Notices

Umbrella in Golspie

sheumais Events, Notices

The Umbrella group will start meeting again on Monday 31st January.

Umbrella is a Christian social club in Golspie, set up to deepen friendships and build bridges within the Christian Community. Umbrella is independent, not part of, or affiliated to, any denomination of the church.

At Umbrella, Christians meet for a cup of tea or coffee, enjoy the company of old friends and the chance to make new ones. It is open to anyone, whether they go to church, (any church), or not.

Venue: The Stag’s Head (Main St) each Monday 10.30 – 12 noon
Cost: Free! (“Donations box” for contributions towards expenses).

For more information contact Patrick Argyle:

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Service – 25th January

sheumais Notices, Services

Traditionally, 18th-25th January is observed as The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  

Last year we held a very successful service on Zoom with participation from across Sutherland and Easter Ross and beyond.  When we remembered about it, we thought that it would be a good thing to try to mark Christian Unity every year and so we propose a

Zoom service next Tuesday

25th January at 7pm

The Zoom details have been sent out by email, but if you haven’t received them, please get in touch.

The service materials have been prepared by the Christian Churches of the Middle East, including the Orthodox, Coptic and Syriac Churches.  The theme is the Epiphany and there is some splendid Middle Eastern music, which really brings the theme alive. You can access the Order of Service here.

As part of the service there is a ritual act for which you will need a a star – exactly what form depends on your creativity – and also a candle and the means to light it.

All are Welcome

Charities Shop January Re-opening

sheumais Charities Shop, Local, News, Notices

Opening

The St Finnbarr’s Charities Shop in Dornoch is scheduled to re-open for business after the Christmas break on Thursday 6th January.

The shop will be open on Mondays to Saturdays from 10am to 1pm.

The Shop

Great efforts have been made to make the shop safe for customers and staff so we would ask that everybody follows the ‘rules’ carefully. As you will be aware, the shop is small and the number of customers who can be in the shop at any one time is limited. We have a wireless bell for customers to press to let us know they are waiting and staff will be on hand to guide you and answer any questions that you may have.

Donations of Items

It would be appreciated that if you have been saving donations of items for the shop that you drop them off during opening times only and in fairly small quantities as we don’t want to be swamped and have limited storage space.

Welcome

We look forward to welcoming everybody in the coming weeks, meanwhile keep safe.

Keep Warm for the Homeless

sheumais Notices

In February there was a lively and very moving funeral for a lovely member of the St Andrew’s congregation – Renate Krueger.

Renate was born in the very north of Germany in 1950 and was adopted by a very loving couple, Dr.Heinz Krueger and his wife Annemarie. They gave her everything they could and loved her dearly. After a career in psychotherapy, Renate moved to the Highlands in 1997 with her husband. She had many very challenging times during her marriage and a particular problem that she had to confront. After several years struggling and facing her shadows she was saved by God s grace and the fellowship of Christian people.

Looking back at her life, a couple of years ago she said that

“everything seemed so much clearer, an intricately woven blanket, with patterns and colours not always matching, but still making a beautiful picture … there might even be holes in it, ragged edges, unfinished rows, different patterns and material of wool … but somehow it all fitted together and made sense.“

That metaphor seems particularly apt since Renate was a compulsive knitter and as someone who for a time had been homeless, she knitted scarves that she sold to raise money for homelessness charities.

When Renate died she left a stock of knitted scarves “with patterns and colours not always matching, but still making a beautiful picture”.

We are offering these scarves for sale for a suggested donation of £10 which will be passed on for the purpose of making life better for those that were so close to Renate’s heart – the homeless.

Scarves will be available in St Finnbarr’s and St Andrew’s for the next few weeks so just speak to Caroline Barnes or Beatrice Somers if you would like to look at a selection either for yourself or for a Christmas present. If you are in our Lairg, Brora or Tongue congregations get in contact with James or Anna and we will arrange to find you something to meet your requirements.

This, we feel, is a fitting way to remember Renate and honour her commitment to those less fortunate than herself but let us give the last word to Renate:

I needed God for advice, guidance, courage, strength, help and love – He needed me to tell him of my passions, desires, aims in life and together, in co-operation, HE gave me what I needed, not what I wanted. He knows me best, even before I did and I listened to Him, more and more and the more I listened, the better my life began to unfold… He had plans for me – and they were not always my plans, but my deepest desires came true. THANK YOU GOD 🙂

For beautiful times of joy, love and happiness… for meeting wonderful people on my journey… for special moments in awe of Your creation… for tender moments with my beloved animals and peaceful times in my garden and at the sea, for beautiful music, swimming and dancing… those were the things I loved… and much more… for all of my life and the friends who were at my side – and those who taught me important lessons, also for pain and sorrow and finding blessing in the most challenging times, but most of all, for you, God and Your unconditional love and never giving up on me 🙂

Introduction to the Season of Creation

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The Season

The Season of Creation is a time to renew our relationship with our Creator and all creation through celebration, conversation, and commitment together. During the Season of Creation, we join our sisters and brothers in the ecumenical family in prayer and action for our common home.

Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Churches, Dimitrios I declared 1st September as a day of prayer for creation for the Orthodox in 1989. The Orthodox church year starts on that day with a commemoration of how God created the world. On 4th October, Roman Catholics and other churches from the Western traditions commemorate Francis of Assisi, known to many as the author of the Canticle of the Creatures. The beginning and the end date of Season of Creation are therefore linked with the concern for creation in the Eastern and the Western traditions respectively.

Since then Christians worldwide have progressively embraced the season as part of their annual calendar. Pope Francis made the Roman Catholic Church’s adoption of the season official in 2015 and in 2020 he said:

“This is the season for letting our prayer be inspired anew by closeness to nature…to reflect on our lifestyles…for undertaking prophetic actions…directing the planet towards life, not death.”

Pope Francis

This Season is now observed in most of the mainline denominations worldwide, including several Provinces of the Anglican Communion, and forms a focus for Christian reflection on the environment. Over the years, it has evolved to include justice for the poor as well as justice for the environment and in fact there is a close relationship between these ‘two cries of St Francis.’

In the Episcopal Church

In the SEC, the Faith and Order Board and College of Bishops have now approved the introduction of a Season of Creation to our liturgical calendar, running from the first Sunday of September for four weeks, concluding with Thanksgiving for Harvest on the fifth Sunday.

This reflects the commitment of the Scottish Episcopal Church to responding to the global environmental and climate crisis, which has drawn attention to what has perhaps become a neglected aspect of our faith: that God created the world, that it is good, and that we, as human beings created in God’s image, have a particular responsibility for the care of God’s creation. It is right that this be reflected in our worship.

Introduction on Zoom

The Liturgy Committee will be offering an introduction to the recently published experimental liturgies for the Season of Creation (https://www.scotland.anglican.org/who-we-are/publications/liturgies/season-of-creation-worship-material-for-experimental-use/) and to the on-line forms for feedback.

This introduction will be offered on the morning of Friday, 13 August at 10am, and the evening of Wednesday, 18 August at 7:30pm.

It is necessary to register in advance for these events. If you would like to join either of these Zoom sessions, please email Sandra Brindley at office@anglican.org to register, and you will be supplied with the necessary log-in information.

St Columba’s, Brora Services

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The Church

From the beginning of August (this coming Sunday), there will be a service in St Columba’s, Brora each Sunday.

The services will be as follows:

1st Sunday – Meditative Service

2nd Sunday – Service of Eucharist

3rd Sunday – Service of Prayer and Healing

4th Sunday – Service of Eucharist

5th Sunday – Service of the Word

All services start at 4pm and everyone is welcome.

Web site Liturgical Resources

sheumais Notices, Services

There are three sets of Liturgical Resources at the right hand side of each page on our web site :

Sunday Eucharist Readings

This links to a web site that provides a list of the readings for the next important Feast Day (which is usually the following Sunday). Clicking on it will take you to the readings themselves. The site providing this is a US university and so occasionally the next Feast Day is one that we don’t celebrate, but it is usually accurate. If there are two OT readings and two Psalms, we use the second of each.

Weekday Eucharist Readings

This links to a web site that provides a list of the readings for the Daily Eucharist today. Clicking on it will take you to the readings themselves. One caveat is that since the site is a Roman Catholic one, the Sunday readings do not always align with the ones that we use, but it’s fine for other days.

Daily Prayer

This links to the services published on the Scottish Episcopal Church Daily Prayer web pages and is updated three time a day with Morning, Evening and Night Prayer, at 5am, 12pm and 6pm respectively.

Pancake Party – Shrove Tuesday – 16th February

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Food, Fellowship, and Fun

at our

PANCAKE PARTY

on

Shrove Tuesday, 16 February at 7:30pm

this year

via Zoom

This year you will have to make your own pancakes, but the usual quiz and other entertainment will be available and people in all our congregations will be able to join in the fun.

If you have a ‘Party Piece‘ that you would like to contribute, then let James, Janet or Beatrice know and then everyone will be able to appreciate your special talent!!