An interesting article in this week’s Church Times, spot anyone you know?
Author: sheumais
They Brought Him Gifts ….
St Andrew’s Tain was very busy on 5th January for a joint service for the Feast of the Epiphany, with folk from St Finnbarr’s Dornoch and St Columba’s Brora joining those from St Andrew’s.
In the sanctuary Canon James and Janet were joined by Fr Simon and Jamie, all getting on with their allotted tasks.
The singing was superb with some very talented singers leading the large congregation in a joyful celebration of the coming of the magi, the revelation to the gentiles and the presentation of gifts. In the sermon the three youngest members of the congregation brought up the gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh accompanied by the appropriate verse of ‘We Three Kings‘.
It was also Canon James’s last service as Priest-in-Charge of St Andrew’s and the Mission Congregations and representative of St Andrew’s and St Finnbarr’s brought up gifts for James and Anna after which the congregations prayed for them in their retirement.
That was all followed by splendid refreshments and noisy fellowship in the hall – a fitting celebration of one of the key feasts in the Christian calendar.
Greetings from St Finnbarr’s Charities Shop
Merry Christmas to all our customers!
St Finnbarr’s Charities Shop is now closed for the Holidays.
We will remain closed throughout Christmas and New Year.
We will re-open on Thursday 16th January at 10 a.m.
A huge thank you to everyone who has supported our shop this year!
By Our Wounds we are Healed
The church is the people. It isn’t grand buildings, though of course we have one or two of those and in passing on our heritage, we have to look after them. It isn’t administrative structures, though of course some element of that is necessary to stop the whole thing descending into chaos, even though we can find that sort of thing both distracting and irritating.
The Body of Christ is people, and most importantly the relationship between them. When Anna and I joined the East Sutherland and Tain churches nearly ten years ago now, each of our congregations was, in various ways, different to how it is now, ten years later. The main difference is that there were people who are no longer with us and the relationships between members of the congregations and with their clergy were also different.
So quite a lot has changed. Sadly we’ve lost some very dear friends from our midst. Our congregations are all growing both in numbers, in faith and in the relationships that have been built, often in adversity. There’s an atmosphere of positivity, hope and optimism across our congregations, with so many bringing their many and varied gifts to bear for the benefit of all.
As the Apostle Paul reminds the Christians in Corinth:
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
1 Corinthians 12.4-12
I’m sure that none of us are as perfect as we’d wish to be. However it’s all the flaws, weakness and failings that make us the people that we are, not just the striving to be better. Looking back over the last ten years, I realise that many of you have ministered a special grace to me and to Anna, as well as to each other, and that grace wasn’t unconnected with those characteristics that you may be less than satisfied with, in both your personality and abilities. It’s precisely such things that give each of us a profound sympathy for the waywardness and self-hatred of the human heart and through that we can minister effectively to each other in all the messiness and imperfection of our lives. God works in many ways.
As Richard Holloway writes:
The word becomes flesh in all its uncertainty and awkwardness. Grace comes to us through weakness. Grace uses every available weakness to pull down our might. It undermines the cruelty of our strength by throwing us on the mercy of our weakness. It is by our sin that we are saved, because through it we reach for the grace that alone sustains us.
As Christians we should refuse to collude with the conspiracy of success and uniformity that characterises so much of the world around us and sadly has even started to invade parts of the Christian Church. To do this we need to reject the lie of human perfectibility and learned to live with only two certainties. By grace we all minister to others. By our wounds we are healed and bring healing to others. Clergy come and go, but the Church is it’s people in relationship.
God bless you all and may you rejoice in God’s presence this Christmastide and throughout 2025 wherever you are.
Blessings
James
Carols in Tain
Yesterday afternoon we had a splendid Service of Readings and Carols enjoyed by a full church drawn from right across the area. There were readers from several local churches and fellowships and a wide selection of traditional and other favourite carols sung by many members of choirs and the congregation at large, with great gusto. Afterwards there was a collection for the Samaritans which raised almost £250.
The service was followed by mince pies, Christmas cakes, shortbread and biscuits made by the youngest person there, washed down with mulled wine or spiced apple juice. It was great to see so many people
enjoying themselves..
.
A huge thanks to all those who helped to make it the wonderful afternoon that it was and those who have helped to decorate the Church in the last couple of days, the readers and the singers and of course to Tom for accompanying the carols on the organ.
Services at Christmas 2024
- Saturday 21st Dec – Christmas Carols at the Mart with collection in aid of Air Ambulance and Tearfund
with Simon Scott and the Harmony Choir, followed by mince pies and mulled wine- Rogart Mart, Rogart at 6:30pm
- Sunday 22th Dec – Christingle and Carol Service with collection in aid of the Children’s Society
- St Finnbarr’s, Dornoch at 3:00pm
- Monday 23rd Dec – Service of Lessons and Carols with collection for the Samaritans
- St Andrew’s Church, Tain at 3:00pm (followed by seasonal refreshments)
- Tuesday 24th Dec – Christmas ‘Midnight’ Services
- St Finnbarr’s, Dornoch at 7:00pm and
- St Andrews, Tain, at 9:00pm.
- Wednesday 25th Dec – Christmas Day Services
- St Maelrubha’s, Lairg at 8:30am,
- St Finnbarr’s, Dornoch at 10:00am and
- St Andrews, Tain at 10:30am.
- Saturday 28th Dec – Crask Carol Service
- the Crask Inn at 2:30pm (followed by seasonal refreshments)
- Sunday 29th Dec – Christmas Service
- Christmas Service at St Columba’s, Brora at 4:00pm
All are welcome at any of our services.
Advent Reflection
It is not true that creation and the human family are doomed to destruction and loss — This is true: For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
It is not true that we must accept inhumanity and discrimination, hunger and poverty, death and destruction — This is true: I have come that they may have life, and that abundantly.
It is not true that violence and hatred should have the last word, and that war and destruction rule forever — This is true: Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, his name shall be called wonderful councillor, mighty God, the Everlasting, the Prince of peace.
It is not true that we are simply victims of the powers of evil who seek to rule the world — This is true: To me is given authority in heaven and on earth, and lo I am with you, even until the end of the world.
It is not true that we have to wait for those who are specially gifted, who are the prophets of the Church before we can be peacemakers — This is true: I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions and your old men shall have dreams.
It is not true that our hopes for liberation of humankind, of justice, of human dignity of peace are not meant for this earth and for this history — This is true: The hour comes, and it is now, that the true worshipers shall worship God in spirit and in truth.
So let us enter Advent in hope, even hope against hope. Let us see visions of love and peace and justice. Let us affirm with humility, with joy, with faith, with courage: Jesus Christ — the life of the world.
The Rev. Allan Boesak
St Andrew’s Eve at St Andrew’s Church, Tain
On Friday 29th November 2024
St Andrew’s Eve Service and Social
Service 6pm
Social Event 7pm
Haggis Supper, desert, tea/ coffee
(Vegetarian Haggis available)
Traditional entertainment from:
Miekle Ferry Music Group
St Andrew’s Eve Quiz
All Welcome
Advent Study Groups 2024
The Nicene Creed
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”
Ephesians 4:4-6
This Advent, our study group will explore the Nicene Creed, which we say every Sunday. From the beginnings of the Christian Church there has been much debate over what the individual believes. This study is a whistlestop tour through the three sections of the Nicene Creed, which describe the three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
One God in Three Persons? Surely, that means there are three equal Gods? Hopefully, by the end of this study you will understand that this is a question that the Church has battled with since the very beginning.
The Study Group will meet
on
Wednesdays 4th, 11th and 18th December
Afternoons from 1:30-3:00pm
at James and Anna’s house in Golspie
More details from Canon James
All Souls Service – Sunday 3rd November 2024
As part of our Season of Remembrance, all are invited to join us at:
St Finnbarr’s Episcopal Church, Dornoch
on Sunday 3rd November
at 7:00pm
for a special service at which we remember those we have loved and lost.
At this service the names of the departed will be read aloud. We will read the names of your loved ones even if you can’t make it to the service, as this is something that we do for each other and for the wider Church community.
We have lists of names from previous years, all of whom will be remembered, but if there are others that you wish us to add please get in touch.
(The service this year is on 3rd, because we will be celebrating All Saints Sunday in the morning on the 3rd and the All Soul’s Service should come after All Saints:-)
Scottish Episcopal Church - Dornoch, Lairg, Brora, Tain & Tongue 