In St Andrew’s on Sunday we welcomed Edward (Ted) Knott into the Christian Family in Baptism.
He seemed to enjoy the experience as did his Parents and God Parents after the Service.
Light of the World
Local
Prayer for Healing in a Broken World
On the third Sunday of the month, in St Columba’s, Brora, we pray for healing in our troubled world.
On Top of the World
Congratulations Claire and Jamie !!
There’s a moose loose aboot God’s hoose
In the July 1981 edition of the ‘Scots Magazine’ there was a feature on the ecclesiastical work of Robert Thompson to be found in Scotland. Robert was the ‘Mouseman’ from Kilburn in Yorkshire who made exquisite oak furnishings complete with his trademark mouse crawling over it. It was Robert and his descendants who made many of the oak furnishings and fittings in St Andrew’s Tain. The article has a short piece about St Andrews and our thanks to Campbell for digging the article out for us. The bit about St Andrew’s follows:
“We now return to the mainland, and cross Easter Ross to the ancient Royal Burgh of Tain on the Dornoch Firth. Here is the church of St Andrew, a lovely little building dating from Victorian times and adorned with more than one mouse.
In 1936 Robert [Thompson] installed the reredos, and his work on these is always worth examining closely. At the same time he fitted the altar rails, and what better tribute to him can be found than that from a Kent lady who tells me that she never passes through Tain without popping into St Andrew’s Church to see ‘the neat little mouse carved under a rail.” A lengthy enough mouse-hunting journey for anyone!
The congregation of the church must have been satisfied, too, because in 1967 they commissioned the grandsons Cartwright1 to carve a lectern and later to fashion a pulpit.”
- 1 The sons of Percy and Elsie Cartwright (Robert Thompson’s daughter), John and Robert, joined the family business when they left school at 15 and worked under the supervision of their grandfather Robert Thompson until his death in December 1955 when they took over.
Welcome to Darragh
Darragh Sean being Baptised by Simon …
… and they are both still smiling afterwards!!
The Narrow Gate
St Finnbarr’s now has a smart, freshly painted gate and handrail – thanks Joanna and Caroline.
Charities Shop – Distribution of Funds 2021
St Finnbarr’s Charities Shop has recently distributed £12,500 in donations to various groups and charities. As usual these are mostly local groups based in East Sutherland but this year two, Maggies and Mikeysline, which have centres in Inverness have been included. They both work with vulnerable groups throughout our area, one in cancer care and the other in mental health support.
The complete list of charities and groups supported is listed below:
- Alzheimer Scotland (for local use),
- Caithness and Sutherland Women’s Aid,
- Dornoch Beach Wheelchairs,
- Sutherland Care Forum,
- Support in Mind Scotland (Golspie Gatehouse),
- Mikeysline (Mental Health especially Suicide – has drop in and appointments in Inverness including evenings, also text-based support. all ages),
- Dornoch Academy School Library,
- Friends of Oversteps,
- Historylinks,
- Maggies Highlands,
- Meadows Patient’s Comfort Fund,
- Bradbury Centre,
- CALA (Care and Learning Alliance – Stepping Stones, Brora),
- Connecting Communities (Helmsdale based but serves all E. Sutherland, older people at home, community support, meal delivery),
- CAB,
- Lawson/Cambusavie Memorial Hospital Fund,
- Migdale Hospital Comfort Fund.
The hard work and dedication of the volunteers means that the Charities Shop is now open Monday to Saturday 10am-1pm. The continuing Covid restrictions mean that we are only able to have a very small number of customers in the shop at one time and we would like to say thank you to our customers who wait so patiently in a queue to come in. The Charities Shop would not be so successful without the many donations of goods to sell and the support of our customers both returning and new – thank you. We look forward to seeing you in the shop.
Northern Pilgrims’ Way launched
Today the Northern Pilgrims’ Way was launched with a dedication service in St Duthac’s Collegiate Church in Tain. Bishop Mark led the service, Jamie Campbell was at the organ and Rev Lizzie Campbell sang the hymns and an anthem and Rev James Currall read the lessons. The Lord’s Lieutenants of Ross-shire (Joanie Whiteford) and Sutherland (Monica Main) were in attendance along with a number of representatives of the Churches.
During the service, an information board was dedicated and the members of the congregations were given blessed cockle shells and candles as symbols of the pilgrimage, but in his address Bishop Mark gave strict instructions that the shells were to be given to pilgrims on the way, that those present encountered in the coming months. He also warned that launching the Way was only the beginning of something and not the end.
You can watch the service on Youtube below:
The original pilgrims were not just trying to get from A to B. The trials and tribulations of the journey were part of the experience, as was calling at recognised holy sites along the way. Modern pilgrims want to feel that they are following in the footsteps of these previous generations. So re-creating a pilgrimage route is not as simple as looking at a map and working out the shortest way from one place to another.
The Northern Pilgrims’ Way is what is known in the trade as a braided route. In other words, it offers the pilgrim alternative tracks between the start and end points. While some routes have more history attached to them than others, all are genuine pilgrimage ways through the North of Scotland.
In our time, pilgrimage is being revived in many denominations. Indeed, it is a feature of most main religions and seems to answer a deep-seated need within us to re-connect with the creator of our world and to work out our own place in this creation.
Further events are planned in the coming months at Thurso and at Kirkwall where the route ends.
- 3rd July 2021 in Old St Peter’s Kirk, Thurso at 12:30pm
- 20th August 2021 in East Church, Kirkwall at 12:00noon
Will no-one stay awake
They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.’ And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, ‘Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.’ He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him. He came a third time and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.’
Mark 14:32-42
Scottish Episcopal Church - Dornoch, Lairg, Brora, Tain & Tongue 