Author: sheumais

Christmas message from The Primus

sheumais News, Reflections



Let the joy of our faith light us up as we rejoice’

On

Glory to God in highest heaven, and on earth peace to all in whom God delights.

Those are the words sung by the angels as recorded in St Luke’s Gospel, as they proclaimed the birth of Jesus to the shepherds out in the fields near Bethlehem. Glory to God and peace to all. These words will be repeated at nativity plays, carol services and in many churches at the Midnight Eucharist. People will begin to feel the warmth generated by these familiar words as Christmas Day begins.

As a society we have created a remarkable product around Christmas Day. We have built expectations of happiness, good cheer and comfort, all set against a picturesque backdrop of gently falling snow. Unfortunately, those images are never real for a significant number of those we are called to serve. This year, for many it will be even harder than before to create any sense of warmth in either heart or body.

As I arrived at the Cathedral in Inverness for our carol service the other day, I passed the rolled-up sleeping bags in the porch, the large container for children’s gifts, and the pile of coats left for those who need something to keep the cold out. These have become the ever-present symbols of a society where an increasing number of people rely on kindness for basic support. I know some shake their heads at the “mess” but most accept that what we see is the reality of life for some people. They need our help.

We celebrate this Christmas at a time when war is taking place in Ukraine, there is famine in the Horn of Africa, and desperate people are crossing the sea in small boats to flee dire consequences in their own countries. We are also aware of the many people near us who will not have enough to pay for their heating or for their food. We think of those who will not be able to make Christmas the special time that it would normally be for their families, and will feel they have somehow failed their loved ones.

As we hear those pleas for support, help us to offer something of ourselves to look after others; teach us how to share and care for those who are struggling, and to allow our churches and congregations to be beacons of prayer, light and hope in this world. We have a wonderful message to proclaim, we have a glorious festival to celebrate, let the joy of our faith light us up as we rejoice in the wonder of the Christmas story.

Let the power of the incarnation lead to us to action, and the love of God cause us to sing with the angels.

Glory to God in highest heaven, and on earth peace to all in whom God delights.

Carols at Christmas

sheumais Local, News

This afternoon we had a splendid Service of Readings and Carols enjoyed by a fairly full church drawn from right across the area. There were readers from a variety of local churches and fellowships and a dozen favourite carols. Afterwards there was a collection for those in need and seasonal refreshments. It was great to be back to the pre-pandemic form.

A huge thanks to everyone who helped to make it the wonderful afternoon that it was and helped to decorate the Church.

Services on Sunday 1st January

sheumais Notices, Services

On New Year’s Day – the Feast of the Naming of Jesus,
there will be just two services:

8:30am at St Maelrubha’s, Lairg (in Lairg Parish Church)

11:00am a Joint service at St Finnbarr’s, Dornoch.

There will be no service at St Andrew’s, Tain

Malcolm Guite wrote this lovely sonnet to mark the Feast of the Naming of Jesus:

I name you now, from whom all names derive
Who uttered forth the name of everything,
And in that naming made the world alive,
Sprung from the breath and essence of your being.
The very Word that gave us words to speak,
You drank in language with your mother’s milk
And learned through touch before you learned to talk,
You wove our week-day world, and still one week
Within that world, you took your saving name,
A given name, the gift of that good angel,
Whose Gospel breathes in good news for us all.
We call your name that we might hear a call
That carries from your cradle to our graves
Yeshua, Living Jesus, Yahweh Saves.

Malcolm Guite – From his collection “Parable and Paradox” published by Canterbury Press

Fourth Sunday of Advent – we remember Mary

sheumais Reflections
Donald Swan’s Tryptic of the Incarnation in he Lady Chapel of the Cathedral of the Isles in Millport

Perhaps we’ve a lot to learn from Joseph and Mary. Joseph, committing himself to listening humbly and attentively to God.
And Mary welcoming into her heart, soul and body, the mystery of Emmanuel ‘God with us’.

We might also reflect on the part that discretion played in Joseph’s and in Mary’s life. Joseph always discretely there.
And Mary, getting on with what needs to be done.

This is so beautifully captured in Donald Swan’s lovely tryptic in the Cathedral of the Isles in Millport, where I used to take services from time to time.
In that, Mary is depicted in the stable, feeding her child so discretely that you’d hardly notice.

On this the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we should ask with them:

“What happens when we allow God to intrude into our nicely laid plans and decisions?”

Waiting, and Hoping, and Wishing

sheumais Reflections

Advent’s the season of waiting, and hoping, and wishing
for some sign that God really loves us …

and that after all that’s been happening in the world recently,
for some sign that God hasn’t abandoned us and is still there in our lives
now and will be in the future.

Advent asks us to make room in our hearts and our busy lives for the coming of Jesus our Saviour.

Advent’s a time for us to make it possible for His coming
by smoothing out some of the rough places that might be obstacles to His coming.

“O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, There is room in my heart for Thee”.

Warm Spaces in Dornoch

sheumais Notices

During the week from December to March, a variety of community spaces will be open to provide a warm space.

The Days, Times and Places are listed in the poster below.

DORNOCH COMMUNITY
WARM SPACES
DEC ’22 . MAR ’23

MONDAYS 

DORNOCH LIBRARY – 8 High Street
10am – 1pm and 2pm – 5pm

TUESDAYS

DORNOCH HUB – 1 Argyll Street
10am -12 Noon

WEDNESDAYS

WEST CHURCH HALL – Sutherland Road
11am – 3pm

THURSDAYS

DORNOCH HUB – 1 Argyll Street
11am – 1pm

THE LIVING ROOM at THE FREE CHURCH – Church Street
12 Noon – 3pm

FRIDAYS

DORNOCH COMMUNITY CENTRE (SOCIAL CLUB) – School Hill
10am – 12:30pm

PLEASE CHECK AT VENUE FOR 
AVAILABILITY AT OTHER TIMES 
AND HOLIDAY CLOSURES

The Season of Not-Knowing?

sheumais Pastoral Letter, Reflections

Are you someone who when you’re reading a book, tends to skip to the end to see what happens rather than sticking with the hero through thick and thin. When Andrew and Daniel were young, on long journeys they’d start asking if we were nearly there yet, before we were a couple of miles from home.

Part of the problem is a failure to be content with now. How much of your time do you spend thinking about the past? How much time do you spend worrying about or anticipating the future? How much time does that leave for living in the present?

The spiritual writer Anthony de Mello suggested in his writings that most of us spend far too much time anywhere but in the present. In Advent it’s so easy to think about Christmases past or to have already arrived at Christmas to come. C. S. Lewis wrote a story called “Xmas and Christmas: A Lost Chapter from Herodotus” about a land in which there are two festivals that overlap by just one day.

The first festival is called Exmas and for fifty days the people prepare for it, buying and sending cards and gifts, decorating trees and preparing food

“But when the day of the festival comes, most of the citizens being exhausted with the preparation, lie in bed till noon. But in the evening they eat five times as much supper as on other days and, crowning themselves with crowns of paper become intoxicated.”

The other festival, called Crissmas, starts on the day that Exmas finishes. But those who keep Crissmas, do the opposite, they

“rise early on that day with shining faces and go before sunrise to certain temples where they partake of a sacred feast.”

and then celebrate for several weeks afterwards.

For me Advent is about waiting for the unexpected. It’s a shame to miss all that by skipping ahead to what we think we know happens at the end of the season, on 25th December. To fail to engage with the now part of the story day by day and week by week. To fail to really listen to and reflect on the now part of the story. To have already moved on to the next part, because we know what happens next and it’s more exciting, more interesting, or perhaps more comforting.

This Advent how about really living in the present? Resisting that strong temptation to skip ahead, Enjoy the anticipation. Enjoy the state of not-knowing, because, if you enter into it, almost anything could happen. Enjoy the possibility that something truly amazing might come to pass. That God might just do something in your life that you didn’t expect, and that His coming into the world – your world – might mean that things are never the same again.

Blessings

James

Tain Carol Service – 23rd December 2022

sheumais Notices, Services

A Service of Lessons and Carols

for Christmas

 St. Andrew’s Scottish Episcopal Church

Glebe Crescent, Tain

FRIDAY 23rd December

3pm

Followed by Mulled Wine, mince pies & other seasonal refreshments

EVERYONE WELCOME