, forgiveness for past wrongs and from now on a new start.
And finally, at the time of year when people make their own resolutions for the New Year, I have been thinking deeply again about the church and our life together as a community of faith in the unfolding year of 2010 and beyond. I hope that this thinking will guide what will be the subject of these Reflections in the coming year. May I leave you today with the words that concluded our first service in this New Year: I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year, “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.†And he replied, “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.†May that Almighty hand guide and uphold us all in 2010.
Until next week…The Lord Bless You and Keep You.