Author: sheumais

Ordinand Visit

sheumais Diocese, Local, News, SEI

This week, Anna and I have had the privilege of having three Scottish Episcopal Institute ordinands staying with us.  They were visiting as part of their Summer School, when those in training for ministry from all over Scotland (24 in total) descended on the Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness, to find out what shape ministry has hereabouts, reflect on what they saw and what they experienced and think about what it might mean for their understanding of ministry.

Harriet, Jenny and Andy stayed with us and we visited Tain, Invergordon (in time to see HMS Elizabeth), Dornoch, Ardgay, The Crask Inn, Lairg and Croick Church.  Along the way we prayed together, celebrated the Eucharist, enjoyed splendid hospitality, dined in the company of people with much experience of ministry in rural areas, met many different people and as our picture shows, sampled cake in Dornoch Market (and to be honest in a variety of other places).  We explored ministry as presence, as hospitality, as listening, as caring and as prayer.

Harriet, Jenny, Andy and James and very grateful for the love, the care, the generosity and the good humour of everyone who help us to learn a lot from them and from each other.

Giving and Receiving – a thought

sheumais Reflections


This week’s Gospel passage (Matthew 10:40-42) is rendered in “The Message” version of the Bible as:

“Accepting a messenger of God is as good as being God’s messenger. Accepting someone’s help is as good as giving someone help. This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice.”

“The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice.”, what an encouraging thought. All those small acts of giving and receiving that have gone on in London, Manchester and anywhere else where people are in need, where people are prepared to give even just “a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty”.

Our Bishop Mark is now the Primus

sheumais Diocese, News, Notices


On Tuesday (27 June) the Episcopal Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church elected the Rt Rev Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness as Primus. Bishop Mark says “I am humbled by the confidence shown in me by my colleagues and I will seek to serve the church as Primus with love and strength.”

“I am deeply privileged to be the Bishop Moray, Ross and Caithness and am very aware that it has been 82 years since a Bishop of Moray became Primus. I pray that I may be worthy of this trust. I will continue to serve in my beloved highlands while I also step out into new and exciting journeys of faith in both Scotland and the wider international church.”

Bishop Mark (56 ), who will now be referred to as The Most Rev Mark Strange, is the youngest member of the College of Bishops and was consecrated Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness in 2007. Bishop Mark succeeds the Most Rev David Chillingworth.

Brought up in Aberdeen, where he was both a choirboy and server at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Bishop Mark studied Divinity at the University of Aberdeen, attended Theological College in Lincoln and has served in both the Diocese of Worcester and in the Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness. For a number of years Bishop Mark was also Convener of the church’s Youth Committee and ran the annual summer youth camps at Glenalmond.

Bishop Mark takes up this role as a Primate within the Anglican Communion at a point where the General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church has voted to permit same sex marriage, a decision which is expected to be on the agenda of the forthcoming Primates Meeting in Canterbury, a meeting which Bishop Mark will attend.

published in Inspires Online

Kyiv Classical Accordion Duo

sheumais Events, Notices

The Kyiv Classic Accordion Duo are making their tenth visit to St Finnbarr’s on Wednesday 26th July.  Their concert will start at 7:30pm and there will be a retiring collection for the charity HIPPOKRAT.

kyivaccordionduo

About the Kyiv Classical Accordion Duo:

In 2006 Igor and Oleksiy finished studying in the National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kiev. However they began to perform professionally from 2002. Oleksiy plays in the Orchestra of the National Radio of Ukraine; Igor works in the National Philharmonic of Ukraine. They decided to give the name Kyiv Duo Classic to the duo. However this does not mean that Igor and Oleksiy perform only classical music; programmes of their concerts include music of Bach, Grieg, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov as well as traditional Ukrainian and Russian music. Two contemporary button accordions make it possible to produce a sound like a small squeezebox and at the same time, like big church organ, a string quartet and even an orchestra.

About their charity – HIPPOKRAT:

One of the main purposes of the Kyiv Classic Accordion Duo 2009 UK tour is to raise money for the HIPPOKRAT Society of Mothers of Disabled Children who suffered as a result of the explosion in 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Energy Plant. The Chernigiv region suffered most from the radiation fall out and since 1986 a large number of children have been born with mental and physical problems. Many of these children are now young adults.

As Oleksiy explains:

“There are at least 1000 invalid children in Chernigiv which has a total population of around 320,000 and unfortunately, these children get no real support from the state. The mother of a disabled child usually needs to be with the child all the time, so she cannot earn money. That is why the Society of Mothers of Disabled Children, HIPPOKRAT, was founded more than 15 years ago”.

“The task of HIPPOKRAT is to provide families with invalid children with food, medicine and money. HIPPOKRAT also organises different events and parties with presents for children. It is not a commercial organisation. It is run by 10 women led by Valentina Frol. They do not receive any money for their job and all of them have disabled children”.

When Darkness Descends

sheumais Pastoral Letter, Reflections

Last week we were away deep into England near Kidderminster for my niece’s wedding. It took place over the weekend and the happy couple very much did their own thing, not following some notion of how things should be and how much should be spent. Much of the proceedings took place on a camp site with the guests camping and the reception and dancing in a marquee. Their families made all the decorations, table cloths and table centre-pieces and everything had a bicycle theme. They are really serious about their cycling and spent 11 months cycling through the Far East a couple of years ago. If their relationship can stand that it can probably stand anything. We also visited my parents in Shropshire and saw how the other half live by visiting Chatsworth, which we have wanted to visit for some time.

Then we got home to the smell of burning and a note on the kitchen table from our neighbour assuring us that any burning smell was as a result of a fire that had raged for three days in the woods at Spinningdale. Sure enough, the fire brigade turned up for the third day running. It seems likely that someone camping by the side or the road or a carelessly discarded cigarette end might have set the tinder-dry vegetation alight and fanned by a very strong wind, the fire soon took hold and swept through a large patch of the broad-leaved woodland between the main road and the shore of the Dornoch Firth. What a contrast with our joyous camping weekend.

We walked through the woods this morning and it looks a mess. It will be some time before the full extent of the damage becomes clear – just how many trees have been damaged along with the devastated understory. It doesn’t take much to turn a peaceful scene or a peaceful life into something which looks bleak and hopeless. Just one little act or omission and things change in a very short space of time. A cigarette end beside the road, a bomb at the Manchester Arena, and light and joy turns to blackness and despair. As the summer progresses, new life will emerge from the blackened ground, and the kindness of strangers, friends and family in Manchester will show the love of God to those whose lives have been torn apart by the senseless action of a single individual. Things will never be the same again, some trees in Spinningdale Wood will die, just as 22 people have died in Manchester. Both will leave a huge hole. Young folk and their parents will have to live with the psychological trauma and lasting physical injuries. but we pray that the miracle of God’s healing power will be there and slowly new life and growth will happen. Our Christian hope is that good things will emerge out of tragedy, though the road will not be easy for many many people Meantime our prayer are with those who weep and watch and wait.

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

sheumais Local, News

Hilltop

On Good Friday morning, a group of over 30 people stood on a wind-swept hillside, reflecting on the Crucifixion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It was a very moving experience, as people from the different Churches and Fellowships in Lairg stood in solidarity, witnessing to the faith that we all share. This was the culmination of a Walk of Witness through the town, when we walked, talked, heard passages of Scripture relating to the Passion, and short reflections and prayed and sang. Young and old alike braved the biting wind and occasional showers and shared in witnessing to the Sacrifice of Our Lord. And when “it was finished” we retired to the Lairg Community Centre for warm hot cross buns, hot tea and coffee and fellowship.

Walk

Christ is Risen

sheumais Reflections

Pascal

Christ the light of the world is Risen

What happened on Easter morning wasn’t only unexpected, but it was so far beyond the wildest dreams of Jesus’ disciples, men and women, that they could never have planned for it. They simply couldn’t believe that it had happened. So for us as Christians, the resurrection provides hope. Hope that out of hopelessness, out of despair, out of sorrow, something extraordinary will happen – new life. What the Resurrection means is neither fully clear, nor is it the same for everyone, nor does it remain the same for each of us all the time; but the Resurrection does give us the ability to live in the present – to live, not just forever, but for now. Christ is Risen, Alleluia!!